Content Marketing posts

​It’s beginning to seem a lot like Christmas, the time of year when retailers, both online and in the real world, will be working flat out to entice customers through their doors.

Christmas comes but once a year and, for many businesses, it’s the most lucrative time of the year – if they play their cards right.

Here are five tips to ensure that your social media supports a successful sales period.

‘Give the audience what they want’ has been a maxim successful entertainment companies have lived by for years. Now, companies and their associated brands are having to come to terms with the fact that content marketing is here to stay and fundamentally it’s all about giving customers what they want in order to gain their trust and build a rapport with them.

Video and the internet were pretty much meant for each other, but not everyone wants to go to the effort and expense of producing professional-quality YouTube videos. Fortunately, there are now plenty of other ways you can make use of the benefits of video in a less resource-demanding format.

An oft-repeated gripe about the internet is that everyone who uses it expects everything for free. It’s one of many common sayings with an element of truth to it but it is not the whole truth.
The whole truth is that people want some kind of reassurance that their money will be well spent before they part with it. They are increasingly aware that value can be measured in other ways than money, for example their time has a value, as does their personal data such as their email address.

Updating your website regularly is vital if you want to reach (and/or stay at) the top of Google’s search results. There is a question, then, about deciding what sort of content to upload and, in particular, whether to use evergreen content or topical content.

Content marketing and its spin-off, influencer marketing, are big business and, if you haven’t already got in on the game, it’s time to make the leap. You don’t want to miss out on what influencer marketing can offer you and your brand, so here are three key developments we expect to see:

Video and the internet are a perfect match. Now that fast broadband is a reality for a significant percentage of internet users, live video is quickly becoming the next big step forward in content creation and therefore content marketing.

Nowadays, the need for great content is widely understood and self-evident. It is vital for every brand that wants to differentiate itself and produce keyword-rich content to help its discoverability online. Great content, however, can also be very expensive. It therefore makes sense to investigate what you can produce on using internal resources.

Instagram has a massive 500 million active users, 80% of whom live outside of the United States. 300 million are active every single day, which shows how important Instagram can be as a platform for businesses as well as individuals.

If content marketing is at the top of the marketing ladder, then influencer marketing is probably the highest rung – when done properly. Brands seeking to maximise the value of their influencer marketing strategy need to be aware of the dynamics pushing this area forward and, with that in mind, here are what we consider to be three key trends for influencer marketing in 2017 and beyond.

Every effective advertising campaign has to be optimised for mobile. While mobile users may be looking for the same information as their desktop-using counterparts, the way in which they access it will be very different. With that in mind, here are three tips for making the most of your mobile campaigns.

Internet users are always focused on speed, and Google is well aware of this. Therefore, in addition to rewarding website owners who ensure that their websites quickly serve users with the content they require, Google is working hard to deliver “quick answers” to straightforward questions.

Twitter is great for brand engagement, with users being three times more likely to follow brands than they are on Facebook. While that’s a good start, if you want to make the most of Twitter, you need to write effective tweets. Here are 10 tips to help you.

Up until relatively recently, search engines inadvertently encouraged the production of low-quality websites. The early algorithms focused on technicalities such as the use of keywords and backlinking, which made it possible for content-poor websites to get to the top of the search rankings by means of black-hat SEO techniques such as keyword stuffing and paid, promotional link exchanges.

Summer is almost here and that means conference season will soon be upon us. As well as being informative and fun (and offering great networking opportunities), conferences, conventions and such like are also great blogging opportunities, so here are three tips as to what preparation to do in order to make the most of them.

Having a social media presence means that a company must post meaningful content on a regular basis and engaging with its followers. That’s a lot of work, in fact it can literally be a full-time job.

Social media is frequently used for direct sales, but at this time its main value is for relationship building or brand engagement. Avoid these 3 basic, but common, mistakes:

The importance of content is modern-day marketing cannot be denied, with ¾ of digital marketers believing that brands are ‘becoming publishers’. There is, however, a difference between knowing that something is important and knowing how to do something effectively.

Selling on social media is a delicate topic, however it can be done. The trick is to do it well. Here are three tips to help.

Launch a Facebook competition without breaking the rules Facebook has become something of a hub for competitions and it’s easy to see why. There are lots of organisations on the platform, many of which have obviously grasped that a lot of people like being offered the opportunity to win something.

It’s easy to start a blog with good intentions, but really getting the most out of it takes time and effort. You have to promote your content after creating it or it may well have underwhelming results.
Here are three ways to promote your blog effectively:

In response to an increased brands desire to collaborate with influencers, here are 4 of the most common influencer marketing questions we’ve been asked this month:

Whether you’re already equipped with an influencer strategy or have recently secured the budget for this activity, I’ve outlined 4 key tips to help you hit the ground running with your influencer marketing activity in 2017 and onwards.

