How to Master Keyword Research, Production and Promotion for Your Content Marketing Campaign | Entrepreneur

For many marketers today, there is often a disconnect between keyword optimization efforts andcontent creation strategies. But organic SEO continues to be a major access channel connecting people with content, and social media platforms are becoming increasingly adept at mining keyword data as well.

That's why, today, the best content marketing campaigns are keyword-driven. Here's an inside look at how it's done -- giving you a strategy you can apply to your own marketing efforts.

1. Keyword research

Just like your SEO strategy, a keyword-driven content campaign starts with research. The only real difference is that you do it with topic brainstorming andquality content creationin mind.

Use Google AdWords keyword planner.

You probably already have a good idea of the relevant topics you need to cover for your content marketing campaign. The next step is finding the right keywords to go along with it, which in turn can help you discover even more relevant topics to cover.

This is easy enough to do withGoogle Adwords Keyword Planner. It allows you to find relevant keywords and gives valuable information about their popularity over time.

Google Trendsis another important tool that can help you brainstorm topics by offering insight into what people are actually searching for related to your niche.

Look for LSI keywords.

Especially with the advent ofRankBrain, Google is becoming more and more preoccupied with the relationships between related words.

The more related keywords you can inject into your writing, the easier it is for Google to understand what your content is really all about. These are calledlatent semantic index(LSI) keywords, and they're pretty easy to find.

Just type a keyword relevant to your niche into Google and scroll down to the bottom to see some of the LSI keywords Google already knows about:

You can also use free tools likeLSIGraphto find even more relevant keywords to add to your content creation efforts.

Audit your competitors.

Another essential aspect of both topic brainstorming and keyword research is doing an analysis of your competitors.

Understanding the terms your competitors are trying to rank well for can help you discover new topics that you may want to cover,orit can indicate topics you want to avoid if you're trying to stand out from the competition.

You most likely already know of several competitors in your niche whose sites you can audit.

There are also useful tools likeUbersuggestandBuzzSumothat can help you find content related to your niche, pointing you to more possible competitors.

2. Production

Now that you have a long list of relevant keywords and have used them to brainstorm your content ideas, it's time to begin your content marketing campaign in earnest.

Decide on content formats.

First, you need to decide on the best way to present your ideas by choosing content formats (blog posts, videos, white papers, infographics, etc.).

Of course, to get the most out of your ideas anddiversify quality content, you'll want to recycle your content through several formats.

Consider which content types get the most views and engagement, and strategically assign your topics to the formats that matter most for your business goals.

Create a calendar and assign tasks.

Once you have an idea of how you want to begin with your content ideas, it's time to put together an editorial calendar and assign tasks to your team members.

Your editorial calendar should include topic details, relevant keywords, and other important information for your content creation team. Use helpfulonline marketing toolsto make collaboration between team members as seamless as possible.

3. Promotion

After you've created content and hit the publish button, your work really begins. Now you need to amplify your content's reach by promoting it to the most relevant audience possible. You'll want to promote on:

Social media
Content distribution networks
Relevant forums
Influencer networks

You might wonder how these promotion strategies matter for keyword-optimized posts, but the tactics affect SEO as well.

There's a lot of evidence that social signals are aGoogle ranking factor, and sharing your content with influencers and other relevant networks will also help you build the backlinks you need to rank well.

Many marketers make the mistake of thinking that keyword optimization and content marketing are mutually exclusive strategies. In reality, they go hand-in-hand and can complement each other in your efforts to reach your target audience.

Use the steps in this inside look at a keyword-driven content marketing campaign to start reaping the benefits of a multifaceted strategy for your brand today.

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