Diversify Your Content

‘Content Distribution is a very important aspect of content marketing. The terms ‘diversify’ and ‘distribute’ precisely mean that your content need not be restricted to your website blogs. It should rather be out on different social media and include info-graphics, videos, podcasts, etc. Explore more, apart from the only text.

Include a diverse mix of content types in your plan to appeal to every member of your audience. Your customers are likely to get bored after a certain point with only-text content. At the same time, it is also necessary to know that not all people exist on the platform you publish your content. No matter how great your content may be, if it is a handful of people who view it, it’s a waste! Hence, content distribution is very important as people who prefer any of the media the most, will not escape your content! In other words, your content needs to be displayed omnichannel.

Before we jump into what type of content is suitable on what platform, let us first understand the types of content!

1. Infographics
Pictures + Text = Better Comprehension

The human brain tells us “reading is hard” and “looking is easy”

Noah Kagan of SumoMe recently conducted one of the most massive social sharing studies. He and his team crunched data from over 100 million articles, and they found that ‘Infographics’ typically receive a lot of shares.

An infographic uses the power of ‘visually appealing content’ to trick the brain into reading. Besides, we understand the content better when it’s paired with pictures.

Sources : Neomam

2. Gifographics
‘Gifographics’ is the when your infographics come to life!

Animated infographics (a.k.a. gifographics) have been around for a couple years, but they’re still relatively rare—which means they’re a fantastic option if you want your content to stand out.

Neil Patel was one of the early adopters of gifographics. His primer on Google proves the attention-grabbing power of animation.

3. Customized Gifs
A great GIF is worth a thousand words. GIFs not only drive massive engagement, but also help you explain difficult ideas, add some visual variety to your feed, and have some fun with your audience.

Although there are a lot of GIFs around that you can use, however when you create your own, it guarantees you’ll have unique, eye-catching content.

A few of the GIF-making tools include:

• Giphy’s GIF Maker – to turn videos and YouTube links into GIFs
• Gifmaker.me – for stitching together a series of images into a GIF
• Licecap – for screenshot GIFs

e.g.- NASA

Sources : https://twitter.com/NASA/status/741777794452066305

Cinemagraph:
A cinemagraph has the same file format as a GIF; however, rather than a series of images playing in a loop, it’s a static image with movement in one part of the frame. Cinemagraphs are, as designer Jason Winter puts it, “scroll-stoppers.”

They’re also really effective: this one from Coke got 80,000 notes on Tumblr in 14 days.

4. Videos
4 in 5 millennial finds videos helpful in their initial product research, while making buying decisions.

Source: https://neilpatel.com

Since videos tend to do well and have fans in all age groups, adding them to your content marketing mix will get you traction.

5. White Papers
A white paper is a 6- to 8-page marketing document that helps a prospective customer understand an issue or solve a problem. Producing one can help your small business generate leads, build buzz and level the playing field with much larger companies.” – Gordan Graham.

HubSpot states that B2B buyers prefer to read blogs and white papers during the pre-sales cycle.

It is also important to remember that a white paper is not a sales pitch.

6. Case Studies
Just like white papers, case studies are covered mostly in B2B content marketing. 77% of B2B marketers use case studies and 58% of them find it effective.

7. Podcasts
This episodic content form is especially popular with the young generation. Podcasts work because they’re a great blend of educational content and entertainment — and they’re the perfect, bite-sized content marketing types that can hold the listener’s attention.

8. Concept Visualization
Visualizations typically illustrates a single idea, than a multiple facts. Self-explanatory charts, visuals and graphs fall under this category. They’re easy to understand, consumes less time to create, and they’re smaller and more digestible than infographics.

Here is an example from Wisita:

9. Shareable Quotes
There is a thing about quotes, they stay in your mind for days and are used in day to day language. This is a great opportunity for brands as they can create and share the best quotes with their audience, and boost their brand at the same time.

Instead of a quote, you can also create tip/advice posts that are one liners.
E.g.-

Quotes are easy to curate as well as create, with that also comes great engagement!

Let us now look at the different types of content in different media

FACEBOOK
Facebook reach continues to drop across the board for businesses. Everyone is clamoring to unlock the “secrets” to successful content on Facebook, as studies have proven that one of the most significant factors in Facebook’s ranking algorithm is engagement.

