Today we will be talking about some of the different forms and formats you can use for your content. By now, if you have been following the series, you may have a long list of content topic ideas and perhaps some ideas about how the pieces will help build your business. If you missed the previous post in this series on how content marketing builds your health coaching business, you can find it here.
This post will go over the different formats you can use for your content. There is so much for you to choose from – blog posts, infographics, videos, ebooks, slideshows… It might seem a bit overwhelming, but you don’t have to use all these formats. Select the ones that make the most sense for your business.
There are far more different forms of content that what we will be listing here, but this post will cover the 4 basic forms.
Blog Posts
The most common type of content that you may be familiar with are blog posts. As a health coach, you will probably want to publish at least one blog post a week and possibly more. It will consume the bulk of your content marketing efforts. Blog posts are typically written content. To add variety, you can embed videos and infographics or even audio files into your blog.
Downloadable Information
Another type of content to consider publishing is the type that can be downloaded. This type of content can include ecourses, reports, case studies, white papers, workbooks, and eBooks. These take a little more effort to create because they’re larger than a standard blog post. But, they generally have a longer life and can be used to achieve a number of business-building goals. These goals could be selling products or services, building an email list, and earning affiliate income.
If you already have quite a bit of content on your website in the form of blog posts, look at the ones that are connected, or form a series. These could be turned into downloadable content without having to write them from scratch.
Infographics and Slideshows
Visual content has taken over the internet. It attracts attention quickly, is shared more readily, and can really help brand a business.
Slideshare.net is owned by Google and is pegged to be one of the fastest growing social sites. It’s like YouTube for slideshows.
Videos
YouTube and Vine are two popular video sharing sites, and Facebook is currently putting a heavy focus on video. Video can be a great way to demonstrate a product. You can educate with video, entertain, and help brand your business by personalizing it. Audio content and podcasts are other viable formats to consider.
Overwhelmed yet? Take time to reflect on all this before moving on.
Next Steps…
The next step is to look at your list and contemplate how each piece of content might best be communicated. Keep your audience in mind. If your audience is older, for example, they may not spend much time viewing videos on YouTube. Also, keep in mind the types of content you feel most comfortable creating.
Next, we’ll take a look at how to identify a goal for your content and why it’s such a critical step.
I hope that this has helped you choose a couple formats that are the most suitable for your health coaching business!
