5 reasons why social media marketing for hotels works
Resort marketing is different than almost any other type of marketing because the product is uniquely service based. Resort marketing relies both on the product (your location, resort, or restaurant), and the people who turn that product from a venue into a dream destination and experience. Social media marketing for hotels gives you a real look into your customers’ experiences that you can’t get from a resort site inspection or photo shoot. Using social media marketing for hotels can revolutionize your training, feature and product release cycle, and business model. Here are a few quick tips: 1. Use social media marketing for hotels to discover post-trip feedback: Customers who have had an amazing trip and want to share their experiences with the world often flock to social media while on their trip or within the first week after they return to share photos and anecdotes. On the flip side, guests who have had a negative experience will similarly hit the Twitterverse and review sites to spread the word. In both cases, your social media agency will be able to share real-time feedback about what’s going on around your resort. Social media marketing allows you to aggregate the most important feedback and understand your guests’ most common sentiments, trends, and insights. You can use this information to respond directly to individual experiences or make broader changes at your resort by using this feedback to train your staff. 2. Use social media marketing for hotels to understand booking and reservation challenges: Social media marketing is also important for resort marketing as a supplement to traditional web analytics. If you use a digital agency to oversee your web analytics, social media marketing is a natural complement. Web analytics shows you when people are entering and leaving your website, whether they are completing certain tasks, and how often people are returning. Social media marketing often reveals the “why” behind these behaviors. If you discover that you have a high booking abandonment rate, social media marketing may uncover that it’s due to a bad site experience or feeling like there’s some bait-and-switch at checkout, which you can then address. Because social media monitoring relies on user generated feedback, it helps you prioritize which tasks to address first based on how important it seems to your customers. 3. Use social media marketing for hotels to conduct market research: Resort marketing relies on finding (and harnessing) the latest hospitality trends. Social media monitoring gives you inside information into what guests expect, what they’re seeing at other locations, and what they’d like to see in the future. Your marketing agency can help you interpret this data and pressure test new product ideas or concepts on social media – or simply listen in to keep a finger on the pulse of the industry. This information gives you a distinct advantage over your competition and leading insights to inform your business strategy for years to come. 4. Use social media marketing for hotels to find brand advocates: Although most people rely on social media marketing for hotels to understand what customers are unhappy with, you can also use this information to find brand advocates and highlight what people really love. Don’t underestimate the power of positive affirmation. If you see that a lot of customers love a certain aspect of your property, feature it more prominently in your resort marketing campaigns. Similarly, if they say service is top notch, find ways to reward your staff and encourage this type of behavior to continue. 5. Use social media marketing for hotels to get a bird’s eye view of your brand: Last, but certainly not least, social media marketing for hotels gives you a bird’s eye view of your brand. You’ll be able to see if sentiments are generally positive or negative, as well as gauge how connected your target audience is with your brand. For new or prospective customer acquisition this is particularly important information. Depending on your brand’s general reputation or degree of brand loyalty, you can tailor your resort marketing efforts to those unique needs. This information will help inform broader brand strategy and large-scale advertisements to position your resort within the marketplace or against your competitive set. Ultimately, social media marketing does so much more than track your Facebook feed – it reveals your customers’ needs.
