If you have a website, you’re going to want to make damn sure it’s the best it can be in order for it to compete. Once you’ve thought through your digital strategy, done your web development, got your social media strategy together and primed your site with some top notch SEO to help it stay strong you’re ready to go.
These days, content marketing is increasingly important. But you shouldn’t be worried if you have a blog lined up that’s going to be pumping out great content regularly right? Wrong.
This might chill you to the very core, but content is not all about blogs. There are so many other types of content that you can make use of, and it’s much better to have a variety of content to make sure you reach a wider audience.
So what can you do?
A Quick Note On Blogs
Blogs are great, nobody’s knocking blogs here. But blogs have some limitations, and if you’re undertaking an awesome content marketing campaign you’ll want a little bit more than just a blog.
Of course, you shouldn’t do away with it. Keep creating consistent blog posts packed full of your content showcasing your expertise, but you should think about incorporating other types of content into your content strategy.
Guides & Case Studies
We give out free guides and we’ve put together case studies, so we don’t preach one thing and practice another here. Guides and case studies are great ways to diversify your content because;
- You can incorporate design elements in a very versatile way as opposed to a blog, which often have strict design limitations put in place by the CMS. This makes for a nice combination of visuals on the face of your content, and substance at the heart.
- Case studies are particularly good for increasing the amount of content on your site as well as showcasing your work to potential clients.
- Using PDF’s allows users to easily download these guides, share them and promote them to others. If they’re relevant you can also give them to clients to take care of any concerns they have or to explain something more easily.
- You show your wares: this means people will know you have the knowledge and have belief in the products or services you offer. By delivering something up front you show potential clients the value of your services, instead of just talking about it.
Infographics, Images & Memes
It’s all well and good providing stimulating content on an intellectual level, but many internet users will be turned right off by your essays – informative though they might be.
Internet users can be fickle and you need to dazzle them to catch their attention. By doing this you can lure them in to the denser content gradually instead of bombarding them with information right away.
Infographics, images and memes are beneficial because;
- They are able to catch the attention of the user a lot more easily, and draw users to other areas of your site.
- They are very shareable on Twitter, Reddit and other social bookmarking sites which extends the internet presence and social media reach of your brand.
- Infographics are particularly good at condensing complex subjects into a small space – without huge blocks of text.
Some sites such as The Oatmeal or Hyperbole And A Half are examples of sites that exist purely on this kind of content and are designed purely for entertainment – but you can use infographics, images and memes to educate or inform too.
Videos
There’s a reason why people can get lost and spend a whole afternoon on YouTube. It’s because videos are very easy learn from, be entertained by and share with others.
Videos aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, because they do require a certain set of expertise – but here’s why they’re great for diversifying your web content;
- You can combine them with facts and create an animated infographic or slideshow – which is great for putting across complex ideas easily.
- They can spark a user’s interest and make people think ‘What other videos do they have?’ They can then search out more of your work in a way that image-based content doesn’t achieve.
- They can become viral and are rapidly shareable. People are always looking for great new videos, no matter what their subject matter, and if you create a hit video that can generate huge exposure for your brand.
Check out this video for a good example of what I mean, this video explains the problems with First Past The Post Voting, quite a complex subject, in a very informative and engaging way.
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Spread Your Wings!
We all get comfy with the types of content we like to create, but it’s really worth diversifying so you can appeal to a wide range of audiences and earn a reputation as a content resource.
In other words, a place where people can go to find many different types of content about a subject that are all useful, engaging, entertaining or informative – and have real value to the user.
Make sure you check out the free ThoughtShift digital marketing guides and do take a look at our Case Studies, also check out my other contributions to the ThoughtShift Blog for more news and updates.
