Does Your Content Have Superpowers?

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Content marketing | Content Superpowers | PWB MarketingA few years ago, while serving on a social media panel during a presentation to a local entrepreneurial group, I casually remarked that, “Content is everything; social media is just plumbing.” In the years since then, I’ve seen this proven over and over both with clients and with brands I follow. In order to succeed, your content marketing needs superpowers.

This post examines some of the content marketing your brand needs to succeed.

Exceptional Audience Relevance

Social – more than any other medium – has to connect with what your customers and prospects want to learn. If it doesn’t, they’re on to the next thing. Too many marketers are pushing content that THEY want to tell customers, as opposed to information that customers are seeking.

Powerful Stickiness

Remember the old days of “sticky” web content? Where your reason for existence was to get customers to return to your web site? Sticky content and content marketing are essentially the same concept. According to a study by DDB Worldwide and Opinionway, 84% of a company’s fans are already customers.  Only relevant, interesting, and fresh content keeps people coming back.

Incredible Engagement

In his book Socialnomics, Eric Qualman observes that social media marketing is, “More like Dale Carnegie than Mad Men. Less about selling and more about listening.” Social is a unique channel because of its allowance for real-time dialogue. Harness this ability with content that asks questions, solicits opinions, and takes other actions to encourage audience response.

Robust Adaptability

Successful content marketers generate content for use across multiple channels. A LinkedIn post might lead to a white paper on your web site, expanding on the post topic. A targeted Facebook ad might direct users to a a topic-specific landing page. Great content is great content – just be sure to recognize the unique nature of each channel and modify appropriately. For example, text on a web page won’t make a dynamic Pinterest post without adaptation.

Brand Power

What does your brand stand for? How are you positioned? What is your unique value proposition? Content marketing should clearly and consistently support your brand and values. If you don’t have a clearly defined set of brand values, we can help you with that.

These are but a few of the content marketing superpowers your brand needs. Want to know the others? Or put this to work? We should chat.

-Sean-

Get Your Story Straight

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PWB is in the midst of creating several storytelling videos, and we’re finding some common themes and issues emerging. Here are a few recommendations for crafting a successful storytelling video.

  1. Get your story straight – if you haven’t really figured out the messaging for your product, service, or company, you can spend a lot of wasted time wandering in the wilderness.
  2. Understand how it will be used – storytelling videos are an excellent asset in an integrated demand generation program. Taking a step back to see where your video(s) will fit in the buyer’s journey is always helpful. This helps you stay on-message and focused on the viewers felt needs.
  3. Keep it simple – the goal here is simple; to help people quickly “get it” – emphasis on “quickly”. A good storytelling video should be less than two minutes long. Stay focused on that goal.
  4. Bite-sized chunks – two minutes is a surprisingly short amount of time. More complex stories may need more than one video. One of the projects we’re working on is a three-part series. This really enables us to tell the story in meaningful increments. It also gives our client more assets for their demand generation program.
  5. Picture = 1,000 words – use both the visual and narration elements to say more than you could by using just the narration. Some concepts are easier to see than talk about.

At PWB, these are all key elements in our process as we craft your story. Have a complex concept that you want to quickly, simply, and effectively communicate to key audiences? Let’s talk!

-Sean-

Is This The End for Google+?

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google plusI hate to say it, but I have a hard time using Google+. In fact I generally don’t promote Google+ much, and find very little value in it. I do have clients who have been forced into accounts since they created YouTube channels or were transitioned to Google+ after they had Google Places pages. Not many of my clients use it though.  Perhaps that is due to individual clients goals, or perhaps it is because Google+ pages that lack any substance, don’t get traction. Regardless, I have a hard time supporting it.

Even as far back as 2011, I had a hard time determining IF my clients needed to set up a Google+ page. Today I ran into an article that brought that to mind again. What I read made me consider that these changes may be the beginning of the end to Google+.

Throughout the last few years, Google has actually been back peddling on several of Google+ mandates put into place. That’s why these new changes, specifically for Google Play, are not that unusual. The changes will ultimately benefit Android users, since very soon Google Play will become less integrated with Google+.

As it is explained in the article, Google Play Services are currently tied to individual Google+ social media accounts. All users are required to sign in, which allows players to continue game progress from any device. Doing so however makes game activity visible to anyone on the web. There are some options to minimize this, however it takes quite a bit of effort on the part of the user to make their game play less visible. Soon though, users will not be required to sign in to Google+ to access games.

I suppose that sounds like a big mess. In some ways it is. Integration of Google+ into “everything Google” has caused a big mess. Certainly Google+ falls short on competing against Facebook, and has backed down from a few other mandates in the past year or so. As we begin to see Google+ unravel, I begin to question the strength of the platform and find myself asking, “Is there value in using Google+?” and “is this the beginning of the end for the social media platform?”

