We  consume information with an almost manic obsession. In most homes the 50 inch plasma high definition television is babbling on in the corner enticing us to watch and listen while cooking, cleaning  or chilling out.

We jump in the car and the radio or GPS is informing us as we drive to work or as we head off to the shops.

At work the computer monitor tempts us with high definition photos on Facebook  or an online news stream filled with a torrent of multimedia content.

Escaping media while out and about is now almost impossible as walking down the street is now an exercise in collision avoidance with 3.5 inch screens filled with apps distracting most of the population.

We live in a noisy world of  three screens with digital media content that is hard to escape whether it is  television, computers or a smart phone.

The lonely printed  newspaper is now often just reserved as company for the weekend coffee as most media moves online.

Digital Media will Dominate by 2020

It was predicted as far back as 2008 that digital media would dominate by 2020. This momentum is accelerating and content is fast moving out of the offline closet and onto a digital screen near you.

This has been confirmed by new research from the Isobar/Carat global report that digital media will consume 80% of media usage.

The explosion of numbers in this digital and increasingly mobile media consuming world are headlined by these facts

• On Christmas day, 6.8 million smart phones were activated
• In the last week of 2011, 1.2 billion apps were downloaded
• The Guardian Newspaper gets 1 million page views per day via Facebook due to its Facebook app which was downloaded 5 million times with half of those being under the age of 24
• In 2011 YouTube had over 1 trillion video views

If the majority of your content is not being created for online viewing then you need to listen to these numbers.

Challenge of Content Creation

Creating content for this social online world is a constant challenge and what to write, record and produce comes down to time and resources.

If it is a text based article it needs a good headline, a enticing opening paragraph and an easy to read structure so people will not click away.

If it is a video it needs a professional persona and in a world with short attention spans the message needs to be delivered in seconds not minutes.

The Old Spice videos are typically 20-30 seconds!

4 Key Goals for Creating Content

The ultimate goal of content marketing is to be so engaging that your customers will eventually buy, but before you get that far you need to achieve one of these 4 foundational objectives to attract interest, increase page views and maintain reader loyalty.

1. Educate

This type of content is often prefaced by a headline that starts with “How” . People’s thirst for knowing how to start a blog, market their business or solve a problem that is consuming their attention will always be content worth creating and sharing.

Examples:

How to Create a Twitter Marketing Strategy that Rocks

5 Lessons from Coca Cola’s New Content Marketing Strategy

10 Reasons Why “Liquid” Content Should be in your Social Media Marketing

2. Inform

Keeping people up to date with the latest news was the domain of the  newspaper, trade magazines or television. Today the blog or social network such as Twitter or Facebook is the source.

Remember with this type of content it will quickly become old news and only has a certain shelf life.

Examples:

Apple makes Huge Announcement about Twitter

6 Social Media Networks to Watch in 2012 [Plus Infographics]

Google+ Sets New Growth Records

3. Entertain

Entertainment is quite often best done by video and you only have to view a Coca Cola ad or a funny video to appreciate the marketing power of entertainment . It doesn’t have to be a video and entertainment can also be a media type that informs and entertains.Infographics can also be included in this category. Humour is one of the vital components in this category.

Examples:

Test Your Breath   – The Stench that Stole Christmas [Video]

10 Reasons Why Ducks Just Don’t Get Social Media

20 Stunning Social Media Statistics Plus Infographic

4. Inspire

So educating, informing or entertaining when creating content is vital in your mix of content but one often overlooked goal is to provide “Inspiration“.

This can be a challenge but inspiring people to be better, to push their limits or to be successful should be woven into your content.

This content can be examples of other successful people that have overcome adversity people or creative examples that showcase others achievements.

Examples:

The 10 Best Facebook Campaigns

The 10 Secrets Of A Successful Social Media Blog

Choose a Dream

These types of content can stand alone or they can be integrated into one post or woven together.

How about You?

Remember that creating and publishing the content is just the start of the journey, the hard work has just begun after you hit the publish button.

Promoting and marketing your content to make it visible online is the next important step to success.

How is your content? Does it educate, inform and sometimes entertain?

Does it  inspire your readers?

More Reading

• What are 10 Addictive Types of Content?
• How to Increase Your Blog Traffic by 55% with One Button
• 5 Motivations for Sharing Content
• 20 Ideas for Social Media Content that Engages
• Is it Better to Share on Google, Facebook or Twitter+
• 9 Questions to Ask your Customers When Creating Content

Image by just.Luc

Marketing in the past often consisted of one off campaigns that didn’t build a relationship with your customer or prospect.

It was about the “deal” …closing the sale. It was sometimes called “Hit and Run” marketing.

Content Marketing is about creating compelling, contagious content and sharing it freely on social networks and blogs.

It is about building a relationship with your prospects and customers that builds credibility and trust that turns propsects into buyers and customers into high value repeat buyers.

The initial goal is to obtain the buyers permission to receive that content whether it is a subscription via an opt-in email or a Facebook  social opt-in ” like” that delivers information into the Facebook news and “Timeline” stream.

Creating content is time consuming and a creative challenge.

8 Content Marketing Challenges

These are the challenges among many.

