DARK TRUTHS ABOUT B2B BLOGGING
9 BEST CONTENT MARKETING EXAMPLES TO TAKE INSPIRATION FROM THIS YEAR
Are you struggling for fresh ideas in the hopes of upping your content marketing game? You’re not alone. One of the best ways to consistently produce content that’s fresh and also on-trend is to look at leaders in the space and quickly adapt.
BLOGGING
Research shows that marketers dedicate 88% of their content marketing strategy to blogs. And 77% of internet users read blogs regularly. So it’s no joke that blogging is a big deal in a content strategy. But how do you do it? Let’s take a look at these blogging heroes.
It’s no surprise that the man behind Kissmetrics has gone on to become one of the biggest marketing influencers of our time. He frequently incorporates statistics, graphs, charts, and personal experiences in many of his posts, and also makes it a point to reply to reader’s comments.
Ask any marketer where they get their inspiration from, Hubspot is surely one source. With in-depth blog posts, Hubspot caters to issues that matter close to home. Hubspot employs a great content strategy to move people ‘strategically’ down the funnel, with topics ranging from very broad keywords to topics that are very niche and very suitable for conversion.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Ever wondered why marketers believe that their social media marketing efforts have “somewhat” or “very effectively” paid off? Because 54% of consumers agree to browse through social media to research products (GlobalWebIndex, 2018).
Generally speaking, Starbucks’ Instagram page is a happy place to be. But with their #ExtraShotofPride campaign, Starbucks really turned the spotlight on being a brand ‘for the people’ with its feature of staff and baristas sharing their journeys as LGBTQ+ individuals. Inspirational!
If there’s one brand that gets social messaging right, it’s Dove. Just look at their #ShowUs campaign which was about breaking beauty stereotypes and celebrating the under represented. With #ShowUs, Dove gave Instagram users the option to share their own photos tagging #ShowUs, for a chance to appear in the campaign.
VIDEO
1. 54% consumers demand to see more videos from brands before they engage. (Hubspot 2018)
2. 87% of marketing professionals use video as a marketing tool. (Wyzowl, 2019)
3. 8 of 10 consumers make a purchase after watching a brand’s video. (Wyzowl, 2018)
In the wake of #MeToo, Gillette challenged the notion of whether or not brands could be too political through their short film to take down toxic masculinity. Guess what? It earned over 31 million YouTube views! Takeaway – if you’re caught between taking a political stand and not, take it, but do your research right and align it with your brand’s voice.
Any GOT fans here? Then you surely wouldn’t have missed Hootsuite’s ‘Game of Social Thrones’. The video makes use of GOT, a popular theme, to bring fans closer to the brand. And guess what? It worked – this strategy gained the brand over 1 million views!
Recruiting world class leaders is a challenge, but somehow TEDx manages to nail it every single time. Their videos cross tens of millions of views, excluding their TEDx, TED Fellows, TED-ed, and other channels.
VISUAL CONTENT/ GRAPHICS
1. 65% of tweets WITH images stand a better chance of being retweeted. (Stone Temple Consulting)
2. And blog posts WITH images results in 94% more views. (Jeff Bullas)
3. In other words, visual content gets viewed 94% times more than content without visuals. (PR Daily)
Heavily visual in their marketing, LinkedIn uses a combination of featured images for their blogs, quotes, customer testimonials, illustrations, videos, and infographics to promote and distribute their content. And now they’ve amassed almost 65K followers on Twitter.
Humor is Zomato’s way of marketing. From pop culture, to simply out of the box, take the ‘Shape of Samosa’ campaign for example, which is a spoof of the Oscar-nominated film, ‘Shape of Water’. The reason behind their 1.3 million twitter following and hundreds of thousands of app downloads?
Hit us up at hello@thewordsedge.com for your next content marketing project.
Where Is Content Marketing Going In The Rest Of 2020
Videos
1. Storytelling through videos reigns supreme in content strategy, overtaking blogs and infographics (HubSpot, 2020).
2. 72% of people prefer video content over text when learning about a service or product (Smart Insights).
3. 56% of people in the age group of 25 to 34 years prefer video content from companies they support.
4. Though promotional and brand storytelling videos are common video types created by marketers, live videos are becoming the need of the hour. Live videos are script-agnostic and real-time in their interaction. Live video is also the third most-used social media marketing tactic (HubSpot, 2020).
Podcasts
5. Versatile, convenient, on-the-go, and informative, podcasts suit the hustle-bustle modern lifestyle. People are informed while taking walks, driving, or working out. According to PWC the podcast listener base in India grew to 40 million in 2018, a 58% rise from 2017. It is also interesting to note that Indian language internet users are set to reach 536 million people by 2021 according to KPMG.
6. Presently the third largest market for spoken-word audio, most Indians listen to podcasts on their phone, and a vernacular podcast might just have a bigger chance for success than English podcasts.
Listicle Blogging
7. 43% of people admit that they skim through blog posts. (HubSpot, 2018) This means they seek snippets of information. Data and facts in easy-to search and understand formats improve customer trust which drive total sales.
8. Listicles are found to be the most popular blog post formats among business blogs (Responsive Inbound Marketing, 2019).
Reviews and Recommendations
9. We tend to remember the negative, more than the positive. Or so Esteban Kolsky found. 72% of customers will share a positive experience with 6 or more people. But 13% of them will share a negative experience with 15 or more people.
10. 70% consumers also trust online peer reviews and recommendations more than professional content and copy.
Personalisation
11. Statista (2019) found that 90% of mobile users find content personalisation very effective and email is the number 1 channel used for personilisation by marketers.
12. Infact, 49% of buyers made impulsive purchases after receiving a more personalised experience.
Targeted Content
13. Marketing to 3 audiences at a time is said to be the standard best practice (Hubspot, 2020).
Website design and content
14. Statistics show that 38% of people stop engaging with a website if the content or layout is poor.
Social Media for customer service
15. 78% of customers have a firm belief that social media is the future of customer service.
The 6 Responsible Do’s Of Crisis Marketing
1. Use video content
That instills hope, confidence, care and concern.
2. Dial down the fanfare
However tempting it may be. You may come across as insensitive. Every now and again, you can publish something new, but the focus of your efforts should be in supporting your customers.
3. Do have live sessions and webinars
An average attendee spends 53 minutes consuming webinar content.
4. Be active on social media platforms
Social media activity increased 50X in March 2020 (as witnessed by Nielsen). Needless to say, people are more active on social media now and bite-sized content is the best way to go. Think it through, because social media will definitely be central to your content marketing strategy in the time of COVID-19.
5. Don’t stop advertisements
Contrary to what people say, a survey conducted globally by Kantar found that just 8% of consumers thought brands should stop advertising.
6. Do your bit
Lastly, Marketing Week found that:
- 45% of consumers expect companies to draw up safety plans for the supply of services and products
- 40% want to see companies make donations of products, such as hand sanitisers or face masks
- 30% expect brands to offer discounts and promotions
- 19% demand quality customer service
HOW TO MAKE CONTENT STAND OUT FROM CLUTTER
How to create blog content that will go viral