Please add you your thoughts on Google+ in the comments below.

 

Social Media Image Size Guide [INFOGRAPHIC]

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I have been updating a couple client social media sites recently and realized that it has been a while since we updated a social media image size guide. In fact, June 2013 was the last time I published information on correct sizing of images!

The size of social media images changes from time to time, so having the most current data available is paramount. Each social media profile has unique size specifications and failure to properly size images may result in misalignment, cutting off part of the image or simply not being able to post them. There is nothing more frustrating to me, than seeing a company that does not have consistent branding across all social media profiles, so please feel free to print and reference this social media image size guide.

This infographic is a great source to reference when creating the correct size images for your LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+ and YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Having trouble managing your social media? Need assistance with analytics or even initially creating your social media presence? Perhaps a social media audit is necessary. Regardless of your need, PWB marketing can assist your company in getting the most from social media.  Call our office today at 734-995-5000 for your social media answers.

 

Image Sizes for Social Media Branding [Infographic]

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A week ago when I logged in to a clients YouTube channel to upload some video, I noticed a prompt that made me grown. I was notified that the channel layout was about to change. Again.

youtube changes

“Upgrades” or changes often mean the creative needs to be edited when branding a social media site like YouTube.

What does this mean to me? It means that I will be busy for the next little while adding new creative to each client channel PWB manages. In this case it was alright though, since the client’s (Uniloy) YouTube channel needed new artwork anyway. What I discovered though is that as part of the process, you are “encouraged” to edit your Google+ page.For my personal reference, that is why I had one of our art directors create a new Social Media branding Infographic.

The changes to cover art sizing are frequent enough, and none of the channels – Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, Google+, YouTube – have the same size images. Heck, they don’t even have image sizes that can be easily scaled when branding your social media pages!

So please feel free to use this infographic for your reference when adding branding to any of the popular social media sites! The infographic will help you create the correct size images for your LinkedIn or Facebook cover photos, Google+ channel art or Twitter and YouTube header!

social media branding infographic

When editing social media sites, it is important to remember what size images are for creative branding! Use this infographic as a reference to understand what size images you will need for your LinkedIn or Facebook cover photo, Google+ channel art or YouTube and Twitter header image.

One word of caution. Although my art director created the exact size image for Google+, we needed to trick the system by adding a couple of pixels to the height and width. Otherwise the image would not load to the site!

Six Ways to Create Video Content to Last All Year

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Online video is a tremendous communications tool and a powerful way to promote your brand. It’s a great way to create instant credibility, reach many people with minimal effort, and “show” instead of “tell”. Plus, it’s not as expensive as you’d think.

Online video consumption is exploding. Nearly 85% of the U.S. Internet audience views online video each month. The average U.S. Internet user watches 182 online videos each month. And YouTube has surpassed Yahoo as the #2 search engine.

We recently began a new assignment for our client, the Center for Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery. CPRS is doing a series of videos interviewing their surgeons. The videos allow the physicians to showcase their expertise and build rapport with prospective patients. Plus, we’re using the videos to motivate people to act quicker and attend a seminar or call for a consultation. Although we’ve just begun, we’re already starting to see some benefits. One of the decisions we had to make was what content we were going to use for video.

To get you started, here are six ideas for video content.

Get client testimonials.
If someone has something good to say about your product or service, encourage them to provide a testimonial. Video provides a powerful way to show that your testimonials are real and not made up. Remember to have your client keep their recommendation short. You don’t want a long-winded or rambling recommendation. Also, tell your client to be specific. Details are more convincing than a generalized ‚”They were great!”

Conduct a focus group.
Assemble a round table of experts in your industry – news editors, industry analysts, key clients, and prospective clients. Discuss important issues affecting your industry. The session will be packed with information, advice, and tips. This is all great content that others will want to share. Plus, each of your panelists can help in distributing your video to their network.

Repurpose existing content.
You probably already have loads of white papers, case studies, and product overviews. Why not repurpose those papers and sell sheets into videos? No need to reinvent the wheel, right?

Put your Webinar Online.
If your organization conducts webinars, record them and archive them online. It’s a great way to start building a library of thought leadership.

Record conferences and tradeshows.
Most conferences have policies prohibiting the taping of presentations. However, many venues are fine if people want to take photographs or recordings while walking the trade show floor and visiting vendor booths. This is a good opportunity to meet many exhibitors and ask questions, get information, and compare offerings. Prepare your questions ahead of time. Most exhibitors will be happy to talk about themselves.

Capture speaking engagements.
Public speaking elevates your visibility in the marketplace and builds your reputation. After the talk, inform the attendees you’ll post the presentation online and make it available to participants. Make sure you post your video promptly.

With smart thinking, compelling content, and preparation, an organization can churn out online videos without excessive expense or equipment. We’ll be sharing the videos for CPRS in a future post.