10 Examples of Content Writing, When To Use Each, and Content Writing FAQs
November 28, 2023 •DJ Team
In the world of content marketing, video and image-based content continues to rise in popularity—but nothing has dethroned written content as the foundation of any brand’s digital marketing strategy. There are many different types of written content, from the standard blog to social posts and much more.
What is Content Writing in Marketing?
In simple words, content writing in marketing is the process of creating digital content and allows you to show your customers what your business is, what it specializes in, and how you can help them with their needs. >Let’s take a look at 10 examples of content writing to inspire you and help you round out your content writing efforts.
Content Writing Example #1: Social Media Posts
Creating social media posts is a great way to hone your content writing skills. Since posts are typically very short, snappy, and quick, you can easily try out different styles of writing and see what people respond to. It’s easy to change direction and adapt if you need to tweak your writing style since social media posts are typically fluid and changeable by nature. You can also practice A/B testing with your social media ads—try writing two different posts and sending it to similar demographics and see which one performs better.
Before you write social media posts, make sure to check character limits as well as the demographics of customers who use each platform. This will help you word the post for each platform in a way that will attract the most potential customers.
Content Writing Example #2: Website Content
Your website is a huge piece of content writing that is often overlooked as content. From writing each page to creating Frequently Asked Questions or a resource center for customers, your website is often the first point of contact for potential customers. Keep in mind that content writing for your website needs to meet customers who are at all different places in their journey to purchasing, so you should have content that engages customers at all levels.
Content Writing Example #3: Newsletters and Emails
One thing that sets newsletters and customer emails apart from other types of content writing is the fact that typically your audience for these pieces of content are people who are already customers and familiar or loyal to your brand. Offering unique content that they cannot get other places can help keep their interest and make them pay attention to your emails.
Content Writing Example #4: Infographics
While you may not think of an infographic as a piece of content writing, the truth is that infographics are a combination of visual and written. Think about different statistics. Or interesting facts about your company or products, and use those to create infographics to distribute to your social media channels. For a simpler infographics, you can try creating a comparison sheet. A simple chart that compares your products to others can help educate your customers and make the case for your product.
Content Writing Example #5: Ebooks
Creating ebooks for your customers is a great way to offer in-depth explorations of your products and services. This is a great educational tool and can help you to convince potential customers to convert to actual customers. Content writing for these pieces can be more technical, but make sure that you keep the jargon and specialized vocabulary to a minimum or explain it so that you bring your audience along with you.
Content Writing Example #6: White Papers
White papers are similar to ebooks in that they are longer pieces that are meant to be educational and delve deeper into subjects. However, white papers help you to establish your business as an industry expert and gives you authority in the eyes of customers. White papers can expand on topics that you use in your blog posts or cover other related topics or opinions.
Content Writing Example #7: User Guides and How-To's
These types of content writing are very helpful for your current customers and for people who are close to making the purchasing decision. You can show off your products and how to use them and help your customers understand and utilize your products fully.
Content Writing Example #8: Case Studies
If you’re looking to optimize your conversion rate, case studies are a useful tool. Customers are often convinced by case studies that prove your products and solutions work. It’s important to show things like the value your business provides, sales history, and compare and contrast to your competitors’ solutions. Writing about a customer challenge and showing how your products solved that issue is a great technique to create your first case study.
Content Writing Example #9: Video Content
It may seem strange to think about videos as a place where you need content writing, but the truth is that your videos will be much more successful if you script them before filming. Writing out the conversation points or scripting the entire video is a great way to make sure the videos stay on topic and cover what they need to cover. Think about your goals when creating video content and consider writing out outlines or full scripts if necessary. Sometimes people can be nervous about being on camera, and having a script or loose talking points can help take the anxiety out of what to say.
Content Writing Example #10: Blog Posts–Our Favorite!
There’s a reason that blogging is the most common type of content writing, and that is because blogs have a wide range of business benefits. From helping with SEO and getting your website to the top of the rankings to elevating your business as an expert in your field, blogs are still an important type of content to focus on. These are a bit more informal than other types of content but should provide good information to your potential customers.
Not sure what to write about? Turn to your team for help—brainstorming topics for content writing with your team will help you discover blog topics you may not have thought about. You can also auto-generate content topics by running an insight report in our DemandJump platform. No matter how you come up with your blog post ideas, the important thing is to have a blog and use it.
At DemandJump, we specialize in creating the exact blogs, articles, and other written content that will boost you to page on search engine rankings. Our clients frequently come to us with questions about the ins and outs of writing content. Let's take a look at some of the top questions we receive.
