4 Tips to Ease Top 4 Content Marketing Challenges

Top 4 Content Marketing Challenges

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  Top content marketing challenges as reported by the Content Marketing Institute

  Content Marketing Challenge #1: Time

57% of content marketers report being challenged with a lack of time. With small teams and a stacked workload time is always a concern.

• Content Marketing Challenge #2: Engagement

51% of content marketers report being challenged with producing content that will engage their audience.

• Content Marketing Challenge #3: Budget

48% of content marketers report being challenged by a lack of budget.

• Content Marketing Challenge #4: Quantity

45% of content marketers report being challenged with producing enough content to build an effective program.

Each and every one of these concerns is completely justified. I have been, and occasionally I still am, concerned with the same issues. But here’s the thing, as marketers we need to constantly search for creative out-of-the-box solutions to problems. Content marketing is no different, and UGC can help you settle some of your content marketing challenges.

The Emergence and Power of UGC

UGC is loosely defined as media produced in an open collaboration, often between a brand and its audience. Emerging onto the tech scene in 2005 with the likes of eBay and into the news cycle with the BBC, UGC has arguably become the most prominent form of content on the web. Today UGC is present on literally every ecommerce website to some degree, every news website and entire industries have been built based on user content (social networks would be nothing without UGC). Every review you read on Amazon and eBay, the t-shirts you see designed on CafePress, every video you see on YouTube and Vimeo, all of Facebook, every Tweet, all of it is UGC. Its power is undeniable.

In addition to the prominence of UGC across the Internet, the world has also begun to recognize it as a truly unbiased and authentic form of media. Similar to how brands employ PR to seek unbiased 3^rd party validation from journalists and news media, UGC is trusted as unbiased because it is created by the masses, not brands or governments. While one individual piece of UGC content may not represent the entire story or trend, in aggregate UGC can point to trends and sentiments across the globe, change opinions and provide the people with a collective voice.

What does this mean for your brand? Does it mean you should employ customer comments on your website this minute? Should you run out and ask your customers to help you design your new t-shirt? Maybe, but that isn’t the point. The point is two fold:

1. There is so much content in the digital world that you have an endless supply of relevant information, right at your finger tips, you just need to know where to look and how to use it for your business.
2. Your customers/fans love to create content, and if approached in the right way, they just may create amazing content for your brand.

Brands who recognize the power of UGC and harness it for their programs are developing the most authentic and effective marketing. Instead of preaching their story to customers (advertising), brands allow their fans to join in creating and narrating their story. At Thismoment we call it collaborative storytelling, and the best brand marketers are taking it to the next level.

How UGC Can Ease Content Marketing Challenges

If we look at the list of content marketing challenges identified above, we can quickly identify how to employ UGC to settle some concerns, quickly opening the doors to successful content marketing programs.

• Content Marketing Challenge Tip #1: Use UGC to Help With Time Challenges

When looking at a content marketing program most marketers get hung up on the time it will take to create great content. The assumption is that for a content marketing program to work you need to create 100% unique content. This simply isn’t true. With hundreds of millions of pieces of content being uploaded to the Internet everyday there are likely a few hundred YouTube videos, Tweets, blog posts and news articles that will help you with your content project. Look to existing content on the web and learn how to repurpose or curate it for your own use. And best of all, content marketing SaaS (specifically Thismoment) has taken steps to help you secure rights clearance.

• Content Marketing Challenge Tip #2: Use UGC to Help With Engagement

Marketers know that the most engaging content on the Interest is genuine, entertaining and often comes from the minds of their own customers. How many times have you laughed at a video on YouTube that was created by a clever kid with a video camera? How any times have you marveled at how amazing it is for that very video clip to receive millions of views and comments? The video works because it is genuine and came into the world without obvious commercial intent. That same video, with equal potential for engagement, can be harnessed for your marketing program (assuming it fits your business model). Or better yet, you can engage with your audience to create content on your behalf by requesting videos or other media as part of a promotion or contest. You have customers and fans, put them to work in your marketing campaigns.

• Content Marketing Challenge Tip #3: Use UGC to Help With Budget Challenges

Best of all UGC is free, or relatively inexpensive. One of the main concerns with content creation is that it is extremely expensive to create content, especially in the scale that is needed for a substantial program. By employing UGC you can tap into endless existing pieces of content across the Internet or tap into your fan/customer base to create content as needed based on campaign specifics.

