In the first week of November, Susan Williams, widow of actor-comedian Robin Williams, stated that his August 2014 suicide was likely related to a condition he had been diagnosed with called Lewy body dementia, which causes a progressive decline of mental abilities.

The media coverage of Mrs. Williams’ statement was huge, and Google Trends took notice. Lewy body dementia was a top-search health term for the week, as Internet users scoured articles, WebMD and other reference sources to learn about this disease.

Google Trends, which started in 2006, has been gathering search data for nearly a decade. Now, Google Trends updates regularly, showing the hot topics from search users for a particular day or week. Click on the topic itself and see what states are driving the most traffic.

As I write this entry, top health searches revolve around headline-making news, including a mall Santa Claus comforting a child who, minutes earlier, had a seizure. Walk down the rest of the page, though, and you’ll see more common topics like pregnancy, stroke, and cancer.

So what can I do with this information? Use it for unique content marketing.

The key to effective content marketing (and effective web writing, for that matter) is giving users what they’re looking for. Using Google Trends is a great way to keep a watchful eye on what users are interested in.

After you know what they are interested, you write. And write some more. And promote. And promote some more. But how? Here’s some ideas:

• Blogs – Want to talk to you audience? Then talk LIKE your audience. Blogs are a great way to tap into relevant topics to your organization, while using a friendly, informal tone to which your audience can relate.
• Videos – Did you know that nearly half of millennials watch videos only on their mobile device? Using video gives you a huge advantage, if you have the resources and talent to create them. In fact, 76% of millennials follow companies and brands on YouTube, according to Animoto.
• Infographics – Face it: Infographics are fun and easy to read. Not every topic can be an infographic but for topics like flu season, it’s a great way to spread awareness while making it sharable for every channel.
• Email marketing – At Geonetric, we’re all about email. With blogs and videos under your belt, share them with your reader base in a targeted email marketing campaign.
• Social media – Share, and share everywhere. Whether you’re on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, use the information you create – including blogs, videos or infographics – to share on social media with your audience. Creating an editorial calendar is a great way to regulate what gets posted and when, so you can stay consistent on your brand and message delivery.

This is great, but where do I start?
If you want to start generating content your users are hungry for, check out trends.google.com to get a look at what’s topical lately. Or, if you have a marketing campaign or content you want to deliver, think of creative ways to do it.

HubSpot has a great blog post generator that can really get your gears turning, whether you’re writing a blog post or generating a video, infographic or other deliverable.

Blog platforms like WordPress, Tumblr or Blogger are a great way to get the blog machine at your organization off the ground. There are even free infographic programs online, like Piktochart, where you can create your own infographic using their handy, flat-design tools. For a fee, you can get a wider selection of templates.

If resources are slim, count on us.
A lot of organizations want to do all this great content marketing but simply don’t have the resources to do it well. Fortunately at Geonetric, we can do all these things for you, too. From email marketing to infographics to social media campaigns to content development, we can help. Contact us today to find out more about how we can help broaden your content marketing efforts.