Can Your Marketing Team Speak Data?

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I’m a firm believer in content marketing. It’s a long play, but the results speak for themselves if you invest and keep plugging away.

Businesses that have invested in content marketing in recent years are reporting dividends from those investments. For example, more than 60% of B2B marketers reported more effective content marketing strategies than a year ago, showing that constant flow and activity within content marketing will increase ROI.

Factors contributing to that success include better quality content, strategy development, more time spent on content marketing, and better targeting in content distribution.

To maintain this growth, marketers need to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of content marketing.

Here are my three big marketing plays for 2018.

1. Great content is expert-driven

Content marketing is moving beyond blog ideas and articles. There is a move towards a trend in which ideas are constantly improved upon, customised for different audiences, and adapted to new formats consumers are using.

Related: How Content Marketing Adds Real Value To Your Customers’ Lives

Just hiring writers won’t cut it anymore. The content team will need to grow and adapt for the next year and should include people who are talented in:

• Video production and editing (think TV commercials tailored for Facebook)


• Graphic design, illustration, and editing (think infographics, animation and ebooks)


• Audio editing and production (audio articles and podcasts)


• Content distribution and promotion (Where to place it and how to promote it).

So, invest in your content team, consider outsourcing to specialist agencies and provide constant quality content for your customer base.

2. Influencer marketing keeps yielding results

In 2018 it’s not about whether you include influencer marketing in your marketing mix, but the percentage of your marketing budget you put towards it.

Remember:

• 70% of millennials trust influencer and peer opinions over traditional celebrities


• 51% of marketers say video produces the best ROI


• 86% of women turn to social networks before purchasing


• 71% of consumers are more likely to purchase based on a social media reference.

If you are in a niche sector, working with micro influencers who have a smaller but higher engagement rate than traditional celebrities might work well for your brand. The key to influencer marketing is someone who is trusted and respected by your target audience.

Related: Content Marketing Strategies You Can Steal

3. Live video is exploding

Marketers and brands are jumping on the train to embrace live video content. Facebook video sees an average of 135% more organic reach than images. The engagement goes through the roof for live video. According to Facebook, users spent three times more time watching live videos than a video that’s no longer live. They also comment ten times more during live videos.

If that doesn’t convince you that you need to adopt live video for 2018, this may:

• 80% of social media users aged 18 to 35 said they would rather tune into a live video than read a blog post.


• 82% of those users were more interested in watching live video from a brand than reading social media posts.


• Start working with live video now — before your competitors do — to engage your audience.

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IN YOUR TOOLKIT

Create engaging content

Here are three tools you can use to easily make all kinds of interactive content for your marketing campaigns.

1. Apester

Apester is a tool that allows you to easily create polls, surveys, personality tests, video quizzes, and a whole lot more to engage with your audience. Embed your creations into your regular blog content to create a truly interactive experience.

Go to: apester.com

2. Engageform

Engageform is a super intuitive tool to create quizzes, surveys, and polls. The platform offers an impressive array of visual customisation options to make your content really stand out.

You can also easily embed and share your quiz, survey, or poll on your website or social media. Once people start interacting, you’ll get detailed reports of audience feedback, stats, and lead information.

Go to: 4screens.net/engageform/

3. Vizia

Video is probably the most powerful content type marketers can use. But use a tool like Vizia, and you can take it to the next level. Vizia helps you create more engaging videos by adding questions and quizzes to collect feedback while people watch.

The tool makes it easy to quickly add multiple choice questions, polls, and short answer questions into your videos. Vizia videos integrate everywhere, including blogging platforms, e-commerce stores, and site builders. And the best part? It’s 100% free.

Go to: vizia.co

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