Table of Contents
Introduction
Content is king. No matter what your industry, if you are going to make a dent in the online market you are going to need engaging content that drives an audience to listen to your voice.
WordPress users alone produce more than 70 million new posts each month! 70 million per month!!! That is phenomenal but also goes a long way to show how important it is to deliver great content.
This post is going to introduce you to some basic information regarding content but also how you can use Canva Content Planner to reduce friction and take the headache out of delivering amazing content.
Types of Content
Before diving in too much let’s run through what types of content is typically available.
Video
Wirebuzz makes a very bold proclamation concerning video content:
Video is the trump card in the hand of the search engine optimizer. Search engines are looking for signs that your content is engaging to determine if it is worth a high ranking. And nothing boosts engagement like video.
Wirebuzz
This is not just as simple as making a video and posting it to your audience. The regular rules of content remain. The video must answer to the needs of your audience. Make sure that your video content conveys the correct message by delivering the answer in a catchy manner.
I like to peruse YouTube for inspiration – there is mountains of examples of how you can drive maximum audience engagement from the king of visual content.
Lists
In short, these work. If you can make use of a top ten list then they work even better!
Scholars Mathew S. Isaac of Seattle University and Robert M. Schindler of Rutgers University have successfully argued that the public largely exhibits a ‘top 10 effect’. This effect drives us to organise information into number groupings and discard anything that is not contained within this containerisation.
What does this mean then?
Easy:
- Create lists
- Create some more lists
- Keep adding those lists
Dont let your lists be aimless though. They still have to provide value, meet a need and be easily consumable. There is no point in creating a list of elongated prose. It aint gonna work.
If there was going to be one tip then it is make your lists skimmable. Simple, easy to read lists are going to level up your content. Simples.
Instructional
People are generally online looking for a solution to a problem. And what better way to help out your audience than giving clear, concise instructions on how to solve that problem?
Make sure that your instructions are simple, clear but contain the necessary information. Think of how the best recipe books are laid and follow their lead.
Solve a problem
Remember when creating instructional content you must solve a problem. Do not give instructions that are not satisfying your readers needs.
Keep it simple and break it up
They must be easy to read and follow a very clear guideline.
Infographics
Hunman beings prefer visual means to learn. It has also been proven that knowledge retention rises to as high as 65% when based on visual information whereas their text counterparts sits at around 10-20%.
So if you are going to educate, then it better be visual.
Infographics have come a long way and are taking advantage of the heightened retention from visual knowledge. This is a powerful tool and one you should get familiar with if you are going to deliver top notch informational content.
Reviews
It is no great secret that one of the most utilised keyword phrase contains the word “review”. People turn to the internet when they need to appraise something. Whether that is a product or a service, you can bet your last dollar that an interested person will turn to a quick google search to help form an opinion.
Fortunately, there is a very clear recipe for writing great reviews.
Set the scene early
Let the reader know what the review is going to be about. Set the boundaries and the limitations of the review so that a reader does not have unmerited expectations.
Know your audience
You need to speak to the audience in a language they understand. This is not possible if you do not know your audience. Research your audience and learn the questions they need the answer to.
Try the product or service
Modern day internet users are intelligent and will see through any attempt to try and pull the wool over their eyes. Make sure you know the product or service. But most of all, make sure that it is really the answer to their question.
Be transparent
Do not just talk about the positives of the product or service. The truth is that it will not be perfect. Be honest and transparent about the deficiencies.
Dont be too pushy
Tow the tightrope between not advertising your product and coming across as a smarmy sales person. Give the reader enough information to understand that the product/service in question is the answer to their question. Without ramming it down their throats!
Interviews
Readers love personal interviews. Think of posts such as “a day in the life” or “what person X does to increase productivity”. These are interesting and engaging and worth the additional effort to power up your content.
The power of a content calendar
You have probably realised that you have a lot of different content that you can create and share. This poses a massive problem – how do I manage all of this. There is also the problem of distribution. How are going to get the content in front of your audience.
What is a content calendar?
This is a way to organise your content ahead of time. This could be something as simple as a piece of paper written down but that would make for a relatively boring blog post!
What should it do?
It should be customised to your particular requirements. There is no one size fits all. Make sure that you are fully aware of your audience and what they expect – this will help you drive the formulation of your content calendar.
Organisation
Sort all of your content into time framed blocks that are important to your aims. There may be times of the year that will necessitate an increase in content. Different times of the year may also call for different forms of content. Let your audience drive the organisational approach.
Remain engaged
The main aim of the content calendar is to ensure you remain engaged with your audience. Keep this in mind at all times.
How do I create a content calendar?
I think you should now be sold on the idea and benefits of a content calendar. How do I create one?
Enter Canva
Canva Content Planner is a new feature that has been added to the Canva Pro offering. This allows you to easily plan all of your content on a month by month basis.
This easy to use tool allows you to schedule your workload. Canva Content Planner takes the headache out of publishing your content.
Instructions
1. Create content
Now go ahead and create that breathtaking content. Canva Pro is fantastic at creating those highly engaged visual creatives. Fill your boots!
2. Link social media accounts
For Canva Content Planner to really shine, you need to link Canva Pro to your social media accounts. This makes the distribution efforts as simple as possible.
3. Schedule content
Launch the Canva Content Planner and easily schedule the submission of your content to all of the various platforms in the simple click of a button.
4. Have a drink and relax
It really is that easy. Canva Content Planner has taken care of all of your scheduling and submission needs. You can now sit back and relax in the knowledge that Canva Content Planner has your back.
How do I get 4x more followers?
By simplifying and streamlining the process you can literally schedule posts across Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram from the click of one button. 4x the exposure for free.
Are you ready to up your content game?
You can start your free 30 day trial of Canva Pro today and organise your content efficiently and effectively.