Visual branding – Why do brands need a graphic charter?

The graphic charter translates the soul of your company (your mission, your vision and your values) into several design elements. It also allows you to show others how, exactly, you want to represent your brand. How to make your own guide? We explain it to you in this article.

What is a graphic charter?

A graphic charter is a document that contains all the rules for using a company’s graphic elements (color codes, typography, logo, etc.). It must be taken into account on all communication media and allow the visual identity to maintain a certain consistency.

With a branding charter, you can be sure that your brand is being represented as it should, in all circumstances, even if your staff changes over time.

Why is it important to have a graphic charter?

Your visual identity is much like the personality of your business. It’s the way the world recognizes and trusts you. If you change the way you dress and the way you act every day, those around you probably won’t feel like they know you and will have a harder time trusting you.

Imagine that one of your colleagues, always clean on him, puts on a white shirt tucked in his pants every day and one day he arrives at the office unshaven with tattered jeans and a huge tattoo on his arm. It would probably make you uncomfortable, as you are not used to seeing it like that. You might even be tempted to ask them if everything is going well in their life, out of concern.

It’s the same with your brand: changing appearances too often will confuse your customers and possibly drive them away from you. A graphic charter is an important document because it helps you stay consistent no matter what medium you use.

The key elements of your visual identity

Before creating your graphic charter, you must define your brand. There are five key elements: mission, vision, target audience, personality and values.

These are the most important elements because together they explain what you are doing and why you are doing it. All the other aspects of your graphic charter will be concrete elements that will explain these crucial elements in a design way.

Mission and Vision: Writing your mission is to explain why your business exists while your vision will explain what you are striving for. Both can be very ambitious (change the world) or on the contrary very modest. The most important thing is that they are both true.

Target audience: Describe your customers and why they are your customers (e.g. your products or services meet one of their needs, etc.) If you did a marketing research before you started, add your results to your guide to help your team better understand your customers.

Personality: Make a list of four or five adjectives that best describe your brand. This will set the tone for your designs as well as your texts. Are you sophisticated or quirky? Traditional or trendy? Seek advice from your team.

Tip: Listing the four or five adjectives that are opposed to your brand can also help. Besides, a lot of marketing agencies start their projects like this.

Values: Determine the founding principles that will guide the decisions you make for your business. The easier your values ​​are to remember, the easier it will be for your team to apply them.

How to create a graphic charter for your brand?

1. FIND INSPIRATION

You’ve heard that a picture is worth a thousand words, haven’t you? Start your prep work by putting together images that will convey the feeling you want to provoke with your brand. One of the ways is to ask each team member to create a board on Pinterest to show how everyone understood the company’s values.

It’s a great exercise to get everyone in a business involved in the process.

Consider:

1. What are some things that have worked well for your business so far? Gather successful advertisements, emails and newsletters.

2. What other brands do you like?

3. What questions do you get asked regularly? Keep a journal of comments that come up often. If you find that you are providing the same information to your designers and copywriters, you might want to add that information to your style guide.

This exercise will give you concrete examples that will help you define your brand identity. Take specific notes about the things you like and the things you don’t like (for example: “the image is my brand, but not the text ”).

2. DEFINE THE 6 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS TO INCLUDE IN YOUR GRAPHIC CHARTER

Once you’ve gathered enough material, it’s time to start working with a graphic designer to give shape to your guide. Choose a designer with whom you communicate well and with whom you feel comfortable. It’s all about finding out what works for you, and your designer is there to help you through this process, and sometimes even give ideas that you haven’t thought of.

We can reduce to six the essential elements that must appear in all graphic charts. Make it your priority and that of your graphic designer. Some of these elements may already be well defined (your logo for example), but others will require you to consult all the images and all the texts that you gathered in the previous step. Your designer will help you translate this content into tangible graphic elements.

1st element: the story of your brand

Showcase your brand. A simple summary will allow your employees as well as your collaborators to understand the values ​​that are at the center of your brand and to represent it as it should.

The five elements that make up your brand that we talked about earlier (mission, vision, audience, values ​​and personality) can be added to this presentation. You can also choose to make only some of these items public.

 

Evaluate what will be most useful as a reference. Everything that appears in your style guide should be true to these basics.

2nd element: the logo

You may have already figured out what color your logo will be, but have you thought about how it will blend in with the different media you are going to use? This chapter of your style guide should explain how you want your logo to be implemented depending on the different environments it is intended for. It also helps prevent certain graphical catastrophes (stretching, compressing, modifying, misalignment, etc.) that could scramble your message.

Showcase all the approved versions of your logo, explain when to use a particular version and illustrate what you say to make it clear.

• Dimensions: give the minimum dimensions and proportions of your logo

• Space: If your logo requires a certain amount of empty space (around it, for example), write your instructions.

• Colors: Show the possible variations (negative, color, black and white) and explain their different uses.

• Avoid: It is just as important to illustrate the dos and don’ts.

