If content is key to your marketing strategy, then making sure that you diversify your content to keep the reader interested is essential. Do you get bored of reading weekly blogs that always follow the same format? Or social media posts that look similar to previous versions? If so, then your customers will too. Variety and dynamic content are what keep people interested and ultimately wanting to read more. In this blog we’ll explain a few ways to keep your customers engaged by diversifying your content.
Content marketing is an essential way for your business to communicate with the world, as it can both present your brand as an expert in your field and also create new business opportunities. Content marketing commonly covers all types of content, both written and visual. Written content ranges from blogs and newsletters to marketing emails and social media posts. Visual content could be photos posted on social media channels or infographics, i.e. information and data conveyed in a visual format.
Written content posted online is particularly important in your marketing efforts, as it allows you to capitalise on the benefits of free online advertising or search engine optimisation (SEO). Online content can be easily optimised by including keywords in written pieces and by including links to other relevant articles or pages on your website. The key thing is to make sure that your articles still read well and are not too full of obvious keywords and links, which can break up the flow for the reader.
Don’t stress too much about the volume of content you produce. The good news is that if you are generating written content, whether it be topical blogs or weekly social media posts, you are already benefiting your business by simply getting content out there. Regular content is important. However, diversifying the content you produce could increase your customer satisfaction and even boost your list of new clients rapidly. Variety is key in your content marketing strategy.
So, what do we mean by diversifying your content? Well, if you are known by customers for your weekly email newsletter, then why not try a blog? If you usually post content on Twitter, how about posting on Instagram? This will help with your diversification strategy. If you can get published to a variety of channels, particularly the newer platforms that you may never have tried, then you are showing your commitment to producing up-to-date information that is sure to reach a wider audience and perhaps a new demographic of customer.
As well as attracting new customers, varying the content channels you use keeps things interesting for your loyal customers who may begin to get bored if you always stick to the same formats. Using a variety of channels also allows you to find the right ‘home’ for different types of content. For example, short informative opinions about the latest development in your industry may sit well on Twitter. But if, for example, you have recently had a photographer take some top-notch photographs of your new product range, then why not post some of these images on Instagram – the place for visual content.
You can use analytics to see which formats and platforms your audiences respond to best. It is fairly simple to use basic analytics tools these days or you can ask an expert like your analytics manager (if you have one that is!) to measure which channels are performing the best. Alternatively, a great way to gauge the popularity and effectiveness of your content is to simply see how many likes, shares or comments your social posts get. Similarly with blogs and news articles, you can see how many comments you get to see if they’ve reached your target audience, and may be able to track views and clicks. Responding to comments is also a great way to start a conversation and boost your content volumes further.
Some other ideas for content diversification include launching a podcast that discusses industry trends and insights, hosting quarterly webinars for customers and prospects to learn and ask questions of your experts, designing downloadable reports and white papers, highlighting customer success stories via videos and written case studies and more.
In terms of content diversity, it is important to not repeat the same information too much. There is no point choosing a new channel for your content, if you are saying exactly the same thing. Content that is syndicated across social media channels sometimes works, but in general it is better to vary the words to suit the channel. Make sure you edit your content and perfect your words before you post. Also, choose new subjects. Just because you are an expert on one particular subject doesn’t mean you can’t be an expert on another!
If you are looking for a subject for your next blog or don’t know which direction to take your content marketing efforts next, then do some research. Look at what others are doing online. Research has the ability to make the difference in your content creation and diversification process. It allows you to learn more about trending topics, new content formats and perhaps most importantly, gives you an idea of what your competitors are doing with their content. Then you can do one better and become a respected thought leader and content creator within your industry!
So, we can see in terms of content that there are lots of benefits of diversification. If you would like advice on diversifying your brand’s content, Mulberry Marketing Communications has many years of content marketing experience and can guide you on the best direction for your content. Please feel free to contact us today to find out more.
Kate Fox is a Copywriter at Mulberry Marketing Communications, an award-winning full-service B2B communications agency based in London, Chicago and Melbourne. She has extensive experience creating written work that finds interesting ways to make B2B content, personal.