1. Finding inspiration and ideas for the content
2. Creating it
3. Making it relevant
4. Resourcing it
5. Managing it
6. Monitoring it
7. Measuring it
8. Making it “Liquid” and Contagious

Sometimes you need some inspiration and you need to try some new ideas and different media that may provide a nudge to try something different and creative outside your comfort zone.

As Steve Jobs says “Stay Foolish”

The Power of Multi-Media

Many of us still don’t think about alternative media to text and articles because online video is still in its infancy. YouTube has only been with us for 7 years and in the world of business and brand marketing this is only a “blip”.

We need to “switch on” our multimedia mind and consider other media rather than just words to get our message out to the world that wants and demands multi-media.

Images and photos are much more likely to be shared than an article or a white paper. Videos or infographics will be shared at high velocity compared the the humble “written word” that have been with us for millenia.

Idea 1: Include Images and Photos

There has been a significant evolutionary shift on the social web in the last 12 months as marketers and social media network startups have realised the growing power of visual content.

By the end of 2011 the number of photos being uploaded to Facebook had reached 250 million a day.

This number hasn’t gone unnoticed and  has led to 3 key and noticeable events and changes.

1. The “Success” of Pinterest
2. Google+ being launched with the user interface designed to display photos, and images in high defintion and in a large format.
3. Facebook responding with the Facebook “Timeline” designed to give images and photos greater prominence. In fact you can now “feature” an image in a bigger size. Expect this change to be migrated to Brand “pages” in the next 6 months.

Photos and images drive high engagement on Facebook and if I look at my top ranked content on my Facebook page  and measuring the virality index using the Facebook “Insights” tool, the top 10 are all images or photos.

Some are cartoons that are relevant and congruent with my other content (written or visual) and with questions are used to drive conversations, stimulate  and create stories.

There are photos that may reveal the human side.

The marketer needs to embrace this and work out ways they can use images and photos in their social media and content marketing that

• Increase Facebook “likes”
• Inspire comments
• Drive sharing

Also don’t forget to just have some fun!

Fashion Brands such as Threadless use images in clever ways to survey customers on their Facebook page that ensure that the garments they produce will be successful driven by the crowd sourced voting through “likes”. The garment with the most likes is the one that is manufactured!

The indirect benefit of increased engagement on Facebook with likes and comments is that it increases your Facebook EdgeRank with your fans and so improves the flow of your “Page” updates into their Timeline.

Idea 2: Create a Contagious Online Video

One good example of a contagious video content is Dynamite Surfing created in 2007. It contained all the 4 main elements that were needed for it to become contagious and viral

According to Brent Coker  a marketing professor the four key elements required for a video to go viral are:

1. Congruency – The themes of a video must be congruent with people’s pre-existing knowledge of the brand it is advertising.
2. Emotive strength – Creating strong emotions is essential if you want to ensure you are giving your video the best chance of becoming viral and the more extreme the emotions, the better.
3. Network involvement – Videos must be relevant to a large network of people and the larger the better, some examples of large networks are college students or office workers.
4. “Paired meme synergy” – These memes can be elements such as “Voyeur” or “Unexpectedness” that were contributing factors in the success of the “Dynamite Surfing” video

The Dynamite surfing video tapped into all 4 key elements.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So how can you harness these elements to assist in giving your video the best chance of becoming viral?

Idea 3: Design a “Shareable” Video Graphic

Eric Qualmann is well known for his social media revolution video graphics which like “infographics” take numbers, facts and figures and make it entertaining and easy viewing via a video format. These concepts can be applied to many industry sectors.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Idea 4: Use the Hottest Trend in Content – Infographics!

Infographics has emerged in the last 12 months as one of the most popular and shareable forms of social content.

What are infographics?

“Infographics are visual representations of information, data or knowledge that present complex information quickly and clearly”

The internet and social web are a firehose of information and Infographics is one of the appealing and efficient ways of sharing it.

What are the major types of Infographics and applications?

1. Statistics
2. Concepts
3. Business models and processes
4. Cartoons
5. Information
6. Timelines

What sort of Infographic could you create that would be shareable in your industry?

Idea 5: Create a Well Structured Blog Post or eBook

Creating a blog post, article, whitepaper or eBook is a vital part of your content marketing strategy and for B2B companies is the foundational element.

Giving it the best chance that it will be shared and talked about is the biggest challenge.

What are some of the basics that need to be considered when creating text content?

1. Awesome headlines – This is needed to “Tempt and Tease” the person to click on the link and read your “Tweet” or find out more about your Facebook update!
2. Great writing – Be a story teller, find your voice
3. Good Structure – Sub Titles, bullet Points and reasonable readable fonts
4. Educational – How To’s
5. Informative – News, Facts and Figures
6. Visual – Include images in your articles and posts as well as infographics, photos or even cartoons from time to time

Here are 4 great blogs that provide examples of good articles writing but have different styles and  strategies but are all effective

• Social Media  Examiner
• Copyblogger Blog
• Hubspot Blog
• Zen Habits

What About You?

How do you use images or photos in your content and social media marketing? What do you find works for you in your content marketing.

What could you do better?

More Reading

• 10 Reasons Why “Liquid” Content Should be Included in Your Social Media Marketing
• What are 10 Addictive Types of Content?
• How to Increase Your Blog Traffic by 55% with One Button
• 5 Motivations for Sharing Content
• 20 Ideas for Social Media Content that Engages
• Is it Better to Share on Google, Facebook or Twitter+
• 9 Questions to Ask your Customers When Creating Content

If you want to get serious about marketing for your business or organisation the foundation of any focused effort is creating unique and inspiring content to publish and promote that educates, informs and entertains.

