Different Types Of Content For Digital Marketing
The world of content is very vast and there’s plenty of room to get creative in the content you produce.
Podcasts
Podcasting is a great way to get social and meet new people. You can talk about latest issues in your industry, set up interviews with others in your industry group or even just chat about what you’ve done at work that is interesting. The maximum time limit for podcasts I’d recommend is 30 minutes and people aren’t likely to focus for that long, however, 10-15 minutes is the norm. Try and do one each week.
Chances are you will mess it up the first few times you record, but don’t let that set you back. Plan out what you’re going to say, even write it all down, but let it come naturally and don’t make yourself sound robotic. Keep it concise and to the point.
Tools:-
Audacity – for recording and editing your podcast
Podomatic and iTunes – Get your podcast out there so people can listen!
Fiverr – Create an awesome jingle for the beginning, in between conversations etc to split it up
Microblogging
By far one of my favourite things to do, tweeting! Treat your Twitter and Facebook status updates like a tiny blog. Useful, relevant information in bite-size pieces. Engage with people, tag them, start conversations. It’s the perfect way to get your name out there without the hassle of writing 300-600 words for a blog.
Microblogging offers real time communication with your audience and with your customer-base and isn’t something that will be going away particularly soon. The simplicity of it all is attractive and the ability to post frequently gives you more chance to get your name out there, people are so busy with their lives they often don’t have time to read full blogs.
Even though there are number limits on the characters you can use, don’t sacrifice your spelling as this looks unprofessional. Just write to consecutive posts. If people only catch ½ of it, they will look for the other half if it is interesting to them.
The benefit of this is that you can be there to help fill the bottomless void that is the Facebook news feed, and it costs nothing. All you need is to put your time into creating content to post on the page.
Tools:-
Blogging
Personally this is one of my favourite ways to produce content. I love blogging. It’s a great way to post an in-depth view on a subject, update people with what’s going on and one of my favourite things – teach other people what I know. I like to keep my blogs fun and light, I often use movie references at titles to make it easier to understand for other people or to catch attention.
Static websites don’t really attract new customers or a relevant audience, a blog does that. Google has yet again changed its algorithm, so you could have the best SEO person out there but if you’re not creating great content, you probably won’t be on the first page of Google for very long.
The more you blog, the more likely you are to be seen as an influencer or a thought leader on your particular subject. As you gain more of an audience you are more likely to get an interview with the people you look up to as rock stars or as a mentor in your industry. This in turn gets you more popularity, trust and credibility in the online world. Appearing as an expert in your field is one of the best ways to get people’s heads turning.
Photos
Social media is becoming very image based, most shared posts are of an image of some sort. Quite often, plain text posts are ignored simply because they aren’t eye-catching. You can use the popularity of images to your advantage.
Taking pictures of work you’ve carried out, whether you’re a baker, artist, web designer or fashionista there is always room for visual aid. As long as the images are relevant, it’s a no-brainer. When posting your blog on social media, put a photo with it as a snippet of what’s in it. This can be of an event, of your work, or if you have no photos, create a blog graphic! It’s easy to do and there is plenty of online software you can do this with. My favourite to use is Canva as it’s easy, it’s got exact dimensions for social media posts and more.
Tools:-
A camera or phone
Videos
There are lots of opportunities with videos, you don’t even need a camera to create a video. Animation tools are readily available for beginners, and I will list relevant tools below. Youtube alone has more than 4 billion videos views per day and is the second most popular search engine behind Google. 55% of people watch Youtube every day, 78% at least once a week and a whopping 94% of B2B customers watch online video. For some strange reason, online video adverts create the image of trust in a business, so it is well worthwhile doing.
Creating tutorials about your product or service is a great way to get more of an audience, again, it’s about delivering value to your potential customers. Documenting events can help people get engaged with your brand, especially if it’s an interview with somebody that others are interested in. It’s a lot easier to connect emotionally with your customers when you use video and sound to ensnare the senses.
If you aren’t using video in your digital marketing strategy, then you need to start. 70% of the top 100 search listings are videos and if you use video on social media then it improves organic search results as well as bringing in more traffic to your website
Tools:-
Camera/Smartphone
Studio lights
Imovie
Adobe Premier
eBooks/Whitepapers
Creating an eBook or white paper creates a greater perceived value of your content, and you can go a lot more in-depth in what you would usually write a blog about. It is also a way to build a brand image and following as well as giving the image of thought leadership. Spreading your expertise shouldn’t be something to be scared of doing, as transparency is often the best tool for marketing.
Not only are eBooks a great way of sharing your knowledge of your industry but you can also give it away for free in exchange for getting the readers information, which then you can add to your customer database.
Leads generated by eBooks are often of higher value as people are taking the time to look through your website and are clearly interested in your content, else they wouldn’t give away their information. This is turn helps you build a strong mailing list where you know that the readers will be interested in the content that you produce.
Tools:-