We keep hearing the words ‘content is king’ – we hear it so often now that we’re actually starting to twitch at the mention of it. Some journalists have wrote posts stating that they’re in fear that online newspapers and reputable websites will soon be flooded by content that is secretly written for SEO purposes. So let’s get this clear, when we moved to content marketing we didn’t mean ‘start writing good articles and then link build with them’ we meant write something engaging, thoughtful, industry relevant and unique. Think like you are writing your own magazine, not an advertorial or keyword post. Remember, Google has always been telling us that we need to write for the reader, NOT for the Google bots.
Clever content will draw links naturally sure, but the primary purpose of excellent content is to draw in your target market, to engage them and have them share your articles and talk about your brand. Bloggers won’t always link to what you’ve wrote, but what is one link compared to a piece of content that brings you thousands of social shares, new fans and new blog readers. Great content should leave people thinking about your brand, not because you pushed your products in your content, but because you’re trustworthy, authoritive, interesting and helpful.
So with that said, here are 10 unique content ideas that will take you out of the comfort zone of advertorial articles, and in to the wonderful world of excellent content marketing:
1. A Day in the Life of…
Find someone interesting. It might be your managing director, a blogger, a designer or perhaps a model or an influencer. Choose a day when they’re doing something particularly interesting (or send them off on a tailor made interesting day) such as going to an event, a photoshoot, or meeting. Then, simply have them record the best and most interesting parts of their day either by video, Vine or Instagram. Post the photos or video on your blog with a sort of day diary entry written up.
You could even follow a day in the life of an animal or company mascot!
Just make sure you pick someone charasmatic and choose particullarly engaging bits of the day to highlight. (p.s. no-one really wants to watch your boss in an accounts meeting.)
2. Year / Month / Week in Review
If your company is up to a lot of interesting things make sure you take a photographic or video record of them, so you can combine all the content into one exciting post. Many fashion bloggers do posts featuring all their outfits from the past year or month. Perhaps if you’re a fashion company you could nominate one employee to do this, or if you’re a web development company you could record various stages of a website coming together.
3. Photo Tutorial
Forget a step by step write up – what good is a tutorial if you can’t see the different stages of progress? Take inspiration from sites like P.S I Made This and make a beautiful, shareable tutorial image or video.
4. Inspire Your Readers
The fact is, people come on the internet looking for ideas they can’t think of themselves sometimes, so get together in the office, brainstorm and come up with some creative ideas you can give to your readers. These might be unique date ideas for valentines, creative things to do on rainy days, or even blog post ideas like these!
5. Create Something
Whether it’s a recipe or a DIY craft, get out this weekend and create something exciting and photo document the process. Show readers of your blog what you did, and how you did it, and get some particularly pretty photos edited ready to share on Pinterest.
6. Document Something Offline
Online marketing isn’t exclusively online – sometimes something needs to happen in the real world and be documented online, and that makes it very shareable. Think about the Harlem Shake and how successful that was – or consider putting together a Flash Mob or a funny publicity stunt. Recently a charity let a man dressed as a superhero loose on a city centre to do good deeds, but they didn’t reveal it was their publicity stunt until it received plenty of online coverage and buzz. Ingenious.
7. Document an Event or Day Out
Similar to a day in the life, but less focused on one person. Get out and go to an event or place that interests and excites your target market and readers. Record as much as you can, take photos and interview people at the events or places, offer your own insight or response to an event or talk. Fun for you, and fun for everyone watching too.
8. Q+A or Live Interview
Thanks to the likes of Google Plus you can now offer your fans a live interview with someone. You could invite a blogger, celebrity or someone influential, or simply offer someone knowledgeable from your company. Set the agenda, and have people send in questions. If you offer something like law or financial services, you might offer an advice session where you share your expertise. This can later be embedded and transcribed on your site.
9. Write about Something Controversial
It’s a scary thought, because having the less popular opinion on the internet can invite a torrent of abuse – but if you can carefully turn people’s responses into a discussion instead of an argument, then you’re well on your way to an extremely popular post that will draw people in like a magnet.
10. Crowdsource your Posts
If you have a few readers or social followers then maybe you should consider asking them what they want to read. Give them options, for example, ask them to choose between three possible tutorials and vote for their favourite. You could even start a discussion on a topical issue through social media, then ask some of the responders if they’d like to contribute to a blog post.
Author: Kirstie
Courtesy: www.webtise.co.uk