Content in fact should do much more than that if you are to succeed fast, far and large, at marketing your business and organisation.

The  ”ultimate marketing goal” is to make content or ” ideas” so contagious that they cannot be controlled.

This is “liquid content”

The Era of Distribution Technologies

Coca Cola, whose ads have delighted consumers for decades have decided to move from “Creative” excellence” to “Content” excellence as they transition into the  era of “distribution technologies” that provide greater connectivity and consumer empowerment than ever before.

Distribution technologies is another term for social media networks that allow content and ideas to spread through the power of sharing and self publishing.

Other terms sometimes used to describe this paradigm shift in marketing for this marketing approach are

• Inbound marketing
• Content Marketing
• Pull marketing

These all provide a description for an alternative to traditional marketing that is all about interruption marketing including telemarketing, cold calling and traditional advertising that pushes messages “at” you.

Technology now allows us to block calls, skip channels on your TV or record and watch later.

Content Marketing is not just for B2B

The secret behind content marketing that is published and promoted on social networks including blogs, Facebook and Twitter and other social media channels is attracting loyal tribes of readers, viewers and ultimately customers.

In the past content marketing has been perceived as the domain of of businesses that sell to businesses.

Coca Cola, the ultimate consumer marketing brand in the “FMCG” sector (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) has a new marketing strategy which is the core and kernel of  its “2020 marketing vision“.

It is now positioning itself as striving to provide “content excellence”  in place of its previous objective of “creative excellence”

The ultimate goal….to create “Liquid content“!

They see the future as being content as the “matter” and “substance” of “brand engagement” and “conversation”.

This is quite a change for one of the leaders in consumer marketing

Click here to view the embedded video.

To achieve this it must be the “worlds most engaging content”

This allows you to attract and pull customers to you.

Ten Reasons “Why” you Should do Content Marketing

1. To create online buzz and virality through “liquid content”. Content so contaigous that it cannot be controlled -  This is the purpose of content excellence
2. If a personal brand then awesome content positions you as a passionate thought leader that makes a difference.
3. If a business brand then insightful and positions your company as an expert in its field
4. Improves search engine results – Google and search engines love new fresh content that is published and it creates “search engine credibility” when content is linked to by other websites and blogs
5. Creates an online asset (“an information annuity that keeps giving” – Jay Baer)
6. It educates, informs  and entertains
7. It works 24/7 while you sleep, year in and year out
8. Provides content that can be shared through publishing on “shareable” social media network channels.
9. Creates loyal raving fans and followers that money cannot buy
10. Creates engagement and builds relationships with customers and potential customers

Content should be considered “as” important as a bricks and mortar asset that you own.

Content is the real power asset of the future in a “knowledge and information economy”

How is your content?, is it “Liquid“?

More Reading

• What are 10 Addictive Types of Content?
• How to Increase Your Blog Traffic by 55% with One Button
• 5 Motivations for Sharing Content
• 20 Ideas for Social Media Content that Engages
• Is it Better to Share on Google, Facebook or Twitter+
• 9 Questions to Ask your Customers When Creating Content

Image by Hannah Bonanza

In 1997 the first social network was created called sixdegrees.com and was the forerunner of the modern social networks that started to gain traction in 2002.

The first of the modern next generation social media networks that followed in 2002, had the the funky name of Friendster, which to my ear sort of sounds like a hybrid cross between a “Friend” and a “Hamster”.

As with any good idea it was quickly copied (“ripped off” is another phrase that comes to mind) and MySpace was created and launched in 2003.

This social media network dominated for the next 5 years as teenagers became addicted to the interactive and multimedia rich, self publishing web platform that allowed them to share music, content and information with their friends.

The addictive power of the social network was on display to many parents as dinner tables around the world were deserted by teens after gulping down their meat and potatoes, as they rushed off to their computers to continue their “MySpacing”

In 2008 Facebook surpassed MySpace and became the dominant social network.

Since then we have seen the rise of the “smart phone” connecting people to the web without wires or a desk bound computer.

This mobile social web has allowed everyone to become a publisher no matter where they are.

The Information Tsunami

At a conference in 2010 Eric Schmidt the then CEO of Google stated

“Every two days, we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003”

This information includes content such as emails, tweets, Facebook updates, Photos, YouTube video uploads and text messages.

Social networks have largely contributed to this tidal wave of  information and content

• Videos Uploaded to YouTube – 48 hours of Video uploaded every minute and YouTube receives 3 billion views per day
• Photos Uploaded to Facebook – 250 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day
• Tweets on Twitter – 200 million tweets per day
• Email – Over 100 trillion emails a year or more than 300 billion emails a day
• Text Messages in 2011 – more than 7 trillion

Many teens are averaging over 3,000 text messages per month.

Much of this is content is not of great quality in fact it is estimated that 89% of all emails are spam.

So as a Social Media marketer, business owner or CEO, how do you harness, focus and take advantage of this information and content “Tsunami”

Is Traditional Marketing Broken?

If you want to get serious about social media marketing for your business or organisation the foundation of any focused effort is having great content to publish and promote.

