Content is the bridge that connects people and businesses worldwide. Through proper content creation, readers will know about the real nature of a business. Website specifics are not enough because people want solid, high-value information that they can fully utilize. Over the years, the process of content creation has evolved. However, we are still facing major hurdles like content quality, marketing, resources, new ideas, and proper strategies on finding the right experts for the job.
In order to take content seriously, there should be a new paradigm. Learning about content marketing is not enough – it’s not even the starting point. The best, multidimensional approach is none other than content mastery. This framework encapsulates all tactics related to content creation, distribution, and – without a doubt – marketing.
If you’re going to run a content-focused campaign this year, you should start by juggling some of the best ideas brainstormed by experts. Such ideas will help solidify your campaign and guide your business towards the hearts and minds of your readers.
The Best Content Ideas in 2017
Story-based Content
All types of content are fueled by storytelling. Even if the content is technical in nature, proper storytelling can help readers understand the concepts being presented. Storytelling eases the flow and helps readers connect with the article’s major theme. This year, story-based content is more important than ever. People don’t want ‘robotic pieces’ that rarely appeal to their humanistic senses.
Before including any stories in your content, here’s a quick checklist that you can refer to:
- Write down your experiences regarding your niche. This is called ‘experiential writing’ and the process can make your content authentic. Experiences are the best things that can add flavor to your content.
- Emphasize the lessons and realizations for every story that you’re going to share. This will let your readers know that you’ve learned many things from your experiences and they’ll be more inclined to trust you.
- What if your experiences are not enough to drive a major point? You can try putting some hypothetical situations (i.e. What If scenarios). It’s better if you can back up your situations with information-rich links.
Niche Questions and Solutions
Your niche is not just a basic area of market information and concepts – it’s a thriving biosphere of customers, ideas, trends, and cycles. There seem to be countless niches across all industries, and carving your own can be difficult. Apparently, you can poke holes at your niche and pitch wonderful questions that can be discussed through your content. Understand: readers have tons of problems. They often visit blogs and websites because they want solutions. While they care about your stories, they care more about the solutions that your business can offer. Or in that case, the solutions that your content can pitch.
Capitalize on niche questions. If you can’t find one, then you’re not looking deeply. Google’s Keyword Planner Tool, Google Trends, Q&A sites like Quora can help you find reliable data points about your niche. Every keyword reveals something about the niche and your target audience.
Once you’ve formulated your niche questions, it’s time to research about possible solutions. Weave them in a great content tapestry backed up by real-time data, and you’ll have a conversion-magnet article piece. You just need to be patient because fully understanding a niche will take time.
Videos and Images Combination
Nowadays, writing an article without any image or videos is like selling a t-shirt without any design. Your article may have the right stories, niche discussions, and tidbits of useful information but if it has no visual pieces, the chance of conversion is low. Therefore, as a content creator, your duty is to find the best images and videos for your article.
(video statistics)
If you don’t have your own images, you can visit numerous websites with stock photos. Just be wary about copyright – images that are watermarked are officially licensed by their owners and cannot be used directly.
Best sites with stock photos:
- Unsplash
- Gratisography
- org
- Picography
- Little Visuals
- Picjumbo
- Pixabay
- StyledStock
As an alternative, you can use infographics but this will take more time and money. You need to create a brief outline of your content and send it out to an infographics expert. If you have the knack for creating designs, you can make infographics on your own. Based on numerous marketing studies, infographics are great converting pieces because they convey data and rouse people’s interest at the same time.
The Growth of Infographics
Aside from images, you can share any video related to your niche as long as there’s proper attribution. These videos will raise the overall value of your post – both in reader interest and search engine ranking. If you’re worried about that people would just go to the website of the original video creator, you can just create your own piece. This will take time and skill, but there are many tools that can help you with the job. Creating your own videos will also let your readers know that you’re serious in making the content.
“Takeaway” Content
Creating a “takeaway” content is a useful strategy that can bring more readers and subscribers to your website. Basically, takeaway content means that the readers can ‘take away’ something from the article. Informational points and a few laughs here and there are understandably free. What the readers need is something tangible that can help them with their problems.
These are some of the things that readers can take away from your content:
- E-Book or Digital Pamphlet
- Downloadable Audiobook
- Downloadable Case Study
- Useful Forms and Exercise Sheets
Don’t just make any digital product copy that you can find in the Web. Rather, be distinct and create something that will bring true value for your readers. This is a great way to build up connection and maintain your website’s value.
Link n’ Share Empowerment
What is one of the best activities that can amplify your traffic streams by huge percentage? The answer: link building. If you search ‘link building’ in the Web, you’d get thousands of results in one sitting. Links are powerful – they can make or break the popularity of your website. Once people are linking towards your site, you’ll have a residual link juice for the coming months or years. Combine this with social sharing and your traffic reach will increase significantly.
But how can you empower your readers to link out and share? Aside from putting social sharing buttons in your site, you must have a strong CTA (Call to Action) at the last part of your article. This will compel the readers to take action and possibly link out your content. You can even build a social media community and entice the members to share your new post. Another method is to launch social media contests. The active sharers will get rewards from you.
Niche News Discussion
By now, you’re totally aware of the importance of niche questions and the way they can shape your content. Another useful data source is niche news. By utilizing niche news, you can learn about different angles and perspectives. You can even share an important part of the niche news in your article and discuss it thoroughly. It’s like you’re writing a press release that can be extended through many ways possible. An article filled with niche news will also be a thriving piece – blog commenters will possibly share their thoughts, creating more open areas for discussion. Google will reward this continuous activity by passing a bit of relevance juice onto your site.
“Skyscraping” Content
There will come a time when all other ideas seem to flutter away from your mind. In a situation like this, the Internet can help you out. Have you heard about the Skyscraper Technique? This is a common method used by prominent content creators in order to make their articles fresh and evergreen.
To “skyscrape” content, you must search for a low-quality article and use it as a baseline for your new piece. You’re not copying the post verbatim. Rather, you’re making a new version of it – a better version! This technique is always successful as long as you keep the content unique, fresh, and highly valuable.
Note: You may even consider this technique as ‘Content Flipping.’
Exploring the Influencers
Lastly, you must analyze the journeys of the ones who started before you. These are niche influencers and they already know what it takes to build wonderful content around your niche.
You can read their content and subscribe to their newsletters to learn more about what they’re up to. Just remember not to copy their ideas and thoughts. If you really, really need to use their ideas, cite them properly. Someday, once you’re already an influencer, others will also turn to you for new ideas.
Conclusion
Building high-value content pieces can be a monumental task. This is why you need to create a content plan and form an editorial team that can help you out. More importantly, you have to be updated regarding industry trends so your ideas can capture the attention of readers. Also, do not stop the momentum of your content campaign. Build, revise, then share – these simple methods can help you master the fine art of content creation.
Jomer B. Gregorio is a well-rounded expert when it comes digital marketing. Jomer is also known as a semantic SEO evangelist and practitioner. Check out our Digital Marketing Services today and let us help you in achieving positive and profitable results for your business.