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If your business uses videos in their marketing strategy (which you should if you do not) part of the key element of that video to tell a story. Every video, no matter what the message you are trying to convey needs a story behind it.
How To Break Through to Your Customers “storytelling” in the marketing world is talking at consumers. And, since the “Mad Men” era, brands have used advertising to broadcast their stories at a large audience of consumers. But, it’s stopped working. There are over 600 million devices running ad block software, and the message from consumers is clear: Stop interrupting me – I don’t want to see your ads. At the same time, consumers are constantly connected and literally have the power to make or break a brand at their fingertips. So how do you break through and engage with consumers?” This is a good question.… it is time to put consumers at the center of our efforts; it’s time to be great story-makers or story tellers. “story-making” is the combination of “art, science, and necessity” that was developed as a response to a “society where the pace of technology and information exchange only continues to speed up; and where consumers only allow brands a few mere moments to make or break a relationship.” Consumers Value Experiences Over Things A recent study by Mastercard and retail sales data supports that today, consumers value experiences over things. Mastercard’s Priceless campaign – now in its 20th year – was founded on the insight that experiences matter more than things, but the way it is executed today is much different. Mastercard has evolved its Priceless strategy from a single traditional advertising campaign to a holistic experiential-led marketing platform. What Mastercard has done to change the way they present their information is: 1. Focusing on consumers’ passions, 2. Building experiential platforms. 3. Creating products/technologies that change lives for the better. Mastercard: Storytelling and Sponsored Videos Sponsored videos are also part of Mastercard’s “holistic experiential-led marketing platform.” The brand has 76 partners that have made 798 videos, which have a total of 45.5 million views and over 1.3 million engagements. Now, that’s taking story-making to a level that traditional storytellers only reach once in a blue moon. It’s the difference between creating a priceless experience for your customers that they want to share with their friends, family, and colleagues and merely telling a story – even one with emotion – about the features and benefits of your products or services. That’s a very big idea. Remember to use story-telling in your next marketing video. Engagement with your audience is so essential and you have very little time to capture their attention in this day and technical age. (portions of this article are from Tubular Insights weekly) -Roy
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Referrals are often one of the key factors influencing someone to work with you. How many times do you see someone asking for recommendations on social media? When someone needs a professional or work done, they ask in their networking group who they know who does what they’re looking for.
Having a referral marketing plan in place helps ensure raving fans are telling others about you. However, while we know the importance of asking for referrals when it comes down to it, the asking part can feel awkward or even aggressive. But when you believe in the value of what you offer you can feel good about having others tell the world about you. You know the trust has been established. When you have the right mindset and a proven process in place, getting referrals is easy. Here are some ways to get more referrals that don’t feel desperate with examples you can use right now: 1. Set an expectation for referrals Before you begin working with a new client, you can condition them to think of you as someone to send business to. You can also mention the incentive you offer for those referrals that result in a sale. 2. Ask for a virtual introduction A really terrific way to get referrals is to ask a contact to do a virtual introduction with the prospect. this can be done via a email or social media 3. Ask Satisfied Clients You Have Or Are Working With The best time to ask a client for a referral is right after you finished working with them. They are excited about the results you generated and are ready to sing your praises to the world. Try something like: "It’s my goal to help other great clients like you. So I was wondering if you knew of any other people who could use my services? I’d love it if you could send a short note to them with a few kind words and asking them to connect with me?" 4. Offer a gift or a small reward for referrals Giving a referral takes time and energy. When you make it worth their while, people are more likely to take the time to do it. As a sign of your appreciation for their efforts, offer to give them a gift card, a referral fee, discount, or other gifts if someone they refer you to hires you. Building a business through word-of-mouth marketing would be more successful if there is a fee or a gift involved in exchange for getting more referrals. You can make a referral page on your website. Write an email to send to your clients and connections. Ask people in your Facebook groups. Let other networking friends or associates know you give rewards for referrals. Event if they don't or just can't use your particular type of service. Good luck and now go get that business! -Roy It has been awhile since I did a byline on using Facebook For Your marketing campaigns and so some, these tips may sound like no-brainers. However, for newbies to Facebook marketing and there are a lot of those in SMBs, hopefully these will help you find your way a bit easier on using Facebook in your scheme of things.
