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5 Content Marketing Trends to Know Right Now

OCTOBER 24, 2022

Don’t sleep on your content marketing goals. 97% of marketers said content marketing is critical to their strategy. Is it a priority in yours? Well if it isn’t, maybe it’s time to check out these trends and see how you can build better content.

1. Content audits are essential. Updating and repurposing your existing content is ideal for many content marketers to have a relevant asset library in reach. But first, you need to audit your past valuable content and consider showcasing it in new formats or on different platforms.

2. Keep it human. Align insights with original, human-first narratives. Understand what your audience needs and find a personal approach to that content. Some of the most valued attributes of business-related content among the C-Suite are:

Technology insights
Trustworthy/independent sources
Access to experts or peers
Original research
Industry-specific approaches

3. A top KPI is clickthrough rates in search. Search rankings are cool, but clicks/clickthrough rates are where it’s at. For optimal clickthrough success, marketers should create memorable content in their areas of expertise with in-depth answers.

4. Short-form video is here to stay. Short-form videos allow content to reach the busy peeps who do not always have the time for longer-form content. Plus, video is highly shareable. Try FAQs, educational videos, customer challenges, company announcements, and customer/employee testimonials.

5. You better be cross-platform storytelling. This isn’t a new trick, but it remains effective and essential to your content strategy. Tell the best story to your audiences by reaching them across multiple channels. Be sure to make it as targeted as possible (something you’ll discover in your content audits).

Check out the full article by Forbes for personalization tips, more content stats, and advice for content partnerships.

What you need to know about Beneficial Purpose, EAT, and YMYL for Google’s Quality Standards

OCTOBER 23, 2022

Google released its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines and gave three golden keys of insight into how Google looks at web pages and differentiates high-quality content from low-quality. Those keys are Beneficial Purpose, E-A-T, and YMYL.

What Does E-A-T Mean?

E-A-T stands for “Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness.” It’s one of the most important factors for determining Page Quality.

Expertise: Is the creator of the main content (MC) on the page an expert on the topic or credible?
Authoritativeness: For the MC creator, the content, and the website to have authoritativeness, people must know you, know your background, and accept you as a good source.
Trustworthiness: Being a trustworthy source means people can trust you to provide honest, true information that is accurate.

What is Beneficial Purpose?

Beneficial Purpose is essentially answering “What is the purpose of this page, and how does it help users?”

The page should fulfill its intended purpose and that purpose should also be user-centered.

Some common helpful page purposes:

To share information about a topic
To share personal or social information
To entertain 🙂
To sell products or services
To allow users to share files

What is YMYL Content?

YMYL stands for “Your Money or Your Life.” YMYL content is the type of information that could directly impact the reader’s happiness, health, safety, or financial stability. YMYL content should be supported by experts with relevant expertise.

YMYL content topics:

News and current events
Government, law, and civics-related topics
Financial advice on taxes, retirement, investments, loans, etc.
Shopping information, such as researching purchases
Medical advice, drugs, hospitals, emergencies, health, safety
Information on groups of people
There is also an “other” category including advice on fitness, colleges, job searches, and housing.

High-Quality Content = Expert, User-Focused Content

To be clear, E-A-T, YMYL, and purpose are not necessarily direct ranking factors. Instead, these are concepts to strive for in the eyes of Google. As always, a good rule of thumb is to think about what your users want, not just algorithms.

Check out the full summary of these concepts and released information from Google from SEMRush’s blog.

Good/Fast/Cheap Is Dumb

OCTOBER 18, 2022

Have you heard of this game of pick two? Good/Fast/Cheap.

If it’s good and fast, it’s going to be expensive.

If it’s good and cheap, it’s going to take time.

If it’s fast and cheap, it’s likely going to be junk.

And if you want all 3? It’s not possible.

But is this a uptopia we as marketers, business owners, and consultants made up on our own? Are we compromising when we don’t have to?

The Solution to the Good/Fast/Cheap ultimatum:

Fast will forever be part of the equation because that is the world we live in. Good is good, that has to stay. So that leaves cheap. It has to be replaced with a different concept…

GOOD/FAST/LOUD

You have to be loud out there.

Instead of picking two, this is the actual golden triangle you need to be thinking of when it comes to hiring and selling services. By “loud,” we mean it has to cut through the constant content against which every brand is competing. If it isn’t loud, no one out there’s going to hear (or care). And cheap won’t make up for that.