If your Facebook posts get more engagement, they will be highly favored in the algorithm, and will thereby increase your reach.

So how can you craft posts that generate engagement?

• Videos
  Video performs better than all other posts on Facebook. On an average, videos drive 59% more engagement than other posts.
  (Top engagement posts type in 2019)

You should also try Facebook stories and 360 videos.

There are a number a number of post formats on Facebook. In fact, Facebook prefers to have a variety of post formats, which in turn would increase your algorithms ranking.

‘HAHA and ‘LOVE’ are the maximum reactions on Facebook.

81% of the top Facebook video reactions are made up of HAHA and LOVE.

You ask how does this information matter? Well, psychologically speaking, this shows that people are more engaged in videos that are inspirational, practical, funny, or a mix of all!

Though it’s important to note here that content isn’t necessarily lovable or funny to everyone. In other words, something that is “loved” by one person might be “funny” or even “sad” to another.
This is great news for brands and B2B businesses because it means that content doesn’t need to be overwhelmingly funny or inspirational.

• Go Live!
  Live video creates a genuine sense of community in the comments section. Since everyone shares the same viewing experience at the same time, so they all have a common touch point to connect over.Facebook, too, stated that live videos get six times as many interactions.Well, that does not mean you just broadcast a plain image and live stream. It is also important that your live videos are actually live! Users spend three times longer on average watching live streams than watching recordings of previously live videos.So create live video content that resembles with your audience and gets them to start conversations in the comments—you can be sure that your organic reach will grow as a result.

• Start a contest
  The best way to increase engagement and interaction is to start a contest on your Facebook page.
  e.g.- a caption competition related to your brand.

To make sure your contest runs effectively, you can declare a prize giveaway that promotes your brand. Or, you simply give a shout-out to the profiles with the best comment as a reinforcement.

Remember: Your contest post doesn’t look like engagement bait or ask users to post to personal timelines, or friend’s timeline in order to participate. While Facebook states that Pages may run contests, they can’t require users to share or tag friends as an eligibility to participate.

You can also have fun quizzes like that of Buzzfeed of “Which FRIENDS character are you?”
You can create similar quizzes like “Which laptop are you?” ,if you are a laptop company.

• Get verified
  We all know what being verified is. It is the pretty blue badge with a tick-mark beside your brand name. The verification badge helps you to stand out and make the viewers know that you are a big deal! This badge also separates your official account from the fan-pages and fake accounts.
  Being verified shows that your brand is trustworthy and authentic. It also means that your page will be ranked higher above than pages with similar names.

How to get verified?
Firstly, your Page needs to be complete. That means it should have a cover photo, a profile pic, a name, and at least one published post.

Next, you need to make sure your Page follows all of Facebook’s terms of service.

Also, your Page needs to be of interest to the general public. Small brands or personal accounts probably won’t make the cut, and it’s not totally clear who will. Still, can’t hurt to try, right?

Facebook’s only hint is that badges are available to “eligible brands, media organizations and public figures.” A high follower account and being published in at least one news article is likely to help as well.

For more information on how to request verification, see this Facebook Help Center article.

• Optimize your link posts
  Did you know that Facebook checks out the quality of the landing page and accordingly ranks your page higher or lower?In 2017, Facebook announced that they would start prioritizing link posts that lead to fast-loading pages. On the other hand, they also penalize posts that link to slow landing pages.Other than the speed, you can be penalized if you have “low-quality” links like- disruptive ads, lack of actual content or sexual/shocking images that pop up out of nowhere. Plus, Facebook gives more priority to “high quality” links. One of the main signals of link quality is how long users spend on the linked page before they return to Facebook—the longer the better.
  Facebook also considers how many people click on the link and then engage with the post afterward. If more people engage after seeing the linked content, that’s a signal they liked it or at least found it interesting.If you follow these guidelines for your link posts, they’ll end up at the top of people’s feeds and fetch you tons of organic reach. So don’t link to clickbait or spammy pages, keep your website’s load times low and share links your audience will find relevant and engaging.

