THIS is yet another good reason to be creating marketing content:
“Conversation is king. Content is just something to talk about.”
– Cory Doctorow
While I would argue that content is more than just something to talk about (or should be), I love this sentiment!
Your content needs to be useful or interesting – both are what you’re aiming for. If you do a good job of that, you’ll get people talking. But there are certain types of content that will serve this purpose especially well.
First is the opinion piece, especially if you are disagreeing with popular opinion. This is where you confidently show off your subject matter expertise while going against the grain or digging deeper into a contentious topic. This can be polarizing so be prepared to respond to people who disagree with you.
Here are some other types of content that may help you to get people talking:
- Advice: Similar but not quite the same as an opinion piece, giving valuable advice will get people telling other people (and so on and so on) about what a great resource you are. Obviously, this will build your subscriber list and fanbase on social media platforms.
- Preview or comment on something NEW: You might write about new developments in your industry… in terms of how they’ll affect your readers. You might use current headlines as a hook (but don’t be too frivolous).
- A behind-the-scenes experience: There’s a lot of content that fits here for both B2B and B2C… and many of them can be quite brief: videos of unpacking products, interviews with celebrities, first-hand knowledge of new developments or other timely content, business processes such as manufacturing or assembly.
- Guest articles/posts: If you choose guest bloggers who have a loyal fanbase, you’ll benefit from their fans spreading the word.
What will you write to get people talking?