Content driven traffic is very targeted traffic and is high converting as well. Here are 5 types of content that you can use to drive traffic to your websites and offers.

YouTube

Starting a YouTube channel is something that many brands don’t consider. But they do so at their peril. 

Because YouTube is the world’s leading source of video content, with 83% of consumers watching content on the platform. For reference, Facebook occupies the number 2 spot with 67%.

What’s more, 7 out of 10 viewers watch videos to get ‘help with a problem’ they’re experiencing in their job, studies or hobby.

The implication? Producing primarily educational content aimed at resolving your audience’s struggles is the way to set yourself up for success.

There are lots of video formats to choose, such as:

• Explainer videos
• Tutorials
• Whiteboard animations
• Interviews 
• Talking head
• Vlogs & more

For some inspiration, check out how mediation provider Headspace uses their YouTube channel to educate, inspire and entertain their audience. Their helpful animations and tutorials gently guide viewers and subscribers closer to their brand.

The great thing about creating video content for YouTube is that you can easily repurpose it for other channels.

For example, you can easily take the audio from an interview and turn it into a podcast. Or you can cut video snippets and post them to social media to give your followers micro-nuggets of wisdom.

User-Generated Content

Many brands are overlooking the potential that social offers by skipping over user-generated content. In fact, just a measly 16% of brands have a documented strategy regarding user-generated content.

And that’s a shame because research has shown that UGC pulls in around 28% higher engagement compared to standard company posts. 

What’s more, almost 50% of consumers say that UGC helps them find new products.

In fact, a recent case study by clothing brand Burberry attributed a 51% jump in eCommerce sales year-on-year to the results of their UGC strategy. Fifty-one-per-cent! Ay caramba!

The best part about UGC? You don’t even have to create it. Your brand advocates do the heavy lifting it for you.

But you do need to encourage them because over half of consumers want brands to tell them what type of content to create. 

How? It’s simple: create a #hashtag campaign. 

Just check out how online furniture store Wayfair have created a campaign around the hashtag #WayfairAtHome to turn their customers into content creators:

 

Podcasts

The popularity of podcasts is on the up. In 2018, there were 48 million weekly podcast listeners, but by 2021 that’s expected to jump to 115 million.

And right now the marketplace is not crazy competitive. There are around 80 million Facebook business pages – but there are only about 750,000 podcasts airing on a regular basis.

This high demand, coupled with low supply means that now is the perfect time to add podcasting to your content marketing arsenal.

Especially when you consider that the average podcast listener earns between $10-20k more than the average US consumer – with 15% of listeners earning $150,000+. Did somebody say higher purchasing power?

For inspiration, check out how Harvard Business Review uses their podcast ‘HBR Ideacast’ to give their audience a glimpse into the thinking of some of the world’s biggest companies.

Infographics

Okay, infographics aren’t always strictly ‘text-free’, but they’re predominantly a visual medium that you shouldn’t overlook.

Why? Well, how about I let an infographic do the talking for me?

Pretty powerful stuff. As the old adage goes ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’.

Infographics appeal to us because they’re so easy to consume. The mental effort required to get ‘the gold’ is so low that we’re more likely to retain the message.

In fact, when relevant images are used, eye-tracking studies show readers spend more time looking at the images than they do reading text on the page.

Plus infographics have serious potential to go viral – being shared widely across the web they’ll help you pick up valuable backlinks and boost your SEO rankings without you lifting a finger.

You might be thinking, that’s great – but I can’t afford to hire a graphic designer right now. Don’t worry, you don’t have to.

You can use a tool like Pictochart to create beautiful infographics with a simple drag and drop editor. Who says life needs to be complicated?

Courses

Developing educational courses is an incredibly powerful content marketing tactic. 

Courses are especially potent if you’re selling higher-priced services or software, but they can still be useful for physical products too.

Sharing your professional experience with your audience creates a strong sense of reciprocity and showcases your expertise.

Take software company HPLife, for example. They offer business and start-up courses for free, with some of HP’s products at the heart of each lesson.

They’ve improved how hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs run their business, but better yet, they’ve indirectly trained those people to use their products and services.

Obviously creating a course of your own doesn’t have to involve the level of effort HP have put into their Life academy. 

You can use a platform like Teachable (or YouTube is always good) to create free short courses. Or even just run a once-off webinar focused on educating your audience.

Conclusion

Hopefully you have some ideas for using content to generate traffic to your website and building your following online.

One small word of caution: don’t try to jump in and do multiple things at once. Spreading yourself too thin isn’t going do you any favors.

Instead, pick one to two mediums and go all-in on it for the best chance of success.