Month: May 2022

With billions of active users every month, social media may be a key tool in your content marketing arsenal. The main benefit of social media is direct engagement with your audience. It’s a real-time feedback loop to help you understand what your audience cares about, and to have direct conversations with them to dig deeper.

The different types of content marketing

When thinking about various content marketing examples, remember that people learn in a variety of ways. Different types of content appeal to different segments within your audience. Some are auditory learners and are attracted to podcasts. Others are visual learners and prefer videos, infographics, or presentations. And yet others prefer text, such as blog posts, white papers, or reports.

There is no “best” type of content marketing

Some content marketing types are useful as part of an inbound marketing program. Other formats can be an important component of an account-based marketing (ABM) initiative. Similarly, certain content naturally supports your sales team.

Additionally, some types of content are better suited for particular stages in the customer journey than others. For example, blog posts, articles, and video can be an excellent way of connecting with those in the awareness stage of the journey. White papers, ebooks, and webinars are often a good fit for the middle stage of the buying process. And case studies, success stories, and ROI calculators can be the clincher when it comes to overcoming objections and convincing a prospect to become a customer.

Benefits of using different types of content marketing

1. Blogs

Blog content is an outstanding way to build your brand and increase traffic to your website. A well-organized blog strategy keeps you focused on the keywords and topics your target audience cares about. Long-form content is the perfect way to address pain points, answer questions, and establish authority in your space.

Optimized, high-quality blog posts can also perform well in the search engines, giving a boost to your SEO. Long-form content tends to be a more evergreen type of content marketing compared to many other formats. So, the content you publish today can continue to drive traffic and leads for years. Compare this to social media posts, which can get buried in newsfeeds after a few hours.

2. Case studies and success stories

Case studies and success stories are a prime example of conversion-driven content marketing. They’re an extremely effective way to generate leads in the bottom of the conversion funnel. When prospects read about similar customers who have had positive experiences with your organization, it provides them with social proof and makes their purchase decision easier.

3. Testimonials and online customer reviews

Testimonials and customer reviews are a different form of content marketing that leverages social proof. They’re especially useful in helping your brand overcome potential objections from prospects and reducing their feeling of risk. Additionally, online reviews on third-party sites like Google, Angi, or Trustpilot also serve as a valuable off-page SEO signal.

When Google sees a large number of positive reviews associated with your brand, it indicates to them that your brand is trustworthy and your website should be ranked higher in search results than brands with fewer positive reviews.

Prominently display testimonials and reviews on your home page, as well as on any other relevant pages of your website. A power tip is to place testimonials and reviews where they would be most contextually relevant to what’s on a given page.

4. White papers and ebooks

White papers and ebooks are a great way to build thought leadership, gain credibility in your industry, generate leads, and position yourself as an expert. They are usually longer and more technical than blog posts. This allows you to thoroughly explore a particular subject and share more granular information beyond what you would typically be able to do in a blog post.

Create white papers and ebooks when you have especially deep knowledge or differentiation in a specific topic area. With white papers and ebooks, it’s important to share quality content that delivers on the value they expect when taking the time to download your content.

This type of content marketing strategy tends to work particularly well toward the middle/bottom of the funnel. During this stage, you need to further educate prospects on the problem they’re facing, the solution you offer, and why you’re a better choice than a competitor.

5. Market reports

Market reports are an incredibly effective way to capture media attention and position your brand as a thought leader within your industry. This type of content marketing targets decision makers who need access to broad market data in order to build their strategy.

Below is an example of one of Terakeet’s recent reports from the beauty industry. We leveraged our internal technology to calculate the market share of the top performing websites within the cosmetics industry. Then, we published a report, a high-level blog post, and a deep dive case study about one of the top performing websites.

6. Videos

7. Infographics

Infographics allow you to present a significant amount of information quickly and clearly, including business, industry, or SEO statistics, maps, events, timelines, etc. They can function as standalone pieces of content that can be shared on social media platforms. Alternatively, they can act as a supplement to written content, like a blog post or a white paper.

