You’ve probably heard the buzz phrases “content is king” and “content marketing” over and over again in the past few months. If it wasn’t already obvious, content is the heart and soul to everything online. In 2014, content will also be the key to SEO. Everything we publish is content, from Instagram to blogs to Twitter. As a business, you can’t escape content if you want to stay ahead of the marketing curve.
Think of your content marketing plan as a hub and spoke model.
The center of the model (the hub) should be your website which contains the content that you create. The spokes are all the different ways you can distibute that content, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Email Marketing, contests, Pinterest and any other social networks you use. You use all the “spokes” to bring consumers back in to the hub, aka your website. Through your website, your content should give a call to action, eventually leading consumers to a sale.
So what makes for intriguing, shareable online content that will draw potential customers to your brand? Here are a few suggestions to set you apart from the competition:
- Negative Headlines. Don’t underestimate the power of a negative headline. Negative titles can work brilliantly for bringing in traffic. For example: 20 things you shouldn’t be sharing on Twitter. Sometimes, a negative headline will draw in more readers than a positive one.
- Reviews. I’m not talking about a single product or restaurant review, but put together a compilation of reviews in one blog. Maybe you’ve been researching what type of vacuum to buy. Review 10 different vacuums, include product screenshots and save people time from reviewing each one individually.
- Evergreen Content. Is your blog content as valuable one year down the road as it is today? You should have a mix of evergreen items and news topics on your blog so that it doesn’t date quickly. This way, you can repurpose your content or link back to previous blogs.
- How-To Information. Some of the most shared content topics on social media are how-to videos and tutorials. If you sell a product, create how-to instructions for using your product in real life scenarios or to solve everyday problems. You can even use a how-to video for customer service if a user has an issue. These are fairly simply to make but very effective.
- User-Generated Content. Do you sell a service or product that can change someone’s life? Have you customers create testimonials or short blogs about how your product has helped them and why others should buy it. User-generated content costs nothing to create…someone else is creating it for you! It also urges your customers to share it because it spotlights individuals, who will share with their online communities. Everyone loves getting their 15 minutes of fame.
If you need help creating valuable, quality content on your blog, contact us for help. What kind of content do you use on your blog that performs well?
