Indispensable for digital marketing in business, content is the sinews of war in prospecting and converting leads.
According to a study published by SEMRush in 2021, more than 80% of companies claim to have a content strategy to communicate around their activity.
Do you want to do the same? To successfully implement effective content marketing, you must choose the correct format for each communication channel.
To accompany you, I offer you a list of the different types of content for your blog, showcase site, and social networks.
Text content for your blog
Blog posts are some of the most popular content on the web. In 2021, they represented more than 90% of the content published on the web.
For companies, this content is exciting to communicate effectively around their field of activity, This allows you to position yourself on long tail keywords and improve your visibility on search engines.
It is also an effective way to gain credibility with Internet users and expand your audience, If you have a blog on your showcase site, here are some articles you can publish to strengthen your editorial strategy.
Long blog posts
Often cited as a key to getting more web traffic, many website owners increasingly adopt the long blog article.
It is a perfectly detailed text that covers an essential part of a given topic, The latter can be written as an ultimate guide, a list, or a tutorial file, depending on the needs and the targeted marketing objectives.
It should have an average length of 1500 – 2000 words or more to be effective.
Long blog articles provide complete and in-depth answers to the various questions that Internet users may have on the subject covered, The latter will thus not have to leave your site to have all the information on the subject.
According to a study published in 2019 by SEMRush, long blog posts (3000 words or more) get three times more traffic and 3.5 times more backlinks than articles around 1000 words.
By writing relatively long texts for your blog, you will therefore have a better chance of improving your notoriety.
short blog posts
If they generally do not allow you to have the same traffic as texts of 2000 words or more, short blog articles are not to be excluded from your editorial strategy.
The main objective of a blog article is to provide clear and precise answers to questions from Internet users. Depending on the topic, this can be done with a volume of 1000 words or sometimes less.
If the article is well written and perfectly optimized for the engines, it will undoubtedly get a reasonable traffic rate.
It is also a perfect way to position yourself on definitions related to your job or to appear in the People Also Ask.
Original research, original content
Original research has been among marketers’ most recommended content types for the past few years.
It is a collection of experiences, surveys, polls, analyses, and observations published as “unpublished works.”
The particularity of this type of article is that it provides concrete figures and the results of in-depth studies on a given subject. This is a great way to have unique and original content.
When done well, original research drives more traffic and shares, It also improves click-through and conversion rates since your study will be cited as a reference by many sites.
As a result, you become an opinion leader, and your brand image spreads further.
Practical guides
A how-to guide is a step-by-step tutorial that describes the process of performing a specific action, This type of article most often answers the question, “How?” » like « how to carry out a customer case study? “.
In most cases, it consists of a small introductory paragraph and a neatly ordered list of steps.
To write this type of article, it is essential to associate quality visuals, For example, it can be an image illustrating each step or a video summarizing the article.
This helps grab readers’ attention and generate more interaction.
Complete guides, ideal for thematic content
A complete or ultimate guide is a detailed article that provides all possible information about a specific topic, This lengthy article is intended for Internet users who wish to understand everything on a particular theme.
Furthermore, this content allows you to share your skills and expertise with readers, They will therefore be more inclined to trust your company, especially on issues related to your field of activity.
Buyer’s Guides
Also called a buying guide, a buyer’s guide is a prevalent article on business sites, It is presented as a set of advice to guide the reader in choosing a given product or service.
Beyond advice, the buying guide must include tips for making the right choice, There are also details on the criteria and elements to consider when buying a product or subscribing to a service.
Listicles for easy-to-read content.
A listicle is a blog post offered as a list, Bloggers widely use this type of content since it is often easy to create, It most often takes the format “X things to know,” “X tips,” and “X types of…”.
It can also be written in the format “The different types of…” as in the case of this article, The principle is simple.
After the introductory sentences, you come up with a long list of various items with a paragraph or two that describes each one.