• User Generated Content
  Increase your engagement by sharing the content of the users than users to share your content. When users post about your brand, it is a major trust signal for other users. This type of content can be used for Facebook as well as Instagram.To get people with UGC you can:

1. Invite people to write reviews of your products on Facebook, then share the best ones.
2. Start a branded hashtag for your UGC campaign so customers can connect their content with your brand and get inspired by others’ posts.
3. Launch a UGC contest asking users to post photos or videos relating to your brand for a chance to be featured on your page (or even win a prize).

e.g.- Starbucks uses UGC to rack up loyalty points with its followers. Roughly one-third of its Instagram photos are re-grams from other accounts, which lets Starbucks show how different people are enjoying its drinks around the world.

Sources : https://www.instagram.com/p/BF_4VDkxc2G/?utm_source=ig_embed

Some of the corporation’s most-favorite posts come from users. Even better, people are motivated to upload shots of their orders to Instagram, in the hopes they’ll be shared.

• Find the best time to postWhy is it necessary to care about the time to post? If you upload an important post at 4am, when your audience is fast asleep, by the time everyone wakes up, your post would be lost in the feed.You can use Facebook Analytics to learn when your audience is online and receive the highest engagement. You can see the peak hours as well as days.

According to Indiana Beats, the best time to post on Facebook is Thursday and Friday between 1pm-3pm.

However it is important to know that since this is the peak time, there will be a lot of competition as most of the people post at the same time.
INSTAGRAM

In 2019, as 80 percent of users follow at least one business account on the platform, Instagram’s content marketing potential continues to soar.

With new features and capabilities like longer video posts and IGTV that meets the internet’s never-ending demand for visual content, marketers are thinking of innovative ways to engage their visual-hungry audiences.

• Stories!
  Over 400 million accounts use Instagram story on a daily basis, and 45% of the most-watched are business accounts. Instagram stories create more engagement as it is the first thing that people view after they log in.Instagram has fancy features and stickers for stories that we shouldn’t miss out on! They can help to create unique and interactive content.Polls can be used to get an insight of what your audience actually think about your product.

Ask me anything is another great feature that lets your audience ask a question, whose answer you post on your story. This helps you connect to you audience in a better way, at the same time increase engagement.

Sources : https://later.com/blog

Quiz sticker helps you conduct contests, and you can announce a prize give-away to the person with all correct answers. You can create questions about your brand, and in order to get the correct answer, the audience will do a little research before-hand, in other words, ‘more people knowing your brand better’

Sources : https://later.com/blog/instagram-stories-quiz-sticker/

Countdown sticker can be used to remind your audience about an ongoing sale. Remember, we discussed about the importance to create urgency (hyperlink with marketing psychology blog).

Sources : https://tabithacarro.com

• IGTV
  By now, we all know about the hype of videos and video marketing. Previously, Instagram permitted only 1-minute-long videos; now, with IGTV longer videos can be uploaded.You can have interviews, tutorial videos, or just random fun clips.

Content marketing on Instagram and Facebook is more or less similar, with slight distinctions.

• #Hashtags
  Hashtags are beneficial when used correctly. The most appropriate tags will help viewers know what to look for in your content.You can attract new audiences through hashtags, turn them into followers and in turn consumers!Infact, you can create your own #Campaign and let users share.

TWITTER

Twitter is another great platform for content marketing. Re-tweets play a major role to boost your content, as it helps users to re-share your content, in other words publicise your brand.

• Infographics
  Tweets with a picture has way more engagement than posts with no pictures.

Sources : https://okdork.com/

LINKEDIN
LinkedIn Content Marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach you target audience and meet new professionals and connect to them. The wider your network, the better are your chances to reach out to the target audience.

LinkedIn serves as an essential platform for marketers to promote their products, but the question is whether every kind of content gets the desired visibility or not. You can get the type of exposure you want through content when you are active enough on LinkedIn and can target the audience of your choice and reach them quickly.

LinkedIn is a very professional platform, and hence your informal tactics like contests and quiz may not work. Content marketing on LinkedIn helps you attract relevant industry stakeholders.

• Create Documentation
  Earlier referenced research from CMI and MarketingProfs shows that 65% of the most successful organizations have a documented content marketing strategy, compared to just 14% of the least successful.Get your strategy mapped out in a way that is centrally accessible to everyone involved.

• Be active
  It is important to be regular in your posts if you want to build an effective rapport with your audience. Pages that post weekly on LinkedIn receive 2x engagement.

