With all the Tiktoks, YouTube videos, memes, and posts by millions of businesses online, it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd.
Most of the time, just coming up with content ideas is already stressful. When you throw in the other parts of the process— graphic design, writing blogs and captions, taking care of videos and images— keeping your content fresh while staying unique on the internet can become an overwhelming challenge.
Fortunately, it is possible! And when done right, your creative marketing strategies can jumpstart some incredible growth for your business.
Here are simple ways to keep your content marketing fresh and stand out from your competitors— online or offline!
Listen to and feature your clients
It’s true— your content marketing should target your clients. But they can also provide you with abundant ideas and yes, even content to post or repost!
User-generated content
Don’t be afraid to repost user-generated content, especially on social media. These are posts created by those who use or have used your product or service and want to share their experience with the world. Most of the time, they do it for free and even without you asking them to, especially if they’re your loyal customers!
Here are a few examples of user-generated content on social media:
Get customer feedback and suggestions
Getting reviews can be scary, but they can also give you plenty of ideas for new content and even new products! For example, a customer might praise one of your staff members for being so accommodating. Why not feature that employee and have them say a special thank you to the customer or post their reaction to the positive review?
Know what and where to research for ideas
Let’s be honest: coming up with content ideas for your marketing is not always easy. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you want to keep up-to-date with the latest trends within your niche or what’s on top of your audience’s minds at the moment.
Whether you like it or not, good research is an important part of content creation. But what and where do you search for topics to post about? Aside from getting direct feedback from your audience, here are awesome tools to help you:
Quora “is a place to gain and share knowledge. It’s a platform to ask questions and connect with people who contribute unique insights and quality answers.”
Facebook groups, especially those dedicated to a specific niche or people often have discussions about specific topics that can help you come up with ideas for content, products, or services.
Answer the public “listens into autocomplete data from search engines like Google then quickly cranks out every useful phrase and question people are asking around your keyword.”
Reddit “is a network of communities where people can dive into their interests, hobbies and passions”
Google Trends is a website by Google that analyzes the popularity of top search queries in Google Search across various regions and languages.
Tweak what other people are doing
No one likes a copycat. And with your content marketing, if your audience starts to see the same thing over and over, even a perfectly choreographed Tiktok can lose its impact if it’s overused.
However, it’s still important to be aware of what other people are doing with their content. And if you find something interesting, look for ways to tweak it and give it a personal twist that fits your branding.
For example, can you recreate popular memes with your team? Can you provide a live behind-the-scenes post instead of a filmed one? Instead of hiring influencers to post a picture at your shop, can one of your team dress up as a famous fictional character?
Explore different channels and kinds of content
Experimentation can be scary, even when it comes to content marketing. But even with the uncertainty, you can still learn a lot about your audience and your business when you explore different strategies. You can try experimenting with:
Content channels: If you’re not getting results on Twitter, why not try Instagram or Facebook? Similarly, if keeping a YouTube channel is too much work for you, maybe you can move to short-form videos on Tiktok.
Kinds of content: Pictures are great, but you can also add videos, social media stories, blog posts, newsletters, or printed ads to your content marketing toolbox.
Tone or genre: Depending on your branding, you can even experiment with how you market your business. For example, can you show off a funnier side to your business with memes or funny skits? Or maybe an emotional one and feature a cause you support or a heartwarming story of how you started your business.
Keeping your content fresh and unique may seem like a challenge, but with creative solutions, it’s still possible and can help you boost your business.
However, content creation is one story, but staying consistent with your content marketing plans is another. That’s where we come in!
We’ve got a team of out-of-the-box thinkers and creative marketing professionals to help you plan, produce, and schedule your content while you focus on your business and personal time! Start with a free 30-minute consultation today.