One of the phrases you hear a lot when you work in the copywriting and marketing fields is that “content is king.” Of course, this is true — there is nothing more important to your success in online marketing than creating good, informative and consistent content. But if there’s a second most important thing, it would be timing.
The digital world moves as a breakneck pace, and it’s important for your content to be timely and relevant. Your blog content, articles, press releases, social media updates and other types of content need to relate directly to what’s happening now, or else your target audience will quickly lose interest.
Related: Changes coming to content marketing in 2014
There are a number of factors that contribute to strong rankings on Google and other search engines, and recent updates to the way Google categorizes websites have made good content even more important. Search engines also place a premium on websites and blogs that remain constantly updated with relevant content. Thus, engaging in a consistent content strategy can positively impact your search engine optimization efforts.
Think about it this way: when you look at a company’s social media page, blog content or website and see a recent post commenting on a news item that happened months ago, what’s going to be your first impression? That company might not seem like it’s interested in staying up to date on the latest trends in its industry.
Conversely, if you regularly post newsworthy and interesting content pertinent to your field, you give your readers a reason to follow you. Your content can help you engage existing and potential customers, and even position your brand as a thought leader.
Here’s an example:
This weekend is the Super Bowl, with Sunday being the biggest advertising day of the year. If you run an advertising firm, you might publish a blog post immediately after the game is over analyzing the best and memorable commercials, and posting YouTube videos of those ads. This makes sense because there will be many people looking online to re-watch some of their favorite ads.
That’s what we mean by relevant and timely. If the ad agency in this example were to wait until February 20 to post this article to its blog, it wouldn’t have nearly the impact.
So as you continue to tweak your content marketing strategy this year, consider not only how you can improve your content, but also how you can perfect your timing. When something newsworthy happens in your industry, it’s important to be there to offer your input. This will demonstrate to your customers that you’re dedicated to being a leader in your field, and improve your search engine rankings in the process.
Tim Backes is a senior editor for ProPRcopy, a leading copywriting firm that provides a wide range of written content for businesses and organizations across countless industries.