If you’re a content creator, you know that your duties go well beyond just writing text. When writing a blog, multimedia is going to keep your readers engaged. If you’re only posting YouTube videos, for example, you’re missing out on an entire demographic of website visitors who actually like to read. If you’re posting text without images, you’re losing Pinterest and Instagram traffic. This guide will help you figure out whether to choose a video, interview, slideshow, infographic, or traditional article for your next blog post.
Do You Have an Outreach Routine?
Where are you generally sharing the content you’re creating? Do some research to find out which types of posts get the most engagement on the platforms where you share content. For example, on Facebook videos get more engagement than images or text only posts. If part of your routine is sharing your blog posts to Facebook, and all you’ve been sharing are articles, it may be time to go with an interesting video recapping one of the topics your readers are interested in.
If you want to get started on Pinterest, post an infographic. If you have been putting photos from your articles on Instagram with little engagement, try a photo diary post and see if that helps get you more traffic. Take your outreach strategy into account to help you decide which format to use next in your blog.
If you don’t have a set outreach strategy yet, read The 5 Part Recipe for Getting More Eyeballs on Your Content.
What Do Your Readers
If you’ve read comments asking if you know of a good video for any topic, find or create one and post it to your blog. If someone says, it would be cool to do an interview with X, take the reins and try to find the person they’re talking about. Your readers have the best insight on what they want. All you need to do is listen to
In some cases, a content won’t have a fan base or plethora of comments to create content from. One example is a new blog. In this case, it can be a good idea to include a survey in your autoresponder or send a personalized questionnaire to new
In the survey or questionnaire ask questions like:
- What type of learner are you? (auditory, kinesthetic, visual, don’t know)
- What type of content would you like to see more of? (videos, articles, interviews, infographics, something
Which Blog Posts Are Getting the Most Engagement Thus
If you’ve had a blog for some time, your blog stats can give you valuable insight. Pay attention to them. If your listicle from six months ago got more views than any other posts, think about publishing another one. But, don’t take that at face value; take a look at where the views came from. If the inbound views came from a site like Stumbleupon, or Reddit, and you haven’t shared your other posts there, you might need to look into changing your promotion strategy rather than your content media.
If it looks like the video you posted last Wednesday generated more traffic and engagement than the article and the infographic from the weeks prior, post another one. After that, watch to see if it generates more traffic again. If so, this is a good indicator that you should continue posting more videos.
Can You Afford to Try Something New?
Now you know how to gauge your next blog post based on what you’ve been doing. If you’ve read this far, and you still don’t know if you should try posting an interview podcast with an expert in your field for fear of investing the energy only to have readers ignore it, or whether or not you should hire a designer to work with you on an infographic, there’s only one more question to ask:
“Can I afford to try something I’ve never tried before?”
To this, I will answer with a soft yes, and here’s why. We have all heard the old saying, “If it works, don’t fix it.” But, when it comes to the internet, blogging specifically, that isn’t completely true. Technology and consumer behavior changes so swiftly in the modern world that it’s nearly impossible to create a content plan that will work long term. In order to maintain a following and keep readers interested, we need to find that balance between routine and spontaneity that they’re craving.
So, yes, interview her, and unless there’s a good reason not to, hire the designer. Start adding new media to your blog. Show them something they haven’t seen yet and watch what happens.
