The ins and outs of topical content

Enjoyed learning all about evergreen content in our last content blog post? To follow that post up, within this blog we’ll look at topical content in more depth that will compliment your evergreen content output nicely. Together we’ll investigate what topical content is, the different types and importantly, how it could benefit your business.

What is topical content?

Well, in comparison to evergreen content that is long-lasting and should form the basis of your content strategy; topical content is your in-the-moment, more newsworthy content. Not only that, it’s also considered to be the more advanced route, as it is the leading type of content in sharing the initial news so you should expect to include all the finer details, specs or data points.

This type of content should be created in a timely, relevant and reactive manner. You need to have the resources at hand to jump on a story as soon as it arises – if you leave it for too long, your blog post may quickly become old news.

Why would you create topical content if it will be outdated quickly?

Topical content is usually highly searchable – online users want to find out all the information they can about that particular new product, event or recent news story. However, this is a temporary search peak and unlike evergreen content, won’t continue to be there month on month – so you need to make the most of that opportunity within a limited time frame.

Not only that, but topical content can also have a huge amount of SEO value. If you are creating a great piece of topical content, with all relevant data points and information included and are one of the first credible sources to cover it, you’ll be likely to get backlinks to your article with other online outlets referencing your business or article as a source. Furthermore, if you are recognised as a credible source in your industry, you may get contacted to quote on particular stories, with further links to your article for more information. Backlinks to your articles will help build the authority of a page, which in turn will help to increase this article in the rankings in SERPs.

What are the benefits of topical content?

Ultimately by producing topical content, you are showing your audience how on the ball your business is. But, you need to do this not by simply regurgitating the news, but by adding your own spin or angle to the content that already exists – you need to show ‘why’ your business is talking about this in order for your audience to really care about what you are saying.

What is better – evergreen or topical content?

Really your content strategy should incorporate a mix of both types of content.Topical content is more likely to get you instant success and tap into search peaks if done right, however, when considering your long term plan, you can’t forget evergreen as overtime this will be crucial in building up your leadership overall within the industry.

How can I use topical content in my business?

Now is the time to get clever! If you simply follow the breaking news and repost, your articles will get lost in the huge volume of similar content already out there. Don’t forget to always make every piece of content your masterpiece – this applies in a strong way to topical content.

1.Turn a news story on its head: have your own opinion on the news or approach it from a different angle that will make your article stand out from the core news that has already surfaced

2.Consider what’s next: it’s your turn to decide where this story goes once it has broken, so get creative and start to think about how you can move it on. Is it that you get opinion pieces on the story? Consider future trends? Get reactions from the story itself? Or look into the data of previous similar stories and make comparisons or differences that could put a new spin on this topic area?

3. Be the opinion leader: Don’t be scared to have your say, whether that is through an analysis of the news or offering solutions to solve the problems. This will position you as a credible source in your industry where people could start coming back to for advice on a particular topic area.

So for example, you could create blog posts on current events, industry developments or news. To make this even richer in content, consider getting a comment from someone in a similar industry to really help cement what you are trying to say and add credibility to your article and include data references wherever possible.

How do I find topics to produce my topical content?

In all honesty, finding your news story to contribute to with your topical content can be tough. It’s all about really being on the ball and acting as soon as you get wind of a relevant story whereby your business could have a voice on that topic area.

There are some tricks we use here at iThinkMedia to assist us in identifying those relevant stories. Firstly let us introduce you to Google Alerts – your new best friend for monitoring in-the-moment news and online brand mentions. Simply plug some keywords into your Google Alerts and you’ll get news coming directly to your inbox as and when it arises. All you need to do is keep on top of these emails, read through the stories properly and then jump on the opportunity immediately if you think it is right for your business.

The other useful tool we use is actually Hootsuite. If you haven’t heard of it before, Hootsuite is a tool to manage your social media channels, allowing you to schedule, publish and engage all from one easy dashboard. You can get a free account for a limited number of social accounts. So how it Hootsuite useful? Well, you simply plug in your keywords and within one stream all social mentions with that keyword will be populated. Keep an eye on this throughout the day and then once you find a relevant story, get ready to act quickly!

Have you had any successes in creating topical content? We’d love to hear about them, let us know in the comments below or tweet us @Honcho_Search. Here at iThinkMedia, our team of expert content writers and PR specialists are equipped to creating topical content for a range of our clients across various industries. Should you need any assistance do get in touch, we’d be delighted to chat your requirements through with you.