Content Hubs to Encourage Engagement

by Andrew Schulkind

Your audience cares less about whether any particular piece of material in your content marketing program is a white paper or a case study or an infographic or an explainer video and much more about whether the content is helpful to them and their business.

If it is helpful, they probably want all the content you have related to that topic.

That’s what makes content hub so valuable and so important, because content hubs are all about presenting content from your target audience’s perspective.

So while you can add immensely to your site’s usability by offering users a way to sort and filter content in a variety of ways, your site will be much more useful to them if the default is to gather all related content together into a content hub. Or rather, a series of content hubs devoted to each important topic your products/services address.

Thinking in Terms of Content Hubs
As you create content – and whenever you contemplate re-organizing your website – you should think in terms of these hubs and the audience segments they will attract. All must relate in some way to one or more of the solutions that you provide to help prospects address whatever issues have them seeking out advice and information in the first place.

So you think it’s great to show your blog posts chronologically. Unless your services (and therefore your content marketing and blog writing) are hyper-focused, you’re going to have content that is relevant to some services lines more than others. For example, Andigo develops websites, but we also offer site maintenance and security for sites, whether we’ve built them or not.

For a prospect interested in our maintenance and security products, a blog post titled, “How To Plan Your New Website” isn’t going to be nearly as interesting as one titled, “Keeping Your Website Secure and Productive.” Even if the two were published on the same day. (Which would put them side-by-side on a chronologically arranged blog.)

Chronological order has its place, but content hubs that cater to specific interests are likely to be more productive particularly for prospects who are a bit further along in their buying process.

That brings to mind one aspect of content hubs that is often overlooked: including content of interest to prospects at each stage of their buying process. Introductory materials are, of course, important as a way to draw in prospects who are just beginning to explore your type of services as a solution to their business problem.

If that’s all you have, though, prospects will go elsewhere as they dive more deeply into the possibilities. Be sure you include a full range of content from basic, short “What Is …” and “How To” blog posts to in-depth worksheets, checklists and beyond.

And of course, be sure your content hubs include calls to action that help move prospects through your content and eventually to a call or meeting with your sales team.

What Hubs Should You Create?
The hubs you create will always depend on who you are targeting and what they are interested in. Among the audience segments for which you might create hubs are

Verticals you serve or want to target
Various roles your prospects may have
Particular solutions you offer

Be careful with that last one since it’s easy to confuse “solutions” with “services.” Your prospects, particularly those in the earlier stages of their buying process, are likely to be less interested in what your selling than in solving a problem they have. You may view the service and the solution as one and the same, but the prospect won’t often agree.

And with content hubs, as with just about everything else marketing-related, it’s your prospect’s perspective that matters.

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