One of my readers reached out to me a few days ago and ask “What type of content should I create to help market my brand?” My answer was educational, inspirational, community building, and promotional content. These are the 4 key types of content to market your brand. I wanted to share more specific examples for anyone who else who may be having trouble coming up with ideas. Don't forget to click the image to download my FREE Instagram checklist! Educational: How To / Tutorials: Teach / show your audience how to do something. To come up with a tutorial for pretty much any subject, you just have to think about what people would want help doing or what you’ve searched for yourself. For example, Shay Cochrane shares awesome tips on use stock photography and I love the way Amanda Genther shared this step by step tutorial for adding LeadBoxes to WordPress blog posts. People also LOVE lists. 10 ways to do this. 5 places to find that. Lists are easy to digest and are a helpful way to roundup a number of resources or examples of something. Product Reviews are another also good. Review a product or service that would be helpful for your audience –- these are great posts for incorporating affiliate links because people are more likely to purchase after reading a (positive) review! Inspirational: Behind the scenes: Give your readers a peek behind the scenes of your business -– this can help build your know/like/trust factor through transparency and intimacy. For example, Birchbox regularly shares behind the scenes videos of their photoshoots. Quotes: I love inspirational quotes! Trending: Promote trends (in your industry) while incorporating your products or services into the mix is an easy way to inspire your audience to make a purchase! For example, Style Me Pretty inspires brides with fall wedding trends.
Community Building: This is pretty self-explanatory, but if you’re looking to grow your community and encourage engagement, giveaways are an excellent thing to promote in your blog posts. You can partner with other brands or bloggers to cross-promote a giveaway, or you can host your own! For example, you can find a sponsored giveaway with Panasonic here. Link Ups: Link ups are a fun way to connect with other bloggers and increase your exposure at the same time. For example, the ladies at the B Bar have a monthly link up based on an open ended question. Client / Reader FAQs: If you frequently get certain questions from your clients or readers, turn your FAQs into a post! Promotional: Sales: In addition to your other marketing channels, your blog is an easy place to promote sales. For example, Shop Prima donna uses their blog to share special sales with their readers. Product / program announcements: Even if you’re announcing new products / programs on your website or via your email list, you can use your blog to go into more detail about your new offerings or make special announcements. For example, the ladies at ban.do (who which I love so dearly) used their blog to let customers know where they could still grab their sold out agendas. Featured work / testimonials: Finally, don’t be afraid to show off your work on your blog sometimes! Include visuals or testimonials whenever possible so your audience can really get a sense of what it is like to work with you or use your products! So that’s it for ideas on content to market your brand, but if you have any other ideas –- please share them in the comments.