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Posted by Gary Griffiths on Tue, Mar 18, 2014 @ 12:26 PM Tweet
While face-to-face is the most effective medium for communication, distribution – and quality – are formidable barriers
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Whether it is entertainment, education, or simply communication, the closer the recipient of the message can get to the originator, the better the chances that the message will be received appropriately. In the first days of human civilization, communications were face-to-face – it was story-telling – great deeds or practical knowledge transmitted from one person to another – or a small group – in an intimate, personal, real-time setting. Effective, but hardly scalable. And, as anyone who’s ever played the “telephone game” knows, not very accurate past the first telling.
Enter the written word. These stories were first captured on stone tablets, and eventually on paper, mass-produced through the genius of movable type and printing presses. Scalable? You bet. And precise too. Yet, even in the hands of the most gifted writer, words on paper are cold, impersonal – sterile as compared to the emotion, the warmth – the passion – of the creator conveying their message in person. The theatre was a step in providing this missing personal touch, and raised the bar a bit on scalability, but not enough – especially as measured in the age of the Internet where billions of people are simultaneously approachable.
It was 1888 when the first film with a “motion picture camera” was produced. Of course, producing a “moving image” and solving the problem of distribution are hardly equal. That is, inventing the camera was a milestone, but the “projector” was still a ways off. And having a moving image solved a huge part of the recreation of a real-time, physical event, but synchronization with sound presented another problem – one that would take another three decades to solve. And then, there was also color.
Anyway, you get it. My purpose here is not to retell the history of Hollywood, but rather to establish the importance of conveying a personal experience in communicating effectively. As a species, humans have evolved from stories told around campfires to smart phones and software capable of producing integrated video and audio ten-times more powerful than what Academy Award-winning directors were using less than two decades ago. This has led to a proliferation of video content easily distributed and widely available on the Internet. But unlike our ancestors, we can now tap into countless campfires around the globe – from Chicago to Calcutta to Siberia. And through the power of video, capture that emotion – the passion – the nuance – of the creator of that message, whether it is a 30-second clip or a three-hour feature film.
But therein lies another problem. Billions of videos. YouTube reports that every minute, 100 hours of video are uploaded. From the historical Zapruder amateur video of the Kennedy assassination to the first men walking on the moon – to yet another of a million nonsensical clips of cats playing with yarn. Point is, I suspect that cat videos were not the hot topics around primeval campfires. To wit, it has been reported that 90% of all of the content that has been created since the beginning of time has been created in the past two years. But before you high-five in celebration of the “awesomeness” of this proliferation of content, consider this: does the guy/gal behind the iPhone clips of college boys farting at frat parties rate with the brilliance of Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Hemmingway, Steinbeck…? Quantity does not equal quality. So, while technology has solved the problem of scalability, it has created another problem: in this sea of content – video content specifically – how do you know where content that is actually relevant to you will exist? Faced with the prospect of joining a billion campfires around the world, how can you choose the one that really will matter to you? We’ve all heard “three hundred channels and nothing to watch.” Well, multiply that by another million or so – and you’ll get an appreciation for the problem we all face with scale vs. quality.
At Trapit, we understand this. We love video. We get the power of this media. We understand that 80% of all content – in bytes at least – on the Internet today is video. But we also understand that some high percentage of this – 70, 80, 90%? – is crap – at least for any given individual. Trapit can help. We have done the heavy lifting. We’ve culled the Internet. We’ve sifted the flotsam and jetsam from the trillions of gallons of the Internet oceans of content – text and video – that swim in this ocean. And we’ve identified only the top sites for original, quality video content. Over twenty thousand of these sources – and growing. No spam, no aggregators, no porn. No crap. And our customers can decide how they want to categorize this content – not only in the topics that are relevant to them – but the medium. Text, video, audio. Any of the above – or all of the above. Perhaps for one topic, our customer decides to share only video content with their constituents – or in another a combination of text and video. Trapit will give you the power to find that campfire that fits.
– Gary
4 Comments Click here to read/write commentsTags: video Posted by Kelly Montgomery on Thu, Mar 13, 2014 @ 12:49 PM Tweet
Image “If someone shows you who they truly are, believe them.” -Maya Angelou Imagine the scene: you walk into a store you wouldn’t normally frequent because you know they have an item you want to purchase for a dear friend. A sales representative approaches you, and tries to interest you in all sorts of products that aren’t the gift you’re looking for. An annoying experience for you, to be sure, since you’re likely to politely decline all the offers of help (that you never wanted to begin with), find what you came for and leave. But what about the representative? If only they had known in advance that you weren’t the target audience for their pitch, they could have spent their time and efforts more productively, and perhaps even increased their store’s revenue.
