How to create SHAREABLE content for your brand.

In a world where we’re inundated with ads everywhere we look, it’s becoming glaringly obvious that traditional forms of advertising are no longer effective. Gone are the days where investing 10K into radio or TV will see a decent return. It’s all about paid social targeting, influencer marketing and creating shareable, clickable content.

Why content? By creating your own content in-house, you’re instantly giving your customers another reason to visit your website. If they’re not in the mood to buy, and you’re not offering anything else but products on your homepage, why would they even think of your brand? Give them an incentive to peruse your products by developing your own blog with your own branded content.

Let’s face it – creating content can be difficult. You need to determine your brand voice, tone and come up with legitimate pieces of writing that people will actually take the time to read. By creating weekly blog posts, you can email them out to your customers to remind them you’re still there, and position yourself as a voice of authority on a topic.

Are you a healthy breakfast brand? Educate your customers on why you use your ingredients, and where they come from. A new vegan makeup brand trying to crack the market? Send your customers easy makeup tutorials and show them how your products are integrated into everyday beauty looks.

By supplying your customers with content, you’re already halfway there. Step two is putting more thought, time and consideration into your content. WHY would someone want to read this. And the big question…. WOULD THEY SHARE IT? Would they tag a friend in it on Facebook or Instagram? The answer to content marketing is to make it shareable, relatable and relevant.

EMOTIONAL

Think of the last time you were having a crappy day, and you told a friend. In this day and age, it’s highly likely they probably tagged you in a funny meme or a Buzzfeed article on cute puppies to cheer you up. You need to create content that brings out emotions in your customers.

RELATEABLE

When you see a piece of content on your FB Newsfeed and instantly think, “That’s me!”, that means it’s relatable. It’s investing in your customer’s identity, and directly including them in the conversation. It could be a piece about what your diet says about you, or a funny piece about how getting up early impacts your mood for the rest of the day.

EDUCATIONAL

As a brand, you want to be a source of education. You know your niche better than anyone else, and have done more research than most people on the category. It’s time to assert your authority, and let your customers know that you KNOW your stuff. Whether it’s an expose into the animal cruelty in makeup, or how the heck your superannuation really works, you need to show WHY you’re the experts.

BEAUTIFUL

Ever wondered why Instagram has grown 15% more in the past 4 years than any other form of social media? Consumers devour content at an alarming rate these days, and if your initial content post to lure them in isn’t aesthetically pleasing, they’re not going to even click it. It’s all about visuals, and learning to choose the right photos can be everything. Make sure your blog is minimal, easy to navigate and has a theme that can be seen throughout all the images.

CLICKABLE

It all starts with the title of the content, and it can end within seconds if it’s not catchy or clickable. Without launching straight down the click-bait train, try to think of something that you would personally click on – an article title that you’d think ooo that looks interesting. Something that you just can’t scroll past. If your article is about your brand’s new lipstick that Selena Gomez has been wearing, rather than calling it “Selena Gomez is now wearing our lipstick”, call it “You won’t believe this ONE beauty product that Selena Gomez can’t leave the house without.” Sure, it’s borderline click-bait, but it’s true and I know personally I’d struggle to scroll past that without clicking it!

Thanks for having a read. I'd love to hear how your brand uses content marketing and whether it's working for you. Make sure you check out my website at livewithelle.com for more.