The four kinds of relational content
Last week, I explained why I think a lot of B2B marketing content these days misses out on opportunities to drive more engagement because it feels too transactional. I argued that with a few key changes, marketers should be able to create content that is inter-connected and organized in a way encourages readers/viewers to engage with multiple pieces, share it and return again later. I call this relational content and in this week’s post I want to discuss the four main kinds of relational content.
But first, let’s talk about what makes content relational.
The topics addressed by relational content are often more general than transactional content: Instead of SEO-friendly topics like “10 ways to use X technology to achieve Y result”, relational articles tend to be more like “Common approaches to Y result.” But that’s more a result of being relational rather than what makes it relational: General topics fit more naturally into a larger body of work, but don’t work as well as stand-alone posts.
Instead, what makes content relational has more to do with how the content is framed and positioned rather than the information it conveys. So the four kinds of relational content are defined by this framing:
Knowledge Hubs
A knowledge hub is a collection of static content where each pieces is designed as part of a larger whole of inter-related articles/videos/etc. Knowledge hubs typically have a table of contents that suggests to readers that articles are meant to be read together rather than independently. Natural and deliberate links within the text encourage readers to explore other articles. And they often have additional suggested links at the end of articles or on a side bar, either to the next logical article or just to other related pieces.
The Marketer’s Guide to Relational Content that I recently launched is one example of a knowledge hub. There, you can read more about knowledge hubs or check out a list of additional examples.
Dynamic Resources
Dynamic resources present content that changes based on either external circumstances or user interactions. This includes things like self-assessments that give users custom-generated information, and dashboards that present continually updated information pulled from other sources. Users return to this content because they expect to learn something new each time - either because external circumstances have changed, or because they can interact with it differently, based on their latest needs.
You can read more about dynamic resources in the Marketer’s Guide to Relational Content, or check out a list of examples.
Online Courses
This is exactly what it sounds like - usually a series of videos that users can step through in order. Many larger SaaS companies offer online courses about how to use their software. But for an online course to count as marketing content, it should be about a more general topic that users would want to learn about before making a decision to adopt the software. What makes an online course relational, in addition to the sequence between the lessons/videos is that users typically need to enroll in the course. Even if the course is free, this deliberate decision encourages users to engage with most or all of the content.
You can read more about online courses in the Marketer’s Guide to Relational Content, or check out a list of examples.
Online Communities
This last one is also what it sounds like. As with online courses, online communities only count as marketing if they appeal to potential users/customers as well as actual users/customers. And like online courses, the main thing that makes them relational is that users deliberately enroll in them. Even though online communities don’t present content in the traditional sense, members of these communities use them to get information about the general topic. That information just comes mostly from community members rather than the marketing team.
Online communities are the least common kind of relational content for a number of reasons. But you can read more about them in the Marketer’s Guide to Relational Content, or check out a list of examples.
Conclusion
Each of these types of relational content requires a different kind of investment. But for all of them except online communities, the content itself isn’t fundamentally different - just how it’s packaged. And that packaging is deliberately designed to encourage the engagement and sharing that you’re looking for.
In the upcoming posts, I’ll explore what kinds of relational content is appropriate in different circumstances, and what factors make them work or not.
Thanks for reading the Relational Content newsletter! I help B2B SaaS companies adopt relational content strategies to maximize the ROI from their marketing. To see what this might look like for you, check out merelogic.net.