Authentic Content Data

What Is Authentic Content Data?

Posting authentic online content from your brand or employees has proven to be an effective customer engagement and marketing strategy. Further, there is a wealth of data to show you how to reach customers with personable content.

Why Is It Important to Have a Good Authentic Content Model?

Market reports and consumer polls have shown over and over again that people engage with content they identify with. As a result, you have higher sales and word-of-mouth advertising. And while a large part of authentic content marketing is individual to you, there are a lot of insights that personable content data provides that can lead you in the right direction.

What Internal Data Should I Have for a Good Authentic Content Model?

Important internal data you should have to develop an authentic content model comes from your customers, your social media, and your employees.

First, your customer transaction histories, profiles, promotional campaign reports, and customer feedback tell you an enormous deal about your target audience: what they like, who they are, where they live, etc. This data forms the basis of your content model.

Second, social media: what kind of posts do people engage with the most? When are people online? Do they react more positively to certain content than others?

Finally, your company’s employee data can enrich your authentic content marketing strategy. Not only do they report on what kind of content or products customers like or dislike, but they are in themselves sources of content. To put it another way, people engage with posts that feel genuine, that come from real people; your employees can provide that genuine, relatable content.

What External Data Is Essential for a Good Model?

General social media trends, market trends, SEO and keyword data, and your competitors’ social media engagement provide essential external data for your model. Likewise, industry and market reports also show the state of the market.

Finally, of course, consumer surveys and polls from third parties tell you crucial information about the type of content people find relatable.

What External Data May Prove Useful for a Good Model?

Additional external data for your authentic content marketing model may include influencer marketing research. These potential freelance employees are social media experts with a ready audience; finding the right influencer may net a major return on your investment here.

What Are the Main Challenges of this Use Case?

Aside from the difficulties of integrating and synthesizing all the possible sources of marketing and audience data, one of the biggest challenges of this use case is being able to let go and let your employees or brand ambassadors be themselves. Not all that is personal is necessarily personable and the risks of things going wrong are steep. Yet, the data show that audiences prefer content from real human beings—even imperfect ones—to content from standard company professionals.

Interesting Case Studies and Blogs to Look Into

Marketingland: Personable is profitable: A case to rethink your content marketing strategy
Ceros: How to Give Your Personalized Marketing Strategy the Human Touch

Tangible Examples of Impact

• Small businesses with blogs generate 126% more leads
• Engaging content is among the top 3 reasons brands develop a social media following
• 81% of US customers trust information in blogs
• 61% of consumers have made a purchase after reading a blog post

Business 2 Community: Managing the Approval of Marketing Content and Blogs