Friday, September 30, 2016
#SocialSkim: Facebook's Enterprise Tool, Snapchat's Sunglasses: 11 Stories This Week
Among this week's headlines: 'Facebook at Work' to launch next month; Snapchat introduces Snap-taking connected glasses, rebrands; LinkedIn launches 'Learning,' gets cozy with new bot; four fatal LinkedIn prospecting errors; Millennials aren't shopping on social media... Read the full article at MarketingProfs
How Analytics Is Transforming Customer Loyalty Programs
Customer loyalty programs are crucial.
The goal of loyalty initiatives is to engage, not pander more products to frequent buyers.
But how do you determine if your loyalty program is working well?
Use data to steer your customer loyalty program in the right direction.
McKinsey found that “executive teams that make extensive use of customer data analytics across all business decisions see a 126% profit improvement over companies that don't.”
“By instituting a loyalty program, you not only improve customer appreciation of your business, but you also increase the chances that existing clients will share this joy with those close to them,” says Steve Olenski, a senior creative content strategist at Oracle Responsys.
Upgrade your loyalty program. Let's explore how.
Focusing on Retention
One primary mission of loyalty programs is to increase customer retention. You want buyers to remain with your brand after they make a purchase.
For your business, higher retention means a steady flow of revenue. And it cuts down on your costs to constantly acquire new customers.
Therefore, your loyalty programs must be effective. They need to serve a real purpose for the consumer, not just your bottom line.
To provide the best customer experience, fuse data into your retention strategies. It will impact how your team approaches the buyer.
“Influencing customer loyalty in this way doesn't require magic, it requires data – usually data that you already have but aren't using to full advantage. Regardless of industry, most organizations today generate mountains of data,” writes Mike Flannagan, vice president and general manager of Cisco.
Uncover the correlation between customer characteristics and purchasing behavior. Assign your team to analyze the current data of your most valuable customers. And learn which characteristics these customers have in common and which traits are dissimilar.
Consider data an ongoing process of observing, acting, and learning. Improve your loyalty programs by taking action on your insights. Measure success by monitoring your customer lifetime value, loyal customer rate, and redemption rate.
Start with retention. And let the data guide you to customer loyalty.
Targeted Product Recommendations
Research shows that “customers that are actively engaged with brands and their loyalty programs make 90% more frequent purchases, spend 60% more in each transaction and are five times more likely to choose the brand in the future.”
Sending targeted product recommendations is one way to keep customers engaged. Because if they are not receptive to certain products, consumers will feel more inclined to take their business elsewhere.
Integrate real-time purchase data with historical purchase data to make specific recommendations. For example, if a small business bought payroll software from you, their team might be interested in purchasing your series of on-demand accounting webinars.
“Consumer data must be analyzed to create highly targeted product recommendation offers. Analyze consumer data such as demographics, lifestyle, products purchased by category and type, frequency of purchase, and purchase value,” states Larisa Bedgood, director of marketing at DataMentors.
It's key not to draw wild conclusions from one piece of data. Just because a Florida resident buys a winter coat doesn't mean he wants to be flooded with similar recommendations. The consumer might have bought it as a gift for a friend living in Michigan.
So, gather multiple data points in order to make intelligent recommendations. You don't want to frustrate loyal customers.
Your brand also can take a different approach. Use social proof to your advantage. If consumers are hesitant about particular products, remind them that other people are buying the product, too.
Home Depot uses this tactic by displaying a list of bestselling inventory. It persuades the customer to join the crowd.
Sift through your analysis reports. Uncover the best product recommendations for your customers.
Timely Promotions
For customers, loyalty takes effort. They receive lots of promotional ads everyday to try products from other brands. Appreciating your consumer's urge to resist the hype is important.
Mobile phone carriers lead the way in baiting consumers to switch their services. AT&T offers cell phone users up to $650 in credit just to say bye to T-Mobile, Sprint, or Verizon.
To keep their loyalty, customers will hold your team accountable. They expect timely promotions that not only fit their buying habits but also their lifestyles.
At the end of the day, you want to deliver the right offer at the right time. This will increase the likelihood of the promotion redemption.
Monitor the sales data to learn when promotional codes are redeemed. Do your consumers use promotions more often in the morning? Right after a sales announcement? Or during summer months?
