One of the main reasons people search for and share blogs is because they are looking for advice. Think about the last time you had a question. Where did you go? I would wager that you turned to Google or one of the major social networks and received a plethora of blog articles filled with lists. If your content isn’t getting any love, it is very possible that it doesn’t solve a problem. Every piece of content you produce should be useful in some way. While narratives have their place, problem solving content truly generates social engagement and website clicks. You might have noticed the trend that blog titles have become more teasing and in the vein of storytelling. This type of content DOES pick up some traction on social sites; however I would suggest that it is more beneficial for a brand to provide problem solving content with staying power. People love to establish themselves as knowledgeable on social media sites and your content should help them.

Based on a recent study, Buzzfeed was named as the top publisher on Facebook. What two main themes do we see in the content that Buzzfeed publishes? Lists and pictures! Buzzfeed is successful because they have mastered the art of communication through images. Some of their articles barely have any text. The point here is that people love images, especially if they help move the communication along. Try to infuse your content with fun images that support the message of the content. Nobody likes boring visuals. Another item of note here is that Facebook recently overhauled their link previews to pull in larger, more obvious images into the news feed. Equip your blog with images that are at least 1200 x 630 pixels and use proper Open Graph tags. You can find a decent guide here or install the Yoast WordPress SEO plugin as it has that feature. At the end of the day, your content strategy needs images AND text that tell the story or solve the problem.

One of the biggest problems I have encountered with brands trying to figure out why their content isn’t working on social media is that they are producing content that isn’t FOR their community. They are producing content that they THINK the community wants. This might work in some instances, however to truly produce content that resonates with your social community you have to know who they are and what interests them. Try to find out as much information as you can about your community and tailor content specifically for them. All social channels have some sort of analytics available, so use that information to create a profile of your community. Keep in mind, your demographics might shift between the different social channels. Overall, here is what I recommend looking at:

• Age – Define the major age range of your community.
• Gender – This is pretty self-explanatory.
• Location – Geographic location can influence what content will and won’t work.
• Language – Does your community speak multiple languages? Should you post in multiple languages?
• Interests – If you are using Facebook Ads this should be pretty easy, otherwise you will need to do some testing. What is your target demographic talking about online?

Once you have these demographic pillars, you can calibrate your content creation and distribution strategy to fit your target. There will always be a need for adjustment, however I recommend this approach because it saves you from your gut instinct (which can be wrong) and forces you to use actual data.

In the previous point, I mentioned calibrating a content distribution strategy. A content distribution strategy is very important because you need to know where your target demographic spends time online, how you need to speak to them, how often and the structure of the post. Are you going to post everything you have to all social channels every day? Are you going to publish a ton of content on your site but only share certain posts to certain channels? All of these questions need to be answered. In an ideal world, your content would be relevant to everyone everywhere at all times. However, experience shows us that we need to tailor the content to fit the distribution channel. Certain titles work great on Facebook, but are too long for Twitter. Hashtags work wonders on Googe+, Twitter and Instagram but have been pretty underwhelming on Facebook. Perhaps Pinterest is the best place for your content to live if it is very image rich. At the end of the day, creating content that is in-line with your desired demographic is only half of the battle. You need a plan on how to get the content in front of them.

Do you have any other reasons why content marketing strategies fail? Tell us in the comment section!

12 Most Clever Maneuvers for Your Twitter Content Strategy

I wrote not too long ago about how to use Google Analytics for your content strategy. I decided to turn that same train of thought to other arenas like social networking. It isn’t always as easy as it looks to determine what is working, what we should share, and who even cares.

I am hoping this list will help you shed some light about how to think critically about the traffic that comes to you from outside your website or search. In this first post we are going to tackle Twitter because it is my favorite of all social networks — it is teeming with data that anyone can grab if they are looking for it.

Here are 12 tips on making the most of what Twitter has to offer:

1. Search

One thing people don’t realize is that you can insert a URL into Twitter search and it will show you all the related tweets — no matter what URL shortner was used! You can also see the top tweeters and any responses that share the URL but not your username.

