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4 Creative Ways to Instantly Boost the ROI of Your Content Marketing Efforts

Everybody is raving about content marketing but research, released annually, by Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and MarketingProfs is showing a consistent drop in the effectiveness of content marketing for B2B companies every year.

Content marketing is no doubt effective, but some companies just can’t seem to make it work for them.

Here are four ways to instantly boost the ROI of your content efforts:

Create a Documented Strategy

The CMI and MarketingProfs study referenced earlier reveals the lack of a documented strategy to be the prime culprit responsible for the ineffectiveness of content marketing; 60% of companies that have a documented content marketing strategy reported success with their content marketing efforts, while only 32% of companies that have a verbal strategy, and 7% of companies without a strategy reported success. That’s such a wide margin!

If you’re struggling to get results from content marketing, perhaps it’s time to revise your approach and come up with a solid, well-documented strategy.

If you’re not sure what to include in your strategy, then the next three suggestions are a good place to start!

Create Resource Articles

There are undoubtedly hundreds of article types you can write, but I can assure you from personal experience that the resource article is king.

Here are a few personal case studies to this effect:

Case Study #1: EffectiveBusinessIdeas.com (formerly GuestBloggingTactics.com)

I started effectivebusinessideas.com a few years ago and the blog struggled with traffic for the first few months; it was doing an average of 500 visits monthly until I published a resource article featuring a list of blogs that accept guest posts on it.

The published resource article featured 500 blogs that accept guest posts, and it was published in a series of posts over 30 days. The result has been nothing short of amazing; traffic went from 600 visitors the previous month, to 1,000+ visitors the month the resource was published, to 2,200+ visitors the following month. Traffic has only increased ever since.

The following screenshot shows traffic growth since publishing the resource article:

SEJ Screenshot 1

The following screenshot shows traffic to the main page of the resource article, containing a summary of all the articles in the resource article series. It’s the top page for the year, even surpassing the blog’s homepage, and traffic was further distributed across other pages of the resource.

SEJ Screenshot 2

What makes the above result very interesting is that it isn’t isolated; in fact, I borrowed the idea from a prior implementation that was already successful on my main blog.

Case Study #2: WritersinCharge.com

In what happens to be my first accidental discovery of the power of resource articles, I published an article featuring a list of 30 resources that pay writers. The results surprised me, as the list quickly exploded.

The resource article went on to generate 25,420 views in its first year (screenshot below); this is on a blog where 5,000 views for the most popular post at the end of the year will be impressive.

SEJ Screenshot 3

This particular article has now been read over 200,000 times, and I replicated the resource article formula again and again with massive success.

I haven’t had a single instance of well-executed resource content fail; every single instance has resulted in tens of thousands of views!

At the end of the day, your content needs to generate traffic before you can see positive ROI; every resource article I’ve created pulls in thousands, some pull tens of thousands, of views monthly on a consistent basis from search engines and other sources.

If you’re struggling with making your content move, it might be a better idea to start creating resource content; better yet, include it as a part of a well-documented content strategy!

Leverage ‘Content Upgrades’ in Your Articles

If you’ve been in the content business for more than a few days, you know that traffic doesn’t pay the bills; it’s conversions, often in the form of sales, that pay the bills.

A 2013 research published in Monetate’s Ecommerce Quarterly report revealed that email beats search and social combined as the largest driver of conversions.

If you’re looking to increase revenue from your business, especially from your content efforts, you absolutely must give email a try. This is especially important considering that an estimated 98% of people who land on your sales/offer page won’t transact with you immediately.

While there are several ways to get subscribers from your content, an underused and highly effective technique is to use “content upgrades.”

Content upgrades are relevant incentives that you offer to your readers immediately after reading your content in other to get them to sign up. Content upgrades convert massively because they are relevant to the article your reader is reading, and because they are offered right after your reader read relevant content on your website.

I’ve had massive success with content upgrades, and it’s been responsible for extra thousands of subscribers from my blog this year. Brian Dean of Backlinko reports a 785% increase in subscriptions from content upgrades. Bryan Harris of VideoFruit says that content upgrades were responsible for gaining 68% of his subscribers at a point.

The subject of content upgrades is a massive topic on its own, and the two above-linked articles written by Brian Dean and Bryan Harris are one of the best guides on the subject. This article on Digital Current also organizes some case studies about effective use of content upgrades.

Leverage Content Upgrades in Your Guest Posts

While the concept of using content upgrades in articles has caught on, very few people are aware of the potency of using content upgrades in guest posts. This is a technique I learned from Bryan Harris of Video Fruit, and something he calls “expanded guest posts.”

The idea behind expanded guest posts is simple; offer immense value in your guest post on another blog, and accompany the guest post with a bonus incentive that readers of your guest posts have to sign up to receive.

Bryan Harris reports getting more than 500 subscribers every time he offers a content upgrade in his guest posts, and I can report similar results too; a recent guest post I did on JeffBullas.com resulted in 300 subscribers within a week of going live, and over 500 subscribers since it’s been published.

To further supercharge your results from content upgrades in guest posts, you can take things to the next level by doing a combo of a resource article + content upgrade on a top blog; in other words, your resource article is guaranteed to be a big hit, especially on a top blog, and you reap the rewards in form of a content upgrade that sends lots of subscribers your way.

Conclusion

Content marketing is only ineffective if you don’t have a documented strategy and the right tactics. Make effective use of the above suggestions, and you’ll be amazed at the results you can get!

By Bamidele Onibalusi SEO Tips.