10 reasons why live broadcasting is one of the biggest trends
To understand why live broadcasting is one of the hottest trends for digital marketing, we first need to understand what all the fuss is about. When Meerkat, the first live broadcasting app, debuted at the famed South By Southwest (SXSW) conference, the social media universe literally went insane. Since then, digital marketers have rallied around the variety of broadcasting software available to engage and attract customers to their brand in a new way. Here’s why. 1. FOMO is real: FOMO – or the “fear of missing out” – is a disease that has run rampant among millennials and the Generation Y. As users’ lives become more visible and connected via social media, the peer pressure to participate in experiences and events (and tell the world they’re doing so) has increased exponentially. This phenomena primed the stage for broadcasting software such as Meerkat and Periscope so users can take part in their friends’ experiences in more profound ways, even when they’re not there. 2. Globalization and events: Broadcasting apps close gaps in distance and time. Brands that once relied on physical proximity to attract new customers to events needed to spend huge amounts of time and money to execute these inbound marketing techniques. Today, your advertising agency can host a smaller event (in more remote or exclusive location) and broadcast the experience into the social media universe. Businesses will still enjoy the benefits of inbound marketing leads at a fraction of the cost, without compromising their brand experience in the slightest. 3. Fishing where the fish are: According to YouTube, 1 in 3 Internet users view some form of video content every single day. At 33%, that’s one of the most engaged forms of content on the market. A good content marketing agency knows that engaged users lead to better leads (pun intended) and a stronger digital marketing strategy. Broadcasting even the most mundane experiences inside a company can make that organization seem more authentic and human, igniting prospective customer curiosity and boosting brand engagement. 4. Exclusivity for everyone: The top digital marketing agency isn’t the only one to benefit from broadcasting technology either. Apps like Periscope give consumers access to lifestyle brands and experiences they crave. Broadcasting is like an exclusive invitation to an event or experience that many users would never have otherwise. The appeal lies in consumers’ natural desire to align with aspirational brands and individuals, giving lifestyle brands a particular leg up when using broadcasting for inbound marketing initiatives. 5. People love videos: Cell phones have made video sharing easy, SnapChat has made video sharing fun, GoPro has made video sharing amazing. And now, broadcasting has made video sharing the newest trend for every digital marketing agency surfing the Internet. People love videos, so it’s no surprise that the types of tools marketers are using are adapting to fit this need. Broadcasting makes inbound discovery and marketing much easier than other form of video interaction. 6. Plenty to choose from: Depending on your content marketing agency, your preference, and needs, your business has a variety of broadcasting apps to choose from. The top three in the market are Periscope, Meerkat, Stre.Am. All of these new entrants boast robust video sharing and streaming functionality, a solid user base, and nothing but untapped potential. Work with your digital marketing agency to understand the differences between each and choose the platform that’s best for your audience before committing to your first broadcasting endeavor. 7. Live broadcasting is not a fad: When Instagram and SnapChat first entered the market, marketers were skeptical to get in on the action because they thought the popularity may be a fad. It’s no surprise that live broadcasting is receiving similar doubts from more traditional advertising agency representatives. We are here to debunk that myth. Periscope, Meerkat, and Stre.Am have more than 5 billion impressions collectively, which is a huge market of untapped marketing potential. And most certainly not a fad. 8. Live broadcasting drives new levels of brand engagement: Aside from the obvious benefits of inbound prospects and heightened awareness, we believe that live broadcasting has the potential to connect customers with brands they love more organically. Wouldn’t it be amazing to spend a day in the life of your favorite brand’s executive? What if you could attend Apple’s product launch event … in the front row … Sitting next to the company’s lead engineer? Court side seats to your favorite basketball game? Yes please. The brand engagement (and monetization) potential are nearly endless. 9. An inbound marketer’s dream: Talk to your content marketing agency about how to get involved in the trend. Live broadcasting is here to stay, and your company is poised to benefit from this unique and exciting trend. It’s always great to have a pro in your corner, so leverage your agency’s expertise to determine what broadcasting is right for your brand, who to target, and what types of inbound marketing KPI’s you can expect to see as the trend grows. 10. How your business can win with live broadcasting: Right now, the biggest benefit for businesses is the potential for inbound marketing leads. As the trend evolves, we expect new advertising potential will emerge, as will restrictions on what can be broadcasted and when (we know there are some early privacy concerns as well). Together, we will set the tone for how live broadcasting impacts the market and what business owners can expect from this emerging technology. We know you’re a trend setter (that’s why you’re reading this blog, right?), so download Meerkat or one of the other live broadcasting apps we mentioned above and experience the excitement and magic of being front and center all the time. We have a feeling you’ll be as enthusiastic as we were and might even feel a rush of your own FOMO soon.
