Content marketing is becoming a competitive necessity, and Brafton gives business partners an edge with the news advantage.
The News Demand
Reading news online is becoming a regular American past time. Research shows that internet news readership is on the rise among consumers of all ages, and 75 percent of online Americans look for news on the web.
Other figures suggest that up to 78 percent of Americans look for news online and 21 percent of social users are “News Junkies,” constantly looking for breaking information on the web.
Frequent Updates, Dynamic Content
News constantly develops, so content on your site can be regularly updated. This is good for search engine optimization, especially since major search engines have web indexing systems that make frequent updates – like Google Caffeine.
Plus, the continuous nature of news allows for consistent coverage of ongoing stories (and ongoing stories are the ones most frequently shared on the web). News content marketing brings your online audience back to your site to follow the latest developments and establishes your brand as a thought leader.
Ideal Content for Email Newsletters
News headlines can enhance email marketing campaigns. Twelve percent of Americans turn to their inboxes to stay on top of the latest news, so marketing emails that offer industry-relevant headlines can stand out as valuable messages in inboxes. When this news is branded by your business, recipients will regard you as a thought leader.
Fuel For Social Media
News is highly-sought content on social channels – 47 percent of Tweets are news related, and news drives the majority of Facebook traffic. As consumers engage news on social media, your branded news content will get passed to users’ friends, and it can make your social pages forums for industry-relevant social chatter.
Plus, the trending nature of news content ensures that your pages look fresh. The real-time aspect of social media makes it especially important to offer timely posts, and studies show that consumers prefer to do business with brands that are active on social media.
Content For Mobile
As consumers increasingly search the web via their mobile devices, news content is a great way to appeal to ever-connected audiences. Frequent mobile site visitors can enjoy regularly updated headlines via news content marketing. Plus, timely local information is some of the most in-demand mobile content on the web.
Superior Link Bait
News content is a great way to generate inbound links to your site. Nearly one in 10 consumers are influential “Megaphones” who regularly share links to valuable sources of information and 65 percent of journalists turn to social media for sourcing. Custom news content marketing makes your site a source of fresh info. This means links to your site can be spread across the web, and you may benefit from the influence of respected social users and traditional media influence.
Additionally, news content archived on your site becomes a resource for consumers following industry developments. Custom news articles will increase in value over time as more individuals link to them.
Repeat Visits and lengthened Dwell Time
Nearly half (46 percent) of all Americans get news online at least three times a week, and more than half of internet users frequent websites for news each week. By regularly offering news content, you can become a regular resource to a relevant audience and encourage repeat visits.
News content marketing is also great for increasing dwell time. Offering news makes it easy to refer visitors to previous, relevant articles published elsewhere on your site via an internal linking system, so readers will stay on your website longer.
Inbound Leads and Conversion
Researched content – like news – translates into thought leadership, which boosts inbound leads. There’s evidence that consulting firms that invested in researched content generated triple the leads of companies that were less likely to invest in content development.
Once you attract leads with news, you will find they readily convert. Nearly one-third of consumers favor brands they affiliate with news, and journalistic content is linked to higher revenues per page views.