Marketing Strategy Today » content

digital fatigue has hit the runway

Pam Sahota — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 22:57:33 +0000

“Digital, Digital, get down”… (quoting N*sync for a hot second), and chill out. We’ve all felt it, the digital fatigue that has run its course through our fingertips on the keyboard, our fake webex backgrounds, zoom filters, and hangouts. After one video meeting to another, it gets a little tiring. You’re literally drained. And you didn’t even have to commute!

So what do brands do, when their target audience is tired of being online?

We have to get creative. We have to remind our audience why they love our brand. And speak to them in a way that shows “you – the brand” care and understand. Reach out to them in a way which is not intrusive, yet fun, helpful, educational, and/or just plain awesome.

Your brand really, really….really has to push out content that matters, and is quality. Just putting out content for contents sake, has never worked, and definitely will not right now.

There’s a lot of chaos and commotion in the digital media air, and your brand can only push through it if your content stands out. Here are a few ways:

1. Entertain: This is the most fun, yet hardest way. Your brand should still be authentic to itself, but consider humor, where possible to lighten the mood. If your brand doesn’t do humor, consider partnering with someone who can help in the entertainment side, to push your brand into new audiences, and impress your current one. For example, use an influencer, musician, comedian, actor, instagram star, etc – who has a way of compelling an audience to “stop, and listen”. It makes them stop in their feed. Aesthetic also matters, so ensure the look and feel is quality, and authentic to your brand’s look and feel, too. One brand that has stood out to me lately is Bala (Bala bangles for exercise), because they’ve put on a nostalgia, throwback, aesthetic to their ads that definitely stopped me in my tracks and in my feed. I mean check out their insta here.

2. Be Helpful: Provide tips and tricks that help your audience whether in a particular area, or in their overall wellness. For example, during the pandemic, a lot of people have been coping with stress, food delivery services, health, wellness, and more. If your brand can help relieve a pain point, or has a product/service that specifically can cater to an area of help, point it out deliberately. Let your people know! Let them know you’re here and ready to give them what they need, at their finger-tips. For instance, getting their food already prepared for the week, a discount on their favorite delivery service, hair and nail essentials that can be done at home, how to make fun cocktails to entertain their friends in a safe environment, and/or how to take learn X hobby online with friends. Make your value known, and make it known easily.

3. Educate: Similar, to being helpful, it’s good to make it known to your audience what you have to offer. Especially if you’re a B2B brand, perhaps offer live classes, demos, webinars, or on demand versions of what your audience can learn from in order to apply to their business, fast and efficiently. Don’t make them jump through hoops to learn what you can offer, and how it can help them – bring it to them on a silver platter. Make it shiny and exciting that this education is ripe for their picking. Make it available easily, often, and when and where they want it. Trust me, they’ll be back for more if it truly helps them.

And in the end, remember, sometimes your audience just needs a break, that’s okay too. It’s not the end of a relationship, so remember to give them a ping once in a while to remind them you’re still there, and ready when they are to continue entertaining, helping, and/or educating through your product/service offering.

Today, social media has a significant impact on the global population. You can get your business on social media to improve your marketing practices and enhance your business reach. By then you have to take every user’s query as a priority and respond to them immediately. This will help you build a strong presence on social platforms and build authority.

Until then, zoom out.

image source: pixabay

Know Your Brand Audience and Give Them What They Want

Pam Sahota — Sun, 30 Oct 2016 22:29:12 +0000

Knowing your brand audience isn’t just an option, it’s a necessity when it comes to marketing well. It allows you to provide value to the audience that matters most, and ensure you can target directly to them.

Three ways to learn a little more about them include:

See what they’re reading – sounds unexpected, but it’s true. Think about the content your brand would put out and see who else is writing similarly. It could be a competitor, or it could be an influencer, or it could be an author. Consider checking out blogs related to yours and see who is leaving comments. What do they have to say. What do they have questions on? What do they feel is most important? What relates to their needs and interests?
Understand their needs – That leads us here. Listen to what they’re saying. Listen to them in social media. Keep listening to what they tweet, post, and comment. Make a list of what it is that they struggle with. What obstacles they’re trying to overcome. How can your brand help? What can your brand offer to fulfill those needs? For example, can your brand offer content or a product to help? If not, canyour brand partner with someone else who can to share the value given?
Learn their interests – By learning what else they like outside of what your product and service, you can potentially offer more value. You can also target them better. For example, Amex learned their audience loved music, and wanted special access to events. What did they do? They gave it to them. They offered them exclusive offers to events, and an ability to have access that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.

Once your brand has a grasp of what they’re doing outside of your brand. What their needs and interests are…then what?

