Interesting web content has been a guarantee of the attention and satisfaction of website visitors since the beginning of the Internet. Nevertheless, the motto “Content is King!” Even more so in recent years and has taken website optimization to the next level. In addition to text with real added value, modern content marketing offers numerous formats and opportunities to enrich your internet presence and convince visitors. Below you will learn more about five of the most critical content marketing formats.
What is the difference between content marketing and traditional online marketing?
Of course, content marketing also focuses on achieving maximum visibility on Google & Co. through top rankings. Here, greater attention is paid to the value of the information offered on a website than in previous years. Content in the sense of content is not only to be understood as texts but can also be made more valuable as instructions or tutorials, for example. Pictures, graphics, and other media elements also give websites higher information content and increase the prospect of more increased traffic.
In addition, the corporate website is not an isolated platform on the Internet. Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram make it possible to connect with customers and visitors via new channels. Convinced customers will be happy to voluntarily link high-quality content on their site so that an additional advertising effect is created simultaneously. Social media and the company blog also invite direct interaction and promote long-term customer loyalty. For all these positive effects, the content must be appealing and diverse, which can be achieved using various formats.
Graphics & Studies
Not every text on the Internet has to be like a scientific analysis. However, it is worth proving the added value of the statements made factually and objectively in many subject areas. Studies are ideal for this, some of which are provided as freely linkable documents from large research centers and educational institutions. It does not necessarily have to be the entire study; links or citing individual excerpts also add value to your content.
Graphic processing of study results makes sense so that your website visitors do not have to struggle through masses of text. Every web text should be loosened up with images, and even factual diagrams serve this purpose. Platforms such as Statista already offer prepared graphics and charts on various topics. Of course, unique content is created if you carry out the graphical processing of the data yourself. If you use the results of third-party studies, these must be cited as the source and linked.
A concise and eye-catching headline should be chosen for study results and graphics. Depending on the website’s character, it can also be more sensational to generate genuine interest. However, do not promise anything in the headline that the study or graphically presented afterward cannot prove.
Guest Article
The heyday of affiliate marketing is over when website operators form countless partnerships to exchange links. Modern content marketing offers another way to benefit from each other at a higher level. What is meant is the setting of guest articles, i.e., the conscious acquisition of external authors for the content of one’s website.
The principle of guest articles does not necessarily have to be based on reciprocity, but the article writer will want a particular benefit. Perhaps you will spend a few euros to convince a well-known person in your industry to write an article for you. The benefits of guest posting come at multiple levels and include, for example:
– additional linking by the author of the guest article – higher relevance of your website in terms of external impact – added value in terms of content through the guest author’s new perspectives – impression of severe and thematically diverse reporting
Incorporating guest articles into your company’s blog, possibly as a series with different authors, is ideal. The more renowned they are in the respective subject area, the better, but the willingness to write an article is likely to be more expensive. Even if you only run a small topic blog and can win other blog operators for articles, there will be added value in content marketing.
Videos
Videos are the best medium to convey content directly and vividly. Texts cannot be dispensed with, but embedding one or more videos has become a matter of course on modern websites. Integrating via your server is not recommended. Instead, refer to large platforms such as YouTube or Vimeo.
Since modern content marketing requires real added value, it is not about blindly linking any YouTube videos to increase traffic. Instead, check whether you want to put part of your advertising budget into your video production. Elaborately produced films do not have to come out of this; even simple interviews and reports will meet the expectations of many website visitors. A significant advantage of the video format is the easy possibility of linking, for example, via Facebook and Twitter. In addition to setting their links, your website visitors will voluntarily share the content if it is worthwhile and exciting.
Instructions
Whether manufacturing industry or service provider – many companies lack the idea for real added value around their offer. Looking at typical questions or problems from old and new customers should provide sufficient inspiration. Instead of an advertising product description, you can provide step-by-step instructions on using an item. The same applies to the use of a service from the first contact with your company to the processing of the service.
There are several valuable formats and media for instructions and tutorials. The primary forms include:
- textual description with pictures
- explanatory video
- Holding a live chat /stream
Which instruction format makes sense in an individual case depends on the product or service type. The same applies here: Linking via social networks is an excellent option and allows you to set a concise headline. This will suggest real value to viewers and invite them to link to share the helpful tutorial with friends and family. In terms of content marketing, please note that all information provided in the instructions corresponds to reality and that no excessive advertising effect is generated.
Podcasts
Podcasts are one of the most technically complex formats in content marketing, but they have a tremendous advertising impact. With a podcast, you can regularly reach loyal listeners interested in your website with all its products and topics. The format combines many advantages of the structures mentioned above and bundles them in multimedia form. Instead of guest articles, you can conduct interviews with expert guests, and in addition to the pure audio recording, the podcast can be made available afterward as a video.
A podcast requires the appropriate audio technology (optionally also video technology), and an initial investment cannot be avoided. Before doing this, check whether the format corresponds to your own company or web project. Ideas for a meaningful design of the podcast with various program items and interesting guests should be available so that the purchase of the appropriate equipment is worthwhile. If the selected format is exciting and has real added value, more and more listeners will be won weekly or monthly.
Conclusion On Modern Content Marketing
The five formats mentioned are not an exhaustive list of helpful content in modern content marketing. Clear lists, downloading small apps or e-books, or including personal test reports are also worth considering, depending on the type of company and website. Whichever format is chosen, every website operator should deal with contemporary content marketing. Not all of the formats mentioned need to be implemented here, but each consideration should increase added value and visitor interest. To develop a coherent campaign in content marketing, cooperation with a web agency that combines know-how and technical equipment for media production is recommended.
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