6 Content Formats and the Secrets to Making Them Work for Your Brand

September 3, 2019

Content mockups on paper

6 Content Formats and the Secrets to Making Them Work for Your Brand

Content marketing can be a complex and challenging undertaking, with a diverse range of content formats at your disposal – from on-page and blog content to videos, infographics and more. A holistic content marketing strategy that draws on the strengths of each of these powerful formats is all but guaranteed to build an engaged following – but knowing where to start with content isn’t easy when faced with a proverbial blank canvas.

Our community engagement platform includes custom content-sharing functionality in the form of your own bespoke resource centre. Here, you can share your latest and greatest content and keep all eyes on your brand – but first, let’s dive into a handful of the most popular types of digital content and explore how you can make each of them work for your business.

Content mockups on paper
Photo by Hal Gatewood on Unsplash

Blog content

A staple of any content marketing strategy, blog content is the digitally inclined business owner’s bread and butter. Giving you a platform where you can share everything from hot-off-the-press industry insights to practical how-tos, buying guides and opinion-based thought leadership pieces, a company blog is the beating heart of a brand.

When it comes to creating blog content for your brand website, it’s crucial to find a balance between the ideas you want to share and the knowledge your customers want to gain – so make sure to avoid ‘echo chamber’ syndrome by using your blog content as a means of encouraging discussion and imparting genuine value, rather than aimlessly shouting into the void.

Video content

With a staggering 5 billion videos watched each day on YouTube alone, it’s safe to say video is a thriving content format with boundless potential for brands of all shapes and sizes. In a sea of competitive content, with brands galore vying for users’ attention, utilising creative formats such as this can help your content stand out instantly. With video marketers proven to achieve a 54% increase in brand awareness, the rewards of this dynamic format are undeniable.

As users’ attention spans continue to dwindle, catering to increasing demand for instant information is sure to pay dividends. After all, why should a user spend 15 minutes reading long-form content when they can obtain the same information from a 2-minute video? If your brand has a story to tell, focus on creating informational or instructional video content to allow your audience to digest this value-adding content in an engaging, multi-sensory format.

Infographics

While the debate rages on around the longevity of infographics as a viable content format, with infographics continuing to account for 37% of all visual content, it’s clear this type of digital content is still alive and well – and with good reason.

Infographics allow content to be presented in a more accessible, highly visual format compared with long-form written content – making it far easier for users to process large volumes of data-driven content. While stock images, gifs and memes can all be utilised to break up text and improve the aesthetic value of any given page or post, 40% of marketers find that original graphics drive more engagement than other types of content – making this a safe bet for any brand with unique data in their locker and design expertise at their disposal.

Email marketing

If you’ve got a mailing list at the ready, there’s no reason not to make your first foray into the rewarding world of email marketing. With everything from seasonal sales campaigns to sequential lead-nurturing emails and monthly newsletters on the table, there are options galore when it comes to email – not only as an engaging content format, but also as a legitimate conversion channel for your business.

With an irresistible subject line, an explicit opener and some engaging, value-adding body content, you can piece together email copy that’s destined to drive conversions (whatever they may constitute for your business). Timing is also key here – with optimum time windows for generating as many opens and clicks as possible – but with timing and content quality on your side, this could prove an effective and, indeed, lucrative type of content marketing for your brand.

On-page content

Creating optimised on-page content is one of the fundamentals of any successful content marketing strategy. From your website’s homepage to your product or service category pages, ensuring all content is in line with the latest industry best practices will leave your website in the best possible position to deliver a fulfilling user experience and perform competitively in organic search for related keywords.

Research valuable keywords that not only relate to your chosen sector, but are also searched in large volumes each month (illustrating ample demand from potential customers). With your keyword research complete, naturally optimise your on-page content for these search queries – subtly and logically integrating them into the body of your written content, and semantically optimising all surrounding content for maximum relevance.

Remember to stay on topic while providing as much detail as necessary to establish your page content as authoritative and informational – two characteristics championed by Google’s almighty algorithm. Be sure to include plenty of calls to action, too. This will not only help to create a powerful, conclusive user journey throughout your site, but also drive engagement by keeping the right kinds of users on your site for longer.

Case studies

Last but by no means least, case studies are one of the most powerful types of content available to B2B businesses, due to their ability to directly influence purchasing decisions. With all of your other content formats nailed, stories of your previous successes – particularly those backed by the right data – can give users the final nudge they need to take the leap and get in touch about their needs and how you might be able to meet them.

As with customer reviews and testimonials, data-driven case studies that evidence your success within your sector can contribute to your business’s perceived expertise, authority and trustworthiness (EAT) signals – all-important signals which are now among key criteria used by search engine raters to assess the overall strength of a website. By providing any and all content you can that reinforces your own expertise, authority and trustworthiness, you can make your brand a prime candidate for competitive search performance.

As you take that all-important first step towards content marketing supremacy, we’d love to join you on your journey. Our bespoke suite of community engagement software is able to perfectly complement any content marketing strategy – helping you begin to build a loyal and engaged following around your brand.

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