There is really no doubt that creative content is essential to a web marketing campaign. Many businesses already maintain regular blogs as part of their marketing strategies and most are starting to lean more toward social integration. These can be very useful components of a strategic campaign; but if you are using the same kind of content over and over it is most likely just as boring to your audience as it has become to you. It’s important to note that there are a variety of content options available and by using a good mix you can keep your audience engaged and stimulated. It is important then to know about the major types of online content in order to diversify marketing efforts and successfully reach a diverse audience.
Article Content
This is perhaps the most widely used content used on today’s Web 2.0 platforms. Companies use informative articles to help consumers know more about their products or services. Articles are used in a wide variety of ways on websites and for many it has become the primary way to communicate with their followers or consumers.
Social Content
Social content may be the fastest growing type of online communication today. Through the use of social platforms consumers can be engaged, informed, and connected. It may be in the form of a tweet, a status update or a share; but well organized social content can be an effective strategy. Informative content can share brand expertise, useful tips or in some way give value to followers. Entertaining content can help make a brand more personable or give fresh ideas to consumers. Social content can not only be engaging for readers, but it can help achieve the perfect balance between reliable information, online reputation and brand recognition. In order to optimize social content it is essential to remember three main things: make it relevant to a brand, it should be visually attractive and it should be convenient for viewing.
Video
Videos can be a unique alternative to blogging and provide a level of engaging with consumers that cannot be attained by any other means. Video content offers visual and audio elements that many other kinds of content cannot provide. Through the use of this type of content it is possible to share more complex ideas as well as demonstrate processes or how actions can be performed. Organizations and businesses can provide consumers with engaging content and help build brand awareness. Videos can also be optimized for SEO purposes which further expand your reach and make you more visible to the search engines.
Blog Content
It might be easy to confuse blog content with articles, but there is a distinct difference. Articles are typically longer and can be up to around 1500 words, but blog posts generally average 500 to 600 words. Blogs are usually more engaging and can contain personal views or opinions. Blog entries can share a wide variety of information from tips or brief explanations. Blogging is a type of content which is easily shared across social networks which makes then an effective part of an SEO campaign. Blogs usually link back to a primary site and provide valuable backlinks that are seen as relevant and generic by search engines. One distinct difference in blogs and articles is that a well maintained blog will follow one topic whereas articles will cover a wide variety of topics. It is possible to incorporate other forms of content into a blog post and can be useful to use video content or images which are relevant to the blog post. Posts offer a more personal way to engage with consumers as when they are set up properly they allow for user input which causes them to be an extended form of social content as well.