5 content ideas for insurance marketing that actually work
We know, it’s counter intuitive, but don’t be fooled by actuarial tables, lists of legalese and piles of ridiculous paperwork – because insurance marketing isn’t nearly as boring as you may think. Like a 2011 Forbes column by Ronald Shelp pointed out, despite the stereotypical image of the industry as incredibly boring there are some pretty freakin’ creative content marketing ideas out there you can use. Since most insurance agencies offer extremely similar, basic products – a solid content marketing plan can present an awesome opportunity to show consumers and potential customers what makes one individual agency worth considering. And that, our friends, is where the creativity comes in. Here are five content marketing ideas to help set your insurance company apart from the rest: Experience If you’re looking for a unique angle to demonstrate why customers should purchase a policy from you instead of your competitors, search for some positive time-related metrics that the competition may not have, like: maybe years of training? Certifications? Availability? Customers who have policies for an unusually long time? A greater number of local and national awards from different industry groups or local organizations? Thank-you letters from satisfied clients? Health and life insurance policies are currently the leading drivers for consumers, especially in the US market since the launch of the Affordable Care Act. So perhaps using your content marketing to emphasize your successful experience within these markets can set you apart from your competitors. Here’s an awesome example, Independence Blue Cross pretty much owned this concept for their Live Fearless Mantra TV commercial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otCRXzIwbb8 Unusual policies Every agency offers the bare bones – the basics: home, auto and life. But who’s offering extra coverage for high-dollar/high-maintenance wine collections? Or rare baseball cards? Or an antique car that spends more time in the garage being pampered rather than actually firing that baby up. Certainly any agent can learn the basics of how to put a policy together, but someone who markets themselves as being “the knowledgeable choice” in certain subject areas or advertises in places where this audience frequents (collector/enthusiasts sites or specialty blogs) could get some serious attention from potential customers. Better costs Most insurance agents will pitch you this little gem, “you’ll be happy that you paid more for extra coverage when disaster strikes.” However, we all want to be wise stewards of their money and will instinctively look for any easy opportunities to save. Some of the national insurance companies even make a point of emphasizing their affordability for basic coverage. While emphasizing the quality coverage and not offering something too drastic and bare-bones, agencies can promote their ability to offer different discounts like reductions for certain conditions – good student/good driver/safe driver/multiple policies. Also, try crafting this dry message in a way that everyone can contextualize. Just because your policy is a snooze-fest, doesn’t mean your marketing message needs to equally as lame. Maybe position your message in a way that reads – “that’s the cost of a two Starbucks lattes a week.” Mention the scary stuff We know it’s risky to ‘sell fear,’ and normally, that’s certainly not our holistic approach. However, insurance agencies probably know more than anyone else how quickly a bad turn of events can happen, that’s part of their reality. However, they also know that they can serve as an aid to their policy-holders who wisely made choices to invest with them. So rather than your commercials being filled with frightening natural disasters, multi-car fender-benders, or burning buildings, the agent’s message could also focus more on their role – which should ultimately be to provide comfort in a disastrous time for their customers. In an industry that’s overflowing with complaints and dissatisfied customers, sometimes a heartwarming, even light-hearted, loyalty-building approach might just be the way to go. Side note: either Minnesotans are the coolest people in the country or they have the weirdest sense of humor, ever. MNsure does a great job of “showing the scary stuff” without providing a literal translation to that statement. In this video, they are essentially making their customers aware of the scary things that could happen while living in Minnesota. We think it’s pretty genius. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSZn6X8JRVw Emphasize the good stuff At the end of the day, the essential reason for an insurance policy is peace of mind and general security. With proper planning, you and your family will ultimately be protected. Even if you avoid filing major claims, you’ll still be protected – and that’s worth celebrating. Testimonials from clients being thankful for their foresight in purchasing policies can be really powerfully promoted. Visual assets of clients enjoying their time doing pretty much anything else besides thinking at about fire, hurricanes, flooding (insert your long list of natural disasters here), health, life – could be a smart strategy. New Mexico Health Insurance Exchange’s TV ad for their “accidental spokesman” sums this up in a pretty clever way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXNttD03tmc
Why you need a content marketing agency (for real)
You’re busy, you know it, your employees know it, your investors know it – errybody knows it. This is why you need a content marketing agency (for real). Rules change When it comes to online content, everything is really defined as ‘best practices’ as opposed to hard-and-fast rules. And knowing the ins and outs of these practices, particularly which ones to follow or ignore, is pretty much a full-time job, especially since Google and Facebook keep changing their measurement methods for how businesses are being ranked and noticed. So even if you think you had these processes nailed a few years ago, you better bet those methods have already changed. And, if you’re following all of the old “rules,” you could actually be penalizing your business in Google’s eyes. This is probably the biggest reason why you need a content marketing agency. It’s ultimately our job to make sure we’re up to date on all of this madness, and it’s ultimately your job to keep your customers happy and your