2. Isolate Twitter in your Google Analytics

Here is a great tip: you can create a custom segment for your Google Analytics. You can isolate all your Twitter traffic this way — SEO Moz tells you how. You might be surprised to see that your blog performs differently than it does in search. You can apply your segment to following reports to guide your content strategy for the platform.

3. Analyze your followers

In the realm of social media, you are what you put out into the world. We would expect all our followers to be people interested in our Tweets, but not so — that is watered down by many things outside of our control.

I use Followerwonk to analyze this effect. Since Twitter became a marketing tool, I ended up with a lot of people following me who are not my primary audience. So, I need a way to root these people out. Go to Followerwonk and use their “compare Twitter users” feature. Choose your own username and someone in your niche with more success. See if your followers overlap. A higher percentage means you are attracting a similar crowd (or at least attracting attention from the same bots).

The caveat — if you are following the same people there will be a higher percentage of overlap. So, this might not be 100% effective, but I have found it useful in the past. It depends on which Twitter name you use to filter the results.

4. Write for Twitter

Actually you can create content that is completely optimized for Twitter. All of your SEO value is not in Google alone. Take advantage of how people share and note the following:

1. They are probably using an app or mobile device —  your website needs to be able to handle that.
2. Keep it brief, about a paragraph or so.
3. You can put in @usernames and #hashtags in your titles and they will appear linked on Twitter.
4. Great for tips, breaking news, or research.

5. Add to the conversation

I know, I know — I rush things sometimes. I automate much of my promotion, which does not get you very far. Try to add some commentary to what you share — you might Tweet less, but you might be able to make it more relevant to others.

6. Share with your closest friends

Twitter is a social platform, so be social. Instead of sharing right away, choose two or three friends (fans) that have a strong interest in your chosen topic. Start a conversation around it and ask for their thoughts. This is far more enlightening and will strengthen your bonds with others.

Don’t use the broadcast aspect of Twitter as an excuse to not build any relationships. It doesn’t have to be that way. It depends on how you use the platform.

7. Brand your short URL

Bit.ly has an amazing feature that allows you to brand your url. Use a tool like domainr to find an available domain you can use for your short links. Then buy that domain. The setup is complicated, but doable with some patience. Unless you sign up for a premium service, the shortener only works for links you create. Still, it gives you free advertising everywhere you share even when it is not your creation.

8. Mind your Twitter ratings

I think of click through rates on Twitter like ratings. You can use Followerwonk or SocialBro to check out your demographics and see when your followers are tuned in. You can use TweetReach to see your potential exposure for your content. You should be tracking your click throughs with bit.ly or similar. Use these tools to come out with your own ratings report. How much of your target audience were you able to capture?

9. Don’t neglect your bio

There are many things you can do with a Twitter bio. I include two links, one in the Twitter URL and one in the bio itself. I use this for a call to action and I never have to send an auto-DM.

10. 20:80 rule

I believe in that good old quote, “Speak softly and carry a large stick.” I apply that to social media with the 20:80 rule. I try to promote others 80% of the time and self-promote only 20%. But, I never ever skimp on effort when I write. The big stick here is a reputation for quality.

The surest sign of success is when you no longer have to say “look at me.”

11. Respond

It kills me when I see some thoughtful Tweets sent to individuals who fail to respond. I mean, why are they online if not to create a dialogue? There are mitigating factors around this — be dutiful when you have the time to get back to people; they will remember it forever.

12. Don’t Spam

Just don’t, I mean, don’t. Rachel Thompson has you covered with all the reasons why.

Next time I will be covering Google+ , which I know people have a lot of questions about. What are your concerns when it comes to getting the most for your efforts? Perhaps we can help each other out by crowdsourcing our knowledge.

If you arrived here from Google, the chances are you want to get your hands on the latest content marketing news. You have probably consumed more ebooks, blog posts, videos, webcasts and infographics about content marketing over the last couple of years than you ever thought was possible. You are probably an Econsultancy member, participated in at least three workshops where content marketing and social media were deconstructed, reconstructed and then tumble-dried. Not really, but you get the picture. We are bombarded (some may say overloaded) with content marketing information and opinion; naturally this is demand-led.

