How to Create Lifestyle Content That Makes an Impact (Infographic)

I’ll be honest: I don’t think all that much about content marketing when I’m off the clock.

You’re more likely to find me repotting a plant, reading, playing with my dog, grocery shopping or conversing with a good friend. You know, human stuff.

This is true for most people. Regardless of how much a person loves their work, they love their family and friends, their travels and their hobbies much more. And they will invest time in anything that helps them live better day to day.

That includes seeking out, and consuming, lifestyle content.

What is Lifestyle Content?

Lifestyle content is written, visual or audio content about everyday life. Travel, health, leisure, house and home, personal finances, fitness, green living, cosmetics, cooking, interior design, gardening, hobbies, handcrafts, work-life balance – all of these are branches of the tree that is your lifestyle.

Unlike B2B content, lifestyle content is more concerned with the personal. It could cover intimate topics like religion and sexuality.

But like B2B content, all lifestyle content needs to give something to the audience – namely information, affirmation, entertainment or inspiration.

5 Tips For Creating Great Lifestyle Content

Like all content creation, you should confirm that your target audience is actually interested in the topics you write about on your blog.

Keyword research is a big part of that – what search terms is your audience using to find the content they’re looking for?

But lifestyle content marketing requires an extra level of creativity and thoughtfulness. How, for instance, might a footwear brand create a lifestyle blog that people actually care about? And what sort of content would they even create?

I’ll tell you this much: It can be done. Teva, a lifestyle brand that makes adventure-ready, sustainable and stylish sandals, built its blog around subjects that its audience cares about. See for yourself:

The key?

They found common threads between their brand and their target audience in the form of shared values – exploration (emotional and physical), craft, expression and positivity. You’ll also notice that their products appear in every single picture, even in an article titled “how to make homemade flour tortillas.”

Your theme and how well it relates back to your brand, and the topics you choose to cover about that theme, are both very important.

But there’s more that goes into crafting impactful and memorable lifestyle content. Let’s look at a few pointers:

1. Write With an Authentic Voice

Drop the jargon and soulless language if you can help it. Whoever’s reading your content needs to feel like you care about the topic on a personal level. This is different than say, a business article about software integrations, where expertise is king.

A lifestyle audience cares about expertise, but they also care about intangibles like their apartment’s feng shui, confidence in their appearance, pride in their decor and all the fun they’ll have around the fire pit you just taught them how to build.

I’ve found that it helps to use personal anecdotes. These will showcase your credibility and experience with your topic. Plus, if your audience feels connected to you through the feelings you express in your writing, they’ll come back for more. Pop culture references are also welcome.

To put it simply, lifestyle writing is largely about how the content makes the audience feel. As any good pet owner knows, voice and tone directly affect how a message is received.

2. Break Your Content Up With Lots of Headers

Lifestyle content should be airy.

A wall of text with long paragraphs and run-on sentences will leave your audience gasping for breath.

If you’re writing about a text-heavy subject, include some imagery or video. A photo is a lifestyle blogger’s way of cracking a window.

3. Try to Keep it Evergreen

Most lifestyle content is inherently evergreen. For instance, “Acclimating your pet to the new house,” will be relevant as long people with pets move into new houses. “10 foods every athlete should avoid” will be as useful in 2022 as it is now – presuming there are still athletes who eat food in 2022.

And even the stuff that’s trend-based (e.g., mid-century modern furniture has been in hot demand since 2015) usually has value beyond the year it was written (mid-century modern is still cool last I checked).

That said, pay careful attention to where you might be dating yourself.

“Spruce up your apartment with these 5 low-light houseplants” will age better than “The best low-light houseplants of 2020.”

And if you include a year in your title for SEO purposes, do not include it in the URL. You can update a title from 2020 to 2021 next year and re-promote your content, but changing a URL is a hassle.

4. Be Concise and Accessible

Great content is never hurried and it doesn’t skimp on detail. Nevertheless, as a content creator, be mindful of what details are distracting or unnecessary.

Also: Keep in mind that people who read lifestyle blogs don’t want to feel like they’re taking the reading comprehension portion of the GRE. Don’t make them dig for information. If you’re providing instructions in a how-to or recipe blog post, do it in clear steps. If you’re creating a list (“5 things to do in Portland, Maine”), break them up and maybe include a photo of each of those five things.

A few more tips here:

• Use short sentences.
• Avoid needlessly big words.
• List things out in bullet points.

5. Make it Original and Actionable

People want to walk away from lifestyle content having learned something that they can use in life. It could be something about the world. Or it could be something about themselves.

Either way, they need to feel that the knowledge, instruction or perspective they’ve acquired will complement or enhance some part of their lifestyle.

Resist the temptation to spew out platitudes or rehash what other bloggers have already said. It’s fine to use other blogs for inspiration, but don’t just mirror their ideas. Offer something that people can actually use – actionable advice, instruction, recipes, etc. And try to say what you’re trying to say in a new and interesting way.

As you’re creating content, ask yourself: Is this an interesting read, and will it make my reader’s life better?

If you can honestly answer “yes” to both questions, you’re cooking with gas.

Don’t Forget to Promote Your Content on Social Media

Anecdotally, I’ve found that lifestyle brands tend to see higher engagement on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram than other types of brands.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. People look to social media platforms for inspiration – where they should go for fun, what books they should read, what foods they should try cooking.

Social media was practically made to promote lifestyle marketing, and if you’re a lifestyle brand, that’s good news for you. Make sure you use social media to your advantage.

One More Thing: Embrace the Power of Empathy

If you ever find yourself really struggling with an introduction to a lifestyle blog post, or a how-to video script, just try empathizing.

Empathy matters in all content marketing, but especially in lifestyle content marketing. Your audience is profoundly invested in their own happiness, and lifestyle content plays a role in that. Really put yourself in their shoes as you tackle a problem or help them achieve a goal.

If your audience is convinced that you “get it,” they’ll listen to what you have to say time and time again.

Editor’s Note: Updated Sept. 2021.