You might not think about it the same way, but marketing your brand online is really no different. Every marketer and salesperson loves talking about their products and features, but if you have the same conversation with everyone — regardless of what their needs are — then your content strategy is inefficient at best, and can even be destructive to potential customer relationships. Instead, understanding the needs and problems of your target audience, and targeting your message to address those pain points specifically can make all the difference in the world.
That means being aware of what problems your target audience is actually facing, and speaking to those problems. That means building trust by showing that you’re attuned to your audience’s pain points. That means reaching out to influential members of that community, including ones that have successfully addressed those needs and those yet to do so. That means creating case studies and sharing customer testimonials, because there’s no better demonstration of an effective solution than plucking one straight out of the real world.
Once you’ve identified your audience, you can craft the story of your company. Everyone has challenges they’re facing, and if you can identify the major ones faced by the potential customers you’re targeting, you can share their stories. You can connect with them socially, you can build relationships with them, and you can use their influence to draw attention to your own brand. Not every influencer needs to be a customer, either; sometimes building trust, establishing expertise, or simply showing that you understand the needs of your audience can have tremendous value. Every audience is different, and you need to make sure that you’re crafting your story to effectively engage with yours.
And engagement means content. As far as where that content comes from, this means both creating original content and sharing third-party content that supports all of these steps. As long as the content is high-quality and engaging, you’re doing what you need to establish trust, leadership, and to position your brand as the solution to your audience. Because you don’t win customers by promising your audience what you can do, you win them by showing who you are. So show them the entire story, and let the needs of your audience be your guide!
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Imagine the scene: you walk into a store you wouldn’t normally frequent because you know they have an item you want to purchase for a dear friend. A sales representative approaches you, and tries to interest you in all sorts of products that aren’t the gift you’re looking for. An annoying experience for you, to be sure, since you’re likely to politely decline all the offers of help (that you never wanted to begin with), find what you came for, and leave. But what about the representative? If only they had known in advance that you weren’t the target audience for their pitch, they could have spent their time and efforts more productively, and perhaps even increased their store’s revenue.
You might not think about it the same way, but marketing your brand online is really no different. Every marketer and salesperson loves talking about their products and features, but if you have the same conversation with everyone — regardless of what their needs are — then your content strategy is inefficient at best, and can even be destructive to potential customer relationships. Instead, understanding the needs and problems of your target audience, and targeting your message to address those pain points specifically can make all the difference in the world.
That means being aware of what problems your target audience is actually facing, and speaking to those problems. That means building trust by showing that you’re attuned to your audience’s pain points. That means reaching out to influential members of that community, including ones that have successfully addressed those needs and those yet to do so. That means creating case studies and sharing customer testimonials, because there’s no better demonstration of an effective solution than plucking one straight from the real world.
Once you’ve identified your audience, you can craft the story of your company. Everyone has challenges they’re facing, and if you can identify the major ones faced by the potential customers you’re targeting, you can share their stories. You can connect with them socially, you can build relationships with them, and you can use their influence to draw attention to your own brand. Not every influencer needs to be a customer, either; sometimes building trust, establishing expertise, or simply showing that you understand the needs of your audience can have tremendous value. Every audience is different, and you need to make sure that you’re crafting your story to effectively engage with yours.
And engagement means content. As far as where that content comes from, this means both creating original content and sharing third-party content that supports all of these steps. As long as the content is high-quality and engaging, you’re doing what you need to establish trust, leadership, and to position your brand as the solution to your audience. Because you don’t win customers by promising your audience what you can do, you win them by showing who you are. So show them the entire story, and let the needs of your audience be your guide.
– Ethan
1 Comments Click here to read/write commentsTags: audience Posted by Kelly Montgomery on Tue, Mar 11, 2014 @ 01:57 PM Tweet
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If you’re a brand and you’re not on Twitter, you’re doing something wrong. While Google is still the first stop for a quick company search, Twitter is quickly becoming the place to discover and interact with brands, both big and small. Angry at Comcast for a dropped call or billing error? Tweet them and you’ll likely get a more enjoyable response than sitting on the phone on hold for 25 minutes. Want to find out about the best new products from your favorite clothing retailer? Check out their Twitter for real-time updates or even special offers. As a brand, just being on Twitter isn’t enough. Both your customers and prospects have expectations of just how a company should behave. Let’s call it social brand etiquette. Here are the absolute basics.
