Since the onset of the pandemic, we’ve assisted clients in adapting their content marketing strategies to suit the current social environment. Even before COVID-19 hit us, user behaviour and expectations regarding brand-to-customer communication had changed. Now, due to the increase in eCommerce and general ‘pandemic frustration’, concise, laser-focused messaging to your target audience is no longer optional.

How, when, where and why you publish content must be based on informed, data-driven decisions. So, read this article to make sure your content marketing strategies are agile enough to adapt quickly to the current volatile socio-economic conditions. In short, is your business completely pandemic proof in 2021?

We’ve all experienced the scenario: After a sip of your morning coffee, you open your email and are greeted by a barrage of information that has no relevance nor offers any value to you. So, let’s get this right once and for all, sending content (in any format) that isn’t targeted to an audience and doesn’t provide value and relevance to a prospective customer, isn’t effective content marketing; it’s simply the dissemination of information that will likely be sent straight to trash.

The Content Marketing Institute states,

‘Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience – and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.’

Does your business have a defined, effective content marketing strategy in place? We will educate you about the most effective types of content marketing so that you can gain insight into the optimal ways to communicate with your target audience which will increase the potential for conversions, turning prospects into paying customers.

 

The different types of content and why you should use them

Today, the different types of content available aren’t mutually exclusive; they can (and should be) integrated to provide a beneficial customer experience.

 

• Blogs

Blogging seems to receive an increasingly lousy rap. Search ‘blogging is dead’, and you’ll find

a litany of articles claiming it’s become an archaic marketing method. Unfortunately, too many people focus on the term ‘blog’ without looking at it from a holistic perspective. The truth is that blogging as a concept isn’t dead, but the landscape has changed drastically, and an agile content marketing strategy is vital. With a few tweaks and expert guidance, blogs will drive traffic and generate quality leads.

Ways to Grow your blog

• Combine other platforms

Think about the last article you read. Unless you were looking for that specific topic,

chances are that you didn’t go directly to the company’s blog page to read the article. It’s more likely that you saw it on a social media platform such as Facebook or Twitter and clicked through to the relevant page.

Social media platforms are content sharing, relationship building juggernauts. So, if you haven’t already, set up your business pages on these popular platforms and post blog articles.

• Complement your blog with video content

Video has grown exponentially over the last few years. Look at some of your competitors’ websites, and you’re almost guaranteed to see video content promoting/discussing/demonstrating their products and/or services. This begs the question, ‘why has video content production become so popular?’ Three words: engagement and trust.

Video enables you to give users a peek ‘behind the curtain’ showing some of the core inner workings of your brand. It’s also much easier for users to find out more about who you are. By conveying your personality and values, users gain the all-important human element of your business, which will determine whether they can relate to you and ultimately foster trust.

Video blogs (known as vlogs) give your business the ability to deliver tailored, visual content to your audience. It’s a much more productive way for the creator to voice an opinion and/or insights. The primary goal is to communicate on a deeper, more personal level with an audience.

• Invest in copywriting

Copywriters specialise in writing relevant and valuable brand-appropriate content on various platforms such as blogs and social media to have a conversation with your target audience and, in turn, assisting in converting prospects into customers. There is no doubt that blogging is definitely NOT dead; it’s evolved.

• Videos

As mentioned above, the value of video marketing is growing at a phenomenal rate and is producing revenue growth for many businesses. It could be argued that one of the primary reasons for this growth is because it is easier to produce, cost-effective and can be posted on a plethora of social media platforms.

YouTube is the perennial video marketing platform, but features on other platforms such as Instagram Stories are gaining traction – some businesses are building their brand solely on this platform. The benefits of video marketing include

• Users share videos

Users who watch a video with content that they find appealing and valuable can easily share it with followers/fans/friends on various platforms, particularly Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

• Video ads are ideal for mobile devices

Users are more likely to watch short videos (around 30 seconds) to the end and therefore have context and a good understanding of what you’re advertising.

• A lot of info in a short time

Video advertising provides you with the opportunity to offer a vast amount of information in a short space of time.

Furthermore, through video, all of the services that are being discussed can be marketed effectively. This is a content marketing tool that will continually evolve, providing businesses with new, unique ways to engage with their audience. The claim can be substantiated by recent research conducted by Wyzowl that strongly suggests that video content for 2020 and beyond. The research found that

• Video remains a crucial priority for marketers.
• Marketers feel more optimistic about the return on investment offered by video than ever, as it continues to strongly influence traffic, leads, sales, and audience understanding.
• People watch significantly more videos than ever before.
• Consumers continue to use video as an integral part of their journey with brands and are excited to see even more video content in the year ahead.
• The research also found that ‘88% of video marketers reported that video gives them a positive return on investment (ROI)

 

• eBooks/How-to-guides

We’re not talking about electronic novels here. Instead, from a content marketing

perspective, eBooks and/or how-to- guides are known as long-form content. Long-form articles are suited for businesses that want to offer their audience in-depth insights into a particular topic that REALLY adds significant value to an audience.

