So why are blog posts, articles still the most important form of content marketing?
The way SEO has been evolved and changed over time, the same is the case with content. However, SEO is much younger than the content itself. But the Content and Content Marketing has its roots back in the 1700s.
Content Marketing in its actual form started first in 1731 to promote Benjamin Franklin’s printing business by publishing a magazine.
It’s still all about the words, whether they are presented in text, voice, image, infographics, or video.
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Let me just cover the brief history of content marketing which could give you some insights on how content marketing has evolved over-time and what is the most powerful element in content marketing.
Since the content marketing has started it has one thing in common, “The words” You heard that right, ” It’s still all about the words, whether they are presented in text, voice, image, infographics, or video,” words are the core service and the other are add-ons to it.
1732: Benjamin Franklin started publishing in order to promote the printing business.
1801: Librairie Galignani started content strategies to promote book store like; featuring articles of authors, publishing own newspaper, opening reading room, creating original books.
1861: American Bee journal was launched which is still being published today.
1867: The locomotive magazine was started.
1882: Edison electric lighting company bulletin was published to spread the word on the benefits of using electric lighting.
1900: Michelin guide was developed to help the drivers to maintain their cars.
1904: JELL-O company published the first recipe book which increased its sales by $1 million in two years.
1930: P&G started producing radio content in partnership with Oxydol.
1968: Weight watchers magazine was launched.
2001: The term “content marketing” was first used by Penton Custom Media.
2004: STIR magazine was launched by Sherwin Williams for interior designers and architects.
2006: The first YouTube video series “Will It Blend” was published by Blendtec which received 235 million views.
2007: American Express launches an open forum.
2008: Handbook of content marketing “Get content get customers” released.
2013: Red bull media released 20 mini-movies.
2014: LEGO movie was released in the content marketing effort.
2015: The first documentary film about content marketing was published “The story of content: the rise of the new marketing”.
And there is much more development in the recent era….the list goes on…..
As I have mentioned above there is one thing common in content marketing since the 1730s till today and that is “Words” without words or text there is nothing in content marketing.
Now let’s focus on how words have been transformed into various content marketing forms;
Videos are becoming the most popular form of content marketing these days, what changed the form of content from text to video? Its technology, rise of integrated media technology, Web, multimedia, and mobile technology has penetrated sharply into the global audience. People are now just a touch away from videos around the world.
Just watch this video as an example of marvelous Video content:
Words still have immense power, I would rather say, “Only the words have power” but it has to be revealed through different presentation techniques, video is just one of them.
Infographic is another popular form of content marketing, the purpose of info-graphic is to present data, stats, and marketing messages in visual content. It could make a long story short with a remarkably graphitized presentation.
Let’s have a look at an info-graphic published on backlinko, how it represents the content in it.
If this information is presented in an article it might be long and boring for some viewers, but this info-graphic cuts the long story short with a clear message which can be grasped in just a few minutes.
In the above examples, you must have acknowledged the power of words which have been displayed in different formats.
Now move on to the next phase of discussion;
Nevertheless, videos, info-graphics, images are getting extremely important for content marketing yet these things are incomplete without written text. Even to promote a video you may need to write a small blog post, similarly to promote info-graphic you may need to write things in detail that are presented in.
An article or blog post requires none of the above things, you can simply write a blog post with headings and sub-headings. However, videos, images, and info-graphic make a blog post standout.
Despite the fact that videos, images, and info-graphics take more time, energy, money, and effort to produce but still organizations and websites actively produce this type of content. The reason for this is the audience.
There are top 4 reasons why the videos and infographics are produced:
And that is all that the audiences prefer but what about what search engines like Google prefer?
So let’s now figure out what exactly Google prefers;
Below you will see a search term “Tips to maximize sales” all you get in the search results are the blog posts and articles.
Let’s try some other search term such as “fix the mobile battery drain issue”
This search term should have a practical demonstration, in other words, it should contain some videos in the search results but all you get is the written content.
There are many other terms that have videos associated with them in search results, but it is observed that mostly the articles and blog posts appear on the first page of Google. This means Google still gives much importance to the articles in search results.
This also means blogging, copywriting, words make the best content marketing strategies! WORDS matter the most when it comes to SEO and content marketing!
So the point is, articles take much less effort as compared to videos and info-graphics, and with that less effort if you are able to make it to the first page of search results, then article posting becomes the most powerful tool in content marketing.
Tydus Low is the Regional Head of Copywriting and SEO in Web Leads Digital Marketing Agency and Academy. He specializes in producing well-written content that educates, inspires, and entertains his readers. He is a well-rounded expert who understands digital marketing in-depth. He is well-versed in PPC, Google Analytics, Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing, Copywriting, Web Design, CRO, Web Development, and Search Engine Optimization! He loves reading, writing, and helping his clients explore new ways to win customers during his free time. He graduated from Nanyang Polytechnic with Computer Engineering Diploma and Specialist Diploma From Singapore Polytechnic in Digital Marketing and Analytics.
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