The Daily Carnage

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Repurposing Content for Social Media

SEPTEMBER 6, 2021

Getting your social media content to rank high in any platform’s algorithm is like trying to hit a moving target. Relevance and timing is everything, but coming up with content to feed the beast usually ends with brands sacrificing quality over quantity.

This is when repurposing content comes in handy for marketers spinning their wheels. You take your best stuff and put it back out there for a number of reasons. The big benefits for marketers to repurpose content are:

Reinforcing brand messaging
Boosting SEO and driving traffic
Reaching new audiences and supporting new leads

Sounds good, right? Well don’t think that it’s as easy as a copy and paste job. Repurposing content is a strategic balance and not all content is meant to be repeated. As with everything marketing move, it should be goal-focused and relevant to your audience.

Some basics: Find your best-performing content first and then reformat it across different channels.

Some specifics:

Steer the conversation: The best way to do this is to ask your audience a question. And your content is the answer.
Make it video-worthy: Turn your long-form blog content into bite-sized video or audio that your audience can consume easier.
Make it GIF-worthy: Already have video content? Chop your most interesting visuals into GIFs for social posts.
Make Images from Inspo: Get inspiration from your own written content and turn it into a visual of some kind using quotes, headlines, or stats.

There really are endless ways to take your top posts and find new ways to get them in front of your audience. Check out Sprout Social’s full post for more ideas and details about repurposed content.

The Website Accessibility Checklist

SEPTEMBER 1, 2021

Not to toot our own horn (toot), but we know a thing or two about making accessibility a priority, not an afterthought, for websites. We get it! A lot goes into making a website beautiful and functional.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) has a full checklist of 50 criteria. To help you out with some of the major conformance features of websites, here is a checklist:

Back Away from Blinking: Flickering, flashing, or quickly alternating content can trigger seizures for people with epilepsy. If you are going to have shifting content, slow it down.
Color Contrast: Sometimes people can only read the text if there’s a strong enough contrast between the text and the background colors (psst, check out today’s Tool to help with that).
Alternative Text for Images: Screen readers help to relay what’s on a web page, but they can only use the information at hand. If your descriptive alt-text isn’t accurate, a screen reader is going to relay that.
Caption Your Content: People who can’t hear won’t know what’s being said in a video unless it’s captioned or transcribed.
Resizable Text: Most websites are all about trying to be responsive, but also keep resizable text in mind for people with low vision. Avoid a lot of images with overlaid text.
Keyboard Navigation: Unique scrolling can be interactive, but not everyone is using a mouse or mobile device the same way. Arrow keys or assistive technology should also be able to navigate your site.
Page Titles: Pages should have unique titles that are brief but descriptive for screen readers and SEO best practices. Two birds one stone!

Check out Essential Accessibility’s post for more details on website features that make your website accessible to those with disabilities.

60 Video Marketing Statistics

AUGUST 31, 2021

Because we are such visual creatures, video is often the best content to grab the attention of an audience. But just how important is video marketing? Well, Influencer Marketing Hub gave us a whole lotta stats on video marketing in use, how videos are being consumed on social media, and overall video trends. Now 60 stats is a doozy, so we picked out the ones we thought were the most interesting:

This past year, ere has been an 800% increase in global watch time of ad-supported and purchased feature-length movies.
Mobile video consumption rises by 100% every year.
More than 70% of watch time on YouTube comes from mobile devices (and that one is straight from YouTube).
Psychologists suggest that music can directly influence how viewers respond to your videos.
85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound, but 60% of Instagram Stories are watched with sound.
Videos under two minutes long generate the most engagement.
37% of viewers watch videos to the end.
83% of marketers say video helped them generate leads.

Now that we’ve seen the retirement of Twitter’s Fleets and LinkedIn’s Stories, we want to remind everyone of how important your platform is for video marketing. Per day:

Snapchat users watch over 10 billion videos
Facebook gets over 8 billion video views
Twitter receives over 2 billion video views
Instagram has over 500 million users using Stories

Check out Influencer Marketing Hub’s full list of statistics (and all of their linked sources) by clicking the button below.

