Content marketing works by creating and using content to deliver profitable customer interactions. As content is used to drive interaction, it should always have a purpose for the brand and a value for the target audience.

There are, broadly, six forms of high-value content:

1. Entertainment – Engaging content that is enjoyable to consume.
2. Conviction – Persuasive content that presents compelling ideas.
3. Inspiration – Unusual and motivating content that sparks something new.
4. Information – Sharing knowledge and building authority.
5. Education – ‘How to’ content that teaches the user.
6. Support – Demonstrating care/ providing a helping hand.

The Consumer Challenge for Content Marketers

Recent trends in consumer behaviour regarding content consumption highlight a rapid pace of change. There is a constant need for research, testing, and measurement. Strong content marketers will be those that stay close to their target audience with regular monitoring of their interests and behaviour.

The way consumers find content has been transformed. Many consumers are now using digital channels as their go-to place for news and information, with search engines and social platforms being the most popular. The way content is viewed has also dramatically changed over time, with consumers being far more likely to spend more time on video and social posts, than longer forms of content and blogs.

This changes the costs, skills, and timescales of content creation and therefore needs to be taken into account when planning and executing a content strategy.

For your organisation’s social media efforts to be successful, you must be well organised and guided by one centrally-located, methodically planned, content calendar.

With multiple internal and external stakeholders, social media pages can easily become a free-for-all of promotional content, especially if shared globally and in different languages. This is why the most proficient brands operating in social media are highly protective of their social media publishing.

It has become common practice to treat this function as that of a traditional newsroom. An editor – or a small number of editors – has sole access to publishing posts in social media. The wider network of ‘contributors’ within and around the business is commissioned to produce content, as and when needed.

Such an approach ensures that output remains consistent and in line with the brand’s strategy, while avoiding publishing inappropriate content by mistake or maliciously.

It is possible to find a variety of collaborative tools online to manage contributors, maintaining a central editor function to approve each post. However, a spreadsheet hosted on a platform such as Google Drive will work as well. There is a template attached to this lesson, which you can upload in Google Drive (or the equivalent platform you use) and share with colleagues, granting editing permissions as appropriate.

Your Task

Which form of high-value content do you most frequently engage with on social media? Why do you think you enjoy this type of content?