This demand starts at the consumer. According to TMG Custom Media, 58% of consumers trust editorial content and want to interact with brands because of it. In fact, 78% of CMO’s believe custom content is the future of marketing. For B2B the stats are a concrete business case; 91% of B2B businesses use content marketing to generate leads, according to the Content Marketing Institute.

A large percentage of marketers do outsource their content marketing (62% according to Mashable). The role of an agency is probably best left to another article but it’s fair to say that becoming accountable and transparent and have a clear niche is vital. Historically, agencies have squirrelled away their secrets and processes but with the huge amount of resources readily available, marketers can freely become content marketing experts with a bit of hard work. So, why would you use an agency if you have all the skills required for your business to become a quality content house?

Knowing about content marketing and creating a shift in marketing teams to think differently is harder than it might seem. Moving away from a traditional push led approach to a publishing approach takes guts, training and new skill sets. Hiring an editorial director or content director can help; they really should have publishing skills, great outreach & relationship-building and an in-depth knowledge of your audiences. Do you have this person?

If you are already on top of a clear content strategy, have an editorial framework in place and create enough, quality content you probably don’t need to be talking to a content house like us. But, bear in mind, one of the dangers of doing everything in-house means that you aren’t necessarily as open-minded as combining internal know-how with a fresh point of view; being exposed to new ways of thinking and new insights can open up new possibilities and experience from other markets. The most successful content marketers know this and use a combination of skills for optimum content output.

If you are getting the rankings that you want, then there is no need to change? With many SEO agencies moving towards content creation, you may think that an existing provider can cover content for you. Be aware that many SEO agencies are there to create content purely for Google. A content marketing agency or content creation agency will do more than this. The big difference is that they may be completely focused on your consumer, not Google. In the long run this creates much better quality content that will get shared and found.

Managing agency and supplier relationships is time consuming. So, it’s a fair enough viewpoint to think that one of your existing suppliers can take on content. As it is the convergence of a few skills, SEO, PR and digital agencies are offering a ‘content marketing’ service. But, are they specialist enough? Using a content creation specialist gives you access to essential publishing skills; story-telling, research-led reporting, visualisers. Not to mention the expertise of running a successful publishing schedule.

This is invariably true! In B2C and B2B cases, you are a mouth-piece for your organisation; you live and breathe the values, insight and customer experience. You have your finger on the pulse of the reports, analytics and stats that surround your business.  However, bringing in people who have content ideation and production running through their veins is an important part in any storytelling. Would you expect to see a Hollywood movie made by anything other than a director; who’s sole focus is to tell the story in the most compelling way? We bet not. Taking that over to the ‘real’ world; brand managers & subject matter experts are the source of the story; they will work much better with the master craftsmen who can shape and deliver that story.

What are your experiences? Do you outsource your content, manage it in-house or use a combination?

25 Useful Content Marketing Stats From 2013

Beyond The Infographic: Content Marketing Trends For 2014

The White Horse Blogger Outreach Guide

Digital Insight: High Net-Worth Individuals Transact and Communicate Online More Than We Think

Current Articles |  RSS Feed

Trigger an emotion and your content gets shared and retweeted

t zusje tivoli

The first post that started it all had a small audience

Last monday, september 2nd, Kees Ripmeester manager of restaurant ''t Zusje' in Oudenbosch (a small town in the Netherlands), placed a video on this Facebook page. Kees had only 50 Facebook Friends at the time of this status update, which isn't an extreme high amount (currently he already has 165). But someone in his network shared the video, and then another person reshared it again, and again… and soon it was picked up by the local media, national news papers and radio stations before it spread to neighboring countries.

It's the story of a robbery. A burglar takes a large LCD flatscreen TV, 2 laptops and 3 bottles of whiskey with him in the middle of the night. Not that uncommon as you can see in the next graph depicting some unwanted BuzzEvents in the Netherlands.

