May 1, 2012 - Posted by Amy Rose Brown
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How many websites do you think there are on the Internet today? Go ahead, guess.
If you answered approximately 644 million, you’re correct! With half a billion sites to choose from, how does your blog rank? Is your content compelling enough to get visitors to stick around, or do you bore them to sleep right there at their computer monitors? If you suspect your readers are heading to your site to help remedy their insomnia, it’s probably time to reevaluate your efforts with the following tips.
If you’re writing a blog post, the last thing you want to do is come off as stiff and robotic – after all, this is your chance to humanize your business and connect with an audience. Don’t be afraid to have a personality. Your voice is more than just your writing style. It also encompasses the topics you choose to write about and your tone. So how do you discover a writing voice? The first tip is to start writing the way you talk, since blogging is much less formal than other types of writing. Additionally, if there are bloggers you admire, don’t be afraid to emulate their style (note: this does not mean copying their actual writing or topics, which is plagiarism).
You know the saying: two heads are better than one. If you’re struggling with content creation, brainstorming with other members of your company can help you develop ideas. Consider input from everyone, regardless of role – you never know who’s going to have the next great idea, and it might be the person you least expect. Plus, you’ll have a much more well-rounded effort if you let everyone have a say in the editorial direction.
Examples help demonstrate what you’re trying to explain, so gather up the companies or products that best carry out the concept you’re discussing and feature them in a post. See our previous posts on social media for higher education and viral marketing campaigns. However, you could also choose to highlight examples of the worst – like we did with 2011′s biggest Twitter mistakes and how to embarrass yourself on Yelp. When picking examples of what not to do, it’s important to communicate the lessons learned and what to do differently to your audience – as opposed to simply “naming and shaming,” which your audience may not see as tasteful.
Imagine if the title of this blog post had been, “How to Write a Blog Post” and the first sentence had been, “Blog content should be interesting.” Do you think you would have made it far enough to read this sentence, or would you have already been bored to tears? Even if the rest of your post was full of groundbreaking, thought-provoking content, you didn’t set the tone for that. You want people to laugh, gasp, scratch their heads, or possibly even roll their eyes and groan (if puns are your thing) at your blog post opening – as long as there’s a reaction.
How do you keep your blog content relevant and interesting? Leave us a comment to let us know!
January 13, 2012 - Posted by Amy Rose Brown
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From a quick glance at YouTube, you might think that the only way to make your content go viral is to replace your old marketing strategy with a gaggle of adorable kittens. But before you head down to the animal shelter to cast your next video, we think you should read our list of tips for viral content marketing.
“Going viral” simply means that your content has been shared on a massive scale. Videos are often associated with going viral. For example, you may be one of the 71 million people who’s seen this Free Hugs video since it was uploaded in 2006.
As shown in the Free Hugs video, people are more likely to share content that has made them feel some sort of emotional reaction. Other reasons people are likely to share content include:
It’s funny. Sometimes you need to take a break from the daily grind with a laugh. Think about it – there’s a reason The Simpsons has been on the air since 1989.
It’s useful. It’s nice to help other people, but sharing useful content can also help people seem a little more savvy or in-the-know.
It’s controversial. When something makes your jaw drop, what’s the first thing you usually do? Well, first you pick your jaw back up off the floor, but then you tell other people about it to watch their reactions.
Bonus: It features cute kids or animals.
Of course! Since we go above and beyond here at Marketing Zen, I’ll even give you two examples of online marketing campaigns gone viral.
1. Blendtec
Blendtec sells blenders. Blendtec also puts unusual objects in their blenders, videotapes the results, and posts these videos to YouTube in a series called “Will It Blend?”. They’ve blended a garden rake, some glow sticks, Justin Bieber (not the actual person), and even an iPad. These videos have racked up a total of almost 200 million views. Why? In an absurd way, the video campaign is pretty funny. There’s also the inherent curiosity involved when you see that a grown man is sticking a pool noodle into a blender.
2. Old Spice
How do you revamp a 72-year-old brand? Easy: hire a funny and good-looking spokesman, shoot a well-received Super Bowl commercial, and then spin that off into a social media campaign that results in your shirtless spokesman recording 183 personalized videos in three days (including one where he proposes to someone’s girlfriend for them). The result was millions upon millions of views and an almost 3000% increase in Twitter followers. How? One tactic employed by the team behind the campaign was to dive further into web communities than just Facebook and Twitter – for example, they took questions from both Digg and Reddit.
Have a compelling title. The first thing part of your content that people will see, whether it’s a video, story, or infographic, is the title. Your wording needs to immediately spark interest.
Make sharing easy. The less work people have to do to share your post, the more likely they are to pass it along. Ensure that sharing buttons are prominently placed.
Don’t be long-winded. If you’re making a video, cut yourself off at the two-minute mark. Viewership drops off dramatically after that point. For articles, you want to write enough to be informative, but not so much that the reader feels like they’re staring at a wall of text. Break it up with photos and formatting.
April 26, 2011 - Posted by Stephanie Cross
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So many times, we have clients who want to jump into social media, which is great because social media marketing definitely works. BUT…there are a few components you have to have in place before diving in head first.
The very FIRST PRIORITY and MOST IMPORTANT TOOL in your toolbox when marketing online is your website. Just “having” a website is not good enough. You must have a well-engaging, well-converting website. You have to remember that when it all boils down to it, one of the main reasons we market on various online networks is to DRIVE TRAFFIC TO OUR WEBSITE. So it is imperative that when people get there, that the site engages them to convert in some form or fashion. We don’t want all of our efforts in driving people to our website to result in them just hitting the back button. What good does that do?
Let’s first address what a conversion is. A conversion is when a visitor takes a call to action. They essentially take a step to consume your information. Conversions could be:
When we drive people to our websites, we want people to CONVERT. All of the above conversions are valuable…not just the “purchase something online”. 65% of people do not “buy” the first time they visit a website. Generally they are just consuming information first, or researching. That’s why it’s so important to give people options on how to receive this information. Many times we have to build trust and credibility with our visitors before they “buy”.
So, what makes a WELL ENGAGING, WELL CONVERTING website? There are five things I always look for in a website.
So, all of the above is to say, BEFORE you jump on the social media bandwagon, take minute to make sure your website is a true MARKETING TOOL that is working to engage and convert the visitors that come to your site. If your website does not do this, NO AMOUNT OF TRAFFIC TO YOUR SITE WILL GET YOU BUSINESS if your site doesn’t convert!
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