Branded content: We all know that branded content is the only type that brands themselves can control —at least, to the extent that they have the time and budget to produce it. But what about expert and user-generated content? How does a brand go about securing this press coverage from credible, third-party experts (journalists)? And if a brand is involved in securing press coverage, can it still be considered unbiased (and, therefore, credible)? And how can brands inspire greater quantities of favorable, user-generated content creation?
Expert content: The path to securing expert content is usually via PR efforts. This is the process where your PR, communications or marketing team reaches out to reporters/journalists directly to provide resources and pitch them stories, with the goal of getting them to write about your company as part of those stories. Because you do not pay the reporters to write about your company, if they choose to write about your brand as part of your PR efforts, that coverage is not biased and is consider “earned media.” Content marketers can play a key role in their PR teams’ success because one of the best avenues for earning press coverage is to provide relevant reporters with useful data, content and other related resources.
User-generated content: The positive reviews your brand or products receive are the result of satisfied customers; but as we all know, just because someone is satisfied does not mean that the individual instantly become a champion or ambassador for your brand. So how can you inspire satisfied customers to generate positive reviews or other user-generated content? The best place to start is to simply ask. This is where you can leverage your social media channels and your customer-focused content marketing (such as email newsletters, blog posts, etc.) to ask customers to help out by posting their reviews. Give them clear links to the channels you want them to post reviews on, and let them know why this is important to your brand. By clearly informing customers of the value of their reviews, you are including them in the success of your brand, which helps nurture their investment in and emotional connection with your brand.