The Benefits of Evergreen Content in Your Content Marketing Strategy
Find out the REAL benefits of using Evergreen content and why you should include it into your content marketing strategy
The term “evergreen content” is often thrown around alongside “timeless,” “sustainable” and “relevance,” and has become somewhat of a buzzword in the content marketing space. However, evergreen content is much more than a trending topic having its time in the spotlight.
So, what does evergreen content really mean for your content marketing strategy and what are the benefits? Let’s start at the beginning…
What is evergreen content?
Evergreen content is content that doesn’t lose its relevancy and value over time. It is content that adds value to the audience and is informative whether it is read today, tomorrow, or in 6 months time. It is sustainable in your content marketing strategy, because it brings a host of benefits, and it doesn’t lose momentum as time passes (in fact, it actually gains momentum over time). Evergreen could be anything from a blog post to an infographic (more on some of the types of evergreen content below), and it doesn't have to be long. The only requirements of evergreen content is that it is high-quality, unique and relevant in the future.
For example, our blog post on Instagram's new algorithm and what it will mean for users was newsworthy at the time it was published, however eventually, the algorithm will change or a new feature will be introduced that once again changes the way we use the platform, making our old article and tips irrelevant. It's a piece of content that is not sustainable in the long-term, however it was important to share when the new algorithm was first announced. On the other hand, our step-by-step guide to influencer marketing is a piece of evergreen content that will stand the test of time because it is a how-to guide and the process is unlikely to change over time (and if it does, it is something that we can quickly and easily update in 12 months time).
The benefits of Evergreen content
As you know, we’re all about discovering the smarter way, so we love evergreen content because it drives traffic, generates new leads and has a host of other benefits that can have a BIG impact on your content marketing strategy. Here are some of the benefits of evergreen content:
SEO Support
Evergreen content supports your SEO strategy because it allows you to insert keywords naturally onto your pages and include internal links to other pieces of onsite content. In addition, evergreen content also helps to lower your bounce rate and keep people on your site for longer, because the content is informative, relevant and timeless. Ultimately, a low bounce rate indicates to search engines that your content is valuable and fulfilled a user's search request.
In terms of SEO, evergreen content is also a great link building exercise that helps to build your backlink profile and give your website more authority via links from other websites. Evergreen content adds value, so, it is attractive to other publishers who are writing about a similar or related topic and need to link to an outside resource to provide context or additional information. When that resource is your piece of evergreen content, you earn an organic link back to your website, which is essential in building a strong backlink profile and increasing your rank authority.
Long-term value
Evergreen content is a good investment of your time, money and resources because it has long-term value and builds momentum over time. Evergreen content continues to work hard for you from the moment you hit publish, whereas seasonal and time-sensitive content with a news focus only works for a short period of time and demands your ongoing support and attention to keep it updated and active. Evergreen content has longevity, which is important as more and more mediocre and unsustainable content saturates the web.
Builds authority
Evergreen content addresses a need and ongoing adds value to a big audience, which ultimately earns the publisher authority on the topic. When you are trusted by your audience and they consider you an authority in your field, they are much more likely to filter through your sales funnel and become a paying customer than someone who does not believe in your vision or and authority. Building authority and credibility is essential in every industry, so use evergreen content to get your name and brand out there and make people recognize you as an industry thought leader through your content.
It can be repurposed
While evergreen content doesn’t necessarily have to be long, it can almost always be repurposed for other platforms and medias, so you can use the content in more ways than one. If your evergreen content is a step-by-step guide, develop it into a video or perhaps an infographic. You can also repurpose it for your social media platforms and pull out snippets to share with your community. Evergreen content is timeless, so use it in more ways than one to really make the most of it.
There is no denying that evergreen content is a valuable asset to your content marketing strategy. Of course, it is ideal to have a combination of seasonal, time-sensitive content as well as evergreen content in your strategy, however, it is important to dedicate time, resources and money to developing high-quality, unique evergreen content that has long-term value for your audience, target market and customers.
Evergreen content in your content marketing strategy
So, how can you use evergreen content in your content marketing strategy? Here are just some ideas to help get you started:
Recipe
Tutorial and/or how-to guide
Checklist
Industry report
Testimonial
Glossary of terms and phrases
FAQ’s
And anything else that doesn’t date over time and will be relevant and valuable in 12 months time. Get creative and think of content you can create and share that will do the hard work for you….
3 things to keep in mind
While evergreen content does not date and remains relevant and valuable for days, weeks, months and often years, there are a couple of things you need to keep in mind to ensure your evergreen content has a serious impact on your content market strategy and results.
Keep the content updated. This might mean having a read through and edit every couple of months to ensure there is nothing new to add, or something that should be removed. It could be adding in a new resource and link to your other onsite content or including a current reference or example. It won't need to be updated regularly, but it is a good idea to revisit it every so often to ensure it is still working hard as a piece of evergreen content.
Continue to share your evergreen content across your platforms. Evergreen content does work for itself to some extent, however, you will find the most success comes from giving it a boost on your social media platforms on a regular basis. It might only be monthly, but sharing and resharing is a great way to get more eyeballs on the content and build momentum over time.
Test different titles, subheadings and imagery on your evergreen content to optimize the piece across your platforms and make readers more inclined to engage with the piece. You could even change the header image every couple of months so that when the content is reshared, it’s with a new image and caption to appeal to followers who were not engaged with the previous image.