News about your company
If you have news about your company or brand, great! Be sure to share it on social. Having it on your website isn’t enough. There are countless customers and prospects who may only see you via your social presence. Make sure they know what the latest happenings are and what your brand is up to. You might catch the eye of a casual Twitter user who wouldn’t ever come directly to your brand’s website.
Quality original content
This one is a no-brainer, and it’s undoubtedly part of any successful brand strategy on Twitter. If you have a company blog, white-paper, or infographic, don’t neglect to post it on Twitter, even if it seems like it may be more successful on a different social channel. It doesn’t hurt to put all of your quality content out there for customers to see. They will appreciate being well-informed about you and your product.
Quality curated content
We are big proponents of curation, and there are good reasons to back that up. By posting quality content created by others on your social channels, you are telling your customers and audience that you care about your industry and sharing relevant insights, even if they come from another individual or company. Sharing curated content alongside your own content builds trust, brand authority, and thought-leadership. Your Twitter will become a place your audience goes for quality information.
Customer service
Twitter is a great outlet for basic customer service, and your customers like it that way. I know I, for one, would much rather Tweet a question to a brand, go on with my day, and get an answer back within a few hours, than sit on the phone listening to bad muzak for an undetermined amount of time. Be sure to monitor Twitter for mentions of your brand, and always respond. If you can answer a question or solve a problem on Twitter, do it. If the issue is too complicated to express in 140 characters, kindly thank them for reaching out and direct them to your email or a customer support email address.
Timely responses
Whether you are onboard with it or not, you will receive questions, feedback, and probably also complaints on Twitter. The sooner you can respond to all of those Tweets, even the negative ones, the better. Responding within 24 hours is ideal. Whenever I have tried contacting brands on Twitter, a timely and kind response has gone a long way in my respect for that brand and their customer service. It makes your customers feel like you are always there for them, accessible on one of their favorite social outlets.
Your brand voice
Last, but absolutely not least, your Twitter activity should always reflect your brand voice. Defining your brand voice is a whole other post, but once you’ve nailed down whether you are the authoritative professional type, the fun and playful type, or somewhere in between, make sure that your activity on Twitter reflects that style. If your voice is formal and professional, sharing silly viral videos might seem out of character. If your voice is light and silly, responding to customers with terse, short answers might be off-putting. Keep your voice consistent in your own Tweets, the content you share, and the way you respond to your customers.
– Kelly0 Comments Click here to read/write commentsTags: social, audience Posted by Kelly Montgomery on Fri, Mar 07, 2014 @ 11:58 AM Tweet
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When Google Reader was on its death bed this past summer, I couldn’t help but speculate as to why the decision was being made to shut down the RSS news platform. One of the prominent arguments I came across was that RSS always suffered from lack of consumer appeal.I agree to a certain extent. It’s not that the standard user simply isn’t capable of grasping how RSS works, but I do recognize the struggle exists for standard users to make the most out of their RSS experience. My stance has little to do with any reader services that queue up the content, nor the subscriber functionality of RSS. The problem resides in the fact that not enough websites out there have been doing enough with their RSS capabilities. In order for the future of RSS to hum like a well-oiled machine in an overcrowded internet, the sources of content must become more robust, more niche and more versatile. The web is a free democracy – RSS must mirror this concept and empower readers with more choices when it comes to the content subscriptions that auto-filter into our daily digest of information we consider valuable.
RSS Food for Thought – The Buffet Analogy
Website owners should take notes next time they walk into a buffet (bear with me). When I enter a buffet, my stomach wants it all – everything. Contrarily, my heart desires something lighter and more healthy. Despite these conflicts of interest, I know ultimately that I am in a position to choose the most well-rounded plate that’ll satisfy the taste-budding opinions inside me that are constantly butting heads. I deliberate carefully. I look around and appreciate how the square footage of the buffet is broken down (much like websites) into subsections, by genres–italian, seafood, salad bar, sweets, etc. If you are like me, you make one stop per trip to the seafood section and you leave with shrimp and shrimp only, approximately five panko pieces. I know the salmon is there, it stares at me wondering if today is the day my palate makes that connection. But I’m here for the shrimp, and the buffet respects that. It’s why I return, unbothered, unfettered. Maybe tomorrow, salmon.
