the 4 Vs of content marketing

 
There are so many content creation marketing avenues to work on and optimize your organic and paid marketing strategies, that it can sometimes seem overwhelming. Look at the big picture to see if you’re achieving your main content goals, and not focusing on one aspect too much and forgetting the others.  
 
I use a general framework which I can incorporate smaller, more detailed principles and ideas into later on. It’s called the “4 V’s” – Variety, Velocity, Veracity and Volume as outlined in David Amerland’s book, Google Semantic Search
 
Good content marketing utilizes a mixture of quality content and the proper medium to find balance. The medium, which is controlled by you (the creator), includes your website, social sites, or other content promotion spaces. There is paid media, which is primarily PPC campaigns, but also includes numerous social media outlets such as advertising on LinkedIn, promoted tweets, featured YouTube videos, Facebook Ads etc. And finally, there’s increasing importance of “word of mouth” content marketing through social media posts. This includes “likes,” re-tweets, links, shares, and comments.
 
These types of modern-day content marketing techniques provide Google with insight into the importance of your content, and can have a real impact on search results. Now more than ever, Google pays close attention to the phrasing of a search query to determine searcher intent (Google semantic search). But it can be difficult to remember everything on the Google checklist to help your content rank well. Luckily, all you need to remember is the “4 Vs”!
 
We will briefly discuss the importance of these four attributes in an overall content marketing strategy below so you can start using the same strategy:
 

Utilizing the “4 Vs” in Your Content Marketing Strategy

Variety

How many media channels do you incorporate into your strategy?
 
I suggest writing a variety of quality content for your viewers. You need to mix it up from time to time because different people prefer to consume content differently. Utilizing a varied combination of blogs, videos, posts, eBooks, white papers, infographics, audio files, or full articles will give you a marketing edge. Additionally, different content formats tend to perform better on different social media platforms. Content marketing isn’t a “one size fits all” situation. 
 
Apart from creating different forms of content, you also need to be ACTIVE on several different platforms where you share your content. Don’t jump into posting on social media if you don’t have the time to respond and interact. If you post new content on your website, create a profiles on one or two social media platforms, start an email marketing campaign, or develop a YouTube channel. The more places you publish your content and stay active, the more access you have to your target audience. 
Having your content available in different formats and in several different location also send strong signals to Google. Especially if your content is gaining traction and being interacted with in those spaces. Google semantic searches is all about helping the end user find what they’re actually searching for. And if your article is performing well on social media or other spaces, Google will notice!
 

Velocity 

How frequently do you push out (quality) content?
 
The faster you get information to Google, the quicker it can index your content and help promote it to your target audience. But, creating content isn’t just about how fast you can crank it out. Every piece of content you create needs to be high quality and posted on a regular, consistent basis. Always focus on quality rather than quantity! 
 
Create a content calendar and a publishing process to help you manage your posting schedule. Will you post three times a week or maybe once a day? What time will you post your content on different platforms? In order to figure this out, you need to determine how involved your target audience is with your content and what they’d be interested in interacting with.
Google Analytics can show you when your audience is most active on your website. You want to post at the times when your audience is most likely to see and interact with your content. The same process can be used for any social media posting as well. Most social platforms have basic analytics you can review to tell how popular your post is, how many followers you have, and so on. Spend some time getting to know who your audience is and cater your content posting to them. 

Veracity 

Is your content perceived as relevant and trustworthy?
 
The answer to that question is the reason why or why not Google would present your content to searchers. Does your content answer the searcher’s question, is it helpful, is your content validated? 
As you create solid, useful, well-researched content you help your case in this area. The more reputable, comprehensive, and proven your content is, the higher it will rank in Google SERPs (search engine results pages). Remember, Google semantic searchers are designed to bring up results that will best serve the end user. Google can calculate this based on a variety of metrics like time on page, bounce rate, number of reputable backlinks, etc. 
 
Make sure to include a variety of backlinks in your content to outside, relevant, and well-rated sources. Go in depth with your explanations and discuss related topics to your main subject. Your goal is to make your piece of content a “one stop shop” for all the information on your topic your reader would need. If you’re trying to rank for a particular query or phrase, look at the top performing results and see what they’re doing that you’re not. Then, find any gaps or areas in their content you could improve on and create your own unique article. 

Volume 

What’s the overall amount of content you present to potential customers?
 
The overall amount of content that you’re publishing helps Google better comprehend who you are and what you do. For instance, rarely publishing content doesn’t speak much for your relevancy or dedication to your industry. Google won’t tend to view you as an invested expert. These are factors that Google applies in determining what content is best to display for online searchers.
 
On top of that, Google prioritizes fresh content. Google wants to deliver the newest and best possible results to searchers. For that reason, make sure to update your old content and create new content on a regular basis so your results remain competitive for the keywords you optimized them for. Your content doesn’t always need to be “new”, sometimes it just needs an update. 
 

In Conclusion

 
Many clients I take on tend to have a lopsided content strategy placing most of their focus on what comes easiest to them, rather than taking the time to understand how Google interprets and ranks web content. Utilizing the “4 Vs” outlined above will help you create a strategic content system to help your content perform well on Google and other spaces, while creating a better user experience at the same time. Everyone wins! 
Try it out and let me know how it works for you! I’d love to get your feedback!