Content hubs are fast becoming a content marketing go-to play. They serve up a powerful cocktail of personalized quality content, data-fueled distribution and brand relevance. But, let’s be honest, content hubs don’t make business sense for every brand. Is one right for yours?
A content hub is right for you if:
1. You want to be a thought leader
You have something to say about your industry that your competitors don’t. You have proven expertise and a relevant POV that will provide real value to your audience and help connect them to your business objectives.
2. You’re ready to publish frequently
Commitment doesn’t scare your brand. You’re ready to create content regularly (by your team or assigned experts). This means more than twice a week, minimum. Less than that and a content hub gets stale. If it looks the same when your user comes back within a week, they’ll soon sniff you out: You’re not the real deal. Go big and provide value frequently, or sidestep the commitment—and the benefits.
3. You distribute
If you don’t put in the time and invest the money to spread the word and tell your audience you care, you might as well not be there. You’re publishing quality, so put in the effort to get it out to the right people via paid, social and enewsletters. Care enough to share and remind them to come visit you at your content hub home.
4. You’re committed to journalistic and/or quality content
If your idea of publishing content is to tell them how great you are and all about your new product line, forget it. You’ve got to address your end users’ value gaps. Your content has to be better than anything else they might find online about your designated topic(s). Talking about me, me, me is the opposite of content marketing. Write a press release instead and save yourself the time and hassle.
5. You’re in it for the long haul
If you want quick results, a content hub is not for you. A content hub wins at the long game. It can take a full year to see meaningful results. So take a pass if your goals are short-term or campaign-based.
“Be relevant. Be consistent. Provide value. Measure progress. And win. Because content hubs are—literally—designed to win.”
KIM CAVINESS
EVP, CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER, IMAGINATION
If you fit most of the criteria above (be disciplined: no half measures!), it makes good business sense for you to join the content hub club.
You now have the opportunity to experience what forward-thinking marketers in search of thought leadership have discovered: A content hub is the heart and soul of a B2B data-centric, editorially innovative, audience-hustling content marketing program. It’s your brand storytelling meetup, your online home for visitors new and old, your content lab for innovation.
You’ll know you’ve done yours right if your stakeholders start telling you they don’t know how they ever survived professionally without your brand’s content riches. And your own numbers show your CTAs knocking it out of the park.
As you embark on your new or ongoing content hub adventure, a final word of advice: Stay true to this powerhouse format’s defining rules of engagement.
Be relevant. Be consistent. Provide value. Measure progress. And win.
Because content hubs are—literally—designed to win.
This is part three in our ongoing series on content hubs:
- Part 1: Why the content hub is a content marketing powerhouse
- Part 2: The 9 benefits of content hubs for your brand
- Part 3: The content hub checklist