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Blog Search Marketing SEO Costa Rica SEO Strategies SEO tips Social Media

11 Delicious and Fluffy Android 6.0 Marshmallow Features

It was teased last May during the Google I/O 2015 keynote. At the time Android M was debuted as a pre-release and Google’s Sundar Pichaistated the company had “gone back to the basics” and improved quality of the platform for users. After months of speculation, Google finally announced on August 17 Android M’s its proper name: Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

Until Marshmallow is official, here’s everything that you should know about Android 6.0.

shutterstock_253640950

Why is Marshmallow Version 6.0 of Android?

Naming Android 6.0 Marshmallow wasn’t really that far of a stretch. After all, Android has been known to name new versions after tasty treats in the past. But, why did this version go from 5.0 to 6.0?

Programmers usually mark a major version by the first number, like 1.0 or 2.0 The second number version is normally a minor version, like 2.2. So going from 5.0 to 6.0 could signify that this is a major update to Android. However, this numbering system isn’t really set in stone. Traditionally, it’s just a way to track when a new version was replaced.

The thing is, if you’re an Android user, you probably already realized that Google’s version system was never consistent. And, it’s sometimes a bit confusing.

Here’s a look back at the previous Android versions to give you a better understanding of that inconsistency:

  • Android 1.0
  • Android 1.1
  • Android 1.5 Cupcake
  • Android 1.6 Donut
  • Android 2.0 Éclair
  • Android 2.2 Froyo
  • Android 2.3 Gingerbread
  • Android 3.0 Honeycomb
  • Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
  • Android 4.1 (4.2, 4.3) Jelly Bean
  • Android 4.4 Kitkat
  • Android 5.0 Lollipop

As you can see, there really isn’t any rhyme or reason. Some would argue that whole numbers would mean an aesthetic change. But, that didn’t happen with Éclair. And, it probably won’t with Marshmallow either. It’s even been mentioned that the names are for users and would mark updates that involved function. But, again, that’s not really the case. In short, there’s really no straightforward answer here.

It’s being speculated that Marshmallow could actually be a major Android update. There are some exciting new features, such as Android Pay and Google Now on Tap, that could make Version 6.0 worthy of getting a whole number. Then again, previous versions like Jelly Bean also had some promising features that could have earned them a whole number.

Another theory is that maybe Marshmallow is attempting to distance itself from Lollipop. There were plenty of Android users who less than thrilled with Lollipop and its numerous bugs. And, there’s been other instances of updates skipping ahead – Microsoft went from 8 to 10. The idea with this move is that if you didn’t like Lollipop, then give Marshmallow a chance.

Which Phones are Compatible?

The HTC One M9 and One M8, Google Nexus 6, and Nexus 5 have already been confirmed by Google to receive a Marshmallow update. Samsung has unveiled its Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+, which should also receive a Marshmallow update.

What are the Marshmallow Features?

As mentioned earlier, Google wants Android 6.0 Marshmallow to go back to basics. As opposed to Lollipop’s more design-centric update, Marshmallow will primarily focus on improving existing features and fixing all of those thousands of bugs that became synonymous with Lollipop.

As of this writing, here are eleven of those Marshmallow features that should have Android phone and tablet users salivating.

1. App Permission

You just downloaded a new app on Google Play and then you’re asked to give the app developer permission to access a laundry list of items from your device. What if you don’t want to do that? Google has finally resolved this issue by letting you select which functions you want the app to have access to. For example, if you don’t want WhatsApp to know your location you can disable that function in the app permission list. If you allowed WhatsApp to use the microphone then you can make phone calls.

This is a great feature if you’re a little nervous about giving an app free rein of your contacts, images, or location. This may not end every data-driven security concern, it’s a refreshing start.

2. Google Now on Tap

The is arguably the most obvious and coolest new feature. In a nutshell, Google Now on Tap takes Google Now and actually spreads it out across the entire operating system. This means you can now use Google’s virtual assistant no matter where you are or what you’re doing on your device. All you have to do is hold down the home button and Now will appear from the bottom of the screen. For example, if you and your spouse are discussing dinner plans for the night over text messages, you could use Now to get restaurant suggestions and then learn more about that restaurant. If you’re watching a movie trailer on YouTube, Now could locate local screening times or pull-up IMDb for more information.

Since this is accomplished by intelligent search algorithms, Marshmallow is able to scan the content that you’re currently looking at and then offer information around that. The result? More conversational interactions as Now will constantly learn and deliver search results based on context. It’s kinda scary, but awesome at the same time.

3. Android Pay

To compete with Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, Google has revamped its own mobile payment service, which was introduced all-the-back in 2010 on the Android Gingerbread. Android Pay is expected to be compatible with phones that run on Android KitKat and above and will let you shop in stores by just tapping on an NFC terminal to pay for your goods.

All you have to do is create a virtual account number, which is safe and secure since that number isn’t shared with the retailer. Android Pay is anticipated to work with approximately 700,000 stores in the US and will also work with existing credit and debit cards. Instead of pulling out our credit or debit cards, we’re on the way to paying for stuff via our phones to speed the process up.

4. Quick Fingerprint Access

This feature will actually tie-in in with Android Pay since you can now use your fingerprint to log into apps like Google Play Store and make online purchases with just your digit. Of course, you can use fingerprint access to unlock your phone, which seems a whole lot better than having to enter your password every time you use your phone.

5. Doze

We’ve heard this promise before, but Google is once again promising to improve battery life. What makes Marshmallow different, however, is that it is standby power that’s getting updated. The Doze feature is a new technology that can detect when your device is either motionless or not being used. Doze then puts your device into a deeper sleep mode and cuts out background services. Don’t worry if someone is calling or texting you. Those notifications will still go through.

