How Your Content Efforts Shape Your Company Culture

Author: Alex Ratynski

As a small business owner working in eCommerce, you’ve likely been using content marketing to boost your SEO, gain more organic traffic, increase your sales, or build up your brand awareness. Content is a tool you’ll primarily use to communicate with your target audience, but its purpose doesn’t end there — it can also showcase your brand values and shape your company culture.

Think about it: whenever you create and publish a new piece of content, you’ll inject it with different elements of your company identity, including your voice, your values, and your goals. Your content will tell the story of your brand and, as existing and prospective employees, as well as your customers, see it, this will shape your company culture.

In this article, I’m going to outline what company culture is, how to use content marketing to show off your brand’s story, and how to create the right types of content for your business and audience.

Let’s dive in!

What is company culture?

Company culture is defined as the shared values, characteristics, attributes, and behaviors of an organization as a whole. This covers a lot of different elements: your company’s mission statement, leadership style, goals, marketing materials, and work environment all contribute to company culture. It’s all about the image you want to portray as a brand and the environment you want your employees to be working in!

Clarifying your company culture is vital to your public image. For instance, with a clear company culture, you’ll find it much easier to appeal to your target market, as people like to spend their money with brands that align with their values and beliefs. You also want to make it easy for shoppers to understand some of the ins and outs of your brand before they spend money with you, as this will ensure they’re provided with the best experience possible.

Additionally, having a strong company culture can improve your employees’ quality of work life. The expectations and values of your company should be clear to anyone thinking about applying for a job with you, and your content can help with this. If someone knows exactly what they’re getting into, this can help them to make an informed decision and set them up for success, while preventing burnout.

You can show off your company culture using different types of content on your website. Let’s take a look at common formats, some of their uses, and how they can show off your company culture.

Different types of content that will shape your company culture

There are lots of types of content you can use to showcase your company values and culture, but some will be more effective than others. Here, I’ll take a look at some of the most engaging formats that will catch your customers’ eye, let prospective employees know what they can expect from a job with you, and allow you to express your company values. 

INFOGRAPHICS

Infographics offer a great way to visually represent a heavy amount of data or explain a difficult concept. They’re also effective for getting shares; infographics receive three times as many shares on social media as other forms of content. Additionally, they can help to tell website visitors a lot about your brand. 

Take a look at how Akita, a UK-based IT company, uses infographics in their visual history of computers. The fact that they’ve created a timeline infographic to discuss this topic shows that the company has a deep understanding of where technology has been and where it’s going. It gives the impression that those working at the company are experts who are truly passionate about what they do. 
Not only are they able to help a customer with any of their tech problems, but they know what they’re talking about and are well-researched on the subject. The inclusion of this timeline makes it clear that IT isn’t just work and business for Akita. It’s a passion!

ARTICLES

You should also consider regularly publishing articles on your company blog or in a knowledge hub to give people a sense of what it’s like behind the scenes at your company. Not only can this allow you to target relevant keywords and boost your SEO, but it will also give you a chance to show off your company culture. 

You can showcase how you get involved in your local community, post about a charitable initiative you’re involved in, or show behind-the-scenes content of your hardworking team. 

For instance, take a look at how Adobe introduces their employees in their Adobe Life blog articles. In an interview with principal product manager Chloe McConnel, they outline McConnell’s early career, what brought her to Adobe, what she enjoys about her job, and more. This helps humanize the team and put a face to the Adobe brand. In this article, you can gather that their company fosters a hardworking culture and that they take pride in their work.

VIDEOS

Videos are great for showing behind the scenes of your brand and, when you consider that 85% of US internet users say they’ve watched video content online, why wouldn’t you want to tap into this market?

Think about how you can showcase your brand and company culture by making videos. Consider creating vlogs that show the day-to-day running of your business, hosting an FAQ livestream with members of your team, or allowing customers to come along to events with you through the medium of video.

Take a look at how Rise at Seven, a UK-based digital marketing agency, uses video to shape their company culture. The founder, Carrie Rose, has created a reality TV show of sorts called, “The Sauce,” highlighting some of the exciting work that goes on behind the scenes at Rise at Seven.