Building Your Audience One of the biggest complaints about leveraging any social media for content marketing, much less Facebook in particular, is that it can often be a waste of time: because posts go off into the ether of the internet and are never seen by anyone. This is a real concern… but only if you don’t take the time to build your audience base. If the likes on your page aren’t relevant, they do nothing for you or your business brand. You need to spend the time and effort to ensure that the likes your page gets are from individuals genuinely interested in your product or business. When those individuals see the content you’re promoting, they’ll be more likely to click through and learn more about your brand and your offerings of products or services. Manage Your Online Reputation Online reputation management is a big deal, and a poor reputation online almost always translates to lost customers and lost sales. You can do one of two things. Manage your reputation yourself by constant monitoring of what you have out there or pay a professional reputation company to do it for you. Try to respond to comments and ratings about your business in a timely and positive manner. Always respond to bad reviews, and make certain to ask the reviewer what you can do to improve their experience. It’s important to address every bad review so that review readers feel that you care about the quality of your business and product. Use Video And Images On your Timeline! Did you know that Facebook posts with images get wildly more clicks than posts without them? And watching videos comprise approximately 80% of all the activity on Facebook! Videos and images will ensure that the content you share gets more likes and more reads. Where images are concerned, ensure they’re horizontal images which have text titles on them, which can increase engagement. Examples of this are videos shot by your cellphone, Links to your YouTube Channel , Images of your products or services shot by you or your customers, and do Facebook Live events. Useing Facebook Promoted Posts Using small, short, highly targeted Facebook ads can help you get new viewers for your content pretty easily. Of course, promoted posts are primarily recommended for individuals who have grown their Facebook page likes beyond a threshold of 100, simply because promoted posts are traditionally displayed only to friends and connections of those who have liked a Facebook page. While there is also the opportunity to use Facebook ads, they’re not recommended for Facebook. I have mixed feelings about Facebook promoted posts as their effective reach varies and success rates on your ROI is questionable at times. Link to Your Own Website When sharing content, ensure that content is always on your own website when you share! Promoting links to your own website not only brings new potential clients or visitors to your website, but can provide a small SEO boost. And of course, having all of your website’s schema markups operating correctly can pull sample text and images from your website quickly, rather than requiring you to manually enter them, which can save a few minutes of work. Always, always link to your website whenever possible. I hope these tips give you a bit more insight into using Facebook for your marketing scheme. Do NOT mix your personal Facebook Page to your business Page. Keep things separate. Remember the above mention on your reputation? Mixing business with your personal life can kill that in a instant. -Roy FDMC Digital Media LLC www.floridadudemarketingconcepts.com Social listening is an important strategy that brands need to consider if they’re to stay up to speed with Millennials and rapid speed conversations. But does social listening contribute to delivering a great customer experience? Can it help your brand in proactively meeting customer needs? Yes, it does! And here are 5 ways in which Social Listening can take your customer relationships to the next level. 1. Engage with a large audience (larger than you could ever imagine!) With a proper social listening software, you can effortlessly listen to those who are talking about your brand, your product or service and also about your competitors on social platforms. Furthermore, Nielsen has found that 33% of customers even prefer to contact brands using social media rather than the telephone. When that is the case, listening can be a definite first step to understanding what the customer wants. It’s necessary to stay in-sync with the latest customer expectations else you run the risk of losing out to competition. And social listening is the ideal way to stay ahead in this race! 2. You get the ‘real’ scoop on social Have you wondered why customers are sometimes too nice while filling feedback forms? One of the reasons is that they don’t have the time (hey, you might be asking too many questions!) nor the patience to explicitly express what they think. How can social listening be of value here? It helps your brand filter out negative comments and get tangible insights from these comments. Let’s say a majority of your audience is criticizing the lack of information on your website. An intelligent social listening software will filter out these comments and deliver an actionable insight like “Working on availability of information on website can help boost website experience” 3. It’s where real-time customer service happens The need for businesses to go real time would have been written in stone by now – It’s been repeated that often. Well, there isn’t any better place you can hope to achieve this than on social platforms. You’d have come across the incident where Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, made sure to respond back to a valuable feedback on Twitter. If you haven’t yet, check out the story here. Customers want to be heard and they treat social media as a platform to engage with your brand and get instant remedies for their issues. 