Content Marketing Basics: How Brands Are (and are not) Harnessing Content Marketing to Maximize...

How Brands are Harnessing Content Development to

Optimize Platform Engagement

David L SmithCEO/Founder

Mediasmith, Inc.

And are

not

© 2014 Mediasmith Inc.

Content marketing in 2014

Everybody’s doing it (over 90%)

Over 70% of marketers are increasing CM budgets

Already allocations range from 10-20% of marketing

It’s as big as social now as a priority


Top digital priorities for 2014


“Content is King” & For B2B, Content Marketing is the biggest trend

More B2B than Consumer


Many channels in use


Taking Many Forms

ListsLong formPhoto/Graphic (Instagram, Pinterest, Infographics)Video (YouTube, Vimeo)White papersEventsWebinarsCase studiesSlideshare

SurveysBlogsSharing others contentAppsMicrositesContestsCustom MagazinesCrowdsourcing productCrowdsourcing blog


And Native Advertising Too

(After all, isn’t native advertising just branded

content with a paid element?)


Brands on Native

Over 80% of brands say that brand awareness is the goal of content marketing

But, IAB discovers that Native ads work best if the consumer is already aware of the brand and it is in the right context


Most Are Clueless About Success

The New Forrester B2B study shows a WHOPPING 83% of marketers can't tie business value back to their content marketing tactics

Most are basing success on early stage buyer acquisition (clicks, etc.) rather effect throughout the funnel


And The Target is Elusive

Digiday and others have reported on the Facebook de-prioritization of brands

Since Facebook changed its algorithm, business page exposure has tanked: dropping from a 25% natural exposure rate per a post, to a 1-2% exposure

Publisher activity still counts as content (reconsider publisher partnerships)


It’s About Strategy Not Tactics

Content marketing needs to be embedded in everything you do

“Most of the focus is on producing content simply to fill channels”

- Forrester


Source: Nic Newman – Journalism Media and Technology Predictions 2014

The Power of the List


Three Keys to Great Content Marketing

1.Discoverable & Shareable

2.Created for the audience’s audience

3.Methodically tested and optimized


NY Times Learnings

Experiment

Repackage your content

Re-use old content

Create content templates

Continue to innovate your platform

Content marketing is not just about publishing

Your content creators need to be socially savvy

It’s not just about the headline but social

Don’t forget search engines

Build best practice into search and social

Email is a very important marketing tool

Use your social channels for experimentation

The brand content creators need to be a part of the marketing

Tap into the power of user generated content

Use an email marketing platform

To do content marketing at scale, you need a “marketing platform”

Fail fast and learn

It’s a team effort

Need to know what success looks like

Leaders need to “unlearn”

Think digital as a priority


Process

Learn


Plan Create Test & Opt. Deploy Analyze

Understand your business

& buyers

Prioritize & chart the roadmap

Test & confirm the best

performance

Exploit most effective content

Hone in on KPI’s & report

Edit & Develop

content for plan

A Few More Data Points

Trend towards taking content creation in house (90%+) but half also use some outside resources…

Agency participates in strategy

Agency handles distribution, syndication, sharing strategy

Only 1/3 of advertisers measure beyond the click


What Are Clients Doing?


Salesforce.com

Content Used

Infographics

E-Books with sales tips

ROI calculators & demos

Objective: Amplify messaging & drive leads

Methods

Organic posting to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn

Paid promotion across all platforms

Challenges

Matching content to platforms

Optimizing content by audience

Deciding what to gate and give away


Salesforce.com Executions

Twitter

5-6 tweets in campaign

Optimize to 3

Target suitability is key

High funnel offers

Twitter Cards

Facebook

5-6 pieces of content (monthly)

Upper and lower funnel

Mobile key

Rich audience data

LinkedIn

4 pieces at a time (monthly refresh)

Richest B2B user data

Lower funnel works well

Social platforms deliver 20% of Salesforce lead volume

World Cup: Adidas versus Nike


GETarget is partners (BDM’s), recruitment, investors, techies

How do we show people in the world who love science, tech, and invention who we really are?

Want people to associate GE with Health, Energy, Transportation Lighting and Appliances

Add 10% of earned to paid budget (amplifies by 25%)

GE Garages (Event oriented)

Reach “maker” community of engineers, technologists, tinkerers

Instagram to connect with Techies and recruitment Up close and personal

Facebook: 1MM fans & working on metrics


P&G: Home Made Simple

Superstar of Microsites

6MM+ opt-in members

Home/Garden recipes, tips

Facebook You Tube

TV Show Pinterest Magazine


Guitar Center

Music emphasis is at the heart of Guitar Center need

Significant You Tube effort:

Extensive contentSeamless integration with websiteOpen forum for discussion


JetBlue & Southwest

Both make strong use of Twitter:Communicate to mobile customer

Distribute messaging

Get insights on customer concerns

Quick response (Especially Southwest)

Set themselves apart from bigger, more “corporate” airlines


What About Resources?


Tools: Content Research


Content Organization


Content Creation


Content Promotion


Content Analytics


In closing…

Content marketing today is where web development was in 1997-98:Very early stageCompanies doing it “because”Tactics and metrics immature

Good content marketing requires enormous budgets -- not the tiny budgets that most marketers spend.

Increasingly, it is going to be a marketing requirement, and companies are going to have to find the money to develop, distribute and measure content.


Contact me:[email protected]

Follow me:@mediadls on Twitter

mediadls on most social networks

Thank You!


mailto:[email protected]

Content Marketing Basics: How Brands Are (and are not) Harnessing Content Marketing to Maximize...

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