2022 Content Ideas for small businesses to achieve digital marketing success

We are currently living in an ever-evolving, fast-paced world, where the need for interaction becomes more important with each passing year. We all feel the pressure of staying up-to-date with the onslaught of information and technology that pops up every day. We know that, particularly for brands and small businesses, the need to keep up is paramount to staying ahead of the game.

This is why, keeping in mind the 2022 content trends, we put together a quick and practical guide that everyone can apply and use, and that is ultimately guaranteed to help small businesses thrive and grow.

By leveraging marketing tactics that are efficient and high impact, small businesses can use as few resources as possible to maximize their effect on their communication channels and ultimately see it reflected in their interaction with customers.

Small Business content

Content creators generally face the challenge of constantly churning up engaging media that provides value and is attention-grabbing. Oftentimes this is done with limited resources and on a tight timeline that leaves little margin for anything else. When you want to make the most of your limited resources and approach your content creation cost-effectively, these are some key concepts you can apply.

Pebbles of information

Whenever you encounter a big, broad topic, approaching it effectively in only one piece of content becomes very hard. Distilling it into small chunks of info allows you to create simple and powerful pieces of content that are easy to digest, to remember, and that is in the end, a much more powerful communication tool.

Breaking those hefty concepts allows you to present a larger framework and establish a relationship with your customer in which their knowledge grows bit by bit. You end up accompanying them in their journey and leading them down a funnel towards the final goal: a purchase.

Evergreen or easily updatable content

Time and resources are precious commodities, so having content that can easily be repurposed, updated, or that is easily ready to be shared again, is of utmost importance. Keeping an eye out for creating these types of content will end up saving time and work in the long run.

The goal is to make less content that can be re-used with a minimum investment of time and resources each time. A great example of this methodology is to have several framework designs in which you can swap the information without having to redo the whole graphic elements.

Blog Content

A blog is an integral part of your SEO (search engine optimization) strategy. It is also the perfect way to build brand awareness and share content. A problem that we often see when it comes to blog content is that for most small brands, their first pieces of writing are hit or miss. They fail to reach their readers or they fail at engaging them, so here are some easy-to-apply tips that will guarantee your blog will add value to your audience!

Focus on your reader

Regardless of where a piece of content falls in your overall marketing funnel, the most important thing you should always focus on is adding value to the reader. Making all your content seem like an ad can get tiresome real fast. Of course, having a purchase bottom in easy reach is a must, but first, you have got to build a rapport with your readers. Think hard about how you can address users' pain points and aspirations, appealing to their direct needs and driving them towards a set a clear path to success. Think of what problem you are solving for them, and make it all about how their life will be better after buying your products.

Learn how to repurpose

We already talked about how you should make the most of your time and resources when it comes to your content. An easy way to do this with your blog content is to use that piece of writing on your social media. A quote, an infographic, short videos, anything that allows you to break down the information into easily consumable sizes works!

Social Media Content

The variety of content that can be created for social media channels can be daunting for first-timers. Depending on the channel, there are certain types of content that are quite essential and others that can feel a lot like fluff and might not work for your type of business. The only way to discover what works best for you and your small business is to have layers of content to generate as many leads as possible while tracking and measuring your content results.

Narrowing down your focus

Once you have a clear understanding of the different types of channels that actually manage to reach your audience you can narrow it down even further by creating the highest quality content possible and little by little sort out which types bring you the best results. If you are looking for content that entertains, some of the options are quizzes, contests, giveaways, branded videos, or even gif memes. If you want to inspire your customers, think about reviews, influencer campaigns, or inspirational stories. If educating is your goal, writing about interesting topics, creating infographics, checklists, guides, how-tos, and sharing press releases will be more up your alley. And finally if convincing your followers is what is needed, you can try events, testimonials, datasheets, webinars, ebooks, or reports. In the end, only you and your customers know what is best for you and there is no recipe that fits all.

Remix your content

The need to squeeze your content for all its worth is very real. This is why knowing how to use it on different media channels is paramount! Remixing allows you to put a fresh spin on the same stuff that you already know works so well with your audience. It also maximizes exposure for an idea across all media channels, which will ensure all your leads get the important information regardless of the source from which they came.

Website Content

Keeping things as niche as possible is the easiest way to rank up your website. Think of it this way, small businesses cannot compete with multinational corporations when it comes to investing in ranking up their SEO, so instead of going for broad terms like “ready-to-wear” go for something a bit more specific adding something like normcore, goth, cottage core, dark academia, etc.

Conduct keyword research

The key to SEO is to research what keywords have potential value, and how the competition ranks. With a plethora of tools available to help your research (Google Search/Ahrefs), you should focus on a phrase you can rank up that will help you guide your whole SEO strategy.

Create quality content around your keywords

The most important thing is to not lose focus on your keywords. Slowly build up your content around those keywords and focus on content quality instead of easy and fast hacks that don’t really work in the long run. How can you create quality content? It always comes down to value for your clients. Identifying what resonates with your audience and showing your brand voice through your website (as well as in your blog and social media content) will humanize your company and bring your clients closer, establishing rapport and a long-term relationship.