Other terms for this marketing approach are

• Inbound marketing
• Content Marketing
• Pull marketing

These all provide a description for an alternative paradigm to traditional marketing that is all about interruption marketing including telemarketing, cold calling and traditional advertising that pushes messages “at” you.

Technology now allows us to block calls, skip channels on your TV or record and watch later.

The secret behind content marketing that is published and promoted on social networks including blogs, Facebook and Twitter is attracting loyal tribes of readers and viewers.

This allows you to attract and pull customers to you that will engage, read and view and then buy.

The 10 Commandments of Content

Here are 10 building blocks that you need to include in your plans for marketing your business on an increasingly social and mobile web.

1. Get Focused

Who are you speaking to? Provide content that communicates with your customers and prospects in a language they understand.

2. Create Goals for your Content

What are you trying to achieve– capture emails, provide leads, nuture prospects or improve your visibility to search engines.

Do you want to make the content so entertaining that it makes your brand memorable and remarkable and do you want the message to become viral. A funny video may achieve this.

When designing your content make sure it is not content for contents sake, but is assisting you in growing your business

3. Become a Publisher

The democratisation of publishing and marketing means that you now don’t have to wait for your local printer to print off 10,000 marketing brochures and then organise them to be letter boxed .

Now you can write a blog article, email it to your “opt in” subscribers, tweet the link to your Twitter followers and promote it on Facebook.

4. Solve Problems

Everyone has problems and helping your customers and prospects solve them will take them from interested readers to raving fans. Write content that shows people how to fix their problems that are relevant to your industry and market.

5. Include Calls to Action

Don’t forget to include calls to action with your content. It could be to subscribe, share or register for an eBook or whitepaper.

Creating small calls to action will lead prospects towards the ultimate goal for any business and that is to put some money down or place an order.

6. Talk like a Human

Corporate speak was invented by copy writers but a while back people started switching off.

Being “Authentic” is the new black and being real is the “new marketing” that is a message that cuts through

7. Show What Works

Case studies that “show” how your product is used are much more effective than “telling“. Create content that showcases how other customers are using your product and services to achieve success.

Nothing like a bit of “social proof” to create credibility, trust and action.

8. Have some Fun

The original 10 commandments didn’t mention having fun but it helps enormously to present you and your company as having a sense of humour. This doesn’t mean making every piece of content a comedy act but lighten up and show your other side.

Orabrush YouTube Video – This companies use of humour and social media helped them sell 1 million toothbrushes that reduces bad breath.

Click here to view the embedded video.

9. Publish Everywhere

Publishing was expensive and just placing an ad in your local newspaper could cost you thousands.

Now you can publish on dozens of social networks at no cost within minutes. Despite there being thousands of social networks, publish on the social media channels that are used by your customers.

Make your content ubiquitous – place it everywhere from hub (blog or website) to outposts (Facebook, YouTube and Twitter) where your customers hangout!

10. Create Multi-Media

Not everyone likes reading, in fact the younger generation generally reads and views content in many formats including online videos on YouTube. The social web is about rich multi-media that engages interest and communicates visually and not just the “written word“.

Publish your content in several different formats and media types that your customers will like and enjoy. Some examples of these are video, audio (podcast), photos, whitepaper, info-graphics and eBooks.

I know I have 10 commandments listed here but I am sure that you may have discovered some more.

How have you used and optimised your content for your social networks and marketing?

Look forward to hearing your stories.

More Reading

• What are 10 Addictive Types of Content?
• How to Increase Your Blog Traffic by 55% with One Button
• 5 Motivations for Sharing Content
• 20 Ideas for Social Media Content that Engages
• Is it Better to Share on Google, Facebook or Twitter+
• 9 Questions to Ask your Customers When Creating Content

Image by ideacreamanuelaPps

Why do you turn on the television? Why do you open a magazine? Why do you read the newspaper, whether it is online or folded and crumpled on your coffee table?

We want to be entertained, amused and educated and the reason you open the laptop, turn on the tablet or browse on the mobile, is that we are seeking information and it is called content.

Google earns $30 billion a year indexing and helping you find information and content.  In an information age, creating content should become the focus of your marketing, whether it is for the consumer or for business.

The Difference Between Success and Failure

Content comes in all types of formats, shapes and styles and often the creator has only a few brief seconds to entice you to go beyond the headline or the opening line.

Creating compelling contagious content can be the difference between success and failure of any media marketing venture whether it be social, mass media or traditional.

So where do you start?

Well for one it’s not about you, it’s about “them” your prospects,customers, viewers and readers.

Step 1: Find and Define your Target Audience

There are many questions to ask here and if you are a large organisation or brand then your advertising agency will certainly tell you who they are. They could be female and aged between 25 and 34 or they could be male and be in the 40-50 bracket.

But you need to know much more!

• What television shows do they watch?
• What magazines do they read?
• What words do they use?
• What events do they attend?
• What fashion do they like?
• What music do they listen to?

If you are creating content for a B2B market then you ned to consider 3 core topic categories

1. Solve their problems
2. Educate and inform them
3. Keep them updated with News

If you are marketing to a consumer then they will want to be entertained, informed of specials and up coming sales and also to be educated about the product.

