The Guide to Content Marketing #1

In this series, I'll share my views and approach to content marketing. Subscribe to receive the next part of the series.

What is content marketing, and why is it important in today’s digital marketing world??

Content marketing is often described as the process of planning, creating and distributing different types of content to a brand’s target audience. It includes SEO, Social Media, Email, Blogging; among others. Content marketing helps organisations do three main things; create awareness, drive sales and ensure customers retention.?

The types and formats of content

Content may vary in types and formats. With constant changes to how content is consumed and the attention span of customers, it is crucial to find a content type which captivates. While there are several declinations, content can be regrouped in broad types and specific formats.

Content types

Content can be categorised in 3 main broad types.??These are owned, paid, and earned media. Let’s find what these are.?While all these three content types are important, having them work together is beneficial for your overall brand presence, helps in your SEO strategy, and adds another layer to your credibility online.

Owned Media

These are content and channels that you control and on which you decide which content to appear. Owned media can include your website, your social media page, or a blog that you host. The more owned media, the better it is for your SEO strategy and online brand presence.?

Paid Media

These are content and channels you are sponsoring or advertising using third party tools. These may include PPC or Facebook Ads. Paid media allows much better targeting with profiling and segmentation strategies.

Earned Media

These are when you get coverage from externals, such as your influencers sharing your content (for free) or media relaying your content on their own channels. Tracking your earned media is important to maintain your brand presence.

Content marketing formats

Audio

This type of content is promising with the surge in voice search. Among the audio content, podcasts are the most used globally. Podcasts are mostly available on streaming platforms such as iTunes and Soundclouds.

Other audio formats:?audiobooks, recordings, and translations.?

Written

Written content is the most used one. It goes from blog posts, e-books, press-releases and digital ads. Digital content with proper Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) has a higher chance to rank on the first page of search engines and hence drive more clicks. Getting your written content right requires copywriting and content architecture skills. To read more, download?30 copywriting tips two-pager.?

Other written formats:?emails, presentations, case studies, product descriptions, Ad copy, and How-to guides.

Visual

From infography to posters, visuals are a great way to share information in a condensed format. For instance, infographics are an efficient way for marketers to convey important information in a one-pager. Other formats such as social media posts and illustrations are also used as a way to generate traffic to websites and create engagement.?

Other visual formats:?infographics, banners, and charts.?

Videos

Videos are undoubtedly among the top most used content types by marketers. In fact, according to the?State of Digital Marketing Report 2022, Video Production & Editing is in the Top 3 skills for marketers in 2020. Channels such as Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and recently TikTok continues to see an increase in video content from Mauritius.

Other video formats:?Explainers, Corporate Videos, Social Ads, and demos.?

Coming soon: How to create your own content strategy?