There are 2 types of content: evergreen content and seasonal content. Both types are vital to your business marketing strategy.
Evergreen content is not linked to a single event in time, so it can be published and re-posted whenever you choose. As it’s always useful to your customers and potential customers it gives your business real value for money.
Seasonal content is ‘of the moment’. It’s relevant, specific and can generate high levels of traffic to your website in a short space of time.
We’re focusing on seasonal content. We share the reasons why seasonal content marketing matters, and include some practical ideas to help you promote your business.
What is seasonal content marketing?
Seasonal content marketing is marketing based around a season, event, celebration or upcoming holiday. Businesses adjust their calendars to target events relevant to their industry.
For example, if your company makes products for children, you might create blog posts, social media posts or an infographic around World Children’s Day.
Your seasonal content needs to be genuinely useful, entertaining and a joy to read.
Types of seasonal content marketing
There are 2 types of seasonal content marketing:
Event-based
Calendar events such as International Women’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day etc.
Time-based
Events that are linked to the 4 seasons. For example, 10 equipment-free outdoor games for summer family fun.
How to find seasonal content ideas
You can find notable dates on websites like Visit Britain’s annual events page and Time and Date. Social media calendars such as Later.com have in-built reminders that let you know if an important day is coming up.
Also keep a calendar of events and dates that are specific to your industry (for example, ‘Free Wills Month’ if you’re a solicitor). Keep track of the news and look out for what’s trending on Twitter.
Once you’ve identified the dates you might like to create content around start to dig a little deeper to discover exactly what you could write about. Say you’re a plumber who wants content relevant to Christmas, here’s the process you could follow:
- Type plumber Christmas into a Google search. As you type, a list of searches will appear. Make a note of the most interesting ones (‘plumber jokes’ could be good!)
- Hit ‘return’. You will now see search results that will lead you to content that other people have written. For example, ‘No rest for plumbers at Christmas’ and ‘How to avoid a plumbing emergency this Christmas’.
- You could conduct some keyword research using the ideas above as a starting point. You might type the following into a keyword tool such as KWFinder: plumber Christmas, Christmas plumbing jokes, plumbers no rest Christmas.
- As you carry out your research other much better keywords might leap to your attention. For example, what to get a plumber for Christmas and emergency plumber Christmas day.
- Shortlist keywords that aren’t too competitive, have enough searches to be worthwhile, and aren’t currently being used by websites with high domain authorities. Use the best keywords you have found as your topic focus. For what to get a plumber for Christmas you might create a blog post with these exact keywords. You could do the same with emergency plumber Christmas day especially if you offer an emergency plumbing service: ‘How to find an emergency plumber on Christmas day’.
- You could also create a series of social media posts and infographics around your chosen topics.
Seasonal content marketing platforms
You can use seasonal content across your content marketing platforms including:
Blog Posts
Did you know that blogs play a big part in a customer’s buying decision? A staggering 84% of online purchasers have bought products based on the influence of a blog.
Consumers move with the times and can become desensitized to your brand if you do not shift with the seasons. Anticipating the needs of your customers and staying on trend is a perfect way to continually produce interesting and relevant content.
An example of an appropriate seasonal blog post is a brewery publishing a piece on the launch of their new craft beer ahead of International Beer Day.
Infographics
These seasonal infographics from Taste of Home are a great example. Infographics are a very effective marketing tool because they engage people instantly through colour, graphics and short, bitesized pieces of information.
Social media
You can bring your seasonal blog posts to people’s attention by linking with social media posts. You can also create seasonal social posts that are standalone.
How can seasonal marketing help your business?
Seasonal marketing can help your business to:
Stay relevant to customers
By being aware of current trends and what your customers and potential customers are interested in you can draw people to your brand and keep current customers engaged.
Promote key services or products
Linking your products or services through seasonal content marketing is paramount when it comes to promoting your brand.
During the second half of November, there is a spike in holiday shopping. This lead-up to Christmas also coincides with Cyber Week and Black Friday, both of which are great opportunities for businesses to promote their products and profit from B2C mania. Many brands that invest in quality seasonal content marketing notice increased sales of their most popular products during this period.
Expand your social media reach
Having a strong social media presence is essential for growing a successful brand. Every person who reads your valuable content is a potential promoter of your company.
When somebody reads your content and finds it informative, they will naturally click on the inbound links you’ve included. These links could take them to pages on your website or to your social media pages. If they click on one of your social media pages and decide to ‘follow’ you, they can keep up to date with your brand. If you produce high-value content, they may share it on their own social media pages which widens your reach.
First published on writespark.co.uk