Puncturing The Hype and Getting Practical

Puncturing The Hype and Getting Practical

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why all content must be social Ten years ago, you could write a whitepaper, interview a customer for a case study, or commission a survey to find out what people think of your widget and get away with just publishing something about it on your website, perhaps accompanied by a press release. Things have changed. Today, marketing communication and public relations needs to focus on content you create, curate and distribute that your customers will value, want, discuss and share. platforms depending upon the country. In France we held a webcast through which we distributed the whitepaper, and then pushed it out via social media. For Italy and pain, our approach was quite different. Because we are not yet very well known in these countries, we have focused on our LinkedIn group members and used LinkedIn advertising to improve brand awareness. Chiefly, there are three reasons we use content marketing: brand awareness, customer retention and lead generation. o for each campaign we deliver, we ve got an internal tracking process. This means we are able to say we ve generated x leads, and at the end can see how content marketing contributed to the sales pipeline and revenue. Research from econsultancy shows that effective content marketing relies on its promotion to the largest possible qualified audience in ways that match their preferences for discovering and consuming content, and sharing their experiences. Therefore, any content strategy must include a methodology for ensuring your content is discoverable in the places your target audiences will readily find it and there is no better method to do this than social media. As such, all content should: Be available on and via multiple social channels that make it pivotal in driving more traffic to your website or other presence on the social web. Help create a better experience that customers value and talk about, and derive more value from existing customers. Generate leads that enable you to identify and engage with future new customers. Be tailored to suit individual social platforms. For example, when we decided to create a new dedicated French website, many thought it unnecessary as we already had a corporate site. But since we launched and we are pushing out content through it almost every week we ve achieved a 30 per cent conversion rate on incoming requests through the website. This, to me, is proof that content marketing drives real business results. Content marketing and social media should be joined at the hip they now represent key components of the modern sales funnel. Making the most of them only requires that you see things from a different angle. eville Hobson Independent communications consultant

EO and content marketing: best of friends understand audiences in more depth primarily how, when and where content is consumed. This really is vital, and it s something in which we re investing time and resources to gain even more insight. One of the products of this is a greater appreciation of targeting the right channels at the right time with the right message. Most B2B firms would immediately ignore Facebook as an option as it is seen as a B2C channel, but are our customers definitely not on Facebook? Again, content marketing provokes interesting questions. Avanade has recently begun a sponsorship and systems integration contract with Lotus F1 Team, with Avanade s logo appearing on the car and Avanade helping the Oxford-based team with its managed services and numbercrunching. The deal is giving us a wealth of new opportunities to create engaging content. Ultimately, everyone responds to topics they are interested in, and working with Lotus F1 Team gives us even more angles to grab our customers attention while still being IT-related. Content marketing spans a huge number of tactics and techniques, but three things you have to get right are: 1. Making sure the message fits with your clients and services. 2. Ensuring your content supports the buying process. 3. Making intelligent strategic decisions don t over-saturate with a deluge of untargeted content. With regular search engine algorithm updates, such as Google s Penguin 2.0, placing content at the heart of your search marketing strategy has never been so important. Your content and EO strategies should work hand-in-hand: good content on your site will help it rank higher, and optimisation of your content when it appears on third-party sites will help fuel your wider marketing strategy while taking up valuable search engine result page (ERP) real-estate. The continuous algorithm updates are the nemesis of so-called black-hat EO techniques. A developed, engaging and useful content strategy is a much better way to grow long-term organic traffic. A good way of looking at content is thinking of it as the glue that joins search and social together. Link building isn t dead, but it is no longer EO s primary weapon. earch engine algorithms aren t just about the number of backlinks (the number websites that link back to your site), but also the overall quality of the websites the links appear on, as well as the buzz around your brand online and through social interaction. When considering how EO affects your content strategy, you first need to think about keyphrases and audience. Getting your content shared on other sites, with brand mentions and, crucially, backlinks to your site, complement the cycle. Remember this content will rank on its own too, taking up valuable ERP space for your target keyphrases, and not only text results but also video and images too. Tom Telford CEO of Waggener Edstrom s EO partner, 3 White Hats

Turn Your Content Up To 11. You ve read the survey results and learnt how other marketers are embracing content, but you re busy and it s a lot to take in, so here s a quick recap: 1. Ignore the hype: to be successful, content marketing should be an integral and strategic part of the wider marketing mix, with measurable KPIs and buy-in from senior management. 2. Research your audience: you need to know who they are, what matters to them, what they re talking about, and which services and channels they use. Then tailor your content to them. 3. Tell great stories: think like a journalist and sniff out stories your audience will care about, while always bearing in mind the three principles of great storytelling: people, plot and place. 4.. But don t broadcast: content marketing should be interactive and stimulate conversation with your audience, especially through social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. 5. Think quality not quantity: content is often a person s first experience of a brand, so it must reflect the brand s values but remember short and snappy is as powerful as big and brash. 6. Be authentic: kill the corporate speak and be ready to engage in open, honest dialogue with customers and prospects. They re people too, so treat them with respect and go easy on the sell. 7. Work the right way: develop your campaigns around content, not the other way around, and remember that content marketing is a medium- to long-term strategy, not a fast, easy fix. 8. Keep it fresh: always ask (and be honest) Is this new? Will my audience be interested in this?, and experiment with a variety of channels it s vital your methods evolve with your audience. 9. Plan ahead: think like an editor and plan your content as far in advance as possible. Then ensure you have the right internal and external resources in place to stick to your editorial calendar. 10. Maximise everything: creating quality content is resource-intensive, so ensure everything you create is amplified across all the most relevant channels, all of the time. 11. Don t forget the EO: search algorithm updates put the emphasis on quality content, but to grow long-term organic traffic it s vital you still keep up with the latest developments in EO.