3 Forms of Content Marketing that Go Above and Beyond the Standards

Content Marketing is popular these days; here’s how to utilize it

Content marketing is seen all about the Internet, throughout an array of industries. Its inherent nature works perfectly online because content can be easily shared in a variety of ways through different mediums.

Content marketing budgets are expected to increase within the next year, according to a study by MarketingProfs and Junta42. That seems to be the statistical data that proves the expansion and growth in popularity behind content marketing.

We at Mequoda Group see the benefits of content marketing. It has helped our clients build email lists and develop long-lasting relationships.

We have also seen it help organic marketing results by incorporating search engine optimized content into the pieces.

But what happens when you are producing so much content that you get burnt out on the creation? The study also showed that 36% of marketers have the challenge of producing engaging content while 21% face the challenge of producing enough content.

The following three forms of content can be used as a starting point when the process of creating becomes overwhelming or stale. These types of content are sure to get a response from your audience, assuming they are truly interested in your topics and feel connected to your organization.

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Three types of content for content marketing

Story Telling – Don’t just present your content, tell a story with it. Give characters in the story names so that they are easily recognized and can be related to. Appeal to your audience’s sense of wonder and try to use literary elements that help paint pictures beautifully to your mind’s eye.

Creative content is engaging. Be sure to speak directly to your audience’s emotional state in order to drive your message home.

User-Generated Content – Websites that allow user-generated content receive a lot of traffic, have tightly-knit communities and a ton of pages that aid in organic marketing efforts.

Although user-generated content is valuable, some companies are worried about what will specifically be said in such content. Companies that provide great content and experiences shouldn’t worry too much, but if you still do, here’s a thought on how to get positive user-generated content: Specifically ask your audience a question on their favorite item relating to your company. For instance, in you were an online music store, you could ask your audience to write about their favorite album of the their favorite all-time band. Asking questions allows people to talk about themselves while the organization itself can receive insightful perspective.

Link Reviews – Do you often scour other blogs for information related to your industry? I assume all of you who are thought leaders do so. Giving credit where credit is due to others residing in your industry helps to show your credibility as a news source while it builds content for your website and possible relationships with competitors.

To create a link review: write an engaging headline, add some commentary and insight to your post and include a link to the original article. If your link review is optimized with your keywords, make sure it’s over 300 words in length to increase your odds of having it get ranked by Google.

An additional strategy for content marketing

Do not hesitate to repurpose and republish your content through different mediums. For instance, if you have a dozen free reports on interesting topics, take some of that information and create an audio or video podcast with it.

Using the different medium may bring in new audience members who strictly prefer it. Promoting and sharing media-rich content may also resonate with your audience more, and inspire them to share the content on your behalf because they see the value in it.

For more on content marketing, join Don and Kim in Miami, Denver, San Francisco or Boston for our live Content Marketing 2010 Seminars.