Engagement, Not Clicks is What Matters for Your Content

The success of your content marketing should no longer be measured solely by the number of clicks it generates. The quality and quantity of 'engagement' is equally if not more important (comments, likes, reshares, etc).

Three trends are driving this shift in how we should value the effectiveness of our content marketing:

1: Search Engines as 'Search and Answer' Engines
2: Social Media's Preference for Native Content
3: Google's Penalty for Duplicate Content

This blog post discusses how these trends impact your content strategy and how you can counter them.

Trend 1: Search Engines as 'Search and Answer' Engines

In 2020, nearly 65% of Google searches ended without a click to another web property. Search engines are evolving into 'Search and Answer' engines, aiming to keep users on their results page as long as possible.

Impact on you: Less website traffic (referrals from search are declining). As users find their answers directly on the search results page, they are less likely to click through to your site. Chances are that you've seen a decrease in your website traffic.

How to counter it:

• Optimize for Featured Snippets: Aim to have your content featured in Google's snippets. This increases visibility even if users don't click through. This Semrush article will help.
• Provide In-Depth Content: Offer comprehensive, high-quality content that can't be fully captured in a snippet, encouraging users to click for more details.
• Utilize Schema Markup: Use structured data to help search engines understand the context of your content and enhance its visibility on search results pages.

Don’t focus solely on traffic acquisition through search. Your audiences spend their time on various platforms, so invest in marketing strategies that don't necessarily drive clicks.

Trend 2: Social Media's Preference for Native Content

Social media platforms amplify content that keeps users within their platforms and penalize content that links to outside websites. The quality of engagement is more important than the quantity of clicks.

Impact on you: Content that includes links to your website will receive far less visibility. Social media algorithms favor posts that keep users engaged on their platforms.

How to counter it:

• Create Platform-Specific Content: Tailor your content for each social media platform, leveraging native formats like stories, reels, and in-platform articles.

One way to do this is using "Zero-click" content, a term coined by Amanda Natividad, VP of Marketing at SparkToro. Zero-Click Marketing is about publishing unique content directly on platforms like Reddit, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc., instead of solely focusing on your website. Zero-click content provides valuable information to users without requiring them to leave the platform they're on.

Some of your zero-click content should include images and videos that convey your message. Visual content is more engaging and can be consumed without leaving the platform.

• Engage Directly with Users: Engage in relevant groups and forums through comments, likes, shares, and "tagging" appropriate people and brands. Offer value without always linking back to your site.

Remember, search engines are not where your audiences are spending their time! While search engines send the majority of traffic to websites, they only represent about 10% of where web traffic happens.

• Utilize Influencer Partnerships: Collaborate with influencers who can share your content within the platform, expanding your reach organically.

Trend 3: Google's Penalty for Duplicate Content

Google is now penalizing "duplicate" content, which means republishing the same content across multiple sites can hurt your visibility. This trend is crucial to address to maintain your content’s effectiveness.

Impact on you: Republishing identical content across the internet can reduce your visibility and website traffic. Unique, platform-specific content is essential.

How to counter it:

• Create Unique Content for Each Platform: Ensure that your content is unique and tailored for each platform to avoid duplication penalties.
• Diversify Your Content Formats: Use different formats like videos, infographics, and podcasts to convey your message in varied ways.
• Leverage Canonical Tags: If you must duplicate content, use canonical tags to indicate the original source to search engines.

Duplicate content issues also impact your newswire press releases which send the same press release to hundreds of different websites. Services like NewsRamp help counter the duplicate content penalties and 'Search and Answer' trends of major search engines that negatively impact press release visibility and reduce website traffic.

NewsRamp does this by curating press releases into multiple unique content formats (articles, blogs, TLDRs, video, and Zero-Click Marketing formats), translation into 12 languages, and augmenting the syndication of the news through NewsRamp's proprietary distribution network of news sites, forums, podcasts, newsletters, and social media. The result is better online visibility, higher engagement, and more meaningful content experiences for your customer's news.

The Role of Brand Building - Concluding Thoughts

Even if your content doesn’t generate clicks, it still contributes to brand building. The mere presence of your brand on platforms lays the foundation for familiarity. And as we all know, familiarity breeds trust, leading to eventual engagement and conversions.

Engagement is the key metric of success in content marketing. By understanding and adapting to these trends, you can create a more effective content strategy that focuses on meaningful interactions rather than just clicks.