We are living in a highly over-saturated social and digital world and to be honest, there’s no escaping it. Fighting against ad blockers and disingenuous marketing ploys from competing businesses, it’s hard for the good guys to get noticed. As a small business, you have to do things that make you stand out. How? You have to provide branded content.

Traditional advertising tactics are out. Newspaper ads and billboards? Goodbye! Branded content is way better than traditional advertising because it’s marketed to today’s consumers, who, most likely, are millennials. You should be doing things for them now!

If you want to appeal to the millennial, you need to know what they care about, and that includes participation and inclusivity. With that being said, your branded content needs to be targeted to them in a way that captivates them enough that they’ll want to engage.

Why Branded Content Is Important For Your Business

1. It’s impactful.

As mentioned above, in order to successfully market to consumers, you need to know what they care about. In other words: tug at their heartstrings. Emotions can be used as a marketing tactic, but it only works if it’s done right. Branded content that is comedic or heartfelt is what viewers feel more inclined to attach themselves to.

A few years ago, Dove came out with a memorable campaign – a video called “Real Beauty Sketches” to prove that “you’re more beautiful than you think.” It depicted women as the subject of two portraits done by a professional artist: one portrait based on her own description, and one using a stranger’s observations. It tugged at the heartstrings. People attached themselves to the message behind the video because it was relatable and authentic, and because of that, it was inspiring and captivating.

Authenticity is one of the most important things in marketing to potential consumers. If you’re genuine and real with your brand and what your business has to offer, people will be more inclined to attach themselves to you.

2. It’s sharable content.

As humans, it’s natural for us to crave connection. Physically or through the online world, we want to be a part of something. We like relatability and things that are personal.

If someone finds something relatable, they are more likely to share it. That’s what social media is all about, right? The online world is a never-ending cycle of retweets, shares, and reposts. The more people talk about your brand and share your content online, the more eyes you’ll get on you.

Related: Your Complete Guide To Social Media Branding 

Viewers want to find relatability in your campaign. Your brand should be something that people find themselves naturally connecting to.

3. Varied content and varied platforms = great exposure!

No matter what kind of content you create (don’t worry, we’ll get into it soon.), it can be shared on multiple channels and on multiple platforms. There are various social media platforms that can be used–Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest, Tumblr–and through this, your content is always being shared and expanded across the World Wide Web.

So what types of content can be shared?

Blog posts or articles. 

A website is a great thing you can do on your journey to a thriving business. With a blog, or an online hub for advice, lists, and opinion pieces, you can drive traffic to your business and inform potential clients all that you have to offer.

Here are some tips to successfully create blog content:

• Get familiar or super-friendly with SEO. Keyword strategies and storytelling go hand-in-hand. Read up on SEO: what it is and how you can use it to your website’s advantage.
• Link other blog posts. It’s a great way to keep someone on your website longer. Traffic on your site = good!
• Embed visuals! Photos, videos, graphs, etc. all amplify the blog post.

Visuals. 

Living in this digital age has somewhat forced us to enjoy viewing something more than reading something. No matter what your business is, you should be creating content that is nice on the eyes, whether if it be photos, videos, ebooks, etc. Give people something to look at!

For example, The Hub teamed up with Playa Viva and created content to market their resort in Mexico. Our professional photographers and videographers know the power and importance of visuals, and they captured Playa Viva in a way that was unmatched:

Case studies. 

A case study is a powerful tool. It is a true success story. It shows that your brand works and someone, somewhere, enjoyed their experience with or the product from your business. Case studies are full of specific information and include quotes, video and photo content, words, and so much more.

The Hub has a number of case studies we are proud to show off, including Fjallraven, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Kashi Waffles, Yelp, Alexis Bittar, and so many more.

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As a growing business, you should be developing a portfolio of high-quality work done by professionals. Familiarize yourself with the branded content from businesses you admire and learn from them. You will be able to thrive as a business with the strategies of impactful, relatable, sharable marketing content and the tools and benefits of social media. Remember: you want your brand to stand out and you want to make people notice you, but that will only work if you’re authentic.