According to Google’s internal tests, Doze has been able to double the battery life on a Nexus 9 tablet.

6. Track Memory

Were you ever curious which apps are using the most memory on your phone? Marshmallow can now reveal that information with the Track Memory feature. Just click on the Memory tab and you’ll be able to how much memory, such as cache or installation, your apps are taking up on your device. You can also use this feature to see how frequently apps are running and remove or uninstall the apps that are draining your memory the most.

7. Auto Backup

Have you ever switched a device and lost all of your app data? It’s pretty frustrating, right? Marshmallow will make sure that won’t happen again since it will automatically backup all of your user data onto Google Drive. It’s believed you can store up to 25MP per app.

8. USB Type-C

USB Type-C is intended to eventually replace all types of USB on both hosts and client devices since it’s reversible. Apple has already announced that its next generation of MacBook will have support for this new USB standard. The Chromebook Pixel currently includes this USB Type-C support.

Where does Marshmallow fit into this? The latest version of Android will offer full support for Type-C. This is a step into being able to charge your Android phones and tablets more quickly and conveniently in the very near future.

9. Direct Share and Floating Toolbar

I’ve put these two small, but clever features, together. With Direct Share, your device has the power to learn who you share content with the most so that you can share content with just the push of one button. As for the floating toolbar, this feature will make it easier to copy and paste content from webpages or documents.

10. Multi-App, Split-Screen Support

Marshmallow to run two apps side-by-side. While this isn’t the first time that we’ve seen this feature, it was previously found on Samsung’s Note devices, it’s a new feature new for Google’s version of Android. If you’re a Nexus 6 user you should be a real big fan of this feature.

11. Chrome Custom Tabs

Google is also attempting to enhance the web experience for phone users with the new Chrome Custom Tabs. Whenever an app wants you to open web view, you can create custom tabs that will load on top of the app. This prevents you from having to open a new browser and should make web content smoother. The tabs will also support automatic sign-ins, saved passwords, and autofill. This was designed with app developers in mind.

There are other features, like simplified volume controls and improved linking between apps, but the features mentioned above should help us forget all about the bugs users dealt with from Lollipop.

When Will Marshmallow be Released?

Android users can expect to see Marshmallow released sometime this fall – most likely November. But, that also depends on the device you own.

Google’s Nexus phones should be the first to receive the Marshmallow update – they’ve already been a part of the developer preview. Because Google should be releasing one, maybe two, brand new Nexus phones this years, users could perhaps see Marshmallow earlier than November.

If you’re not a Nexus user, you’re going to have to wait a little bit longer. Keep in mind that some manufacturers like to impose a 90-day deadline. This would mean that Android users may have to wait until the end of the year to get Marshmallow.

What features are you most excited for when Android Marshmallow is released?

By Albert Costill SEO Tips.

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SEO Strategies SEO tips

5 Analytical Techniques to Leverage Your Website

It takes much more than just building a website for your business to see leads, conversions, and growth. You need to strategize and think about the best way to attract your target audience. Your audience knows the service or product they need. They just want to trust your brand.

How are you going to speak to your customers? How are you going to let your voice be heard?

It starts by putting yourself in your buyer’s shoes.

Show your audience you understand what they are looking for, and write content that resonates. Speak the language of your customers, share your passion for your brand. Create objectives and formulate each page of your website with that objective in mind.

Your top objective is to generate traffic and leads from your website, but as more and more content fills up your site, the objective alters slightly. Now, you want to increase your sales, show you are a trusted name in your industry, and create shareable content that is worthy of linking back to your site.

audience buyer persona

Implementing keywords will help users find your site, and there are a variety of keyword research tools to help you get started. These tools often offer additional features, including helping you place the appropriate text title tags, meta descriptions, alt tags for images, and keywords tags—all integral aspects of your website.

Once your website has all the appropriate factors in place, you can begin to leverage each page to increase your leads, click-through-rate, and conversions.

Five Analytical Tools to Boost Conversions

Like any marketing campaign, you want to track progress and performance of your online strategy so you can adjust on the fly before you miss out on potential leads. To leverage your website for an increase in online conversions and to maximize your marketing efforts, you must understand and track analytical data.

Internet marketing is increasingly a necessity in today’s business world, and in turn there are a number of analytical tools available. Mull over the data, look at the search trends, and burrow into your reports to analyze the steps that must be taken to convert online.

When you’re utilizing tools like Google Analytics or Google Search Console, reporting offers you valuable insights on your campaign. Use these insights to your advantage.

Click Path Analysis

click path analysis

How are your customers navigating your site? Did you know that you can follow visitors on their journey from the moment they land on your website? Through click path analysis, learn the behavior of your users and adjust your marketing efforts to increase conversions.

You can start your click path analysis through Google Analytics, and once you’re comfortable, branch out to other tools for further insights. Additional tools you can use to your advantage include KISSmetrics and HubSpot.

Once you set a marketing goal, gaining the insights of your customer’s path will help you reach your goal. You can see answers to all of your questions regarding the navigation of your site’s end users. With access to key metrics, use the data to your advantage.

Ask yourself the following questions:

  • How many visits and page views does it take for your visitors to convert?
  • Which pages are viewed the most?
  • Which pages have the highest bounce rate?

Next, gather which pages were shared on social platforms, amount of clicks and page views, page load speed, and buyer personas. After gathering, provide the user experience your visitors are looking for by analyzing click path data. These kinds of metrics open a window that offers unique campaign assessment so you can better understand how your website is performing.