Additionally, if you feature an infographic on a page on your website, you can easily create a small snippet of HTML code that allows others to embed the infographic on their sites. The HTML can be coded so that every time someone embeds the image on a website, a backlink to your website is automatically included as part of the description. The more people embed the infographic the more backlinks you get, which benefits your SEO.

Videos

Videos are also a versatile medium; you can create a variety of content in your industry that engages your market and leaves them wanting more. In this post, we walk you through how to use video marketing to your advantage.

For instance, design businesses can benefit from AR video marketing, which delivers a digital model of what you view using a smartphone. In 12 steps, including how to shoot with an iPhone, you can learn how to video market like a pro.

Microsoft uses their technology to empower everyone. Their recent commercials have shown just how inclusive their definition of “everyone” is, producing powerful messages about how technology can inspire many to achieve their goals.

Gated Content Types

By gated content types, I mean the valuable content you give away in exchange for an email address. You can use tools like LeadBoxes from LeadPages to embed a link into a piece of content that includes a form. All your visitors need to do is provide their email address and you’ll email them their free resource.

100. Guides

101. Worksheets

Worksheets are great for complementing blog posts that require following a process. They help your readers work through the ideas you’re teaching them on their own so they leave your website with something tangible.

102. Templates

Templates complement blog content that requires data punching very nicely. Alternatively, a few of the templates we’ve given away at CoSchedule include slide decks (for pitching new strategies to your team), Photoshop CC action (to automatically size every image to the perfect size for every social media network), and even spreadsheets (for managing project sprints and more).

103. Checklists

104. Research Reports

If you’re thinking about conducting original research and using a survey to gather your data, research reports are a great incentive to give your survey takers. A research report compiles your findings in a single document (typically into a PDF).

105. Posters/Desktop Backgrounds

106. Images

Giving away image bundles makes sense for some industries. For example, when we announced CoSchedule’s integration with Instagram, we gave away 100 Instagram-specific images in exchange for email addresses.

107. Mobile Apps

108. WordPress Plugins

109. Chrome Extensions

110. Kit/Bundle

If giving away one content upgrade generates email subscribers, would giving away two pieces increase your conversion rate? We tested the waters, and it appears the more content upgrades you give away for a single email address, the more conversions you’ll get.

111. Tools

CoSchedule launched Headline Analyzer Studio as a way to help our audience get more social shares, higher search rankings, and ultimately more traffic. We analyzed the data from the best content we’ve seen run through CoSchedule and made it available in an easy-to-use tool that ranks a headline’s ability to emotionally connect with readers.

112. Resource Library

Remember what I said about kits and bundles getting a higher conversion rate than only giving away a single piece of content in exchange for an email address? After you’ve created lots of content upgrades + tools, a resource library is a great way to repurpose your work in a high-conversion hub to generate more leads.

113. TPS Report

Sources:

https://terakeet.com/blog/types-of-content-marketing/
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/content-marketing-types
https://coschedule.com/content-marketing/types-of-content

They all have one thing in common. You must address them. No matter the type of difficult situation in which you find yourself, dealing with difficult people or situations is a must. Sure, you can experience a momentary distraction or ill-advised remark from a colleague without doing anything about it. Everyone has bad days and experiences thoughtless moments. But, if the behavior continues, or worse, escalates, you must address the behavior.

How to deal with difficult coworkers

Everyone has to deal with difficult coworkers — even your favorite team members can sometimes be a bit hard to work with. While you might not always be able to take a difficult coworker and make them your best friend, you can take actions to improve the relationship or at least to make the relationship more tolerable.

Assess the situation

Typically, there is a reason why they’re difficult to work with. Make an effort to understand what the cause of your challenges with them is. From there, try to understand why this person acts that way, and be sympathetic if there is an actual reason. While you may not agree with them, you won’t get far if you can’t at least understand where they may be coming from.

Know the types of difficult coworkers

There are many different types of difficult coworkers, and if you can define the type of difficult worker, you are one step closer to finding a solution to the problem. Forbes magazine also breaks down the different types of difficult coworkers in an effort to define the issue.

