content »

5 new developments in content marketing

Marketing, Your Brand Comments Off

Mar 122013

The most successful companies now understand that high-quality content draws people in, builds trust, drives traffic, mobilizes social media sharing, and results in sales. With more and more businesses jumping on the content bandwagon, there will be even more competition for audience attention. That means it’s more important than ever to make sure your content is useful, interesting, and engaging enough to draw readers in.

You must understand your audience. Go out of your way to learn their needs, desires, and frustrations. Once you know your target customer intimately, you will be able to craft content that stands out, gets attention, and has a long shelf life.

What it means for your business: Don’t just decide to ramp up your content marketing. To stay ahead of your competition, develop specific content marketing goals. By keeping a strategic focus, you’ll stay well ahead of those who are blindly jumping on the bandwagon.

4 Lessons From The Web’s Most Ruthlessly Addictive Site

interface, Internet News, Web Design Comments Off

Feb 192013

WITH ITS FOUR-FOOT-LONG HOME PAGES AND HUNDREDS OF SIDEBAR IMAGES, THE MAIL ONLINE BREAKS EVERY RULE OF WEB DESIGN. IT’S ALSO WINNING THE WEB AND DESIGN AWARDS.

During the average workday, I allow myself to take a couple “Internet breaks,” little bursts of Tumblr and Gawker and other forms of web candy that tug at my attention span like a needy kid. There’s one web threshold I never step over on a weekday, though: the Mail Online. The online outlet of the British tabloid is a one-way ticket to an hours-long surfing spree of celebrity gossip and moral outrage. It’s not web candy–this is web crack.

And it’s not just me. The Mail Online now outperforms The New York Times, The Guardian, and pretty much every other online news property in terms of unique visitors. It generated almost $40 million last year, an increase of 500% since 2008. I’ve always wondered at the remarkable magnetic pull of the website, which isn’t particularly beautiful and isn’t known for its in-depth reportage. “Mail Online breaks just about every web design rule in the book,” Jakob Nielsen yes, that Nielsen has said of the site. Yet, as Nielsen adds, “the traffic figures speak for themselves.” What keeps so many of us coming back for more heaping servings of non-stories, even when we know that’s what we’re getting?

MORE: 4 Lessons From The Web’s Most Ruthlessly Addictive Site

Make your sites load faster | Tutorial

Tech News, Web Design Comments Off

Feb 072013

One of the first things to look at is the size of your HTML code. This is probably one of the most overlooked areas, perhaps because people assume it’s no longer so relevant with modern broadband connections. Some content management systems are fairly liberal with the amount they churn out – one reason why it can be better to handcraft your own sites.

As a guideline you should easily be able to fit most pages in <50KB of HTML code, and if you’re under 20KB then you’re doing very well. There are obviously exceptions, but this is a fairly good rule of thumb.

It’s also important to bear in mind that people are browsing full websites more frequently on mobile devices now. Speed differences between sites viewed from a mobile are often more noticeable, owing to them having slower transfer rates than wired connections. Two competing websites with a 100KB size difference per page can mean more than one second load time difference on some slow mobile networks – well into the ‘interrupted thought flow’ region specified by Jakob Nielsen. The trimmer, faster website is going to be a lot less frustrating to browse, giving a distinct competitive edge over fatter websites and going a long way towards encouraging repeat visits.

MORE: Make your sites load faster | Tutorial | .net magazine.

LinkedIn Gets Serious About Content, Launches New ‘Follow’ and Blogging Features

Internet News Comments Off

Oct 022012

LinkedIn doesn’t want you to think of it as a mere list of who has what gig, and where they’re going next. It wants to be the site you come back to again and again to find out what the people in your industry are up to, thinking, and writing on a daily basis.

The professional social network on Tuesday launched a “follow” feature that will allow the site’s users to follow one another’s posts without having to officially connect (something the site recommends you do only with people you know). More interestingly, LinkedIn is also rolling out a long-form publishing tool — basically a blogging tool — so people can post lengthier, media-rich updates to their profile pages. Both tools will be available on the desktop site and LinkedIn’s mobile apps.

“We think that content is one way that we can make users more productive and successful on LinkedIn. When you come on LinkedIn, we show you stuff that you need to pay attention to, to be better at your job,” LinkedIn Head of Content Products Ryan Roslansky told Wired. “We see this as a natural evolution. You can follow a company, an industry, a publisher, etc. — being able to follow other members and what they say on LinkedIn is just the next step.”

In essence, these new features mean LinkedIn users can now generate and consume original content on the site.

MORE: LinkedIn Gets Serious About Content, Launches New ‘Follow’ and Blogging Features | Gadget Lab | Wired.com.

2 ways to help your content go viral [video]

Marketing, Meme Comments Off

Sep 242012

Word of mouth is the king maker in today’s content playground. Here are two tips for getting audiences to share your articles and videos with their peers.