Websites must do the same. Allow your readers to subscribe to the things they desire consuming routinely. Recognize that a consumer’s stomach can only expand so far, so why force feed them? Imagine if said-buffet instead unloaded a dump truck of food on your table, forcing you to sift through it all to fill your plate. You’d probably choose a different buffet. In order to compete in this smartphone-crazed world where attention spans are rapidly shrinking, RSS functionality must become a diverse content buffet that allows readers the versatility to subscribe to either large chunks or tiny slivers of content. With all the multitasking we do on a daily basis (Facebooking, Twitter-skimming, Insta-gazing) how much room do we have left in the tank to read quality content when our mind settles down at the night’s end? RSS should be that cornerstone can’t-miss feature in the world of content that will bring readers what they want, when they want it.
Dissecting RSS: Empower the Contributors that make your Website Superb
Sure, “All News” or “All Articles” feeds are fantastic and important to have available for subscription, but let’s be real here. As readers, occasionally certain writers or writing styles come across as annoying, while others can hook, line and sink our return. Twitter gives you the option to mute someone’s retweets and empowers users with the choice to only follow an original voice. Websites should do the same for each and every contributor, syncing a RSS feed to each individual, even if they merely appear seldomly as featured guests. Whether a reader is subscribing to one writer, or a handful, RSS connectivity in this manner will bring readers back to the website when they feel like it and the content flow will never feel overwhelming, because they will remain in control. Who knows, they may pick up a piece of salmon along the way.
Broad categorical feeds are great, but niche keyword topics are golden
Sports, technology, news, health, science, fitness – the list goes on. These are great general feeds to have featured in a RSS section of a website, but are they really robust enough for readers to narrow in and get the most out of your website’s content? I consider myself a tech nerd, but have very little interest when it comes to the economics of the tech world. Those type of articles would keep me from ever subscribing. However, if I could pull a feed that dissected further into the tech section, I’d jump on the “smart tech,” “drones,” and “apple” feeds. And odds are, I may even jump from my RSS queue back into the general realm of the website to explore further, perhaps pick up some new interests along the way. Having the freedom to subscribe to my can’t-miss interests is key and brings a sense of organization when I’ve grown tired of web surfing for the day.
A website that simply “gets it”
Bloomberg View, an editorial division of what we know as Bloomberg News, is the cookie-cutter example of how a website should manage its RSS connectivity for its consumers. Tabs at the top of the page begin with a section where you can view all the content in a clean flow, queueing the articles chronologically for those wanting to browse the latest. The other two tabs are my favorite. The “contributors” section lists all the people who are posting content to the website. Inside, you can find the contributor’s bio, relevant keywords that provide a glimpse of what that writer is likely addressing in their editorials, and most importantly, a RSS feed clear as day at the top of the bio. Skip a tab over to the right, it gets even better. Inside the “topics” section, you’ll find a list of nearly 100 topics that take website categories to a new level. Climate Change, Oil, Olympics, Energy, Gadgets, China are the ones I’m currently subscribed to from the site. With a mixture of breadth, and narrowed specifics, Bloomberg View recognizes that niche topics of interest are fantastic candidates to sync with RSS.
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When Google Reader etched its name in a tombstone, tech critics questioned if this truly meant RSS was perishing after all. My rebuttal is simple: Nas said the same thing about hip-hop music being dead and look what happened. He made another album. And another. Content, just like music, will never die, so long as readers are still lingering around with open eyes and cat-like curiosity. With new data continuing its exponential rise on the internet, websites have to recognize that RSS functionality must become more sophisticated if they expect to hold onto the unique interests of its diverse readership. Most of us can’t seem to read anything longer than 140 characters these days, but when our brains settle down and we’re done tapping and finger-swiping, RSS must be that pipeline for all the go-to information. Get it done, internet.
– Geoff
0 Comments Click here to read/write commentsTags: RSS Posted by Kelly Montgomery on Wed, Mar 05, 2014 @ 12:03 PM Tweet
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Do you really know your audience? With the intense content needs that all marketers face, it’s easy to jump right to creating content and pushing it out before figuring out exactly who you want to read that blog entry, white paper, or social media post. We know all too well that creating or curating enough content to keep up with the competition often outweighs other priorities, but it will pay off down the road to stop for a few minutes and learn about your audience. Once you’ve figured out who your audience is, it’s a lot easier to determine what they need and want. Creating content is one thing, but creating content that resonates with your audience — making them want to come back to you or buy your product — takes a little more finesse.
So, before you panic about how many blog posts or white papers you have to write this week, stop and consider the points below. Try to develop buyer and reader personas, either in your head or on paper, and look back to those every time you create a new piece of content.
