Sometimes when people say content marketing, they mean Instagram. Sometimes they mean email marketing. Sometimes they mean blog posts. Sometimes they mean videos or podcasts or whatever the new hot thing is.
But the truth is…
It’s all content marketing.
Content marketing is a big wide slice of marketing your business that’s all about creating content (of varying kinds) to get in front of new eyeballs (ideally ones of your ideal audience), connect with them, develop a trusting relationship with them, and eventually (hopefully) convert them into clients or customers.
There are lots and lots of different ways to do that, and no one type of content marketing is the type.
Because everyone has different Spark Zones, different ways of creating content that come naturally to you and let your Spark shine. If you force yourself to create too far outside of your Spark Zone, your Spark won’t be shining, and the content won’t land or resonate with your people, and it won’t work towards your business goals.
BUT
That’s not to say that you should only use one type of content marketing. That’s not how the internet works these days.
“Build it and they will come” isn’t a thing.
You also can’t just show people what you do and think that will get them to buy it.
Only using one type of content marketing is like buying a plot of dirt and saying it’s the rainforest.
The rainforest isn’t the dirt. It’s all it’s different elements and how they interact with each other to create the ecosystem.
Instead of just one type of content marketing, you need a content marketing ecosystem.
What’s a content marketing ecosystem?
A content marketing ecosystem is all the different types of content you create and how they work together to market your business.
Each platform, strategy, and piece of content plays a different role in the ecosystem.
They all interact with each other in different ways, but (ideally) they all work together in a cohesive way to support your business goals.
What platforms should you use for your content?
Here’s the thing:
What platforms you use in your content marketing ecosystem DON’T MATTER.
I’m not going to sit here and tell you that you HAVE to blog (even though that would benefit me since that’s a big part of what I do for a living).
You don’t have to blog to have a full and healthy content marketing ecosystem.
Because you might hate writing.
And if you hate writing, creating a 1,500+ word blog post each week will be a total slog, and you won’t keep up the habit, so you won’t do it, so you won’t get the benefits of blogging or of the role it was supposed to play in your ecosystem.
It’s not about the content platform. It’s about the elements of the ecosystem. You just need to make sure you have at least one platform for each one.
There are 3 elements to a healthy content marketing ecosystem:
- VISIBILITY
- RELATIONSHIPS
- LEADERSHIP
Let’s dive into each of these…
The first element of your content marketing ecosystem: VISIBILITY
In this part of your content marketing ecosystem, you’re getting in front of new people.
For a lot of us, this is Instagram (but despite what Zuckerberg would have you think, it doesn't have to be!). It could also be guesting on other people's podcasts, speaking at a summit, even SEO!
With this type of content, your main goals are:
- Visibility and getting in front of new eyeballs
- Building enough of an interest that they want to stay in touch with you
- Establishing a taste of your authority in your expertise – just enough to make them curious and want more (like an appetizer!)
The second part of your ecosystem is: RELATIONSHIPS
This element of your content marketing ecosystem is all about the exclusivity and nurturing a relationship with your audience members.
For a lot of people, this is the email list (and also possibly having conversations in the DMs). For others, it might be a free Facebook Group. For a while, for me this was my free weekly coworking community (yes, this totally counts as content marketing!)
Whatever type of content feels natural to you here, the goal is to nurture a real relationship with your people.
Everyone consuming your content at this stage made some kind of commitment to be there. They opted in for it in some way, like a non-monetary mini-conversion.
A key thing to remember here is that while yes, you are the content creator, a relationship is two-ways.
This element is about listening just as much as it is about talking.
The third element of your content marketing ecosystem is: LEADERSHIP
This element of your content marketing is the whopper. It’s the biggun’. These are the trees in your ecosystem. This is where you build your house, put your stake in the ground, take the stage, however you want to phrase it.
This is where you lead.
Whether you write blog posts, podcast, make videos, or go Live, in this content, you’re taking the reins and going deep in your expertise.
This part of the content marketing ecosystem is usually long-form content, and you’re usually building a library of content that are interconnected and overlapping, and together they create a forest that is your brand’s message.
Each different piece of content in your Leadership Content platform also serves a specific role, kind of creating a little mini ecosystem within the bigger ecosystem, but to avoid confusion, that’ll be a topic for another day.
The type of content you create in this element of your ecosystem are:
- Brand manifestos
- Deep dives into specific topics you’re an expert on
- Conversion nurturing content
- Content that explores and establishes your brand values
Together, they all work together to establish your expertise and authority, communicate your brand values, and lead people towards converting (either by purchasing a product or opting in to your exclusive content).
What a cohesive content marketing ecosystem looks like
By understanding your content marketing ecosystem and what role each platform plays in it, you’re able to make sure they all support each other to work towards your specific business goals.
For example, let’s say you’re planning on launching a new service in the middle of next quarter, you might want to spend the weeks leading up to that establishing your authority in that area, getting in front of new Humans who would be ideal for that service, and warming up your existing audience for that launch.
Here’s how that might play out in your content marketing ecosystem:
In your Leadership Content, you start publishing blog content that illustrates your expertise on the topic, speaks directly to the pain point of the ideal client, and establishes your unique brand philosophy and values around that particular topic.
In your Visibility Content, you give some quick tips and snippets from the leadership content on Instagram, show how that topic plays out in your own real life, and start interacting with your new ideal client for that service in comments and stories.
And in your Relationship Content, you initiate conversations with your email list about the topic that the new service is about, ask questions about what your peoples’ experience with it is like, and tease the new upcoming service as you’re creating it – maybe even making them part of the creation process!
Really, you’re talking about the same things across all the platforms, but in different ways to serve different roles in your overall strategy.
So to summarize, when it comes to solid strategic content marketing that supports your business goals, it doesn’t matter what platform you use.
What matters is that you have a holistic content marketing ecosystem.
The three elements of your content marketing ecosystem are:
- Visibility
- Relationship
- Leadership
Each of these elements serves different role in your ecosystem, with different platforms or types of content, that all work together to cohesively get your message out there and support your business goals.