Step 2: Identify Your Customers Social Networks

There are so many social networks and social media channels that it makes your eyes blur and your mind turn to mush. You need to ensure that you are publishing and placing your content where your customers hang out.

There are a few no brainers that should be in your mix.

• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter

Other channels such as Slideshare (the “YouTube for Power Point Presentations) and LinkedIn are important if you are communicating with the business crowd.

Step 3: Establish Their Media Preferences

In an information age of rich multimedia, just going with text or words is not enough any more. To reach the widest audience possible you need to publish the same core content on a variety of media formats and types such as:

• E-books
• Images (Flickr and Instagram)
• Video (YouTube, Vimeo and other online video networks)
• Audio (Podcasts)
• Presentations on Power point – Slideshare
• Infographics

Mixing these up into hybrid content formats as a package or selection can ensure that everyone receives their preferred media type.

Step 4: Find Ideas for Creating the Content

Writers block is real, it happens to everyone!

So how do you keep those ideas flowing to create that compelling content?

• Read other top blogs and develop content on industry Trends – where is the industry going, what are the emerging hot segments
• Write about customers successes – Write up a case study about a clients successful project.
• Publish content on what not to do! – highlighting where something hasn’t worked
• Create a video blog post by interviewing a successful client – this can a powerful providing authentic evidence of authority and credibility for both you and the client.
• Subscribe to the top industry blogs in your market, both company blogs and personal blogs for ideas and view them in one place with an RSS reader such as “Google Reader”
• Look through your latest news releases for ideas

Step 5: Create the Content

Creating content does take time and effort but you must remember that you are building up online assets that will continue to provide value well into the future. A “How to Video” that is published on the web will educate customers and prospects while you sleep.

Blog articles can be the outline for creating an online video or a PowerPoint presentation. So don’t forget that re purposing content is a very efficient way to build your media library.

If you are considering crowd sourcing content such as inviting guest authors for your blog then you may need to set some standards and writing guidelines.

• Length of article such as 1,000 words
• Images to be supplied
• Subtitles

Creating video content can be as easy as interviewing someone at a Cafe with an iPhone!

Step 6: Optimize the Content

So if you think that by just writing and hitting the publish button on your blog is enough then you need to take a deep breath… because your job has just begun!

You need to optimise your content. Some core elements are

• Headline – learn to write an enticing headline that will make people want to click on the link in Twitter
• Structure – Write sub titles that break your content up into bite sized chunks and draw your readers into the article. Write for skimming and scanning
• Search – Write articles using key words and phrases that customers would use to “Google” you. Also if you are publishing images on Flickr, Videos on YouTube and presentations on  Slideshare (or any other social media channel) then make sure that you optimise the content by writing a headline, including a description, enter tags (Keywords)
• Social – make sure you have social media sharing buttons wherever you have content. You want people to share. Don’t make it hard for customers to share and spread your great content!

Your challenge is to be everywhere! – Be ubiquitous.

Step 7: Make it Mobile

Laptops and personal computers are not the only devices that your customer, prospects and readers are using today. So ensure where resources and budget allows that your content can be viewed on the various mobile platforms

• Android Smart phones
• Apple iPhones
• iPad’s or  Tablets

Step 8:  Monitor and Measure

This can be really simple to monitor, such as measuring how many hits the blog post receives or using Facebook Insights to measure its virality on Facebook. Other paid  tools such as Meltwater’s  Social Media monitoring tool “Meltwater Buzz” can provide in depth statistics on  your content’s performance and virality.

Step 9: Repeat What Works

This is not rocket science and if an article about a certain topic is shared many times or receives a lot of hits and traffic, then create more content for that topic.

Give them more of what they want, with the topic and media type that resonates.

What successes and challenges have you had with your social media content?

More Reading

• What are 10 Addictive Types of Content?
• How to Increase Your Blog Traffic by 55% with One Button
• 5 Motivations for Sharing Content
• 20 Ideas for Social Media Content that Engages
• Is it Better to Share on Google, Facebook or Twitter+
• 9 Questions to Ask your Customers When Creating Content

Image by Sanofi Pasteur

Many men have trouble choosing the right clothes and quite often they abdicate the responsibility for their clothes purchases to the wives and partners.

The reasons for this is due to the fact that men haven’t the time or the inclination to educate and inform themselves about the pre requisites for dressing fashionably.

This situation is not helped by fashion stores that seem to hire and train shopping assistants that  accost you immediately upon entry and are so annoying that all you want to do is flee the store never to return!

How Content is Vital for an Online Store

A recent online retailer start up “Mr Porter”  which commenced trading 9 months ago, is assisting the fashion illiterate male to learn how to dress with style. (Mr Porter is the little brother of the Women’s online store “Net-a-Porter” whose founder Natalie Massenet recently sold a majority stake for $560 million)

They do this by providing great content in various media formats that educates, informs and provides iconic examples of how to dress for success.

They must be doing something right because in the 9 months since starting they have

• Acquired more than 1 million unique browsers
• The store now include 150 brands
• Ship to 170 countries

The genius behind the content is Jeremy Langmead who was previously the editor of the British edition of “Esquire” magazine.

Jeremy says that “Men will ask a lot of questions before buying something and if you give them the right answers they will spend”

The heart and soul of the success of “Mr Porter” is its content

So what Content Inspires Men to Buy?

