You’re excited for your new website. A single click will propel you to the World Wide Web and you’ll be itching to see the number of retweets, facebook shares, likes, and comments that your site will gain, thanks to the content that you will produce. As you’ve put a tremendous amount of time, effort, and research for your content, you hit the ‘publish’ button and your content makes its debut in the Internet. A tap on your back makes you proud, especially with the first 10 likes garnered by your content.
Then suddenly, days pass by and you notice only small changes. It seems that your content has been ignored—no new shares, retweets, or likes, there’s a new comment (but it’s harsh) and it was not even considered a viral content. You begin asking yourself, “Did I create my content the right way?”
As they say, you need to go evergreen with every content that you will produce in order for it to be continuously relevant for its users. What’s the point of publishing a content that will be ignored anyway? Nick Eubanks’ article on the Moz Blog talks about the true power of evergreen content and he points out that “part of building evergreen content is updating it so it stays current and relevant for as long as possible.” Having an evergreen content means that your content stands the test of time, must be of high value and quality to users, and can be updated with fresh content so that the topic can be timely again for your target audience.
And just like the leaves of evergreen trees (such as pine trees), which has a long life and retains their leaves rather than falling, your content should last longer and be sustainable. How do you do it? We’ll guide you on the 7 types of evergreen content that live the longest.
#1. Infographics: Your Trusted Visual Asset
Photo courtesy of Airbnb via PinterestIf you want to be on top of the sharing game of content in the web, you have to use visuals. Users are not keen too much on reading long sentences and paragraphs without images to creatively accompany it. Want an evidence? AppSumo’s founder, Noah Kagan, analyzed over 100 million articles to find out which content gets the most shares. The result? Those content that have at least one image is shared the most both in Facebook and in Twitter.
In order for you to have a powerful content, you have to have an original content combined with visuals to create an infographic. Infographics are your visual assets that can translate data and knowledge into graphical form. According to Neil Patel of Quicksprout, these content are “shared more, viewed more, and loved more than most other content types.”
You are able to present your information through the help of your graphic designer plus a healthy mix of data, research, and statistics to effectively communicate a concept or idea that is shareable. By doing this, you are able to present data that are difficult to be put into words, yet are communicated properly with the help of visuals, which in turn can invoke emotions to people. Through your infographic, you can move them to understand, to think, to feel, and also to share. This clearly shows how visual asset could turn data to experience.
A good example for this is an interactive infographic done by Airbnb to have a clear view of the positive economic impact of its users to the cities that they visit. It is composed of a detailed research from eight major cities across the globe and the result was a simple, yet visually appetizing infographic that presents information in a creative way as you scroll down. And when you reach the bottom part, you can specifically choose a city to have a deeper understanding of the impact of Airbnb to its community. Sounds good?
#2. Going Evergreen(er) With Curated Content
To quote Search Opt Media, “Curation is a big content marketing opportunity and even a bigger mystery to do it rightly.” As curated type of content claims to be user and
The curated content must be well organized based on the subject, and insights about each link are well provided. If ever you forget to check a certain week for their roundup, you can easily navigate and find the content that you missed out. Still, another good evergreen content.
#3. Teach Well Through How-To Posts
An evergreen content also makes use of content marketing strategies, in order for it not to wither away or be stuck in the depths of web pages, only to be forgotten. Online strategies are done to create a buzz, to reach users, and provide them with content that they can go back again and again, whenever they need specific information from it.
To have a content that can be referenced by users any time that they want, you can go with “How-To” posts. They are popular because of its ability to provide a solution just by following the simple steps that it provides.
The Cake Blog’s how-to post on building a cake like a pro gained almost 2,900 Facebook shares, thanks to its simple, and easy-to-follow guide on baking a cake, complete with a step-by-step photo guide for easy reference.
#4. And The List Goes On, And On, And On…
People love lists. And why is that? The New Yorker reports that the headline can catch our attention in a sea of content by positioning its subject within a category, organizes the information, and provides a definite number of information that you’re expected to receive. Of course, don’t expect to have “12 Ways To Sing Better” when the title only mentions 10 ways. We generally prefer to receive and organize information through a list, and when we click on one, it hits our subconscious level on how we consume information. Lists can also be increased, as new information is discovered. This ensures you that content such as lists are truly evergreen.
BuzzFeed has loads of lists in their website and one of it discusses 10 unusual ways of getting a good night’s sleep. The list is composed of photos that provide digestible information so that users can easily understand the information provided. Just make sure that your list is detailed, and just simply provide a topic that interests your users. List your points (no matter how long the may be) and give a conclusion. Don’t worry, there’s no limit to the number of points that you can make for your content.
#5. Go Back In Time With Historical Posts
Historical post is also a content type that sticks around much longer. They teach something about the past and it has a strong potential to be updated when there’s new information available. And historical data need not be boring, since you can present it in a creative way just by using infographics.
Take the case of Perspecsys’ history of home security. It was created in a creative manner that as you scroll down, the cartoon image of a man and his environment changes as you scroll down in history. It has more than 100 Facebook shares, and the information provided is just enough for you to know the basic history of home security. If you’ll be adding more information that is historically significant, you can just simply update it to produce an evergreen content.
#6. Publish Interesting Interviews
If you plan to publish an interview as your content, make sure that the person being interviewed is interesting, the topic is good, and the interview presents an information that is new or something which has not been talked about before.
Unique interviews can even generate lots of traffic in your website. Be sure to follow the right steps in making a good interview, such as asking good questions and listening attentively to the response of the interviewee. It would be of help to your users to have a video or a written transcript of the interview so that your content can be easily shared via social media. Mike Myers interview with Madonna in 1993 has some unique answers, that when shared can create a buzz even though the interview was conducted years ago.
#7. Be Real With Product Reviews
Whenever a certain product is launched or people are searching for an existing one, product reviews are of great help to users. This content is worthy to be called an evergreen content, since it stays longer as long as the product exists and the reviews are natural. Yes, you want to highlight the good ones, but the bad ones will also tell people that you’re not too self-obsessed with your product.
These are just 7 types of content that live the longest, and there’s more. Remember that relevance and being current is the name of the game when it comes to producing evergreen content. Do incorporate these content types in your website and you can say goodbye to those moments where your content is old and ignored, while saying hello to a brighter future with your evergreen content.
A product review on Dr. Martens 1460 Boot is a great reference on what we want to point out. Comments of customers were of good quality, since they wrote and discussed what they wanted to say about the product, whether it’s negative or positive. They shared their experiences in the most honest way possible, and most of them gave their recommendations for the product. These bits and pieces of information are useful, especially those who are buying the product online.
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