Neil Patel, one of the top online marketers in the world, explains, “you should create long-form content because it will get you more of what you want: more online visibility (social shares, links), more proof of your authority and industry expertise, and more material for altruistic community building and engagement.’ We can’t emphasise the value of gaining authority in your industry. If your brand is revered as the go-to resource in highly competitive and saturated markets, you’ll

• Dominate Google search rankings.
• Have high visibility across all marketing channels.
• A massive digital footprint and a loyal customer base.

Patel also says that when thinking of a topic, it’s important to think about

• Keywords and search queries (What are people looking for?)
• Existing analytics (What content do you already have, maybe on your blog, that’s performing well?)
• Target audience (Who are you going after? What makes them tick? What do you know about them?)
• Competition (What else is out there? Can you beat it?)
• Remember, you may have a stunning piece of content, but if no one can find it, it may as well not exist. So, a sound SEO and content strategy need to be conceptualised before you start writing.

 

•  Infographics

An Infographic is a fun way to blend text and visuals into eye-catching content.

Furthermore, they are a quick, cost-effective way to break down a topic into easy to

understand chunks. For example, it will be much easier for consumers to recognise and relate to the content being offered via this medium if you want to present data.

A few more reasons why infographics should be part of your content marketing strategy

• Our brain processes visuals better than text

Nemanja Darijevic, Creative and Development Director of Pixel Road Designs, joined the renowned SEJ ThinkTank and provided the following facts.

• Our brains process images 60,000x faster than text. After three days, customers still retain 65% of visual stimuli versus just 10% of auditory stimuli.
• Consumers are 80% more willing to engage with content that includes relevant images.
• Content with relevant images earns 94% more views than content without images.
• Images are the most important deciding factor when making a purchase, according to 93% of consumers.

• Linkable and shareable

Infographics provide a valuable snapshot of the topic that is being discussed. They can also be linked to a more detailed article should the user want to delve further into the topic. In addition, infographics are also easily shareable through social media platforms. Interestingly, approximately 80% of marketers choose to use visual content for social media marketing.

• It can help increase sales

Infographics assist in increasing sales because a business can convey a lot of easily digestible, valuable information to potential buyers quickly. They’ll know within a few seconds whether or not they want to purchase your product.

• User-generated content

User-generated content (UGC) can be considered one of the most powerful marketing tools because it’s essentially an example of trust in your product/service. Crowdriff comments, ‘Boiled down to its essence, user-generated content is a vote of confidence. Your brand’s biggest fans are snapping photos, writing reviews, and publishing blog posts promoting your products or services — often without any prompting.’ The benefits of UGC include

• Putting your customers in the spotlight

When using content that your audience has produced for your brand, you’re letting them tell your brand’s story for you – they’re ambassadors for your business. Furthermore, it gives your customers a sense that they are being noticed and valued; you’ve succeeded in building a relationship with them – that’s marketing gold.

• The proof is in the eye of the consumer

There is no better way to prove that you have a fantastic product and/or service than by the consumer confirming it to the public. It verifies your vision, mission and values your brand represents and, in so doing, shows that you’ve stuck to your promises to the customers, strengthening credibility and authority.

• Consumers trust user-generated content

People trust UGC because it’s created by people who have actually used the product and/or service and are very happy with the result. The opinions are objective, meaning they are generally unbiased and genuine. Crowdriff explains that “People also trust user-generated visuals over any other type of content. The numbers speak for themselves: More than two-thirds (72%) of shoppers are influenced by Instagram photos of a product. User-generated videos on YouTube get 10x more views than branded content.”

 

• Conversion funnels

You may have heard of the terms: conversion funnel and lead magnet – what’s the

difference?

A lead magnet is a dedicated data-capturing marketing tool. Its purpose is to attract prospects by offering something for free such as an e-book, guide or discount on a future purchase. The key is that it has to be valuable enough for them to exchange their contact details for the offer. Once a prospect agrees to the terms and conditions, submits their details, they’re usually added to the respective business’s database. From there, they will often receive content such as newsletters or upcoming sales.

A conversion funnel (also known as a sales funnel) represents the route that a user can take on the path to purchase; the trail narrows as the user progresses through various stages. Prospects who have converted from the lead magnet are now in the database and added to the funnel’s first stage.

Should a prospect respond in a manner determined by custom criteria, they’ll move down to the next stage of the funnel and receive curated content to nudge them to the next stage. The aim is to move them along as smoothly as possible down the path to conversion (purchasing the product/service).

 

• Testimonials and Reviews

Testimonials and reviews are other types of user-generated content, and they can play a meaningful role in making or breaking your brand. The truth is that people want to know the thoughts of their fellow consumers. For example, you may be browsing for a product on an eCommerce platform, finding precisely what you want at a reasonable price, but if you see a slew of one-star reviews and unfavourable comments, it’s unlikely you’re going to make the purchase.

Big brands such as Nike purposefully use testimonials from top athletes to market their products; it adds an extra oomph of confidence that a prospective consumer may need.

The bottom line is that each of these different types of content marketing has specific powers to capture, generate, nurture qualified leads and retain customers. This plays a fundamental role in helping businesses achieve their desired objectives. If you’re not sure where to start, speak to a professional marketing consultancy that can recommend and implement all the above-mentioned content marketing instruments.