Written By : Jordan Beaumont
Posted 01/11/2022Content marketing is the creation and sharing of online material with the purpose of garnering interest in your brand or company by creating an authentic connection. This means creating content that taps into people’s interests, pain points and needs - all without explicitly promoting your products.
Through content marketing, it’s possible to build trust within communities as well as your online presence. But with so many different content types out there, it’s hard to know which ones to include in your company’s content strategy. A great approach is to test the waters and see what works for you, and the most important thing to bear in mind is that you need to deliver something engaging and value-driven.
If you need some inspiration, here are the types of content marketing to consider:
When it comes to deciding between the many content types, blogs are a brilliant go-to option for businesses of all sizes. Blogs come in all lengths and cover a whole variety of topics. They can also be entertaining and slightly jovial in nature, or they can be highly informative and provide tips and advice to the reader.
Posting regular content like blogs can be great for website SEO, indicating to Google that you are creating fresh content on a frequent basis and attracting traffic to your site.
Just like blogs, longer-form articles can form an important part of your content marketing strategy. By creating and promoting instructive, problem-solving content, you can position your brand and website as a knowledgeable online resource.
In-depth guides are also ideal for explaining the benefits of more technical products or solutions and can be useful for B2B sectors.
Visual content is easy to digest and things like infographics are shareable too, making them a good addition to your content strategy. If you have a highly technical product/service or you want to share stats and figures about a certain topic, an infographic is a good way to display your content.
Not only can infographics be embedded into blog posts, but they can be shared across social media and other platforms.
Using case studies is the perfect way to connect with your audience when they need examples of success. By showcasing case studies with the most positive outcomes, you can solve pain points, build trust and increase authenticity.
This is great for developing your reputation in a crowded space and can help to nurture prospects down the funnel when they’re comparing different brands or companies.
If you’re looking for an easy way to repurpose existing content, eBooks are one of the best types of content marketing to try. If you have a series of long-form articles, why not turn them into a downloadable book in exchange for customer details?
While privacy is a growing concern for consumers, research tells us that most people are willing to share their personal data if they feel like they are getting something in return. So eBooks make the ideal content type for gated downloads.
This is one of the breakout trends of content marketing, and people are watching more videos than ever before – with video content consumption doubling since 2018. Furthermore, 86% of businesses have used video as a marketing tool in 2022 so far, and this is only predicted to grow.
Videos can provide a quick and convenient way for website visitors to gather information. They are also shareable across social media, and they can be edited in multiple different ways to give you longer and shorter video formats for use on different platforms.
Interactive content types are the ones that require active participation from the user. This type of content is brilliant for engagement and can be fun and entertaining while also providing a purpose.
From fashion quizzes and healthcare/diet/lifestyle quizzes to online calculators, there are so many ways you can make your content engaging.
Marketing content on social media demands its own strategy. Choose the networks you want to connect with your audience on, create a content calendar and test engagement based on what you post.
You can also use social as a tool to promote your blog posts, articles, infographics, videos and other types of content. It’s also a good idea to mix up static posts with live feed posting – this will widen your reach and give you ways to connect with people at different times of day.
Working with influencers to create content can be one of the most complex types of content marketing because it involves a third party. This can be difficult to manage, but with a strategy and the right approach, brands can create strong relationships with bloggers, Instagram influencers, YouTubers and TikTok creators.
If you want to include influencers in your content marketing strategy, be sure to thoroughly research your influencers, choose quality over quantity, remain authentic and allow creative freedom.
Reviews or testimonials are a form of user-generated content (UGC) – one of the best types of content marketing for small, growing brands that are still building their reputation. Include UGC in your content strategy if you want to encourage positive word-of-mouth marketing and you want to bolster your credibility and trustworthiness.
Just make sure you ask for a testimonial immediately after a customer has had a positive experience with you, as this is when it’s fresh in their mind and they are more likely to say yes.
At Identify Digital, we can help you plan, produce and deliver a range of content types to get your business seen by the right people. As a leading digital marketing and content agency, we are dedicated to supporting businesses of all sizes in their digital transformation journey, and having a strategy for content sits at the heart of this. Get in touch to find out more about our content creation services.
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