What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is all about creating useful content, that informs or entertains the reader as a way to gain exposure for your business.
We break content down into three categories, based on the goals they serve. These three types of content are best used together as part of a comprehensive content marketing plan.
Link-Earning Content
Creating useful resources is the most reliable way to build links to your website over the medium-long term. Once you create something useful, you can often gain links by reaching out to people who would benefit from sharing it.
Links are important to improve how you rank in search (Google, Bing etc.) as explained in our page on link building.
Some examples of content people often use to build links are:
- Infographics. Other websites will use them to complement their articles, and hopefully link back to you to give credit.
- Calculators. If you can make a free online calculator that people use, others will often link to it. For example, if I was an accountant I might link to a website that has an income tax calculator on it.
- Detailed guides. A detailed guide on how to do something could become a useful resource that others will link to. If you search Google for “Ultimate guide to SEO” you’ll see plenty of people using this tactic!
Lead-Magnet Content
Now that your pages are ranking highly in search, thanks to the link-earning content, you can start to create content that your target customer is likely to be searching for.
Aim to create content for people at all stages of the purchasing process to maximise your reach!
Viral Content
This one is a bit different from the others. Viral content is content designed to generate attention on social media.
This type of content tends to be more based on entertainment and novelty than on being informative.
If you want to build brand awareness, viral content might be a good thing for you to focus on!