4. Make marketing personalized. Let social content drive engagement! Personalization is the key to unlocking great experiences and social customer relationships. Social listening tools can help you identify the way your target personas converse, the words they use, its tonality and unravels their specific needs and expectations from your brand. The insights you gather here can in turn be leveraged to run personalized marketing campaigns! Moreover, a powerful and dynamic social listening platform can help you segregate your social audience into different categories which also helps in creating relevant content and offers for specific customer groups. 5. Staying proactive Exceeding customer expectations can be a sure shot way to deliver customer delight. But unless your brand is well equipped with the necessary information and insights, going past expectations isn’t a cakewalk. By constantly monitoring what your customers, as well as other prospects, are talking about and engaging with them regularly, you can come up with a proactive and futuristic customer experience strategy for the long run. And social listening can help you monitor rapidly changing customer needs, anticipate trends and most importantly, deliver actionable insights on how to go about executing these changes. Social listening is one of the most reliable means to make sense of the myriad conversations and comments on social platforms. Not just that, it provides a platform to learn more about your customers, their changing preferences, and expectations, and connect with them on a personal level no matter how far they are. Social media is already a huge repository of information. Now, converting that information into insights that can build customer experience is the advantage you have with social listening. Roy Garton FDMC Social and Digital Media LLC www.floridadudemarketingconcepts.com While I am not totally sold on the long term survival of Snapchat as Instagram continues to eat away at it's rival, Ad revenue continues to look strong for the mobile app. Marketing your brand on Snapchat takes some creativity. It can be confusing, especially when you're starting out. Something to keep in mind is that a typical marketing funnel is broken down into three main stages: 1. Awareness. Prospects learn about your business and what you have to offer. 2. Interest. Prospects from the first phase take the first step toward becoming a customer by signing up for a webinar or company emails. 3. Evaluation. Prospects from phase two take the final jump to buy from you, often as the result of a sales call or integrating email. Snapchat is strongest during the second stage, when you're engaging your prospects and trying to create interest. In fact, research shows that Snapchat gets nearly a 4x higher engagement rate compared to similar platforms like Instagram but this is slowly changing as Instagram migrates many of Snapchat's features. Through Snapchat, you can deliver valuable content to your audience to let them see a different side of your business -- one that might not be as visible through another channel. Here are three ways marketers can use Snapchat to grow their businesses: 1. Offer promo codes. Brands have had success using promo codes on Snapchat because of how high the engagement rate is. 2. Launch products. You can also use Snapchat to launch new products. One of the unique benefits of Snapchat is that it gives you permission to create low-budget, informal videos. Letting them see you “behind the scenes,” where you might be unpolished, will help build a deeper relationship over the long term. 3. Leverage influencer marketing. By leveraging influencers, you can capture a much larger audience because your content will be viewed by both your followers and the followers of that influencer. It’s one of the quickest ways to build a massive audience of your own. Another way to use influencer marketing is by asking an influencer to do a takeover of your account. This basically means that they run your Snapchat account for a certain period of time, and post snaps on behalf of you. Conclusion Snapchat is still an up-and-coming platform. If it continues to hold on as a popular app then marketers will have something. Right now it is an app that has yet to become overcrowded. And, because of that, engagement levels are still significantly higher than many other platforms. Marketers who jump on it now will see significantly better engagement than those who get on board months -- or years later. Roy Garton FDMC Social & Digital Media LLC  Despite everything you read and no matter what anyone else tells you, there’s really no secret to success for marketers on social media.
