The Daily Carnage

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A Simple To-Do Content Audit with 6 Questions

JANUARY 12, 2020

When’s the last time you did a content audit? Can’t blame ya if it’s been a while. It’s not exactly a walk in the park. But it’s a necessary evil, folks.

Content audits bring health to your brand, online visibility, and overall business. And Content Marketing Institute wants to make it a tad easier for you to conduct one.

Let’s get started.👇

Before jumping into asking the right questions, CMI wants you to get into the right mindset. Get in the minds of your audience with profile reviews or whatever is needed to have a fresh understanding of your audience. Now the questions:

1. Is the content still relevant?

Blogs get tired too. Update stats, data points, or time-sensitive references to give blogs its much-needed beauty sleep. Also, check on outsourced links to see if it still provides value. Do this at least once a year.

2. How many people visit the post?

The data never lies. Use Google Analytics to check in on the following metrics: avg organic search traffic per month, avg overall traffic per month, bounce rate, and avg time on page. Keep your audience and goals in mind when you review the data.

3. What engagement is the post receiving?

Your social media accounts can give great clues to content health. Not just likes but pay attention to shares and quality of comments.

Three more q’s to review. You know what to do to get more!

The most important social media trends to know for 2020

JANUARY 9, 2020

Y’all social media is evolving. No, that’s not really news. But the marketer who fails to stay alert is the one who falls behind.

Once again, we’re jumping right into it with Sprout Social! In case your social strategy is running amock at the start of 2020, here are the biggest trends to get you back in action…

1. Brands re-evaluating the metrics that matter most. Likes once rang supreme to measure success on social media. But on FB and IG, Likes are hidden. Where do we turn now? Look to understand what’s driving conversation with customers. Longterm engagement > short-term spikes.

2. The growth of private communities and tight-knit tribes. Cold hard truth incoming – Can every single human on this earth gain value from your product/service? Probably. Will every human actually want it? No. And that’s why building genuine connections with super fans should be your new focus.

3. More advanced, dynamic and direct social ads. Consumers are getting more comfortable with ads across major social channels. With targeting capabilities reaching new heights, marketers have the ability to sell in meaningful ways.

4. Brands are putting influencers under a microscope. The combination of fake influencers and the downfall of likes put extra scrutiny on influencer marketing. The best practice going into 2020 is to work with nan-influencers or those with a few thousand followers.

5. Stories aren’t slowing down. Instagram & Facebook Stories are all the rage and that doesn’t appear to change any time soon. And creating interaction is the best strategy. Use polls, quick questions, and more Story features to engage your audience.

6. Video content continues to boom. Facebook has the most active users and plenty of ways to incorporate video. Instagram brings new life to IGTV with landscape video. YouTube is getting more notoriety among brands/marketers. And then there’s TikTok. Don’t 👏 sleep 👏on 👏video👏

Get further explanations from the original article. Plus, 3 more great strategies worth reviewing. You know what to do!

Five Ways to Boost Your Email Campaigns’ Inbox Placement in 2020

JANUARY 7, 2020

In case there’s any confusion, we’re big fans of email marketing. It’s truly the bee’s knees of the marketing world. Why? It’s dependable, adds value, and don’t get us started on that ROI. What more can a marketer ask from a platform?

And the wise crew at MarketingProfs totally agree. So much so they published an article to help you boost inbox placement. Let’s get into those tips, shall we?

1. Don’t ambush your mailing lists during peak times. Instead, gradually increase email outreach ahead of major seasons. This approach offers the ability to build awareness, a high likelihood of engagement with new & existing subscribers, and react to metrics in real-time.

2. Don’t send the same email to everyone on your lists. You should leverage the power of audience segmentation. A targeted or personalized approach to email is a great way to keep your subscribers engaged.

3. Don’t suddenly go rogue. It’s fine to get creative and try new things but it’s good business to stick to your brand’s best practices. Think about the Daily Carnage – we throw in some new stuff, test the waters a bit, but we never stray too far from what works.