Mr Porter takes content marketing to a new level for online stores that provides stylish multimedia content that assists the buyer make the right decision.

Here are the major content sections of the online store that they develop, publish and promote.

1. The Journal

This is an “Online Magazine” that  is published on the site weekly and includes tips, interviews and articles that are both stylish and educational.

2. Style Icons

This section of the site provides iconic examples of movie stars and famous men such as Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood and David Bowie that provide inspiring examples of fashion and style.

3. Style Advice

Don’t know what shoes to wear or what watch you should buy? This segment provides tips on the essential elements of male fashion sense

4. Style Council

There is nothing like promoting other well connected people to power your network and this content section both leverage’s these networks and  displays their sense of style?

5. Video Manual

Want to learn the art of smart yet informal dressing or how to choose the right tie. Mr Porter uses video tutorials to provide guidance on some fashion basics.

The Marketing Distribution Platforms for the Content

Having inspiring and educational content is one thing but distributing and marketing that content is vital to promote a global brand. Here are some of Mr Porter’s social media and marketing channels that provide low friction sharing and distribution.

1. YouTube Video Channel

Mr Porter currently has 32 videos with 10,026 views that gets their content onto channels where their audience is hanging out.

Click here to view the embedded video.

2. Facebook

The Mr Porter Facebook network has over 100,000 likes and is optimized and designed to capture “likes”.

3. Twitter

With over 36,000 Twitter followers Mr Porter is establishing a focused tribe that assists in distributing theirr content in real time.

4. Email

Not only are social networks vital for content marketing and driving sales but email subscription is essential for online stores as you have control over time and structure of the delivery. The Facebook page is designed for capturing vital emails with an incentive.

The Takeaways

What are some lessons to takeaway from this great example of content marketing?

1. Don’t sell but Educate and Inform
2. Capture email subscriptions
3. Provide Multimedia formats
4. Take advantage of and utilize other peoples networks

How do you use content marketing for your blog, website and online store?

More Reading

• What are 10 Addictive Types of Content?
• How to Increase Your Blog Traffic by 55% with One Button
• 5 Motivations for Sharing Content
• 20 Ideas for Social Media Content that Engages
• Is it Better to Share on Google, Facebook or Twitter+
• 9 Questions to Ask your Customers When Creating Content

Image by oepidusphinx

Are you having problems driving traffic to your blog? Are you finding that no one is retweeting your content or sharing it on Facebook?

When starting a blog the challenge for any blogger is providing content that will entice and delight your readers. You want them looking forward to your next article.

Developing an antenna for creative ideas for content is a skill that can be developed.

What I have found effective is to take notes when reading a book or after a meeting when customers provide insights into their business dilemmas. To capture these I sometimes enter it straight into my Apple iPhone with the “notes” feature or use Evernotes mobile app that saves the idea in  the  ”cloud” for future reference.

Everyone has Problems

One thing to keep in mind is that every business or reader has day to day challenges and problems that they want help solving. Helping customers find solutions and ideas for their pain points is an easy way to provide addictive content.

Ideally you want your blog to become the industry resource or Bible that becomes the “Go To Portal” for your subscribers.

Social Proof is Vital

Do you have clients saying to you “What are some of your customers finding what works for them?” or “Provide me with some case studies that verifies that strategy has worked in the past“.

Providing social proof and evidence is a very powerful content type that validates and confirms that they will not be reinventing the wheel or wasting time and money.

10 Addictive Content Types

These ten I have found to be very effective and will ensure that you are providing information that your readers will find worth sharing, “Tweetable” and Facebook “likeable”.

1. Reviews

Reviews of products , books or applications in your industry provide a shortcut that saves people and your subscribers time. Everyone has the problem of being “time poor“. The other advantage with this content is that the companies and people whose product or book you are reviewing will share your content with their networks accelerating its spread and improving its virality.

Example:

8 Great Twitter Tools That Will Get You Tweeting Like A Pro

This multiple review had the benefit of motivating the eight companies who developed them to tweet and share with their networks.

2. Mega Lists

A  long list of tips, tactics and answers that provide people with a resource that maps out many ideas that they can go back to as a reference have proven to work well. You can go a bit crazy here if you are not careful but give it a try .

Example

90 Tips to Make Your Blog Rock

3. How To’s

This content type maps out different solutions and answers to the everyday issues that your customers want answers to. This can be the simple basics of  ”How to get started” for the newbies to the industry or a more complex article that provides new insights to veterans.

Example

How To Write A Mind Blowing Headline For Twitter So People Will Read Your Blog

4. Experts and Thought Leader Interviews

Interviewing experts in your field will achieve two objectives.

1. Provide great content that will entice your readers with their insights
2. Promote and connect your blog to their networks.

You will not have to ask them to share it, they will “want” to share their interview with their followers and tribe whether it be a video or text in a Q&A format.

Examples

From Zero To 40,000 Facebook Fans: Interview With Mike Watkins

Social Media and The CEO – Video Interview With Greg Savage CEO of Firebrand Talent

5. Case Studies

Case studies provide the proof that a certain strategy will work if planned and applied correctly. Research and track down specific examples of how other companies have been successful.

Example

The 7 Secrets to Ford’s Social Media Marketing Success

How To Run A Successful Social Media Marketing Campaign: Case Study

6. Negative or Contratrian Stories

It never ceases to surprise me that a negative headline and position will drive more traffic than a positive slant on a story or article.

