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STOP PLAYING CATCH-UP:
INVEST IN RICH-MEDIA
CONTENT NOW
Grant Tilus, Associate Inbound Marketing Manager, Collegis Education
CollegisEducation.com
Social Media Strategies Summit Higher Ed 2015 – #SMSsummit
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Who Is Grant Tilus?
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• Associate Inbound Marketing
Manager, Collegis Education
• Content Marketing Director of
MnSearch.org
• @GrantTilus
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What Is Your Role?
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Content Marketing
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• Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach
focused on creating and distributing valuable,
relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a
clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive
profitable customer action.
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Who’s Doing It?
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77% of B2C marketers are using content marketing
45% of B2C marketers have a dedicated content
marketing group in their organization
Source: Content Marketing Institute, “2015 B2C Content Marketing Trends–North America”
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Content We’re Creating
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• 93% Social Media
Content
• 80% Newsletters
• 78% Articles on Website
• 75% Illustrations/Photos
• 74% Videos
• 67% Blogs
• 47% Branded Content
Tools
• 45% Infographics
• 25% eBooks
• 22% Podcasts
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We Have Our Goals
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• Organizational Goals
– 88% Customer Retention
– 88% Engagement
– 87% Brand Awareness
– 77% Sales
– 69% Customer Evangelism
– 69% Lead Generation
– 61% Lead Nurturing
• Website Metrics
– 62% Traffic
– 54% Sales
– 39% Higher Conversion Rates
– 39% SEO Ranking
– 35% Customer Feedback
– 34% Subscribers
– 23% Inbound Links
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Creating a Ton of Content
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• 90% of B2C marketers now use content marketing
• 48% of organizations publish content daily or
multiple times per week
• Over 2.7 million blog posts are published daily
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It’s Starting to Pile Up
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It’s Not as Easy Anymore
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• Marketers rated all of these as less effective than they
did last year
66% Newsletters
59%
58%
54%
Illustrations/Photos
Social Media
Content
Blogs
54% Videos
53% Website Articles
46% Webinars
45% Online
Presentations
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We’re Being Challenged
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• 51% Measuring Content Effectiveness
• 50% Producing Engaging Content
• 46% Lack of Budget
• 44% Producing Content Consistently
• 28% Lack of Buy-In/Vision from Higher-Ups
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More Is Not the Answer
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Not All Content Is Created
Equal
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• The average attention span has dropped from 12
seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds today
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It’s Time to Evolve
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Content Marketing Is Changing
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• What B2C marketers are working on right now:
62% creating more engaging/higher-quality content
60% creating more visual content
53% creating a greater variety of content
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Time to Step Up Our Game
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http://www.nytimes.com/projects/2012/snow-fall/
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Rich Media 101
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• A form of higher-quality content that has more
dynamic elements and engages the audience in a
richer user experience.
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You’re Falling Behind
3 Reasons Why You Need
Rich-Media Content
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1) Stand Out from the Crowd
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content
content
content
Your content
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• 72% of B2C marketers are producing more content
than they did one year ago
• Up to 15,000 pieces of content could potentially
show in your Facebook feed everyday
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We’re Built for Visual Content
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• Visual content is snackable & pulls people in
– 94% more total views on average are attracted by content
containing compelling images
• Visual content is social media friendly
– 37% increase in engagement when FB posts include images
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Text Is Good to Have But…
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Good Isn’t Good Enough
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https://moz.com/blog/why-good-unique-content-needs-to-die-whiteboard-friday
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Do Something Different
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• Custom Imagery
• Infographics
• Interactive Content
• Data Visualizations
• eBooks/Whitepapers
• Video
• Podcasts
• And More
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Make Something Epic
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"If someone removed your content from the web, would
anybody miss it?" - Ann Handley
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Create a Linkable Asset
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• Provides value
• Visually appealing
• Simple to use
• Hot topic
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Be Remembered
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• Visual cues improve our memory
• Picture superiority effect
• Brand association benefits
– Personality
– Style
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Rich Media Is Primed for Social
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• Gen Z’ers
– Favor visuals
– Communicate with images
– Want to be engaged
– Value being unique
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Standing Out with Rich Media
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• Beat the Competition
• Create Something Different
• 10x Better
• Attract Attention Online
• Bring Your Brand Along for the Ride
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2) Build Trust and
Understanding
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Are You Trustworthy?