Obviously, you can put the odds in your favor if you follow the industry’s best practices. But there are no shortcuts or tricks, no workarounds or hacks. Big advertising budget or not, if you’re not careful to adhere to some of the channels’ most fundamental principles, any wins you experience will be short-lived at best. Transparency counts for a lot in social media, as do authenticity and immediacy. Emerging technologies and newfangled tactics play considerable roles as well. As if all that’s not enough, whether you’re talking about copy or design, still images or videos, memes or GIFs, you need to have an infinite supply of content in some shape or form queued up and ready to share with your followers, subscribers and connections. Those principles I referred to above still reign first and foremost, though. There are too many of them to list here, but let’s talk about a few of the most important ones. 1. Have a solid strategy in place Far too many businesses and brands decide to launch a campaign, only to realize not too far into it that they either don’t have enough content to sustain momentum or they have no idea what to do with it. That’s just one of countless issues to address before you dip your toes in the social media waters. Branding. Lead generation. PR. SEO. What are your objectives? Which channels are you going to use? Who’s your audience? How can you achieve better results than your competition? You can easily get lost on social media if you haven’t mapped out your journey in advance. 2. Be persistent and patient If you’re not a brand like Red Bull or a celebrity like Kim Kardashian, you’re not going to be an overnight success on social media. Attention on these channels is earned, not given to you. Even if you put a massive budget behind your content and promote it like crazy, you still need a ubiquitous, bona fide presence on social media to be taken seriously. Social media levels the playing field between buyer and seller. The more you engage authentically with your audience on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the like, the more likely they’ll be to respond affirmatively to what you have to offer. 3. Roll out the red carpet for your audience You never get a second chance to make a great first impression. Treat the members of your audience like VIPs. Roll out the red carpet and greet them with open arms. Thank them for following you. Ask how you can help them. Speak to their needs and interests, not yours. Give them props, credit, praise and kudos. Show them how much you appreciate the time they’re taking to watch, listen and learn from you. Give them far more attention than they’re giving to you and chances are, your welcome and warmth will be reciprocated. 4. Be available, responsive and engaging The good news is that social media has made it possible for you to engage with customers, consumers and constituents in real time, anytime. The bad news is that they can reach out to you at their own convenience. And the expectation is that you will respond to them immediately. Banker’s hours are unheard-of on social media. Nights. Weekends. Lunchtime. It doesn’t matter what your schedule is in real life. On these online communication channels, you need to be there for your audience at a moment’s notice. If you snooze, you lose. There’s no rest for the weary on social media. 5. Show the human side of your brand One of the biggest mistakes marketers, advertisers and professionals in general make is to underestimate the importance of the social in social media. People do business with people who are willing to engage as themselves, not logos behind a litany of promotional messages and corporate gobbledygook. Be kind. Be generous. Be yourself. Cold, calculating and contrived content will get you nowhere on these channels. Candor and extemporaneousness will fly. Stress the positive attributes of your brand, personal or professional, but don’t pretend you’re something you’re not. Honesty and personality will get you everywhere on social media. We’re all familiar with slogans like “Just Do It,” “Live Más” (Spanish for "more") and “Because You’re Worth It.” These slogans have become synonymous with the brands they represent, so it’s natural that small business owners would associate the notion of branding only with big corporations. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
