I have been working alongside the brilliant marketing director Chrissie Owens as a content consultant on the Get into Golf project. I began working on the project in 2013 when there was little known about the benefits of golf on health, wellbeing and as a rehabilitation therapy. Now, in 2016, it’s taken as a given that the sport is good for you. Indeed, MPs were recently briefed on how taking up golf can improve your health.
The Get into Golf (GIG) project has increased awareness exponentially and the click through and registration data show it has been an incredible success. This project has shown clearly that it’s all about ‘content’. Content marketing works. Here’s how…
# Social media has been crucial for bringing people to the project. You need quality content for people to engage. They won’t simply click on an advertising message but need to be entertained or informed.
# The power of case studies. We’ve spent years tracking down case studies of people who have reaped the benefits of golf, such as the man who lost dramatic amounts of weight by playing golf. It all starts with an interview to find out what they have to say. This then becomes strong content that can be tweeted, written on a blog and ultimately even turned into a youtube clip. These are hosted on the GIG website under the ‘inspiring stories’ section.
# Good content – or strong, newsworthy stories – will be clicked on, followed up, retweeted, reposted and even make the basis of press releases. It all starts with a story.
# Words are important. We started in 2013 with longer blog posts but have gradually found that shorter ones – often with bullet points work best.
# Images are also important. Content also means images and good pix will increase engagement. People seem to engage most with smiling, happy golfers playing outside in the sunshine.