Adapt Your mHealth Content Marketing Strategy for Better Results

Since everyone is producing content in today’s marketplace, you’d think every business would have a content strategy or at least a plan in place. This is especially important for mHealth businesses, because the mHealth industry is changing while you’re reading this blog. And if you aren’t putting out relevant, timely and interesting information, you’re already lagging behind your competition. But what do consumers (and your mHealth target markets) want? Here’s some great information about consumer behaviors from a study Steven Van Belleghem wrote about, and his points are worth considering before you start or think about changing your marketing plan.

mHealth Content Marketing Strategy: 5 Keys to Better Results

1. Pinterest offers more potential for content marketers than Instagram
A lot of content managers are not sure whether they should invest time and resources in these two photo-sharing sites. Considering the growth potential of both sites, image-based content is certainly worth at least a look.

Consider these study findings:

About one-quarter of the online population knows about both sites, though their adoption rates are still very low: 3 percent use Pinterest and 4 percent use Instagram.
Half of Pinterest users log on daily, as opposed to just 31 percent of Instagram users.
60 percent of Pinterest users intend to use the site more often in the future, whereas for Instagram users this is “only” 40 percent.

2. There is only a small window of opportunity for your content to engage an audience
Our study found that an average consumer is linked to 11 brands on social media and follows seven brands in an active way. In general, people engage with an average of five brands. So in order to reach consumers on social media, the challenge is to be one of the 11 brands the average consumer follows. The smartest way to make sure your content is relevant, is to involve the target audience in the content creation process. Ask people what they want, and ask what would add value in their lives.

3. Social advertising is necessary for increasing reach
As I mentioned above, consumers are cutting back on the number of brands they interact with on social media. Of course, they appreciate a few updates from brands they love; however, once the amount of branded content becomes larger than the content of real friends, consumers don’t like it anymore.

I think it is important to advertise with your content — and not with a direct promotion. By promoting your content, you increase the reach with relevant people, whereas with a direct promotion (such as an ad or offer), you will likely only attract “bounty hunters,” who will be less valuable to your brand in the long run.

4. Fans are not seen as a credible source
Other internet users consider brand fans to be unreliable. In our study, we asked consumers the following question: “In your opinion, how reliable is the information posted on social media by each of the following persons?” “People we know personally” received the highest score by far. In other words: The most important “influencers” are those closest to us, regardless of the number of followers they have.

5. Consumers want to be involved in the creation of content
In our study, 80 percent of consumers stated they would love to be involved in co-creation projects of brands they like. And specifically, most consumers reported that they prefer to take part in improving existing products. To take advantage of this, select a small group of relevant consumers and involve them in product improvement, development, or broader strategic questions.

Are you planning a content marketing strategy? Do you have one in place already? Tell us what works and what doesn’t and I’ll write about it in a future blog.

In the mean time, you can download this free step-by-step guide to creating Killer Content.