Robbery and other BuzzEvents in the Netherlands

What makes this video special?

There is no reason why this video would go viral if it wasn't for some strange action the burglar took which is unexpected and mysterious. After about an hour he returns to the crime scene. He surprisingly re-installs the very heavy LCD-TV on the wall, and even collects the stolen cables to connects them to the device! The laptops and the bottles of whiskey he kept. In the past we've seen more of these burglars, some even leave apology notes at the scene. They belong to a rare species indeed which keeps you wondering.

People share items that amaze them and this video is quite amazing. At the time we write this only 4 days have past since the video was uploaded to Facebook.

We created the following Buzz Search: burglar AND oudenbosch AND (hotel OR restaurant) to see how many publications we could find in the past days. Since this is a one time search we didn't create a new BuzzReport. Instead we used our MediaSearch which enables ad-hoc reporting:

All of these publications are tagged with the BuzzEvent "Robbery" as you can see in the following graph. In our blogpost 'Can computers tell us what happened without us reading?' we'll demonstrate how these kind of tags help you make sense of a huge bunch of publications without ever actually reading one. 

And below we see it was published in all well known news media in the Netherlands:

The story also travelled on Twitter:

Tweets about the burglary in Oudenbosch

All Tweets are mentioning the fact that the burglar returned the TV. An ordinary robbery would not have gained this exposure.

What can we learn from this as marketing and communication professionals?

Try to make your audience feel something

Not only should you educate people, make them smarter, help them in making decisions, but to be really effective at your work it's best to also make them feel something. People may share and retweet your message if it makes them feel appreciated, funny, intellectual, artistic or social. In this case people probably shared because it's surprising, unexpected and mysterious and... because they want to help identify and find the thief. So think about emotions when you write your next article. Write a blogpost, a Facebook update or a tweet that can spike an interest and evoke a feeling. In reward your content will get shared more often and you'll reach a bigger audience. 

Know which emotion to evoke. Not all emotions are alike in the response they get. Note this works both ways: A sad tweet won't result in many retweets, but an angry tweet can arouse a whole crowd. So, suppose you're monitoring your brand on social media and notice an angry tweet this should be your highest priority to manage.

Using BuzzTalk you can monitor the mood states in publications surrounding your branche or industry.

Measure the impact of your work in cash

In the example of the remorseful burglar we measured the value of this news item the same way we would assess the value of a press release. The advertising value equivalency of the news articles online is nearly 77K EUR. You can monitor this in time and/or benchmark it against other news stories.

For a bit of fun, say 'Tottenham Hotspur'. Google will search for the greatest team in the world (guest opinion - Ed), and then read out an up to date fact, perhaps the latest result and information about the next match.

Next, click the microphone again and ask a related question, such as 'how old are they?' Google will then show you the Wikipedia information about the club. Ask another question, such as 'where do they play?' and Google will show you information about White Hart Lane.

So, that is Hummingbird in a nutshell - a clever way of linking queries so that, instead of starting each search from scratch, Google can show you more pertinent information related to your previous search.

How does Hummingbird relate to content marketing?

Linking searches in this way turns the search experience into more of a conversation. You shouldn't require a degree in astro-physics to work out where this is going to go. The search engine will soon be able to predict what we want before we know to ask it. That's where the connection to content marketing comes in.

Think about it. If someone has landed on your website having searched for something, there's a strong chance they will have another query that needs answering. Online content publishing has evolved radically, due to a number of factors.

There used to be a trend for creating endless articles full of repeated keywords because Google would reward sites with lots of fresh content and because the repeated use of keywords would help rankings.

That changed when Google decided that too much of the stuff reaching the top of the results lacked substance or any genuine value. Recently, the trend has been to produce more long-form content, where more information can be included in one article. Some long-form articles are long enough to be ebooks.

Now, Hummingbird should make us all re-think about the way we plan and write content. There's an excellent logic to it and, applied properly, websites should be better for it. 

Understanding intent is the key to thinking like Hummingbird

In a nutshell, think about why people are looking for something rather than what they are looking for. A content strategy should be designed to answer their needs, not just provide them with facts.