The particularity of this type of article is that it allows for simple, airy, and easy-to-read content, The reader can scroll through the text and stop directly on the element that interests him.
Forecasts and studies, content filled with statistics
Studies and forecasts can be exciting content ideas in an activity where data and statistics are abundant, This is the case, for example, for digital marketing, communication, the stock market, or finance.
If you operate in any of these areas, you can post market forecasts or case studies on a topic that interests your audience, When backed by real data, this article can drive significant traffic.
However, the idea is not to make long-term forecasts, You risk ending up with content that is too general, with no genuine interest for the public.
On this point, I advise you to stay on a short term, with precise figures, The exciting idea is to carry out your forecasts for the following year. Your article will thus bring real value to your readership.
Questions and Answers
Questions and answers (Q&A) are among the content that has the wind in its sails, especially on corporate sites.
These blog posts can take several formats depending on the situation, It can be, for example, a set of answers that you provide to questions from your readers.
Sometimes, the Q&A may be the transcript of an interview with an expert in your field.
This type of content aims to provide clear information to your audience to gain their trust.
They are, therefore, very effective in specific fields, such as the pharmaceutical sector, where consumers only trust experts’ opinions.
Frequently asked questions, content with brief answers
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) are a form of Q&A, The difference is that it’s not about answering your audience’s questions directly.
The FAQs offer brief answers to the most common questions in your field of activity.
Now that you have an idea of the different types of editorial content for your site and your corporate blog, it will be easier to establish your editorial strategy and communicate as much as possible about your professional activity.
For this, it is not enough to write interesting articles, It would help if you also associated a strategy of keywords and netlinking to improve your chances of having an excellent reputation.
As an SEO consultant, I support you in finding relevant keywords and writing optimized content to improve your visibility on the web.
The textual content for your showcase site
Your showcase site is the most critical communication channel you must exploit as the main lever of your online visibility.
This is due to two main reasons, On the one hand, the content on your site plays an essential role in your positioning on Google and other search engines.
But, on the other hand, your showcase site is also the first source of information about your company.
It is, therefore, essential to feed it with content to improve your ranking in the search results pages (SERPs) and keep your audience informed, To do this, you can publish different types of textual content on your site.
However, before writing the texts for these site pages, make sure you have defined your buyer personas.
This fictional representation of your ideal customer profile will help you develop articles that answer any questions your potential customers may have about your business.
The “About” page, important content
Often presented as “About us” or “Bio,” the “About company” page is an integral part of your showcase site, It is dedicated to your company, activity, or staff presentation.
In addition, you can put a summary of your story and experience there.
It’s a way of explaining to your potential customers who you are, your professional background, and what differentiates you from your main competitors.
When written well, this page can inspire trust in your audience, Indeed, its content defines the first image the potential customer will have of your company.
So make sure that the “About” page is not missing on your site if you want to improve your Digital Marketing.
The contact page, informative content
This type of content aims to fill in your company’s contact information, This allows customers and prospects to easily reach your customer service to answer all their questions or place a specific order.
To achieve this objective, the contact page must include the following different elements:
- an email address.
- a phone number.
- a contact form.
- a button to each of your social media.
- an interactive location map.
A page that brings all these elements together will allow you to provide your customers with all the information they need to contact you through the various possible channels.
The product page, capital for your marketing
The product page plays a vital role in the effectiveness of your business strategy.
First, it lets the potential buyer get a clear idea of an item or service you offer.
Then, when buying in store, the customer can touch the products, observe them from different angles and appreciate the quality before making the purchase.
On a website, this is not possible, The only way for your customers to find out about your items is through your listing.
This page should, therefore, not be missing on your site if you want to increase your sales.
Above all, ensure that it is complete, with detailed information on the physical and technical characteristics of the product presented.
The pricing page
This is complementary content to the product page.
Indeed, if the product sheet informs the customer about the characteristics of an item or service, the pricing page provides clear information on the costs or packages applied.