Create the content – Create content that can be geared towards your audience. It can be an email campaign, blog posts, and/or social media content. For example if your brand wants to start simple, perhaps it’s through Instagram and Pinterest first. Allowing your brand to be discovered through hashtags and search. Providing short, visual content, that allows your consumer to receive small snippets of value, while building out your arsenal by learning what works and what doesn’t.
Repurpose It – When you create a great piece of content, leverage it further. For example if you have a blog post that is awesome, use some of it in an email. Take a quote and post it on Pinterest and link back. Share a valuable point through Twitter with a relevant hashtag. Syndicate it on another medium.
Target it – Use the interest targeting and demographics data and target it to the audience you want. If you want awareness, broaden your target a bit, to get more fish.

In the end, your audience is always a moving target. Like any individual they grow, change, and evolve. Their interests and needs change with them. Keep listening, and learning, and in turn test and see what works.

This post was originally written for Socialnomics.

Image source: 98togo

6 Specific Ways You Can Promote Blog Posts to Get More Reach

Pam Sahota — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 01:28:12 +0000

You have a dedicated blog for your brand and you are penning thoughtful blog posts on a weekly basis. But then what? How do you make sure that your audience is discovering the blog posts, reading them, and following through on your specific Call to Action?

As a marketer of your business, you need a thoughtful distribution strategy for your blog posts.

There are 6 areas where your business can dedicate time as part of your distribution strategy for your blog. The main areas are the organic channels you can use within social, supplemented with some paid support, and last but not least, email.

And one thing to remember, social media doesn’t mean as much without great content, so your blog posts are amazing fodder for it. The key is to ensure that your posts and distribution are in line with one another. Some musts:

Using key visuals from the posts
Linking directly to the content
Making sure there is no teaser content that appears to be bait and switch

Be honest and authentic in your distribution and always a/b test where possible to make sure the content that is working the hardest is the one you spend your time (and money) on and if you are using it for work you might want to reed the Good review of spy app xnspy by pcTattletale so you can monitor your workers.

Facebook (and Facebook Paid) – Assuming your brand uses Facebook to distribute overall brand content, it is a great place to promote your blog posts. Although the channel has become more of a media channel where paid media is necessary nowadays to get more eyeballs on your brand’s content, it is a cost efficient place to spend media dollars. You can a/b test different ads and see which ones work for which target audiences. In addition you can dedicate certain dollars to different audiences in case you have more than one.

Twitter – A place where customers typically go to get news and articles (in real or near time), it is a great way to distribute content related to cultural awareness and topical conversations already occurring in the space through relevant hashtags to your blog post.

Pinterest – A channel known for great referral traffic, your blog posts can go further as long as you supplement them with great visuals to use on the channel. Typically it’s good to use vertical visuals, that really pop in color. In addition, ensure that you link to the blog post that it’s referring to directly, and add the appropriate tags (not hashtags) that will allow people to find it within search. i.e. Make sure you are using regular people speak for the description and tags so it will be found easier.

Instagram – Supplement your blog content with short, succinct, quick digestible content for Instagram. This can be a teaser or in addition to to your blog post. And when people want to learn or read more, make sure the direct link is in the bio for them to click on since Instagram still does not allow links to be clickable within the post.

Paid Search – Like Facebook Ads, paid search opportunities on Google will allow you to drive more traffic to your blog posts. You can use keywords that people already are searching for to drive your paid ads in front of the right audience. It’s typical and suggested to a/b test ads on Google and put more money behind the ones that are working better for your content (i.e. driving click throughs).

Email – Your email is a great place to distribute your blog posts because it allows your brand to directly message people versus hoping they’ll discover it. The key thing here is to test your subject lines, and ensure the most prominent content you want your reader to engage in, can be found at the top and they don’t have to get to it.

Nowadays with the likes of Gmail, most people can preview email content without even opening the actual email. So your subject line, first few lines of your email, and headers have to work extra hard. This doesn’t mean dumping everything at the top, but it does mean placing proper keywords and content that your reader will want is prominent and entices them to open it further.

In addition, remember that not everyone turns visuals on in their email when they’re viewing the email, . So, be sure that you have Alt text for your visuals and that you aren’t relying solely on them to do your heavy lifting for consumer interest and conversion. They should be great visuals, but a supplement to your content.

Lastly, it needs to be something they can skim – and skim quickly to get to the parts they care about. So keep it short, succinct, and lead them to the blog post to read more.

And when you’re considering your distribution strategy remember that your customer is interested in your brand and wants content that is valuable to them. Distribute it where they are and where they hope to consume it.

This post was originally written for Startup Fashion.

What to Put on the “About” Pages of Your Website and Social Media Platforms

Pam Sahota — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 01:26:24 +0000

The About pages of your social channels and website are important. They allow your community the ability to quickly understand what your brand is, what it stands for, and simply put – why they should care. The About page of your website will be more in-depth; a place where you can refer people from social to learn more, as you’ll have less space in social and need to be more succinct and captivating.

Your Website

Your website is where your brand can be as short or as long as you want in order to tell your story. The key here is to remember that while it’s your About page, it’s really meant to convey how your brand can help your potential customer. So when you are writing “about” your brand, make sure that you are not beating around the bush. Start with a strong statement that represents your brand while also making a connection with your customer.