business running. Avoiding future costs Along with knowing how to “do” SEO properly, a content marketing agency also knows how to navigate other digital minefields – like losing followers on your social media channels because you’ve over-posted ads to the wrong audiences. Content marketing agencies can also advise on what mistakes are actually making your lose money, a serious risk if you use automated email or text messaging to connect with existing or potential customers but don’t have full authorization to contact them. Let’s not even mention the additional costs that as a consumer you’ll pay top dollar for, whereas a content marketing agency will most likely be given insider pricing. Reports out the wazoo Let’s just pretend that you love making sense of trackable data (which we damn well know, you do not), what are you supposed to do with all that data once you have it? CPC’s, bounce rates, referral traffic, what does it all MEAN!? A content marketing agency can load you up with all kinds of analytic information that’s been analyzed and strategized. They can analyze your performance down to a finite detail, where visitors are coming from, where they’re dropping off, how often they’re staying, where they’re clicking, etc. Also, if you’re considering a large media spend on various digital channels, you’re probably going to want to see which ad is performing better, and why – soon. So that you can pivot as quickly as possible to ensure all of your allocated budget is being invested successfully. Seriously, what’s the point of investing high dollars if you don’t care to know, don’t know how to interpret, or don’t want to know about – the ridiculous amount of reporting. Let a content agency do that for you. Multi-channel knowledge You may know Facebook well, your spouse might know Twitter well, and your kids, they probably know Snapchat or Instagram a little too well. A business trying to be successful in today’s digital world needs the ability to connect with many channels at once, while also offering a unique presence and message for each one. It’s a constant balancing act because not everyone on a channel is an active user. You want to go where the audiences are, like Facebook, but also don’t want to ignore those who aren’t active on that channel. A content marketing agency is not only familiar with all current social media content channels (as well as have their pulse on what’s happening for the future), but know which ones are most important for driving YOUR customers to YOUR your business. Having a vast understanding of multi-channel knowledge is key to achieving an effective content marketing strategy, and seriously, you know you don’t have time for that. To check out how we help elevate brands like yours through content marketing, visit our Content Marketing services page.
Why marketing to tourists is now like online dating
No, you didn’t read that wrong. We did indeed just say that marketing to tourists is a lot like online dating. Stick with us on this metaphor and we’ll show you how to turn transactional tourism marketing into a full blown love affair with your restaurant, hotel, resort or travel destination. And, since the tourism industry accounts for over a trillion dollars in the U.S. economy alone (according to the Travel Industry Association) we’re willing to bet that’s one relationship worth investing in. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE A GOOD “PROFILE PICTURE:” If you, or your friends, have ever prepared for a date with someone you met online, you probably know the legitimate fear that your date won’t look anything like his or her photos. Unsurprisingly, that same fear exists when tourists are vetting travel destinations. Travel savvy globe trotters have wised up. They are painfully aware that a good tourism digital marketing agency knows how to take photos that make rooms look larger, food look fresher, and spas feel more luxurious. To ensure your marketing to tourists doesn’t ring flat, make sure your pictures are up to date and capture different angles of your business while integrating user-generated photos that “verify” the pictures your brand has taken. A good way to do this may be to include an Instagram feed using a simple API call, or curating a “photo of the day” on your website pulled from your social media feeds. Research (from Search Engine Watch to Forbes) has proven again and again that photos are the single most important element tourists rely on when making travel decisions. Therefore, your content marketing strategy should be extremely photo-heavy (who has time to read these days anyway?) and showcase your business’s best elements. But, authenticity is incredibly valued, so don’t be afraid to show a hint of the “not so good” so your customers’ expectations match their experience. THE POWER OF A FRIEND’S APPROVAL: The internet gives us the incredible (and creepy) ability to learn a whole hell-of-a lot about our dates before we actually meet them. We can search for their jobs, social connections, driving record (if that means anything to you), accolades, where our worlds intersect – nothing is so thrilling as discovering that your soon-to-be online date shares mutual friends. Because that means you’ll probably be able to get some insider information on their “real” dating style. Love it or hate it, the same holds true in the tourism marketing world. Tourists can unearth a ridiculous amount of information about your service, cleanliness, value, and hospitality through online reviews and social media. Don’t fight it. Embrace your reviewers and try to encourage positive reviews while honestly and openly responding to negative feedback. Hiring a tourism digital marketing agency to monitor the tone and trends surrounding your brand’s online conversation can also help you determine where there are genuine areas for improvement to refine your brand experience. Consider partnering with bloggers and social media influencers to highlight their experience with your brand. By giving these trendsetters a voice and featuring them on your website, you’ll be able to generate a positive social effect and build trust in your brand. As an added bonus, it’s a unique and fun way to keep your digital presence energized with up-to-date content. These two simple spins on the traditional marketing to tourists can help make this travel season your best yet while keeping those dates (guests) rolling in. To learn more secrets of the trade, visit our Digital Marketing services page.