Check out more of this little philosophy switch from Warren Cockrel’s piece in Muse by Clio.

The Power of Captions

OCTOBER 17, 2022

Closed captions are not just well-loved, they are expected. On top of being a must-have for people with hearing loss, they help anyone better understand what they are watching.

The Quick Stats:

In a survey of about 1,200 Americans, 70% of adult Gen Z respondents said they watch content with text most of the time.
53% of millennial respondents said they watch content with text most of the time.
For Netflix, the number of people accessing captions has more than doubled since 2017.

So now that you know people are using them, let’s get into the why and how.

Some Reasons People Love Captions:

To learn a language, decipher a heavy accent.
They allow you to get creative (placement, descriptions, emojis, etc.)
To completely understand muttered dialogue.
To watch content in shared spaces without disturbing others.

Turning On Captions:

YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram have automatic or auto-generated captions.
You can always go manual with “open captions” if you wanna add your own spice to it.
Apple has a Live Captions feature for any audio, even FaceTime.

Check out more information and testimonials about using captions in this article from the Wall Street Journal.

Pre-Roll Ads: What are They and How to Use Them

OCTOBER 16, 2022

Pre-Roll ads. We bet you’ve seen ’em a million times and wondered how to get them rolling yourself.

What is a Pre-Roll Video Ad?

A pre-roll is played before the video is initiated in a video player. They are typically shorter than the average TV commercial and can be bought directly or programmatically.

3 Types of Pre-Roll Ads:

Skippable pre-roll ads. These provide the option to skip the ad after the first 5 seconds of watching.
Non skippable pre-rolls. This ad unit leaves no option to skip ads and is usually 15 to 20 seconds.
Bumper pre-rolls. This can last for 6 seconds and it’s also unskippable. They are are managed through Google ads and Youtube’s TrueView campaigns.

The Benefits of Pre-Rolls:

Guaranteed video views
Relevancy based on video content
The links and CTAs are more interactive
Trackable responses
Easier comprehension
Brand awareness and lead attraction

How to Use Pre-Roll Ads:

Let’s start with length. Pre-roll ads are short (no more than 15 to 30 seconds). Ideally, a perfect pre-roll ad should get all the right information out in 5 seconds. That’s no easy feat, so here are some typical “formulas” to help you structure your ads.

Formula #1. For ads that last up to 30 seconds, fit the most important message in the first few seconds, then give a detailed explanation during the next 20 seconds. Repeat the main message in the remaining few seconds.
Formula #2. Put the hook in the first several seconds of the video. Use a few seconds to name of the brand and feature the slogan. Use the next 15 seconds to tell how your product or service solves a problem. Use the last 5 seconds to repeat the same idea or featuring the product.
Formula #3. Briefly feature your product or service with the option to skip for those to whom the offer could be irrelevant.

Check out the full article by Smarty Ads to get more examples, strategies, and advice on pre-roll ads.

5 of the Best SEO Plugins (with Pros and Cons)

OCTOBER 12, 2022

WordPress is one of the most popular CMS options out there. It’s easy to use on the backend and has A TON of plugins to help boost your site at the click of a button. When it comes to SEO, we always advise a hands-on approach to auditing and optimizing. BUT plugins make it so much easier to go through SEO checklists.

Here are 5 of the top SEO plugins:

Yoast SEO

Pros: It’s user-friendly and accessible; pinpoints basic content-based SEO flaws; and proofreads for spelling errors or wrong keywords.
Cons: It uses a “stoplight” scoring approach (which can be rigid), it doesn’t always understand intent of content, and the free version is near useless with limitations.

RankMath

Pros: It’s easy to use, you can import settings from other plugins, it’s FREE, and it comes with an amazing redirection module.
Cons: It can be difficult to move from RankMath to any other WordPress SEO plugin; the scoring system should be taken with a grain of salt.

All in One SEO Pack

Pros: It’s simple to set up; it helps to automatically optimize the titles of your site; and you can turn on and off the advanced tools that control tagging, search engine following, and indexing.
Cons: It doesn’t have SEO scoring and content analysis; it can be difficult to import data from Google Search Console.

SEOPress

Pros: You can use it for an unlimited number of websites; it has a Link Manager to help you to build your internal links; it has Google News setup; helps with monitoring broken links and re-creating SEO-friendly URLs.
Cons: It has a more complicated set-up process and it’s difficult to import the configurations from other SEO plugins.