Understanding the Google Page Title Update

AUGUST 29, 2021

SEO and the best practices that go along with it are always changing. Google, as the most widely used search engine, is at the forefront of SEO topics marketers have to keep up with. But it can get confusing, especially when Google can keep their specific algorithm details on the down-low.

Here are summaries of the latest updates for Google in the Summer of 2021:

The June Core Algorithm Update: As with many Google updates, there is a stress on quality, non-fluffy content to effectively support the search intent of users.
The Page Experience Update: This will use several page experience signals, including Core Web Vitals metrics, to influence search rankings. The Page Experience report in Search Console also got a new, more streamlined version.
The Spam Algorithm Update: A link spam update that targets spammy links with a more broad approach.
The Page Title Generation Update: This is a new system of generating titles for web pages.

With that last one, site owners everywhere were left shaken up at the titles coming up in SERP’s. Search Engine Journal reported on this “Titlepocalypse,” but they also gave the scoop on how it all works. Here are the big takeaways:

HTML title tags will still be used as a strong consideration factor by Google.
Google is now treating titles as more reactive to content changes, especially for news.
H1 tags, on-page content, and text within links are going to have a strong pull on title generation.

Fear not! Google is also open to feedback on this update. Check out SEJ’s full post to learn more.

Factors of Voice Search Optimization

AUGUST 24, 2021

Voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant are how many people are simplifying their lives, especially with internet searches.

As if you didn’t have enough SEO headaches, how do you ensure that you rank high for voice searches? Forbes asked their Communications Council how and these are the main takeaways for influencing your voice search optimization:

Choose Long-Tail Keywords: The biggest adjustment you can make is, of course, to your keywords. Optimize your site with long-tail keywords of five to nine words that are highly relevant to your product or service.
Focus on Local Search: Voice search results rely heavily on local search results that are location-specific or use available business information. So typically, if you optimize for local search, you optimize voice results as well.
Keep Content Conversational: Searching with your voice is often much longer or more detailed than a keyboard inquiry. Good web content should anticipate any questions your users may have, and then answer them through your content. Think like your audience!
Optimize for Both: So while voice search is conversational, a lot of traditional SEO is about concise keyword searches. A great place to support both is with your FAQ’s page and to always answer “who,” “what,” “where,” or “how.”
Don’t Forget Dialects: Where does your target customer live? Every location speaks different languages, dialects, speech patterns, slang, and idioms. So marketers should ensure that keywords are optimized for each specific region they are trying to reach.
Spelling vs Speaking: Keep in mind that creative spelling of brand names or products can look great visually, but can translate poorly to voice search if there is ambiguity or mispronunciations.

Check out the full list of Expert Panel answers in Forbes’ article for more voice search tips!

2021 Marketing Automation Statistics

AUGUST 23, 2021

Marketing automation is now a part of almost every marketing strategy in one way or another. As technology and available marketing automation tools continue to move forward, automation will become easier to implement, and even more widespread. In 2021, let’s see what the data has to say about that!

Findstack has put together a great list of trends regarding automation. These were some of the most interesting takeaways we found from it:

About 51% of companies are using marketing automation and 61% of those said it was difficult to implement. Good marketing automation is a long game strategy and investment.
Marketing automation pay off: 80% of marketing automation users saw their number of leads increase, and 77% saw the number of conversions increase (now those some sweet stats to think about).
16% of marketers believe that their #1 challenge is creating quality automation. Just because so many people are doing it, doesn’t mean they are doing it right.
Using chatbots can help save up to 30% of customer support costs. And chatbots are a whole conversational marketing strategy in itself when done well.
63% of marketers plan to increase their marketing automation budget this year. Are you one of these marketers, too? Tell us in today’s poll.

Automation isn’t new, and it definitely isn’t going anywhere soon. Check out Findstack’s full piece for more marketing automation statistics, examples, sources, and trends.

11 Principles of Design

AUGUST 22, 2021

There are a lot of elements that make a “good” design. We know, it can be kind of subjective, but there are still some basic truths to good UI, UX, and appealing visuals.