Getting your brand or agency noticed in today’s cluttered digital spectrum is one of the biggest challenges marketers face. What if you could get your audience to market for you, and like it? Word of mouth marketing has exploded thanks to social media platforms, and consumers are sharing their favorite brands and services with each other at an exponential rate. BuzzFeed CRO Andy Wiedlin tells iMedia’s Bethany Simpson ways you can get more social reach from your content.

MORE: 2 ways to help your content go viral – iMediaConnection.com.

How Pinterest and Instagram are changing your brand strategy

Marketing, Your Brand Comments Off

Sep 042012

These new platforms are social at their core. So it’s instantly about more than putting a few images on a page; it’s opening a window into your brand. What companies share must strike a balance between bringing to life a genuine brand story and providing content that inspires and compels action. Furthermore, marketing strategies for how brands engage with consumers should reflect how and why consumers are using those channels.

Following are tips for navigating the waters of these new visual platforms using a combination of direct marketing best practices and our learned understanding of digital and social behavior.

If you’ve ever been a part of a website implementation, you know the biggest sticker shock is always the photography — how much it costs to produce high quality photo inventory. Yet the rise of new visual platforms has made this component more important than ever. Brands must consider the quality of photography and what images should represent their products and services.

MORE: How Pinterest and Instagram are changing your brand strategy – iMediaConnection.com.

Why Social Marketing Will Deliver Positive ROI for Your Brand

Internet News, Marketing, Your Brand Comments Off

Aug 292012

If you are an agency or a brand trying to decide whether or not social media marketing is worth the investment, consider these numbers from recent studies of social media users:

78% are directly influenced by branded posts when making purchases
74% encourage friends to try new products
80% try new things based on friends’ suggestions

MORE: Why Social Marketing Will Deliver Positive ROI for Your Brand – Adrants.

85% Facebook Users Are Content Creators

Internet News Comments Off

Jul 302012

In a recent interview, Facebook Head of Audience Insights “Robert DOnofrio” had explained about 85% of those monthly active users are creating some form of content. It needs to be said that Facebook defines content creation broadly and includes everything from uploading a photo or video to writing a status update to less time-intensive actions such as becoming a fan of something or liking a friends post. Messaging and check-ins arent included.

MORE: Online Marketing Trends: 85% Facebook Users Are Content Creators.

How 5 brands are scoring big on BuzzFeed

Internet News, Marketing, Meme, Your Brand Comments Off

May 212012

Jon Steinberg, BuzzFeeds president, notes that visitors to BuzzFeed simultaneously engage with an endless mashup of high- and low-brow content, from news to wacky animal photo montages. All categories of content are welcome, Steinberg says, so long as they meet BuzzFeeds simple threshold — is it shareable?

According to Steinberg, brands that work with BuzzFeed need to consider three things when figuring out how to create content worth sharing.

Does the content have a voice or point of view?
Is it a content gift?
What does the content do for the brand?

While the last question might seem obvious to anyone who works in advertising, the first two questions are a big part of what makes BuzzFeed such a unique play for marketers. Brands cant buy banners ads, although they can purchase placement for their post in a given vertical. But theres a catch — the content has to be good. If it is good, people will share it. If its a dud, BuzzFeed has an algorithm in place to swap it out for something better.

With just under 3 million unique visitors a month — and climbing, according to Compete — BuzzFeed is clearly a careful steward of its content ecosystem. It also tends to be way ahead of the viral curve. As any BuzzFeed user can tell you, what you see on BuzzFeed today will likely be on Facebook tomorrow. Naturally, thats a huge draw for brands looking to make a social media splash. But engaging with social media takes more than just showing up. So to help marketers reimagine themselves as social publishers, were showcasing five brands that have figured out how to buzz on BuzzFeed.

SOURCE How 5 brands are scoring big on BuzzFeed single page view – iMediaConnection.com.

How Brands Can Meet Consumer Demand With Content

Marketing, Your Brand Comments Off

May 162012

With the cosmetics and hair care brand, they did a deep dive into data to discover what women were actually searching for when they thought about beauty and discovered a huge number of people were typing specific questions into google, like “how can I do my makeup like Lady Gaga?” In response, Demand worked to produce 1,126 videos in a matter of months and on a budget, each addressing a common “how to” search query.

Some key takeaways from this panel presentation:

- Search queries are getting longer – often ten words are more. People are looking for very specific content when they search, and if you can provide it, that’s a huge service.

- The best videos for this sort of marketing are “evergreen” – that is, they remain relevant for a long time (3-5 years) by containing generally useful content, rather than being attached to a trend, celebrity, or launch. A light touch on the branding also helps the videos feel authentic, and not tied to very specific products so much as the brand.

- If your brand is traditional, start with a test – produce just a few examples of the new content type and see how they perform in search and on your site. Success is your best shot at convincing the old guard to try new tactics.

- Social listening is of the utmost importance – in fact, L’Oriel has changed their call centers into customer listening and insight hubs. Understanding what people are saying about your products, and the surrounding industry, allows you to channel feedback to the right people and meet actual demand.

- Data is the key to staying on top as trends change – know where the landscape is headed, not just what’s working now.

SOURCE: How Brands Can Meet Consumer Demand With Content – Adrants.

Older Entries