This part of your site allows customers to compare the different rates that apply to a specific offer and the main services that come with it.
In the case of a subscription, for example, the pricing page must indicate all the formulas offered, their cost (per month or year), and the characteristics of each offer.
This allows the user to choose a plan that suits their needs and matches their wallet.
Apart from this detailed information, the pricing page must include a clear and precise call to action.
For this, you can, for example, use formulas like “Buy now” “Add to basket” and “Reserve“…
To make this call to action more effective, it is important to reassure customers with a money-back guarantee. In case of dissatisfaction.
The testimonials page to highlight your image
When buying a product or subscribing to a service online, more than 8 out of 10 Internet users consult customer reviews and feedback before making their purchase decision.
In this context, the testimonials page is exciting content to add to your showcase site, This page will highlight positive customer testimonials about your products or services.
This complete text explains how your commercial offer has benefited your customers, The goal is to gain the trust of potential buyers so that they are reassured of the quality of your products and take action.
The career page
The career page is a section of your website dedicated to your company’s job offers, It is an essential element for your recruitment.
It is, in a way, the first gateway for potential candidates for the various vacant positions within your organization.
This page aims to attract the best profiles for the positions you offer. For this, its content must allow job seekers to:
- quickly consult your job offers,
- know your values, your potential, and your social benefits (insurance, retirement, paid leave, etc.),
- apply quickly and easily to offers.
The goal is to make your company attractive to the most qualified candidates. You can also integrate employee testimonials into the page’s content.
Potential candidates can thus know what your employees think about working in your company, This will only pique their interest in the position and push them to sign up.
Comparison pages, traffic-enhancing content
The comparison is commercial content that reinforces your efforts to win potential customers, It allows you to compare your products and services (their advantages and disadvantages) with those of the main competitors.
With this information, the comparison page allows you to draw customer’s attention to the strengths of your products (how are they better than competing items).
This type of content’s advantage is that it allows you to improve your traffic.
Indeed, faced with a wide variety of products and services, consumers frequently use search engines to compare similar offers before making a purchase.
By offering comparison pages directly on your site, you can improve your chances of appearing in the SERPs for queries such as “[your company] vs. [competitor]” or “[product A] vs. [product B].”
The press or news page
The press page is used to communicate the news of your company, For example, this is the perfect place to inform your audience about your upcoming product launches.
It also helps keep your audience informed about any changes to your business. If, for example, you are opening a new subsidiary or moving an old one, you can announce it on this page.
You can add a newsletter sign-up page to your showcase site if you have a newsletter strategy, This page is mainly dedicated to customers and visitors who wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
This type of content is often presented as a form with text fields to fill out.
The resource center page, exciting content
This type of page is not mandatory for your business site. It is, however, an exciting content idea to improve the user experience.
Creating a resource center allows you to organize significant sections of your site into a single page, It is a kind of content library from which visitors can access different key sections of your site.
For example, this “library” can gather resources such as:
- the blog associated with your showcase site,
- the press page,
- the newsletter page,
- the contact page…
The purpose of this library is to make navigation easier for your visitors, So be careful not to add too many items or risk cluttering the navigation menu.
Audio content
The web is not just about editorial content, Audio content is also very interesting for obtaining web traffic.
In the United States, for example, more than 70% of adults listened to audio content at least once a month in 2020, according to a study by the marketer.
The trend is the same in Europe and in Arab Countries, So here are some forms of audio content you can post on your site to reach a wider audience.
Did you know that over 12 million French people listen to podcasts and audio replays monthly?
With these figures, the podcast is a simple and entertaining way to target, engage and retain a new audience.
To take advantage of the traffic share of this audio content, the interview podcast is an idea that proves to be very effective.
It’s about publishing the audio version of your interviews with experts in your field, You can associate each audio file with a written version as a Q&A (Questions and Answers).
Audiobooks
Today white papers (ebooks) are prevalent on the web, They make it possible to provide technical information to a well-defined audience.
