Tempting, isn’t it? To just do a blog and call it a day? It certainly is for me because I’m a writer, so words are by far the easiest thing to get together. Trouble is, it’s not necessarily the thing that’s going to get you followers, sales or whatever else you’re hoping to gain with your content marketing.
Adding a variety of media gets you more engagement
See that? 16% more engagement just from including a hashtag! The general consensus is that two hashtags is spot on – any more than that and you actually start to lose engagement. Which is kind of fair: “Have you heard about our #new #underfloorheating #service? #Rotherham #cats #sorrynotsorry” is not going to get you anywhere.
Take it one step further and add an image…35% more engagement! Have a proved my point? Good. Let’s talk content.
Five ways to spice up your content marketing
1. Quick graphics
And I mean quick. Remember my post about making your own graphics for free? Go read that. You can use Canva to create simple graphics (they even have a ‘social media’ template), and I have a nifty trick for background images.
Shutterstock give away free images each week on their blog. You’re not going to get stock imagery of the latest white goods but these images are always very artsy and attractive. Perfect for social graphics, which I suggest focusing on one key theme and time that makes your brand look good.
It could be #ThursdayThoughts, with quotes from famous philosophers. It could be Drain Block of the Week (maybe not). Just an image or graphic, maybe with a line of text. Then you Instagram it, Facebook it, Tweet it, G+ it and Pin it. The beauty of this format is you can use the same template every single time – just swap out the background and text. Hooray!
Canva social media template with Shutterstock free image
2. Memes
Now. These are probably not suitable if you are a funeral director. They are also not blog-worthy content. They are quick, design-free social posts, which rely on funnies not beauty.
The popularity of memes is beyond sense. Favourites include Sean Bean saying “One does not simply…[insert LOL here]” from Lord of the Rings (I know, topical).
And then there’s the cat in a suit eating breakfast and saying literally any random thought that might have entered your head. Quality.
If you’re thinking “But…isn’t this ridiculous?”, you’ve cracked it. Memes are ridiculous, and that is why they’re so popular. Their saving grace is that anyone can make ’em and people love ’em. Try memegenerator.net.
3. Photo diaries
The world beyond the news blog. Whether you’re sending out salespeople or dry stone wallers, keeping a photo diary is a splendid way to show the characters you have working for you and what their day looks like.
Humans love photos of other humans, remember – so keep the candid shots of new pipe insulation to a minimum. If you’re doing something unusually exciting, like installing new gates at Buckingham palace or delivering a baby elephant, get someone on the ground to live-blog it. Taking a photo and tweeting / Instagramming it is the work of seconds.
4. eBooks
An eBook is just a regular ‘how to’ blog packaged into a desirable PDF – neat! These are great to use as bait for getting people to your website or collecting email addresses from sign ups.
This is the one I always, ALWAYS fall for. Whenever I’m checking out some new social media tracking dashboard or whatever, I can’t resist downloading their eBooks. Just cannot. The moral here is that people WILL give you what you want, if you give them something in return.
5. Data
Mmmm, data. If you have any data available to you, use it. Are people buying more organic potatoes than last year? How many traditional thatchers were there in 1900 compared to now? What’s the average people pay for a cleaner in London?
Numbers are eye catching (remember that Twitter graph showing 17% more engagement just from including a digit?) and people trust them. So if you’ve got insider knowledge that you think would interest people outside your company, share it with the world.
Go forth and be content
‘Content’ is not hard. We’ve got the materials for it just by getting up and going to work. These five things are easy to collect on the go – then you just use simple tools like Canva to turn them into yummy social content.
[bctt tweet=”#Contentmarketing is easy. Use these five ideas to help you create more.”]
