Content marketing is bound to keep expanding as businesses continue to make the most of it to grow their brand. Even more promising is how data has become valuable in content marketing as technology keeps experiencing advancement. But, what is data-driven content marketing?

Data-driven content marketing is a method of creating and distributing content predominantly based on data and analytics. Data determines what kind of content to create, how it will be distributed and how its success can be measured. When a brand knows what content they are to develop and how it will be distributed, positioning it to reach its target audience becomes realistic.

Related: 4 Steps to Become a Data-Driven Business

Harnessing data to drive your content strategy

Most businesses haven’t realized how critical data is to content marketing success. Data-driven content marketing allows for more granular content targeting and can be used to inform future content strategies. It is a great way to improve your content marketing efforts as it enables marketers to understand what content resonates with their audience.

According to Insights for Professionals, a data-driven approach can have a powerful impact on the type of content you create and how it is created. When your content strategy is data-driven, determining your target demography for each piece of content becomes feasible. You can figure out what types and forms of content resonate with them and on what platforms to publish content for optimum visibility.

Getting it right with data in your content

While incorporating data is just one tool in your content marketing toolbox, it plays a strategic role as marketers can measure the ROI of their marketing campaigns and track overall engagement. There are a few things to keep in mind regarding data-driven content marketing.

It is important to have access to the correct data. This can emanate from various sources, including your website analytics, social media analytics, customer surveys, and more. With the right data, you can know your target audience and what channels they are on. Knowing who your content will attract and which is relevant to the topic becomes realistic.

However, realizing that data alone won’t lead to success is essential. Your marketing should still be focused on creating high-quality content. The higher the quality of your content, the greater the chances of promoting it and measuring your results. As Jolie Miller describes it, great content creates space for your audience to pause and reflect, and that space is where transformation happens.

Related: Five Data-Driven Improvements To Your Content Marketing Strategy

The benefits of driving your content marketing strategy with data

There are many benefits to incorporating data into your content marketing, and they include:

1. Data provides you with resources you can leverage to make more informed decisions about your content, leading to improved targeting of your audience and increasing ROI.
2. Knowing how to interpret data gives your business that extra edge as it tells you more about your audience, helping you create more targeted and effective content.
3. Data helps you better understand your customer’s journey and develop more personalized content that speaks to their specific needs. When you know which topics resonate with your audience and which aren’t, you can adjust your content strategy accordingly.
4. Another key benefit of data-driven content marketing is that it can help you save time and resources. By understanding what’s working and what isn’t, you can avoid spending time and money on content that doesn’t perform well.
5. Data helps you optimize your content distribution strategy to reach your target audience with the right message at the right time.
6. Data-driven content marketing can help you improve your ROI. When you understand which content is most effective, you can focus your budget on initiatives that are more likely to drive results.
7. Data can help you track your progress over time and see how your content marketing strategy impacts your bottom line.

Related: What Is Good Data-Driven Marketing? Here Are 5 Examples of What Big Data Can Do.

Maximizing artificial intelligence to drive data in your content marketing

A data-driven content strategy will be incomplete without the revolutionary role of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence can be automated to handle some of the more tedious aspects of content marketing, such as data collection and analysis. By collecting and analyzing data, AI can identify trends and insights that you can use to improve your content marketing strategy at a faster rate.

When creating content, AI can help you understand what type of content is most likely to resonate with your audience. It can even help you generate new ideas for content to create more personalized content for your audience. AI-driven tools like Google Analytics, SEMRush, Buzzsumo, Ahrefs and others have redefined the face of content marketing.

They make it possible to research what topics your audience is interested in and help you determine the success rate of your keyword. When equipped with this information, you can then identify the most effective channels and strategies for reaching your target audience when distributing and promoting your content.

Related: Why Data-Driven Marketing Drives More Sales

Drawing the curtains

Data has become so invaluable in content marketing that businesses will be shooting themselves in the foot if they are not leveraging it. Artificial intelligence has also had a significant part to play as it helps analyze this data, creating more personalized and effective content. You will need to continue monitoring your data and make adjustments where necessary as new data becomes available. From that point, you can ensure that your content strategy is data-driven and that you are always delivering the most relevant and engaging content to your audience.

Business Strategies, Entrepreneurial Advice & Inspiring Stories are all in one place. Explore the new Entrepreneur Bookstore.