If you’ve written these materials for your audience, why not put them in audio? It’s an effective way to target a different audience, those who would rather listen than read a book.
All you have to do is record yourself reading out loud. If this seems too complicated, you can hire an agency or a freelancer to do it.
Audio blog posts, impactful content
According to recent data, out of 10 internet users who land on a blog post, only 2 read the entire content, This shows that most Internet users do not have time to read editorial content.
Faced with this situation, audio is an effective alternative, Attaching an audio version for each blog post you publish could retain visitors more.
This will allow your audience to listen to your articles rather than having to read them, In this way, you make it easier to consume your web content.
Although it does not directly boost your SEO, these audio articles can positively impact your traffic and user experience.
Video content
Apart from the audio content, videos are an essential part of the traffic you must exploit to improve the visibility of your business site.
Indeed, more than 55% of Internet users watch videos daily. With this audience, it is estimated that more than 12.2 billion videos were watched on the internet in 2021 by consumers.
To reach this growing audience, you have several options for video content, These different videos work particularly well for business blogs and showcase sites.
Product demo videos, how-to content
This video allows you to show your customers how to use your items, It is also a way to describe the technical characteristics of your products and emphasize their different functions.
In the demonstration videos, it is also possible to give some advice on use or maintenance.
This video can be associated with your blog’s practical guide or a product sheet, For example, if you have written a how-to guide on a product, you can embed a video showing how to use it in the text.
This will allow you to improve your organic traffic through shares and interactions effectively.
“A day in the life of…” videos
The “A day in the life of…” video is a particular content format, Its purpose is to tell the story or experience of one of your clients.
The latter explains in the video how he uses your product or service and describes his experience, It also indicates the benefits it has enjoyed.
Based on authentic facts, this type of video has more impact on the decision-making of new customers.
Therefore, it is one of the most effective marketing materials for converting prospects and generating more leads.
“Behind the scenes” videos, immersive content
A “behind-the-scenes” video is a bit like reporting on your business, It allows you to present your different teams, their roles, and the values they respect, The exciting idea is to make a video on a working day on your business premises.
This video is a kind of virtual tour of your facilities, It helps to bring out the culture and values of your company and thus attract potential partners, customers, or even employees.
Such a video will be perfect on the “About” page or your website’s career page.
Webinars and interviews
Webinars and interviews are significant opportunities to teach or inform your audience about particular topics.
Videos of these events are great content to post on your site, Integrated into an article dealing with the subject she is talking about, a video or webinar will provide more explanations and concrete examples to support the editorial content.
360° interactive videos, innovative content
An interactive 360° video is an innovative type of visual content that helps engage your audience.
With such a video, the Internet user is not only a spectator, He somehow becomes an actor in the content he watches. Using his slider, he can easily rotate the image 360°.
This video is often used to make virtual tours of apartments or houses in the real estate sector, It is a perfect alternative to introduce your company to your public without having to welcome them on-site.
Interactive 360° videos can also be used to present your products.
visual content
If videos are an essential source of traffic, photos and images are no less so. For example, more than 80% of searches on Google show images.
In addition, with the new reverse search options offered by the Californian giant, it is now possible to launch a query from an image.
Sites that offer visual content thus benefit from an additional source of traffic.
Images are, therefore, essential to any editorial strategy that aims to be complete and adequate, You can choose between different types of visuals to publish on your site.
When associated with web articles, these different visuals make it easier for the reader to retain the content developed.
Infographics, understandable content
An infographic is an informative visual that makes it easy to share complex data, It is a set of small images combined with numbers and some text portions.
Infographics mainly help summarize a topic and present it in an easy-to-understand way.
These digital images are particularly effective in getting more traffic.
Published on your blog, showcase site, or social media, they can catch the eye of the Internet user and capture his attention.
In addition, when done well, infographics are pretty easy to share with Internet users.