What Are Some Popular Content Writing Topics for 2024?
From cryptocurrency to TikTok trends, we've seen some major changes to the content writing landscape in recent years. First, we always recommend that you write about topics you would like to be seen as an industry expert on. If you're looking for some inspiration, here are a few of the top content writing topics we've seen lately:
- Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin
- Online shopping
- Remote work, working from home, and hybrid work
- Foodie blogging
- Pillar-based marketing
- Small business advice
- Diversity, equality, and inclusion
- TikTok ideas
- Real estate
- COVID-19 (we know, we wish it would go away too)
- Making money online
- Mental health
- Social media marketing
How Do I Pick Topics for Content Writing in 2024?
To pick the best and most relevant writing topics, ask yourself these three questions:
It's a short list, but answering these questions can take a significant amount of time and research. Or, to save yourself the headache, use a content writing platform like DemandJump. Simply type in a keyword or phrase you'd like to be seen as an expert on, add your competitors, and we'll show you the best topics to write about to get you to the first page of Google search results.
What is the Format of Content Writing an Article?
You can write an article in many different formats: lists, FAQs, instructional guides, case studies, infographics, interviews, how-to’s—there are numerous possibilities. Regardless of the exact format you choose, here are some key formatting tips to keep in mind:
- Keep your visual style consistent. If every page on your website has different fonts, colors, and graphic styles, that can be confusing to a reader and won’t help your brand image.
- Use bullet points when you can. Reading a little list in the middle of a blog can be a great break for the eyes. Use this tactic to make your most important points scannable and easy to read.
- Watch your font size. Most users can change the font size on their own device for easier readability, but why not make it easy for them to read right off the bat? Setting your body font (aka anything that’s not a title or header) between 16 and 18 px is considered a good size.
- Stick with shorter paragraphs. Bite-size paragraphs are easier to read, and you want your reader’s experience to be as effortless as possible. Plus, it’ll help your content flow better on a tiny cell phone screen, which is where we find ourselves doing the majority of our content reading nowadays.
What Should Be Included in Content Writing?
Generally, your content writing should include answers to your target audience's most pressing questions. When you get into the trenches of content writing, here are some key things to include in your content to climb the search engine page rankings and drive conversions:
- Keyword questions and phrases to appeal to all those search engine algorithms
- H2 headers that include keywords for easy reading and scannability
- Backlinks to other articles on your website
- Linked or cited sources to back up any claims
- Intriguing statistics and facts that prove your points
- Imagery to add an eye-catching element
- A call to action (CTA) to prompt your readers to "click here to sign up" or "contact us today"
How Do You Write Marketing Content With Strategy?
There are tons of strategic approaches to writing marketing content, but we think the best method is pillar-based marketing. This kind of marketing is all about combining the science of keywords and content structure with the art of good writing.
If you'd like to write content using pillar-based marketing, your content should be divided into three different types:
- Pillar - A pillar page will cover a broad keyword topic, be around 3,000 words long, and include 15-20 high-value keywords.
- Subpillars - This content should explore subtopics within your pillar topic. They will be 1,500-2,000 words long and include 10-15 keywords.
- Supporting Blogs - Supporting posts will get into the nitty gritty of the subpillar topics. They should be about 750-1,000 words long and include 6-8 keywords.
How Do You Write Good Content Marketing?
Anyone can write good marketing content with practice and a few helpful tips like these:
- Don't edit as you write. That's a one-way ticket to writer's block. Let your thoughts flow as you write, and worry about whether it's "good" or not when you edit later.
- Always keep your main point in mind. Remember good ole thesis statements from school? That same concept should apply to your content marketing. Make sure each point you make can somehow connect to your principal topic.
- Kick distractions to the curb. Turn your phone on "do not disturb." Close your office door. Find a comfortable spot. Clear your desk. Put up a sign that says "leave me alone...or else." The battle for distraction-free writing never ends–you have to fight for that peaceful work space!
- Take a writing class or certification course. If writing is not your strong suit, try taking a class or certification course to boost your writing skills.
Are There Content Writing Topics for Practice?
As they say, practice makes perfect, and finding topics for practicing your content writing is an excellent way to level up your abilities. Any of the trending content writing topics for 2024 we mentioned above are excellent for a little content writing practice. Looking for some more specific topics to practice on for your industry? Try writing a piece of content that finishes one of these statements:
- Our product/service will make your life easier by...
- Here are things I wish I knew before starting my business...
- Behind the scenes, my business...
- The history of our organization started with...
- I wish everyone in my industry knew these things...
