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Content strategy tips for small businesses 0

contentmktg2_artSmall businesses can benefit from content marketing as much as large corporations with the staffs and budgets to put into it.

Instead of display advertising that consumers are brushing aside, small businesses can invest time, effort and budgets into branded content that informs, educates, drives Web traffic and brings in potential customers.

There are tips that small businesses with limited budgets and personnel can use when it comes to planning a content strategy. Here are a few of them:

  • Make sure you get as much out of the content as possible.
  • Think repurposing of content. Try pulling a few quotes or images from a recently published blog post to share on social media and email dispatches.
  • Build co-marketing content partnerships with other small businesses to help each other reach new customers.
  • Go after prospects and business leads directly and privately with email marketing.

 

A lack of engagement opportunity by retailers 0

We posted some time ago how over a quarter U.S. companies, 28 percent, do not have a mobile strategy. Here’s more proof that some companies are still lagging behind when it comes to using mobile devices as part of an overall marketing plan.

Only a small percentage of retailers are using push notifications — messages that are delivered and displayed on a mobile device — as a tool to engage their customers.

San Francisco-based mobile marketing analytics company Other Levels recently examined retailers’ use of mobile messaging tools like push notifications, in-app alerts and the rich inbox, an email-like inbox within a mobile app. In its 2014 Retail Mobile Messaging Study, Other Levels found that while 77 percent of the top online retailers have a mobile app, just 31 percent of retailers send push notifications as part of their messaging strategy.

Push notifications play a large role in driving app usage. The majority of the top 100 retailers’ apps ask users for permission to send push notifications, yet most of the companies never actually send those messages.

The report goes on to say that fewer than 2 percent of the top 500 online retailers have a mobile app with a rich inbox that can display unique customer-focused content within the app, from special offers to confirmations.

Retailers are seizing upon mobile apps to expand and enhance their brand presence and awareness. But their limited use of mobile messaging content means a lot of missed opportunities to engage customers.

 

We are MyMobileLyfe and we can help your company develop a content marketing strategy to reach people on the go. Click here to contact us.

 

Measuring your mobile content success 0

You have a content strategy that focuses on publishing for smartphones and tablets, ensuring that your message, your brand content is accessible to people on the move.

Now, how do you know that that message is reaching that specific target audience?

contentmktg_artThere are ways to determine your company’s success in reaching mobile device users. It is possible to track your mobile marketing efforts with analytics tools that enable you to learn who is accessing your content, then use that information to target your audience more effectively.

Google Analytics is the tool that immediately comes to mind. Its mobile app analytics tool enables companies to know who’s using its app, how they use it, check brand loyalty and visit frequency, and measure its performance.

There are other tools just as useful to measure mobile impact and engagement, including Flurry, Localytics, and Clicky.

Bottom line: Analyzing the information about your mobile content efforts is essential to its overall success, regardless of what tool you use.

 

We are MyMobileLyfe and we can help your company develop a content marketing strategy to reach people on the go. Click here to contact us.

 

Think strategy when creating video content 0

contentmktg2_artVideo content for your brand marketing campaign can be effective in promoting a product or service to the right audience. But it’s more than just coming up with clips shot on a smartphone to post on a company website, Facebok page or Twitter account. It also means creating and implementing a well conceived strategy.
Video uses sound, images and motion to present your brand message in a more personal and, when optimized for mobile devices, portable format. Done well, it attracts business by showing a potential customer what the company is all about, the services it offers, or telling its story in a shareable format.
But event the most slick production, accompanied by cutting-edge images and a contemporary musical score, can be ineffective if no thought is put into what the customer seeks to get out of the video content. Does it give the customer something new? Is is something they are willing to pass on to others?
Ponder these steps when contemplating a video content strategy:

  • Decide on your goals for the content. Ask yourself, as a content creator, what are the objectives you wish to accomplish in the video content. Is your company answering questions? Telling a story? Emphasizing the benefits of a product?
  • Choose your target audience. Tailor the message around that particular demographic.
  • Make the video content relevant. Make it engaging, memorable, informative and, yes, entertaining. A company leader droning on about the latest product may be good for the stockholders, but a turn off to the potential customer.
  • Set up a social media channel distribution strategy. Think beyond YouTube. Embed the video code on the company’s Facebook page or Twitter account for maximum exposure.
  • Encourage comments about the video content. What do people have to say? They like it or hate it, but above all, they should talk about it online.
  • Use keywords in the content that reflect your customer’s needs and inquiries. This helps search engines find your video content easier.
  • Ensure that the video content is optimized for mobile devices. The number of people using smartphones and tablets continues to grow, and people are getting their information on the move. This is a market than can no longer be avoided.

We are MyMobileLyfe and we can help your company develop a content marketing strategy to reach people on the go. Click here to contact us

Video: The infographic as content 0

One of the most effective ways to provide interesting and informative content for a target audience is the infographic.

An infographic can present data and facts about a topic in an eye-catching format. Investing in the talents of a graphic artist helps, but there are many tools available for content creators to develop their own infographics — Easel.ly, Infogr.am Visual,ly immediately come to mind.

This video primer by Jean Williams is a beginner’s tutorial of sorts. Check it out if you’re considering adding infographics to your content creation calendar.

We are MyMobileLyfe and we can help your company develop a content marketing strategy to reach people on the go. Click here to contact us.

 

 

Focus on the user experience 0

Is your content an experience?