Branding should be a priority for small business owners, as well, despite its being one of the most difficult things to tackle. Half of small businesses close their doors within five years of launching. And one of the causes might be the perception that branding is too “difficult” for founders to dedicate time and brain power to. Why is branding so important? The answer is that it represents who you are and what your company is. It represents who you want to be and your core values and principles. The principles you set for your brand should be your guide, and compromising them means you don’t trust your own brand. Change is a constant in business and someone will always try to rival the services you provide; others may try to copy (or steal) your concept, logo and assets. But the one thing no one can copy? Your brand. Here are four tips to develop a lasting brand identity: 1. Find your purpose. A brand is nothing but a promise delivered; therefore, building a brand must be the core of your company. Your brand’s purpose is to answer the "why." Why do you matter and why you exist? Why did you start your business? When I ask, “Why do you want to become an entrepreneur?” One of the standard replies I hear is, “Because I want to make money.” Nothing is wrong with that; I love to make money too, but that cannot be the sole purpose. In this über-competitive world, your brand needs to find the one thing that makes it different. As a small businessperson, you don't need a purpose that's going to change the world. An example: If you have a small restaurant that serves a type of food similar to that of the restaurant two doors down, but you use locally-grown products to feed your patrons, that’s going to be your calling card. Your purpose? To help local farmers and help the local community. Customers know that you’re looking to make an impact and will reward you with their loyalty. 2. Find your voice. Is your brand quirky? Fun? Adventurous? Giving a brand characteristics normally associated with human beings is one way to ensure that people identify with it. In the beginning, your brand pitch helps you to create key phrases or descriptions and a checklist of touch points and then use those as bookends when interacting with customers. Opening and closing with a strong touch point leaves a lasting impression on the customer and helps you avoid derailing from your message. If people are trying to get me to buy something and they launch into a hundred reasons why I should do that, I’m not interested, no matter how great the product. I don’t have time to stand there and listen to a whole sales pitch. So, take a lesson here: Don’t parrot your brand’s virtues; live them. And, be short, concise and to the point: If customers feel and understand your passion, they’ll understand what the brand is trying to convey. 3. Make brevity and simplicity your best friends. It’s tempting to think of the multitude of things that make your brand great; therefore, it can be overwhelming to try to simplify what to convey to the public. The key here is: simplicity is best. The most successful brands have the simplest brands. For example, Coke has not changed its brand overall since the 19th century. The company may have changed colors and style, but that’s about it. All of us are familiar with the brand, whether we drink soda or not. Keeping things simple increases brand recognition and can help create an emotional connection, turning customers into brand loyalists. Also, avoid being vague with your messaging. It’s a trap that many people fall into -- if your messaging says nothing about your brand, your company becomes forgettable. Clichés are also a no-no. They make your brand look lazy and unprepared. It’s tempting to use vague language to feel "safe," but it makes customers think you’re hiding something from them. Don’t be afraid of offending someone; just be honest. With all the changes taking place in society -- culturally, politically and economically -- more consumers are looking for brands that align with their beliefs. 4. Make them work for you. Evangelizing your brand is already a part of your job and that of your employees’. It’s their job to tell your customers why you’re great and why they should buy from you. When customers understand your brand, what you stand for, what you deliver for them and everything your brand conveys, they take on the role of "brand ambassadors" willingly. When your target consumers understand every nuance of your brand, you’ve hit the branding jackpot. When consumers identify with your brand, they become vocal about it -- on social media or through word of mouth, which is still a powerful medium. When customers have that connection, they organically evangelize your brand; they are working for you. Reward them, especially when they’re not expecting it. A discount or special offer, especially if it’s unexpected. Here’s a bonus tip for you: Every campaign should be personally authorized by someone who truly understands the brand before anything is revealed to the public. If it not you the owner or manager, never leave branding to chance, because even minor mistakes can have a long-lasting effect on your business. Roy Garton FDMC Social and Digital Media LLC www.floridadudemarketingconcepts.com How can you increase your organic reach on Instagram? Here are the 10 powerful tools to help you reach your audience with Instagram. Use them all or use some of them for your business. Regardless, make Instagram a part of your social marketing strategy so you are not missing out on your target audience whom today are very mobile.
