Summer is perceived as the season of kicking back, relaxing and tanning by the beach. But this is not the case for content creators and bloggers, summer is an opportunity to create engaging and captivating content. Your audience may be on the beach relaxing, in the office swamped with work or students on their summer break. So, how will you keep them engaged and intrigued during this time of year? Whether you’re creating content for a blog or for social media platforms, this guide will help you come up with some sizzling hot ideas.
Get ready to get your summer content in shape for a memorable season.
Why summer content?
If you’re still asking, “Do I really need to customize my content for summer?” the answer is definitely yes. But why? First, you have to know that customers’ needs change during the summer. In order to keep your audience engaged and to stay in touch with them, you’ll need to adapt your messages to address their changing behaviour and interests, plus call-out their pain points. Before you start planning your content you need to ask yourself: Who are my audience?
Is it students on their summer vacations? Fresh graduates looking for their first job? Employees planning their summer escape? A family looking for a relaxing time by the beach? What about a family looking for indoor plans during the hot summer because they aren’t going away this year?
Many bloggers and content creators go on a lighter schedule during summer time, as they acknowledge the fact that their audience may be busy, offline or on summer vacations. But the fact is if you choose the right topics, information and visuals to share, you’ll keep everyone engaged and this quiet time may turn into a golden opportunity.
Now that we’ve established the fact that catering for this season is important, let’s explore what types of content you can work with.
Types of content
The types of content out there are countless, but we’ll name four content types that you can play around with this season and have a diverse calendar:
- Blogging
- Video
- User generated content
- Infographics
Blogging
Does your business have a blog? If the answer is no, then you need to consider starting one. You can check the benefits of blogging and learn how to start a blog to set your business in motion. You can also use the articles that you’ve published on your blog for social media or in your email marketing campaigns.
Video
In 2017, 4 in 10 MENA nationals watch videos online daily.
Video content has been on the rise around the world in general and in the Middle Eastern region in particular. So, if you’re not creating any videos yet, you need to start considering it. You can utilize video content in different ways; by creating DIY videos, instructional videos, behind the scenes shoots, vlogs and tutorials… The list is endless.
User generated content
User generated content (UGC) is essentially any content created by unpaid contributors. It can include anything from pictures, videos, blog posts to testimonials and discussion boards.
Content marketers’ interest in UGC campaigns is increasing due to the benefits it provides like increasing sales, building customer trust and strengthening brand/customer relationships.
UGC posts shared on social channels see a 28% higher engagement rate than standard brand posts.
Infographics
An infographic is a visual representation and comparison of information using images and patterns to help readers see how pieces of information relate to each other. There are several tools that you can use to create appealing infographics like: Canva and Venngage.
Cool ideas
Summer is a chance to connect with your audience in a more relaxed atmosphere, but sometimes you may have a hard time thinking of unique and original ideas for your content. So, if you’re going through a mind block or you’re just looking for inspiration, we’ve got your back with a few tricks up our sleeves. Check these out:
Days to mark on the calendar
Summer has a few, but major events that you can take advantage of. We’ll list some days that you can mark on your calendar for the summer and create content around:
- June 8: Best Friends Day
- June 10: Iced Tea Day
- June 14: Flag Day
- June 21: Take a Road Trip Day
- July 7: Chocolate Day
- July 21: National Ice Cream Day
- 4: National Sisters Day
- 16: National Tell A Joke Day.
Embrace the season
When we hear the word summer it usually resonates in our minds with the beach, cold drinks, dripping ice cream and sometimes weddings. You can employ these seasonal patterns in your content and communication efforts. You can run a summer photo contest, create the best summer playlists, share local summer weather predictions, create a poll for the best ice cream flavours, list local family getaways or blog about ideas to meet new people through local events.
Share a memory
Going through what you did in the past will provide you with insights of what worked last summer and what didn’t. You can start checking last year’s content calendar and either recreate the top tier content or reshare it. You can also ask your audience to reshare their most favorite article by you.
Create fun lists
When it comes to creating lists you can go wild! Create a list of top 20 cheap vacation destinations for the summer, 50 events happening this month, the best shops that sell summer wear, a playlist for summer parties, a best of list of products that you can use to keep your skin glowing this summer, and many more. You can also share your reading list, by either creating a blog post with your current reading list or listing your favorite books on a certain subject. Always think of what your audience will need and create a comprehensive list around it and make sure it’s both informative and beneficial.
Quizzes
We are all guilty of taking one of these personality quizzes, especially the ones titled “What kind of ___ are you?” They’re always short, entertaining and the results are fun to share with your friends. Creating a quiz can be a bit tricky, but if you’re using a platform like WordPress you can find helpful plugins (such as Quiz Cat) that will facilitate the process.
The average quiz gets shared 1900 times on social media, according to research by Buzzsumo.
You can get inspiration from brands, such as Buzzfeed that nails those quizzes and Layalina magazine that posts all sorts of fun quizzes. We also have a couple of quizzes that you can take to check if your website is safe and does your business plan include increasing sales?
Hold a summer contest
One of the easiest and most engaging content hacks is contests, as they’re great to encourage engagement and boost your reach to potential new audience. To hold a summer social contest, all you have to do is set the rule and moderate. The goal of the contest should be to get people excited and engaged as no matter what the contest is about, people love winning. So, once you’ve chosen what the contest will be about and the prize, make sure you outline the rules and duration, share reminder posts and stories, and of course, don’t forget to announce the winner.
We know that summer can be a bit tricky as your ideas and engagement might dry up. That’s why this guide is here to remind you of how important this season is and to assist you with your content.