How is Content Writing Done?
Depending on the writer and the industry, content writing methods will vary. Across the board, though, there are a few steps every content writer will take:
- Plan - You can write one-off blogs, but in our experience, that doesn't help with search engine ranking. Create a content plan with multiple articles that dive into every aspect of a topic, and schedule when each piece is due to be published.
- Research - In your research, you'll want to investigate who your target audience is, what they most want to know, what industry experts are saying, and any other information you may need to write intelligently about your topic.
- Write - Write the content! Type it on a laptop, handwrite it, use a typewriter–whatever brings you joy.
- Proofread and Edit - When you're proofreading, it can be helpful to read your writing aloud, as that will help you catch more mistakes than reading it in your head. You should always proofread your writing first, and then send it on to at least two other sets of eyes for review.
- Publish - Send your fresh little blog out into the world, and announce its publication across all your social media accounts. Then repeat the whole cycle! The more quality content you write, the more search engines will recognize you as an authority on a topic.
How Can I Write a Content Plan?
First, figure out what topics are important to you, what topics are important to your audience, and where those two areas overlap. Plan to have long-form content cover broader areas of that topic, and use short-form content to cover more detailed questions on that topic.
For example, let's pretend you design, make, and sell custom temporary tattoos. If you're using the DemandJump platform, you would first run an insight report for a broad phrase you'd like to rank for–let's go with "custom temporary tattoo" for this example. After our platform auto-generates an insight report, you would see something like this:
Bada bing, bada boom–content ideas. From here, you can write your content plan. If you're following a pillar-based marketing strategy, you'll first want to pick out a pillar topic. "Temporary tattoos" would be great for your pillar, as it's a broad topic that can easily squeeze 3,000 words out of. For subpillars, you might explore semi-permanent tattoo ink" or "long-lasting temporary tattoos." And for the supporting blogs, look for long-tail keywords or questions, like "Can I get a temporary tattoo for 1 year?" or "How do you make a temporary tattoo at home?"
One important thing to note when you're planning your content topics around a pillar-based marketing strategy–this strategy is about answering your audience's questions. While at first you might say no to “How do you make a temporary tattoo at home?” because you want people to buy temporary tattoos from you instead of making temporary tattoos at home, this type of thinking won’t get you to page one of Google.
Some of the topics might not apply to you directly, or even answer questions you’d prefer your audience not think about, but it doesn’t matter—these are the questions your audience is asking. Answer them, win your audience’s trust, establish yourself as an authority on every single facet of custom temporary tattoos—and that is how you win page one rankings.
How Do You Write Content?
Creating content is a very specific skill set that requires good research and writing abilities. We have our own content writing team here at DemandJump, so we get asked this question a lot. All the tips we’ve shared with you so far have come directly from our writing team. In fact, they—me? Hello, it’s me, a member of the writing team—wrote this blog you’re reading right now, so we must be doing something right if you’re still with us.
When we write content, we always use our DemandJump platform. It’s way easier than spending hours doing keyword research and topic planning on our own (and trust us, we’ve all done it without the DemandJump platform—those were dark times).
It’s so easy to pull topic insight reports to see the top keywords trending on any topic at any time. After choosing an area to focus on, our platform assists with organizing the topics into pillar pages, sub-pillars, and supporting blogs. It even shows us which topics aren’t performing well so we can reexamine that piece of content and beef it up a bit. The DemandJump platform is by far our favorite way to write content!
Which of the Following Examples of Content Marketing Came First?
Before we wrap things up–quiz time! Not because we enjoy torturing you–it's actually good to know a little bit about the history of content marketing. It makes us appreciate how far we've come from the days of paper pamphlets and magazines.
Which of these content marketing examples came first?
A. John Deere's "The Furrow" magazine, which promotes John Deere products.
B. Benjamin Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanack," which he used to promote his printing business.
C. Johnson and Johnson's "Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment," which advertised products to the medical community.
If you bet on Ben (answer B.), you are correct! The first edition of "Poor Richard's Almanack" was published in 1732. Johnson and Johnson's "Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment" came around in 1888, followed closely by John Deere's "The Furrow" in 1895. Although we're guessing they weren't so focused on SEO and keyword research back then...
Find the Best Topics for Content Writing Marketing With DemandJump
If you're struggling to figure out what content to write, we get it–it's not easy! But with the right content writing tools, like DemandJump, it can be. With our prioritized lists of content to create, insight reports with keywords and topics, and a customer service team to support you every step of the way–success is well within your reach!
Want to see our platform in action? Try it for free today!
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