What type of content should you use in your content marketing strategy?

When it comes to creating content for your website, videos, and social media, the question of “green” topics versus “hot” or “trending” topics often comes up. “Green” topics, often referred to as “evergreen” content, is content that will usually stand the test of time for many months or even years.  By contrast, “hot” and “trending” topics fizzle out quickly and become “old” after a short period of time…sometimes even a day or two.

So how should you plan your content marketing strategy?

The answer is easy…you need BOTH!

The best way to combine these two content styles is to have a website full of green topics, interspersed with some hot and trending topics.

The Benefits of Evergreen Content

Overall, the vast majority of your content should be evergreen. It takes time and effort to create content, so you should focus the majority of your time on creating content that will be working for you for a long time. After all, you don’t want your audience to feel like they’re reading something out of date.

That’s not to say that you won’t eventually have to update and freshen up your evergreen content…because eventually you will.  But with hot topics you can’t freshen them up…as soon as their shelf life has expired, they’re just content taking up space.

Having plenty of green content on your site will pay off…month after month and even year after year. Plus, writing regular green topics is a great way to show off your personality, and tell stories that are interesting to your audience.

The Benefits of Hot & Trending Content

One of the biggest benefits of hot and trending content is that people are much more likely to share hot topics with their friends, which puts your content in front of a new audience you wouldn’t have reached otherwise. A well-timed hot topic post will be shared more immediately with friends across social media.

Hot and trending topics are also a great way to get ideas when you can’t think of anything to write about. You can search through industry news, current events, and pop culture to come up with a hot topic to add some excitement to your content.

Hot and trending topics are great for getting discussions going. However, you have to get to the hot topic right away because it’s not going to be relevant for long…and may not be relevant as soon as tomorrow or next week. Writing about hot topics requires you to stay aware of industry trends so that you can be fast on your feet with getting the information out there.

Just know that you’ll get more “bang for the buck” with hot and trending topics when it makes sense and you can tie it into your business in some way.

In this video you’ll learn three quick tips to capitalizing on hot topics and trends, along with an example of a company that did it right.

Content Marketing Best Practices

What’s the right mix of green and hot content? There are no hard and fast rules, like 80% green and 20% trending. The right mixture of both evergreen and hot topics depends entirely on your niche.  Try different percentages to see what works best for your niche.

Now it’s your turn…leave a comment below with your favorite way to use hot and trending topics in your content marketing strategy.