6 Types of Content You Absolutely Should Embrace as a Marketer

June 21, 2013 by Daniel Sharkov|

Content marketing is real big right now. If it wasn’t there certainly wouldn’t be bloggers earning thousands every month.

And one of your biggest questions is probably how do they do it.

Well I can’t say I am one of those marketers, since to date my earnings are more on the hundreds side than on the thousands. But then again over time I’ve come to know
there are basically three things you need to make money blogging:

Quality promotion strategy Content to keep the visitor engaged Offers to make you money

The first and the second component however go hand by hand. In order to get search engine traffic and in order to draw people’s attention on the social networks you need namely content.

Content isn’t created equally however.
Successful blogging and social media marketing don’t come down to simply writing, publishing and sharing whatever’s on your mind.

And today’s post is all about helping you discover what the best types of content in the social and the blogging world are. Below I’ve covered
six ideas for content that your blog’s readers and your social media followers are almost sure to enjoy and share:

1. In-Depth How to Articles

You know, some time ago I wrote a post where I talked about article length. Back then I was used to publishing quite lengthy posts but wasn’t all that happy with the results.

The conclusion was that the shorter the post, the better. The better because
not all visitors are prepared to read an over 1,000 word-long article and also because readers are constantly in a hurry.

But you know what?

Length isn’t bad if you can justify it. In fact namely some of my longest posts are the ones that have received the most shares. In order for this to work, there basically two requirements however:

No fluff
– If the post is long this should mean that every word is a guidance and not just a filler Practical information
– Not only should the information be detailed, but also practical and one that can be put to practice right away

If you start right off the bat with
precise advice and step-by-step instructions on how to do something, you sure are on the right path.

For instance my recent post about how to beat Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithmis over 1,800 words yet it got a ton of sharing.

Why?

Because it tells people exactly what to do!

2. Infographics are the Trend

Well right now they might not be as trendy as they were in the last months of 2012, but they are still well worth a shot.

There are basically two reasons why you should start publishing infographics:

They don’t require much writing
– the only thing you need is a short introduction and an overview of the key takeaways the infographic goes through. This means that you can have more content for your blog while writing pretty much the same amount of words. And as you know more content = more traffic. They are easy to understand
– the high level of visualization makes understanding the various metrics and definitions very easy. And the easier the visitor perceives the information, the higher the chance for a share on the social networks.

It’s no wonder that almost every infographic that I get to publish, receives a lot of attention and
ends up getting dozens of Facebook likes, Google pluses and Twitter retweets. An infographic I published recently about how social media is becoming ever more visualis a really good example. Just take a look at how much sharing it has generated!

But where do you find infographics in the first place?

Pinterest!

In the searchbar simply include your blog’s topic followed by the word “infographic” and you are sure to get a ton of results.

NOTE:
When publishing an infographic, don’t forget to discover who the author is and give credit by linking to their site in the introduction part.

More about the importance of using infographics you can read in my post “ Why You Should Publish Infographics and How to Do it Right“

3. Humor Always Gets the Likes

…Especially on Facebook.

One of the ways to get Facebook traffic is by setting up a Facebook fan page. However in order to make your page a success,
you need to post more than links to your own articles.

There are lots of ways to increase the visibility of your fan page, and humor is a sure-fire one. People love it and they’d be especially inclined to click the like button if your topics aren’t all that fun in general.

In order to get the attention of your fans,
you have to spice things up a bit every now and then. And one of the biggest mistakes that online businesses and internet marketers make is that they believe everything they post should be strictly official.

That’s plain wrong. Prove people you are a living person who actually has that thing called emotions!

As of now the image you see on the left is actually the story that has received
the most likes and shares on my Facebook fan page.

Why is that so?

First because it makes sense and is something others can relate to and secondly because it is kinda funny.

4. Product Reviews and Tool Listings

If you read my article about affiliate marketingyou’d know what importance product reviews hold. For those of you who haven’t, the idea is simple.

As a marketer the chances are you’ve tried lots of tools to help you improve results. Although most are probably free
, there might just be some premium ones.

And since
affiliate marketing is pretty much the best way to monetize your blog, you could write an in-depth review of the products you like and place affiliate links within. Those kinds of reviews convert far better than a banner in the sidebar, plus if they are well-written, lots of folks will take a minute to share them.

So in the end you have some money in your pockets and some traffic from all the social shares.

The tool listings on the other hand are those posts where you write a short description of say the five best Twitter tools. Or it could be about your favorite WordPress plugins, the most useful Android apps, etc. You got the point!

If you’ve actually chosen useful tools and have grounded your opinion,
you are almost sure to end up with a post that goes viral.

And again why is that so?

You give away practical information
– there is nothing more useful than sharing the tools that are actually helping you achieve certain results You solve people’s problems
– tools are designed namely as a solution to a specific problem and almost always lead to improved productivity5. Spark Discussion with Questions

You definitely know about the importance of creating engagement and building relationships. After all when it comes to social media, building real contacts and
NOT simply tweeting your message over and over is how you spin the wheel.

And sometimes the simple things are the ones that work best.

What is the most obvious way to create a communication channel?

Being the one to ask a question!

You might think that folks on social media are quite passive, but you’d be wrong. Only when you start seeking feedback, you will realize that
people are far more willing to share their thoughts and get in touch with you than you think.

Just try it out!

Twice every week pose a question
that is relevant to your niche on both your Facebook page and on Twitter. Wait for reactions and don’t forget to reply back and give your own thoughts!

Namely those seemingly small details might just end up building your credibility!

6. People Love Quotes

Similarly to funny pictures that people can in one way or another relate to, quotes,
especially the ones that come from famous figures , tend to get a lot of exposure.

That is why quotes should absolutely be the next type of content to incorporate in your social media streams alongside the links you post to your own articles. Just make sure you post the quotes in the form of an image rather than plain text – that results in pretty much double and even triple the usual thumb ups.

You will find a ton of posterized quotes if you simply look them up in Google’s image search.

NOTE:
The perfect dimensions for Google Plus images are 495 x 370 and for Facebook images 403 x 403.

In Conclusion

That’s pretty much it guys. If you take the time to incorporate all six content types in your blogging and social media strategy, you are sure to see an improvement in your overall stats.

Now on to you!

What makes an article shareable? When do you decide you should click the retweet button and share the piece you just read with your audience? I’d love to hear your thoughts about this!

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