CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGIES

The declaration by the Government of Spain of the state of alarm on March 14, and the subsequent decision to extend this period of confinement until April 11, has caused a redistribution of marketing budgets (such as Coca Cola , among others), as well as the actions and campaigns planned for the first half of the year. In this sense, content marketing (also known as Content Marketing ) stands as an alternative to take care of and exploit in these uncertain times, especially for its adaptability in real time.

In a context in which various sectors have been forced to cease their activity – or, at best, to slow it down – content marketing emerges as a real alternative to maintain the always weak link between brand and customer through of a humanization of the ensigns. This crisis will pass sooner or later, and some concrete actions will be forgotten, but the emotional connection with the brand will last . In fact, there are several examples of companies that have reoriented their storytelling towards more socially responsible concepts, redefining their commercial communication towards another more oriented to branding , embracing formats such as public relations .

CHANGES IN CONSUMER HABITS DURING QUARANTINE

The Coronavirus has caused a notorious change in the habits and consumption of citizens , and many companies have had to take action on the matter, as is the case of WhatsApp -which has had to double its servers these days due to the increase in traffic- , or platforms like YouTube, Neflix, HBO or Disney +, which have reduced the quality of reproduction so that the servers do not collapse.

According to a new study OMG Radar , l eer news online is the activity that most of the time takes users today (59%), followed by watch TV news (55%) and send or receive WhatsApps (48%) . Furthermore, according to Byzness , IP networks have experienced increases in traffic of close to 40%, while the use of mobile voice increases by around 50% and 25% in the case of data . For their part, Social Networks have also become a recurring means in which to stay up to date with what happens during the Coronavirus quarantine.: Platforms like Twitter or Facebook have launched initiatives to combat the Fake News generated around COVID-19 .

What about Internet searches? How have these days evolved? The demand for online newspapers and searches for home purchases from mobile devices has increased significantly, as can be seen in the graph below.

CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGIES IN TIMES OF CORONAVIRUS

We have already seen how the user has modified their habits, increasing the time spent on the online channel (among others). But how can brands carve out a niche for themselves on their consumers’ tight grill ? Below, we wanted to collect some of the best Content Marketing strategies during quarantine, in case they serve as inspiration to those who have not yet taken action in this regard:

UNLOCK PREMIUM CONTENT

The media have become the standard bearers of this position: in fact, portals such as PornHub or elpais.com have postponed their decision to implement a payment wall until the beginning of May, while publishers such as IP Mark or Hearst Spain have opted to offer their publications for free . Others, such as Medium , have chosen to open information strictly related to the pandemic.

However, they are not the only ones: consultants, agencies and educational institutions have also opted for this route, releasing infoproducts and online training content.

* Chuiso Niche Creation Course

Beyond the “halo” of commitment and social responsibility, we must not lose sight of the fact that these types of initiatives nurture the initial part of our funnel (what we know as “TOFU”), by generating leads that, once At the end of the “grace period,” end up becoming paid users of the community.

WEBINARS AND VIRTUAL EVENTS

Within our journey through the best content marketing strategies, webinars could not be missing : either because teleworking has forced the most skeptical to adapt to these platforms, or simply because companies like Microsoft have decided to make their resources freely available ( Teams ), videoconference sessions have become fast, simple and accessible content for anyone with an Internet connection. Whether recorded or live, videoconferencing is another source of leadsIn this case, both for the initial recruitment phase and to generate greater interest among our leads (“MOFU”, or “middle of the funnel”, or the I of AIDA – Attention, Interest, Desire and Action-).

Likewise, webinars also serve to adapt “conventional” businesses to this new reality, as is the case of La Latina Valley, a networking community that has taken advantage of the online version of its debates among professionals.