When you want to optimise your business’ website and boost organic search traffic, getting a strong content strategy in place is a vital part of the process. But what does a ‘strong content strategy’ really look like – and how do seasonal and evergreen content fit into it?
Let’s begin with the most important point here: you need both. Resource challenges might make it tempting to treat content as a ‘front-loaded’ exercise, and while it’s good practice to create a bank of ready-to-go evergreen content, we would never recommend skipping the seasonal stuff.
Both seasonal and evergreen content have an important role to play in your content marketing strategy. Planned and executed in the right way, a mix will make sure you can prove your topic authority to Google, stay relevant to your audience, and capitalise on trending topics. The trick is finding ways to make ongoing content production manageable for your teams.
Now let’s take a step back and look at what characterises the two types of content and gives them their value.
What’s the difference between seasonal and evergreen content?
Seasonal Content
Seasonal content is topical, covering highly-relevant topics at a specific moment. It can be newsworthy or build on things like seasonal occurrences, holidays or events. Its major benefit is arguably also a weakness; it drives traffic fast, but loses attention and relevance quickly too. Regular auditing and updating of your website’s seasonal content should be planned into marketing activity, with resources allocated accordingly.
How to use seasonal content
Topical content may not have the longevity of evergreen pieces but it keeps your brand on point, in tune, relevant and timely. It shows your audience that you understand and can add value to their daily lives. The topic is likely to be on the top of your audience’s mind at a specific time, making it infinitely more shareable.
Examples of seasonal content:
Seasonal content might mean the obvious Christmas, Easter or Valentine’s messaging but is also any content linked to a trending topic or event. This might be a global, local or industry event, for example. For B2B marketing, a top tip is to create a calendar filled with events relevant to your audience such as major conferences, speeches or product launches. This can help to guide your content creation throughout the year.
Evergreen Content
In contrast to seasonal content, evergreen content is timeless – it remains relevant beyond its publication date and regardless of seasonal changes or particular events.
The advantage of this type of content, when SEO optimised, is that it can bring a flow of traffic to your website that grows over time. Search volumes around evergreen topics remain fairly consistent and evergreen content can be planned well in advance - so it’s ideal for building solid content strategies around. Just make sure you allow the time to put the legwork in. High quality evergreen content takes time.
How to use evergreen content
Evergreen content should form the bulk of your content strategy - but don’t simply write volumes of content for the sake of it. Instead, do your research and write to answer the search needs of your target audience. What keywords are they using? What is the intention behind the search? Who is already ranking highly for those search terms?
Done correctly, evergreen content should create a steady stream of traffic to your site over time and at the same time help build the reputation of your brand and its website.
Examples of evergreen content
When thinking about writing copy for evergreen content, there are several options: tips, ‘how to’s, interviews, tutorials, case studies, reviews or FAQs; the list goes on.
Some examples of evergreen blog posts we’ve posted include, Becoming a green agency, 4 golden rules for green messaging, and3 steps to boost awareness of your b2b brand.
The perfect content recipe
Striking the right balance between seasonal and evergreen marketing can provide your website with a good variety of content to keep your audience engaged and interested. “Mix”, however, doesn’t mean the balance should be equal. A better recipe for success could include 75% evergreen posts, with 25% seasonal events.
The ideal mix will look different for every business, so it’s also important to test different approaches, monitor your engagement and build on your successes. The ideal content marketing strategy is always data driven. Luckily, there are some tools out there that can help to make this easier:
Need a little extra help?
We know businesses are short on time right now and immediate challenges may require more urgent attention. We also understand find the right balance between evergreen and seasonal content can be time consuming – involving some careful planning and testing of different tactics..
Here at The Marketing Pod, we’re passionate about B2B marketing. From planning to execution, our experts in copywriting, design and digital will make sure you’ve got the right strategy and content for your needs and audience.
If you would like our help in making sure your business gets its content marketing right, then don’t hesitate to get in touch today – we can’t wait to hear from you.
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Adam Leach
