How to Nail the Three C’s of Content Marketing

3 minute read.

Creative woman working at a desk with a laptop, tablet, and art supplies

As a brand or business owner, you may have heard the term ‘the three C’s’ of content marketing. This refers to the core principles of content marketing; create, curate, and conversation. In this article, I will explore each concept and explain why nailing them will benefit your business.

Create Content

The concept of ‘create’ is the most well-known of the three c’s. It refers to the practice of producing original content. Many brands struggle with this because they are unsure what type of content to produce or how much to create.

Focus on Your Audience

The first step in deciding what to create is to focus on your target audience and determine what content they want or need. If you’re unsure, researching your audience is essential.. There are free tools such as Google Analytics, Google Trends, Google Search Console, and AnswerThePublic that provide insights into who your audience is and what topics they are searching for.

Social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn also offer free analytics, though these are more limited unless you have a paid subscription. Paid social listening tools like Brandwatch and Meltwater provide social listening capabilities, allowing you to track what your customers are saying from over 100 million sites.

It’s also crucial not to overlook traditional surveys and focus groups. Speaking directly with your customers is a great way to uncover their pain points and understand how your product or service can help them.

Decide Your Content Type

Once you understand who your audience is and what content they want, the next step is to determine the best way to present the information. Content formats include videos, images, blog posts, case studies, and more. You could take a single theme and repurpose it across different formats, for example, a long-form video for YouTube, a short-form video for social media, and a blog post for your website.

The volume of content you produce will depend on your resources. Researching content formats is a good first step. Analyse the top-ranking content in search results. If the top three results are all blog posts, this indicates that your audience prefers consuming that information in written form. However, ensure your version offers a fresh perspective so you provide your audience with something new.

Whatever content format you choose, make sure it is high-quality and engaging.

Curate Content

Assortment of books stacked on top of each other.

Curating content involves sharing high-quality material from other sources on your own channels. This could be a video, blog article, or social media update that’s relevant to your industry and, therefore, your customer. Curation is an excellent way to showcase your brand’s authority and expand your reach in a cost-effective, time-efficient way.

When curating content, ensure the source is credible and the information is verified. A great starting point is sharing relevant industry news updates. Timing is key, given the vast amount of content online and the fast-paced news cycle, you don’t want to share information that is more than a week old unless there’s a good reason to do so.

It’s also important to avoid reposting content from direct competitors, though keeping an eye on what they curate can be useful for trend analysis.

Converse with Your Customer

A group of four women sat outside a bar having a conversation and laughing.

Engaging with your audience through conversation is one of the most underutilised aspects of content marketing. It’s how you build a community and establish trust. The easiest way to do this is by responding to comments on your blog post or social media platforms.

Social media is not a one-way broadcast channel, it’s a two-way conversation. Don’t just post and forget about it. Check your comments regularly to see if anyone has a question or a remark about your content. Responding appropriately is crucial. Social media users will expect an answer within 24 hours Answer questions with accurate information, and reply to positive comments with a tailored response – a simple reaction or emoji is often not enough.

If you come across a negative comment, consider your response carefully. Spam comments should be deleted, and repeat offenders blocked. However, genuine negative feedback about your product or service should be escalated to your customer service team. Be transparent, let the user know you;ve taken action. Leaving a negative comment unaddressed can make it seem like you’re ignoring the issue.

No matter the situation, do not fight fire with fire. Even if the comment is unfair, take the higher ground and respond with professionalism and kindness – you may even win them over.

Create, Curate and Converse: A Balanced Approach

Woman balancing on a wooden plank outside

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to nailing the ‘three Cs’ of content marketing, each principle could warrant its own dedicated article. The key takeaway is that your brand doesn’t need to create fresh content all the time. Creation and curation should work together and be integrated into your content marketing strategy. Meanwhile, conversation ensures your brand is actively engaging with its audience. In fact, customer interactions can even inspire ideas for future content creation or curation.