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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Turning Social User Generated Content into Sales

Like any good content marketer, you are consistently engaging your social media followers through contests, conversation-sparking posts, reader polls, and more. And while engagement is its own reward and all, you might still find yourself wondering how you can translate those interactions into sales for your business.

If you’ve mastered the art of getting your audience to engage with your brand on social media, you’re already headed in the right direction. When someone enters a photo contest, posts a video of themselves using your product, answers a poll, comments on their experience with your brand, etc., they are creating content for you. The next step is figuring out what you’re going to do about it.

According to the infographic below from SparkReel, 40% of consumers are seeking out user generated content of some kind before making a purchase. That’s where all your social engagements come in. Your job is to guide the potential customers out there to the content that your loyal followers have generated. Whether it’s creating a slideshow of entries from a photo contest, or highlighting social customer reviews in your web store, the possible uses of user generated content are endless. Get creative, and tell us what you came up with in the comments below!

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Marketing to Women: How To Get It Right

Surely in the 21st century we don’t need a post about how to market to women, do we? According to a recent report by She-conomy, women account for 85% of all consumer purchases including everything from autos to health care, andspend about $5 trillion annually, over half of the U.S. GDP. Women also dominate social sharing and are dominant content creators – according to The Conversation Index Report by bazaarvoice women produced 60% of user generated content in Q2 of 2011 and, interestingly, are generally more positive than men. You’d have thought marketers would appreciate the importance of the female demographic. And yet, according to the same report by She-conomy, 91% of women said that advertisers don’t understand them. So where is it all going wrong and, more importantly, which companies are getting it right?

 

1. Think outside your existing lines

While coffee outlets such as Starbucks saw a decrease in profits during the recent recession, McDonalds were able to build on their inexpensive image and add the McCafe outlets, offering up-market coffee, to their existing stores. Their advertising focused on fashionable, urban women, who had previously shunned their traditional reputation for unhealthy fast food. By adding salads and healthy options, and sponsoring events such as Fashion Week, McDonalds were able to entice a whole new demographic and actually increase worldwide sales by 7% during the economic downturn.

2. Don’t stereotype women

Companies who think that marketing to women involves designing with pastel colors and pink bows are going to alienate the majority of their market. Women respond to advertising that uses positive female role models and that shows them in a strong and powerful role.

The 2010 Kia Soul commercial featured professional golfer Michelle Wie beating the men at their own game at the golf club, looking cool and confident. This was just one of several marketing campaigns, but Kia’s monthly sales rose 44% in 2011 compared to 2010.

3. Focus on design and practicality

You don’t need to have separate marketing for men and women if you focus on good design and usability. Apple are a great example of a successful brand who have universal appeal; the beauty of their designs, their color options, ease of use and intuitive features appeal to women without alienating men. Their advertising reflects their gender-neutral, non age-specific appeal, with emphasis on the usability and adaptability of the products.

4. Know who is buying your product

Realizing that women are the primary purchasers of household items, Nivea For Men targeted women in a campaign to persuade them of the benefits of buying male grooming products for their partners. This was only one strand of their marketing but it was hugely successful in introducing men to grooming products initially.

5. Understand the differences between men and women… without being patronizing

Until fairly recently, Nike had an high-testosterone image (Just Do It) and their advertising featured top male athletes shown in winning scenarios. They had 50% of the market share of the men’s fitness market, but only 20% of Nike’s revenue came from women’s products. Nike changed its focus, communicating with women to understand how they relate to sport and performance, and the decisions they take in purchasing sportswear. The result was advertising that emphasized how sport fitted in with their active lifestyles and showed regular women taking part in sport. Previously, Nike’s shoes for women were modeled on smaller versions of their men’s shoes, but new designs catered for women’s different body shapes and movements, with more lines emphasizing a fashionable look.

6. Recognize real women

The default argument used by advertisers for not only featuring women who are unattainably thin and representative of the narrowest standards of beauty, but in then Photoshopping them beyond all recognition, is that ‘real’ women don’t sell beauty products.

Dove’s Real Beauty campaign (begun in 2004) changed the face of the beauty advertising industry. With award-winning short films such as The Evolution of Beauty, and commercials featuring older or standard-sized women, Dove sought to show that ‘real’ women are in fact beautiful, as beauty is not to be found in perfection. What was even more startling (to the beauty industry) was that Dove’s sales skyrocketed: women could relate to the images and the message of positive self-esteem.

If brands are going to look to increase their market share into the 21st century, they are going to have to look beyond superficial marketing ploys and understand that the women’s market isn’t a niche: it’s a driving force.