1. Find your optimal posting times Even though Instagram uses an algorithmic timeline now, optimal posting times are still important. It is a factor in the algorithm. Posting at the right times can help generate an initial round of engagement on your posts which can, in turn, prompt the Instagram algorithm to push your posts higher on your followers’ feed. If you are using a Instagram Business Profile, you can check your Instagram Insights to find out when your followers are most active by the day of the week and the time of the day. To access your Instagram Insights (link to Instagram analytics post), tap on the profile tab in the Instagram app and then the bar chart icon () on the upper-right corner. There will be a section for your followers’ activity information, and you can tap on “See More” to see more detailed insights. Here’s an example of what you’ll see: 2. Experiment with videos Studies have found that photos tend to get more overall engagement (i.e. likes and comments) than videos on Instagram. On first look, it might seem that photos are better than videos for engagement — and it could well be! On closer examination, we might draw a different conclusion. News Whip studied the Instagram accounts of 31 news publishers and made an interesting discovery. While photos, on average, get more likes (and overall engagement) than videos, videos generate more comments than photos. In fact, videos, on average, received more than twice the amount of comments than photos! It is not certain if the Instagram algorithm values likes and comments equally or one more than another. But since commenting requires more effort from a user than liking, it’s possible that the algorithm values comments more than likes and would rank posts with more comments higher than posts with more likes. Last year, Instagram found that the video watch time on Instagram increased by more than 40 percent over a six-month period. At this growth rate, it could be great to experiment with videos to see if it increases your engagement and organic reach on Instagram. 3. Host contests or ask questions to encourage engagement Asking questions or calling for an action is one of the fun ways to encourage your followers to interact with your Instagram posts. Hosting a giveaway contest is an effective way to engage your followers. Some of the call-to-actions you can do are: Enter to win by sharing your favorite emoji party combo in the comments below To enter, simply tag a friend below who you would “Vote” for as your favorite marketer and you’ll both be entered to win! To enter tag a friend below who you know is rocking it on social media! What’s on your reading list this week? Drop your book suggestions below for a chance to win a free book of your choice from the Buffer team! While giveaway contests usually generate more comments than usual posts. Try to give it a few months in between each contest to keep things fun and exciting. 4. Curate user-generated content Curating user-generated content can encourage those users to engage with and share those content. Since the Instagram algorithm considers users’ relationships when ranking content on their feed, building relationships with your users through Instagram might also help your content rank higher on their feeds. Apart from organic reach, Crowdtap found that user-generated content is 35 percent more memorable and 50 percent more trusted than traditional media and other user-generated content. This makes user-generated content a valuable strategy to try. 5. Tell Instagram Stories Typically, 63 percent of marketers use Instagram, only 16 percent have created Instagram Stories. There’s a great opportunity to stand out before it gets too crowded! Instagram Stories take a prominent position on the Instagram app — above the feed. This allows you to stay on top of your followers’ feed and grab more of their attention. If your followers view your Stories regularly, it could possibly even help your Instagram posts rank higher on their feeds. It’s worth noting that the Stories are also ranked by an algorithm. Spend the time to create cool stories and make them shine! 6. Go live on Instagram A similar “trick” is to go live on Instagram. When you use live video, you will appear right at the front of the Stories feed, assuming no one else is live at the same time. The “LIVE” logo also makes your profile photo more prominent in the Instagram app. Going Live though can have a weird effect on your content. A reason might be your brand is in front of your fans more often so the fans might go to your page to see your content more — even if the fans don’t watch the live video. This effect could play out on Instagram, too. Seeing your logo at the top of their feed might encourage your followers to check out your Instagram profile. 7. Use Instagram ads This might sound a little counter-intuitive but Instagram ads can be an effective way to grow your organic reach. If you have an Instagram Business Profile, you can promote your existing posts from within the Instagram app. (Here’s how!) By boosting an existing post and selecting the appropriate target audience, you can drive more engagement to the post and help it rank better on your followers’ feed. The paid reach can eventually help to drive organic reach! So which post should you promote? Here’s a quick way to pick a good post to promote: Go to your Instagram Insights on the mobile app (tap on the profile tab and then the bar chart icon). Tap “See More” under the “Top Posts” section. Tap on “Impressions” at the top (a pop-up should apply to let you adjust your stats filters). For the first filter, you can choose “All”, “Photos”, or “Videos” according to your preference. For the second filter, select “Engagement”. For the third filter, select “7 days”. You will see your top posts by engagement for the last seven days. From there, you can pick a post to promote. 