4. Don’t keep emailing subscribers who aren’t engaged. Practice list hygiene. Our open rates are in the 40s because we do this religiously. We want to keep delivering value to those who want to hear from us.

5. Don’t forget about the competition. Craft compelling subject lines that way yours gets opened over the others. MarketingProfs suggests being friendly, yet direct with factual peek into what’s inside.

Click through to get all the details from MarketingProfs!

Inside Google Marketing: 3 marketing myths we busted this past year

JANUARY 1, 2020

topic: general marketing

2019 is behind us and these marketing myths need to stay there. Jumping right into it this morning!

Marketing myth 1: Video is slow and expensive to produce

Whip out those iPhone cameras, fam. Video content doesn’t have to be a huge production filled with fancy lighting and designer rooms. A team at Google was tasked to find a faster, cheaper, and more effective way to do video. In comes, Directors Mix. It allows you to create custom videos on a massive scale.

Marketing myth 2: The more data you have, the better

With all the metrics to track from bounce rate to length of videos watched, we love our data. It’s both a blessing and a curse. With all that available data it can be really tough to make a decision.

Google honed in on three key measurements: capturing people’s attention, they’re behavior in response, and the campaign outcome.

Marketing myth 3: Humans are being replaced by machines

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, robots taking over the world… and our jobs? Google doesn’t think so. Well, not for marketers at least.

Google says machine learning should be used in our favor, not a replacement. – “…it’s about understanding what machines do better than us and letting them get on with it, freeing up humans to lean into what we do uniquely well: insights, inspiration, and creativity.”

Get the full details in the article from Think with Google. Smash the button!

Why social commerce will rule social media in 2020

DECEMBER 25, 2019

topic: social commerce

The end of 2019 is looming over all of our heads. Only 6 days left to consume all there is to know about what to expect in 2020. It’s a ritual all marketers deal with. And we’re no exception.

One big trend that just scratched the surface in 2019 is social commerce. Facebook Marketplace, Pinterest’s Buyable Pin, Instagram’s Shoppable tags and other platforms are getting into the game of selling products through social media.

We love the potential of social commerce and Buffer must think so too. In their latest article, Buffer shares how to get started with social commerce in 2020.

1. Focus on your best, lowest-cost products. Here’s the thing, consumers go on social media to be social. Sure, they could be in a buying mood. But the key is not to make folks think too hard. Buying furniture like a couch is a big decision, but if you hit people up on social with a throw or pillows first that’s an easier catch.

2. Get the right tools at your disposal. Buffer gives two great tools here – ManyChat and Jumper.ai. Use ManyChat to collect and convert leads. Jumper.ai is an integration that helps with social commerce experience. Social platforms will surely continue building out different e-commerce features too.

3. Partner with influencers and encourage your community to share your products. This one is pretty straight forward. The great thing about social commerce is its shareability. Make sure you leverage this potential with influencers and communities similar to your ideal audience.

4. Measure your strategy. Your goal with social commerce is to get folks to whip out their cards and buy. You need to be able to track that progress because nothing matters unless you can prove the results.

Smash the button to check out the blog. If your brand has physical products, you’re going to want to read up on social commerce.

How to Market on Quora

DECEMBER 9, 2019

Have you thought about marketing on Quora?

Either way, we’re gonna throw a lot at you on this fine Tuesday morning. And, it’s all about Quora.

Why Quora?

Support existing and potential customers using forums to ask questions.
Tap into a vast, new audience of over 300 million monthly unique users.
Drive referral traffic from popular answers.
Build your personal brand here.

(You can dive in deeper to each of these bullet points here.)

You got your why – here’s your how.