The history of the hashtag, pound sign, and octothorpe
#hashtaghistory #itisntwhatyouthink #italmostwasntatall #itcouldhavebeenoctothorpeorworse. If you can make sense of those words and can sling tags #likeaboss, give yourself a #goldstar. But if all you see is a jumble of letters and words, here’s a quick overview. Putting the ‘pound’ sign – or by its more recognizable term ‘hashtag’ — in front of a word or a group of words creates a discussion topic in social media, which is why you see them in Tweets, Facebook posts, Pinterest pins, texts, online news stories, and even creeping into personal correspondence. Putting a “49erfan” hashtag on a Facebook, Instagram or Twitter post about a favorite football team, for instance, can invite fellow fans to take part in a conversation, or add their own input by including the tag in their posts. Tags can also be now used in web searches, or as a PS/final thought to summarize and personalize a post. You may not necessarily want to continue a conversation like #thatsallfolks but it is a fun way to sign off, along the lines of #micdrop or #peaceouthomies. But as interesting as it can be to use them, the history of the hashtag is even more so. The history of the hashtag Common knowledge tells us that Twitter was responsible for unleashing hashtags on the world. The social media channel certainly helped their popularity and use, but the history of the hashtag goes back to the early 1960s when engineers at Bell Labs were trying to replace the rotary phone. In 1963, a Bell Telephone touch-tone research team came up with the idea of a grid of 12 buttons, with 0 and two other spaces at the bottom. One spot was designated an asterisk/star and the other a cross-hatch/diamond, both symbols already on keyboards and ASCII text. Programmers also used the hashtag symbol to break up strings of numbers. According to a recent Wired piece about the “secret origins” of the hashtag, the slash and the interrobang, a Bell Labs employee called the “pound” sign an octothorpe – it had eight legs and it so happened he was a fan of baseball player Jim Thorpe. A Gizmodo article on the early history of the hashtag said it was an improvement from a nonsense name generated by Bell marketing employee Lauren Asplund – “octoherp,” since he didn’t think Americans would want to say or remember “pound sign.” The concept of using a character to designate separate discussion channels was used by IRC in the late 1980s, an early form of chat/instant messaging. But in 2007, the idea was suggested to Twitter, which seemed to make sense for a text-based service where the goal is to be brief. Online designer Chris Messina is credited with suggesting that the company’s leadership invite and encourage users to use the # sign as an easy way to create or participate in “group” areas or topics (his first use of hashtag was “#barcamp”). He believed they could bring like-minded people together, show what topics are currently being talked about, can be searched, and measured/analyzed to see how well a digital campaign is performing. Messina said that his idea was rejected as being too technical. He also was given a prediction that the idea would never catch on. However, he encouraged the Twitter community to try them, including developer Nate Ritter, who used “#sandiegofire” to let California residents on Twitter follow coverage/related Tweets about the 2007 fires in San Diego. Facebook began incorporating them in 2013, and today, hashtags remain a popular tool for consumers and marketers. Need a little more advise on how to properly integrate hashtags into your digital marketing efforts? Contact us today to start talking! #hashtaghelp
10 tips to develop a social media marketing plan for you business
There are probably worse situations to be in than drawing a blank on what to post on social media. When it’s part of your daily duties, and you see your scheduled “must post” time quickly approaching, with nothing to say, well, it’s easy to wish you were anywhere but in that predicament. The good news is that you’re not the first person to face a similar situation, and the way things are going with so many new social media channels and processes to available to get the word out, you won’t be the last. However, you and your marketing team can easily avoid much of the whole “oh no — what in the world am I going to say now?” dilemma by working to develop a solid social media marketing plan, which should cover all aspects of your message: when to say it, who will say it, how to say it, and how often to say it. Of course, the “what” is up to you, your company, and your team’s overall social media strategy. Creating and sticking to a social media marketing plan can be a challenge to an organization that has long-since relied on a “try to find something to say but don’t sweat it” philosophy, or worse yet, no philosophy at all. But this kind of plan can help everyone to know what’s coming, and hopefully provide an opportunity to craft better messages and target audiences more precisely. It beats doing it on the fly. For those wondering how to get started, try these 10 tips to develop a solid Social Media Marketing Plan: 1. Determine the project’s goal. What’s the company’s purpose for investing time and possibly other resources into social media? Do you want more customers? Do you want to improve outreach? Be seen as more personable? Improve visibility of the company website? Seen as experts in your industry? 