The idea of using someone else’s influence and following to promote your own products is nothing new. Its modern incarnation is working with social media influencers. As with any social media strategy, there are some fundamentals which need to be understood in order to make this work effectively.

It’s been about a year, since Google Webmaster Central, back in March 2016, issued a best practice guide to influencers who receive products in return for a review. The post stated that if influencers were to link to the website of the product they’re reviewing, they should use a “nofollow” link.

Some predicted the end of influencer marketing…

User engagement on Facebook is far more important than the total number of likes a Page has, and a higher number of shares, comments and likes on posts means that the site’s Edgerank algorithm will favour future posts from a Page, showing them to more people. Because of this, it’s important to create the sort of posts which encourage those vital likes and shares.

One of the quirks of the internet is that, although its very nature breaks down global barriers, it is also hugely important for local businesses looking to connect with local customers. Basically the internet has, to a large extent, taken over from adverts in shop windows and is even ousting the likes of advertising in local papers.

In the past year, we’ve watched, and even helped launch, the development of the consumer-turned-digital influencer; a new tribe of pseudo celebrities, who’ve become famous brands in their own rights. In response, top brands’ desire to collaborate with influencers has seen a dramatic increase, and according to reports, influencer marketing budgets in 2016 rocketed up by 60%.

The trusty blog remains a stalwart of both SEO and content marketing for modern, online businesses. When managing a blog, it is crucial to maintain consistency of presentation (e.g. your readers need to know when to expect your blog to be posted), while keeping the content fresh. Here are three ideas for different types of blogs you can use to ring in the changes:

If you’re serious about blogging, you can improve your workflow and benefit from using some key tools to streamline your content production and promotion. Here are our top four picks:

In the early days of SEO, getting to the top of the rankings was largely about knowing technical tricks such as keyword stuffing and mass back-linking. This led to Google adjusting its algorithm to make it more effective at seeking out the high-quality content users want, defeating people who were trying just to manipulate SEO criteria to their advantage.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Snapchat must be the most flattered social media platform there is right now. The mighty Facebook is having another try at taking on the platform that has generated a whole lot of buzz amongst digital marketers.

Everybody seems to want their content to go viral. The problem is that creating a viral article has long seemed to be as much about good luck as about good judgement – until now. Neil Patel has scientifically analysed almost 12,000 of last year’s viral articles to work out just what it is that sets them apart from the competition.

Video and the internet are a compelling combination and, now, the major social media platforms seem to be getting to grips with making it work economically. Live streaming is fast becoming a major draw, since it offers the highest level of personal engagement currently possible in the digital world.

Smartphones and tablets are everywhere and used by people of all ages. While it’s unlikely that B2B sales transactions will be greatly influenced by this in the near future, in the B2C world, it’s becoming increasingly important to tap into this mobile channel.

Despite the saying, most of us do judge a book by its cover. And, on the web, we judge websites by their landing pages, too. Hence it pays to get these right. Here are 3 top tips to improve your landing page and boost your conversions:

The classic fishing story is about “the one that got away”. For owners of ecommerce website the “ones that get away” can be a matter of huge frustration. All the effort put in to enticing a customer onto a website basically counts for nothing unless the visitor becomes a customer and yet, even with the best design and content in the world, the reality is…

“Don’t just take my word for it…” has been a standard advertising catchphrase for many years. Successful companies are well aware that many people have an instinctive suspicion of sales people and their claims and want to see evidence to support them. That’s where social proof comes in..

Creating content for your blog is only part of a successful strategy. You know you need a brilliant title that explains what you are talking about concisely, and you might want to include subtitles or bullet points to break the page up in a visual way. But hitting publish is actually just the start because, if you want people to read and share your work, you have to promote and publicise it extensively yourself.

A few years ago, Halloween wasn’t an especially significant celebration in the UK. We saw all the dressing up and partying that went on in the States but the event was marked here by low-key trick or treating amongst small children and little else. In recent years, however, Halloween has become a much bigger deal.

A recent survey published on Moz revealed that over 40% of SEO professionals at large companies have been waiting at least 6 months for their latest change. This did not come as a surprise to many, and is very typical of what we hear from clients every day; when it comes to progressing in digital many large companies are their own worst enemies.

You’re likely to be aware that a few weeks ago the recent surge in brand and influencer engagement, caught the attention of Google, who released advice on the best practice for influencer and brand collaborations

With the growth of content marketing as a central to digital strategy in 2016, we’ve seen the rhetoric around content marketing spiral out of control. According to some agencies, your content needs to be revered, provocative and above all uncompromisingly unique and never seen before.

