While the importance of content marketing is now understood by most, there is often confusion about what type of content marketing to use. Content marketing today has moved from just textual content (such as blogs), to content in a wide variety of formats. The specific type of content you choose will depend on your objective and your target audience. Choosing the right content format that appeals to your target segment can become challenging. Below are the seven most popular types of content marketing that can be used by all businesses and brands.
1. Blogging
Blogging is great for improving SEO results and driving organic traffic to your website. A well-optimised blog can rank high for relevant searches, thereby improving your brand’s organic visibility. Keep in mind that the blog must be more informative and clear consumer doubts, and less about marketing your products and brand.
2. Videos and live streams
An increasing number of people prefer watching videos to reading blogs today, especially in vernacular languages. They are the best way to increase user engagement time with your brand. Conversion rates are also higher with videos, as most consumers prefer seeing the product and features in work before buying. YouTube, TikTok and Vimeo are some of the most popular video platforms today. YouTube is also the second biggest search engine after Google.
Live streams are basically events broadcast in real time. They can be about work in progress, or launch of a new product, explainers or tutorials.
3. Podcasts
According to PWC estimates, there are around 40 million, and growing, podcast listeners in India as of June 2019. This is a growing market with untapped potential for content marketing. Podcasts are convenient, and many tools allow you change the format from MP4 to MP3, so you can create both videos and podcasts from the same material. Some popular podcast platforms are: SoundCloud, HubHopper and Awaaz. The theme will depend upon your brand. You can even do podcasts centred on interviews with experts in your field to raise awareness and attract more listeners.
4. Interactive content
Surveys and quizzes are very engaging because they allow the user to fill in their preferences and enable you to create more data-driven content. Chatbots are also extremely useful as, instead of browsing the whole page for the specific information a user needs, they can just ask and get it right there. Calculators are also a type of interactive content that work very well. Users can just fill in data to calculate anything from the ideal budget for a house to healthcare and insurance concerns. For instance, Social Beat has developed a calculator for mfine that is used to calculate the BMI of children to assess their health. It gives parents the information they need and increases brand awareness and trust.
5. Infographics
Infographics can help explain complex concepts at a single glance. They are a valuable visual asset and can be used within blogs, on your social media platforms or on external sites to improve your backlink profile. You can also use interactive infographics that allow for more engagement.
6. Presentations
PowerPoints or Keynote Slides are a great way to share how-to information, or research and results. Posting a slideshow on Slideshare can help you rank for relevant searches. Slideshare has also been shown to be particularly effective for B2B companies. You can choose a relevant blog topic that can be converted into a slide format, instead of building content from scratch. This can, in turn, improve the performance of individual blogs.
7. Email marketing
Email marketing is a great way to retain customers by broadcasting new products and deals delivered to the recipient directly. Emails are a powerful way to engage with leads who have not yet converted and push them down the conversion funnel. Drip email marketing is a specific form of email marketing that is used for this purpose. In this technique, leads are categorised based on their interest levels and personalised content is delivered to them to cater to whichever stage of the purchase funnel they fall into.
With all of these, remember that regardless of the type, the actual content is what is most important. Good quality content that delivers value to your customers is the ultimate goal of any kind of content marketing.