8. Post less If you truly want to connect with your audience, it’s better to share one fabulous photo instead of 20 mediocre images. So next time, before you hit post, take a moment and consider how this content contributes to your brand, and does it effectively encourage engagement from your followers. I believe this is about the allocation of your resources and time. Instead of publishing 20 posts a week, use the same resources and time for just one or two posts and make them great. Quality content that is relevant to your followers has a higher chance of eliciting a positive response from your followers. In turn, this can help your posts rank higher on your followers’ feed. 9. Create specifically for Instagram One way to create quality content is to create content specifically for Instagram. Instagram, being a very visual platform, has a greater focus on the photo or video itself than the text. So a post that would do well on Instagram is probably different from one that would do well on Twitter or Facebook. For smaller social media teams or solo social media manager, it can be challenging to always create unique content for each platform. Cross posting and repurposing content from other platforms can be great, too. If you are doing that, it’d be best to craft specific caption for each social media platform as your followers likely follow you for a different reason for each of the platforms. 10. Be a great Instagram user Social media algorithms are built to encourage genuine, positive behaviors on the platforms such as sharing, showing appreciation, quick replies, and more. Often, they would also try to discourage abuse or hacks. My gut feeling here is that being a great Instagram user will help you grow your organic reach over time. That includes: Posting quality content that is relevant to your followers (be it informative, inspiring, or entertaining) Answering questions on your posts quickl Thanking people for commenting on your posts Exploring other people’s profiles, engaging with their posts, and building a relationship with them I hope this has been of some value to you and if you have any questions always feel free to reach out to us. Have a good one! Roy Garton FDMC Social & Digital Media LLC www.floridadudemarketingconcepts.com Over the last few years, Facebook has quickly risen to become a powerhouse video destination, with its top ten publishers pulling in billions of viewers each month but just exactly why is that the case? Scientifically, is there a reason Facebook users, and even Instagram users, are attracted to video content when they’re on the site?
Facebook IQ recently conducted a study with some overseas users and found that they watched video content 5X more than any other content posted. Facebook’s study derives from a lab experiment where people’s eye movements and facial expressions were tracked as they scrolled through their personal feeds; this was followed up by interviews about the role video played in each participant’s’ life. The 114 participants were aged 18-30 and watched short-form (under ten minutes) online video content and ads at least once a month. Facebook IQ also enlisted Kantar Media to conduct a study of 1,999 people from two overseas countries who were over 18 years of age and who watched short-form video content monthly. The goal of this study was to try to gauge the content consumption of the participants and analyze related viewing trends.
Facebook claims five key factors have attributed to the increased popularity of online video viewing, which include “smartphones, shorter attention spans, binge-watching, the importance of context, and the thrill of novelty.” Taking all these into consideration, video publishers on the social platform (and its related photo- and video-sharing app Instagram) should consider the following strategies if they want to reach video watchers. Focus on mobile content. Most of the millennials in Facebook’s study prefer watching video content on mobile instead of on a desktop. Cater to this preference by developing mobile-optimized clips which users won’t be able to resist clicking on when the content shows up in their feeds. Harness the power of Instagram. Facebook IQ discovered that across all surveyed, video on Instagram resulted in 1.80x higher levels of joy than the same content posted on other platforms. Video publishers who want to incite action and brand loyalty should therefore consider posting more clips to their Instagram accounts. Keep content short. With shorter attention spans contributing to the rise of online video, video publishers need to make sure their own content on Facebook and Instagram is digestible and impactful, so that it not only captures the attention of users as they scroll through their feeds but also relays brand messaging or key points at the very beginning of the video. Try new video formats. Based on the idea that novelty is a key factor to online video’s growth and success, Facebook IQ suggests publishers experiment with new video formats. For example, the recent study of the overseas participants were found to look at 360-degree video 40% longer than regular video content; these respondents also reported a level of joy 1.40x higher than joy from standard video. Roy Garton FDMC Social & Digital Media LLC www.floridadudemarketingconcepts.com here’s no doubt that the world of inbound marketing has fundamentally changed demand generation. The strategy of attracting prospects through content, social media, search engine optimization, and more has taken over the B2B world and for good reason: inbound marketing costs less than traditional advertising and produces 54% more leads than outbound marketing. Your prospects and customers don’t want to be targeted with disruptive and annoying advertisements. They want to engage with quality content that educates, entertains, or inspires them.