Diagrams, content serving as a summary
Diagrams are among the most exciting visuals for your web content if you are in a field like real estate, biology, or health.
These schematic drawings make it possible for Internet users to present a complicated subject in a structured way, They are also helpful in summarizing long articles.
The goal is to make your content easier to understand for your target audience.
For this, you need to choose a simple structure for the diagram with clear and precise inscriptions. Then, by glancing at the visual, the user can clearly understand what it is.
Screenshots
For some topics, screenshots are perfect for illustrating texts with concrete examples, They are very suitable, especially in practical guides or other types of articles that require images.
These visual contents are beneficial in fields related to computer science and technology.
For example, in an article about “checking for updates on PC,” you can add screenshots illustrating the different steps to check if his computer is up to date.
This will allow the reader to understand better what needs to be done at each step just by looking at the pictures.
GIFs, the interactive visual
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is a type of digital image widely used on the web, Most often obtained from the compression of other visuals, it has the particularity of being very light and easy to share.
This image format is also very effective in capturing or holding attention, It is indeed a kind of animated video designed to catch the reader’s eye.
It is the perfect visual to create interaction and reinforce notoriety, One option to use these image formats is to combine them with screenshots in a handy guide.
Photos, qualitative content
Although infographics, diagrams, and screenshots are very common on many web pages, photos are still marketers’ most preferred visual content.
This is because photography allows obtaining high-quality visuals, whatever the subject matter.
Between stock photos and personalized photographs, there are many possibilities to have qualitative images for each article you publish on your website.
In the case of product sheets, for example, you can publish photos taken from different angles for each product presented.
This will allow the buyer to appreciate better the physical characteristics of the product he is interested in before making the purchase.
Photo Galleries
A photo gallery is a set of several images that can be scrolled one after the other, This visual content is a must-have in real estate, restaurants, and construction.
For a site specializing in real estate rentals, for example, photo galleries are essential to introduce potential candidates to properties.
Outside of these specific areas, photo galleries can help introduce your audience to your business.
For this, you can associate various photos of your different teams and your professional installations, It’s a simple yet effective way to show your company’s culture.
Charts and tables, structured content
Much like charts, graphs and tables are ideal visual resources for displaying comprehensive data or information in a structured and easy-to-read way.
These visuals are very suitable for articles that present statistics or survey results.
To do this, they can be combined with other visual resources such as infographics or photos, It all depends on the subject and the type of illustration that fits the context.
In 2021, social networks had more than 4.2 billion active users, or 53.6% of the world’s population, With this global audience, there is no doubt that social media must be integrated into any effective marketing strategy.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Linkedin… However, to take advantage of the rise of social networks, you must also publish editorial and visual content to increase your audience and build customer loyalty.
As such, here are some great social media content ideas.
Live broadcasts
The idea of live streaming is to share a video in real-time without recording first, This content broadcast “live” content helps create engagement and humanize your brand.
Many marketers have testified to its effectiveness in digital communication and developing notoriety.
To create live broadcasts on your social media, you have many possibilities, The exciting idea is to share your product demonstrations live on the relevant platforms (Facebook Live, YouTube Live, LinkedIn Live, Instagram Live…).
You can also stream a live interview or Q&A to your accounts.
Short-lived publications
On social networks, a so-called ephemeral publication is a content that is only accessible temporarily (usually 24 hours). It can be either a text, an image, or a video.
These types of posts are great for sharing your business news, You can also use them to distribute polls, surveys, or other temporary information.
It’s an effective way to interact with your audience and communicate about your activity.
However, ephemeral content is not offered on all social media, They can be published in particular on Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat.
Memes, trending content
The meme is another very effective content format on social media.
Finally, an image or video (usually humorous) expresses an idea, concept, or behavior, These types of content have the particularity of spreading quickly on the web since it generates much more sharing.
They are, therefore, ideal for viral marketing around a new product, This content is particularly suitable for targeting a young clientele from Generation Y and Generation Z.