1. Define your ideal target audience – for both buying your product and consuming content.
While the buyer persona is probably the most important audience to define, you may also want to think about a reader persona. Some people in your industry will be interested in purchasing your product (buyer persona), while others may be engaged members of your industry who are interested in what you do and may read or share your content, but are not likely to buy (reader persona). Both of these can be valuable for creating leads and brand awareness. Maybe your buyer persona is a CMO of a Fortune 500 company, but your reader persona is the social media specialist at a smaller company in your industry. Both are valid. When defining each one, think about what their job may entail, why they would come to you, and how you can best reach them.
2. Think about what their pain points and challenges are on a daily basis.
Now that you’ve created a general outline of your audience, or audiences (job title, duties, industry, etc.), you need to learn more about what challenges they face – so that you can then present them with thoughtful information about or solutions to those problems. Don’t just think about what your product or company does, but think about that person and what kind of problems they face day in and day out. Are they a marketer who is stressed about creating enough content each week? Are they in charge of helping their company stand out on social? Are they an apparel brand trying to engage their audience in new ways online? Try to make a long list of problems you think they might face, or even reach out on social media to find ou moret. From that list will emerge themes that you can create content around – content that will provide value to your audience, because you know them and their struggles.
3. Find out where they are online, and when.
The most engaging content will be content that is presented to your audience in a space they know and like, and in a format they understand. Because you’ve already created your buyer and reader personas, you’re halfway there. Think about your personas, and think about where they consume the most content. What are they doing while they consume the content? How much time do they spend? Are they engaging or just perusing? All of these small questions will have an effect on your content strategy. If you’re dealing with C-level executives, you might want to focus on content for LinkedIn or high-quality white papers for your website. If your audience is younger online professionals, Twitter and Facebook might be the right space for your content. And if you’re going for the teens and tweens, look to the latest popular social media apps like Vine and Snapchat.
Think about what mindset they might be in when they see your content. Are they lounging at home with their iPad, ready to read a thoughtful long-form article? Or are they trying to keep up with the latest news at work, with only enough time for a quick tip-sheet? Adjust the time you post your content based on whether you want to reach them at work, at rest, or somewhere in between.
4. What do they need to know about you and your product?
Now that you have a better grasp on what kind of content your audience or audiences may want in general, and when and where to give it to them, it’s also important to think about what information they need from you about your company and your product. While “sell, sell, sell” is not exactly a recommended motto in the blogging world, your audience does need to be informed about you and your company. What are your most frequently asked questions? What are the most common gripes or suggestions you hear? What might they be thinking if they are comparing you against a competitor? Content on your website, blog, or social media can be a great way to answer these questions and show your audience exactly who you are and what you offer them. Now that you’ve discovered their pain points, you can use thoughtful content to gently show them that you and your company may offer a solution.
– Kelly1 Comments Click here to read/write commentsTags: audience Posted by Kelly Montgomery on Thu, Feb 20, 2014 @ 11:46 AM Tweet
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Smartphones are everywhere these days, and are becoming progressively more and more integral to every aspect of our lives. We spend more than two hours a day engaged with our mobile devices, more time than we spend on desktop and laptop computers combined. But what’s even more important is how people are using them, and what it means for brands and businesses.
For starters, it isn’t just taking over e-commerce, although m-commerce has grown to nearly 20% of all online sales; it’s also making its way into brick-and-mortar stores. The percentage of shoppers using a smartphone to look for information about potential in-store purchases is at a whopping 61%, or more than half of all shoppers. These mobile-influenced shoppers also spent significantly more on average, and mobile commerce has grown by 45-to-50% from 2012 alone! The biggest value-add that the mobile experience gives customers are product information, price comparison, and (of course) customer reviews.
But don’t think for a minute that this means smartphones aren’t indispensable targets for businesses. Virtually all smartphone users are using their devices to get information about local businesses and for purchases while they’re there. In fact:
- 95% of smartphone owners use their device to look for local information,
- 77% will contact a local business as a result of what they find,
- 74% of smartphone shoppers wind up making a purchase either online, in-store, or on their phones,
- 71% of smartphone users wind up searching on their phone due to ad exposure, and, most importantly,
- 24% wind up recommending a brand or product to others as a result of smartphone searches.
So, what’s your strategy? No matter how big or small you are, you don’t want to leave it up to organic searches alone.
