Farming Your Content

“Farming” has gotten a bad rep when it comes to content in the last years. Typically it’s now used to describe “Farming Out” or in reference to “Content Farms.” But farming your content is an age-old way of supporting an up-and-coming buzz phrase, “Content Marketing.”

The question always asked, of course, is what is the ROI? Mashable.com has a good piece on how you can measure your ROI using a Content Marketing Strategy. The author, Shane Snow of Contently.com, of lays out the steps pretty clearly:

1. Understand What You’re Measuring
2. Use Proxies to Measure Initial Success
3. Measure Both Primary and Secondary Conversion Indicators
And, as most good farmers will tell you;
4. Patience Is the Secret

But I would add another;

5. Persistence is key.

As the article points out, bloggers are notorious for starting a blog and then never following through…letting the crops die in the fields. Building an audience takes time, patience, and persistence. Know your customer, know your brand, and deliver.

You need to give them a reason to come back to the market.