If you search for a specific topic on Google, you won’t be surprised to see thousands of blogs that are quite similar to each other popup on your screens. Even though all that content is considered useful, people have gotten bored with the same style. One question that has risen over the past few years is, how you can create content that stands out in the competitive industry of content marketing?
There are quite a few ways you can succeed in producing high-quality content and still manage to beat the competition. Take a look at our following tips to spice up your content marketing strategy.
Find a New Content Format
Are you only focused on publishing blogs on your website? If yes, no wonder you’ve felt the need to look for ways to improve your strategy. You need to explore other types of content and diversify your marketing technique. Start focusing on different types of content that can enhance your traffic and attract new prospects as well. Here are a few forms to start with.
1. Infographics
The purpose of this type of content is written in itself. Infographics primarily provide useful info or stats related to a specific topic in the form of a creative and attractive visual presentation.
2. Memes
This type of content is prevalent nowadays on social networks. It’s made in the form of a short video or image, with humorous text that can quickly go viral. Young internet users have a habit of sharing memes on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram every day.
3. How-to Guides
Google loves informative data, which means you can easily get ranked for it with the right use of keywords. Not only that, but your customers will also enjoy reading this type of content that can guide them to use a product properly or learn how to use a natural remedy for a particular purpose.
There are many more types of content you can utilize for your site, but start with these if you haven’t already. After that, you should look for more!
Ask Customers or Partners for Advice
It’s pretty standard to run out of ideas every now and then. However, you can save a lot of your precious time by merely asking your followers what they desire to read or see as your next piece of content. E.g., many websites provide recipes for various dishes, and they focus on comments and requests that they receive for the next type of recipe or how-to-cook video to publish. No harm in trying something like that!
You can efficiently use their ideas and experience to produce unique content. You can even use various types to display it like, videos, guest posts, reviews and much more. Insights from your loyal customers will always be beneficial for your business regardless of its size.
Another way to understand what your customers are looking for is by analyzing your FAQ content. Evaluate which questions are being viewed the most, and after that you can use that particular question to create a guidance video or how-to blog to engage with that particular segment of the audience. In addition, the comments you receive on your website, or the queries via live chat and email, can be used to upgrade your FAQ content to save the time of both parties.
Brainstorm with Other Departments
Teamwork is essential in every organization, and many new ideas can be generated if you involve other departments as well. We all know that it’s the marketing department’s duty to run an effective content marketing campaign. However, if you are short of ideas, there are many more people in your organization that can provide you with a useful piece of advice that can give you many new ways to carry forward your marketing campaign.
You can start by speaking to the customer service department. Customer service representatives directly engage with customers, so they are aware of what many potential prospects are looking for. They can inform you of what’s missing on your site that many visitors question about.
Next up, try taking into consideration someone from administration. You can ask them for an idea because their thought process is somewhat similar to a customer’s. The reason being is that they are unfamiliar with the marketing techniques you use and will suggest things they would want on a particular website.
Publish Timely Posts on News Topics or Reuse Your Own Content
The first thing all content marketers need to focus on is being active and alert. You always need to keep your eyes and ears open for the latest buzz in the market. Maintain a habit of watching the news and viewing content on trending topics. As soon as you think something important or viral has popped up, produce your very own content on that topic in any type you wish and publish it. You can’t afford to make late posts and get left behind in the race.
In addition, you also need to be consistent in publishing. Days will come when you may not have any hot topics to cover. Reuse your own content and transform it into another type to target other segments of your potential audience. E.g., if you have a how-to blog post, make a video out of it or host a webinar. If you miss posting something new for a while, you may lose loyal visitors, as well as your rank on top search engines.
Wrap Up
There’s no doubt that content marketing is currently the most effective strategy, in terms of performance and cost, that you can use in the online market. However, due to rising competition and awareness of this marketing tactic, it has become difficult to produce the right piece of content. You can change that by improving your content marketing strategy with our useful pointers.
