Cost-Effective Ways to Create Content and New Content Trends for 2017

When it comes to making the most out of your SEO budget, quality matters. You want to provide the best possible experience to customers when they’re on your site by giving them quality content and striking visuals, but how can you make it work without breaking the bank?

Here are cost-effective ways to create custom content and stay ahead of content marketing trends in 2017.

Creating Custom Content on a Budget

At Pubcon 2016 in Las Vegas, SEJ Executive Editor Kelsey Jones sat down with Erin Robbins, President of Ginzametrics, to talk about ways on how to create custom content when you’re on a budget.

Here Are Some Key Takeaways from Her Interview:

• Everyone should be budget-conscious when it comes to creating content. Find out what kind of content you need to create and where it needs to go. Research where your audience is and what they’re looking at, then create content that matches the format of where your audience is — whether it’s video, podcast, blog posts, and more. The research will tell you where to focus your resource.
• Use keyword discovery to find out what topics and trends your audience is paying attention to. Use competitor discovery to see who’s new in the space and talking about certain things in your area. Then do a mix and match of keyword and competitor discovery to check what specific overlap in keywords and content they may have.
• Another strategy is to create a central piece of content and build other pieces around that. For example, Erin does a weekly live video series which is turned into a podcast, blog post, SlideShare, and even an e-book. It may also turn into a case study or white paper when she has thought leaders or experts come on as guests.
• Take advantage of user-generated content. Aggregating information from conferences and webinars can be helpful because it’s interesting to compare how people’s views have changed over time. Webinars are also a great way to get content ideas from people asking questions.

For more tips on creating content on a budget, explore the following resources:

• 10 Tips to Make Content Marketing Work for Small Budgets
• Marketing on a Budget: How to Produce Great Content Without Breaking the Bank
• #SEJThinkTank Recap: 6 Ways To Increase the Life of Your Content with Kelsey Jones

Upcoming Trends for Visual and Regular Content in 2017

In this interview at Pubcon 2016 in Las Vegas, Matt Siltala, President and Founder of Avalaunch Media, shares his insights on the upcoming trends for visual and regular content in 2017. You can listen to the podcast version of his interview at the top or bottom of this article.

Here Are Some Key Takeaways from the Interview:

• 360-degree photos and videos give a fun twist to content. They may be used next for infographics. 360 videos are especially useful for the real-estate market in showcasing houses and showing where these houses are, and also for cruise lines to show what you can expect on your next vacation. 360 videos give you the perspective of being part of the experience.
• We will also see more of virtual reality in games, websites, videos, and other experiences.
• As wearable devices become more popular, we should think about the kind of content we’ll be serving up there. We should be conscious of the size of content and the audience that consumes this content. We should also think of the best ways to serve content on wearable devices.
• Live streaming is another upcoming trend. You can show specific events to your audience. You can also share promo codes and giveaways targeted to your live audience. Live streaming is a way to get people to view your content and can cater to their fear of missing out.

For more information on live streaming, explore the following resources:

• How Your Brand Can Become a Part of the Live-Streaming Revolution
• Expand Your Reach: A Guide to Live Conference Coverage
• 5 Tricks for Getting More Engagement on Facebook Live

Please visit SEJ’s YouTube page for more video interviews.

Image Credits

Featured Image: Screenshot by Rina Caballar. Taken November 2016.