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Top 5 content ideas to enhance your content marketing strategy

All modern marketers are aware of the importance of high-quality content as a sales aid. A Semrush survey at the start of the year stated that 84 per cent of respondents from over 1500 marketing agencies, companies, non-profits and other organisations have a content marketing strategy. But of those respondents, over three quarters rely on a content marketing team of fewer than three people. Interestingly, 89 per cent lean on organic search as their most effective distribution channel.

It’s no secret that to stand out amongst the marketing crowd fresh content ideas should be injected periodically into a long-term strategy. But with little time (perhaps budget?) and resources, it’s often easier imagined than implemented.

The Feel Created team recently visited Go Digital Live, organised by Digital Knowledge Exchange as part of Leeds Digital Festival. A series of informative speakers inspired us to select our top 5 content ideas – which were not necessarily the focus of each presentation, but items that resonated with what we are working towards at Feel.

lean on organic search as their most effective distribution channel

Personalisation being key to authentic connection

Dave Holloway, author and founder at Wonder Leads, made some excellent points around the power of personalisation when connecting. In particular, bespoke URLs (and even domains) to host personalised videos. According to Wonder Leads, personalised email marketing generates up to 20X more responses and 19X more leads than the most commonly used alternatives. The latest insight on Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and work published (Sept 2021) by the Office for National Statistics stated that both businesses and individuals report they would prefer a “hybrid” working approach (mix of office and homeworking) in the future. As many sectors continue to communicate via online means by choice, the ability to generate a meaningful connection with your target audience virtually is essential to targeted lead generation.

Utilising in-post real estate to extend the storytelling space

Bradley Jensen, co-founder at Jensen and Jensen touched on the importance of carousels as an essential storytelling tool. Brands using carousels to showcase a content story grab readers attention and encourage dwell time on-post. Better still, ‘brand campaigns that feature stories can use emotion to create long-term memories and associations,’ says this LinkedIn Business article. Carousel-based stories create natural pauses for impact or comic effect, giving brands a more effective, unique ‘voice’. It makes sense to maximise the potential of every available bit of storytelling space on your chosen platforms.

Authenticity – being true to yourself and your content on LinkedIn

Authenticity is a word that is well associated with content marketing, particularly where search engines are concerned. LinkedIn trainer and consultant Nigel Cliffe highlighted the virtues of optimising content in personal LinkedIn pages to reveal personalities behind the brand. More than half of respondents to a LinkedIn Business survey said they use thought-leadership to vet organisations they may hire. Original posts by company experts can help to signpost searchers to the information they need, building trust along the way for those seeking a team of specialists.

Conversational content that’s relevant in voice searches

Jonny Ross at Fleek Marketing touched on many valuable points in his presentation. But it was his thoughts on position zero (featured snippet) and tailoring content for voice searches that resonated. The featured snippet comes up above organic and paid results to answer a direct search query. The language used when questioning Alexa is very different to that typed into the Google search bar – and does Gen Z (and younger) even type? Noticeably, this generation communicates through audio–voice messages through WhatsApp, for example. According to Hubspot, Gen Z searches with more long-tail keywords – often including five words in a search, rather than the average person’s four. Therefore, It makes sense to cater for both typed and audio searches as in-home and on-person tech moves on.

Content alchemy to define the human behind the content

Digital marketing trainer and speaker Pascal Fintoni’s keynote touched on content alchemy, which uses imagery, moving imagery and sound to generate content with holistic, meaningful appeal. Linked to Jonny’s point above, creative content will be essential to staying relevant as the digital space evolves… and undoubtedly imperative to generating the aaahh factor and authentic emotional connections. Recent global events have left the average consumer craving human interaction more than ever. The right combination of audio and visual helps to instil a sense of familiarity. While sound down with subtitles is the choice approach for most office workers, the human relationship with sound is a technique to consider.

The content marketing landscape can seem overwhelming for brands with little to no time and resources to spend on content creation and deployment. At Feel Created, we work with our clients on agile long-term strategies to incorporate fresh content ideas. If you’re looking for ways to integrate content into your brand, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. We’ll be happy to chat about your ideas.

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