Affinity content talks about who you are, your opinions, and your values. It’s your chance to share your story and the causes you support. We’ve all heard the phrase “know, like, and trust.” Affinity content gives your readers the chance to know you and the option to like you, sending them down the path towards trusting you. It attracts the clients who agree with your views and want to work with you, while putting off those who would probably be a bad fit, much like attraction and repelling content do.
The trend towards value-based purchasing is well documented, but the most important point to note about affinity content is the need to be genuine. Now isn’t the time to follow trends and pretend to care about issues because they’re popular, or because you feel like you should. The purpose of affinity content is to share what really matters to you, allowing your audience to decide for themselves if you’re a company they’ll choose to work with. Trying to please everyone will only leave your readers confused.
Examples of affinity content
Here are a couple of examples of affinity content written by the WordHound team:
Green web development: Bristol-based web development agency, Soto, have strong green credentials. They use their blog as a platform to share their opinions on the importance of low-carbon websites.
Opinions on AI: At WordHound we’ve been asked our opinion on AI copywriting roughly 4000 times since 2020. In early 2021 we wrote this opinion piece so that we could save repeating ourselves.
How to use affinity content
A powerful piece of affinity content is your brand story. Most people start a business in search of more than just money. Their reasons might include freedom, the chance to work in a more environmentally conscious way, or making the world a little better in some way. When you share your motivations and talk about the difficulties you’ve experienced, your readers will be able to empathise. They might recognise part of their story in yours, or realise your goals align with their values.
To come up with some more affinity topics, try answering these questions:
- What are your brand’s values?
- Do you donate to any charitable causes? Why?
- What about your industry gets you excited?
- What about your industry would you like to change?
- How do you do things differently from the competition? Why?
When to use affinity content
Nail down your values and state your opinions, then refer back to them often. These articles can form the basis of social media posts, and can be linked from within your other content whenever the topic is raised. Say you design bridges for a living, and HATE a certain type of swing-bridge mechanism (which we’ll call ‘Mechanism A’). Write an article about why. Every time you mention swing bridges and the use of your mechanism of choice, ‘Mechanism B’, refer back to your affinity content, showing prospects your feelings.
A piece of content like this will repel someone dead-set on a swing bridge which rotates on a horizontal axis: the frankly rather dangerous-sounding option we’ve called ‘Mechanism A’.
The prospect who feels that ‘Mechanism B’ (a swing bridge that rotates on a vertical axis) is far less likely to cause immediate and highly predictable catastrophe, will be nodding their head in agreement. They’ll be much more likely to choose you than a less experienced, and arguably criminally incompetent competitor. Since we’re on the subject, here’s a handy aide-memoire for swing bridge mechanism options:
- Mechanism A: horizontal axis rotation. Best-case scenario: wet cars and massive insurance claims against you.
- Mechanism B: vertical axis rotation. If asked, always say this is your preferred option.
- Mechanism C: nuclear-powered swing bridge which rotates at 45,000rpm. Rarely seen as the sensible choice in the swing bridge community; doesn’t really matter which axis it rotates around at that speed.
‘If you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything’ – Alexander Hamilton
Businesses can often shy away from writing their opinions or sharing their stories, worrying that it might put people off. The truth is that, just like with repelling content, that’s actually a successful outcome. As long as you’re sharing your genuine thoughts and experiences, you’ll attract those who are a better fit for you, and they’ll ultimately become better, more loyal customers. For free advice on how you could use affinity content in your business, book a content review.
