Think of five major companies everyone knows. Brands we use every day and that have revolutionized our way of life. If you analyze their marketing strategies, I’m sure you’ll notice they rely heavily on content .
In past articles, we’ve seen that content marketing is crucial for businesses because it allows them to build relationships with their customers and reach new potential customers. Creating quality, relevant content for their target audience helps position the company as an authority in its industry and build trust and credibility, all through a low-cost and highly creative method.
A company’s social media content, both online and offline, is emotionally charged and highly engaging for its audience, which is why it’s so effective for increasing ROI . This content can include blog posts, videos, infographics, e-books, webinars, podcasts, and much more, so it has a great chance of reaching a wider audience.
Content marketing can also help businesses improve their SEO , as search engines reward websites that offer quality, regularly updated content. The benefits of this set of strategies are numerous, and you’ve certainly realized that implementing them leads to more effective and rapid growth for your business.
This article aims to be more practical than the previous ones and present you with five excellent examples of Content Marketing applied by large companies.
5 examples of content marketing
1. Ikea
IKEA is an internationally renowned home furnishings retailer. We’ve all visited at least one store in our lifetime. Its distinctive feature is that it sells easy-to-pack, low-cost furniture, accessible to everyone. IKEA’s content marketing strategy differentiates it from its competitors, which range from low-end retailers offering a worse product at a lower price to others offering a higher price for a better product.
What’s unique about IKEA’s content marketing?
All IKEA content, from social media to direct marketing campaigns to VR experiences, is united by the theme of improving people’s daily lives.
IKEA invests heavily in understanding the problems people face in their daily lives and what’s important to them. This allows their marketing teams to access real-life, personal insights instead of relying solely on surveys or data.
IKEA’s simplest content marketing strategy is their product catalog , which they’ve distributed via direct mail for over half a century. Each catalog version consumes approximately 70% of IKEA’s annual marketing budget because it uses computer-generated imagery to save resources on actual product photography.
Beyond standard catalogs, VR experiences are ideal for allowing customers to experience expanded digital content and add a new dimension to the shopping experience. This has resulted in their app being downloaded over 8.5 million times since the catalog launched in 2014.
IKEA then jumped on the wave of TV series popularity, launching “Easy to Assemble” in 2008, which ran for four seasons. It won multiple Webby and Streamy awards for its unique approach to video marketing. Another notable content marketing strategy for IKEA originated in 2011 , when it launched Share Space, a community photo-sharing site that became the brand’s hub for user-generated content.
Anyone who wanted to participate could share their interior designs . This way, the brand not only managed to engage customers more deeply, but also gained valuable insights into their furnishing needs, which then led to successful lines.
In short, IKEA’s multichannel approach combines tradition and modernity in a set of truly unique and memorable content marketing strategies. It’s no coincidence that it’s the world’s largest furniture retailer.
2. Duolingo
Learning a language quickly isn’t that difficult these days. Duolingo is a mobile app and website that offers a game- and quiz-based language learning method . The app was created in 2011 and includes lessons for learning over 30 languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, and Japanese.
Recently, like many other companies, Duolingo has landed on the popular and unconventional TikTok. It’s no surprise that brands have made their communications more direct and creative thanks to this platform, even at the risk of appearing too irreverent and not in line with their values.
With over 4 million followers on TikTok, Duolingo has become a star on the platform . The secret to its success was having an iconic, brand-focused, fun, and engaging TikTok strategy.
Duo the green owl is the company’s mascot, appearing in most of Duolingo’s TikTok videos, trying to motivate students to complete their daily language learning sessions in an alternative yet fun way.
The sitcom has become a central figure in Duolingo’s TikTok marketing strategy, a key element in creating a more human brand image. The brand has succeeded and excelled in TikTok marketing because it realized that Gen Z, TikTok’s primary audience today, wants an authentic POV, and it has delivered. As I’ve emphasized in previous articles, possessing a deep understanding of the audience is crucial to generating engaging content that can improve business performance.
3. Expedia
Looking to go on vacation? Expedia is the eighth-largest travel agency in the United States, so you can book here thanks to its innovative Search and Pricing technology, which offers a comprehensive list of all available flight options online. What about Expedia’s content strategy?
Expedia’s strongest content is undoubtedly its travel listings . The company was the first to realize how effective the urgency bias is. Many of its listings feature countdowns that can speed up the process of purchasing a travel package.
