20 Unique Content Marketing Ideas that Delivered Incredible Results

Gone are the days when just great content writing or a well-made graphic became viral; today’s digital world demands heightened creativity and out-of-the-box thinking.

Did you know that compared to traditional marketing, content marketing costs 62% less and generates about three times as many leads? Now that you do, it should make you wonder how to make the most out of content marketing for your brand.

Social media has provided an incredible platform for businesses and brands to grow and create their own community. Still, owing to a hyper-competitive market, it is more important than ever to market your content differently with unique content marketing ideas.

So if you are a content marketer struggling to come up with ways to set your brand apart, here’s a curated list of 20 unique, successful and best content marketing ideas that delivered incredible results.

Full-proof and unique content marketing ideas

Social Media Content Marketing

1. Cupshe

A swimsuit brand on Instagram, Cupshe relies heavily on user-generated content. It asks its users to tag their account on their pictures for a chance to be featured, and since lots of Instagram users want greater visibility, this campaign works wonders for their engagement. 

2. GE

This massive company that manufactures jet engines, wind turbines, locomotives, etc., wanted to change its perception from being a B2B product company that is hard to market on Instagram to a company that promotes design. They started a #GEInstaWalk campaign where they asked influencers and people to tour their manufacturing facilities, take pictures, and be reposted on their accounts.

3. SeeJaneWork

This Insta shopping feature is truly a boon for marketers. You can turn your posts shoppable if you have a business account, denoted by the small white bag on the top right. SeeJaneWork leveraged this strategy, making shopping a convenient experience for customers. 

4. Intrepid Travel

US-based travel company Intrepid Travel started a content hub called The Journal, where different travelers share their travel stories, which are marketed on their social media with the hashtag #BeIntrepid. This has driven up their visibility and has given their customers a feeling of community and belonging. 

5. TechCrunch

TechCrunch sends its readers top news stories using the Facebook chatbot feature, which increased readership and generated more traffic for their page. This is a great alternative for long email marketing copies, which often get lost in the receiver’s inbox.

Blogging Content Marketing

6. Microsoft

Tech giant Microsoft has mastered the art of blogging as an effective marketing strategy. From top company news to tips and tricks on using their suite of products, various blogs are sent out by the company, which has generated greater interest and user engagement for the brand. 

7. Headspace

‘The Orange Dot’ blog by Headspace does daily articles on multiple topics like fitness, managing stress, relationships, and more such relevant themes. They have showcase imagery that is unique to their brand accompanying each article. This sets their blog apart, and the relatable content writing drives up the reader-base.

8. Buffer

The social media software application resorted to a growth hack that involved guest blogging. This meant that they wrote a few content pieces a day which were pushed out on sites that receive high visibility and traffic. Their content is top quality, relatable, and provides a lot of useful information. 

9. Neil Patel

Internet’s favorite marketing guru, Neil Patel, is a brand in itself. His blogs on content marketing have been widely read, shared, and applied in real life by brands. What makes his blogs stand out is the original content, research, quality of writing, and the industry knowledge that he offers. Good content can go a long way, and these blogs are proof of that. 

10. Amazon India Blog 

The multinational technology company believes in sharing genuine stories with its readers through its blogs. From an up-close glimpse of their facilities to stories of the delivery boys or their new campaigns to promote local products, its heart-touching content connects with readers and elevates engagement. 

Video Content Marketing

11. Bank of America

In partnership with Khan Academy, the ‘Better Money Habits’ campaign by the Bank of America was a big hit. It featured people in various industries sharing candid financial advice and experience. It was informational, honest, and spoke to the young adult crowd. Bank of America thus proves that providing value to your audience can elevate the impact of your video marketing.

12.  Gillette

This men’s grooming brand’s ‘We Believe: The Best Man Can Be’ campaign featured men standing up for what’s right, be it on the streets for strangers or in close circles for friends and family. It had a thought-provoking and inspiring social message that attracted major engagement and started social discussions online.