Example

30 Things You Should Not Share On Social Media

What is revealing is that the article 20 Things you should Share on Social Media only had half the traffic of the article with the negative headline!

7. Facts, Figures and Statistics

People love facts and figures and aggregating the latest data about your industry will provide a focus on your blog that will keep your readers coming back for more. Providing this regularly will assist you in positioning your blog and content as the hub to keep on top of the latest numbers. Statistics help businesses pick trends and opportunities in their sector.

Example

50 Fascinating Facebook Facts And Figures

This is in fact a hybrid content type that mixes the mega list format with the facts and figures

8. News Stories

Blogs are the digital worlds online magazines and newspapers and providing the latest news is always attractive and valuable content. Don’t hesitate to put your own slant on the news that displays your grasp of your industry.

Example

Apple makes Huge Announcement about Twitter

9. Research

The latest research provides signposts for future planning and validates and lends credibility to strategies. If managers can  provide proof of why something should be done then it helps them take action and obtain approval from their CEO. Research does need to be presented with well formatted articles that allow skimming and scanning for “time poor” excecutives! Bullet points, screen shots and subtitles are all important elements to provide easy reading.

Example

Harvard Study: 30 Key Findings on How The CEO Engages With Social Media

10. Infographics

Providing infographics that simplifies the presentation of complex data and facts and figures are proving to be extremely popular. This content type also lends itself to being embeded in other blogs and websites.

Example

20 Stunning Social Media Statistics Plus Infographic

Hybrids of these ten content types are also very effective and mixing these into mixed formats can provide creative variations that can drive traffic and sharing.

What content types have worked for you on your website and blog? Look forward to hearing your success stories!

Image by Thomas Hawk

The social web has made everyone of us publishers. We create content everyday as we post to Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.

We upload photos to social media sharing sites such as Flickr and give them titles and descriptions.

The more adventurous, conscientious and creative content creators  produce videos and presentations that they download to YouTube and Slideshare.

Creating content that is worth reading and and inspiring enough to make it shareable takes time, effort and persistence.

Creating Content is the Easy Part

Once you have gone to the effort of producing, editing and publishing, then the real challenge is to market your inspiring writing and your creative multimedia creation to an expectant online audience.

Social networks provide the means and the leverage to distribute the information to a potential audience of 2 billion internet users.

Successful bloggers and social media aware companies understand the importance of marketing their on-line assets and ideas with updates to Twitter and Facebook with embedded links to drive traffic and clicks.

The Web is Crowded

If you have a large Twitter following and 1,000′s of Facebook fans then that will help your content marketing endeavours. Many of us tweet the post once and maybe share it also on Facebook with a singular news update with a link embedded and then expect traffic to come flooding in.

The cruel reality is that the web is crowded with hundreds of millions of blogs, websites and social media sites and the competition for attention in a sea of noise and buzz is so intense that most links drown before they are noticed.

Most clicks to your links in your tweets happen immediately after you have posted an update to Twitter. As time passes the retweets and Facebook likes and sharing of the links diminishes. As the link ages, the attention your links receive reduces.

Do Links Last Longer on Facebook, Twitter?

So how long is a link “alive” before people stop caring and does the type of content and where you shared it matter?

According to research by Bit.ly (the link shortening service used by millions of  users), after the initial post to Facebook the half life of a link was 70 minutes (the amount of time at which this link will receive half of the clicks it will ever receive after it’s reached its peak)

A post to Twitter was shown to have a half life of only 5 minutes.

This shows the difference between Twitter (which is more a stream of links) and Facebook which is a destination where link life isconsiderably greater.

What was also noticeable is that the pattern of the clicks to a link essentially have the same pattern: a fast rise, and a more relaxed drop-off.

What is the Half Life of a YouTube Link?

In looking more closely at their 1,000 most popular links on Bit.ly they also discovered the following

• Twitter has the average shortest half life at 2.8 hours
• Facebook links half life averaged 3.2 hours
• Direct sources (like email or IM links) came in at 3.4 hours
• YouTube averaged 7.4 hours

So it appears that the type of content also matters with YouTube having the best link longevity.

What wasn’t covered by the study was the social media site Slideshare (where you can upload and share your PowerPoint presentations), which  I would suggest would reveal link endurance that would exceed Twitter or Facebook and possibly YouTube

Takeaways

Creating your content is just the start, sharing it on social media channels will give it life and wings.

1. Tweet your content more than once. Remember Twitter is a stream that flows past and doesn’t land in an inbox!
2. Sharing only on Twitter is not optimum and reduces a links potential lifespan
3. Sharing on Facebook is vital
4. Creating content for YouTube is worth considering
5. Don’t forget to share directly via email (building that email subscriber list is still important)

Do you share your content on Facebook and Twitter? Where else do you share, Google+, Digg and Stumbleupon?

More Reading

• How to Increase Your Blog Traffic by 55% with One Button
• 5 Motivations for Sharing Content
• 20 Ideas for Social Media Content that Engages
• Is it Better to Share on Google, Facebook or Twitter+
• 9 Questions to Ask your Customers When Creating Content

Image by Ravages

Creating a website and an on-line presence for your brand was an easy decision a decade ago. All you had to do was get a website company to design and develop your website add a  few lines of text for each page and then “set and forget”. The static website was the status quo and content very rarely changed.