“By creating a time-sensitive sales promotion and having a good grasp on your target customer demographic, you'll be able to incentivize the right actions, get them to respond, and grow your business in the process,” states Humayun Khan, former content marketer at Shopify.
Moreover, analyze your reports to discover the best product promotions. A timely discount matched with the wrong product won't be useful for the consumer or your company.
Segment your customers to offer relevant discounts for multiple channels-in-store, online, and mobile. Every loyalty member doesn't have to receive the same offer.
For instance, Starbucks offers its Gold members the opportunity to earn double stars. The coffee company surprises its loyal consumers on a different day each month. This technique increases the excitement and prepares customers to spend more money on a particular day.
Don't wait for your competitor to offer your customers a good deal. Start creating your own timely promotions.
Personalized Rewards
Everyone likes to be rewarded. It signifies that you've done something commendable. And incentives compel you to continue the rewarded behavior.
Recognize the value of your customer's actions. Because that's what you're rewarding.
You can offer perks based on monetary transactions, shopping frequency, or even survey responses. It's all about showing appreciation for consumers' actions.
But it's your team's job to appropriately reward customers. Don't expect people to buy $1000 worth of services in one month if your highest service retails at $10.
In addition, manage your loyalty members' expectations. They shouldn't expect your brand to give away free Beyonce tickets every day.
Personalized rewards ensure you're giving your customers what they desire. It also shows that you are truly invested in the customer experience.
Send a simple email survey asking consumers what types of incentives excite them. Or conduct social media listening to identify useful prizes that can make your customers' lives better.
Dick's Sporting Goods sends emails asking customers for their opinions. The company uses the information to improve its inventory and customer service.
Remember to focus on maintaining positive relationships with your consumers. Because that's the ultimate goal for loyalty initiatives.
You want people to feel comfortable with your brand. Aim to offer rewards that bridge the gap between the consumer-brand relationship.
“A significant aspect of customer loyalty comes down to your likability. People will almost always remain committed to a brand if they believe they've developed a genuine and mutually beneficial relationship,” says Entrepreneur contributor Dave Thompson.
Tailor your rewards to satisfy your customers. Offer them something special.
Analyze Customer Loyalty
Customer loyalty can lead to retention. That's why your team must use data to drive your loyalty programs.
Give consumers targeted product recommendations they can't resist. Send promotions at the right time. And personalize rewards so the customer feels part of the brand.
Look at the data. Improve customer loyalty programs.
Did you know? With Kissmetrics, you can find your most valuable customer segments. Analyze customer behavior to understand where they're coming from and how to acquire more of your best customers.
About the Author: Shayla Price lives at the intersection of digital marketing, technology and social responsibility. Connect with her on Twitter @shaylaprice.
Optimizing for RankBrain... Should We Do It? (Is It Even Possible?) - Whiteboard Friday
Posted by randfish
If you've been stressing over how to optimize your SEO for RankBrain, there's good news: you can't. Not in the traditional sense of the word, at least. Unlike the classic algorithms we're used to, RankBrain is a query interpretation model. It's a horse of a different color, and as such, it requires a different way of thinking than we've had to use in the past. In today's Whiteboard Friday, Rand tackles the question of what RankBrain actually is and whether SEOs should (or can) optimize for it.
Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high-resolution version in a new tab!
Video Transcription
Howdy, Moz fans, and welcome to another edition of Whiteboard Friday. This week we're going to chat about RankBrain SEO and RankBrain in general. So Google released this algorithm or component of their algorithm a while ago, but there have been questions for a long time about: Can people actually do RankBrain SEO? Is that even a thing? Is it possible to optimize specifically for this RankBrain algorithm?
I'll talk today a little bit about how RankBrain works just so we have a broad overview and we're all on the same page about it. Google has continued to release more and more information through interviews and comments about what the system does. There are some things that potentially shift in our SEO strategies and tactics around it, but I'll show why optimizing for RankBrain is probably the wrong way to frame it.
What does RankBrain actually do?
So what is it that RankBrain actually does? A query comes in to Google. Historically, classically Google would use an algorithm, probably the same algorithm, at least they've said sort of the same algorithm across the board historically to figure out which pages and sites to show. There are a bunch of different ranking inputs, which we've talked about many times here on Whiteboard Friday.