13. Always

A feminine hygiene products brand, ‘Always’ made an award-winning campaign that went viral recently. The video challenged young women to treat the words — #LikeAGirl — not as an insult but as a compliment. Out of the box, inspiring, and with a strong empowerment message, this campaign really worked for the brand.

14.  Old Spice

This male grooming products brand hit the jackpot with its widely popular video marketing that featured an attractive man delivering humorous lines. What happened? Besides men, it engaged more women to buy their products for their men. Amazingly, these women were not even their target customers, but the sales boomed. 

15. Snickers

People love throwbacks and something familiar, so Snickers gave them just that by bringing back Mr. Bean. The ad featured him as a ninja and had the perfect product placement. 

Visual Content Marketing

16. GoPro

Quality visual content is the pillar of GoPro’s marketing strategy. Their high quality and fascinating pictures with concise infographics have made them a great hit with their audience. 

17. Zomato

Zomato’s brand of food humor is super popular and unique. It can immediately connect back with the brand and has therefore amassed widespread praise and engagement. 

18. Kylie + Kendall

The two Kardashian sisters run a successful beauty brand online that has a massive following and pull. They rely on aesthetic and high-quality visual content for their brand’s marketing which fans wait for day after day. 

19. The Minimalist

A creative marketing brand that has proved to its clients that it truly can revolutionize marketing, The Minimalist embodies the ethos that less is more. This creative agency popularly uses minimal visuals for maximum impact.

20. Rolex

Great photography and visual content can make an iconic brand even more iconic, and Rolex is proof of that.

10 creative content ideas you can use for your content marketing campaigns to keep the momentum going

Content marketing allows us to break the ceiling with our creativity, which was a distant dream in the days of conventional marketing. Social media allows us to explore new ideas by eliminating the fear of failure. Be it texts, videos, or pictures, you can always change your strategy, obtain insights on what works and what doesn’t to boost sales. 

Today, content marketing involves providing something valuable for free to your prospective customers. It can be a video tutorial on YouTube or Facebook or a free Ebook giveaway; as long as you are enriching lives through your brand or product, people will invest in your work. It is pertinent to mention that people buy a product or service because it connects with them, not because you are selling it. If you share why you do what you do, it opens up the opportunity to bond with customers on a deep-rooted emotional level. 

These content marketing ideas will empower you with fresh perspectives as well as desired sales and brand awareness results:

1. Catchy captions

‘Captions maketh the sales.’ There’s a reason why countless brands have a tagline associated with their logo: to express their beliefs to attract like-minded consumers. Write long or short captions with your social media posts, but always write a strong first sentence. It should hook the person to stop scrolling and read further. 

To write catchy captions, think like a storyteller. Your story must add value to the offered product or service. Over describing will ruin your effort, so express like humans. A solid call to action caption or question is highly likely to get a response in spades from social media users. Know your audience and know what they like; you will undoubtedly find the right words. 

The Dos: 

• To develop great captions, you need to write daily, even for a small amount of time. 
• As your skills are polished by practice, you will create a habit of instinctively coming up with exceptional marketing captions or taglines. 
• Using emojis with post captions is a fun and successful method of user engagement on Instagram. Emojis set the tone for your posts. 

The Don’ts: 

• Avoid over-explanation and cheeky words; they are a big turn-off for readers. 

2. Memes for marketing

Memes are the most organic way to connect with an audience. Any given day, memes are shared around the internet more than any other form of content. Statistics say that 55% of the people between the ages 15-35 share memes every week, and 30% do so daily. 38% of social media users follow meme pages. These numbers speak volumes on how effective memes are to increase your reach. 

There are countless permutations and combinations to create a meme, making it an endless resource to explore your creativity and user engagement. Great examples of memes are a classic photo with an outline text meme, a side-by-side comparison meme, and a trending picture with a relatable caption meme. These structures for creating memes to promote your brand, product, or service are sure shot ways with minimum costs. 

The Dos: 

• People are highly likely to share or react to a meme when they find it relatable. Subtly share your message in a fun way to gain more organic reach. 

