What is a Content Experience?

Creating a content experience is a powerful way to connect with your audience. Content experiences should be a significant new part of your content marketing strategy in 2021. Oftentimes, marketers can end find themselves in a content rut. If this is you, try a content experience! In this article, we will discuss some examples of content experiences. We will teach you how you can create a content experience for your audience and take your customers to the next level of engagement with your brand. 

Content Experience Definition

The phrase “content experience” was invented by Randy Frisch in his 2019 book “F#ck Content Marketing: Focus on Content Experience.” A content experience is defined as the environment in which your content lives, how it’s structured, and how it compels your audience and potential customers to engage with your company. To put it another way, the content experience is not just the content itself, but how you package your content. 

Frisch even co-created a content experience platform called Uberflip. Uberflip helps marketers create digital content specifically meant for each stage of the buyer journey in order to increase revenue. 

How to Master the Content Experience

There are three ways to master the content experience: 

1. Create a strategic approach around the environment in which your audience consumes your content. 
2. Structure your content so that it is easy to discover. 
3. Encourage your audience to engage with you and your content as you lead them through the buyer’s journey on the way to conversion. 

Examples of Content Experiences to Help You Create Your Own

Let’s discuss some examples to help you integrate this theory into an actual practice. Here are four practical examples of the content experience:

Utilize the Pyramid Principle

Here’s how the Pyramid Principle works: First, start with the answer. Then, group and summarize your supporting argument. Finally, logically order your supporting ideas. This principle is frequently used in newspaper articles or executive summaries. In journalism, this principle is referred to as the inverted pyramid style. Take a cue from this style and start your content with the most important information in your H1 headline and your first paragraph. Do not bury your lead and save your best information for later in the article. 

Another thing to keep in mind: not every single piece of content needs to be long-form to work well or even rank highly. There are certain topics no one wants to read 2,000 words about, and that’s okay. There are pieces of valuable and useful content and tools for your reader that don’t require a ton of text, but get high engagement. 

Structure Resource Libraries that Answer Search Queries

You can also use the Pyramid Principle to apply to your entire website and blog as a whole. Many websites sort their content or blog posts by date. While that is an excellent strategy for news organizations, it is not always the best system. You want to show your users the relevant information that they are looking for. So instead, consider your blog categories as resource libraries, and structure them that way. You can organize your content by topic, type, or funnel stage. If you structure your content by context and needs, rather than publication date, you make it easy for your visitors to find the information they need. 

Foster Engagement

Some companies even prioritize a content-first approach over their e-commerce strategy, and it is clear on their website. One such company is Pampers, the diaper brand. They include several interactive tools on their website rather than just their products. They are all pregnancy and infancy related. For example, their site has a pregnancy due date calculator, a baby name generator, and a Chinese gender predictor. These tools all increase engagement on their site, as well as provide useful and fun tools for their visitors. 

Create Fun, Interactive Pages

Not everything on your website needs to be 100 percent related to your main topic or useful in a meaningful way. There are small ways you can create engagement. For example, HEY Email Research Lab created a dumpster fire in 2020 in order to allow people to send in emails they would like burned as a cathartic experience. And you might say the content caught fire (pun intended.) 

Add Lead Magnets to Every Page

A lead magnet is any free item or service that is given away in exchange for contact information. On every single page of your magnet, there should be a lead capture form. You can draw organic visitors to your website by creating valuable, engaging content. Then, convert them into leads by having them fill out their contact information in exchange for whatever you chose as your lead magnet. 

Add Content in New, Interesting Places

Don’t miss out on excellent opportunities to create a content experience for your customers. For example, what about your automated email receipts? This is the perfect chance to share content with your customer that relates to the product they purchased. If they bought a new air fryer from you, for instance, share some air fryer recipes they might like from your blog. Or maybe there is a how-to guide or FAQ for how to use the product. Rather than just create customers, you can create super, loyal fans of your brand. 

Create a Content Experience for Your Customers

The goal of a content experience is to engage your visitors, create a powerful connection, and provide valuable and helpful information. A content experience should help you change up your content creation strategy and veer away from simply walls of text. Don’t be afraid to be creative. An excellent content experience will help you build a relationship with your target audience, generate new leads, and stand out as a brand. If you need help brainstorming a valuable content experience for your company, contact SEO Design Chicago today! Our content creation experts are here to help you. 

FAQs about Content Experiences

What is a content experience?

A content experience is the environment in which your content lives, how it’s structured, and how it compels your audience to engage with your company. The term was coined by Randy Frisch in his 2019 book “F#ck Content Marketing: Focus on Content Experience.” It’s not just about the content itself, but how you package and present it to create meaningful connections with your audience throughout their buyer journey.

How is a content experience different from regular content marketing?

Traditional content marketing focuses primarily on creating content itself—blog posts, articles, videos, etc. A content experience goes beyond that by emphasizing the environment and structure around your content. It’s about making content easy to discover, strategically placing it where your audience consumes it, and actively encouraging engagement that leads visitors through the buyer’s journey toward conversion.

What are the three key elements to mastering content experiences?

The three ways to master content experiences are: creating a strategic approach around the environment where your audience consumes content, structuring your content so it’s easy to discover, and encouraging your audience to engage with you as you guide them through the buyer’s journey toward conversion. Each element works together to create a seamless, engaging experience for your visitors.

What is the Pyramid Principle and how does it improve content experience?

The Pyramid Principle is a structure where you start with the answer first, then group and summarize your supporting arguments, and finally logically order your supporting ideas. In practice, this means putting your most important information in your H1 headline and first paragraph—don’t bury your lead. This principle, borrowed from journalism’s inverted pyramid style, helps readers quickly find the information they need.

How should I organize my blog or website content?

Instead of organizing content by publication date (which works well for news sites), structure your blog categories as resource libraries organized by topic, content type, or funnel stage. This approach makes it easy for visitors to find relevant information based on their needs and context rather than searching through chronological posts. Think of your content organization from the user’s perspective.

What are lead magnets and why should they be on every page?

A lead magnet is any free item or service given away in exchange for contact information—like ebooks, templates, guides, or tools. Every page should have a lead capture form because you can draw organic visitors through valuable content, then convert them into leads by offering something useful in exchange for their contact details. This turns casual browsers into potential customers.

What are some creative examples of content experiences?

Creative content experiences include interactive tools like Pampers’ pregnancy due date calculator and baby name generator, fun engaging features like HEY Email’s cathartic “dumpster fire” for unwanted emails, and strategic content placement in unexpected places like automated email receipts. These examples show that content experiences can be both useful and entertaining while building brand engagement.

Where are unexpected places I can create content experiences?

Look beyond your main website pages. Automated email receipts are perfect opportunities to share related content—like air fryer recipes if someone bought an air fryer, or how-to guides and FAQs for products they purchased. Other opportunities include thank you pages, order confirmation screens, email signatures, and customer service touchpoints. These moments help transform customers into loyal brand fans.