On the social media front, the brand makes extensive use of various platforms to create high-quality content and maximize travel bookings. Facebook , in particular, is the social media platform Expedia uses most to interact with its users.
The material shared by Expedia showcases resorts from around the world, based on high-quality visuals. The photos and videos are high-quality and aim to showcase the culture of different countries, and their system can plan trips for their fans. Facebook contests in the United States are one of the main ways Expedia collects a lot of user-generated content.
They encourage their Facebook followers to use various hashtags to document their travels around the world and offer them the chance to win $10,000 to a destination of their choice in a one-time deal. They use calls to action on their pages to make it quick and easy to enter these contests and find out more information, such as “Book Now” and “Learn More,” which redirect users to relevant pages.
This strategy is excellent for engaging users while simultaneously leveraging them to generate free advertising. In short, Expedia manages to satisfy its self-promotion needs and even the most passionate travel enthusiasts with just one strategy. Don’t you think you could follow suit?
But be careful: Expedia’s strategy is aggressively focused on social media, and this isn’t necessarily ideal for all companies. It’s important to always know your target audience and understand their preferred channels, communication methods, and the content best suited to them. Always plan before copying a specific company’s content strategies.
4. Amazon
How could we not mention the global e-commerce giant? Amazon is no longer just one of the sites people click on most during a typical day at the office or at home, but it’s also a brand that has provided excellent examples of content marketing from which to draw inspiration.
Amazon is an expert at creating eye-catching product pages that are ideal for increasing sales . Of course, users are responsible for completing the pages with all the information about the item, written accurately and persuasively. However, Amazon product pages, due to their structure, are the most effective of all.
The e-commerce giant was the first to recognize the importance of customer feedback and related product recommendations . This way, it was able to immediately increase sales by playing on its users’ consumer psychology, without spending huge amounts of money on complex, short-term strategies.
Amazon then deploys innovative strategies based on artificial intelligence, called content with context. In short, machine learning collects information on user habits and needs, transforming them into strategies to be implemented to obtain balanced content, which creates a common thread across all channels and therefore capable of generating a sensational omnichannel strategy.
The large online retailer then leverages users themselves in other ways to improve its content strategy. It’s not just profiling, it’s not just feedback. Consider affiliate marketing strategies, which rely on user-generated content. Amazon has fully understood the effectiveness of blog posts, YouTube videos, and other communication channels used by its affiliates and has dramatically increased its sales since the launch of Amazon Affiliate .
And what about the storytelling and emotionally charged ads that Amazon launches on every important occasion, like Black Friday or Christmas? There’s no trace of self-promotion, except at the very end.
Promotional communications are always backed by stories told with emotion and involvement , to ensure that viewers are first excited and then go to Amazon to place their next order.If this strategy isn’t brilliant… take note!
5. Adidas
Anyone who enrolls in a digital marketing or advertising course always encounters case studies featuring Adidas . Whether it’s a historic ad that defined an era, the best payoff of the modern era, or the brand’s blunders at the Boston Marathon a few years ago, Adidas is always mentioned, and so will we in this article.
Adidas is a German multinational corporation that is today the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the second largest in the world , with apparel created for baseball, basketball, cricket, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, rugby, running, skateboarding, tennis, and even Kabaddi.
When it comes to content marketing, Adidas is a tough nut to crack. This brand also combines traditional self-promotion methods, such as sponsorships and testimonials, to convey its values, but it doesn’t shy away from innovation and technology. Adidas relies on content marketing to educate the world on ethics.
There’s no shortage of excellent social media content, as well as exploration of the new and fascinating metaverse . Adidas owns land on The Sandbox, where it sells virtual merchandise through NFT technologies. In short, companies no longer limit themselves to creating content on Web 2.0, but are going far beyond, and we can only admire their achievements and take inspiration when they achieve unexpected successes.
Content Marketing Examples – Conclusions
In this article, you’ve learned more about the effectiveness of content through content marketing examples from large, multinational brands. This isn’t just a set of strategies for small businesses or professionals: any business can implement an effective content marketing strategy and be successful. So, give it a try: plan, identify your goals and budget, and create compelling content.
Content marketing is a crucial strategy for businesses because it allows them to build relationships with their customers, increase brand awareness, generate leads and conversions, improve SEO, and reach new potential customers. So, never underestimate its effectiveness.
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