Finally, delve deep into the customer journey. For e-commerce websites, you can see items that were added or removed from a shopping cart, pages in which the user spent the most amount of time, and what items were purchased. Knowledge of the various factors associated with click path analysis will propel your campaign.

Conversion Rate Optimization

Print

Have a low conversion rate online? For the majority of business owners, your conversion rate is determined by how many visitors take a particular action. Whether filling out a form, calling your company, or making a purchase, conversions are different for every business online.

Improve your conversions and increase your revenue to spend more in advertising and achieve a return on investment. No matter how good you think your conversion rate is, there is always room for improvement.

Through analysis and funnels, find out why your visitors aren’t converting. By setting up goals and funnels in Google Analytics, you can quickly determine where you’re losing visitors and how to make adjustments for an increased conversion rate.

When you can build your brand authority and improve your credibility online, visitors are more likely to convert. Always run tests on your site to gain additional insights.

Split Testing

a/b split testing

Split testing, sometimes referred to as A/B Testing, is the most direct way to earn higher conversion rates, and you shouldn’t overlook this step in your marketing efforts. The more tests you run, the more you’ll see a consistent rise in your conversion rate.

Running a split test means that you use multiple strategies and compare results. With different tests, and the more tests that are run, your understanding of user behavior helps to leverage your site over your competitors. CrazyEgg provides an extensive rundown of how split testing will improve the bottom line of your business.

Think about the marketing efforts that have the most impact on your revenue stream. Each visitor to your site becomes part of your experiment, allowing you to determine which aspects need alterations.  Keep the tests simple, and focus on one area of your site at a time.

Discover how to meet the preferences of your customers, and propel them to travel from point A to point B on your website. The most practical way to run a test is through email marketing or PPC ads. The goal is to get the click.

After you’ve spent some time testing the performance of your campaigns, move on to the landing pages. You need that click to turn into a conversion.

Segmentation

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Split testing is a technique designed to help you figure out how to market your website. Remember, one size doesn’t fit all, and each of your customers are different. Follow distinct funnels that are relevant to unique personas.

Through segmented data in Google Analytics and assorted reporting tools, you can track your visitors. You can see where they’re coming from, how often they’re visiting the site, and the exact product or service pages they frequent.

Segments allow you to filter your metrics based on demographics, traffic sources, and duration of each visit. Plus, you can discover the funnels and click path of each user that has come from various sources. Compare traffic from different segments, such as Facebook or Twitter, and determine which platform is delivering the most valuable traffic.

In your analytical campaign, you can track and leverage many segments to learn about your audience. Create segments for various age groups, campaigns, traffic sources, or keywords. Plus, see which visitors landed on your site from different devices, browsers, and date of first visit.

Help personalize your campaign and better reach your target audience through Advanced Segments. It’s all at your fingertips when you utilize Google Analytics and other associated tools properly.

Flow Reports

Print

Similar to click path analysis, you can easily track how your audience is navigating your site through flow reporting. A step by step flow will allow you to watch the path of your visitors as they make their way through your site and see any roadblocks or detours to help identify issues with content or usability.

The key is to stay organized and keep tabs on your traffic. There are numerous flow reporting measures you can set up in your campaign. When used correctly, the reporting measures can lead to significant growth for your company. You can utilize the Behavior Flow metric, Goal Flow, Events Flow, or Users Flow.

Analytics uses the term nodes, which indicates how traffic flows through your site. The nodes are the steps your users are taking, and you can customize your reporting to analyze the flow of traffic. By analyzing the flow of your visitors, you can see where a user exited the flow, the volume of traffic and users through the path, as well as the behavior of your audience.

Use the flow reporting to monitor your content marketing efforts. Determine how the content on particular pages resonates with your audience and minimize drop offs. Use the information gathered to understand the mentality of your audience, and modify your efforts based on the reports.

website conversions

Conclusion

To truly convert online, you must rely on the metrics. They tell you what is performing well in your campaign, and what aspects need adjustments. Having analytical tools at your disposal will save you time and money. The goal is to convert online through organic traffic and links, but it’s up to you to make sure that happens. Valuable analytical insight is the key to seeing your strategy through to success.

By Ryan Clutter SEO Tips.

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Search Marketing SEO Costa Rica SEO Strategies SEO tips Social Media

10 More Great Examples of Brands Succeeding on Reddit

Not that long ago, I shared with you “10 Marketing Campaigns From Big Brands That Won Over Reddit.” We decided to follow that up with an additional 10 brands who have found success on Reddit for a number of reasons.

  • Reddit has almost 164 million unique visitors each month.
  • There are more 7 million pages every month.
  • Reddit is the tenth most popular site in the United States and No. 33 in the world.
  • On average, a Redditor spends 85 minutes on the site.

In short, Reddit is a popular website with an active and loyal following.

10 Examples of Brands Succeeding on Reddit | SEJ

However, brands remain hesitant when it comes to using Reddit as part of their marketing campaign, often because they either don’t understand the power of Reddit online or because they believe leads Reddit will not convert. To squash those fears, check out what the following 10 brands have achieved on Reddit.

1. The Economist

The Economist is a weekly publication that has been operating since 1843 and has a circulation of around 1.5 million readers. Despite calling itself a “newspaper,” The Economist has done an excellent job of embracing social media and offering digital versions of its publications to keep up with the times.

The publication has also taken the steps to break into the Reddit community. For example, several years ago Tom Standage, the digital editor for The Economist, wanted Redditors to ask him anything – like the company’s digital approach and if there were any upcoming trends in media that they should know about. Members asked their questions and Tom responded instantly. It was a simple and effective way in welcoming the Reddit community by giving them a behind the scenes look at how The Economist works.