Dribble gave 11 design principles every designer and beholder should be familiar with. These are the 5 biggest ones according to The Daily Carnage:

Hierarchy: This one is a touchy subject for designers. “Can you just make all the text a bigger font?” If we had a nickle every time that was asked…Your eyes need things to gravitate to and they can’t do that if all elements are treated the same. Visual hierarchy uses scale, color, different typefaces, sizes, and font weights to break out elements and create interest.
Alignment: It’s in our nature to want things to align together. While there is a method to the madness at times, having text or design work together with alignment, patterns, or positioning is going to create the most visual appeal.
Emphasis: This is all with the user in mind. And for some reason, this aspect of design often falls flat. Knowing where to draw to a CTA, image, or other element separates someone who can make things pretty from a UX beast.
Negative Space: Give us some space! Some breathing room is great when it comes to designs, and more is more with this techiqnue. The more white/negative space, the more attention you’re putting on an element.
Contrast: We love contrast with color, shapes, or similar properties of elements. A huge reason we love it is for accessibility. Contrast between elements, especially text on a background, is also essential for accessible design. It should never be an afterthought!

These were our favs but for the other six principles, check out the full Dribble blog post. Sometimes great design is meant to break “the rules” and sometimes its beautiful because it’s by the books. Either way, revisit this list and see what concepts you can use in your next project.

The Final Frontier: Space Marketing

AUGUST 18, 2021

While this idea for space marketing is nothing new, it’s definitely here and here to stay. The advancement of technology is the obvious reason, but commercial space travel and space tourism as a whole is going to be the huge reason why marketing in space is going to grow exponentially.

NASA has had a policy that prohibits any outside branding or advertisements on its equipment, but space isn’t as exclusive as it used to be. Major players like Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, and Blue Origin are all racing hot and heavy to become the biggest names of space marketing.

Though still budding, space tourism is moving fast! So where will that take branding, brand partnerships, galactic marketing? Here are brands already launching space marketing campaigns:

Pizza Hut sends a salami pizza to the ISS in 2001. Making it the first pizza to be delivered to space.
NASA has made their own fragrance, and Travis Scott partnering with Breydo to make cosmic scents.
Miller Lite sends off their seltzer in a (CGI-based) rocket.
Tenga, the adult toy company, is planning to send a rocket of their own.

Looking ahead:

Orbital Assembly Corporation’s Voyager Station, a space hotel, is set to be completed in 2027.
NASA has done a number of collaborations (Converse, Vans, G-Shock, to name a few) and we see it becoming the norm for space attire as Under Armor is Virgin Galactic‘s official apparel partner.

See more examples of brands that have already gotten started in the space market on HypeBeast’s list of examples.

How Beauty Brands Build Lasting Customer Connections

AUGUST 16, 2021

Brand loyalty comes from a place of love. The key to building brand love? Knowing your consumers. What they like, don’t like, what they care about, and what leaves a positive impression on them.

All brands tackle changing consumer trends, but there’s a lot to be said about beauty brands making and managing the crazy world of cosmetics and beauty standards. Not to mention the battle to create brand conversations when face-to-face interactions aren’t as possible as they used to be.

Overall, these are the 11 ways brands are building positive relationships with their customers:

Corporate social responsibility
Optimism and positive content
Employee branding and promotion
Strategic sponsorships
Stellar customer experience
Engaging in trends
Smart influencer partnerships
Driving conversations on social media
Positive PR
Engaging fandoms
Being aspirational

There’s a lot of moving pieces here, but it’s worth the payoff. Building that emotional connection between brands and consumers leads to increased sales and brand advocacy. Beauty brands bank on that emotional appeal, especially leaning into positivity. Especially during the pandemic, beauty brands provided emotional reassurance or an opportunity to escape reality to a degree.

Adweek gives detailed examples of brands doing it right out there for connecting with their customers from a recent Talkwalker report of the 50 most loved brands of 2021. Their main brand spotlight is the story of Huda Kattan, the founder of Huda Beauty. For more details, check out their full article.