The 4 Types of Creative Content to Captivate Your Audience and Build Your Brand

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Creating content is essential for growing your brand. It's a key marketing tool, helps with SEO, and creates the possibility to engage with your audience in multiple ways. Content can be made in different formats, from blog posts to videos, from memes to infographics, or from websites to promotional products. The content you create will also usually have different purposes--which can make creating a strategy feel overwhelming. Let's take a look at four different types of content and how they can help you build your brand. 

 

Create Content that Entertains Your Audience

Content that entertains your audience isn't necessarily the first thing that you will think of when developing a content strategy. But it's the content that usually gets the most engagement--think kittens and babies. Entertaining content doesn't usually sell your brand very hard, but it does make for highly shareable content. As your audience shares it, your brand can be attached to it (depending on settings) and can raise awareness and them to form connections with you. You are showing your audience your brand personality and that you know what makes them laugh, cry, or connect with them emotionally.

 

Create Content that Educates Your Audience

Educational content gives your audience something useful. It teaches them something new, answers their questions, and helps to solve their problems within your industry or the scope of work that you do. For example, I wouldn't share the how-tos of changing a toilet because while it would be helpful to someone, it has nothing to do with my brand. Educational content is helpful or usually in the form of "how-to". It's content that can solve their problems or answer a simple question, now. 

It is recommended that you have informative and engaging content on your website and share it through your social media channels. Doing this positions you as a resource and an expert. You'll be demonstrating that your brand has the right advice, at the right time and that you can solve the problems that your clients have today.

 

Create Content that Inspires Your Audience

Inspirational content is content that leaves your audience feeling good after they have engaged with it. The initial thought for this is the inspirational quotes. I get the idea of using them, but honestly, if all you do is quote someone else, why would I perceive or think of you as an expert? Instead of approaching inspirational content the same way as everyone else, think in terms of case studies--problem, journey, solution. The approach that I take is CAR--challenge the client was facing when they came to you, the actions that you took to change the problem, and then the results that were achieved. You can also do this with testimonials or through storytelling to help your audience grasp a challenging concept.

You should also be using social media channels to inspire your audience. It’s important that you are distributing timely and relevant content your audience wants to read and share. Here with KeySource Acquisition, you can find a good example of a company that has a strong presence on Twitter. These are the types of platforms and types of messaging that you should be using to connect with your target market.

 

Brand-Specific Content That Converts

When your goal is to improve conversions, content can help you to do it. While educational content allows you to demonstrate that you know about your expertise, brand-specific content demonstrates how you are different from your competitors and why they should work with you. Yes, I know you are the expert in your industry, but what about your process differentiates you from your competitors? You see, your audience is going to decide who to work with before they even contact you--thank you internet, and social media. If they can't identify a difference, then they will simply go with the lowest-price provider. So help them experience that differentiator by engaging with your content in different ways. This is often thought of in the sales funnel process.

 

Ok, now that we talked about the four main types of content, you're probably wondering how much of each you should be focused on creating, right? Well honestly it depends on your brand and industry but if you want a general rule of thumb think 10% for Entertainment, 10% for Inspirational, 40% for Education, and 40% for Brand Specific. There are many variations and exceptions to this. For example, if you are able to create entertaining and educational content in one or entertaining brand-specific content, then your percentages will be different. But this gives you a starting point for how you think about developing a content strategy for growing your brand.

Create a range of content for your brand, with different purposes and formats, so you can make the most of your content strategy.

Omicle delivers brand clarity, marketing strategy, and operational efficiency to prepare leaders to scale their business. If you are ready to scale your business, contact us today to get started.

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