By Laia Cardona, on 3 January 2018
Whether your looking to generate leads for your blog, your web, or other forms of online presence, content marketing is right up your ally.
Like most good things, content marketing results take time, it’s a long-term strategy. You’ll have to work on your content offering to make it varied, interesting and attractive. So in this article I want to share with you 10 Search Engine Journal ideas to create effective content.
Content marketing: 10 content types that attract users
1) Expert surveys
If you want to offer a complete and varied perspective on a topic, ask experts what they think and collect their comments in an article.
To start, content professionals have previously contributed to. If they’re active in the field it’s a good indicator that they’ll be open and motivated to collaborating with you too! To collect opinions, the easiest way is to send them a survey through Google forms or Typeform.
2) Webinars
This type of content not only works wonders to increase visits, but also can bring you very interesting leads and help you establish relationships with the influencers of your sector.
To organize a webinar, you need to have specific software such as Hangout, Youtube, Adobe Connect, GoToWebinar or Webinarjam. Run some tests before the event so when you’re ready for ‘action’ there’s no room for unwanted surprises.
Although you can organize the webinar on your own, it is always a good idea to have some expert input in your sector to attract more visits. Don't forget to follow up the event with an article post that includes the transcript.
3) Podcasts
Podcasts are trending-to create a good podcast you have to go with an approach that fits your brand values. Select a series of themes that give room to produce content on a regular basis. Once again, having expert guests will help you add value to your audience.
4) Email series
Email marketing is more alive than ever. We know that we have to send welcome emails and confirmation and offer discounts and promotions. But when it comes to integrating email marketing into content marketing, few go beyond submitting a newsletter from time to time.
To take better advantage of this tool, consider to make a series of emails around a topic that contribute interesting content to your subscribers. Each email must add value by itself, but you can also link it to your website to expand the content and thus increase visits.
5) Ebooks
Ebooks are one of the most common and most effective resources in content marketing. They are usually used as bait to get leads.
Ebooks are a great resource for recycling content. For example, you can take the series of emails that we mentioned in the previous section, develop the ideas more thoroughly, add collaborations with experts, images and an intuitive layout all in the form of ebook.
6) Interviews
Interviews are a great opportunity to create content in an affordable manner while establishing relationships with influencers. Interview headlines or descriptors are game-changing, choose the most powerful quotes to promote the content and turn the questions around so that they’re open and leave room for imagination.
7) Opinions
Life is saturated with choices. We have so many options that we often have a hard time deciding. From the which ice-cream flavor to the details of our marketing strategy, it is impossible to keep up to date with all the choices.
That's why users value the opinions of experienced people more and more. Take advantage of this trend in your content by posting opinion articles and recommendations from the expert hand.
8) Lists
Lists never fail, especially when they solve a particular problem. For your lists to work, you have to make sure they are up to date. Try to choose only tools that you have tried yourself, or ask for an expert’s opinion. For each recommended solution, make a short list of the pros, cons and what you can bring to the reader.
9) Studies
Studies are a great way to bring value to your audience, both short and long term, and get other sites to publish links to your pages. In addition, publishing your own studies or insights will reinforce your position as an expert.
For your study to succeed, seeks to answer the most pressing questions in your industry and be as objective as possible. You can rely on data sources that already exist, do your own surveys or combine both methods.
Make it one step easier for your audience to share this content by processing your data into easily digestable infographics. Graphics are still a great revelation when sharing information. They are the perfect tool to make your users aware of interesting facts about your product or service, and synthesize information making it visual, accessible ... and shareable. As more and more brands that are committed to them, creativity is key to making yours stand out.
10) Guest posts
Guest posts where you get a guest author to publish in your blog can be very useful to increase the visits to your blog or Web. But do not fall into the temptation to believe that this strategy is the way of getting others to do the work for you: You will have to find the right collaborators, convince them to work with you, review their contents, search for images, optimize the SEO... As I'm sure you know, writing an article is just the beginning.
Content marketing shareability keys
Most content marketing has one thing in common: it turns to expert collaborators to create or enrich contents. Being in contact with other influencers in your sector is very valuable to create quality content. Investing time and effort into quality content is worth the quality outcomes.
A final note on content - it's design can be a make or break factor for whether your audience will share the content. You know the saying: a picture is worth a thousand words ... and in digital advertising, it is truer than ever. Pinterest or Instagram have the close-up photos, so look for only the best for your brand. No matter if it is coming from an image bank, a professional photographer or an amateur, but they must be striking, powerful and able to represent the values of your brand.
Taking your content shareabilty to the next level would involve video. Video has more and more acceptance among the Internet, even from mobile devices. Take this opportunity to invest in action videos to pick up the message and the essence of your brand. The more short and direct, the more likely that users see the entire clip and encourage them to share.
Humor always triumphs, and digital advertising is no exception. Who does not like to look at their social networks in the middle of the day and laugh out loud? Therefore, memes, funny pictures, humorous videos and GIFs are a safe bet in your online marketing campaigns. Just do not forget that the content must always be in line with your brand.
And remember, besides the type of content and creativity, if you want your content to succeed in social networks it is essential to find the best times to publish and avoid idle time.
