By Darren Gilbert

With that in mind, here are three reasons why your content marketing efforts are falling flat.

You are selfish

It is very easy to fall into the trap that comes with social media – the idea that everything is about you and so you need to post about your interests. However, there is a fallacy in this in that you’re only worrying about yourself. What about your audience? What about what they are interested in?

Sharon Hurley Hull, a writing consultant, rightly points out the excessive use of the word ‘I’ or at least the thought that everything is about the ‘poster’ in an article. She has wise words: “Avoid falling into the egotist’s trap and make sure at least half the items you share give props to others.” Not only will your audience thank you for this, they will also see you as someone who has their interests at heart.

It’s a simple rule and yet by following it, you will stand out from everyone else who has forgotten that when it comes to the content that you post, it’s about what your audience wants.

Your content has no purpose

Whenever you decide to place something, you need to think about your reasons for doing so. If there are valid reasons to post it, such as it’s relevant to your topic or something that you believe your audience will be interested in, then go ahead. However, if you are posting for the sake of posting, you need to have a good hard look at why.

“There’s long been this myth about blogs that ‘if you write it, people will come’,” notes entrepreneur Jared Pomranky on Net Profit Marketing, “and people who think that by producing content and linking it back to their sites, they’re ‘content marketing’ are falling victim to the same mentality.” They believe that by producing more content, they will get more eyeballs which is obviously not the case.

“The fact is that content marketing requires a solid plan,” adds Pomranky. If you decide to jump in without a plan, expect to fail.

Your content is not being seen

In order for your content marketing efforts to be effective, people need to know about it. That means that you need to understand the importance of distribution and how to get your content in front of people. Scribewise founder, John Miller agrees in his article on MediaPost.

“Distribution matters. Merely publishing blog posts will not make a significant dent in the universe (have you noticed it’s crowded out there?),” he writes. “Actively circulate your content, whether through syndication, media relations, email, or social media.” It is important that you don’t make an assumption that because you’re written something, someone will be able to find it. Instead, take distribution into your own hands.

Then, once you have been able to distribute your content widely enough and have developed some sort of reputation as an expert on a subject/s, you should be able to leave it to your audience to do the spreading.

What are your thoughts? Do you know of any other reasons why your content marketing efforts may fail? Tell us below.