This video series shows that Rose and her company are experienced, smart, and enthusiastic about their work. This particularly busy episode announces that they are new partners of TikTok, working with a variety of different brands and watching campaigns. The videos are entertaining and show that the team is great at what they do and they have fun doing it.

INTERACTIVE CONTENT

Interactive content can make your website more engaging and will encourage people to spend more time on it. And 91% of consumers report that they want more visual and interactive content, so creating it can be a very effective tactic for attracting the right people and making more sales.

For example, Harvard utilizes interactive content with its virtual reality campus tour. Prospective students and their parents can visualize what it would be like to roam Harvard’s campus without even having to apply or schedule an appointment. This content shows that Harvard is innovative, inviting, and willing to go out of its way to make its students feel at home.

FREE TOOLS AND CALCULATORS

If you can offer a free service to your target audience, they will be more likely to spend money with your brand later. It can also help showcase aspects of your company culture. For instance, a free eBook shows you value research and learning, or a free quote calendar could show you’re passionate about helping your customers get the best deal possible. Likewise, a free CPM calculator provides transparency about marketing expenditures.

For example, Loganix specializes in digital marketing and SEO, so it’s created a free domain authority checker tool. This tool provides marketers with many metrics they might need when working with websites or building links. This tool shows Loganix’s company culture: they’re helpful, willing to work to earn their customers’ trust, and know a lot about SEO and content marketing.

“Horses of Courses”-Particular content for particular brands

Remember that different brands have different company cultures, and will want to create different types of content as a result. Your content marketing efforts must always have your target audience and your ideal customer in mind!

One way to help determine your company culture and target audience is by having a value proposition. What is one sentence that can convey your company’s values and personality while still encouraging people to learn more? For more advice on this, check out Predictable Revenue’s guide to creating a value proposition. It covers coming up with your pitch, testing it, utilizing it, and more.

Once you have your value proposition, how can you incorporate this into your content and use it to shape and show off your company culture? 

If your target audience consists of businesses or professionals, you’ll want to create and promote your content with this in mind. LinkedIn is a great tool for getting more eyes on your business content with more of a professional angle. It will allow you to establish your company as an authority in your field, give you the chance to network with others working in your industry, and provide you with a wider audience for your content. Managing social media platforms can take up a lot of time, though, so consider setting aside a couple of hours each week to bulk schedule posts that will promote your website content and give people a better idea of your company culture. There are lots of different LinkedIn marketing tools that can help you with this.

If you work in the business-to-consumer, or B2C, space, you’ll want to take a slightly different approach. Most of the connections with your customers will be built through your branding and the emotive content you publish. So, think about how you’re going to create content that shows off your values and shapes your company culture with this in mind. Could you host giveaways to show your customers you’re generous and genuinely appreciate their support, could you create videos that humanize your brand and show behind the scenes, or could you create a blog post about a charity initiative you’re contributing to in an effort to show you have strong values and always like to give back?

Take a look at how H Clinical, a Latin American health clinical research group, markets themselves in the B2C space. In various places across their website, they humanize what could be a very mechanical-sounding brand by using images of doctors working with their patients in the comfort of their own homes. This shows that they’re a company that cares about their patients and their concerns. In the same vein, their “About” page gives a brief biography of two of the leaders of the company. By humanizing their business and showing off their CEO and President’s expertise in the field, they tell their potential customers that they’re knowledgeable and ready to help.

Summary

Your company culture is one of the most important aspects of your business. Think about what makes your company unique and what kind of environment you want your employees to work in.

From there, think about how your content efforts can tap into this and show exactly who you are as a business. With infographics, behind-the-scenes videos, tools, and more, you can show off your brand’s culture and earn more customer loyalty than ever before.

Alex Ratynski is the founder of Ratynski Digital, an online marketing consultancy that focuses on helping small and medium-sized businesses achieve their goals. He set up his company after working as a local SEO director for a dental marketing agency, where he helped to turn clients’ ventures into thriving multi-million dollar businesses. He spends most hours strategizing SEO for his clients.