Ideas on improving content marketing in 2013
I was recently invited to speak at an event for members of the Content Marketing Association discussing trends to consider for 2013. I enjoy learning from other speakers and discussions with the audience at events and since each speaker was focusing on different predictions I thought I’d share the presentations here.
Neil Perkin - Digital Content Trends 2013
First up was Neil Perkin a content marketing commentator who gave his thoughts on Digital Content Trends in 2013. I was particularly interested in his thoughts about subcompact publishing, a concept defined by publishing commentator Craig Mod in article from November 2012. Evidence of this trend can be seen in new compact publications like The Magazine social sites like Branch and Medium launched in August by Twitter’s co-founders.
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Read how and why RevZilla has produced over 1,800 videos clocking up 9 million video views
Video marketing is a rapidly-growing technique for increasing brand recognition and loyalty. In fact, according to this Fast Company article from Kerrin Sheldon, short-form video will become a dominant form of marketing over the next five to ten years.
Sheldon explains that the trend is gaining momentum due to increasing numbers of online video consumers, the growing use of marketing through social media, low barriers to entry, improved production quality, and enhanced distribution options.
Even large corporations are turning to online video marketing – for example, check out "The Single Life," a barely-branded video marketing effort from Dentyne. But small and medium-sized companies without huge advertising budgets can grow their brand through video marketing, too.
Producing online videos provides companies with a more meaningful way to interact with (and grow)…
Social media campaign tools can save you from developing and maintaining bespoke social apps
Popular social media management tools such as HootSuite are great for posting simple social media updates, interacting with your followers and tracking responses. But their capabilities can be lacking when you want to use more interactive tools like surveys or contests to engage your audience on Facebook and other social networks.
I've recently written a report for Smart Insights members where I compare social media campaign and community-building tools which reviews the options in detail. In this post I give a flavour of what some of these tools offer. In the guide we review the alternatives and give examples of campaigns created with each tool to inspire campaigns.
The benefits of using social media campaign management tools
The main purpose of the tools featured is to help marketers and agencies go beyond basic status updates to launch promotions…
Using copy to make a good first impression
Writing copy for your web page is much more than adding in just keywords for SEO and sometimes we forget the obvious – it’s about your customers!. Here are some tips on writing good copy for your pages by Mel Henson.
Your Home page
Quickly it needs to say ”This is what we do – and this is what’s in it for you” within a few moments before your visitors leave. Include a simple statement or value proposition that tells your visitors at a glance. Of course, this is best from the customer’s point of view, not the company’s. Additional copy should expand on this and incorporate keywords that apply to the whole site.
Of course, there are lots of other functions of the home page and navigation is important. the architecture of your site. It draws your customers in, stops them leaving, gets them…
The John Lewis #snowmanjourney integrated campaign
So the nights are drawing in and for the past few weeks we’ve been bombarded with the usual festive TV ads and cheesy Christmas jingles blasting out of our screens.
But this year, instead of targeting our wallets, some retailers have turned to emotional triggers when crafting their festive ad campaigns. Many of the ads we’ve seen are far less factual, price and/or product-led than previous years. The creative strategy and subsequent marketing messages they portray are less about saving customers money, and more keen to engage with the spirit of Christmas – to stir consumers’ emotions and bring back the tradition of the festive period.
I read an article claiming that retailers are likely to be more successful if they market and appeal to people’s emotions at Christmas, as potential consumers are more likely to be…
How to plan, create and market a 'how-to-video'
‘How to’ videos are one of the most popular video types on the net, so should always be considered as part of your content marketing efforts. They are an accessible format that can be applied to marketing many types of businesses. Essentially what you are doing is explaining how to do something that your people in a business are skilled in and knowledgeable about as it relates to your products and services.
All ‘how to’ videos are different, but we have developed a formula that can be applied regardless of the subject. Work through these steps to get the best results with your ‘how to’ video.
1. Planning the video
What do your customers need help with?
There is approximately no point in making a how to video about something that everyone knows how to do. In the planning phase you need to research and define the…
5 tips for better marketing copy
Most articles about writing marketing emails look at calls to action, paragraph length and similar. All important of course.
But the process of developing text that moves the reader to the right action or thought is not just about the actual writing. It's also about creating the ideal environment for people to write good copy.
So how do you help those people do a better job?
(At this point, email copywriters like me will simply suggest you pay them more - just kidding).
Here a few personal tips that I've found help.
1. Provide the right framework
You wouldn't expect an architect to build you the right house with no more information than "I need a house". So it is with an email copywriter. They need a briefing that goes beyond simply stating what text elements you want written.
The more contextual information you provide about the whos, whys and whats of…
An introduction to good practices for Welcome mails
To make your welcome emails work well, start by thinking through the range of motives that lie behind someone visiting your website and signing up for email? Let’s look at one example: A prospective customer has searched online, Facebooked friends for recommendations and ended up visiting your site, they haven’t purchased but have signed up for email.
Putting this into a real life context; a customer walks into your store, browses through several different items but doesn’t buy anything. In their way out they ask if you can send them further information about the products they were looking at.
Would a salesperson watch them walk away or would they take some time to tell them why they should buy from you, the great range that you have, present a few customer favourites or highlight your no quibble returns policy and help them make their mind…
An introduction to responsive website design for marketers
The Olympics were fantastic this year, the atmosphere was electric and the performances were first class (not to mention Danny Boyle's staggering opening ceremony).
The only problem that I had was that I kept on missing the first and last 5 metres of each race. You see, my television is very old, and can’t cope with content that has been created for the panoramic screen. If only my television was as responsive as an increasing number of websites...
So What is the Responsive Web?
Responsive Website Design (RWD) is a concept widely attributed to Ethan Marcotte, who takes inspiration from the experimental movement Responsive Architecture (see pioneering Nicholas Negroponte for further reading).
The aim of RWD is to create one website design that adapts to each environment that it is being viewed in. Whether being viewed from a traditional PC browser, or perhaps a new android tablet,…
5 Reasons why Facebook Edgerank shouldn't be taken for granted and how to improve it
Each time you check your Facebook account, it’s a given that you’re going
to check your News Feed. Why? Because you want to know what's going on with
your friends, what new things they’re checking out, and how you can be a part of it.
But Facebook doesn’t let you see everything each of your 500 friends is doing. It would end up being such a huge, fast-moving mess on your feed that reading an update would tire you out. This is why Facebook introduced Edgerank.
What is Facebook Edgerank?
Edgerank is an algorithm Facebook uses in order to determine what should appear on a user’s News Feed by looking at your interactions and your interests so that it can show you what you most…
