Content Marketing Strategy Pro Tip

Content marketing isn’t just about creating content – it’s about providing the right content for the right people. Your audience will need something different than someone else’s niche, and understanding not only what they need, but also what they will respond best to, gives you a major advantage in creating the most efficient, effective content marketing strategy possible.

What Types of Content Does Your Audience Want to Read?

Spreading the word about your business through content is vital for engaging with customers and driving conversions. There are dozens of different types of content, and each one may have a different impact on the people you want to reach. How can you truly get to know your audience? What types of content should you focus on?

Decide on a Hook

In broad terms, there are two types of content; emotional and informative.

Emotional Content

Two professors who conducted research on content’s shareability found that “two features predictably determined an article’s success: how positive its message was and how much it excited its reader. Articles that evoked some emotion did better than those that evoked none.”

Content that aroused high levels of anger or anxiety also did well.

Based on your audience personas, choose which emotions you want your content to arouse. Do you want to make viewers laugh? Cry? Celebrate? Beat a wall in frustration?

Use a specific emotion as the focal point for creating content. However, when you choose to play on negative emotions, make sure you provide a clear target for those bad feelings that is outside your company or business.

More often than not, people take action based on emotion. And in the world of online business, we are all trying to get people to take action. That could be the action of following your blog, buying your product, sharing your content, or even signing a petition.

Figuring out what action you want your reader to take and which emotion will best encourage that action can help to inform what content you create.

Informative Content

For knowledge-heavy content to make an impact, it should not only be informative, but also interesting and relevant.

You’re an expert in your industry, so you should have no trouble creating informative content. To be interesting, however, you have to pay attention to the tone of the content and the supporting facts you use.

Take a conversational approach that won’t overwhelm the average reader. Use statistics, anecdotes, and simple comparisons to keep things lively.

You also must ensure that your content is relevant. Will it help your readers address an issue they are facing? Does it relate to current events? Will it help draw people to your business?

Pay Attention to Form

Blog posts and articles are common forms of content, but they only scratch the surface of an engaging content strategy. You may also want to create:

Infographics — Infographics are colorful, visually engaging, and informative. They take data and put it into an easy-to-digest format.
Videos — Every day, YouTube viewers watch hundreds of millions of hours of videos.
Memes — Memes are mostly for when you want to make your audience smile; they’re great for showing your connection with pop culture.
Book reviews — Read literature that relates to your industry and share your opinion on it. Sometimes, you may even be able to use fiction to promote your ideas and brand.
How-to posts — Whether it is a video, an illustrated guide, or an audio recording, how-to posts can show your audience that you truly want them to benefit from your content.
Lists — Lists are easy to scan, and they provide highly shareable information and opinions.