The Internet is a big place designed to capture millions of clicks in bulk with largely similar content for everyone across the board. But is this the best way to communicate with your audience? In the post Web 2.0 world data is free to roam across multiple platforms, but does it conform itself to me and my personal preferences when I encounter this content? In the past, the answer would have been no, but today’s internet marketers are adapting to this new shift in demand from users and we’re calling it “Adaptive Content.”
So What is Adaptive Content?
You could also call this content “Personal” since that’s really what it does. Businesses who are using adaptive content strategies serve up different content depending on the user’s preferences, demographics, and prior history with the brand. One of the best ways this is being used is by plotting out the lifecycle of a potential customer along various “benchmarks” of the sales funnel and delivering specialized content for that person based on where they are on that funnel.
So if I’m hitting your page for the first time, I should see some “introductory” content that gets me interested in your brand’s offerings and entices me to learn more. But if I’ve visited you a few times now, I’m already familiar with all those little intro pitches. Serving that same messaging up a second or third time is redundant. However, if you have new content and greetings that are dynamic enough to know what I’ve already seen and where I might be in the decision-making process, then the headlines and calls to action can be much more specific and tailored to getting a conversion out of me.
What Does this Mean for Content Creation?
If you’re seeing the value in an adaptive content strategy, then the first step is to create different buyer personas, as well as plot out the stages of your sales funnel. Each stage will have different messaging and content for different users, depending on where they fit into this matrix. The strategy is a bit more robust than simply commissioning a bulk load of content, but the results will be much more targeted and meaningful end-to-end.
If your company is beginning the process of creating a dynamic content structure on your site, it’s important to keep all the analytics in place in order to get good data out of the content interactions. Doing the legwork up front to plot out the content is a big part of the process, but proper analysis as you go will help to refine your strategy through testing and tracking the user’s path through the site and funnel. Luckily, we’re experts at that! If you’d like to speak to one of our educators, call us at (800) 949-0133 or schedule a one-on-one.
Erving
Incredible Marketing