• Content Marketing Challenge Tip #4: Use UGC to Help With Content Quantity Concerns

I imagine this paragraph is unnecessary. If you have been following along you know that UGC, like the universe, is ever expanding and infinite. There are zero limitations on quantity. If you need a video of a baby monkey riding backwards on a pig to promote your Monkey Kibble campaign, you’ll find it. Entice the creator to grant permission to use it by offering major exposure to their content, once granted you have an amazing piece of relevant and credible content.

No, UGC is not a magic bullet, it will not solve every content marketing challenge and I don’t intend to over simplify the issue. I do hope that considering UGC offers a new way to think about your own content marketing challenges. Remember, you do not need to create every piece of content from scratch, you do not need to pay a lot for content, and if done right it will be remarkably engaging. Better yet, today you can easily tap into amazing content marketing software specifically designed to help you blend both branded content and UGC into engaging playlists for your campaigns. It’s the best of both worlds.

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Social Media Trend Predictions For 2012

At the end of each and every year, we tend to look back and try to identify the most significant events that recently emerged so we can predict trends that will continue to grow well into the New Year and reshape social media.

2011 was a big year for social media and web technology. We saw trends like Rebecca Black getting more views on her "Friday" video at a faster pace compared to Justin Bieber, a huge shift in Internet services moving to the cloud, and the launch of the now very popular Google+ social network.

There's a lot to take into account and nobody could ever accurately predict what will happen in the future, but it's interesting to try anyway. Here are a few social media predictions we are expecting to see in 2012.

A bigger shift in social media toward branding, customer service and B2B marketing.

It has become increasingly more important for businesses to invest in social media for promoting their products or services and for communicating with customers. In time, businesses won't be able to afford NOT to use social media for marketing.

In 2012, more businesses should be paying closer attention to blog posting, content marketing and interacting with customers through networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Of course, while social media has always traditionally been embraced by the B2C (business-to-consumer) sector, it's also expected that B2B (business-to-business) branding through social media will experience significant growth 2012.

Relevant and measurable social media influence.

Social media influence has been a touchy subject in 2011, especially after Klout changed their scoring algorithm. Some people argue that you simply can't measure a person's true influence with a number, while others say that social influence measurement will continue to play a large role in an individual or company's social media activity.

It may be long after 2012 when we see a real, significant impact by the measurement of social influence given that social influence is in its "embryo" stage. Still, sites like Klout, Kred and PeerIndex should continue to grow in popularity and complexity throughout the New Year.

Social television converging with traditional television.

Don't be surprised to see traditional TV and the internet converge and reshape the way we choose how, when and why we watch television in 2012.

It sounds like Apple will be launching a new product or service involving television in the near future, and we already love using Internet services like Hulu, Netflix, YouTube and others to watch our favorite shows on demand.

In 2012, it looks like all of our media devices including our television sets, computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones could come together to offer us more social and sharable television experiences that we can enjoy whenever we want.

Social media affecting search results.

Search engines like Google are continuously perfecting their algorithms, and they'd be out of their minds to ignore the shift toward social media relevance. Google recently made some tweaks to their search algorithm that now returns more timely and recently published content in search results.

For websites and company's that have blogs updated frequently, the integration of social media into search engine results is important. Moreover, search results are getting a lot more personal and customized to individual preferences, especially now with the integration of Google+.

Pages that have previously been shared by your network on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ rank higher in your own search results. However, For somebody else's search results for the same keyword may look comparably different because their network of friends shares different content.

Expect to see your search results move even more toward social relevance in 2012.

Facebook taking sharing to a whole new level.

At the time of this writing, Facebook has not yet fully rolled out its new Timeline profile to all users and people still have to press the "like" button manually to share content with their friends on Facebook.

Eventually, Facebook sharing will become automatic. When you're reading a blog post on your favorite blog or watching a YouTube video from one of your favorite creators, it will be shared automatically via open graph sharing.

To sum it up, Facebook is way ahead of all the other social networks out there and will likely become the web's default sharing platform in the coming years. Get ready to see those huge changes (including automatic sharing) start to roll out in 2012.

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4 Significant Social Media Trends To Watch For In 2012

It was a great year for social media. A number of changes have been made in order for social platforms to improve and enhance their services for users. Aside from that they’re monetizing their services through paid social advertising like Twitter’s Promoted Tweets. Monetizing social platform services is crucial due to the fact that social networks are now becoming a marketplace and need funding to sustain their free services. 