There’s just one problem… Businesses are investing more in content marketing, which focuses on creating valuable content to guide buyers through the customer journey. Now, every marketing team worth their salt is publishing content for their audience, from blog posts, to whitepapers, webinars, ebooks, newsletter, and more. The bar has been raised and now creating more content isn’t enough. In order to get your content seen by your intended audience, you need to differentiate your brand and rise above the noise by offering value. The New 80/20 Rule If you were an early adopter of inbound marketing, you might have spent 80% of your time creating content and 20% of your time promoting it. With all the noise out there, the formula has flipped. To increase engagement, you need to spend 20% of your time creating content and 80% of your time promoting it. Becoming more strategic in your content promotion requires taking a fresh look how you communicate with your audience and ensuring that you are providing not only the right content, but that it’s in the right spot, at the right time. Here are 4 ways to help increase your engagement with your customer or client base. 1. Promote Content Across Your Website Your whitepapers or ebooks don’t have to be hidden away and confined to your resources page. Give them the visibility they deserve by promoting them all across your website. It just makes sense. If a visitor is browsing your website, there’s a good chance they’ll be interested in or want more information about related topics. You can provide that to them with your content. Aside from improving the user experience, it also increases conversions by making your gated assets more visible. This can be especially impactful if you are using web personal platforms to offer your known visitors the next relevant step in their content journey. 2. Promote Content in Your Email Signature Did you know that the average office worker sends or receives 121 emails a day, according to a report by the Radicati Group? By encouraging employees to promote content in their email signature, you can take advantage of this under-utilized channel and increase the visibility of your content. While you can be scrappy and just add these to your footer or signature yourself, there are also solutions, like Sigstr and Exclaimer, that allow you to quickly change the content of email signature as needed depending on the recipient. This way, you can offer a tailored experience and different content to employees, customers, and your prospects. 3. Use Ad Retargeting Many marketers are running retargeting campaigns to re-engage prospects who previously visited their website and drive them back to complete an action like starting a free trial or requesting a demo. It’s extremely effective because you’re only investing in qualified leads who are interested in your product or services. However, don’t be a marketer that misses the opportunity to use retargeting to drive traffic to gated content, which you can track conversions from to prove the ROI. Using a comprehensive marketing platform, you can listen to website activity and then retarget visitors with digital ads to promote relevant content. For example, if someone browsed your website for information about your account targeting solution, you may want to serve them an ad that promotes your latest gated asset on account-based marketing. 4. Pin It to Your Twitter Profile Last but not least, pinning a tweet to your Twitter profile is a quick (and free) way to increase the visibility of your content. While other social platforms like Facebook offer similar features, Twitter Pins are shown by default at the top of your profile page no matter how old they are. Not sure this is worth the time? You might be surprised how much traffic your pinned post gets. In fact, when Buffer pinned one of their Twitter cards, they saw 10x as many conversions. To glean insights on your own posts, use Twitter Analytics to see how people engaged with your profile and posts in a 28 day period. With the competitive landscape of B2B marketing, getting your content to stand out is harder than ever. Have you tried any of these strategies? Roy Garton FDMC Social & Digital Media www.floridadudemarketingconcepts.com |
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