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Pinterest: B2B Boards That Will Dazzle Your Clients

Consumer brands have been on Pinterest for a while, since it's the best suited platform for visible content. With 48.7 million users (April 2013) and explosive growth, there's big potential even for b2b companies to establish themselves on the platform.

I'm going to guide you through 5 essential rules for creating a Pinterest account for your b2b that will attract and engage your b2b clients.

First, some Pinterest stats:

• 26% of online b2b marketers used Pinterest to distribute content during 2012.
• Pinterest referrals spend 70% more money than visitors referred from non-social channels.
• Visitors from Pinterest are 10% more likely to make a purchase over other major social media sites.
• Pinterest users spend 10% more money on average than Facebook and Twitter users.
• Pinterest appears to be the stronger vehicle for brand association: 43% of Pinterest members agree that they use Pinterest to “associate with retailers or brands with which we identify,” compared to just 24% of Facebook users who agree to the same use with Facebook.

Rule #1: Dedicate time!

In the early days of social media, social media accounts were handled somehow "on the side" of traditional marketing activities. Very little time and resources were dedicated to online interactions, and social media were treated as another advertising space were one could place their ad and leave.

As social media evolves, the audience has become more demanding. As the world is spinning faster every day, people begin to treat Twitter as the new helpline: when they tweet a business, they demand instant response.

It means that resources needed for social media can't be neglected anymore. Our prediction is that in the future for a marketing department of 10, about 9 people will be dedicated to social media marketing, and traditional marketing tasks will been down-sized to possible 1 full-time position.

Action point: Handling social media is not about sending out one or two random posts per day. It requires strategic planning as well as creativity and the ability to handle interactions promptly. Dedicate a proper amount of time for those taking care of your Pinterest, Twitter or whatever platform you choose to be on!

Rule #2: Use bold images!

No matter what, Pinterest is for visual pinning. Make an effort to find eye-catching, emotional images, since those are the ones who are shared the most.

Don't think stock photos. People don't pin what they've seen a thousand times before. They pinsurprising, original content.

If you're not a skilled photographer yourself, or haven't got the time - try a creative commons service,like photopin.com. Just remember to give credit to the source!

Rule #3: Create intriguing boards!

Don't pin all your content in one board!

Create different types of boards that gives your visitors a explicit overview of what's in there.

Give the boards clear, yet intriguing titles and choose the nicest image in there for the board cover.

Examples of different types of Pinterest boards

• Create a board for customer testimonials. Pin images with quotes from happy customers. Use pinwords.com or quozio.com to make pinable images of text.
• Tell the company story in a board. Pin images that feature your people and premises as well as images of the product/service.
• Create separate boards for webinars, whitepapers, articles and news.
• Create boards for the niche you operate within and pin related news and info.

Rule #4: Interact & Engage!

With your Pinterest boards in place, start to engage with potential and existing clients.

On Pinterest you may:

• Repin clients content.
• Comment on clients or potential clients pins (in a non-spammy way - no selling!)
• Invite certain people to pin on certain boards on your Pinterest account.

Rule #5: Share on social media!

 

Share your pins on social media like Twitter, Google+ and Facebook.

There's a much higher click-through rate from Pinterest than from any other social media at the moment, so it's definitely worth a try to direct your clients to your website via your Pinterest account.

Bonus: Two Hot Pinterest Infographics

Source: wishpond

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How, Why, When and Where You Should Host a Social Contest

When it comes to engaging your audience on any social network, there are some certain rules to stick to. In general, be engaged, ask questions and get to know your audience and your fans. This method of engagement works on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and even Pinterest. While this is definitely a good cornerstone for Social Media engagement, there are other things you can do occasionally to really stick it to 'em. Contests are a great way to increase engagement with your fans, customers, and followers. If done right, you will see a long lasting effect on your strategy and traffic.

Now, if there is anyone who loves a good contest, its me. I go nuts for them. In fact, I am a fan of many random pages on Facebook because they hosted a contest. And even though the contest is over and I didn't win, I'm still a fan.

HOW CONTESTS INCREASE ENGAGEMENT

Contests increases engagement in a number of different ways. We have defined engagement in previous posts, as interaction between the brand and the audience. This can be in the form of comments or shares. Contests in many ways bring both to the table.

1. Grows Your Fanbase

Contests are a great way to build your fan page and add followers. By making it mandatory for contest entrants to "like" your page, you are going to see that increase right away. You will also see an increase in likes/followers as a byproduct of the sharing entrants are doing. If you encourage contestants to share on their fan pages, or comment on specific actions, you will show up more on news feeds.