More recently, Jacquie from The Economist asked Reddit what products they would want to see The Economist make. While there were some serious questions, Jacquie did a great job of engaging the members who weren’t taking the question as serious. She’s clearly someone who gets the community and wasn’t scared to interact with members.

2. Amazon

Since Amazon is a relatively new e-commerce company, it was founded in 1994, it just makes sense that the company would stay on top of the latest techniques for online marketing campaigns.

Previously, I discussed how Nissan teamed up with Amazon when the Versa Note was sold on Amazon. The campaign began when Nissan asked Redditors what they would want from Amazon – which Nissan then bought and sent to the users. The icing in the cake, however, came when an extremely large Amazon box arrived in a town in Wisconsin. Finally, a redditor solved the mystery by figuring out the Amazon had just shipped a car.

When Amazon isn’t shipping cars to customers, it also uses Reddit to share deals and pre-order windows. For example, AmazonJosh teased that there was going to be a major announcement on July 13, 2015. The teaser was an image of a rooster with the caption “No, Esteban! Not until Monday!” If you’re lost, no worries. In the thread, it was explained as follows:

“Esteban was an Amazon employee who gave this sub some info about when certain Amiibo would go live on the site. A cult following resulted in Amazon posting a picture of a rooster on Twitter. Allegedly, the rooster is Esteban.

So this picture, from AmazonJosh, likely implies that something big and Amiibo-related will occur on Monday, and the tie around his beak is to keep Esteban’s mouth shut so as not to spoil the surprise.”

Not only does Amazon use Reddit to promote upcoming products, it pays attention to subthreads that matter most to users.

3. HTC

Social media networks are a great place for brands to handle customer service issues. But, this actually backfired for Samsung in 2014 when a competitor came in and saved the day for one Reddit user.

A Reddit user by the name of TweektheGeek started a thread asking redditors for advice on how to handle replacing his Samsung S4. The phone was burned and melted the battery. The user contacted Samsung who promised a replacement phone and a box to return the damaged phone. After a month, the new phone was not sent and TweektheGeek was ignored by Samsung on Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter. Enter a product manager from HTC.

The rep from HTC, who goes by the name of jetleigh, offered to send TweektheGeek a brand new  HTC One (M8). The catch? If TweektheGeek did receive the new phone from Samsung, they would have to auction off the Samsung phone and donate the money to charity. The Reddit community loved the customer appreciation that HTC was displaying and promised to make the switch to HTC. As on user noted, “This is better phone advertising than all of the commercials and internet ads I’ve ever seen all put together. As soon as my contract is up, I’m switching to HTC.”

4. Red Bull

Red Bull is a brand that knows its audience and has done a consistent job of creating content or sponsoring events that its audience would find appealing. Because the energy drink is popular on reddit, Red Bull takes advantage of the popular subreddits that are most relevant to its brand.

For example, Red Bull reminds the gaming community about the upcoming Starcraft II gaming event that is taking place at the Red Bull Training Grounds in Orlando through redditads. What’s the ad? Just a simple reminder of the date and time of the event with a link to the official page. As Reddit user NoseKnowsAll stated, “Now this is an advertisement I can support. Thanks for the reminder red bull!”

5. Xbox 360

Is Samsung dropped the ball with its customer service, then Microsoft’s Xbox 360 has proven to other brands that Reddit is an excellent platform for handling any questions or concerns regarding their product in an effective way.

What makes Xbox stand out, however, is that it actually funnels the customers into the right subreddit so that the issue can be resolved in a timely and efficient manner. This gives Redittors a chance to identify their specific problem, create helpful links, share useful directions, and provide a platform from the community to share their experiences with the Xbox 360. Xbox 360 even wants to know what customers will move onto when support ends for the 360 next year.

Top-notch customer service keeps your customers happy and shows them that you actually care about how they feel. When you accomplish this like Xbox has, you’re able to maintain your current customers.

6. Fathead

Founded in 2006, Fathead is a company that manufactures life-sized, precision-cut vinyl wall graphics. So, you can imagine what occurred when a fan ordered a Fathead of New England Patriot’s quarterback Tom Brady for their office and was sent a Tim Tebow Fathead – in a rival Jets uniform no less – instead? The user went to Reddit to voice their frustration.

After posting the mishap on experience to /r/NFL, this became the #1 post, and also something of an overnight internet phenomenon. Fathead sent in it’s PR crisis team and handled the situation perfectly.

Fathead sent the user their complete collection of Tom Brady Fatheads, they placed an ad in the NFL subreddit to address the mixup, and created their own user account. Fathead was completely transparent by admitting that they made a mistake and even had some fun at their own expense.

7. Newcastle Brown Ale

What happens when you are a brand that wants to advertise in one of the largest sporting events of the year but don’t have the budget or connections to do so? You could get creative like Newcastle Brown Ale did and ask users to create an ad for you.

As part of a satirical ad campaign, the “If We Made It” video series with Droga5 asked the Reddit community “If we made a Mega Huge Game Day Ad targeted just at reddit, what should be in it? Tell us and we’ll make it.”

The results? The campaign had more than 850 comments and over 900,000 views in just one day! It was also named as Reddit’s “Best Branded Content” for 2014.

8. Ford

To celebrate Pi Day, the Ford Motor Company launched the “FordPiDayChallenge” back on March 14, 2012. Ford engineers posted 42 different mathematical questions throughout the day. Each user was given 3 minutes and 14 seconds to solve each question. The first person who answered the 42 questions correctly received a one-year membership for “Reddit Gold.”