Or rather, does the brand marketing content produced and published online add to and enhance the user experience? If the answer is yes, then the brand becomes a means of discussion and engagement with potential future customers.

contentmktg_artIf the answer is no, well, that means it’s just a substandard experience. A user clicks an article on a smartphone, only to land on a non-mobile optimized block of text that is practically unreadable. The user, one with a short attention span, decides it’s not worth it to pan and zoom around the page, and drops it – and with it, any chance of becoming a new customer or business lead

Marketers need to engage, delight and enrich their audience within the content experience. This is about taking the user on an immersive journey that keeps them coming back.

There are a handful of engagement tactics to see if you’re spending enough time on ensuring that the content is worth the user experience:

  • Can visitors easily find what they’re looking for, or are the content resources buried in navigation?
  • Is the content created for a specific audience or topics, with contextual call to actions?
  • Does the interface suit users on all types of devices, from smartphones to tablets to PCs?

Say yes to these, and you have the makings of a solid user experience.

 

We are MyMobileLyfe and we can help your company develop a content marketing strategy to reach people on the go. Click here to contact us.

The merits of storytelling with your content 0

There is so much content out there that it is easy for the consumer to become overwhelmed. The challenge of the content creator, therefore, is to come up with ways to minimize the information overload and make their material stand out.

Telling a story can cut through the noise and prioritize what the target audience will care about. Bottom line is, it is all about managing the information.

This infographic, courtesy of Business2Community.com and produced by LookbookHQ and Beutler Ink, spells out the merits of making effective storytelling a part of content strategy.

storytelling_art

 

We are MyMobileLyfe and we can help your company develop a content marketing strategy to reach people on the go. Click here to contact us.

Video: Breaking writer’s block to create content ideas 0

Still fighting that writer’s block when it comes to generating marketing content?

We recently listed a few apps that can help inspire some content creativity. Coming up with fresh, interesting and informational content consistently for your audience is a challenge. But sometimes, a simple method to do it works. Sometimes, it’s a matter of putting in your two cents on a issue.

Here’s a tip from Ryan Stewman of Hardcorecloser.com on how to come up with content for your brand’s website or for a blog post, when struggling with writer’s block.

We are MyMobileLyfe and we can help your company develop a content marketing strategy to reach people on the go. Click here to contact us.

 

 

 

Best content sharing times, and how it’s done 0

When it comes to planning a content marketing strategy, it helps to know the best times of day for getting the information to the target audience.

There are peak sharing hours for content, and they vary by subject matter and preferred sharing methods, all of which is critical for brand marketers to know when planning media campaigns where success is measured in likes, page views, shares and overall engagement.

The trends in content sharing and engagement vary by category. A restaurant promoting its latest culinary creation will find a bigger audience in the morning than in the early evening. Entertainment-related content does better on Facebook in the afternoon.

addthis_artAddThis network looked at some important trends in content sharing and customer engagement in a recently released quarterly report. The trends are notable enough for brands, advertisers, content marketing pros and publishers to consider.

Among the findings by AddThis (downloadable in a PDF format):

  • The peak time for the sharing of food-related content is 11 a.m. to noon, with nearly have of the content being shared on Pinterest. People in California, New York and Texas are the most likely to share or engage food-related content.
  • Most people who share travel-related content also do so between 11 a.m. and noon. When it comes to customer engagement of travel-related content, 26 percent do it through printing of boarding passes, reservations and itineraries, followed by the 24 percent who share on Facebook.

Knowing the best times to publish your content for sharing by others is essential. By publishing it for the target audience at the right time of the day, it ensures effective visibility for your brand message.

AddThis network also found that the sharing of sports and entertainment-related content is more concentrated to Facebook, with more than a third of users doing so from, respectively, 11 a.m. to noon and 2 to 3 p.m. Politically related content, usually of a news nature or general punditry, is most often shared between 10 and 11 a.m., with a quarter of the content shared on Facebook.

 

We are MyMobileLyfe and we can help your company develop a content marketing strategy to reach people on the go. Click here to contact us.

 

 

Tools that help inspire content creativity 0

Acquiring and retaining customers starts and ends with good content. The better, more useful and more informative and educational the content published by a business is, the better the chances for lead generation and a growing customer base.

contentmktg_artContent can take many forms: narrative articles, blog posts, images and video shared on social media. The common thread is that when published, it plays an integral role in the experience that users have with the brands responsible for the content.

Corporate stories, reviews, tutorials, interviews white papers, calls to action – the success of this type of marketing content is whether its message resonates with the targeted audience, whether it addresses a customer’s wants and needs and brings the customer back for more.

But it all starts with an idea.

There are apps that can help fill the gap between blank slate and finished product. Here are a few of them to help inspire some content creativity:

Skitch: Marketing pros who want to get their points across using annotation, shapes and sketches will find this app useful. Start with an image, then use the toolbox of arrows, shapes and text callouts to inspire content.

Inbound Now: The marketing community’s “Kill Writer’s Block”  app creates random post titles with the key terms left blank, to give blog writers a head start in creating an effective headline.

Feedly: A timesaver for content marketing pros who can browse aggregated news published on many different subjects, from tech to cooking to design, to generate ideas.

XMind: This tool has the potential to be essential for people who brainstorm on content by allowing them to create maps and charts to clarify thinking, manage complex information and get work organized.

Are there other apps that you find useful in the content inspiration process? Feel free to let us know about them.

 

We are MyMobileLyfe and we can help your company develop a content marketing strategy to reach people on the go. Click here to contact us.