The Don’ts: 

• Never go with an unrelatable meme. 
• Never say something negative about your competitors, but being playful can work in your favor. 
• Never steal memes but take inspiration. 

3. Offer something for free that adds value to the customers

Youtube and Instagram are prime examples of building a loyal customer base by providing valuable content to people without any cost. Tutorial videos, free Ebook links, giveaway hampers, and more are successful strategies to extend your reach to potential customers. 

For example, if you’re marketing a skincare product, making a video or writing an article for skincare tips is a great idea. You can hint towards the advantages of your product in the middle of the content.

Create infographics to present facts and statistics for the audience. People love to debate; by providing accurate data and at no charge, you can bolster your customer base. Social media platforms such as YODA are a remarkable place to gain knowledge for people quickly. YODA can come in handy while promoting your brand, product, or service. 

The Dos: 

• Hire professional vloggers or learn from them how to effectively create video content and market it. 
• Understand graphic design to curate attractive and engaging posts. 
• Email marketing is a solid practice to offer free product samples, ebooks, and app trials.

The Don’ts: 

• Never offer unproven facts to your viewers; your trustworthiness is everything in the social media game. 

4. Instagram reels

Instagram offers an excellent video editing service with countless options to create eye-catching reels. Influencers provide creative approaches to keep young customers engaged in relatable products. Hire social media influencers to showcase your products in a fun & trendy way. A good social media influencer has millions of followers. Such a one-to-many approach mixed with high-quality content can do wonders for your business. 

Attractive captions, suitable background, trending reel challenges, trending audios, and the right hashtags blend to make a perfect post. For example – If you are marketing a clothing brand, a reel with a catchy tune and several shots with changing clothes can positively result in high sales. Making several reels as a style guide for different events can suffice for a month of a marketing campaign. 

The Dos:

• Learn from trends.
• Make potentially viral reels.
• Choose aesthetical backgrounds.
• Be confident.
• Keep the content fun to watch.

The Don’ts: 

• Avoid being unrelatable. 
• Don’t overdo your marketing efforts. 
• Avoid lengthy descriptions of the product; it’s better to show. 

5. Podcasts

Podcasts have gained substantial traction in the social media business. The flexibility of an informal audio discussion mixed with the blogging structure has the potential to provide deep insights to your clients. Through podcasts, you can charter into fresh territory consumers. Those who don’t have the time to read but are keen on gaining knowledge move towards podcasts.  

Apps like Clubhouse are a great stage to promote your vision for your business; people love to buy from someone who deeply cares about their product. For example, if you advertise a book or a music album on a podcast, you can discuss how the project came to life and what thought processes and structures you followed to complete it. Connecting with your potential buyer is what podcasting is all about. 

The Dos: 

• A Q&A session with a prominent podcaster. 
• Discuss a specific niche in the podcast (Related to your product or service). 
• Discuss your experiences in the industry with some actionable insights. 
• Tips and tricks to care for the products.

The Don’ts: 

• Never go off-topic in the discussion. 
• Never go unprepared in a podcast discussion; you can lose credibility if you fail to provide valuable answers. 
• Never use inappropriate language. 

6. Behind the scenes

In the era of abundant information, consumers love to understand the processes behind developing a brand or product. There are nearly 37 million Youtube channels, which is enough to say how valuable videos are to marketing. Making and publishing behind-the-scenes videos of your products is an exciting way to bond with your loyal customers. It is pertinent to know that marketing is about creating new customers and retaining old ones. 

For example, when marketing a sports car brand, make videos on how the products come to fruition. The detailed planning, the arduous effort, and the passion for perfection shown in a video can inspire a long-lasting loyalty to your brand. Regularly posting on Youtube channels keeps the brand awareness alive. People have short memories, and the products in the market are infinite. Consistency in your content marketing efforts will define your brand’s success.

The Dos: 

• Use scripted narration in the videos. 
• Keep the video length appropriate. 
• Hire a professional video maker and editor for best results. 
• Keep the videos creatively engaging. 

