Online Content Formats Pros and Cons
Social Media has become one of the largest forms on communication and marketing. There are many different types of content that you can use to catch your target market’s eye. These include: video, paper, webinar, infographic, blog post, podcast, and articles. Below we have listed the pros and cons of each to help you identify which is best for you to use to market your own business.
1. Video
Pros
Videos are probably the easiet way to catch someones attention and hold it for as long as needed. It’s engaging and marketers who use videos can help you rank higher in searches and increase traffic and conversion.
Cons
Video marketing can be expensive. Some of our favorite content creators have a team that help with editing, production, and coming up with new ideas to hold viewers attention. Equiptment alone can add up fast. Video marketing may be more ideal for bigger companies with the budget to extend towards capturing the audience’s attention.
2. White Paper
Pros
Good to be used towars educating your audience on a particular subject. It is essentially a well though out solution to a problem, resulting in a purchase of a product or service. White paper is information rich and is sure to help your target customer out.
Cons
White paper really onlt appeals to those who are dedicated to finding the right answer, and super loyal customers. Mostly used in a business to business setting or scenario.
3. Webinar
Pros
Webinars will be similar to white Paper, it is a good use to educate your audience and be information rich in giving your audience all the information they are looking for. It is also inexpensive and can embody the use of education to draw in their audience.
Cons
Webinars will also only appeal to an audience that is really seeking out a lot of information on the given topic. Only really used for dedicated fans and followers and is best used for business to business scenarios.
4. Infographic
Pros
Infographics can appeal to a lot of people. They should be easy to read and understand, help catch the attention of your audience, and can be unique. There is no one size fits all for infographics, and you can really customize it to fit your brand and your audience.
Cons
Infographics can take a lot of time to prepare and put together. They can also still be interpreted wrong by your audience. You can’t make anything into an infographic, you are limited to the information you can present here.
5. Blog Post
Pros
It’s easy and free to start a blog. You can use different websites as a template to create your blog and make it unique. It is easy to generate website visits with a blog, the outreach can be incredible and easy to share and pass along.
Cons
There is a lot of upkeep when starting a blog. Creating when you are going to post, what to post, etc. you need to be consistent to maintain your audience. It also represents your business and should not be thrown together haphazardly.
6. Podcast
Pros
Podcasts have taken off a lot more recently, it is a unique way to disucss a topic and market your brand. Podcast engagement is pretty high and has been proven to be more effective than display ads in recent years.
Cons
Podcasts have a limited audience. Many advertisers will use ads in podcasts to drive up direct and immediate engagement to the point of a sale. Advertisers will typically want to advertise for a few episodes and after some time listeners can grow tired of hearing it over and over again.
7. Articles
Pros
Most article marketing will come from a third party, and will most likely have to be endorsed by the writer. Article marketing can really benefit your credibility as a brand and increase your recognition. Articles will also help to boost your SEO and get you te traffic you are looking for.
Cons
You can’t control what an author will say about your brand. It can also be time consuming to follow guidelines, editing, submission deadlines, etc. It is also easier for content to get stolen from articles, and makes the marketing useless for the company.
Using the pros and cons listed above, you should be able to easily identify which social media and content marketing strategy would be best to use for your business.