14 MUST-DO’S FOR CONTENT MARKETERS! 2 0 1 4!

The thrill of the New Year is unmistakable. The New Year brings fresh beginnings, new ideas and maybe most of all…excitement. Before you settle into a routine and the last of the confetti is swept away, we want to recap what the best and brightest in our industry think 2014 will hold for content marketers. !

It’s no surprise that 2014 content marketing resolutions continue to center around the customer. !

In order to get into the minds and hearts of customers, we must continue to inform and educate, to entertain and engage with a parade of content that’s thought-provoking and, most of all, GENUINE. !!

Still defining what type of content marketer you want to be in 2014? !

Discover the 14 content marketing must-dos and turn your content hopes into reality. !!

Must-Do: Identify – through analytics, CRM’s or other tools – which content funnels visitors to pre-converting and converting pages on the site. Use LinkedIn Company Page Analytics to measure engagement among your professional audience. Track increases MOM and YOY to support ongoing content creation efforts.!

1. Proving the Value of Content !

2014 is the make-it-or-break-it year for proving the value of content and social marketing. We’ll start seeing content marketing platforms offer full integration with customer databases and CRMs. This will allow marketers to target prospects in different stages of the funnel, with customized content in each channel. With marketing and sales goals more closely aligned, marketers will finally crack the ROI of content marketing.

Shafqat Islam, Mashable!

Must-Do: Embrace the impact of storytelling. Schedule sessions with sales teams, customer service reps and anyone else who touches your customers. Ask them to bring one success story and one challenge so that each person is prepared to share a story that infuses go-forward content. !

"2. Tapping Into the Power of Story !

“We can walk away from our books and our screens, but we can never walk away from story,” writes Jonathan Gotschall, a researcher and author of The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human. “For humans, story is like gravity: an inescapable field of force that influences everything, but is so omnipresent that we hardly notice it.” For companies, those that tell their stories through compelling content improve their chances of success.

Andrew Kaplan, LinkedIn!

Must-Do: Siloed marketing campaigns asking for the sale are sure to fall flat. Today’s audiences want to be informed and respected as a participant in a dialogue. Make them feel as such.!

Identify where siloes still exist within your organization. Then, create a plan for breaking down the siloes and creating a holistic, integrated approach.!

"3. Integrating Lead Generation Efforts with Content Marketing Campaigns !

Relying on the old model of periodic campaigns is no longer enough. Today the brand “voice” takes a front seat, while the hard sell takes a step back. Artfully communicating to your audience is critical in a feed-based advertising landscape that is here to stay.

Jonathan Lister, LinkedIn!

Must-Do: Commit to testing short-form content early in 2014. Companies achieved success with Sponsored Updates in 2013 by sharing ‘snackable’ content. For each piece of branded content that aims for conversion, focus on finding or creating ‘bite-size’ content that serves as a natural lead-in.!

" "4. Recognizing that Small is Beautiful!

There is a definite trend toward small. If we can’t get big chunks of content through a limited ‘pipeline’ of brain cells, maybe we can get grains of sand through. This would explain ideas like Vine (6-second videos), infographics, and even Pinterest, which is simply easy on the eyes without a lot of processing.

Mark Schaefer as seen on Content Marketing Institute!

Must-Do: If you haven’t already done your customer homework, now is the time. Go no further with marketing plans based on hunches. Start fleshing out a profile for each segment within your target audience. See the gaps? Now start filling them in.!

5. The Personalization of Content!

In 2014, we will recognize that ‘context’ is King, and to do that we have to understand our audience’s tastes and interests. The other offshoot of this is that when content marketing becomes more personalized, the ability to calculate the improvement of lifetime customer value, reduce customer acquisition costs and, perhaps most importantly, measure the monetary value of each customer engaging with each item of content will become much more a reality.

Andrew Davies, eConsultancy!

Must-Do: Discuss with key stakeholders. Big Data initiatives often require resources – both human and technology. Make sure to loop in the appropriate people and have cross-departmental buy-in to help ensure long-term success. Have a plan in place for when opportunities present themselves. Content marketing on LinkedIn allows you to target with accuracy to reach a high-quality audience whenever you want.!

"6. Acting on Insights with Real-Time Content !

Marketers will begin taking advantage of new capabilities that enable them to act on insights in the very moment they need to act. Speed of delivery will no longer be the problem. The real opportunity is whether an experience can be delivered when it counts for the business---and when it matters most for the consumer. Time has always been a luxury in short supply for marketers. With maturing Big Data platforms and streaming data capabilities, marketers will be able to reduce the costs, risks, and time to market of their online initiatives and campaigns.

Merlyn Gordon, MarketingProfs!