But if you search for this query today, what Google is saying is with RankBrain, they're going to take any query that comes in and RankBrain is essentially going to be a query interpretation model. It's going to look at the words in that query. It's potentially going to look at things possibly like location or personalization or other things. We're not entirely sure whether RankBrain uses those, but it certainly could. It interprets these queries, and then it's going to try and determine the intent behind the query and make the ranking signals that are applied to the results appropriate to that actual query.
So here's what that means. If you search today - I did this search on my mobile device, I did it on my desktop device - for "best Netflix shows" or "best shows on Netflix" or "What are good Netflix shows," "good Netflix shows," "what to watch on Netflix," notice a pattern here? All five of these searches are essentially asking for the very same thing. We might quibble and say "what to watch on Netflix" could be more movie-centric than shows, which could be more TV or episodic series-centric. That's okay. But these five are essentially, " What should I watch on Netflix?"
Now, RankBrain is going to help Google understand that each of these queries, despite the fact that they use slightly different words and phrasing or completely different words, with the exception of Netflix, that they should all be answered by the same content or same kinds of content. That's the part where Google, where RankBrain is determining the searcher intent. Then, Google is going to use RankBrain to basically say, "Now, what signals are right for me, Google, to enhance or to push down for these particular queries?"
Signals
So we're going to be super simplistic, hyper-simplistic and imagine that Google has this realm of just a few signals, and for this particular query or set of queries, any of these, that...
- Keyword matching is not that important. So minus that, not super important here.
- Link diversity, neither here nor there.
- Anchor text, it doesn't matter too much, neither here nor there.
- Freshness, very, very important.
Why is freshness so important? Well, because Google has seen patterns before, and if you show shows from Netflix that were on the service a year ago, two years ago, three years ago, you are no longer relevant. It doesn't matter if you have lots of good links, lots of diversity, lots of anchor text, lots of great keyword matching. If you are not fresh, you are not showing searchers what they want, and therefore Google doesn't want to display you. In fact, the number one result for all of these was published, I think, six or seven days ago, as of the filming of this Whiteboard Friday. Not particularly surprising, right? Freshness is super important for this query.
- Domain authority, that is somewhat important. Google doesn't want to get too spammed by low-quality domains even if they are publishing fresh content.
- Engagement, very, very important signal here. That indicates to Google whether searchers are being satisfied by these particular results.
This is a high-engagement query too. So on low-engagement queries, where people are looking for a very simple, quick answer, you expect engagement not to be that big. But for something in-depth, like "What should I watch on Netflix," you expect people are going to go, they're going to engage with that content significantly. Maybe they're going to watch a trailer or some videos. Maybe they're going to browse through a list of 50 things. High engagement, hopefully.
- Related topics, Google is definitely looking for the right words and phrases.
If you, for example, are talking about the best shows on Netflix and everyone is talking about how hot - I haven't actually seen it - "Stranger Things" is, which is a TV program on Netflix that is very much in the public eye right now, well, if you don't have that on your best show list, Google probably does not want to display you. So that's an important related topic or a concept or a word vector, whatever it is.
- Content depth, that's also important here. Google expects a long list, a fairly substantive page of content, not just a short, "Here are 10 items," and no details about them.
As a result of interpreting the query, using these signals in these proportions, these five were basically the top five or six for every single one of those queries. So Google is essentially saying, "Hey, it doesn't matter if you have perfect keyword targeting and tons of link diversity and anchor text. The signals that are more important here are these ones, and we can interpret that all of these queries essentially have the same intent behind them. Therefore, this is who we're going to rank."
So, in essence, RankBrain is helping Google determine what signals to use in the algorithm or how to weight those signals, because there's a ton of signals that they can choose from. RankBrain is helping them weight them, and they're helping them interpret the query and the searcher intent.
How should SEOs respond?
Does that actually change how we do SEO? A little bit. A little bit. What it doesn't do, though, is it does not say there is a specific way to do SEO for RankBrain itself. Because RankBrain is, yes, helping Google select signals and prioritize them, you can't actually optimize for RankBrain itself. You can optimize for these signals, and you might say, "Hey, I know that, in my world, these signals are much more important than these signals," or the reverse. For a lot of commercial, old-school queries, keyword matching and link diversity and anchor text are still very, very important. I'm not discounting those. What I'm saying is you can't do SEO for RankBrain specifically or not in the classic way that we've been trained to do SEO for a particular algorithm. This is kind of different.
That said, there are some ways SEOs should respond.
