Technical options and tools for creating more engaging content marketing
A brief history of animation on the web.
Since the beginning of the Internet, the web has been constantly and rapidly evolving. The evolution of the web has been directed by predominantly 2 conflicting factors. The first factor being content providers and readers who are always seeking for more complex and exciting forms of content. The other factor is the technology that provides the foundation of the web which allows users to have the type of content they require. It is both of these factors that have driven the web forward and brought us the web that we know and love today.
One form of content that has always been a requirement for users is animated content. However, technology has often limited the capability of animation on the web. One of the first signs of animation on the web was the introduction of the…
Defining content marketing is the first step to getting it right
A great question that will require a rather thorough answer.
In the broadest sense of the term, ‘content marketing’ refers to the creation of any piece of media that has the purpose of acquiring or retaining customers. Strictly speaking, you could quite reasonably argue that all marketing is indeed content marketing, and that in fact the concept isn’t anything particularly new or ‘Digital Age’, as it were, when you consider that anything from an in-store sign saying “Bargain Basket – 50% Off Everything” to a cigarette advert in a 1950s magazine could be considered as ‘content marketing’.
However, when we talk about the term today, in 2015 going on 2016, generally speaking, we’re making reference specifically to digital content that is distributed over the internet. The purpose of this content remains the same – to attract and retain customers – but the…
Product content driving visual commerce
There are many different types of content. Product content is vital in online retail because it is the digital representation of the product being sold. In its simplest forms, product content is product images, video, copy and technical drawings.
Until recently, product images were just considered assets, and the quality and consistency of them could be very poor across a site.
However, product content is coming to the fore under a new label of ‘Visual Commerce,’ in recognition of its role in improving conversion in online retail.
Linking retail content with user-generated content
Visual commerce also includes customer generated images that link back to a product via Instagram or Pinterest for example, but retailers have the greatest control over the content they commission themselves, and making their own product content work harder will give them better returns from ever-growing content budgets.
So how can retailers make product content work harder, and…
Good quality pictures are key to getting your content shared, here's how to create them
The value of DIY visual assets cannot be overstated - they are simply priceless when it comes to adding value to your content. Visual aids in content marketing have been proven to up engagement and achieve business objectives, such as brand awareness and engagement.
Learn why your content marketing will not only benefit from visual aids, but also how you can achieve these without breaking the bank, and how they can generate increased traffic and engagement for your brand.
Increasing audience engagement with an image
According to Buffer, tweets with images receive 18% more clicks, 89% more favourites and 150% more retweets than those without - while , Facebook posts which include photographs receive 39% more engagement than those without.
By adding visual aids to your blogs, your content is not only more likely to be read, but…
Gamification can potentially revolutionize your content marketing strategy – examples and tips to show how to apply it
Content marketing is predicted to continue to be a key strategy in digital marketing and marketers will soon start looking for new solutions to create fun and engaging content. Many of them are already interested in gamification – analyst Gartner expects that by 2016, gamified strategies will become standard practice for driving brand engagement and fostering consumer loyalty. Here are a few tips to help you realize the potential gamification holds for revolutionizing your content marketing strategy.
The basics
First of all, what is gamification? It's basically application of game mechanisms to non-gaming activities and contexts. Gamification is of great use to areas of business which depend on engagement and motivation – for instance training, project management, recruitment or marketing.
Rewarding players with points and badges or…
Marketers think people have short attention spans - TV shows us they don't
It’s often said that we are living in a new “Golden Age of TV”. There literally seems to be too much great television to watch... Whether you like gritty crime stories, or historical dramas or comedy series, there are inventive, compelling, “binge-worthy” TV shows coming out all the time – and not just on “television,” but now on streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime.
Today, TV is driving the cultural conversation more than movies or music or any other art forms: people identify by what types of shows they watch and they create a sense of community by comparing notes on social media about which latest developments happened during their latest session of binge watching. With all of the critical, cultural and financial attention going to TV shows today, companies like Netflix and Amazon and other online companies…
Examples showing how to increase reach and engagement with visually compelling content
Content shared on social media tends to be more visual due to high engagement levels and amplification when it includes photos, videos, memes and infographics. According to a Citrix Report and associated infographic, nearly two thirds of the posts on social media use visual content, since it ignites viewers’ imagination and enables brands to provide a positive experience, and social media users are more likely to micro and visual content.
7 Tips to creating visual content
Here are 7 tips you can use to create powerful visual content and instantly connect with your audience.
Tip 1: Personalize your message
Identify your audience, their problems, and showcase the special features and capabilities offered by your product or service.
Create visual content which cover specific themes for website personalisation, appealing to particular demographics/personas, key stakeholders and consider where they are in the sales…
How free whitepapers create customer obligation
Sometimes it helps to take a step back from the everyday tactics employed in digital marketing, and look at your customers from a different perspective. Take reports and whitepapers for instance. As digital marketers, we know that value adding free content works for customer engagement and for our search rankings. Google loves good quality, relevant content – and your customers and prospects gain great value from reading engaging reports and whitepapers (just take a look at Smart Insight’s own free range of reports and how to guides).
But let’s take that step back.
Let’s move away from viewing the world through our digital lens, and try and see it from a behavioural perspective instead.
Tactically, we know free content is a great customer acquisition tool, but could there be more to it…
Rethink your content strategy for engaging Senior Decision-makers
There are many frameworks and strategies that we can use to create content that educates, engages and spreads our message. For example, the Smart Insights Content Marketing Matrix helps review which content is effective in different parts of the marketing funnel. When it comes to tailoring content for our buyer personas it’s an obvious process; build content that solves a problem.
There’s another side to this though. If you’re trying to engage the C-Suite, or any senior decision maker for that matter, then the typical method of content marketing may not work. This is because they operate on a different level than your typical prospect.
There are a few reasons that you may want to target the C-Suite:
1. Enterprise sales; or any type of sales opportunities worth 6 to 7 figures.
2. Business development opportunities; connecting and partnering with complimentary organisations that would really move…
How to avoid the all-too-common mistakes of using infographics
Infographics have been around for centuries. According to the infographic entry on Wikipedia, one of the first IGs was published in Rosa Ursina sive Sol in which infographics were used to visually demonstrate the sun’s rotation patterns.
Fast-forward to today and infographics have exploded in popularity! Simply typing 'infographic' into the Google Search bar pulls up more than 15,500,000 results. Visual content is taking over the web, with more people sharing visual content than text or links.
But first, let’s ask whether infographics should be part of a wider content marketing strategy. Of course they should be. It’s a no-brainer, right? But if it's so obvious, why do we see so many one-hit infographic wonders? Many infographics are created in isolation to illustrate a trend or to convey stats without any other content types to support or complement them.
Instead, infographics…
