So often when businesses think of their content marketing strategy they are limited in what they believe content can be. They think of blogs, videos, and white papers mostly. Some companies also discuss podcasts, email newsletters, and images.
However, content marketing is more comprehensive than the standard examples. Below we discuss a number of different content types that deserve some additional sway in your content marketing mix.
Some of the ideas listed below will even give a pop to your current content creation. If you need help, ask a content marketing agency to help you with the right content marketing strategy.
6 Content Marketing Types to Consider
Infographics-A content marketing agency can help you build your traffic using Infographics. One of my favorite infographic marketers is Quick Sprout and Kissmetrics founder Neil Patel.
His infographics are legendary and built his companies traffic and authority with his widespread use of the strategy. According to a blog post of his in August this year, he stated infographics “47 infographics generated 2,512,596 visitors and 41,142 backlinks from 3,741 unique domains. They also generated 41,359 tweets and 20,859 likes.”
Any other questions about why infographics can help your business? Let me know in the comment area.
EBook- A close cousin to the white paper, EBooks certainly deserve their due. Over the years, few content forms have captured as many email leads as the mighty EBook.
It is not surprising why so many entrepreneurs continue to use this form of content marketing to build their list. It works!
Case Study- Another interesting form of content is the authority-building case study. Case studies provide insights into business decisions and ideas.
For example, the famous Harvard Case Studies are a collection of some of the best (and worst) business decisions in history.
The reason case studies like these work is because they tell a story about what could happen to your business in specific scenarios without having to s-p-e-l-l it out word for word.
The stories are a visual representation of the challenges many businesses face before using your services, and the case studies will answer their questions in a non-threatening manner.
Interview- If a case study does not sit right with your audience, maybe you will want to interview persons of interest to your audience.
The great thing about interviews is that this is a perfect medium to mix in with other forms of content. You can conduct the interview on Google Hangout or GoToWebinar, and then have a video of the entire webinar available afterwards.
You can then share the video on social media and transcribe the interview into a blog post or White Paper available for download.
Mobile Apps- While sometimes forgotten, mobile apps and software are forms of content. With the craze towards everything mobile over the past few years, this is the best time to jump on board this trend with a Mobile app. Mobile apps can be used for a wide variety of purposes.
Remember that some of the biggest companies in the world right now are using Mobile Apps to connect with clients.
Looking at my Android, I can check my bank account balance and activity from Bank of America and Chase, see how many stars I have on my StarBucks app, and then use my Geico app to pay my insurance bill and for proof of insurance for my car.
This is all content that directly converts into business for a company. With so much content now consumed on mobile devices, it is best to be proactive with content creation on this medium.
Surveys- Sometimes content helps you more than it helps the readers. A perfect example of this is the survey. Surveys should be no more than 5-10 minutes at most.
A good survey will ask for a few basic questions that help you understand how to improve your business, blog, or sales process.
They should provide some sort of insight that leaders need in order to help create more quality content in the future.
One thing to remember is that this is a listening tool. That means you should not respond defensively, and be prepared that not everyone will be 100% happy with everything you do.
User Generated- The final type of content is not so much a content type, but a suggestion. Sometimes the best content is user generated. For websites with an active user base, getting your core followers together to contribute to your website can be a blessing in disguise.
Every social network built the bulk of their business on user generated content. This means you have no excuse for not doing the same.
What is the best content for your business?
In the end, your business needs to determine which forms of content matters most to their audience. Test different strategies to see which content marketing types work best for your audience. Let us know what content type works best for your business by placing a comment in the section below.