Types of content in user portals

Communities thrive on content. What types of content are there, how can they be categorized, and above all, which types of content are most successful in communities? I have identified four types of content that I would now like to present to you.

First of all, content can be differentiated according to accessibility. No one needs to become a member of a portal to access freely available, public free content. Exclusive content, on the other hand, is the main motivator and loyalty driver for user portals. Users become members of communities specifically so that they have a knowledge advantage, whether in relation to brands, products, clubs, or sports associations.

Like the user portal itself, this content is protected as gated content behind a barrier. This can be a data barrier or a paywall. Companies, sports clubs, or associations usually require users to register with their personal data, such as their name, email address, company, etc. In the case of publishers and media publishers, a payment barrier is imposed for particularly complex content. This is referred to as paid content.

Community content can be created by users of a user portal as user-generated content (UGC). This is how forums or wikis are created, for example. The incentive for membership then lies not only in access to exclusive content, but also in the exchange with like-minded people, in the opportunity to become an author yourself, and in gaining benefits, new roles, and responsibilities.

Paid content is editorial content created by journalists, copywriters, and content managers who are employed by the operating organization. The quality of this content is generally higher than that of UGC because it is produced by professionals who have years of experience in content creation and adhere to journalistic and grammatical standards. Only media companies where the content itself is the product and organizations that place a high value on professional content in their corporate identity can afford content editorial teams because they recognize it as a driver of revenue, community, and conversion.

User portals are attractive to third-party organizations for several reasons. In the case of media subscribers, this may be the purchasing power and sheer quantity of the target audience. In the case of sports clubs, users are interesting because they represent a particularly keen, loyal, and committed target group. In the case of associations, on the other hand, members are often characterized by their decision-making powers, while in specialist forums they are characterized by their expertise, multiplier effect, and keen interest in community content. When third-party organizations pay operators to publish content, this is referred to as sponsored content. Such contributions are comparable to “advertorials,” paid articles in print magazines that are not immediately recognizable as advertising. This gives them greater credibility and impact with the target groups.  

When external content from third parties is collected, processed, and published, this is referred to as curated content. This should not simply involve sharing a link to a social media post or landing page. Rather, there are various forms of content curation. Content distillation involves summarizing the most important data from various sources and publishing it centrally in the user portal. Content aggregation is similar, but instead of reducing the content, it collects it and publishes it in its entirety or in large parts. In content mashups, collected content is rearranged, for example, as side-by-side contradictory statements. The continuous collection of content on a specific topic is called content elevation. If the collected content is presented in chronological order, it is referred to as content chronology.  

Content can take many different formats. These depend on what a portal can technically deliver and what kind of content users expect to find there. If it is a specialist forum or a wiki group, the content format will mainly be simple text, enriched with images.

User portals that offer more technical possibilities often feature multimedia content, including video and audio files, streams, and live tickers. Such portals thrive on attracting content such as social media posts from other channels, but also on publishing such content themselves. This makes the user experience more varied and compelling, encouraging users to visit the portal more often to access the latest multimedia content.  

Rich media content is a special type of content format. The term originates from the field of online advertising and refers to multimedia content that allows interaction and aims to increase user attention. It is used in user portals for sponsored content. This can be, for example, clickable banners or videos that allow users to follow a company on social media. Or they can be linked to a calendar that marks an appointment in the user’s smartphone calendar. In e-commerce, this can include 360-degree product views (“product spinners”), virtual dressing rooms, or videos with options for how the story continues. Here, user interactions are often enhanced by gamification elements, making the user experience on portals more immersive. If this is successful, sponsored content is perceived by users as an enrichment.  

Multilingualism is relevant for all forms of content, especially if a user portal is international, i.e., if the target groups, but also the operating organization and subsidiaries are spread across different countries and languages. This applies in particular, but not exclusively, to monolingual user portals, which can also curate content in other languages by translating it in whole or in part or adding comments in other languages.

As important as it is to speak the language of the target group, multilingual content is also very costly. On the one hand, the amount of personnel required increases rapidly with each new language that is added. On the other hand, the technical requirements must be met by the user portal platform. How are language variants linked together? Is content simply translated, or does each sub-portal create and curate its own content? Can automated translation workflows be integrated, and are these then edited by employees or users who are appointed as moderators? These are just some of the questions that multilingual user portals raise. As a general rule, the more complex the content format, the more difficult it is to translate and localize.

Finally, I would like to quickly review all of the content types presented to determine which ones promise the greatest success for portal operators.

• Accessibility: Free content does not encourage people to register for a user portal. Therefore, the decision should be made in favor of gated content. Whether this is exchanged for data gold or hard currency depends on the business model of the community and the industry of the operating organization.  
• Authorship: Regardless of the industry, it makes sense to build the foundation of a new user portal on editorial content. Although this requires an investment in time and personnel costs on the part of the operating organization, it allows them to directly influence the direction, tone, and goals of their community. The next step is to supplement this with UGC. This actively involves users, reduces content creation costs, and aligns the brand image with the target group. At the same time, curated content on relevant topics can be republished. Once the community is large and active enough to be of interest to advertisers, sponsored content can be added. However, this should be used sparingly and not become excessive, so as not to annoy users and alienate them from your own brand.
• Format: The format depends on the content. The more varied and informative the content you offer, the more your users will be entertained and the more often they will visit your portal. Multimedia content already offers a high entertainment value, but rich media content is even more immersive and enables genuine interaction.   
• Language: This point is easy to answer. Content should be available in the language of the target audience. Whether this is always feasible is a matter of weighing up resources.

User portals thrive not only on content, but also on its diversity. The selection of appropriate content types and their order has a major impact on the success of communities.