How Long Will It Take to See Content Marketing Results?

We live in a fast-paced world. People expect to see results as quickly as possible, but sometimes, the best things take time. The same can be said for content marketing; business owners and marketers want to see results within hours of posting.

How long does it actually take to work? Unfortunately, there isn’t an easy one-size-fits-all answer. Each initiative is different and will depend on the steps you take to ensure the success of your effort. There are various factors that influence how and when you’ll start to see results, including:

Content Quality

What makes a good piece on online content? Your content has to be relatable, well-crafted, and with a purpose that drives your audience to take an action. Without these three factors, your content becomes lifeless and boring. The way to see results is to create content your audience wants to see—meet them on their playing field with information that attracts them.

Frequency

You can’t post one blog article and expect the sales to come rolling in. Starting anything from the ground up takes time and consistency. Content marketing is a strategic and long-term plan. You need to be prepared and committed to creating content frequently to see results.

Optimization

Google processes approximately 40,000 searches every second. To take advantage of the thousands of people conducting online organic searches, you must get inside the head of your ideal buyer. How are they looking for your content, and what type of search words can you target to reach them?

Performing keyword research and optimizing your content to feature these words and phrases is a good way to reach people who are already looking for your product or services. Just remember to organize your content effectively with pillar pages and topic clusters, rather than focusing solely on keywords. No flashy advertising, no catchy jingles—just provide your target audience with the answers they need, when they need them.

Make sure you’re not going overboard on the keywords. This could end up having the opposite effect of what you want, ranking you lower on Google’s search pages. Overstuffing keywords is not a way to see immediate content marketing results.

Other Marketing Initiatives

Content marketing is most effective when it’s used in tandem with other digital marketing initiatives, such as social media, paid ads, and SEO. For example, if you only have 200 followers on Facebook, posting a status or sharing a blog post isn’t going to reach very far past your initial follower base. However, if you promote your business or the individual post using paid advertising, suddenly, your content reaches a much wider pool of people.

Be Realistic

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there’s a very slim possibility that your blog post is going to reach two million views the first day you put it out—that’s not realistic! Setting goals that are attainable and achievable will help you properly evaluate which content marketing tactics are working and which aren’t. As such, don’t expect your results to be instantaneous; give your content time to gain traction and garner results.

So, What’s a Realistic Timeline?

If you are consistently posting quality content, a great time to evaluate your efforts would be quarterly. This gives your content enough time to gain momentum, so you have real analytics to evaluable. By your sixth month, you should have more than enough data to begin the process of allowing your data to determine your next steps. Let the data speak for itself. Create content that your audience connects with and responds to, and you have a recipe for success!