Start with a good bio: Believe it or not, people will actually click through to your bio. We recommend tracking it with a tool like bit.ly or something similar. To optimize your profile bio, tell people who you are, what you do, add a call-to-action and show some social proof that you’re a subject-matter expert.
Identify good questions: Think about the 80/20 rule here. 20% of the questions you could answer on Quora will actually send you traffic. So, how do you find these questions? We make a killer recommendation in the tools section today for this one. For even more, make sure you smash that ‘Read More’ button below.
Provide actual value with your answers: This comes down to good copywriting and knowing what you’re talking about. Make sure you capture folks’ attention with a strong intro sentence and image. Also, don’t be afraid to tell stories and use controversy to your advantage.
Be consistent: It’s going to take some time to gain traction on Quora. The more you engage, the more you’ll appear in people’s feeds.
Take advantage of Quora Spaces (equivalent to Facebook Groups): This feature is still in beta, and you must be invited to create one, but you can still join and participate.

What’s Trending in B2B Marketing for 2020?

DECEMBER 4, 2019

This one is for all you B2B folks.

Because we like you to be in the know, we’re sharing what’s trending in 2020.

Facts: ~~Bears eat beets.~~ More than 70% of millennials are included in B2B buying decisions.

Why should you care? The B2B game is changing (clearly) and you’re gonna want to be ahead of the curve. Here are some tips.

Engage Your Prospects With Personalized Communications: Think that templated email is gonna close a sale? Think again. You need to tailor your message to the individual you’re selling to. Tip: Check out their LinkedIn profile or Facebook page. Maybe you have something in common. Roll with it.
Reenergize Your Email Marketing: Email isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it still remains the preferred channel of communication among decision-makers. With 2020 upon us, it’s time to take a closer look at your email marketing. Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor, and Klayvio are great places to start. On a budget? Check out MailerLite.
Invest in your B2B Social Media Strategy: Don’t post on social media just to post on social media. Determine WHAT you’re using social for and build out your strategy accordingly. What’s your objective? Who is your audience? What platform is the right platform?
Refine your Content Marketing Efforts: ‘70% of B2B buyers research their potential purchases by watching videos, and 45% of marketers plan to add YouTube to their marketing repertoire by next year.’ Takeaway: Ramp up your video efforts (like now).
Use Chatbots: Whether you’re trying to book new demos or resolve customer issues, Chatbots can help. We recommend setting up custom chatbots as soon as you can.

Alright, alright. Time to get your B2B on.

7 Tips for Building a Video Marketing Campaign

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Video. It’s so hot right now. We see you Zoolander.

Whether you’re creating a video for your blog, homepage, whatever, we have a few tips for you to build a solid video marketing campaign. Let’s go.

Come up with a solid concept: Seems like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised. You need to write down what you want the video to be about. After you have a concept, think about your target audience, the product or service you want to feature and the message you want to deliver.
Keywords are crucial: Think keywords don’t apply to video? Think again. Over 5 billion videos are watched every single day on YouTube. YouTube is a massive search engine. As you begin to write your script, factor in keywords you want to optimize for.
Write the script: Don’t be a robot. Think about videos you like to watch and frame your script around them. People like simple, so keep your videos simple.
Animate it: Visuals are easy to understand. If you have a complex idea or message, consider using motion graphics or 3D animation. If you’re on a budget, head over to Upwork or Fiverr.
Don’t forget the call to action: This is important…Your video needs to end with a CTA. What do you want people to do after watching your video? Go to your website? Give you a call? Follow you on Instagram? Etc. Don’t forget the CTA folks.

Check out a few more tips below.

A Modern Thanksgiving

NOVEMBER 26, 2019

Rather than throw some tactics at you, we figured we’d keep it light today. The excerpt below is from Seth Godin. Enjoy.

“Wherever you are, you could celebrate Thanksgiving today.

Not the Thanksgiving of a bountiful harvest before the long winter, the holiday of pilgrims and pie. That’s a holiday of scarcity averted. I’m imagining something else…

A modern Thanksgiving would celebrate two things:

-The people in our lives who give us the support and love we need to make a difference, and…

-The opportunity to build something bigger than ourselves, something worth contributing. The ability to make connections, to lend a hand, to invent and create.

There are more of both now than there have ever been before. For me, for you, for just about all of us.” – Seth Godin