The Don’ts: 

• Avoid sharing sensitive information that can harm your business. 
• Avoid belittling your competitors. 
• Never boast or behave overconfidently. 

7. Take advantage of the comments section

There is a hidden weapon in the trove of social media, the comment section. It is the hottest engagement block on any social media platform. More often than not, you can see pages or people posting a video, a gif, a meme, or a link to a product or service in the comments on any social media platform. This trick surprisingly works especially on trending topics (but relatable to your domain). It is a wise choice to follow relatable groups and pages and posting in their comment section. 

For example, when marketing a blog or news website, you can comment on a trending news topic that directs users to your URL, but make sure the redirection enriches the user’s knowledge. Otherwise, they will leave quickly and won’t ever return. 

The Dos: 

• Using polite yet engaging language to bring traffic to your URL. 
• Using images or memes for more reactions to the comment. 
• Respond to comment replies. 

The Don’ts: 

• Never use inappropriate language. 
• Avoid posting comments on unrelated groups or pages. 
• Avoid troll accounts.

8. Top 10 lists

Writing listicles to promote products and services is an evergreen content marketing method, but only if done correctly. Compiling a list of the best in the businesses or top recommendations is well-liked by readers worldwide. We are inclined towards choosing the best experiences for us, be it entertainment or consumption. 

For example, if you promote a movie or music review blog, you can write a list of ‘Top 10 characters who stole the limelight and ‘Top 10 songs to inspire ambition in you.’ Make sure you are not writing cliche titles; your content must provide a fresh perspective to readers even if you mention old films and old songs. 

The Dos:

• When writing recommendations, pick one niche at a time, exploring the products or services yourself, and writing a genuine experience have more chances of being liked than just reading and writing on a topic. 
• Use stock images from free websites such as Pixabay, Unsplash, and Pexels. 
• Always post the source credit for copyrighted images. 
• Apply internal linking and SEO optimization for better ranking and reach. 

 The Don’ts:  

• A strict no to plagiarism. 
• Avoid using low-quality images under all circumstances. 
• Avoid writing in a formal tone and language; instead, use trendy terms and idioms. 

9. Posting customer reviews

Once your business runs smoothly, customer feedback will start coming in. These feedbacks or reviews are vital to understanding what is working and what is not. Take positive reviews and post them on social media platforms like Linkedin, Instagram, and Facebook. This content marketing method will bring a lot of organic leads to you. The trick to understanding customer behavior lies in reviews. When users search for recommendations on Google, the top reviewed products, services, and businesses are shown on the top. 

For example, If you own a cosmetic surgery center, posting your patient reviews will drive your business leads forward. There is a format to post feedback or thoughts on your social media handles. Always use text images in an attractive template, remember aesthetics are a crucial factor on social media, presentation matters. 

The Dos: 

• Use the standard image format and resolution.
• Edit images using Adobe Photoshop or Canva. 
• Promote reviews through ads. 

The Don’ts: 

• Avoid grammar mistakes. If a customer review has grammatical errors and typos, fix them. 
• Avoid using black backgrounds in the images. 

10. Product pictures at unusual places

Travel pictures always bring traffic on social media. Wanderlust is associated with positivity, and it can come in handy for product placement. When you travel or visit beautiful places nearby, take professional-looking pictures of your product at those places. This particular practice in content marketing brings much organic traffic and likes to your product. 

For example, if you promote a book, take pictures of it on a sailing boat, or pose with it while getting a haircut. There are countless ideas to explore; employ the concept of dichotomy for your pictures. 

The Dos: 

• Click pictures with high-resolution cameras. 
• Use an unused product. 

The Don’ts: 

• Avoid contaminated areas. 
• Refrain from clicking pictures when people are in the background. 

Conclusion

Having gone through some very successful campaigns and ideas listed above, it will now be easier for you to judge what kind of content marketing strategy works best for your brand. Create a distinct brand image and remember that, above all, users value authenticity and originality. 

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