• Infographics & Videos
  Text-only posts are good enough, yet inclusion of visuals are highly recommended. In fact, videos in specific can increase 5x engagement.

• Provide original information
  Do not try to sell to your audience all the time. Share helpful and unique information, and industry updates and ideas that they can put into use.

• Write for the audience
  Be active on the groups and forums where you share you content. Only if you stay active and respond to your peers’ comments, will they keep up with the pace and notice your content.Also, make sure to create an interactive content so it can attract more engagements.

Relevant topics for your content plan:

1. As you know the market is full of job seekers, how about you share job tips or invite them for walk-in-interviews?
2. Information about other relevant jobs and companies in the market
3. Let them know about your company’s prospects and what it has in its store for other professionals

• No personal thoughts
  As discussed earlier, LinkedIn is a professional platform, so the picture of the new born baby in your family is appropriate on your personal Instagram account and not LinkedIn.

• Keep it short
  A short and crisp content always attracts more readers. Nobody has the time to read long stories! Use a bulleted list for the same. It increases readability. Write self-explanatory subheadings. A trick that always works.

• Lose the link preview
  When you post a link, LinkedIn gives you the option to remove the preview. Do that. People see so many links on LinkedIn that they tend to ignore typical link posts. People see that it’s not a traditional, boring link post and they’ll take a second to read what you wrote. You can also replace the link preview with an image or video.

SNAPCHAT

The unique filters, text and filters help Snapchat stories stand out.

Location: Whenever teenagers go to fancy places, the first thing they do is put a filter of the location. Snapchat allows you to create paid filters of your own choice. In this way, your brand will be publicized by more and more people.

Face filter: Snapchat has gone a step ahead and literally put brands on its users’ faces, but this is done in such a fun way that people love it. Some filters may even use a prompt like close your eyes to trigger an animation and then you can send it to your friends who get intrigued and try it. A Sponsored lens is used by a Snapchatter for 20 seconds on an average.

Advertising: Other than snapping while having a conversation, Snapchat is also a platform to make new friends. Hence, Snapchat is dominated by the age range of 16-25years. You can advertise extensively, if your product meets these lines.

e.g.- Bumble, a dating app advertises exclusively on Snapchat.

Sources : https://www.advertisemint.com

There are many apps where you can curate different type of content, depending on your target audience. It is not necessary to use only the very famous platforms
E.g.- Lingerie ads on Tinder or Discount coupons for Dominos pizza on the first date.

TIKTOK
The reason why you’re not advertising on Tiktok yet, because you think it is cringe-worthy, then that’s about to change! Tiktok is dominated by many age ranges, especially the young population between 15-25 years.

In 2019, Tiktok will support four types of advertisements on the app.

1. Infeed Native Content
Infeed native content acts quite similar to Snapchat and Instagram story ads. They play in full screen, can be skipped, and must be 9-15 seconds in length, like any other TikTok video. You can measure the campaign’s success through tracking clicks, impressions, click-through rate (CTR), video views and engagements.

2. Brand Takeovers
Brand takeovers allow one brand to take over the app for a day and allows you to create images, GIFs, and videos. You can also embed links to landing pages or to hashtag challenges within the app.
To measure your success for a brand takeover, look at impressions and the CTR.

3. Hashtag Challenges
As you know the importance of hashtags, businesses can do hashtag takeovers, where you create a hashtag and an end goal or prize for participants.

For example, Dreamwork Pictures hosted a successful hashtag challenge to promote its new Netflix show where the studio invited TikTok users to create a video of themselves dancing to the show’s theme song and posting it under the hashtag #SpiritRidingFree. The campaign reached over 34.4 million users with over 2.6 million engagements.

https://www.tiktok.com/@nadiaturner/video/222971855123554304

4. Branded Lenses
Just like Snapchat and Instagram, Tiktok too will have filters and customized lenses that users can use in their videos.

Fun Content
Tiktok is a creative space, so take advantage of this and show your audience how fun can your business be! Make sure you clearly understand your brand culture, values, and identity so that what you create is genuine and true to your brand, and avoids typical corporate guidelines.

CONCLUSION:
There are a multiple platforms where you can create and distribute content. It is essential to keep in mind what type of content is suitable at which platform. Take advantage of the new features and boost your engagements!