3rd element: the color palette

Speaking of colors, it makes sense to define the color palette that matches your brand identity. Most brands choose at most four colors and don’t stray too far from their logo colors.

For example, you can choose a light color for the backgrounds, a darker color for the text, a neutral color and a last color that stands out against the others.

4th element: typography

Another essential aspect of your brand’s identity: fonts. The needs of your brand will influence the number of fonts you need. In general, we use a different font for our logo and for the rest, in order to create a contrast. Your designer can help you determine your needs.

No matter how many fonts you choose, make sure each of your fonts is used correctly by giving clear instructions.

• Presentation: Explain why you chose this or that font, to what extent this choice corresponds to your brand and in which situation (s) to use the font in question (headline, size, caption, etc.).

• Alignment: Specify the desired alignment (left, right, center, justified).

• Spacing: Indicate the proportions to respect for each chosen font.

5th element: Images

It is normal for you to know which images and illustrations best match your business. But by including a chapter on this topic in your style guide, everyone else involved in your business will also know what to do, without requiring your approval every time a decision needs to be made.

 

There are a number of ways you can approach this subject, and don’t hesitate to include the images you gathered in the previous steps.

• Best Practice: Provide examples of images that have worked well for your business. Explain the different ways you want people to communicate about your business (paper catalog, Instagram account, etc.).

• Inspiration: If you don’t have an example to provide, illustrate your words with it by taking an example from the big brands. This will give your team an idea of ​​what you have in mind.

• Mood board: Bring together images that evoke the feeling of wanting to communicate to your customers.

6th element: Voice

We don’t always think about the tone we adopt when thinking about writing a style guide. However, it has a great influence on how your audience perceives you.

As with images, you can approach this topic in several ways:

• Best Practice: If you have any sample communications that match the tone you aspire to, add them to your guide.

• Your Brand Personality: Use the four or five adjectives that best qualify your brand to describe the appropriate tone to use within your business.

• Dos and Don’ts: Sometimes, simplicity is still the best solution. List the words you like and the ones you dislike to help your team understand your thought.

3. THE SPECIFIC NEEDS OF YOUR BRAND

While all businesses have common needs and need to include the above 6 elements in their design guidelines, some brands will also need to talk about their specific needs.

• Is your business based on the internet? Provide details on the layout of the images on your website.

• Do you sell products? Add your guidelines for the packaging of your products.

• Are social networks your priority in terms of marketing? Give examples of appropriate images to use on these communication channels. A style guide should match the company it is made for. Start by making a list of all the things you need to go through in your guide.

4. OUTLINE AND DESIGN

Take your 6 essentials, add them to your specific needs and create the outline! This will help you determine the structure of your guide:

History of the brand

• Hello, we are BRAND, here is what we do.

• Our mission, our vision and our values ​​are …

Logo

• This is our logo and what it means to us.

• Here’s how to use our logo.

• Here’s how not to use our logo.

Color palette

• Here is our color palette.

• Here are the CMYK and HEX references of these colors.

Typography

• Here are the fonts we use and the reasons why we chose these fonts.

• Here is the main font we have chosen.

• Here is the secondary font we have chosen.

Pictures

• Here are the images that correspond to our brand.

• And here’s how to layout them.

Your voice

• This is the way we speak.

• Here’s what to do and what not to do.

Website

• This is what our home page looks like and here is what you can and cannot put on it.

• This is how we present our products.

Once you have defined the main guidelines for your guide, think about the format in which you want to distribute it (PDF, print version, etc.). Talk to your designer about all aspects (portrait versus landscape, print dimensions, etc.). After that, you’re good to go! Remember this is a working document. The information must be clear and easily accessible. For example, consider adding a summary.

5. DEVELOPMENT OF YOUR BUSINESS

Your graphic charter is not frozen forever and ever. It will evolve as your business grows and you will come back to it to adjust or add information from time to time. The most important thing is to start on a solid foundation with a well-constructed guide from the start.

However, you are not going to change it every two days either.

Designate a place to keep all the new things as they arise (new decisions, new examples, etc.) so that you can update your guide in one go when the time comes. For example, every month, every quarter or every year.

You are now ready to create your graphic charter! 

To conclude:

Your business is more than the products you sell and the services you provide. A strong and well-defined brand image will set you apart from your competition. Your graphic charter clearly explains to your team how to accomplish this.

Graphic charters are not all endless paving stones. Some even fit in one page. It all depends on your business and its needs. The important thing is that it contains all the information relevant to your brand which will then serve as references for all your future projects.

The post Visual branding – Why do brands need a graphic charter? appeared first on | MeDigit.

source https://www.medigit.in/visual-branding-why-brand-need-graphic-charter/

Interview With Tanmay Shanishchara – CEO & Founder @ MeDigit By Goodfirms Q&A

Kindly share your feedback on how GoodFirms has been doing so far in increasing your visibility among potential clients.

