If you’ve got a content marketing strategy that seems to be working well, it’s only natural that you’ll want to stick to it. Whether they’re consciously aware of it or not, many marketers end up focusing on content they like, find easy or are simply familiar with producing.
But diversifying your approach is important for keeping your audience engaged, and for attracting new customers. Audiences always want to see something new, and content fatigue is a very real thing.
There’s also the fact that your target audience, however tightly defined, is likely to have a vast range of different interests, wants, needs and personality types. You can address more of these needs with a greater variety of content types, including video and audio content to reach visual and auditory learners.
Let’s mix things up
So, how do you shake yourself out of a content rut, or at least open yourself up to more diverse strategy? Here are some tips to start thinking about…
Do a content audit – to see whether you can update, repurpose or reuse previous content
Content creation can be time and resource intensive, so a good option for smaller marketing teams is to reimagine content that performed well in the past. There are a huge number of ways to do this, but it all starts with identifying the content types and topics that your customers love. Here are some ideas from a recent Semrushchat:
Turn blog posts into videos or podcasts
Bring written content to life with visual aids such as infographics and videos
Break content into expert guides or FAQs aimed at different audiences
Harvest blog posts for snappy takeaways to send out in email marketing campaigns
Update your best-performing content with new statistics, information and insights (i.e. “the 2021 guide to…”)
Look into user-generated content
If you’re trying to appeal to your target audience, why not encourage user-generated content? UCG is not only aligned with your audience’s interests – as it actually comes from them – but it’s a great way to engage your customer base. And of course, it’s free. Examples of UCG include:
Bringing customer survey or review stats together in an infographic
Selecting positive reviews to use in social shares
Embed user videos or images on your website or share on your social platforms
Holding contents or giveaways, offering rewards for user submissions.
Crucially, you need to encourage, nurture and also monitor UCG in order to do it effectively. This means asking questions, crediting posts, showing appreciation and sharing content from your audience far and wide – as long as you have permission, of course. It’s all to make users feel part of your brand’s community.
Promote premium content upgrades
If you’re looking to grow your email list at the same time as diversifying your content strategy, consider using premium content upgrades. Just like lead magnets, these are exclusive pieces of content only accessible through email signup. This strategy could reinvigorate the interest of your core customer base, or through the sheer power of FOMO (fear of missing out) bring new audiences into the fold.
Does your content marketing strategy need a makeover? Get in touch with the experts at Nextgen Marketing by emailing hello@nextgen-marketing.co.uk or calling 020 8064 0221.