Fast forward to today and websites are dynamic and interactive on-line brand portals where you  need to actively optimize for search engines so potential customers will find you with key words and phrases.

You need to respond to comments on the corporate blog and engage with your customers on your other web properties such as Facebook and Twitter.

White papers need to be created and published and eBooks are the norm especially in knowledge industries.

Embedded on-line videos are now considered as a standard feature of a website and a corporate branded YouTube channel  is becoming essential in your content marketing strategy.

So content needs to be added regularly in a variety of  media formats. Brands are becoming publishers.

Content Needs Marketing

The reality is that creating that content is just part of the work of optimizing your on-line assets and by just publishing you have only just started and the real work now has to be done….marketing your content and sharing it should be part of that marketing strategy!

Lee Odden of  the Top Rank Blog has created this diagram that reflects the content marketing trilogy that highlights activities and media that should be an essential part of the mix of optimizing your on-line brand.

The three essential keys to marketing your content is optimizing your on-line properties for discovery through search, social and email. Providing a variety of multi-media content that caters to the viewing and reading preferences for your audience and finally make it easy to share.

How to Make Sharing Easy

I don’t know how many times I go to a website or blog and want to share the content but the website design makes it hard to share. There are no “Tweet”, LinkedIn or Facebook “share” buttons to make it a no brainer for me to share it with my followers, fans and connections.

Some recent research reveals the impact and importance of adding a few buttons to your blog.

Brightedge conducted a detailed social share analysis of 4 million randomly sample tweets and discovered that sites that had adopted the “Tweet” button drove almost 7 times more link mentions(sharing) on average than sites that did not have the button.

This one simple feature has the potential to put your content sharing on steroids and accelerate brand discovery.

Top Brands are Ignoring Optimization for Sharing

The research also discovered that nearly half of the top 10,000 websites do not have social sharing plugins.

If this is the case for the top websites and blogs I would suggest  that the smaller companies and organisations participation rate on including sharing buttons would be significantly lower.

When I added a “Tweet” button to my blog the increase in content sharing and traffic was significant and instantaneous.

In a lot of cases uploading a social plugin and including a “Tweet” button on your blog is a 5-10 minute exercise especially if you have a WordPress blog.

Do you have social sharing buttons on your website or blog?

More Reading

• How to Increase Your Blog Traffic by 55% with One Button
• 5 Motivations for Sharing Content
• 20 Ideas for Social Media Content that Engages
• Is it Better to Share on Google, Facebook or Twitter+
• 9 Questions to Ask your Customers When Creating Content

Image by Shira Golding

Sharing on a social web drives millions of hits for viral videos, motivates people to email humorous articles  and makes content spread at the speed of a “click”.

Humans have always shared.. …it is in our nature but the information age has accelerated that sharing. It is estimated that every 2 days we create as much information as we did since the dawn of time till 2003.

In 60 seconds we find and share vast amounts of content in all its different types of media.

• Perform nearly 700,000 searches
• Upload 600 videos to YouTube
• Share 80,000 Facebook wall posts

We share more content, from more sources with more people than ever before.

Sharing is Powerful

Sharing is powerful online as it is seen as credible and trustworthy and we will believe our friends before a marketing message from a brand.

The New York Times in conjunction with Customer Insight Group and Latitude Research  has released a study which reveals the psychology of sharing. This is first of its kind inquiry into motivations of why people share.

The study wanted to find why campaigns such as “Will it Blend” or the “Old Spice” marketing were so successful and why they were shared.

It looked at why people share online, discovered 6 personas of sharers and what are key factors that influence sharing.  These are all important to marketers to understand why their content is passed around online

5 Motivations for Sharing

According to the study sharing is driven by these 5 motivators.

1. To bring valuable and entertaining content to others

2. To define ourselves to others

3. To grow and nourish our relationships

4. Self -fulfillment

5. To get the word out about causes and brands

In essence it is about relationships both weak and strong.

The Six Personas of Online Sharers

The study also revealed 6 types of personas

1. Altruists

These people were found to be helpful, reliable and used email as their primary sharing medium

2. Careerists

LinkedIn was their primary social network and were professionally and career minded and shared ideas on how their company can help their customers.

3. Boomerangs

The boomerangs shared to get a response. They wanted validation and were likely to use Twitter and Facebook.

4. Hipsters

They were the more creative type and wanted to be seen as a leading edge. They were less likely to use email and saw sharing as part of who they are.

5. Connectors

This persona valued making plans and were seen as thoughtful. Preferred communication for sharing was email and Facebook

6. Selectives

They only shared if they believed the information would be relevant for the receiver of the information. They preferred email as their sharing channel.

Key Factors to Influence Sharing

As a marketer these are the primary elements that you need address if you want your ideas and content shared online

• Appeal to customers motivation to connect with each other – not just your brand
• Trust is the cost of entry of getting shared
• Keep it simple and it will get shared – it won’t get muddled
• Appeal to their sense of humor
• Embrace a sense of urgency

What was revealing about the study was that despite the hype with sharing on social media, email was still vital in sharing online.

What was also discovered that the act of sharing facilitated a bonus for the sharer with better retention of information.

What have you shared lately?