Are you going to let Google or Bing determine what your customers find? Are you going to let the Walmarts and Amazons and Neiman Marcuses of the world corner the market on a quality mobile experience for their customers? The point is, if you’re ignoring smartphones, you’re ignoring the needs of the majority of customers, and your competition isn’t. If you’re not reaching out to them, someone else will be, even in your own store.
Over the next three years, m-commerce and mobile influenced store sales are projected to more than double, accounting for as much as 15% of all sales. So forget about phones at your own peril, because the companies that wind up growing the fastest won’t.
-Ethan
0 Comments Click here to read/write commentsTags: mobile Posted by Kelly Montgomery on Wed, Feb 19, 2014 @ 11:36 AM Tweet
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In this day and age, it’s rare to even think about buying something without doing a little online research. It’s become a natural part of the purchasing process, for things big and small, because who wants to get a bad price or have buyer’s remorse? If a customer is buying a new pair of running shoes, they will go online to see the features, specs, and reviews before clicking “buy.” If they are looking for a new laptop, they will most likely check out reviews on top tech websites, or even better, go look at the laptops in a brick-and-mortar store and then find the best price online. When it comes to business, marketing, and software services, the buying process isn’t so different. With a wealth of information out there on the web, why would you make any purchase without being well-informed? You wouldn’t.
So, if you know that your prospects are doing their own research and forming their own opinions before you even get a chance to email or speak with them, how do you engage and put yourself ahead of the pack? It starts with your content. It has to be out there working for you all of the time. Your customers or prospects are definitely doing their own research and surveying the competition before ever contacting you or clicking that “learn more” button. By that time, they are probably pretty closing to making up their minds. With that being said, your options for engaging that prospect before that point are fairly limited. You can’t email them or call them on the phone, but what you can do is give them the content they need to make a well-informed decision, hopefully leading them back to you instead of your competitors. If not, so be it, at least they saw what you had to offer. That’s a better scenario than that prospect passing you by because of a dearth of content on your company’s site. It’s time to give in to the fact that your prospect wants to be almost sure of their decision before ever speaking to a representative. Give them the content they need to do so.
Let your content do the talking – Is there enough content on your website? What does it say about you? Think about the customer and what kind of content they want to see to help them make an informed purchase. Look at your competitor’s sites and see what kind of information they are putting out there. You may not want to give away all your secrets, but put enough out there to give prospects a good idea of what you are all about and what kind of services you offer. Fact sheets, case studies, and blog posts that demonstrate thought-leadership in your area of expertise are a good place to start. If you’re not sure what kind of content to create, start with listing out your customers biggest pain point and business problems. Consider what you would want each prospect to know if you could, in fact, talk to them. Write blog posts or e-books about those subjects to make sure they are in the loop.
Put your content out there – your content is your best shot at engaging with a prospect before they narrow down the field, make sure that content is visible. Don’t hide it in a back page of your website. Put it out there and make it easily accessible or even downloadable. Integrate your blog into your main website so that with one click a prospect can read several posts that help them understand your brand and your purpose. Stay active on social media, too. If you are distributing your content to multiple channels every day, your prospect is more likely to see that content and keep you top-of-mind. The more visible your brand is, the more likely that prospect will keep you in the running and eventually click to contact you.
If you’ve done a good job with your content, your prospect will have a lot of knowledge about what you offer by the time they make the decision to become a customer. That means they will be making an educated decision and will be a lot less likely to have buyer’s remorse or be surprised when they find out exactly what you do. An informed customer is a happy one, so let your brand content do the work for you.
– Kelly
0 Comments Click here to read/write comments Posted by Kelly Montgomery on Tue, Feb 11, 2014 @ 12:37 PM Tweet
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If you aren’t thinking about mobile as part of your overall content strategy — you should be. It’s no easy task, but creating a comprehensive content strategy today has to include all important aspects of content creation and consumption, from blogging to social and definitely to mobile. You can probably guess where browsing and content consumption is heading based on your very own mobile habits. Typical online browsing may still be the norm at work, but when I get home and kick off my shoes, it’s my iPhone I reach for instead of my computer. Sure, it’s a smaller screen, but I can browse at a leisurely pace, multitask with Instagram or games, and pick it up and put it down whenever I want. It’s no wonder that mobile web browsing accounted for 30% of all web traffic in 2012 and is expected to account for 50% by this year.
