With Valentines Day approaching and the Super Bowl behind us – these are trending topics on the web. We take a look at how caring and love can be leveraged by marketers. Also I share a few guest posts to help build and grow thriving yet profitable audiences. Jim Yu and Krystian Włodarczyk also share a SEO perspective that needs to be taken into consideration for content marketing this year.
Content Marketing and Media
30sec content marketing winners
This past week the Super Bowl ads were featuring heavily in conversation. The viral chart topper was a Budweiser ad that revisits the Clydesdale and puppy whose friendship won so many hearts over the last few years. This makes this the third straight year that a Budweiser ad’s been the most-shared.
AdWeek explains what it takes to win the Super Bowl with real time marketing bars being set even higher. They include a lot of planning to serve up the unexpected and having a war room like feel. But maybe, just maybe it really boils down to knowing what fans like. Like chips and beer.
The Super Bowl was the most watched TV program in American history which means that Katy Perry’s half time show was the most watched and provided fodder for plenty of memes that a GIF thirsty audience only too gladly drank up. Perhaps the most popular was the dancing shark. A takeaway for brands looking to engage and grow their audience next year would be to include word play and teasers but most importantly to be culturally relevant.
Case study: How Doctors Without Borders is trying to save the world through content marketing
Doctors without Borders or MSF as they are otherwise known sends brave medical workers into the worlds hotspots whether it be a war zone or a major disaster.
“A small group of doctors and journalists founded Doctors Without Borders in 1971. They wanted to draw attention to the hardships of people trapped in war-torn regions. Though the humanitarian aid itself was of central importance, speaking out against injustice, regardless of national borders, was just as crucial.
Content, then, is central to MSF’s mission to spread awareness of the many crises affecting people around the globe.”
MSF has engaged in some incredible content marketing activities aimed at raising awareness of global humanitarian issues. In particular the Exodus documentary and supporting interactive content, along with news and stories such as ‘The Boy Who Tricked Ebola’ are worth taking note of.
Vine is after your kids
Vine—Twitter’s video-looping brand—released Vinekids, a version of the app that produces only fun, safe content for children. From a functional point of view, it doesn’t feel any different than the regular Vine. However the clips are made for children and surrounded by animated creatures. Kids can swipe back and forth to find new videos and tap their screens for sound effects.
At the moment the app is only available to people with iOS phones, and has only a limited supply of content. In otherwords your little ones will tear through those six-second vids pretty fast. Users cannnot as yet upload content but that would probably change in the near future.
Facebook Mentions
If you can’t beat them, join them. Facebook Mentions is an app that lets celebrities and influencers track mentions of their names and share content with fans. It now lets those same people share posts on Instagram and Twitter.
Facebook the place to be for Valentines Day
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Facebook seems to be an important place to have conversations. In fact to prepare you Facebook’s created an infographic packed with stats about how people fête the big day on the site. (Source)
Opportunities for marketers lie perhaps with these low hanging fruit:
- Valentine’s Day is one of the most popular days of the year to get engaged if last year was anything to go by.
- 8 out of 10 people who talk about Valentine’s Day gifts on Facebook are between ages 18–44. So consider aiming your content at gift hunting men.
- Love is the most popular topic regarless of relationship status so consider reaching out with uplifting reminders to celebrate the many kinds of love in their lives including family, friends, pets and themselves.
Content Marketing Marketing Know How
5 Essential SEO Techniques To Master In 2015
Jim Yu offers insights into the latest developments in SEO and offers tips on how to stay ahead of the changing game.
Valentines Day… and Many Other Reasons Why You Should Use Seasonal SEO
Krystian Włodarczyk provides insights into why marketers should tap into seasonal SEO. This is especially relevant given that Valentines Day is only a few days away.
The CRO’s Persuasion Guidebook, Part 1
In this guest post for the Daily Egg blog I provide persuasive tactics that help your web content build an audience and win clients.
The CRO’s Persuasion Guidebook, Part 2
This the second part to the above guest post.
4 Truths About Human Nature Every Marketer Needs to Know Before Writing a Word of Copy
In this post for Unbounce I explore writing effective landing page copy by understanding your audiences thinking. It’s about understanding that “real people” are behind every click on your landing page. If you know what makes them tick, then you’ll know what makes them click.
11 Unusual Visual Content Marketing Tips to Drive a Ton of Traffic
On Jeff Bullas blog I did another guest post this time on the subject of visual content marketing. Social media content has become more and more about visual marketing. It has a significant role in attracting people to your content and accelerates sharing.
Do you want to stimulate online growth and drive up engagement, traffic, clicks and conversions? If so, using visual marketing will play a key role in your overall content marketing success.
Cool Tools I Have Discovered
Rignite – A tool to post, schedule, collaborate, respond, and track social activity – all in one place.
Free Summarizer – An online tool that summarizes long texts in a few seconds.
The Top 100 Visual Marketing Articles of 2014