This was a creative way to create something unique and get the Ford engineers in on the marketing fun. More importantly, was that Ford wisely named this campaign the “FordPiDayChallenge,” which helped spread brand recognition when word-of-mouth spread. The campaign was even picked on mainstream media outlets like CBS, which helped it gain additional exposure.

9. Nordstrom

In 2014, Nordstrom became one of the first luxury brands to create its own username and community on Reddit. The username, Nordstrom1901 was named after the year that the store was founded, and is being used to interact and converse with consumers in real-time. For example, Nordstrom hosts several AMAs that give customers a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of the brand.

One recent AMA was by Jorge Valls, the Men’s fashion designer for the brand. He let the Reddit community ask him questions like how far in advance the fashion designers decide on fashion trends and the expansion into new markets. According to Nordstrom spokesman Dan Evans, “We continue to learn more about Reddit and what our customers want to hear from us, but so far the response has been favorable.”

10. SpaceX

The Space Exploration Technologies Corporation was founded by PayPal and Tesla founder Elon Musk in 2002. When SpaceX was ready to launch the Falcon 9 rocket on January 6, 2015, Musk participated in a AMA that discussed everything from SpaceX’s technology, AI, Mars expeditions, and even the daily habit that Musk believes has had the largest impact in his life – it’s showering if you wanted to know.

Much like Bill Gates’ AMA, Musk used Reddit to show that there’s an actual human behind their brand, as well share insights into how the SpaceX rockets work and what to expect in the future. SpaceX has also invited its software engineers to partake in a Reddit AMA.

It was a great way to connect with the members of the Reddit community who were interested in coding and the manufacturing process of SpaceX’s rockets.

Conclusion

While Reddit can be an extremely difficult place to advertise and market your brand, there are brands who are achieving a high-level of success on the Reddit community by using it for customer service and giving users the content or information that interests them the most.

Are there any other brands you know of who are succeeding on Reddit?

By Albert Costill SEO Tips.

Categories
SEO Strategies SEO tips

5 Features For a Stellar Social Media Strategy with BuzzBundle

If you are part of a small social team or doing it on your own, you know social media planning can be a major time suck. By the time you research content, write quality content, develop a sharing plan, track the analytics, and hope it brings in traffic to convert it is already time to start on the next blog post.

Link-Assistant.Com is here to save the day with BuzzBundle, an all-in-one social media sharing solution. We are going to take a look at five features it offers designed to save your overwhelmed social media brain.

What BuzzBundle does is allow us to find key content placement opportunities and then share our content easily.

This walkthrough is a quick overview of the specific tabs in BuzzBundle and how they can help you:

Next, let’s look at the BuzzBundle features.

Identification

Identifying social media opportunities can be time-consuming and hard to keep track of. BuzzBundle quickly and easily identifies potential partners within Twitter, Facebook, Google +, blogs, and video sharing sites based off on keywords you provide.

Here’s how to do it:

Set up keyword/s you’d like by “Adding Streams”. Streams are a flow of social media discussions and mentions. These can be either of the following types of posts:

  • Found by the mentions of your keywords and URLs
  • Imported from a social media profile of your choice

Type in your keyword – this can be a brand name or a keyword you are optimizing your website for. You can also add your website or your competitor’s.

BuzzBundle will then create default streams for forums, blogs, Q & A sites, social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Linkedin, and video sharing sites.

Targeting

Social media marketing without proper targeting is like sharing your message in the dark. Your chances of being “seen” by your target audience is very slim. You can’t expect to get massive engagement or worse, you’ll get none at all.

BuzzBundle identifies what is said on a topic of your interest, in what kinds of contexts the topic is discussed and what groups of people participate in the discussions, making it easy for you to use this tool for market research.

Here’s a simple process on how to do it:

Customize your streams to come up with a more targeted audience by adding or removing streams, creating filters. and adding more keywords.

Add more streams by clicking “Add Streams” and choose the platform you’d like to add.

5 Stellar Features of BuzzBundle | Search Engine Journal

Remove a stream by clicking on the gear icon and choose “Remove the stream”.

5 Stellar Features of BuzzBundle | Search Engine Journal

Add filters to your streams by clicking on the gear icon and choose “Edit the stream”.

5 Stellar Features of BuzzBundle | Search Engine Journal

Keyword Groups are a set of keywords related to your topic of interest (e.g. an organization, brand, product, event or social phenomenon). BuzzBundle shows you posts where those keywords are present. You can include related URLs into your keyword group and track them together with the keywords.

Connecting

This is when it all begins — when you start to connect and engage with your audience. But why not do it the smart way? Create conversations with bigger audiences first.

BuzzBundle displays Reach for all posts in your streams, letting you instantly see how many people are exposed to any given conversation. BuzzBundle’s Reach metric is an estimation of the size of the audience following a certain post – this includes the poster’s followers or friends, the post’s likes, shares, and comments, etc. You can also sort by reach or whatever metric you’d like to focus on.

Automation

It’s every social media manager’s dream — to have everything automated. Imagine managing the social media activities of multiple websites and distributing announcements to multiple social media networks? And all without the need to log in.

BuzzBundle allows you to multi-post, where you can add posts under multiple Personas simultaneously at the click of a button. You can also automate posting by scheduling it to appear on your accounts at specific times.

Here’s how to do it:

Click on “Add Post” and choose “Add Post under Multiple Personas”

5 Stellar Features of BuzzBundle | Search Engine Journal

Choose what social media platform you’d like to post to.