So, if you’re not optimizing your website and your content for mobile, you could be losing out on a whole lot of traffic. In theory, that traffic could be even more valuable than the traditional traffic we’ve all been gunning for. Where do you want to reach your users most? At work during the day, where they are likely too busy to delve into a lengthy piece of content, or at home in their off-hours when they have the time to read and browse for enjoyment? That question doesn’t have a right answer, but if you’re hoping to increase your traffic overall, mobile is undoubtedly an important component to consider. While there are plenty of advanced ways to optimize and strategize for mobile, here are a few first steps to get you started.
1. Make your website mobile-friendly
If you want users to be visiting your site and spending time there from their smartphones or tablets, it absolutely needs to be optimized for mobile. There are two common ways of achieving this. The first is to build a version of your website for mobile — one that is simpler, probably includes less text, and is easy to view and navigate from a smartphone or tablet. If you choose this option, it’s also preferable to include a link to your full website, just in case the user wants to see your full-functioning page. The second option is to use a responsive design for you site, which basically means that the features and content on your site will naturally adjust to fit whatever size device the viewer is using, be that a phone, tablet, or full-size desktop.
2. Stay active on social
If you think that your social and mobile content strategies are two different things, think again. When your users, customers, or prospects are consuming content on their mobile devices, they are most likely using social networking apps to do so. You want your content to reach your followers wherever they are. Spoiler alert: they are all over social. If you can create, share, or curate content on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram (just to name a few), you will be getting your content out there and showing up in the mobile apps where they spend their time. Your audience is spending a good chunk of their time in social networking apps on their smartphones and tablets. If you’re reaching them on social, you’re also reaching them on mobile.
3. Don’t forget about email
Email marketing may seem like old-news compared to social, video, and infographics, but it can still be crucially important. If you have a smartphone, ask yourself how many times a day you check your email with that device. We won’t judge you. If you are like 72% of email users, that number will be 6 or higher. So, kill two birds with one stone and create some killer email marketing campaigns. Not only will it serve you well for web traffic and conversions, but you’ll also be getting a leg up on reaching your audience on mobile. If a user checks their email over the course of a day on their computer, tablet, and smartphone, sending them an email campaign means that you’ll be reaching them on all three devices, at all different times of the day.
– Kelly
0 Comments Click here to read/write commentsTags: mobile Posted by Kelly Montgomery on Thu, Feb 06, 2014 @ 12:07 PM Tweet
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Mobile users are snackers when it comes to content: looking for headlines to skim through, articles to quickly scan and then pass over, and maybe a comic or image to linger on for a brief moment. At least, that’s the conventional wisdom, and the mobile strategy that most companies are banking on.
Except what if it’s not true? What if more than 80% of mobile users would watch long-form TV shows or movies on their phone if available? What if a majority of mobile users actually preferred long-form content to clips or snippets? And what if long-form content titan Buzzfeed was not only getting 50% of its traffic from mobile, but that phone users were spending twice as long reading articles than those on tablets?
As Buzzfeed’s CEO, Jonah Peretti says,
Reaching a large audience with mobile by streamlining your site is no doubt still important, but streamlining your content is no longer an option. The so-called second screen is becoming the primary screen for a large number of people, and this is true for both video and text-based content.
It seems counterintuitive, that people would choose to spend their time watching a movie designed for a theatrical experience on a 4-inch screen, or read a 6,000 word article on a device that’s an eighth the size of a single page. Yet that’s exactly what’s happening. As smartphones continue to penetrate the market, and a number of users switch to mobile devices as their primary computing devices, reaching a mobile audience with full-length articles, stories and videos is more important than ever.
In 2010, the average American adult spent just 24 minutes on their mobile devices a day, yet as of a few months ago, that figure had surged to 2 hours and 21 minutes a day. That increase hasn’t been because they’re spending more time skimming; they’re spending that time reading magazine-style articles or watching full-length videos. And if you’re not providing them with the same high-quality content on their mobile devices that they can get elsewhere, someone else will. You can cut down on any number of things for an improved mobile experience, but if you don’t want to disappoint your audience, don’t cut the content.
– Ethan
0 Comments Click here to read/write commentsTags: mobile Posted by Kelly Montgomery on Wed, Feb 05, 2014 @ 11:59 AM Tweet
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Co-editor of the 18th-Century French Encyclopedia, rebel against conventional narrative style, renowned critique of art and drama, predecessor of complexity theory, and advocate of feminine sexuality, Denis Diderot is one of my personal heroes. This Enlightenment polymath devoted much of his philosophical energy to championing Empiricism – the school of thought that holds that knowledge is rooted in observations we accumulate in life – over the then prevailing school of Rationalism – which holds that knowledge is rooted in hard-wired, logical patterns of thought we are born with. Rationalists build clean, coherent theories and search for data to support their conclusions; empiricists trade elegance for complexity, allowing observations to lead them astray into discovery, unearthing knowledge they didn’t know they were looking for when starting their quest.