The SEO Framework

Pros: It’s capable of generating critical SEO meta tags in various languages, it has customizable technical SEO settings, easy metadata optimization, and it’s FREE.
Cons: The free version doesn’t have some features like on-page SEO content assistance.

Check out all the details for these plugins at the WP Security Ninja blog.

10 Benefits of Live Streaming for Brands

OCTOBER 11, 2022

Live video events can be an essential part of your marketing strategy. Why? Well, let’s break that down with our top 5 reasons:

Build trust and brand loyalty. Live streaming helps customers feel personally connected to the brands they follow. It’s your chance to provide valuable content like sneak peeks, tutorials, or educational material that they enjoy the most.
Provide more authentic opportunities for engagement. Beautiful, polished video content is great, but there is a certain authenticity that comes with live broadcasts. Plus, live chats and Q&A sessions help humanize a viewer’s experience.
Establish credibility and thought leadership in your field. When your subject matter experts share insights into problems impacting your industry, you’ll build credibility for your brand. Credibility builds awareness and conversions.
Increase your event reach beyond in-person boundaries. It’s one of the beautiful things about virtual anything. Live streaming eliminates geographical constraints.
Repurpose your recorded content. Share your video clips across social media, in regular emails, or even supplemental content to blogs, ebooks, and infographics.

Check out the other 5 top benefits to live streaming in Epiphan Video’s blog post.

The Difference Between Owned & Borrowed Audiences

OCTOBER 9, 2022

What does it mean to know, own, and engage with your audience effectively? Today, we’re going to teach you a little bit about managing two important audiences.

What is a “Borrowed” Audience?

A “borrowed” audience is your following on a platform (mainly social media) that allows you to access people indirectly. While network effects make it easier to quickly reach the masses, you’re building on someone else’s platform and do not own this list of followers.

Pros:

It’s easy and can be cheaper to tap into.
Great for experimenting with content.

Cons:

Oversaturation – too many people posting too many things.
You are often at the mercy of algorithms and any platform issues (we’re looking at you, Facebook).

What is an Owned Audience?

An owned (or earned) audience is the following that has given you their email address voluntarily. They have subscribed for select communication that you offer (updates, marketing, newsletters, etc.)

Pros:

Direct communication with a primed audience.
It can be platform-agnostic – you can take your list anywhere.

Cons:

Requires more effort and risk to get started.
It’s going to require more maintenance such as list hygiene.

No matter which audience type your brand engages more, it’s important to have a little bit of both to maintain a strong brand presence. Oftentimes you can use your borrowed audience as a way to feed your owned audience. Just be mindful of the pros and cons for each, and the changing tides of each platform.

Check out the full post at the Bootstrapped Founder’s blog for more insights and words of advice.

8 Ways to Make the Most of Your Paid Social Media Budget

OCTOBER 5, 2022

There is no one-size-fits-all spending formula for social media, just like one brand’s failed content is another brand’s big win. It really all depends on an individual brand. So when it comes to budgeting, it can be hard to determine if you are throwing money in the trash or building up your social presence.

Luckily, there are steps to make trackable progress with your social media dollars. Here are 8 ways to make sure you are spending with tip-top efficiency:

Master (and maintain) audience targeting. Custom audiences, look-alike models, geo-based targeting, and interest-based audiences are just some techniques. Make the most of individual platform targeting capabilities.
Actively manage paid social media spend. Don’t leave your campaigns to simmer too long. Review your individual campaigns frequently and your social media investments quarterly.
Expect disruption … forever. Apple and Google have made big changes to the privacy and tracking. Try your best to account for new tracking and measurement methods ahead of the ever-changing data landscape.
Create content where your engaged users are. Brand-engaged users use a given social media platform at least once a week, and enjoy seeing content from brands. Target these users where they’re most abundant by building platform-specific social content.
Budget for TV advertising to complement your paid social. Guide media investments into over-the-top (OTT) TV, connected TV (CTV) and YouTube in ways that work well with your social campaigns.
Pair your paid social and earned media. The volume of consumer posts about brands continues to grow. Take advantage of this built-in engagement and use it to fuel your paid content as well.
Don’t be afraid to stray from the pack. While the big dogs like Facebook and YouTube are tried and true, set aside media budgets for emerging platforms. Don’t be afraid to experiment placing ads with smaller, growing platforms.
Develop a pipeline of relevant social content. One of the biggest lifts for SMMs and brands is successfully optimizing your assets, scaling your production, and building a robust pipeline of content.