Once you make a connection with your reader, and make them feel as if they are understood and in the right place, then proceed into your story. Your story should have a short summary and then flow into the details; they can read these if they’re interested in learning more.

Allow your reader to choose what they want to learn about with easy sections to navigate. Bold type, sub-headers, and bullet points are all great tools for this.

Finally, make sure there’s a call to action in your About page. What do you want them to do after they read it? If you have a particular campaign or product release you can direct them there. Or maybe you want them to sign up for emails or follow you on social media? What ever it is, make sure they can navigate to that with ease.

Some tips on content:

Tell your story: Allow people to see who your brand is through some creative and inspiring storytelling. Show how your brand came into being, why your product/service was the one you chose, and why it’s so exceptional. Show its unique characteristics, and even get into the details of how your product was formed. Allow people to see your journey, and feel like they could be apart of it.
Be human / have a personality: Don’t just speak in industry jargon that the reader may not understand. Be human and personable and use everyday speak to tell your story.
Be visual: Use pictures and video to tell a more captivating story. For example, consider graphics to show how your product was made. Use a video to give a tour of your office or factory.
Allow people to connect: Give people different opportunities to connect with your brand. Use email to send direct messaging, provide links to your most prominent social channels, and provide easy ways for them to contact you directly in case they have questions or want to learn more (i.e. email address, physical address, phone number).
Be memorable: It isn’t easy to be memorable, but using unique ways to demonstrate your “about us” page can allow your brand to stand out a bit more. For example if you use fun marketing content types such as gifs, short video, and or interactive ways for the reader to navigate your content based on their interests.

Facebook

Since Facebook has a longer About section than any other social channel, it’s a good opportunity to leverage it. Use the short description to be pithy and to the point, and the longer description (in case your follower want to read more) to explain a little more about the brand. Consider it the cliff notes to your website About page.

Consistent look and feel: Make sure your social channels have a consistent look and feel to your website.
Share your story: Share a story that will relate to your community on Facebook and what they will care about.
Allow it to be personable: Considering it’s social, you want your brand to be more human and less like a robot (always, but especially here). Allow your brand to speak as if you were talking to your community through a comment or a post.
Link back: Link back to your website so they can dig in more, and/or purchase. Use the multiple link sections in order to link back to specific areas of your website and other social channels.

Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest

Since these social channels have very little real estate for your About content, make sure you have a short one liner that will communicate what your brand is about and why the visitor should care (and therefore follow).

Be captivating: Be alluring with your short description. Say something that makes them go “Yep!” The goal is to make the visitor feel completely understood and want to be part of a community.
Use your #: If you have a brand or campaign hashtag, place it in the bio for more awareness.
Call to Action: Make sure to use words that relate to the link below like “Join us”, “Sign Up”, “Shop Now”, etc.
Link back: Link back to your website so people can learn more (or directly to your latest campaign, blog post, or opportunity to purchase).

In the end, the main takeaways are to be personable and tell a story. The About page isn’t supposed to be a doctor’s manual. It’s meant to be another way to reach your audience and show them why they should choose your brand to follow, engage with, and in the end, purchase from.

This post was originally written for Startup Fashion.

Facebook Reactions Made Social Media a Little More Emotional

Pam Sahota — Sun, 15 May 2016 20:59:26 +0000

Last month Facebook released Facebook Reactions. These are additions to the “like” button, allowing consumers to have additional emotional reactions to posts without having to actually comment. The choices range from happy to angry to sad to wow, with 6 in total.

The cool thing is, “when a user thumbs over each of the emoji, they animate like tiny GIFs. For “wow,” the yellow face tilts upwards, its mouth agape. For “haha,” a squinty-eyed emoji tilts its head back in a fit of laughter.” (via Wired)

As of right now, this can only occur on the original post, and not within the comments thread.

But what do the new Facebook reactions mean for brands?

You Can See Some Stats
Right now your only option is to go through Facebook and the native Insights Dashboard and dive into each post detail to see what reactions are occurring for your brand.

Advertising is Weighed the Same
For the short term, Facebook will treat each of the reactions as an equal sentiment to the “like” button. It will allow Facebook to see when users may want to see additional content similar to what they are reacting to.

However, as Facebook’s algorithm becomes smarter and distinguishes between the reactions, the content that is served up to the user will differentiate based upon the reactions and how the user appears to feel.

Illicit a Positive Reaction with a Contest/Giveaway
Brands can do more now. There are some brands like Chevy taking advantage and asking their followers to “show the love.” It can be risky, or it can be bold. Perhaps both.

There are some brands incentivizing their users to show positive reactions in order to win a contest or sweepstakes.

Although it may seem like your brand should try to figure out a way to evoke a positive reaction from each post at all times, it also makes sense (and is more authentic and real) to allow the user to have a real response; allow them to make up their mind.

This post was originally written for startup fashion.