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What is Episodic Content Marketing?

by | May 1, 2019 | Content Marketing, Social Media, Web Content | 0 comments

episodic content marketing

 

You’re probably familiar with the old show business adage: Leave the audience wanting more.

That simple piece of advice has recently become popular in content marketing circles, as well. One of this year’s big trends is episodic content marketing, which is all about providing your audience with just enough value to be satisfied, but also to make them want to come back for seconds.

At its most basic, episodic content marketing is simply about taking a big piece of content and doling it out as individual installments. For instance, maybe instead of writing a 10-point, 3,000-word blog, you create a series of ten 300-word blogs—each one devoted to a single point, all of them adding up into a more comprehensive argument or narrative.

The Benefits of Episodic Content Marketing

As you can tell, this isn’t a complete retooling of the content ecosystem so much as a simple paradigm shift: Maybe instead of long and meaty content, it’s more logical to have bite-sized morsels. And there are some clear benefits. For example:

  • Episodic content marketing gives your audience a reason to come back for more, just like when a TV show (or an Avengers movie!) ends on a big cliffhanger.
  • It also provides an incentive for people to subscribe to your email list or to follow you on social media—after all, they don’t want to miss the next episode!
  • Finally, episodic content allows you to develop a grand narrative or arc, which can lend to your brand’s thought leadership and authority.

What Does Episodic Content Marketing Require?

Another upshot of episodic content marketing is that, if you already have a strong content development structure in place, it’s a pretty easy shift into the episodic realm. Some guidelines to consider:

  • Make sure you have a good sense of the big picture. A 10-part blog series needs a unifying theme or idea, and that’s something you have to figure out in advance.
  • It’s also important that each piece of content creates anticipation for the next. At the end of a blog post, tease the upcoming topic. Again, this requires advance planning.
  • Encourage interaction when you can. Share each episode on social media and in your company emails and ask for feedback. Pose some specific questions to get people to engage with you.

If you’ve been in a content rut and are looking for a way to reinvigorate audience interest, this is an approach that could pay off. And we’d love to help however we can! Connect with Grammar Chic, Inc. to discuss content strategy or creation. You can find us at www.grammarchic.net or 803-831-7444.