To illustrate his preference for inquisitive empiricism, Diderot repurposes one of Aesop’s fables in his Thoughts on the Interpretation of Nature, published in 1754. The fable tells of a father, on his death bed, who advises his children that there is treasure buried in his field, but that he does not remember where. The children dig and scourge the field to find the treasure, but to no avail. The following year, they continue their search but with sharper tools, convinced the treasure must be buried deeper in the ground. Eventually, one of them sees some shining fragments and realizes he may have discovered a mine. So the children shift tactics. They give up looking for treasure to focus their efforts on exploiting the mine, which yields plenty. For Diderot, the children start as rationalists obsessed with solving a particular problem which was likely unsolvable and ended as empiricists, who “come to make discoveries more important than the solution itself.”
These debates between rationalism and empiricism still take place today, although in slightly different forms to match different stakes and discussions. And, with a bit of imaginative license, we can draw analogies between these two approaches to knowledge and the use of contemporary technologies.
Consider, for example, the distinction between search and discovery as tools for finding and curating content on the internet. Search tools provide exact character matches between the input entity one searches for and the collection of content one searches on; input “horse,” and the engine will scan content to find the word “horse” and return pages that contain that word as the result set. Multiple organizations are hard at work to refine these tools to intuit the intention of the searcher when conducting the search. The assumption is that, through our habitual use of search engines like Google or Yahoo, we’ve started to develop our own niche language for how we think queries are structured. For example, when an expecting mother is looking for a stroller for her son, she does not transcribe her literal question (“where can I find the best stroller for my son?”) but rather inputs a truncated phrase to mimic how she expects the search engine functions to get the results she wants (“best strollers”). If the engine is right, search can be powerful, extensive and precise. But the extent of the result set is always limited to what the searcher thinks he or she is looking at the outset. Search is the tool to help the children in the fable dig through the field to find the buried treasure.
Discovery, by contrast, extends the parameters of our initial inquiry to unearth content we may not know we’re looking for when we start. Words are not absolute, independent units with their own intrinsic meanings, but relative, dependent units whose meanings blossom in context. For each word, therefore, there are multiple related words that create clusters of meaning that index a topic, theme or context. To return to the example of “horse,” we might situate horse within the cluster of words related to the practice riding (tack, bit, saddle), the cluster of words related to similar species (donkey, zebra), the cluster of words related to sociology and demographics (aristocrat, noblemen, polo). Someone initially searching for “horse” may be interested in any one of these clusters. While a curating engine needs further information to discern the intended cluster, it can use subsequent activity to provide more accurate and relevant results going forward. Once given the cue to find content in a particular cluster, a discovery engine can return vastly different results than search: our horse-lover may start an inquiry with the word “horse” and end up finding a fascinating body of knowledge about Lully’s 17th-century ballets. To return to our fable, discovery is the tool that helps the children find the plentiful mine, riches greater than the treasure they originally sought.
The applications for content marketing are powerful. In today’s world, branding strategies have shifted from inundating repetition of single images and refrains to distributing varied content through vehicles that best align with individuals’ particular habits, interests and preferences. Like words, people’s interests are not discrete and absolute; they are tied into an integrated whole, each topic a Lilly pad connected to others by a root system of analogies, associations and experiences. Simply put, Trapit’s discovery engine enables content marketers to enrich their corpuses, filling them not only with precisely defined content indexed by search, but also with the vast body of related topics that extend horizons, providing consumers the novelty they want to retain loyalty to a trusted brand.
So often in life, it’s when we’re not intently focused on searching for something that we open ourselves up to discover the beautiful surprises that end up providing us the most meaning and happiness. A woman went shopping for shoes, and came home with her favorite dress (forget the shoes); Proust took a bit of a cookie and found one of the greatest novels of the 20th century; a man started a conversation with a woman on a plane and ended up marrying her, the love of his life. Knowledge we don’t yet know we’re looking for is out there to be discovered in the endless, dormant mines of the web.
– Kathryn Hume
Kathryn Hume leads marketing for the Risk Practice Group at Intapp, Inc, a software company that provides business operations technology to law firms. She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from Stanford University and focuses on the intersection between law, the humanities and new technologies.
1 Comments Click here to read/write commentsTags: discovery