Social ads are also overwhelming Mark Zuckerberg’s social network. Facebook is considered a destination-location for marketers and customers. Heck, Facebook is the “Internet” for some people, I heard some people are typing queries directly into Google’s Facebook page. Funny, but true. It makes me wonder how social search will improve next year. Social media and SEO shouldn’t go against each other after all, both could work in synergy. 

And with the increasing use of social media, some improvements were made to enhance the functionality of each social platform. I’ve rounded up a few notable changes in the social media landscape this year which I’m sure will determine how social platforms will be used to enhance marketing campaigns and brand awareness. And of course, increase ROI as well. 

The Rise of Mobile Sites 

We live in a world of “instant”. When people want instant information then they’ll access the Web using smartphones and other mobile devices. The solution? Create mobile sites to establish a online mobile presence. But don’t just make one, we all know that creating mobile sites is still a work in progress yet it’ll grow fast! According to Gartner, more users will turn to their mobile devices for online purposes rather than using their PCs in 2013. It’s already happening because this year saw consumers using their smartphones than laptops and desktops. 

So if your company or product has a mobile site, then you exist. It’s a must-have because people think that owning a smartphone is a necessity. and this is why Google launched the GoMo initiative to help local businesses create their own mobile sites. Mobile sites will absolutely help SMEs increase ROI. With mobile sites, there’s a bonus because whenever people check-in to your physical store then it’s instant PR for you! Mobile is now the latest destination-location for businesses and potential customers. If you have a mobile site then your business exists. 

UGC Will Pave The Way For Social SEO 

Social SEO won’t be a buzzword for long. It’s starting to be realized with the help of Google Places, Yelp, and Zagat. So how is it helping businesses and pave the way for Social SEO? Reviews and ratings. 

User-generated content is arguably the biggest asset of any social platform. Every platform thrives on UGC which fuels interaction. When people are talking about your product or service through reviews, it increases your SEO in a “social” way. We all know that review sites aren’t new, but as the world becomes more social people will most likely to listen to what other customers will say rather than be mesmerized by fancy ads. 

Aside from reviews, location marketing vital to Social SEO and vice versa. A recent eye-tracking studyby Mediative showed that people who search for business information using Google have paid more attention to the results that have a Google Places listing. Users tend to check out the sites that carry social content like user reviews and feedbacks aside from the description provided by a business. So what does this suggest? People will notice ads but will pay more attention to customer reviews. The age of user-generated content is here. 

If You Have An App, Then You Exist 

Mobile is the future and your product needs to have an app to establish itself to more mobile users. Every year there’s an increase in Android users, and we all know Google continues to augment the Android platform with its Motorola acquisition. It’s more than a complementary product and an enhancement to your mobile website. Having an app broadens the marketing reach of your product or service. 

Aside from mobile, it’s also a must to provide an app for tablets because people are most likely to access the Web and search for content using an iPad or an Android tab nowadays. A study from the Pew Research Center and The Economist Group shows that 77% of tablet owners use their devices daily with an average of 90 minutes per day. If you have a firm presence on one of the most-widely used devices today then you increase brand awareness. 

So how does an app enhance a product? It’s simple, not everyone is tech-savvy and will need the most basic and useful app to mess with. Key is to always update an app to enhance the product and vice versa, just like Facebook is launching a Timeline app on the iPad for users to get acquainted with Facebook’s new Timeline features. 

Real-Time Social Advertising 

Let’s face it. Everyone hates interruptions which makes us hate pesky ads. Good thing people are spending an ubiquitous amount of time when it comes to social networking. People are browsing Internet rather than watching TV nowadays. And Facebook is the “Internet” for most people. I reckon that Internet users increase as Facebook’s numbers grew. So even if the Facebook launches the Ticker and Timeline feature for them to launched real-time ads, people can’t do anything about it because Facebook is free. 

For marketers, it’s an opportunity spend some budget on social ads because Facebook’s ad targeting will give your marketing campaign a boost. And with the launch of the Facebook’s Ticker, Twitter’s Promoted Tweets, and Google’s YouTube ads, 2012 will show how social platforms capitalize on their biggest asset which is user data. Social platforms need to monetize their services to make it free, so real-time ads like it or not will invade your regular social networking habits.

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