5 Stellar Features of BuzzBundle | Search Engine Journal

Choose the appropriate “Persona” who is talking:

5 Stellar Features of BuzzBundle | Search Engine Journal

“Schedule submission” and click “Ok”:

5 Stellar Features of BuzzBundle | Search Engine Journal

 

It is that simple!

Tracking

Tracking your progress is a sure way to build an awesome social media strategy. You can consistently monitor and manage all your social media tasks using BuzzBundle’s “My Activities”. Additionally, you can “Add Notes” so you won’t forget ideas and plans – it’s your very own planner!

Here is where you can find the tracking tools:

5 Stellar Features of BuzzBundle | Search Engine Journal

 

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, BuzzBundle is an awesome social media management tool that can help increase your site’s rankings, traffic, and sales, as well as boost brand awareness – just make sure you maximize all its great features!

By Gwenn Doria SEO Tips.

Categories
SEO Costa Rica SEO tips

5 Indispensable Ways to Convert More Mobile Users

Mobile is the new black.

From responsive website design to mobile-optimized landing pages to mobile specific content development, including mobile in your marketing strategy was never more critical to success than it is today. And with good reason, too.

Just over half (50.3%) of all traffic to e-commerce sites comes from mobile devices. Yet, conversion rates are among the lowest for mobile users.

A big reason for this is that we take nearly two decades worth of digital marketing insights in a desktop environment and paste them on to mobile platforms. When the results are not as expected, we cry foul and bemoan the ineffectiveness of mobile marketing.

How about going the right way around for a change? Here are five simple and scalable tips to inject new life into your mobile marketing.

Step Up to Cross-Device Targeting

Facebook made 69% of its revenue last year off mobile advertising, beating desktop ads for the second year straight. Not only is desktop advertising dying, mobile advertising is becoming so yesterday. We keep hearing about the innovations in mobile advertising that are the flavor of the season, from video ads to native ads, to in-app advertising. Mobile advertising already accounts for $68.7 billion worldwide, more than three times the figure just two years ago. However, we still hear reports about how mobile conversions are dropping.

What we don’t realize is that today’s consumer is a multi-device, multi-platform consumer. Tracking the response to advertising on one platform (say, mobile) while ignoring consumer action on another platform (like, pointing at the signboard outside your shop) that resulted from the original ad exposure does injustice to your advertising efforts.

Cross-device and cross-platform shopping is the new normal. A Mobile Audience Insights report [PDF] from Ninth Decimal shows that 54% of users shopped on a mobile device before making a purchase. Of this 54% of shoppers, 45% completed the purchase in-store.

By moving up your strategy to cross-device targeting, you can attribute each conversion to the right medium. Not just final attribution, cross-device targeting also helps you create a unified view of the consumer across all their devices, thus minimizing any unnecessary overlap in advertising.

Push Out More – Erm – Push Notifications

A study by Localytics shows that 52% of users enable push messaging on their devices. Like every other form of customer communication these days, push notifications can be personalized down to a segment or even user level. Localytics’ data shows that 54% of all users who open a segmented notification convert.

For example, Uber uses geo-targeted messages to alert users when prices have dropped in their area. This feature entices riders to book a ride and avoid higher prices.

Don’t have a mobile app? Do the next best thing, in that case. Invest in SMS or text messaging updates to your user base. According to data from Loudhouse and SAP [PDF] 64% of users would like to receive more text messages from businesses they patronize. The exact same percentage of users have made purchases based on highly personalized text messages.

The takeaways?

  • Enable push notifications on your mobile app for key announcements, sales, coupons, events, and more. If you don’t have a mobile app, go for text messaging instead.
  • Offer unique, personalized content in your push notifications/text messages. That’s the secret sauce to amazing mobile conversions.

Use More Video Content

If there is one clear star in the content marketing galaxy right now, it’s got to be video. Nearly 8 out of 10 American internet users aged 18 to 29 download or stream videos on a regular basis, according to Pew data; the focus on video content is only getting stronger.

Marketing Experiments reports about a diet and fitness company that wanted to grow conversions for their membership landing pages on mobile devices. By experimenting with different variations of using videos on their landing pages, the company boosted their mobile conversion rates by over 50%.

Video marketing does not have to be the domain of big brands alone. Small businesses can succeed equally well – especially in content marketing, as my colleague Pratik Dholakiya explains – with videos featuring actionable how-to advice, DIY tips, product demo videos, or even home-made videos that go wildly viral.

For example, chances are you probably saw this video of 20 strangers kissing each other for the first time doing the rounds of social media last year.

But did you know that this hyper popular video that’s garnered over 100 million views till date, was created by fashion brand Wren Studios for just $1300? Small price, big punch.

Go Local to Go Mobile

Over half of all searches on mobile devices have local intent. This means users turn to their mobile phones to get the address of that restaurant they plan to go for dinner tonight. Or they’d like to know the closest Macy’s outlet to their location. Or, maybe they are looking for  garage sales in their area while driving around.

It gets better. 61% of those searches result in a purchase. In other words, it’s not idle curiosity that drives mobile searches – it’s immediate intent to buy. The final purchase could be online or offline. The important thing is that your mobile content – both paid ads and organic content – should be adequately geared towards local searches to drive conversion numbers.

Embrace Mobile Payments

Last, but definitely not the least, invest in mobile payment options. Awareness of this niche, yet rapidly growing, payment platform stood at a huge 80% as of last year. While the Google Wallet was already operating in this space for a while, it is the entry of Apple Pay in late 2014 that changed the entire mobile payments landscape.

According to a consumer survey carried out by the U.S. Federal Reserve, 22% of all mobile users had made at least one mobile payment in the last year. This figure is more than double the number in 2011. The most common use (68%) of mobile payments was towards payments of bills via mobile apps. Nearly 40% of users had also made a point of sale payments using their mobile devices.