2. Figure out who will be involved. A mistake that some businesses make is creating social media pages because they’re told they should, and either not appointing anyone to “feed” them regularly or telling the already busy staff “do it when you have a chance or are caught up on everything else.” Which can be perceived internally and externally as “we don’t care enough to take care of this well.” If you haven’t learned about social media yet, one of the rules of the road is that fresh content looks great, and less fresh content looks terrible. So at least one person should be assigned social media marketing duties as a prime function, and preferably a few others to help out from within the company. If people are busy, everyone could be assigned one rotating “create + publish day” or a different channel to manage. 3. Figure out your ideal social media audience. Hopefully, you already have an idea of where your customers are coming from and their demographic make-up, either through feedback from actual customers or digital analytics. Or there could already be a positive social media presence that you could build upon, such as videos shot with your product or on your property already online. Knowing basic demographic information like gender and age can help you decide where to target your social media presence. For instance, AdWeek said that the average age of Facebook users keeps increasing, and is now in its early 30s. If you know more, like hobbies and interests, you can target some of the smaller channels geared to your industry or your customer base. 4. Learn your budget. Participation in a social network – usually free — makes them appealing for budget-conscious businesses. But most modern networks don’t necessarily make it easy for you to reach all your users without paying extra. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and recently Instagram all offer methods to expand your reach for extra money. On Facebook, the cost varies based on the amount of people you want to see your page/post, and how many people already like it. Cost ranges from a few dollars a day to more than $100. But it can be worth it to an organization eager to get the word out — Facebook claims that any given business post will only show up in about 10 percent of the news feeds of people who already like them or don’t visit their page regularly. 5. Figure out primary and secondary sites to target. Start with general sites like Facebook or Twitter, since that’s where big audiences are, but also consider diversifying. Facebook is a given simply because of its global reach. As of spring 2015, there were 1.49 billion active users worldwide – more than the population of China! Facebook’s strength is also being able to provide analytic information for business accounts, including details of your followers. However, just because someone follows your FB page doesn’t mean they’ll convert into customers. A recent Wall Street Journal piece discussed how the Ritz-Carlton had pulled back on its Facebook presence – it was getting a lot of followers, but not leading to increases in room bookings. Like the hotel chain did, consider something else that may provide you with a more specialized audience for your content. 6. Determine a publishing schedule. A calendar/schedule can cover everything from how many times a day to push something out (short answer: it depends on the channel/message) to a weekly schedule of different channels. While Twitter may encourage rapid activity through the day, some sites like LinkedIn may need less regular updates and more attention/interaction. This could so be a place to plan how to execute any goals. Are you interested in boosting likes this month? Click-thrus? Engagement? Shares? New channel? Are there any special events or promotions coming up that will require extra help or a different schedule? 7. Figure out what you can do in-house. Maybe your employers want everything to be generated by the staff, including the social media strategy and the day-to-day content creation. Or maybe if marketing employees are needed for other projects, some
Create A Winning Content Strategy For Your Business
