If we dig into the psychology of consumers, we will find out that a big part of them is looking for answers to particular questions about the product or service. When the consumer is planning to buy a certain product or try specific service, he or she tries to find answers to wide range of questions that they are interested in before the purchase. In this case, educational content plays a major role in your content plan. Before moving to a discussion of this type of content, find out which types of content actually exist.

The content that is usually distributed throughout the network can be divided into three types:

1. Content that entertains

Such content improves contact with the audience and accumulates social interactions. It may include various social media posts, interesting videos, photos related to the topic and other stuff that attracts interest of various kinds of audience (for example, an article about popular products that can be sold online).

Such content creates positive emotions and transfers you from the “advertising company” level to “they are the same as me.” This content won’t be directly connected to your product, but with its help, you can involve passive readers in communication, and therefore, increase their loyalty and create a trusting relationship.

Keep in mind that you shouldn’t dedicate more than 20% of your overall content to this type of content to avoid the transformation of your business into a circus.

2. Content that sells

This is information that describes the advantages of your product or service, providing the most complete information about prices, terms of service, ordering and delivery processes, etc. This type of content is frequently used for creating landing pages for the website. For example, a student is planning to find a paper writing company and finds all information on page which contains information on how to buy essays online.

3. Content that educates

This content presents useful information, analytical reviews and expert advice. This important and useful information increases the loyalty to your brand help you become considered expert on the market. It can be successfully used in online stores and on service websites.

Educational content usually includes various video instructions on how to use a particular product; videos which contains solutions to main problems that frequently occur among clients; useful books and articles concerning the product and allied products (how to take care of shoes, recipes for cooking, how to connect a washing machine, etc.).

How Does It Work?

So, there is a brand. Its scope of activities can extend in different directions: sales of specific goods, services, B2B and so on. In each case, you have information that your customers either do not know, or information that you can explain in simple words. In the latter case, it is a question of that if your brand’s employees do not know something, your partners or suppliers can tell about it. This is useful for you, and for them, and for the followers of your pages. You can collect useful knowledge from all your partners by asking them questions and saving your customers from having to “walk” through a multitude of pages.

Let’s see what path the user goes to make an order on particular page:

Stage 1. The consumer feels the need in certain product or service.

Stage 2. The consumer starts to search for information in order to understand what is better to choose.

Stage 3. The consumer makes a choice – buys a product or service.

Only educational content can influence the choice of a potential client through all stages:

On the first stage, you create the certain need of your product. When your potential client is searching, for example, information on how to make a cake, you can create an article that describes recipes and place the photos of your cakes. Potential clients will see that for some amount of money they will be able to buy an attractive and delicious cake and there is no need to spend a lot of time on cooking. Create an article that educates and makes clients want only your product.

On the second stage, user search for advantages or disadvantages of the product. Here educational content will make a great work! Create reviews, videos, analytic articles, expert opinions and step-by-step guides that contain answers to possible questions of customers. It will demonstrate that you are an expert on the market and your company is one that can be trusted.

On the final third stage, if you are frequently placing educational content, you improve the chances that your potential client will make a deliberate step on your landing page and make an order. That means that leads are generated more effectively and your sales begin to grow.

Takeaway

Educational content satisfies the demand, grows loyalty towards the brand and strengthens the dignity of your company as an expert. However, don’t forget to make your content more diversified and proportionally add selling and entertaining content to improve your chance to reach more diverse audience.