The year is coming to an end, the cold is starting to seep in and the streets are getting closed from the winter weather. As we prepare to move forward to a new year, we’d like to help you out with a few ideas.
We’re all looking for to reach out KPIs and goals through out the year. We try this and that to improve our content, to improve our rates and etc.
So, to help you out, here are some content marketing tips and ways to improve your content for the brand-new year!
1- Have the Looks and the Feels
2017 was the year in which marketers scrambled to push visual content.
It was a year where we saw many companies move from text or simply images to well-polished designs and posts.
If 2017 was the year of the visual, 2018 moves it into another level.
A new tactic that is bringing its way to the social market are Tactile photos.
Create and distribute images that not only touches the visual senses, but the other senses as well. Create images and content that make us hear, remember the touch and sensation of an object, or let us feel the wind in our hair.
2- Lend a helping hand
For those new into Content Marketing, or may need a small reminder, Content Marketing is all about providing your audience with information and content they are searching for.
Sometimes, without them even knowing they wanted it in the first place.
Millennials and Gen Z (Millennials’ children) are skeptical about marketers. The main ways to get around their expectations?
Give them content they are searching for, or better yet, align yourself with a cause they can get behind.
3- Talk about the pain, and let them know you’re here for them
Content themes save you a lot of trouble.
They save time, effort, and brainstorming whenever you have a content plan to fill, or new content to create.
Many of us have our themes on backwards apparently. Raise your finger, so no one else sees, if you’re themes are centered about marketing your product/service and its many benefits.
Let us say, we saw you, and we’re here to let you know you’re not alone.
For 2018, let’s take a step back and truly look at our consumers.
What are their issues? Their problems? What can we do to help? Sure, we ask these questions when creating the product or service, but now we have to think about it during our content process.
Directly talk to your consumer next year. Tell them you understand and you’re here to help.
4- Augment and change the world
Augmented Reality (AR) has definitely made an impact this year, even stronger than its top contender Virtual Reality.
Both Facebook and Google released AR services or products this year at their respective annual developer conference. Not to mention that Snapchat’s success came from their innovative use of AR.
Take a look at IKEA’s successful IKEA Place app, which uses AR technology to help users see how the brand’s furniture will look at home.
From either simple AR photo-frames to crazy face-changing AR filters on FB or Snapchat, Augmented Reality is popular and here to stay. Not only that, it’s cheaper than making stickers to hang out the city, and cheaper than an extensive paid campaign on social.
5- Get Personal. Really. Please do.
Although we marketers may say that brands need to become more grounded, more in-touch with consumers, many actions may not be heading in that direction.
This year, a lot of platforms are coming to our aid.
With Facebook Live really starting to show off its power, to Instagram’s stories, getting personal with consumers are getting easier and easier.
Creating dynamic content, content that makes the brand “alive,” gets easier with these new tools. Tools also include the new Live Photo feature by Facebook, and FB stories.
While recorded and pre-prepared videos are still a great way to promote your brand, personal live-videos are an even better way to connect with people.
Behind the scene videos, behind the curtain, or even the people behind the brand, are all dynamic video content-types that you could use to get in-touch with your audience.
People want to purchase from brands they care about, so let them know you so they can.
6- Or don’t get personal, get others to influence them instead
While influencer marketing in Egypt is still a growing field, there are many other ways to spread content around the web.
Creating content strategies that include using 3rd party websites and influencers is still going strong.
In 2018, we are going to see an even larger growth rate, especially as more and more content websites and social pages pop up and grow in credibility.
Don’t be afraid to have other people review, video, test, and write about your products/services. If you’re confident in its quality, then this should be a no-brainer.
7- Updating Communication
Communication channels keep growing with each new step and technology we create. A new channel that not many leveraged this year is through online messengers.
Facebook’s Messenger’s chatbots, as well as AI website messaging, are making a strong case this year, and they’re here to stay.
Content marketing with Messenger’s chatbots is easy to do. Simple tap on the Discovery tab for inspiration, from restaurants to online stores, there is a wide variety of uses.
Website AI messaging can help aim customers through your website as they go through their buyer journey. A cleverly written script and direct questions can lead your customer from browsing to buying, answering all (or as many as possible) of their questions on the way.
8- Break it Down
One of the main ways to fill out a content calendar?
Update, reuse, break down.
Update, reuse, and break down large and deep content into separate content pieces.
If you want to go into 2018, you have got to have a plan. If you don’t have enough content, then plan ahead by breaking down already existing content.
A Press release or informatic video can be broken down into multiple pieces of content. Videos can be broken down into articles or multiple image posts, and etc.
Why spend more when you can do more with less?
9- Stop closing the box and be open to the long-term
Although Content Marketing has become one of the top buzz words in our community, as well as quickly becoming one of the industry’s top strategies, we are still treating it as if it is advertising.
It’s not.
Most companies still push content in the same way as an advertising campaign, locking themselves in a box without more opportunities. Create short term content, such as a 6-episode video series, market it through the usual channels, and then when it finishes we stop.
What should be happening is a complete switch. Content marketing may be cheap, almost to the point of free, but it is something that takes long-term planning to truly appreciate it.
Plan at least 6 months ahead to truly capture your target audience. Get your content rolling, and keep it rolling! Show 2018 that you have your content down, with only a little bit of planning, and a lot of faith and data.
10- Let’s get on it!
There you have it, easy ways to improve your content without a lot of work.
The new year is right around the corner. What are you doing to prepare?