In an era of never-ending content, it’s hard for companies to compete without numerous audience touch points to help generate interest in their business. However, some of the top businesses have learned to navigate this digital terrain effectively by emphasizing content. Think of sites as varied as LinkedIn, BuzzFeed and Moz. The marketers at each of these sites have learned to leverage content in order to become leaders in their respective fields. At our advertising agency, we believe that well-developed content strategy is one of the most effective ways to improve your business’s reach. Even better, according to 2014 B2B Content Marketing Trends—North America from the Content Marketing Institute, 86% of businesses with effective content marketing strategies claim that having someone who oversees those strategies is one of the best ways to help produce relevant content. [quote]If you are thinking of developing a content strategy, doing your homework is a great place to start.[/quote] Once you identify the best channels, you can then create an editorial calendar. An editorial calendar helps you keep track of big promotions and the types of content you want to create. Vertical Horizons offers an excellent free content calendar template to help you develop your strategy. In planning your content calendar, it’s important to take in holidays, seasons and events. Historic dates are also fun ways to generate content, and being flexible in terms of what that means can help open doors to a ton of fun content ideas. For inspiration, think about the way Google does doodles on its homepage for interesting historical dates. Lists, current events topics, tutorials and expert interviews tend to be popular content formats. Videos are also consistently gaining popularity, and how-to videos and tutorials tend to be easy for people to consume information, plus they are more sharable. Assess each of these types of content and think about how they might impact your content goals. For companies that decide social media should be part of the content strategy, it’s important to understand the social media landscape. Many businesses begin Tweeting and Facebooking without a real strategy, and as such, they may fail to see the value in investing in content creation and curation. On Twitter, tweets with images tend to get the best responses as measured by engagement. Additionally, asking for retweets by offering a catchy hook works due to the clear call to action. Links should appear 25% of the way through a post, and links should be shared slowly on Twitter so people don’t get the sense that you’re spamming their feeds. Tools like HootSuite and Klout can help you schedule and manage these tweets. If Facebook is part of your content strategy, short videos do well. Brands using Pinterest to help promote their brands can use images, but can also allow visual tutorials. Some companies have created really interesting Pinterest campaigns, such as this Procter and Gamble campaign which features content from athletes thanking their mothers. Instagram, Vine and Snapchat may also be great networks for heavily visual brands. LinkedIn is best for B2B content, as nearly half of all B2B companies use LinkedIn. As part of your social media strategy, you can spend some time answering questions in LinkedIn groups. As far as blogging, blogs that post multiple posts per day get the most success across the board; however, it is very hard to sustain that momentum, as it typically takes a team of writers. If you want to invest in a good blog strategy but do not have the resources to hire someone full-time, consider hiring a freelancer. You can find numerous people looking for writing work at eLance and Odesk. Some of these freelancers may be qualified to help you in creating the strategy and in publishing content for social media as well. If you need help with developing a content strategy for your brand, let the team at BIGEYE assist you. We want to lend our expertise to make your content more effective!
How to Develop a Social Media Strategy for Your Personal Brand
When most people log into Facebook, it’s not usually because they’re thinking about how to improve the strength of their personal brand. However, if you ask the best marketers at our Orlando marketing agency, they’ll tell you that they’ve learned how to carefully curate a personal social media strategy to reflect who they are. It’s a fact that people who head large corporations often develop a large social media following, in spite of the fact that the personal brand and the company’s brand are not one in the same. People who’ve developed strong personal brands can become thought leaders, and can capitalize on that through valued connections, speaking engagements and strategic partnerships. To become one of those people, think of your social media as a gateway to your own brand. The team at our Florida ad agency thinks you can get the most out of it by taking the following steps: 1. STAY TRUE TO YOUR VALUES. It’s important for people who are developing their personal brand on social media to stay true to their values. If you desire to be known as a political junkie, don’t be afraid to use social media to pose difficult questions. If you’re more interested in cultivating an atmosphere of positivity, it makes much more sense to stay away from mean-spirited jokes or controversy. Whatever those values are, adhere to them closely as you build up your brand presence. 2. AIM FOR CONVERSATION. Celebrities like Lady Gaga and Britney Spears are so popular on Twitter because of their constant interactions with fans. They encourage followers to tweet at them and share their experiences with them, which helps to cultivate relationships in a sometimes passive medium. While it may not be possible to respond to each and every post or comment, making an attempt to engage with and respond to your audience is a great way to build up rapport and credibility. 