- If you have not already killed the concept, the idea of one keyword, one page, you should kill it now. In fact, you should have killed it a long time ago, because Hummingbird really put this to bed way back in the day. But if you're still doing that, RankBrain does that even more. It's even more saying, "Hey, you know what? Condense all of these. For all of these queries you should not have one URL and another URL and another URL and another URL. You should have one page targeting all of them, targeting all the intents that are like this." When you do your keyword research and your big matrix of keyword-to-content mapping, that's how you should be optimizing there.
- It's no longer the case, as it was probably five, six years ago, that one set of fixed inputs no longer governs every single query. Because of this weighting system, some queries are going to demand signals in different proportion to other ones. Sometimes you're going to need fresh content. Sometimes you need very in-depth content. Sometimes you need high engagement. Sometimes you don't. Sometimes you will need tons of links with anchor text. Sometimes you will not. Sometimes you need high authority to rank for something. Sometimes you don't. So that's a different model.
- The reputation that you get as a website, a domain earns a reputation around particular types of signals. That could be because you're publishing lots of fresh content or because you get lots of diverse links or because you have very high engagement or you have very low engagement in terms of you answer things very quickly, but you have a lot of diverse information and topics on that, like a Dictionary.com or an Answers.com, somebody like that where it's quick, drive-by visits, you answer the searcher's query and then they're gone. That's a fine model. But you need to match your SEO focus, your brand of the type of SEO and the type of signals that you hit to the queries that you care about most. You should be establishing that over time and building that out.
So RankBrain, yes, it might shift a little bit of our strategic focus, but no, it's not a classic algorithm that we do SEO against, like a Panda or a Penguin. How do I optimize to avoid Panda hitting me? How do I optimize to avoid Penguin hitting me? How do I optimize for Hummingbird so that my keywords match the query intent? Those are very different from RankBrain, which has this interpretation model.
So, with that, I look forward to hearing about your experiences with RankBrain. I look forward to hearing about what you might be changing since RankBrain came out a couple of years ago, and we'll see you again next week for another edition of Whiteboard Friday. Take care.
Video transcription by Speechpad.com
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Online Marketing News: Bird's Eye View, FTC Skepticism and Facebook for Business
Infographic: Latest Twitter Study Sheds Light on Just How Well Video Is Doing
Based off of Twitter's annual Online Video Playbook, this infographic shows what's cleverly referred to as 'The Bird's Eye View of Video' on Twitter. For example, 93% of the video views on Twitter are on mobile. Users who watch video want breaking news, information, and viral content the most, followed by entertainment and celebrity content. AdWeek
The FTC Is Skeptical When Celebrities Are Paid to Like Your Product
The FTC is investigating a few big name brands for bending the rules that govern paid celebrity endorsements. Of course, rules regarding endorsements from celebrities aren't news to marketers, but the onset of digital marketing did prompt new rules and regulations. The one thing that hasn't changed? Disclosure. Entrepreneur
Facebook Set to Launch 'Facebook at Work' Next Month
Facebook is launching 'Facebook at Work' -- a private network for your business -- in the next three to four weeks. This will allow inter-office communication in a known format for larger, or even smaller, organizations. The network exists separately from personal profiles so there's not as much temptation to use personal Facebook during work time. Social Media Today
Content Marketing Takes a Turn for the Better: New 2017 Research
MarketingProfs and Content Marketing Institute paired up to produce their B2B Content Marketing 2017: Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends -- North America, and the findings are fascinating. Most notably, marketers are more positive about their content marketing efforts than they were in the previous year. Read the full report, it's full of great information. Content Marketing Institute
Snapchat reveals its $130 Spectacles and rebrands as Snap Inc.
Snapchat revealed Spectacles, a $130 pair of sunglasses with a 115-degree lens camera. According to The Next Web, "content recorded using the glasses is automatically pushed to the Memories section of the Snapchat application in a new circular video format - which can be played full screen in any orientation - via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi." The Next Web
Salesforce, Google, Microsoft, Verizon are all eyeing up a Twitter bid
TechCrunch reports: Twitter continues to inch its way to a sale process, and the latest developments come in the form of alleged bids from potential buyers ... we have also independently heard that both Google and Salesforce are interested in buying the company. We have additionally heard that Microsoft and Verizon have also been knocking." What, if anything, could this mean for Twitter marketing? TechCrunch
Google (finally) launches cross-device retargeting
According to Marketing Land, Brad Bender, VP of display and video advertising at Google revealed breaking news about Google AdWords retargeting: "We're introducing cross-device remarketing for Google Display Network and DoubleClick Bid Manager to help you reach the same user across devices, apps, and sites." This means marketers can target the same users, across devices, for a more cohesive experience. MarketingLand
Facebook Allowing Advertisers to Create Rules for Turning Off Ads, Email Alerts
According to recent information submitted to SocialTimes, "Facebook appears to have given advertisers the ability to establish rules to automatically turn off ad or send email alerts once certain criteria are met." The report comes complete with screenshots for reference, we'll have to keep an eye out for this developing story. SocialTimes
What were your top online marketing news stories this week?