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• 84% of millennials don't like traditional advertising
nor do they trust it
• 52% of U.S. millennials said that finding brands they
can trust is important to them
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Content That’s Trustworthy
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• Volunteer Information
• Don’t omit the details
– Facts
• Share secrets
• Deliver as promised
• Creditable
– SME’s
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In People We Trust
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• Real people with real experience
• Emotional connections
• Showcase expertise
• Insider access
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Data Speaks for Itself
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• Data removes biases
• Readers trust facts
• Tells the whole story
• Clarifies complexity
• But…
Raw data is BORING
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Give Them Some Control
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• Something to do
• A choice
• A chance to reflect
• Next step
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Give Them Some Control
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Better Communicate Your Ideas
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• Use graphics to make abstract concepts concreate
• Graphics help viewers process information quicker
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Build Trust with Rich Media
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• Try to never use stock images
• Showcase the people behind
your brand
• Visualize important data
• Create a content experience
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3) Create Impactful Content
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• “Action is the foundational key to all success.”
- Pablo Picasso
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Is Your Content Effective?
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• 60%-70% of marketing content goes unused
• 62% of students and 51% of parents prefer web-
based resources for learning about prospective
universities
• Multimedia-based content has been shown to be
shared up to 12X more
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Right Action at the Right Time
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Connect in New Ways
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Support the Research Phase
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Use a New Enrollment Funnel
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Why You Need Rich-Media
Content Recap
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1. Stand Out From the Crowd
– It’s Only Going to Get Harder
2. Build Trust & Understanding
– Use People, Data and the Control
3. Create Content with an Impact
– Rethink the Traditional CTA
YOU Can Make It Happen
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Get Leadership On Board
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• What do you mean rich media? – Provide examples
• What does this do for our brand? – Brand awareness, reach new audiences, etc
– Set expectations for results
• How is this different? – Status quo vs. the future
• What does success look like? – Tie everything back to business objectives
– Timelines
• What resources do you need? – Create a low-, medium- and high-budget proposal
– Who’s on the team?
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Get the Right People on Board
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• Content Creators
• Editors
• Creative Designers
• Developers
• Leadership
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Set the S.M.A.R.T. Goals
• Determine KPIs
– Traffic
– Social Shares
– Links/PR
– Direct & Assistance
Conversions
– Registrations
– Downloads
– Etc.
• Set Benchmarks
• Track Everything
Only 23% of B2C
marketers say they are
successfully tracking
ROI on content
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Play Baseball with Your Content
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76%
15%
1% 8%
Singles Doubles
Triples Home Runs
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Develop a Process for Singles
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Scale for Doubles and Triples
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Scale for Doubles and Triples
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Home Runs Are Special
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Discover Your Opportunities
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• Brainstorm Ideas
– Usecandor.com
• Conduct Research
on the Idea
• Audience
• Competition
• Keyword(s)
• Topical Importance
• Brand Messaging
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Our Idea
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Plan with a Sense of Purpose
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• Persona
• Primary concern
• Conversation
• Phase of funnel
• Appropriate CTA
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Career Aptitude Test
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• Idea
– Assist in discovery of potential career options
• Strategy
– Create an evergreen top-of-funnel resource
• Goal
– Increase brand awareness
– Own the conversation
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Research: The Topic
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Research: The Opportunity
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Research: The Competition
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Research: The Competition
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Research: The Competition
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Produce the Content
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• Data set from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
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Develop the Visual Aspects
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• Improve upon the competitors
• Don’t hijack the creative process
• Deadlines are more like guidelines
• Balance creative with usability
• Get outside opinions
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Career Aptitude Test
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Career Aptitude Test
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Prepare for Launch
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• Pre-Outreach
– Who’s most interested
• Paid Promotion
– Social media
• Continue Outreach
– Bloggers
• Supporting Articles
– Internal links
• Retargeting
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Career Aptitude Test
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There’s Still Time for
YOU to Get Started
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Rich Media Is an Evolution
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We Love Creating Them
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bit.ly/EnrollmentTrends
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You Can Do It Too
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Grant Tilus
www.CollegisEducation.com
@GrantTilus
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