Today, everyone knows that content marketing is a key digital marketing practice that builds trust with audiences, positions brands as authoritative resources, and wins leads and sales.
To reap the full potential of this practice, you need to start creating content that delivers results. Otherwise, you are wasting your time, effort, and resources.
What you need to understand is that content marketing goes far beyond your blog. It incorporates different aspects of your digital strategy, including email marketing, guest blogging, social media marketing – any channels where you create and publish original content.
Logically, different digital channels, publications, and users have different preferences.
For example, to grab the attention of LinkedIn users, you will create a long-form, data-backed article. On Buzzfeed, you should publish detailed lists. On Instagram, you should share compelling and high-quality photos and animations.
These are just some of the numerous examples proving that, to get your content featured in various eminent publications, boost links and shares, and appeal to wider audiences, you need to diversify content strategy.
Here are a few powerful content formats you should publish on your online channels to diversify content strategy.
Videos
The demand for video content is growing. Statistics say that 87% of digital marketers use video content as a marketing tool, while 54% of users want to see more video content from brands. They include everything, from 5-second clips to lengthy explainer videos. Videos serve multiple purposes, from engaging and entertaining audiences to evoking emotions and educating people.
There are different video formats to use in your content strategy. For example, you could create explainer videos, company culture videos, webinars, tutorials, testimonials, behind-the-scenes videos, or product review videos.
Now, when it comes to creating video content, YouTube is the most obvious choice for most marketers. It provides access to wide and diverse audiences. However, you should optimize your YT videos properly to make them visible to the right people. Keep them to the point, add attention-grabbing CTAs, optimize for relevant keywords, and write a descriptive title. Keep them consistent, on-brand, and professional.
Apart from YouTube, there are many alternative channels to try out. For example, Vimeo is perfect for targeting narrower but more engaged audiences and creating highly targeted, add-free videos. Ephemeral live videos on Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram have been gaining momentum lately.
Infographics
Infographics are one of the most magnetic and engaging types of content, attracting loads of social shares and quality backlinks. Digital marketers love infographics because they give them the opportunity to present complex data and statistics in an engaging and aesthetically appealing way. They are a great way to educate your audiences, help them solve specific problems, and raise their brand awareness.
One such example is Domain.me that has been creating kickass infographics for years. They hire Infostarters to write and design on-brand, customized, and professional infographics for them. Each infographic includes custom animations and the brand’s logo. If you look, for example, at this infographic about vlogging, you will see the text is prominent, concise, and highly informative. It is supported by design elements, such as colors, typography, font sizes, and so forth.
Given the benefits of infographics, it is not surprising at all that 84% of digital marketers consider this content format highly effective. To get the most out of it, you should promote your infographic strategically via email and social networks. You could also use them to boost your link building efforts. Namely, there are many high-authority websites that are still eager to link back to quality infographics or feature them in their poss. You could also submit your infographics to infographic submission websites.
Podcasts
Research says that there are over 700,000 active podcasts in more than 100 languages. Moreover, 70% of the U.S. population is familiar with podcasts, while half of them have listened to a podcast.
Podcasts have become one of the most popular content forms over the past few years for a simple reason – they are a highly engaging and convenient way of acquiring information. Unlike videos or text-based content that require most of the users’ attention, podcasts can be consumed while on the go.
Another great benefit of podcasts is that they are a powerful technique of repurposing content. For instance, if you have written a detailed guide or an informative article, you could easily turn it into a podcast episode to attract wider audiences. The same applies to video content, original research, etc.
There are numerous ways to use podcasts to maximize your exposure and boost website traffic. For starters, there are many directories where you can list your podcasts and enhance your reach. You should also invite guest speakers and get them to promote your podcast episode with their audiences.
Interviews
Interviews are an amazing way to increase your industry authority and tap into a new audience. You invite a credible person in the same industry and discuss trending industry topics with them.
Apart from helping you present yourself as a credible online resource, interviews will also boost your reach. Namely, once the interview is live, you should reach out to the person you interviewed and ask them to link back to your blog post on their website and promote it on their online channels. This way, you will get yourself noticed by their followers and boost website traffic.
Case Studies
In today’s highly competitive digital marketing landscape, social proof remains one of the most significant methods of gaining industry authority and maximizing conversions. Social proof is a theory that people conform to the actions and opinions of the masses.
Online users will resort to your website and social networks to learn more about your existing customers and their experiences. Seeing that many people are already buying from you and that they are satisfied, they will convert faster.
And, this is exactly where creating case studies can help. Namely, the main purpose of case studies is to show your customer’s specific problem and explain how your products or services helped them.
Quizzes and Polls
People love quizzes because they let them reveal something “new” about themselves. They take them for fun and often share results with their followers. For you, this is a chance to boost your online exposure, boost social shares, and generate more leads. Above all, quizzes and polls are an amazing way to gather customer feedback.
Many brands are using quizzes to increase conversions, as well. For instance, Sephora’s quizzes ask online users simple questions about their needs and beauty routines and, based on their answers, recommend the right product for them. You could insert a convincing CTA button and automatically point a customer to the product URL and inspire them to finalize the purchase.
Polls let you learn more about your audiences’ preferences, needs, and problems. Above all, they will increase users’ engagement by making them curious about the poll results.
Social Media
For example, to grab the attention of LinkedIn users, you will create a long-form, data-backed article. On Buzzfeed, you should publish detailed lists. On Instagram, you should share compelling and high-quality photos, design Instagram stories and animations.
Conclusions
This is by no means an ultimate list of content types you could use in your content strategy. These are just some of the numerous ways to diversify your online content. their help, you will manage to boost your industry credibility, brand awareness, website traffic, leads, and user engagement.
Remember that there is no uniform content creation strategy to apply. Depending on the channels you use, your industry, and your target audience, experiment with different content formats. Above all, test the performance of your content to see what works for you the best.
Read More: 10 Elements of a Successful Content Marketing “Engine”