LoginSchedule demoLoginSchedule demoOne of the best steps your organization can take is to put more focus on original content. By doing so, you are fueling marketing and brand results.
There are over 2-million blog posts published daily according MarketingProfs and that number is only continuing to grow.
Does this number surprise you? Or were you expecting it to be even more?
Either way, that’s millions of blog posts everyday that your organization is fighting for some space to be seen. So it’s easy to throw in the towel and focus your resources elsewhere.
But that is a big mistake! Regardless of the competition, content marketing is necessary for sales, marketing, branding, and much more.
So, how is your organization supposed to stand out in this crowded market, get employees to share, and be seen as company thought leader? One way is to invest more time in creating original content.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
From the intro, you know that content marketing is tough. You also know getting engagement, clicks, and getting your organization interested in reading and sharing content can be a struggle.
A big reason being, your company is just rehashing content that has already been written about thousands of times!
And sure, your sales specific content might be more original based on your product or services, but this content only matters to audiences further along in the buyer’s journey.
This is where original content can be your organization’s competitive advantage.
Original content is considered “original” if it is something unique that has not been published or highly discussed previously.
Think about it, many terms or strategies were once original content ideas that later become highly adopted topics by audiences. Of course, jargon is a fossil of original content that once roamed the earth!
But, original content can also mean taking a topic that already exists and inflecting a new opinion or different idea within it.
For me, this content form also expands to more than just what the traditional definition states. But we’ll get more into that in the “types of original content” a bit further down.
And what’s a definition and concept without a little data to help put this all into perspective, right? Check out a few of these stats as they relate to original content.
60% of consumers feel engaged/positive with a brand or company after reading custom content on their blog (Source: ContentPlus)
81% of marketers plan to increase the use of original written content for blog posts (Source: Social Media Examiner)
78% of Chief Marketing Officers believe that custom content is the future of marketing (Source: Demand Metric)
90% of consumers believe that companies producing custom content are interested in building long-term relationships with them (Source: TMG)
70% of consumers prefer learning about a company through custom and original content than through paid advertisements (Source: ContentPlus)
83% of consumers say they either completely or somewhat trust recommendations from family, colleagues, and friends about products and services – making these recommendations the highest ranked source for trustworthiness. (Source: Nielsen)
Besides some of the statistics above that show the value of original content, I’ll dive into some more specifics about why it is so essential below.
More than ever before, people have direct access to your brand. Between your corporate website, company blog, review sites, and social media, your brand and content is easily discoverable.
That also means, people are expecting more from your brand. Would you want generic fluff content to be prevalent all over these outlets?
You want your organization to win business, engage employees and customers, and generate more top talent leads for open job positions.
Original content will do that, as it shows your expertise, your company’s ability to think creativity, and that your company is an authority within your industry.
Related: Another great way to establish thought leadership, is to encourage employees to share more quality content. Build your brand by transforming your company’s employees into thought leaders. Download the guide.
Content with interesting perspectives or a well-researched article with real value to readers, is more likely to be shared and engaged with on different social media platforms.
Employees - one of the best ways to distribute and get more eyes on your company content, is when employees are sharing it. If your company has an employee advocacy program or is considering one, it’s a great way to fuel engagement on original content and get employees involved in sharing.
Customers - although they may pay for your product or services already, it doesn’t mean customers aren’t important for social shares and brand engagement. Their networks can be valuable to showcasing your industry knowledge and that your org is an innovative brand thinking in unique ways. A great way to drum up more business.
General audiences - everyday audiences have tons of content at their disposal but original content will be more enticing for them to share, comment, or engage with in general.
Creating original content is one of the essential parts of a successful SEO strategy too. When you create some original ideas or have something new to say, search engines can reward you with top positioning.
One of the factors of Google’s rankings is EAT - Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. EAT not only applies to your content, but also shows how your authors are trusted sources of info. You can read more about his over on Moz’s blog post.
Additionally, this content can help your organization earn more backlinks from well-known online publications.
These high-domain authority sites look for refreshing and unique content, instead of redundant content.
What types of content fall under this category?
Original content includes unique articles or articles that explore a brand new concept, which includes content pieces discussing what constitutes original content (;
But it’s actually a bit more than just a unique blog post hosted on your company’s website. Below are a few types of original content your organization should consider.
At this point, you know this is the real bread and butter of original content; anything new you can create that has not been done before.
Maybe it’s a strategy technique, coining a brand new terminology, or some original research that no one has done before.
Brand new unique content can be tough to think of and create consistently. But there is another way to get into the original content game too.
By publishing content that is already out in the world, but putting a different viewpoint to it.
Don’t just repurpose something in different words, actually put your own ideas to it. There certainly can be some overlap discussions, but find ways to add value that may not have been discussed previous.
A good example would be this current post you are reading. The idea of original content is not new, but I’m sharing with you some of my thoughts and opinions!
When you think of content, blog posts and articles will be the top choices that come to mind. But content should be expanded to other mediums like images and videos.
While blog posts will be a big factor with original content, it’s important to note that it doesn’t have to just be your standard article written by your marketing team or executives.
Images and videos are great ways to diversify your content marketing, but will be unique to how your organization approaches it.
How you design, record, take a photo, etc. can all be original compared to what others have done.
Employee-generated content is any form of content that is created and distributed by your company’s internal workforce, i.e. employees.
Content that is generated by employees can be anything from videos, images or blog posts, which may allude to their company’s mission, values, and overall benefits of the product or services.
Marketing and executives aren’t the only good sources of original content creation and ideas. Tap into your workforces’ knowledge, let them create, and have them share content that they create.
Why does EGC work?
If you want to learn more, we go in-depth in this article, What Is Employee-Generated Content? Your Complete Guide for Success.
While content marketing is important for aligning with your buyer’s journey, developing original content shows that your brand is the true leader in your niche.
You want to attract prospects, buyers, customers, and employees and get them to engage and share the content your company is developing.
Does this mean your company should only be producing this content type? Of course not! You’ll still want to create SEO focused content or sales and product-focused articles as well.
But original content will assist in building your organization’s brand, keep audiences coming back for more, and ensure your employees and customers are more engaged with your content.
Todd served as Director of Marketing at EveryoneSocial, leading content strategy and editorial across the blog through 2021. Today he is Head of Content & Brand at RemoFirst, founder of Linkeezy (an inbox and content tool for LinkedIn), and a SaaS marketing and content advisor.
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