As content marketers, we are all familiar with “expert roundups” or “expert advice roundups”. For a brief refresher, a roundup is a post that summarises the best advice from various top experts on a particular topic. They’ve been used as a content marketing tactic for years, but have become increasingly popular in recent years as social media platforms began to promote their value in delivering more meaningful engagement, curation, and accessibility.

Roundups, however, can be time consuming, and with SEO becoming more difficult to master, the need to be creative and push out unique content is only getting more difficult. To counteract this, it’s time to rethink the way we do roundups, and create actionable alternatives for content success.

From engaging stories to helpful toolkits, we’ve rounded up different ways to reimagine the classic expert roundup for content success.

Engaging Stories

People love stories. People are drawn to compelling stories because they evoke emotion and they can relate to it easier. You can use stories to not only get your readers’ attention, but to take them on a journey through the post in an established narrative flow. This is especially effective for blogging.

To accomplish this with an expert roundup, rather than a traditional byline of answers from many experts, have your experts contribute to an ongoing story. Your story does not have to involve all the experts, but can be a story that multiple experts comment on or contribute to. This way, throughout the narrative, your readers can see the back-and-forth between the experts and how their thoughts weave together to create the final story.

Interactive Q&As

Q&As also draw in readers and draw them in longer by turning what they usually expect from a roundup into an interactive experience. To create an interactive Q&A, first build the conversation between you and your experts. This can be any number of questions but should include the right level of detail and context, thought leaders insights and practical advice.

The main feature that makes an interactive Q&A special is including reader questions, which can be done in a number of ways. Invite readers to comment with their questions on the post itself, in an email or even on a social media post. Have one of the experts then answer the most popular question. This is an excellent way to get readers more engaged with your content and getting them more curious about the information contained in the post.

Practical Toolkits

Toolkits are a great way to make expert advice actionable. Instead of just offering tips from experts, you can create a DIY manual, guide or tutorial that a reader can download, refer to, and follow when they need to.

When creating toolkits, the most important thing is to include practical exercises and tips. This means that not only should the toolkit include quotes and answers from the experts, but should provide actionable how-to’s and guidance throughout. This way, the reader can follow the various steps included in the toolkit and enhance the knowledge they gained from the post.

Another excellent way to create a toolkit is to integrate visuals and multimedia. Visuals offer much needed relief and a different way of interpreting content and make the toolkit more appealing. This could include infographics, videos, cartoons, or any other kind of visual to help break up the text and make the toolkit better.

Interactive Experiences

Interactive experiences are a great way to take a roundup to the next level. Experiential learning is becoming more and more popular, and as a result, experiences are an excellent way to engage with readers more.

Experiences are also a great way to integrate all the different elements in a roundup and create an engaging, immersive experience for the reader. Depending on the type of post, you can create themed experiences and integrate different kinds of elements such as visuals, multimedia, and interactive elements.

Summary

Expert roundups have long been a popular content marketing tactic, but with fewer people finding success in SEO and changing content trends, it’s time to reimagine them. From engaging stories to helpful toolkits, to interactive Q&As and experiences, there are many different options to create actionable alternatives for content success. Try one or all of these options to ensure your expert roundup is a success!