Slackers

There are lazy people in almost every workplace, and the people who work hard are constantly picking up the slack. Slackers are always wanting to take time off, or do the bare minimum on a job, and creates productivity holes for other coworkers.

Now, it’s important to recognize the difference between slacking and having a work-life balance. A slacker is an employee who doesn’t put in the effort and isn’t available. Simply using your vacation time and, for example, being mostly unavailable after close of business, may just be signs of a healthy work-life balance, not a slacker.

Why You Must Deal With Difficult People

Trust this statement. Your situation won’t get better; left unaddressed, it usually gets worse. Unaddressed, necessary conflict simmers just below—and often erupts counter-productively—above the surface at work.

Initially, people go into shock when they are treated unprofessionally, so if you take some time to understand exactly what is happening to you, you are not alone. Once you are fully aware of what is happening, deciding to live with the situation in the long term is not an option. It will fester to the point that you are miserable going into work each day.

You become so angry and feel so much pain that your efforts to address the situation become irrational. It’s far better to address the difficult person early while you can maintain some objectivity and emotional control.

Occasionally, at this point in your relationship with a difficult person, you can back off and decide that nothing good will come from confronting this difficult person’s behavior. You may find this is the case, for example, when you rarely encounter the person, or you’re on a short term project that will soon end.

Make sure that you aren’t fooling yourself to avoid conflict, but cases do exist when you can avoid the difficult person and minimize their impact on your work life. But, it depends on your individual circumstances.

The Bully

Do you think that you work with a bully? You do if you regularly feel intimidated, dread to work anywhere near a particular coworker, and feel dismayed and upset about having to go to work. If you are yelled at, insulted, and put down, you work with a bully. If you have felt psychologically or physically threatened at work, you work with a bully.

Do you have a coworker who talks over you at meetings, who regularly criticizes your performance, and steals credit for your work? If you answer yes to these questions, then the chances are that you’re one of 54 million Americans who have been targeted by a bully at work.

The Slider

Simply put, they suck. They always appear to be busy but never actually are – instead, they fob off their work to their colleagues and then reap all the rewards. They’re usually likeable and charming, and they know how to act the part. They often stay late so it looks like they have a lot to do when they’ve actually spent all day talking to their friends or reading the news online. And by the time the boss finally checks in on them, they’ve buckled down to at least complete one task on their list.

Solution: It’s hard to navigate around the Slider. If you call them out, for example, you’ll not only need concrete evidence to prove your point, but you’ll also end up branding yourself as a snitch – effectively making you the most unpopular person in the office. Instead, when they try to pass their work on to you, be blunt and simply tell them that you have your own list of priorities but will be happy to offer your advice on a certain part of a project.

When + How to Talk to Management

If you feel like you’ve tried everything and have exhausted your efforts, it’s time to escalate things to your boss. Before you randomly pop into their office, come prepared with the following:

• Have Actual Examples: Take notes or bring physical examples of where the coworker is being difficult and how it’s impacting the team and work overall.
• Come With a Plan: What’s your plan for addressing these issues? Your boss will provide their input, but it’s helpful if you come to the conversation with some ideas for solutions.
• Bring in Anecdotes from the Team: Is this a group problem? Without turning the conversation into a blame game or rallying the team to dislike someone, can you bring examples from other team members that add to a productive conversation?
• Switch Teams/Projects: If things are really bad, is there an option for you to limit your interactions or even switch teams altogether?
• Look for a New Job/Quit: If this is a serious issue that you have brought up to your boss many times but they refuse to support you or address it, it might be time to look for a new job. We always recommend leaving on a positive note.

References:

https://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/66521/how-to-deal-with-difficult-coworkers/
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-to-deal-with-difficult-people-at-work-1919377#:~:text=How%20to%20Productively%20Deal%20With%20Your%20Difficult%20Coworker,can%20confront%20your%20difficult%20coworker%E2%80%99s%20behavior%20publicly.%20
https://www.thebalancecareers.com/dealing-with-difficult-people-at-work-1917903
https://www.careeraddict.com/difficult-coworker
https://www.careercontessa.com/advice/problem-coworkers/