Must-Do: Are you inviting customers to play a role within your company beyond transacting? If not, identify where you should invite customers to participate in 2014. Resolve to make your LinkedIn Company Page and your LinkedIn Group a place where customers can make meaningful contributions this year.!

"7. Customer-centric is the New Social Centric !

Customer-centricity is the new primary business process. For the first time, customers actually play a larger role in driving strategy than the board of directors, says Dr. Saul Berman, Leader of Strategy & Transformation at IBM. The digital world of social media and big data, combined with increased customer information and consequently expectations, has escalated the customers’ role where they are helping with not only strategy but also product development, service, sales, and talent recruitment.

Robin Carey, CEO, Social Media Today!

Must-Do: Update your content plan to draw from the expertise of employees through contributed content, interviews and surveys. Make sure you have a feedback loop in place to encourage the desired behavior.!

8. Empowering Employees to Contribute Content !

Your employees were hired because of their expertise in a function that relates to your business. It might not be obvious to them that everything they know about a particular function or industry or business practice might be valuable insight to your customers and prospects. But with a little encouragement and communication of the “what’s in it for them” (e.g. good for their career/professional development, management recognition, etc.), you can help allay their fears and take what’s in their head and on to your blog.

Jason Miller, LinkedIn"

Must-Do: Make it a habit to have at least one team brainstorm each month to concept new ideas and formats for content creation efforts. Have team members share the most entertaining piece of content they consumed in the past month for inspiration.!

"9. Embracing Entertaining Content !

Businesses will need to embrace content as a way to attract consumers through entertainment. Offering information will always be a necessity, however the way to gain the attention and interest of consumers will be first and foremost through offering interesting, attention-grabbing content that is actually enjoyable and fun to watch.

Kim Garst, Forbes Top 50 Social Media Influencer!

Must-Do: Integrate event management with marketing automation and CRM to assess real event return compared to other digital marketing programs. Doing so will allow you to assess indirect lead generation benefits, such as increases in brand awareness and social sentiment. !

"10. Personalizing Event Marketing and Accurately Measuring Success!

In 2014, we’ll see an increasingly personalized attendee experience at events, in which the content is curated to the needs of each participant and the engagements are targeted to achieve their specific goals. Additionally, event marketers will leverage technologies that can more easily connect the right people, start to measure the qualitative value of those engagements, and tie those back to tangible revenue.

Patrick Cava, Certain !

Must-Do: Complete your social media worksheet to identify areas of opportunity on your journey to becoming a social business.!

11. Becoming a Social Business !

Brand leaders will accept the only way they are going to see the positive side of the ROI equation is to roll up their sleeves and get to work. There is no fast track, magic pill or social media made easy button. Businesses of all sizes must know their audience, define their goals and align social where it can have the most positive impact. Business leaders must realize quickly, becoming a social business is a journey, not a destination.

Pam Moore, Forbes Top 10 Social Media Influencer!

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Must-Do: Dig into your channels and identify any existing brand advocates. Who is consistently sharing, commenting or helping answer other people’s questions. Know who your advocates are and then create a plan to reward and engage them further.!

12. Compelling Your Customers to Spread the Word !

Satisfied customers are one of a brand’s most valuable assets. However, marketers risk wasting that asset if they fail to activate potential advocates through social media. Based on research from Social@Ogilvy, satisfaction does not translate into advocacy unless companies actively generate it.

Joshua Graff, LinkedIn!

Must-Do: Experiment with creating videos that resonate with your audience to increase brand awareness. Try using short-form videos to entertain and longer-form videos to educate. !

"13. Rising Importance of Video in an Increasingly Mobile World !

We’ve seen video recorders decrease in price and increase in quality; we’ve also seen media players evolve — and shrink — from big screens to mobile devices. Video will play a more important role in content marketing, as consumers increasingly use their mobile devices and tablets to access this kind of content.

Pamela Parker, Executive Features Editor at Marketing Land and Search Engine Land. Shareaholic!

Must-Do: Map your existing content to the stages of the buying cycle. Is your content heavy in one area (perhaps conversion-oriented content) but lacking in other areas (perhaps engage)? If so, review your content plans and adjust accordingly. !

14. Understand the Role of Influence !

As a vehicle for influence, content’s one of the most powerful tools in a marketer’s mix to attract, engage and inspire action. Content is the currency for building relationships that can boost credibility, influence and commerce.

Lee Odden, TopRank Online Marketing!

As the days pass, moving us further away from the New Year, maintain the excitement for all the year will hold. Take 1, 2 or 14 of the Must-Do’s we have outlined to make sure your content is a glimmering success in 2014. !

LinkedIn Marketing SolutionsConnect with LinkedIn Marketing Solutions"