I'll be back next week with more online marketing news! Have something to share? Drop it in a comment or tweet to @Tiffani_Allen or @toprank.
The post Online Marketing News: Bird's Eye View, FTC Skepticism and Facebook for Business appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.
You May Be Overlooking the Most Powerful Marketing Tool at Your Disposal
Often overlooked, meta descriptions for Web content are far more powerful than most marketers realize. Read the full article at MarketingProfs
Your Customers Can Teach You How to Sell to Them. Here's How (FS182)
One huge risk in modern small business is to spend months or years working on a project only to release it… and find nobody wants it.
Entrepreneurship has risk at the heart of it. We manage risk.
Some of us manage that risk well. Others poorly. Most of us don't plan for risk very well, but we've got enough tenacity to make changes on the fly as we learn.
So, what if you could reduce the risk of your business?
What if you could make your project or business or campaign more likely to succeed?
What if you could do that right now, without creating a business plan or designing prototypes or even naming your business?
Would you do it?
And if I told you it had something to do with talking honestly, curiously and candidly with potential customers - doing more listening than talking, in fact - would that make you nervous? Or would it excite you?
It probably bums you out a little. Talking to customers can be hard, but it will literally make your business more likely to succeed over the long-haul.
Now, when we at Fizzle talk about talking to customers we actually mean a very specific methodology. We teach that method in this course. It involves anchor questions, follow up questions, insights about finding people to talk to, etc.
But for those of you who might be new to this way of talking to customers, we wanted to create a podcast episode where we talk you through what we think are the most important pieces of this process.
This conversation will be especially helpful if your business is online and you, like many of us, spend more time talking AT your customers than you do talking WITH your customers…
… because feedback from these people can change the course of your business success forever.
Enjoy!
Let your customers tell you how to sell to them. Here's how.
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Show Notes
Customer Conversations Course - the 5 step process
Fizzle Members : Customer Conversations Helped Me Find My "Why" – Fizzle Forums
Hey, Could I Ask You a Few Questions? The Art of Surveys (FS094)
Creating Your Company Using $0
If someone told you that your startup could cost you nothing to get off the ground, you would think it was a joke. It may sound impossible, but it truly isn't with careful planning, a pinch of talent, and a […]
Post from: Search Engine People SEO Blog
Creating Your Company Using $0
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Written by Stephen Moyers, SPINX Digital Agency
The post Creating Your Company Using $0 appeared first on Search Engine People Blog.
Thursday, September 29, 2016
How to Build Backlinks Using Your Competitors' Broken Pages
Posted by TomCaulton
This post was originally in YouMoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of Moz, Inc.
We all know building backlinks is one of the most important aspects of any successful SEO and digital marketing campaign. However, I believe there is an untapped resource out there for link building: finding your competitors' broken pages that have been linked to by external sources.
Allow me to elaborate.
Finding the perfect backlink often takes hours, and it can can take days, weeks, or even longer to acquire. That's where the link building method I've outlined below comes in. I use it on a regular basis to build relevant backlinks from competitors' 404 pages.
Please note: In this post, I will be using Search Engine Land as an example to make my points.
Ready to dive in? Great, because I'm going to walk you through the entire link building process now.
First, you need to find your competitor(s). This is as easy as searching for the keyword you're targeting on Google and selecting websites that are above you in the SERPs. Once you have a list of competitors, create a spreadsheet to put all of your competitors on, including their position in the rankings and the date you listed them.
Once the crawl is complete, click "Response Codes."
Then, click on the dropdown arrow next to "filter" and select "Client Error 4xx."
Now you'll be able to see the brand's 404 pages.