I could go on, but the long and short of it is that mobile payment mechanisms are the credit cards of the future. The sooner you adopt them – in the form of in-app payments, POS payments, P2P mobile funds transfers, QR code payments and more – the quicker your business will be on the road to higher conversions.

Over to You

So, that’s my take on improving mobile conversions for now. How about you? What mobile marketing strategies have shown real results for your business? Has investing in responsive design or a mobile site bumped up your conversions or sales? Share your mobile successes, I would love to hear from you!

By Rohan Ayyar SEO Tips.

Categories
Search Marketing SEO Costa Rica SEO Strategies SEO tips Social Media

#SEJBookClub: Lessons in Global Content Marketing from Pam Didner

Want to see what other books SEJ has covered? Read our other reviews in the SEJ Book Club archive.

I was extremely excited to dive into Pam Didner’s Global Content Marketing for this month’s SEJ Book Club. I’ve met Pam at several industry events and have had the pleasure of seeing her speak. Pam’s energy is contagious and her knowledge, abundant.

Pam spent the majority of her career leading a Fortune 100 company to strategize, create and implement global marketing efforts. Recently, she refocused her efforts to establish a boutique consulting firm that serves enterprises, associations, small businesses and start-ups.

In her book, Pam highlights a variety of insights surrounding content strategy, the content marketing cycle, features of a great content marketer and teams, and what the future has in store for global content marketing.

What Makes Up Content Strategy?

Content is everywhere. It can be a video, a blog, an image, a webinar, an e-book, or a newspaper.

“In the web industry, anything that conveys meaningful information to humans is called content,” according to Erin Kissane in The Elements of Content Strategy.

Building upon that, Amanda Maksymiw’s definition of content marketing hits the core: “…the process of developing and sharing relevant, valuable, and engaging content to target audiences with the goal of acquiring new customers or increasing business from existing customers.

Pam’s definition of “global content marketing” builds upon those even further:

“Global content marketing is the process of developing and sharing relevant, valuable, and engaging content with target audiences across countries with the goal of acquiring new customers or increasing business from existing customersglobally.”

Why globalize your content? Pam elaborates on a few key reasons:

  • Content marketing is nothing new
  • Everyone is constantly searching for something
  • Content creates perception
  • For the love of our devices, we chase content
  • Content marketing needs to help your customers find “it”

One of Pam’s key points surrounds her revitalized “Four P’s” E. Jerome McCarthy, an American marketing professor and author of Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach, initially presented the four elements of marketing which have served as the basis of marketing for the past century:

  1. Product
  2. Price
  3. Place
  4. Promotion

In the 1990s, Robert Lauterborn introduced the four C’s as new definitions for the four P’s:

  1. Consumer (versus Product)
  2. Cost (versus Price)
  3. Convenience (versus Place)
  4. Communication (versus Promotion)

The 4 P’s of the Global Content Marketing Cycle

 

Pam then proceeded to identify four P’s to creating a global content marketing plan:

  1. Plan: Strategy before execution
  2. Produce: Create content that matters
  3. Promote: Distribute content in the digital era
  4. Perfect: Measure and optimize to drive maximum impact

How to Build a Global Content Marketing Team

Once you have a plan in place, it’s time to assemble a team.

A global content marketing success is the combination of coming together and working together, then staying together through the 4 P’s stages of the content.”

Pam suggests there are three A’s for the team to come together and three C’s for the team to work together.

The three A’s and three C’s serve as a foundation for the team to stay together through the stages of the Global Content Marketing Cycle.

 

The book expands upon each P, providing insights and case studies on how various teams put each element into practice.

What Makes a Great Content Marketer?

It’s a brave new world in terms of content marketing, and a variety of skills are needed to do it well.

“It is important to recognize those universal qualities that will always remain the same and those that will need to be addressed differently.”

Pam addresses the distinction between skills that are “soft and general” as opposed to “hard and specific”. Many “soft and general” skills complement those that possess the “hard and specific” skills.

For example, many content strategists have “hard and specific” skills in web writing/editing, content development, content management, content analysis, editorial strategy, and other related skills.

There are also “soft and general” skills that content managers need to develop and/or possess complement these.

The applicable “soft” skills that will be useful depend on what is it the content marketer is trying to accomplish. Soft skills may include personas like “Business Leader,” which allows the content marketer to frame ideas in ways that make sense to their superiors. Or maybe a “Scientist” persona that allows the content marketer to be able to experiment with tools and technology. Or a “Journalist” that can connect the dots between imagination and technology while delivering business results.

Certain aspects of soft and general professional skills should be developed and possessed by those in content marketing roles.

Future of Global Content Marketing

People are human animals. Throughout the history of human civilization, we have never owned or created devices that are so personal and allow us to do so much.

We’re now more easily connected to the world around us. Big data allows us to go much further and understand what makes individuals unique, and create content around those individual needs.

That said, no matter how far technologies advance, how sophisticated search algorithms become, or how Big Data enables personalization, everything comes back to having a great product or service and creating a unique experience for the ideal customer.

No matter how the world changes, fundamental principles remain the same. The four P’s of the Global Content Marketing Cycle stay the same, even though the tactics, tools, and promotional channels may be different.

Read Next Month’s Book!

Next month’s book will be “This Will Make You Smarter” by John Brockman, read and reviewed by Danielle Antosz, SEJ’s copyeditor. Pick up your copy at your local library or on Amazon and join the conversation!

By Debbie Miller SEO Tips.