Content creation is easier than ever, but with today’s generation exposed to so much of it, brands face the challenge of making sure their content stands out in an oversaturated landscape.
In an interview with Financial Promoter, Mati Alon, editor in chief at eToro, and Sam North, market analyst and host of eToro’s ‘Digest & Invest’ podcast series, discussed how to create meaningful educational content that cuts through the crowd and meets customers’ demand.
Create different forms of content
Alon said that the first step to meet customers’ needs is to understand that this generation wants to consume content in several different ways. For example, some customers prefer reading, some enjoy jogging and listening to podcasts, while others like to watch ‘shorts’ on YouTube.
Therefore, he recommended producing multiple content formats for each topic to cater to these varying preferences.
“We always try to think how we can create one piece of content, but then push it on all fronts so a person can consume the content in many ways,” he said.
He noted that the brand’s recognition of this demand for numerous content formats shaped the vision for it relaunching the eToro Academy at the beginning of this year.
While the original plan was to build a guide with roughly 3000 words, Alon understood that it would be more likely to resonate with customers if they created a mini course of five articles to spread the word count out, accompanying each article with a short three-minute summary video.
“When we created a written guide to investing, we also created a short video for it because we are always trying to think how we can give the person two ways of consuming the content, either through video or through reading it,” he said.
Cater to different levels of expertise
Brands should not only create different forms of content to match customers’ consumption preferences but also tailor content to their different levels of expertise, Alon said.
For example, the eToro academy offers over 2000 written pieces on how to invest, designed to cater to everyone from beginners to professionals.
“We wanted to make sure that it doesn’t matter what level of a person you are, you can still find education at eToro,” he said.
Listen to what people want
Brands can create various forms of content and tailor it to different levels of expertise, but this isn’t very effective unless the content actually addresses what customers want more information about.
To discover what customers want to learn more about and to guide eToro’s content, North said they actively encourage people who have taken part in their courses to provide feedback.
He said eToro conducts surveys to gather insights on what topics people want to learn about, allowing them to update their courses and ensure they deliver the content that meets demand.
“Every time we start the course, we ask people to give us the hardest and ‘baddest’ feedback we can,because we constantly want to improve,” Alon added.
Alon added that brands can also monitor discussions on various social media platforms to identify what people are talking about and uncover their pain points.
This can then be used to inform the development of new content, which is particularly effective for eToro’s daily podcast, which is under five minutes long and aims to update listeners on current market trends, North noted.
“We have regular meetings and talk about content for the week. What it is we think is important, but also what our audience want to hear, how they want to hear it,” he said.
The benefits of standing out
The benefits of adapting content to ensure it cuts through the crowd are clear– whether by creating different forms of content, tailoring materials to different levels of expertise or listening to what customers want to learn more about.
Natalie Cheung, PR and communications assistant manager at eToro, reported that since eToro refreshed its academy in early 2023, unique users have increased by over 100% and unique page views have increased by over 50%.
“We’ve seen new users and new first time deposits. So, people are really gaining the confidence to start investing and move beyond just the learning part,” she added.
Alon agreed that the primary goal of creating this content is to effectively educate people on proper investing as this helps eToro achieve its objectives.
“Our aim is not just to be the place where you can come and deposit and invest your money, but the place where you can learn and educate yourself how to invest your money,” he said.
He added that informed investors further benefit the brand because “a good investor is an educated investor.” Over the long term, having customers who understand how to make money is much more valuable for the brand.