Once you've completed the step above, simply press the "Export" button to export all of their 404 pages into a file. Next, import this file into to a spreadsheet in Excel or Google Docs. On this part of the spreadsheet, create tabs called "Trust Flow," "Citation Flow," "Referring Domains," and "External Backlinks."
Now that you've imported all of their 404 pages, you need to dissect the images and external links if there are any. A quick way to do this is to highlight the cell block by pressing on the specific cell at the top, then press "Filter" under the "Data" tab.
Press "Clear," like this:
This will clear all preset options. Now, type in the URL of the competitor's website in the search box and click "Select all."
This will filter out all external links and just leave you with their 404 pages. Go through the whole list, highlighting the pages you think you can rewrite.
Now that you have all of your relevant 404 pages in place, run them through Majestic [a paid tool] or Moz's Open Site Explorer (OSE) [a freemium tool] to see if their 404 pages actually have any external links (which is what we're ultimately looking for). Add the details from Majestic or Moz to the spreadsheet. No matter which tool you use (I use OSE), hit "Request a CSV" for the backlink data. (Import the data into a new tab on your spreadsheet, or create a new spreadsheet altogether if you wish.)
Find relevant backlinks linking to (X's) website. Once you've found all of the relevant websites, you can either highlight them or remove the ones that aren't from your spreadsheet.
Please note: It's worth running each of the websites you're potentially going to be reaching out to through Majestic and Moz to find out their citation flow, trust flow, and domain authority (DA). You may only want to go for the highest DA; however, in my opinion, if it's relevant to your niche and will provide useful information, it's worth targeting.
With the 404s and link opportunities in hand, focus on creating content that's relevant for the brands you hope to earn a link from. Find the contact information for someone at the brand you want the link from. This will usually be clear on their website; but if not, you can use tools such as VoilaNorbert and Email Hunter to get the information you need. Once you have this information, you need to send them an email similar to this one:
Hi [THEIR NAME],
My name is [YOUR NAME], and I carry out the [INSERT JOB ROLE – i.e., MARKETING] at [YOUR COMPANY'S NAME or WEBSITE].
I have just come across your blog post regarding [INSERT THEIR POST TITLE] and when I clicked on one of the links on that post, it happened to go to a 404 page. As you're probably aware, this is bad for user experience, which is the reason I'm emailing you today.
We recently published an in-depth article regarding the same subject of the broken link you have on your website: [INSERT YOUR POST TITLE].
Here's the link to our article: [URL].
I was wondering if you wouldn't mind linking to our article instead of the 404 page you're currently linking to, as our article will provide your readers with a better user experience.
We will be updating this article so we can keep people provided with the very latest information as the industry evolves.
Thank you for reading this email and I look forward to hearing from you.
[YOUR NAME]
Disclaimer: The email example above is just an example and should be tailored to your own style of writing.
In closing, remember to keep detailed notes of the conversations you have with people during outreach, and always follow up with people you connect with.
I hope this tactic helps your SEO efforts in the future. It's certainly helped me find new places to earn links. Not only that, but it gives me new content ideas on a regular basis.
Do you use a similar process to build links? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.
Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!
A Check List of 15 Social Media Tips to Kindle Audience Engagement
If there's one metric that represents a definite and direct result of social media marketing, it is social media engagement. What Is Social Media Engagement? Why Is It Important For Your Business? Engagement is the sum of likes, shares and […]
Post from: Search Engine People SEO Blog
A Check List of 15 Social Media Tips to Kindle Audience Engagement
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Written by Disha Dinesh, http://www.godotmedia.com/
The post A Check List of 15 Social Media Tips to Kindle Audience Engagement appeared first on Search Engine People Blog.
5 Cool Ways to Make Marketing Magic with Interactive Content
On the occasion of the new trailer for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I was thinking about the fantastical wizarding world of Harry Potter. Who wouldn't want to live in a world with magical items like pictures that move, newspapers that automatically update themselves, portraits that speak?
Then it hit me: My smartphone can show moving pictures and auto-updated news, and it doesn't have to be delivered by owl. AND it's a lot more compact than the average Daily Prophet issue. Sure, we can't play proper Quidditch yet-someone get Elon Musk on flying broomstick development-but as far as interactive content goes, Muggles have got it on lock.
The point is, content can do a lot more these days than sit on a screen and look pretty. Are your content marketing efforts taking advantage of that fact? Do you invite your readers to participate in an experience? Or are they left doing this?
