We would be doscussing about differences between various formats of content and how they impact digital marketing strategy

Difference between formats of content

We have discussed about content marketing strategy, and then we went on to discuss about various stages of content marketing strategy. One thing we learned about content was that format of content is important, if we need to make sure that content becomes engaging and user gets a better page experience. We also learnt that there should not be a single format targeting, you should use as many formats as possible in order to make sure that, content is engaging. In this chapter of inbound marketing certification course, we will discuss about different possible formats for content and difference between them, so that we are able to maximize the effectiveness of our inbound marketing strategy.

 

Different Formats under Content Marketing Strategy

  1. Text

It is the probably most common and oldest method of describing your product or service. Even, when there were no computers or TV, messages and information was conveyed through newspapers and pamphlets. Now, this format is still a popular one. You have thousands of blogs, even when you convey something on social media, Text is one of the widely used methods. However, with time people want text to be offered to them along with other content format so that they can learn and engage better.

Text is a format which helps you rank in search engines, which no other format does directly. The text you use as content is indexed by Google and also, related by it with various keywords. Hence, text is a powerful tool which is to be used when you want to succeed in SEO strategy

 

  1. Images

They are the second most popular thing after text. Images help in a better user experience and help in engaging the audience. Images can convey a lot without spending too much time and that is what even we want.

Google and other search engines are not capable at present to decipher what the image is about. Hence, they make use of alt text and caption which are there with image to understand what the image is about. Though images do not help directly in SEO strategy but, alt text and caption does. Also, the better user page experience helps in Page ranking. But, images alone as content cannot survive. They need the help of text. Even, if it is Instagram, you use hash tags and descriptions most of the time.

  1. Presentations and Slides

This is a new method which is coming up to engage with the audience. Presentations convey a meaning in very little text and images. So, when prospect visits he gets informative value added to him without much time taken of him. You would have seen slideshare and how most of the companies use it. Also, if you look at media publishing houses, even they have started using it a lot.

It helps in a better user experience however, to make it readable to Google for SEO strategy, sliders should be used instead of attaching it.

  1. Videos

Videos are a new method to convey things. They are however, popular with those who have WIfi or data pack available since, the size of a video file is more and consumes more data. However, if you talk about how user friendly it makes, the answer would be a lot. There are short clips as well which are easier to view. They also help in social media as they are lighter in size and can be circulated on WhatsApp. No one likes to watch a movie, on a simple topic. They want information as easily without wasting time.

Videos are not read by Google. It uses tags, keywords and description to estimate the content in the video.

Helps understand using video format to improve digital marketing strategy

Example of use of video format along with text

  1. Audio

This comes into use when you want to listen to songs, or want to describe something. They are most popular use is with songs. Audio files are lighter than Video but they don’t have any graphics thereby, people tend to prefer videos nowadays. There used to be a time when Sound cloud used to be the most popular thing. But, people now look for videos as well. That doesn’t mean audios are bad or something. Audios are preferable when your content is related to music, otherwise it becomes difficult for you to make that Audio popular. Also, for audio to be detected Google uses, tags, description and keywords of text.

  1. Infographics

These are used to convey information in an improved way of text, images and number. An example can be seen below. Infographics are being fast replaced by ppt¢ and videos because, they convey information in a better way. Though infographics have lot of information but, a lot of information in same infographic can make it dull.

We would be learning about different formats for content marketing and how it helps in digital marketing strategy

Infographics example for content marketing strategy

  1. Forms

They are also a format of content which are used to gather information from customer or to help them out. Forms are most helpful, when you are at last stage of buyer journey and want to convert the prospect or when you want to grow your base by keeping in touch with visitors. This can be done with the help of forms.

There are also other formats like gifs, flash players which are used to convey information as a part of content. There might also be spreadsheets, calculators, pdfs that might be used for content. For example, spreadsheet might be used while tenders are to be displayed, pdfs for downloadable content and calculators for calculating data like interest. Every piece of information that is conveyed is with the help of content marketing strategy and there are many other formats than these too but these are the most prominent ones.

We would continue our discussion on content marketing strategy in next chapter of inbound marketing certification course. For any help on inbound marketing strategy you can contact The Buzz Stand Team.