Over the past 2 years we’ve observed fascinating developments within the realm of influencer marketing. Traditional marketing is no longer enough for the consumer; who has expressed an increased preference for a trusted opinion. As a result we’ve observed the development of the consumer- turned- digital influencer, a new type of pseudo celebrity, who’ve become famous brands in their own rights.

The first step in measuring the ROI of content marketing is to decide which metrics you want to track and improve upon. Without these, you can’t set targets and you won’t know whether you have improved or not.

Check out which metrics we think that you could include…

There is a danger, when planning a content marketing strategy, of creating any old content for the sake of it. It is important to understand that just posting a new blog article or video is far less important than what the video or post actually contains.

There are several useful steps that can be taken to identify what content your website actually needs.

It’s that time of year when we’re all full of new ambitions and goals, and any brand that is engaging in content marketing could benefit from firming up their content plans for the new year with a robust new content calendar.

For the past 5 years the landscape of digital PR has evolved dramatically with the ever growing presence of online influencers, who, we’re told time and time again, can propel your brand to stardom. By 2015 you should have had your blogger outreach strategy well moulded into your marketing calendar.

Creating content that is relevant to the time of year can be an effective way to generate ideas for unique, original content. However, this needs to be done with care to avoid clichéd content that tags a seasonal theme onto something completely unrelated to your industry.

Many online brands now understand the importance of reaching out to bloggers, social media personalities and the media to expand their reach and promote their business.

Why team collaboration helps freshen up your online marketing strategyMarketing strategies are often formulated by people working on their own or in small groups, either in-house or outsourced, and they can be created outside of the day-to-day workings of [...]

Building relationships for effective outreachRelationship building is a vital aspect of modern-day SEO and social media marketing [...]

You might have heard of evergreen content, but what is it exactly?

Beautiful, stunning and even sensational content is no good – unless it moves through the web.

As more and more businesses embrace content marketing, thousands of blog posts, video tutorials, webinars and articles are being produced every day.

Gain New Site Visitors with Highly Shareable ContentWhen you create new content on your business website, you want it to get as much attention as possible. Today, this tends to mean capitalising on social media traffic and promoting all [...]

The Pros and Cons of Native AdvertisingNative advertising is “a form of online advertising that matches the form and function of the platform on which it appears”. It can be found on a range of websites and media [...]

Native advertising is growing in popularity as a way to get a brand in front of a new audience. By creating compelling content that matches the style and focus of a third-party website, businesses can attract new fans and followers [...]

Hollywood blockbusters spend tens of millions of dollars on promoting their latest films, keen to make a profit on the works they have spent so much money on. The potentially highly lucrative sales of licensed merchandise require a film to [...]

In the UK, the sports market is enormous. Everyone from sporting goods retailers and manufacturers to sports clubs is competing for attention in this crowded environment, and many of these brands are realising that, by placing themselves in a [...]

For many brands, content marketing means blog posts. Yet, limiting the content that is produced and shared in this way also limits the effectiveness and reach of their marketing efforts.The truth is that audiences love variety, and different people respond [...]

When attending industry conferences or networking events, you can make good use of social media to connect with other attendees and follow the trends.But, after the event, it does not have to end. There are still opportunities to get your [...]

Content marketing is about telling a story that resonates with your audience and finding a relevant channel to deliver it. Here are 3 big brands that have led the way and, more importantly, what we, without the multi million pound budgets, can learn.

Sometimes, content ideas flow thick and fast; there’s plenty of industry news and lots to talk about.Other days, however, coming up with an idea for a blog post seems impossible. You know there must be something to write about but [...]

Many businesses are attracted by the power of Pinterest to drive traffic to their websites and the way in which the site seems to strongly influence purchasing behaviour.However, unlike with, say, Twitter and Facebook, which have a plethora [...]

Whilst this election has been the closest for generations (at the time of writing the Conservatives and Labour were neck and neck), there has been much talk of how voters have been divided by press and the internet.This is [...]

Regular, consistent blog content is important for content marketing, but sometimes it is difficult to come up with new, original and interesting ideas on an ongoing basis. Sometimes, ideas flow freely but, at other times, it seems there is [...]

Native advertising is a way for brands to promote themselves using content or ads that resemble their surroundings. So, on Buzzfeed for example, native advertisers might produce humorous list posts and, in The Guardian, they could create authoritative-looking feature articles.

Working with bloggers relevant to your industry is an invaluable use of your time- particularly for small to medium businesses looking for relevant coverage. When done properly, collaborating with online influencers that align with your brand values can propel your [...]

BuzzFeed is a site that content creators love to hate. We might all be sick of teasing headlines and the time-thief that is a page of 28 animated gifs representing what you hate most about your job, yet we [...]