There are dozens of ways both subtle and flashy that you can add an extra kick to your content. Here are five to get you started, complete with examples to interact with.
#1: Make Data Extra-Relevant
Say you have a big set of data that relates to 12 different verticals within your target audience. You could make a dozen different infographics. You could write a dozen different blog posts. If you were feeling really sadistic, you could mash all the data into one content source and let each vertical search for the relevant info.
Or you could start with a template, let the user pick which data sources they'd like to see, and watch the most relevant info magically fill in. That's what LinkedIn did, with the help of the wizards at Ceros, for their Where to Find Talent in the United States infographic. Pick your industry at the top, and it fills in the template with customized data.
Numbers fly in as you scroll down, delivering exactly the information you were looking for like a Hogwarts owl on a mission. It's a neat way to make sure each viewer finds exactly what they're looking for.
#2: Allow for Automated Hyper-Personalization
Checklists are a go-to content type that content marketers use to add a little extra value. It gives your reader a condensed version of your content, all action items, no filler. Readers tend to enjoy checklists, too-they perform well as a gated asset or as a stand-alone.
But you can improve on the humble checklist by making it interactive. Let your audience pick the most relevant points and compile their own list automatically, as in this interactive infographic from Cross Country Home. SnapApp helped the home maintenance company create the infographic, which allows the reader to choose areas of particular concern, then generate a customized to-do list (after ponying up an email address).
The interactivity makes the checklist far more valuable for the reader, and justifies having the end report gated. It also introduces an element of discovery with clicking on each icon-which might lead to readers spending more time with the content.
#3: Tell Readers Something about Themselves
Let's face it-we love looking at ourselves, talking about ourselves, taking pictures of ourselves, and learning about ourselves. Don't chalk that up to millennial narcissism either. Some of the earliest photographs we have are self-portraits (not to mention all the old-school self-portraits from painters and sculptors).
You can capitalize on the joy of self-discovery with quiz-based content. From personality quizzes to identifying your Patronus, quizzes are irresistible. Especially so when they're about something that matters, like Influitive's “What's Your Marketing Personality Type?” quiz.
This quiz gets bonus cool points for not making you click to a new page for every question. SnapApp created a single, linear-scrolling experience that removes obstacles for completion.
Take note of how Influitive presents the results: There's your marketing type, a description, and then a brief paragraph on skills your type might need to further develop. Right under that-an eBook offer! What a perfectly logical next step.
#4: Present a Ton of Info in a Visually Compelling Way
This next example takes what could have been a blog post or a slideshow, and makes it something that's a lot more fun to play around with. Even if the information is familiar, or common knowledge, a novel presentation can make it worth a second look.
Designhill created this interactive guide to famous company logos. It presents itself as a seemingly infinite grid, with logos lined up in rows just waiting to be clicked so they can reveal their secrets.
As you scroll and explore, you'll notice some of the tiles are calls to action: Create a Logo, Get a New Graphic Design, etc. These CTAs are inobtrusive but designed to be spotted after you've had fun playing with the content. And if you happen to miss them, there's a CTA in each of the info pages that pop up when you click a tile.
#5: Bring Together Disparate Elements
No one's product exists in a vacuum. Unless you sell vacuum bags, and even if you do, that's not what I meant and you know it. Your target consumer has an entire life outside of their relationship with your product-and many aspects of that life also involve interaction with other products. Interactive content can help you address the larger context of your audience's lives.
This fantastic Summer of '66 widget from Asos is a prime example of that kind of synergy-not the bad, buzzword-y kind, but a genuine combination of separate elements to make something groovier than the sum of its parts. Pick your 60's style, and get music recommendations you can buy on Amazon or iTunes, clothes from Asos, and a Spotify playlist to stream immediately.
It's a triumph of great design, effortless cool, and actual utility, inviting readers to customize an entire experience, not just a look or a sound. I'm just sad the sweepstakes to win that turntable is over.
Expecto Engagement!
In this age of wonders, we don't have to stick to old Muggle methods of content marketing. Text will always have its place, of course. There's no substitute for good old-fashioned long-form content. But your audience will appreciate it if you conjure up interactive experiences that enhance your quality content.
What else can interactive content do? What has your team created that dazzled your audience? Let me know in the comments.
Disclosure: LinkedIn Marketing is a TopRank Marketing client.
The post 5 Cool Ways to Make Marketing Magic with Interactive Content appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.
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