3. PROVIDE CONTENT ON A REGULAR BASIS. If you have a background in branding, you’re probably familiar with HootSuite and how to use it to schedule posts to keep content flow steady. [quote]Those who are not using HootSuite for their personal brands are at a distinct disadvantage.[/quote] Try using the platform to set up posts throughout the week, and see how much better your postings do when they’re scheduled rather than on the fly. 4. REPURPOSE CONTENT. Does a topical event in the news relate to something you’ve posted about in the past? If that’s the case, it’s completely acceptable to repurpose it and share it again. Those who keep active blogs can also post tips from there directly to social media, which is a great way to keep the content flowing when there’s no time to research and post something new. 5. KEEP IT INTERESTING. Interesting content — and lots of it — is the key to keeping followers interested on social media. While we can’t all be the Shakespeare of the internet, we can decide to post only content that truly resonates with us in some way, thereby avoiding cliches or “fluff.” The days of posting what you ate for breakfast should be gone, especially with so many interesting things happening in our daily lives and the compelling content being posted each day on the internet. Need inspiration? Checked out LinkedIn’s Pulse for new content from a variety of fields. For ideas about how to revamp your personal brand, contact our team of creative professionals today, and explore our wide array of services!
Email Marketing Strategies To Ensure Higher Open Rates
Email can be a drag. You’ve seen it – the constant emails from businesses begging for your money, offering not-so-great “deals” and “limited time offers,” emails that you immediately delete or leave as unread, depending on whether you’re super organized, or are a bit of an email hoarder, like me. But wait… every once in a while, there’s that email from that brand you love: Nike, Bloomingdale’s, or maybe Tom’s. It’s the one you always open, even if you know you’re not in the market for anything they’re offering anytime soon.[quote]You know once you open it, you’ll see something that inspires you, and reminds you why you love the brand in the first place.[/quote] These awesome messages are rare, but guess what? You can make awesome emails for your brand, too! It’s part art and part science, but get the materials together, and the team at our Orlando marketing agency assures you that you too can entice fans to open your emails every time. The Art & Design Of It You don’t have to be the Frank Lloyd Wright of email design to make a great-looking email. There are decent, customizable templates all over the internet, and for just a little more, you can hire people to make it for you. Once you have the template set, you can (and should) use that as a resource for all your email marketing for quite a while, so don’t be afraid to put a few bucks to get the real deal, as opposed to the a cheesy knockoff. But it’s not just making a beautiful email that pops out toward the reader – it’s also about making sure it has a great voice, and that the voice matches your brand. Are you a quirky company? Then why not include a silly fact or joke on your list? More serious? Then be sure to use elegant language and great imagery. Also, in your email blasts, there’s no room for typos. Get a second opinion before you try to connect with your thousands of loyal patrons. [quote] Take a peek at how email marketing served a beneficial purpose for an Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children donorship event – thanks to BIGEYEs’ effective strategies! [/quote] The Science Of It Okay, so it looks great, it’s well-written and there are no glaring issues that might make it seem unprofessional. But, you’re still not seeing results. What gives? Well, unfortunately, good visual design isn’t enough. Even though your email might look stunning, there are also unfortunately a few user experience cues to take in order to design the perfect email for your brand. The best way to test user experience is to get feedback. Not from your friends and family, because they’ll always want to tell you how great you are, but from – you guessed it – the people who will actually be reading your emails. Send them a survey using Survey Monkey or any one of the other dozens of survey programs out there. You can also do A/B testing to test the effectiveness of things like subject lines, the wording of your call to action, and photo placement. When testing, think of the scientific method: Question, research, hypothesis, test, analyze and share your results. Following this method will give you great data sets that you can put into action on future emails. The Result: Best Email Marketing Ever! The reality is, you don’t have to rely on terrible puns and silly cat photos to help sell your product through email marketing. Try these tips from our Florida marketing agency to create clear and effective emails, and watch as your emails become the only ones that don’t directly to the archive. Contact BIGEYE today and let us develop an email marketing campaign for your company!