Hummingbird links different websites together to answer questions, but if you follow the same logic, you can plan a chain of connected pieces of information on your website. 

Let's use white goods as an example, specifically washing machines. A retailer might feature a range of washing machines, with images and specifications and that might be that, but there are several things a buyer might want to know at different stages of the sales cycle.

Here are some examples of content that could match the intent of these users.

Hummingbird thought process

Top of the funnel: just looking for information 

• How do washing machines work?
• What's the difference between bio and non-bio washing?
• How much electricity do washing machines use?
• Which washing machines are made in the UK?
• Does hard water damage washing machines?

Middle of the funnel: shopping around, exploring options 

• Top washing machine brands compared
• What different functions are available on washing machines?
• Which washing machines are most energy efficient?
• How long does the average wash cycle take?
• What's the best detergent to use in a washing machine? 

Bottom of the funnel: ready to buy, comparing retailers and prices 

• What delivery and installation options are available?
• What do customer reviews say about xxxxxxx?
• How easy is it to install?
• How noisy is it - in comparison with other machines?
• Compare prices

After sales care: information for customers 

• How does the guarantee work? Do you fix it on site?
• Do I need to keep checking the filter?
• Help with the program - it seems to have an error
• Why is powder collecting in the detergent tray?
• Which program is best for different washes? 

Now you need to connect it all together 

Following the Hummingbird mentality, you need to connect dots for the user with a logical process.

If they want to know one thing, there may be other relating things or follow-on questions they want answers to. Any one of the ideas above could be broken down into a series of helpful articles, or link to video guides or instructographics.

The key is to avoid dead ends but also to avoid making the user have to hunt around to find the answers. You don't want to break it down so much that they feel they are being led through a labyrinth with a never-ending array of answers. Your aim is to solve their problem, but sometimes you can't solve everyone's problem on one page.

Think about how different pieces of information can be linked together so that users can find these related articles in a way that is easy to navigate. Information architecture is a skill in itself.

How does this all help with content marketing?

So, you have used the Hummingbird mentality to create content that answers natural questions in a way that covers all the bases. What this should give you is two things,  depending on how it is all published.

First, you should be better placed to benefit from search results, because you have content that answers specific, niche questions. Second, such helpful content is the kind of stuff that customers might share socially and in forums, such as Ask Yahoo!, when they want to be helpful to others. 

Content-Marketing

Creating relevant, valuable content continues to be a top priority for B2B marketers in 2013 as they look to connect with qualified prospects. New social media features and platforms seem to constantly spring up, which can cause a bit of confusion for marketers determining where to concentrate their efforts. From a consumer's perspective, most product and service information is found through consumer reviews, how-tos, white-papers, research papers and social media channels. This increasing trend is forcing B2B markterers to invest more time and effort in developing high quality content to attract and retain their customers.

As 2013 closes out, here is a list of 10 content marketing statistics every B2B marketer should be aware of moving into the new year:

• LinkedIn creates more leads for B2B companies than Facebook, Twitter or Blogs, and only 47% of B2B marketers actively use the network (90% use Facebook). [Inside View

• 68% of B2B businesses use landing pages to generate new leads. [MarketingSherpa]

• B2B companies with blogs generate 67% more leads per month on average than companies without a blog. [Social Media B2B]

• This year, 50% of B2B marketers planned to increase their content marketing budgets.  [Marketing Profs]

• 62% of companies say they outsource content marketing. [Mashable]

• Two-thirds of B2B marketers say their biggest challenge is engaging decision makers. [Forrester Research]

• Articles with images get 94% more views. [Jeff Bullas]

• 61% of consumers say they are more likely to buy from a company that produces custom content. [Custom Content Council]

• Only 25% of B2B Marketers use content marketing for customer retention [SocialMediaB2B]

InTheCapital is a community publishing platform that helps local brands engage the District's smartest, savviest, fastest-growing audience. Learn how Channels and Custom Conent can help your brand connect with local consumers.