Creating great content is one thing, but ensuring that it gets seen is another. If you’re simply writing up a blog post and hitting publish, then you’re unlikely to harness the full potential your content marketing efforts have to offer.
Content hubs solve this problem. In this guide, we’ll explain what they are, why you need one, and how to create an irresistible content hub for your audience.
What Is a Content Hub?
A content hub is a centralized online location where related content can be discovered. It helps organize and deliver your digital assets so audiences can easily find and use them. Webinars, videos, blog posts, e-books, articles and podcasts are just some formats that can be included in a content hub.
Content hubs have two essential components: a customer-facing interface and a business-accessible backend where content can be added, removed and amended. Most also have filtering systems for easy navigation, while the best content hubs are personalized to individual users.
A content hub aims to attract and retain your audience through engaging, educational content. They’re a vital tool for digital marketers; helping to strengthen search engine optimization (SEO), nurture leads and maximize the value of content production.
How to Create a Content Hub Step-by-Step
Step 1: Identify the Main Topic and Subtopics
The first step to creating a top-quality content hub is to select the overarching topic. This topic should be related to your business and its goals but, more importantly, should also align with your target audience’s interests.
For example, if you provide project management software, then your main topic could be team collaboration. You would then identify subtopics related to team collaboration and produce content around them to add depth to your hub.
If you’re stuck for subtopic ideas, try these brainstorming tips:
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- keyword research – find out what people are searching for
- industry trends – research recent news or innovations regarding the main topic
- audience interaction – take note of themes that arise during interactive webinars
- customer service – speak to customer service reps to learn common pain points.
Step 2: Develop a Content Strategy
Developing a content marketing strategy before beginning to produce content will increase efficiency and outcomes. When putting together your strategy, the first stage is to decide the type of content that you will create for each topic and subtopic.
You’ll want to consider which formats are best suited to delivering different information and which ones resonate most with your audience. Decide which key performance indicators (KPIs) will help you assess if your content is working.
Ensuring that your content strategy serves both your customers and business is crucial. A content calendar can help organize your efforts so that they align with your marketing goals and activity, as well as key moments for your audience.
Step 3: Choose an Appropriate Tool
With an array of tools on the market, choosing the right one can be daunting. The most important features to look for are:
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- support for different content types
- flexible content categorization
- intuitive user interface
- personalization
- engagement analytics
ON24’s content hub solution provides all of the above, and more. For organizations looking for a comprehensive customer engagement solution, ON24 offers customizable, branded designs, automated publishing schedules, webinar integration and actionable reports that help you increase engagement.
Step 4: Create, Repurpose and Publish Content
With all the prep work done, it’s time to create. When producing high-quality content that genuinely resonates with your audience, there are some guidelines to bear in mind:
- Focus on value—if your content doesn’t educate or entertain your audience, it’s unlikely to capture their attention.
- Be consistent – inconsistencies in your brand voice or messages can undermine trust and authority.
- Optimize for engagement – visuals, comment sections, and share buttons can make content more appealing and engaging.
Repurposing existing content will maximize resources and offer greater variety. AI-powered tools like the ON24 AI-powered Analytics and Content Engine can take formats like webinars and transform them into written guides and blog posts to reach different audience segments.
Old content should be reviewed regularly to ensure it’s up to date. Low-performing content can also be rewritten and updated with new insights to enhance its quality.
Once content is published within the hub, optimize the layout and implement internal links between related pieces to keep audiences engaged.
Step 5: Boost Visibility with Personalized Content Recommendations
Advanced content hub platforms can track and analyze individual user interactions. The insights gathered can then inform personalized content recommendations — and with the ON24 Intelligent Engagement Platform, this entire process can be automated.
By matching users to content that’s relevant to their interests, you can increase your hub’s value, drive engagement at an individual level, and boost hidden content’s visibility.
Ensuring Maximum Engagement
Here are some tips to ensure that your content hub keeps your audience engaged and returning for more.
Interactive Features to Enhance Engagement
The flexibility of a content hub means that you can incorporate all kinds of interactive features. Comment sections, like and share buttons, polls, surveys, quizzes, feedback tools and games can all be integrated to make the content more engaging.
Utilizing Multimedia Content
Some people read books, some watch movies and some listen to podcasts. If you want to engage your audience fully, you need to communicate in their preferred format. Utilizing videos, webinars and infographics alongside the usual blog posts can help ensure that you cater to different preferences.
Encouraging User Interaction and Feedback
Creating a sense of community around your content hub makes the user experience more dynamic and can foster further engagement. Encourage active participation by collecting feedback and reviews, and facilitate user-to-user interactions via comments and discussions.
Create a Content Hub for Engagement
The content hub capability, powered by the ON24 Intelligent Engagement Platform, lets you build on-demand content experiences that are tailored to your audience. With personalized recommendations that maximize engagement, you’ll attract and retain customers while demonstrating your expertise. Book a demo to see how you can leverage the platform’s unique features to create and grow your content hub.
