How to Find Content Marketing Ideas?
Content is one of the key marketing elements. The term refers not only to texts but also to graphics, videos, podcasts, audiobooks, multimedia slideshows and many more. Their quality determines the effectiveness of performed activities. So what does actually content marketing mean? How does it work and where to find inspiration?
Briefly about content marketing
The vast majority of websites exist to sell products or services and advertising is one of the most popular methods that enable doing it successfully. However, the message frequently doesn’t reach users because of solutions such as pop-up blockers or even contextual ads. Many people avoid banners or creatives separating subsequent text paragraphs.
It turns out that a significant number of users don’t trust online ads and prefer personalized messages tailored to their expectations. When it comes to types of online advertisements informing about products or services accepted by users, social media are ranked the highest. On the other hand, pop-up windows are the least favored form of communication.
Companies should get acquainted with content marketing due to the fact that users ignore many forms of ads or even get deterred from a given brand because of the ads. It’s not only about the creation of valuable content but also about its distribution, increased interest, and engagement of the recipients. The content itself won’t bring you any benefits – it needs to appeal to users and make it easier for them to get to know your brand. The greatest advantages of such activities include the possibilities of:
- Attracting audience attention,
- Increasing website traffic,
- Acquiring new customers,
- Building brand image,
- Improving brand awareness,
- Refining communication with the company.
Let’s assume that you wrote an appealing ebook. However, even if it’s the finest content ever created, it doesn’t really matter if you don’t reach recipients. At this point, it’s about proper content distribution. For this purpose, you can use your website, newsletter, Facebook fan page or other social media profiles. It’s important to make sure that materials reach as many Internet users potentially interested in your offer as possible. Thanks to sharing, valuable content can reach a wide range of users.
The campaign organized by Coca-Cola is the finest example of proper content marketing. The company launched bottles with labels with various names. The analysis of the “Share the Joy” campaign conducted by Brand24 and Biztok shows that the number of interactions with the content amounted to nearly 30 million in the analyzed period!
Content marketing – where to find inspiration?
As you can see, content marketing is all about creativity. It’s hard to estimate in advance the results of marketing activities, however, it’s likely that they’ll help you attract a huge part of your target group at a considerably cheaper price when compared to other marketing steps. The question is: how to find content marketing inspiration?
- Inquiries and comments from customers and users – if Internet users send you questions about a given topic or write them in comments to articles, perhaps it would be beneficial to prepare content satisfying their needs. The mere fact that you’re willing to provide a material expected by users can make them share or link it and they’ll certainly appreciate that you resolved their doubts.
- Your own content – regardless of the type of content you create (videos, texts, graphics), analyze its popularity. Maybe you’ll notice some trends? If a given piece of content enjoys popularity, perhaps it’s worth creating thematically related materials. Check out the example below.
- Take advantage of your popular posts – have you written a long article that’s captivating, elaborates on the subject and attracts users’ attention? Benefit from the potential of this content – create e.g. a graphic summarizing the most important information found in the article. This way, you’ll reach users who don’t have time to read extensive entries and such a graphic is a solution that may convince them to spend some time reading the text. Moreover, graphic content is frequently shared by social media users.
- Benefit from keyword analysis tools – it’s another quality answer to the question “where to search for content marketing inspiration?”. You can take advantage of numerous solutions that will give you insight into the needs of Google users. Based on it, you can prepare quality content. Creating content that is more outstanding than the one available online should be your objective. Senuto, Semstorm, Answer The Public and Ubersuggest are tools you can use to select appropriate phrases. Find out how many people a month search for a particular keyword. Being able to create valuable texts translates into higher user engagement and a possibility to reach your target group.
- Analytics – Google Analytics is another source of content marketing inspiration. How to obtain valuable information? Things that users search for on your website definitely matter. If you see that there are numerous queries related to similar content, prepare a top-notch text about it. Enter the “behavior” and “site search” tabs. However, to access the data, you have to provide all the crucial information. To discover how to do it, check out our blog post on how to improve your e-commerce site search. Analyze what type of your website content enjoys the greatest popularity. If you see that your WordPress tutorial for beginners is popular and shared on social media, create similar content for intermediate or advanced users as well.
- Comment on current events – content that comments on the current state of affairs can be a great way to attract the attention of your audience. Almost every industry makes it possible to create content related to ongoing trends. Maybe an important event is just around the corner or regulations that can cause havoc are coming into force? Prepare content related to such issues.
- Websites of your market rivals – be careful, it’s not about copying content from other sites. Admittedly, you’re able to create even more quality material, show your creativity and prepare something unique. Sometimes, offering content in a different form can bring the desired results. Let’s assume that your market rival prepared a PDF and you can create an audiobook. This way, you can reach recipients who don’t have time to read elaborate content but frequently drive a car and are willing to listen to your recording.
- Google’s search suggestions – when you start typing a given query into Google, you immediately see suggestions of phrases you might be looking for. Once you search for particular keywords, you’ll see other forms of queries at the bottom of the results. Perhaps it’ll inspire you to create appealing content.
- Webinars and conferences – right now, this form enjoys great popularity. Such meetings are highly convenient as you don’t need to travel far. During video conferences, you can find out what is currently trending and what ways of content presentation are popular. Remember that offering something that can’t be found anywhere else is the finest way to reach Internet users. If people want to dispel doubts and are able to do it on your website, they’ll certainly appreciate it.
- Facebook groups, forums, and other places where your target group discusses – find out what users ask about the most frequently. A given topic is controversial, evokes various emotions and there aren’t any expert comments? Take advantage of the situation and prepare, e.g., a slideshow. Note that introductory posts on FB groups usually include answers to frequently asked questions and links to valuable sources of information. Maybe a link to your content will also be provided there?
- Slideshare – here, you can find top-quality slideshows on various industries. Go through materials related to your business. Surely, they can inspire you to create appealing content.
- Case studies – prepare quality content where you describe an implementation of a selected project. Show how you started, what activities you performed, and what are their effects. Check out our de SEO case study to access information about conducted actions and their results.
Now you know where to search for content marketing inspiration. Bear in mind that content can help you reach desired marketing objectives only if it’s satisfactory and valuable. If you write poor-quality texts, they can actually bring effects opposite to expectations. Sometimes, creators of content evaluated negatively by recipients have to face hate comments regardless of the quality of subsequent publications. That’s why it’s worth taking your time to create substantial entries.