It's All About the Content, Baby!

It’s All About The Content,

Baby.

Presented byMickey Lonchar

Chief Creative OfficerQuisenberry Marketing & Design

What you’ll learn today:

• Develop a Content Strategy that is meaningful to your audience.• Develop a Brand Vision and use it as a content platform/content filter.• The three types of content every organization should have.• Guidelines for creating a Content Calendar.• Fundamentals of building and nurturing a community of followers.

First, a word about the role of Social Media.

Social Media Marketing takes us back to the future.

•We listen to customers.•We interact with them one-on-one.• We rely on good word of mouth.

‘Earned’ attention vs. ‘Bought’ attention.

Is this going to keep my customer ‘opted-in’?

Social Media “flips the marketing funnel.”

The receiver is the medium is the creator.

Social Media gives you a ‘house of many

doors.’

Social Media amplifies and adds depth to your other marketing efforts.

Don’t think of it as ‘either/or.’

Social Media enhances your SEO.

70% of users typically find you via search engines.Search engines love fresh robust content.

Social Media helps you learn more about the nuances of your customers.

Social Media shortens the purchase cycle.

Social Media gives you the opportunity to customize your

marketing efforts.

Social Media gives your organization human characteristics.

Social Media helps you identify and nurture your brand advocates.

Social Media helps users get more value from your product.

Social Media cuts customer churn.

TraditionalMarketing

SocialMedia

Social Media provides an

effective way to work customers up the ‘Loyalty

Ladder.’

What is Content?

What is Content?

‘Content’ is how you communicate with/touch your

consumer.

What is Content?

People don’t engage with brands, they

engage with content.

What is Content?

Anything that touches the consumer that

represents your brand.

Examples: packaging, web copy, collateral, Facebook posts, paid messaging

(advertising), third party reviews, etc.

Content is the ‘currency’ of Social Media.

‘He who has the best content wins.’

- Joe Pulazzi

What is Content?

What is Content?

Your ‘Content Strategy’ (or Content Platform) is the intentional creation, implementation and deployment of

stories you tell as a brand to build trust and develop deeper relationships with customers and prospects.

A Social Media program without a Content Strategy is like...

Well, you get the idea.

Developing a Content Platform: where to start.

Start with a meaningful Brand Vision.

‘Who do I have to be to have you become my customer?’

Meaningful Brand Vision =

What’s the ONE THING we want

customers to say that we do better than

anyone else?

Meaningful Brand Vision =

Unique - Are you the only one to provide this?Meaningful - Is it of true value to your customers?

True - Is this who you really are and what you really do?

“Organizations typically have dozens of ways to help a customer...beyond selling her stuff.”

Content Platform Exercise: Starbucks example.


What are 10 things Starbucks can do for customers besides

sell them coffee?


sell them coffee?

1. Provide a standardized experience.2. Introduce new varieties and products.3. Create ‘smarter’ coffee consumers.4. Offer a line of accessories, enhancing the ‘coffee experience.’5. Give customers a place to chill.6. Making coffee buying convenient.7. Provide customers a break in their day.8. Raise the customer’s expectations.9. Provide a ‘little reward’ for customers.10. Serve product within 10 minutes of brewing.



sell them coffee?

1. Provide a standardized experience.2. Introduce new varieties and products.3. Create ‘smarter’ coffee consumers.4. Offer a line of accessories, enhancing the ‘coffee experience.’5. Give customers a place to chill.6. Making coffee buying convenient.7. Provide customers a break in their day.8. Raise the customer’s expectations.9. Provide a ‘little reward’ for customers.10. Serve product within 10 minutes of brewing.



sell them coffee?

3. Create ‘smarter’ coffee consumers.

5. Give customers a place to chill.7. Provide customers a break in their day.9. Provide a ‘little reward’ for customers.



sell them coffee?

3. Create ‘smarter’ coffee consumers.




sell them coffee?


Brand Vision: “Welcoming”


Content Platform Exercise:

On a sheet of paper, write out 10 ways you can help customers, besides selling them stuff.



Look over your list. Line out any of the functions that are not unique to you or that add negligable value to the customer.



Partner up with one other person NOT in your organization.

Look over your list. Line out any of the functions that are not unique to you or that add negligable value to the customer.

Three Kinds of Content Every Organization Should Have:

1. Content You Create

• Website updates• Videos• Powerpoint Presentations• Blogs• Comments on other sites• Social Media status updates



• Create once, use many times• Clone content across multiple platforms.• Become a ‘Content Chop Shop’



• Blogs: +55% more web traffic (Hubspot)• Improves Search Engine Ranking• Helps establish thought leadership• Demonstrates your value, tells your story• Creates content fodder


2. Content that you curate (Third Party content)

• Gleaned from ‘listening’• RSS • Twitter • email • StumbleUpon • Google Alerts• ‘What would my customers find useful?’


3. Content You Re-purpose or Re-imagine

• Conduct a Content Audit• Newsletter articles• Case studies• Product information sheets• Speeches or panel participation• Archived blog posts


Content Creation Best Practices:

Get Contributions From People Across the Organization.


Develop a Content Calendar.

(1-7-30-4-6-1)


Create a ‘content hub’ to aggregate all

available content.


Participate in as many platforms as you can manage.


Create content that is both ‘sticky’ and ‘slippery.’



Solve, don’t sell.

Use tags and meta data whenever possible.


Build inbound links.


Run Potential Content Through the

‘Brand Vision Filter.’

(Relevant, Helpful, Reflects Values)


How about a few good (local) examples?

• Huppins on YouTube• Pearson Packaging Twitter• Blu Berry Yogurt Facebook• “How’s Business” newsletter• The Quisenblog

Effective Content Platform #1:Huppins YouTube channel

Effective Content Platform #2:Pearson Packaging Twitter

Effective Content Platform #3:Blu Berry Yogurt Facebook

Effective Content Platform #4:‘How’s Business’ newsletter

Effective Content Platform #4:The Quisenblog

The inside dope on attracting followers and fans.


The ‘unsexy’ stuff: icons on business cards, email

signature, etc.


Utilize Facebook Connect platform to

integrate online presence.


Rather than just “Find us on Facebook,” explain

why they should.

“Get daily recipes and money-saving offers on our Facebook page.”“Get the latest industry news by following us on Twitter.”

“Find our series of how-to videos on YouTube.”


Let visitors/fans choose how to follow. Give them

options.


“Buy” followers:• Facebook ads

• Giveaways: something in return for clicking “like.”

• “Crowdsourcing” contests (Postaer’s book cover)

• Connect company to a cause.


Understand what you want to do with your

followers (engagement). 90% of Facebook fans never go back to the

brand’s page.

Seattle Sounders exampleScarves up!

Questions?

Resources of Note:

Joe Pulazzi - @JuntaJoe (Twitter)Heidi Cohen - @HeidiCohen (Twitter)

Ann Handley - @MarketingProfs (Twitter)Hubspot Inbound Marketing Blog -

www.hubspot.com/inbound-marketing-blog/

Contact Information

email: [email protected]: www.quisenblog.comtwitter: @mickeylonchar

For an electronic copy of this presentation deck,email me at [email protected]