Validating Great Content

image courtesy of Kelly Services

Any discussion of content marketing will talk about the importance of great content. That is the foundation on which a content marketing campaign is built. If you and your client aren’t putting out great stuff, the campaign won’t be successful.

High quality, consistent content development isn’t easy. Usually you’re busy, the client is busy and the process can become a grind at times. How can you challenge yourself and know you’re keeping content quality levels high?

Keeping an eye on site analytics can indicate what content is resonating with your audience. As I’ve written previously, when vertical trades turn your published content into earned media that’s a strong indication of editorial quality. And sometimes you’ll have third parties with no connection to the campaign highlight the quality of your content.

That’s what happened recently with one of my client publications, Polycom’s Public Sector View. First FedTech magazine put Public Sector View on its 50 must read government IT blog list. Then this week the Fortune 500 staffing firm Kelly Services called Public Sector View one of the ten blogs every IT worker should read.

Obviously this kind of third-party recognition is very gratifying.  It validates not only the content quality but also the time and energy put into the campaign by both the account team and the client staff.

Great content alone is not sufficient for success. Focused and appropriate promotion, as is integration of the content into the sales process. But this kind of validation is a strong indication the content development process is providing a foundation for success.