For many different reasons, content marketing has taken the lead over its more traditional forms. With interruptive marketing losing some of its effectiveness, content marketing has become the preferred approach. The main reason for this is its ability to offer something of value to interested customers, on their terms. Traditional marketing also offers some information, of course. However, that information is exclusive to the product it is trying to sell.
Content marketing is now the avenue through which your business can reach your target audience and connect you to them more easily. The added benefit is getting to educate your customers about your products or services. This way, you drive traffic to your page while simultaneously establishing yourself as a leading voice and authority within your industry. Finally, content marketing also helps generate leads and encourage conversions. Through it, you provide potential customers with everything they need in order to make an informed purchase.
So starting a conversation with your potential customers holds many advantages. But where exactly do you begin? Our guide to different types of content marketing will help you find the approach that is the perfect fit for your business.
Social Media
According to wearesocial.com, 4.5 billion people use the internet now. Even more importantly, over 3.8 billion of them use different social media platforms. You will agree that this is a huge audience. Businesses have caught on and are investing in social media marketing strategies. If you want to make a brand people will recognize, social media content is the easy way to go.
Different social media platforms provide you with different options for content marketing.
There are so many platforms to choose from. While you want to be as present as possible, certain platforms will just work much better for you than others. Focus on the ones where you feel like you can produce quality content and where you know people come to find you. There are also different kinds of social media content you can create and share. Mostly they revolve around photos and live or pre-recorded videos.
It is important to retain the ethos of your brand across the different platforms you use. Make sure each post is engaging, in line with your message and provides your customers with something of use.
Infographics
Depending on your business, infographics can be a very useful type of content marketing. In one fell swoop, you get to create content, share information and data in a very clean way. Infographics allow you to make your message easy to take in and understand. Using simple phrasing and clear images while keeping it short and sweet are the hallmarks of a successful infographic. This approach to content marketing is particularly useful if you are struggling to simplify a complex topic your audience is curious about.
If you are just getting started and are struggling with the graphic design portion of it, you needn’t worry. There are plenty of templates online you can use. Templates can be great, because they basically take you by the hand and point you in the right direction. The most important thing to bear in mind is to keep it short, organized and, of course, in line with your brand.
Blogs
Blogs can also be a very useful type of content marketing. Their main advantage is that they provide you with an opportunity to create content for inbound marketing. Inbound marketing is a technique often utilized for content marketing. What inbound marketing does is draw customers in to products or services instead of the more traditional outward push of a brand or products. Through blogs, you get to reach your target audience and educate them about your business, product and services. Besides providing information, blogs are good ways of converting readers into customers. Finally, they help build a relationship and a community with your audience.
Blogs are a great opportunity for inbound marketing.
In order to use this content marketing strategy effectively, it is important that your blog is optimized for search engines and that its content is of quality. Topics you cover need to be engaging enough, but shouldn’t stray away from your own brand and services. Use links to link to your own services, other posts or your partners’ pages and products.
Podcasts
Mere five years ago, you would be hard pressed to find any mention of podcasts as a type of content marketing. However, a little podcast called Serial came out in late 2014 and turned millions of people into podcast listeners. Their popularity only increases as years go by, mainly because they are engaging, informative and convenient to listen to. According to Edison Research, 90 million people in the US listen to podcasts at least once a month. Among the reasons why podcast marketing is a smart investment is the fact that around 45 percent of podcast listeners have the annual household income of over $250,000.
Podcasts help raise brand awareness.
Creating a podcast for your brand has similar benefits to that of a blog. It helps raise brand awareness, create a community with your audience and promote your products, services or partners. As with the rest of your content, your podcast’s tone and topics have to correspond well with other types of content marketing you are using.
Videos
According to a 2020 report by wyzowl.com, 85 percent of businesses use video marketing as a tool and almost all of them plan to continue to do so. Here are the most common types of video content they produce:
- explainer videos
- presentation videos
- testimonial videos
- sales videos
- video ads.
Some of the benefits of this type of content marketing are boosting conversions, improving ROI and helping build a relationship with you target audience. You can share video across many different platforms and reach many different people. If it fits in with what you do, you can make an impact with video content that will set you apart from the competition.
Paid Ads
So far we have flaunted the benefits of permissive and inbound marketing throughout our guide to different types of content marketing. However, the effect of paid content and ads shouldn’t be discounted. What paid ads are good at doing is helping you reach a broader audience and placing you where you want to be seen. The most common and effective kinds of paid ads are those on social media or banners and sponsored content on websites.
As with most things in life, placing all of your eggs in one basket is not a great idea when it comes to content marketing either. The most successful campaigns will employ as many different types as possible and ensure they all work well together.