2. Builds your list

While growing your followers and fans is quite important to build your presence on the social web, never underestimate the value of an email address. This should be a mandatory field to enter. If you use Wildfire to host your contest (which I recommend) the contestant is opting in to receive marketing materials from you. This is important.

It is important to have opt-in emails for a variety of reasons. (First of all, they must be opt-in or you can get in big trouble.) The most important being continued communication with the fan. You can let them know about specials, deals, and even new contests. Don't worry about unsubscribes. If they unsubscribe, they weren't going to buy anything anyway. You'd rather have a solid list, than a large, uninterested list.

Hopefully, with the right prize you will be gathering a targeted list.

3. Gathers User Generated Content

There are many different types of contests that you can hold. The most engaging ones are those that are centered around user-generated content in some way. If you are unfamiliar with the term user-generated content, it simply means content that fans submit. This can be a photo, a video, an essay or even a testimonial. This content can be yours to use after contestants submit. Just make sure you put that in the rules and you should be good to go.

User-generated content is interesting to marketers because it shows a different side of the brand and often depicts a sentiment someone has about the brand. Fans also love their work to be shown, which can increase cross promotions. You can create a "Fan" section on your site to feature this type of content. We'll get more into that later.

4. Increases Conversations

Many photo contests allow people to comment and vote on entries. This is a great way to increase conversations around the brand and around the contest. Conversations are a key component to engagement. As I have mentioned many times before, encourage and embrace conversations.

5. Increases Exposure

Contests are great for increasing exposure for your brand. Not only will you reach a new audience, you will reach their friends as well. You will need to promote your contest for this to work, but if done right, you can reach a completely new audience that you didn't know existed.

6. Adds A Viral Element

A contest also adds a viral element. As you request your fans and contestants share their entry (if it is open to voting) or share the contest to for an additional entry, you will be seen on many new pages. If the content you receive is really great, that in itself has the opportunity to "go viral."

TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA CONTESTS

Contests are different than sweepstakes because they require input from the entrants. Sweepstakes are good for building your list, but they are less engaging. Each social network has a different kind of contest that works.

Facebook Contests

Photo contests work best on Facebook because it is a photo heavy site. The most important part of hosting a Facebook contest is knowing when to host it. Are you going to host it alongside a launch or a new product you are selling. What are your goals here. Do you want to drive awareness of a new product? Do you want to grow your list? Do you want to showcase work? All of these questions should be taken into consideration when planning your Facebook contest.

Another thing to consider is where you will host it? Will you build out a microsite and promote on Facebook? Or will you create a contest using Wildfire that will allow you to host your contest through a tab on your Facebook page.

Twitter Contests

Popular Twitter contests have included describe something in 140 tweets or less, or retweet to win. In my opinion you will be better off with something that requires effort. Perhaps it is a 140 character joke contest or a describe your dream in 140 characters or less. As long as there is something you are asking the contestants to do, you are going to find your engagement on the up. You can also use twitter for a photo contest by encouraging people to tweet a pic. Whenever you do a twitter contest make sure you promote your hashtag. This could be something you can brand in the future. It will also make your life a lot easier when it comes to finding the submissions. The problem with a Twitter contest is that you don't receive emails. To avoid this, you can ask the contestant to tweet their answer and send you the link with their email, name and other details via a form you create.

Pinterest Contests

The most popular type of Pinterest contest is the PinItToWinIt contest. I have done a few different types of PinItToWinIt contests and we received amazing traffic that is continuing. As everything on Pinterest stays on Pinterest for as long as that board remains you are likely to continue to get traffic for a long time. A good way to encourage traffic to drive back to your site is by creating the contest around Pinning things from your site. This way your site content shows up on many different boards. The more boards your content shows up on, the more traffic you are going to receive. Of course you want to make sure that your site has content that works with Pinterest.

To capture emails here you have to make sure that you have a form where they will submit their board, email, number and other details. In a future post I will show you a clients Pin It To Win It contest as a case study. I love Pinterest.

Instagram Contests

Instagram is a great place to host a photo contest. I have seen photo contests that last one day and some that last all month. I love the idea of using Instagram to host a contest because the use of hashtags are a lot of fun on that network. If you are a clothing brand you can host a #showusyourlook contest. If you are a hair studio, you can host a #bestbraid contest. Not only is there a lot of engagement with these types of contests, you will also get a lot of great content you can use as well as new ideas. The downside is gathering emails is a bit tougher. You can use a form for them to submit their picture (link), email, and other info you'd like to have.

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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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