GoodFirms has been instrumental in creating visibility for our business. GoodFirms badge doesn’t just add a mark of authenticity, it also helps our prospect clients gauge our capabilities. We are hoping our GoodFirms listing will take us way ahead of our competitors in due course of time.

Please introduce your company and give a brief about your role within the company?

MeDigit Solutions is a unique digital agency, highly focused on content and creativity. We offer integrated marketing and digital marketing solutions to our clients. Technology solutions include web & mobile app development. Since the last 7 years, we have honed our skills in ever-growing areas of digital marketing – such as SEO, SEM, SMM, Content marketing, influencer marketing, video marketing, and multilingual marketing.

I am the Founder & CEO of MeDigit. Having started the business in 2013, we have now grown to become a full-service agency. I head the agency and responsible for its well being.

Mention the objectives or the parameters critical in determining the Digital Marketing Strategy for a client.

We are highly focused on the bottom line of our clients. If we are not able to deliver the desired ROI, the efforts in marketing are futile. Hence, we start by chalking out a detailed plan for our clients and assign measurement metrics to each and every activity we do. Being a data-centric agency, it always helps us to trust data more than a hunch, while taking a marketing decision.

How does your company differentiate itself from the competition?

We are a digital marketing agency with ‘creativity’ in its DNA. Our differentiation is defined by 3Cs – creativity, content, and customer care. With a strong focus on content, we bring creativity in our marketing campaigns.

What industries do you generally cater to? Are your customers repetitive? If yes, what ratio of clients has been repetitive to you?

We cater to multiple industries including Automobile, Travel & hospitality, Movies, Media & Entertainment, Education, Government, FMCG, Consumer Goods, Lifestyle brands, Sanitary ware, Health, Real estate & Retail – these are some of the industries wherein we have worked till now.
Most of our clients are on retainer ship, and hence, our business is largely repetitive. 70% of our clients prefer to retain their services with us.

Please share some of the services that you offer for which clients approach you the most for?

• Social media marketing
• Search engine optimization
• Digital advertising
• Web design and development
• Influencer marketing

 

What do you find to be some of the most key factors for running a successful agency in the field of Digital Marketing?

Agency these days needs to be agile and aggressive. With ever-changing market trends, agencies must adopt quick learning methods and implement trends in the marketing communication of their clients.

We have been keeping a keen eye on trends, and that helps us a lot. We also experiment a lot – with our content, creative designs, as well as marketing methods. Over and above everything, agencies need clients to survive, and hence, client satisfaction and retention should be at core of the agenda.

What are the key factors that you consider before deciding the cost of a project?

We project costs by looking at the scope of the campaign, client’s expectations, and our involvement in the process. We also factor man-hours required for the job, the complexity of the campaign, competitive landscape (of the client), and need of the hour for marketing.

What kind of payment structure do you follow to bill your clients?

We have a simple payment structure. Since most of our clients are on retainers, we charge the first monthly retainer-ship fee in advance and then follow a monthly billing cycle, to be paid mid of each month.

What is the price range (min and max) of the projects that you catered to in 2019?

We worked with both small and large scale clients in 2019. Our projects were between $500 to $10,000 in 2019.

Name a couple of activities that you think provide the best ROI in terms of benefit/impact when it comes to different areas of Digital Marketing.

We are bullish about 3-4 digital marketing activities in coming years:

1. Content marketing is going to be a hero service. With a huge demand in content space, we strongly feel it will do really well.
2. Video marketing will be another area to focus on. Videos have a long-lasting impact and higher reach – hence, it is a must have for any marketing plan.
3. Influencer marketing has been the talk of the town, and we strongly believe it will be the next big thing in the coming years.
4. Multilingual marketing is another area of focus. Since we operate in India, where people speak multiple languages in different parts of the country.

The post Interview With Tanmay Shanishchara – CEO & Founder @ MeDigit By Goodfirms Q&A appeared first on | MeDigit.

source https://www.medigit.in/interview-with-tanmay-at-goodfirms/

Video marketing strategy: 7 Effective Ways to promote videos on the internet

At a time when content is the norm, I must also remind you how important video content is in your Digital marketing strategy.

To convince you, 87% of companies used video content marketing as a tool in 2019, an increase of 6% compared to 2018 (source SEMrush)

But posting video content isn’t just about the technical side of filming, or about writing and scripting the videos. Like a movie, you have to take the time to broadcast it, to promote it whether you are video marketing for a small business or bigger brands.

What is the point of promoting your video content outside the YouTube network alone?

YouTube is a very powerful Google tool. It’s the ultimate for promoting your video content. Other social networks allow you to increase your visibility. However, don’t just share the link to the video posted on YouTube. It has no added value. You must publish your videos natively.

By having an audience and a well-functioning site, is it possible to spend less time in video marketing content on Youtube or other channels?

It is a risk and a strategy that we may not bet on. Indeed, the algorithms of the networks evolve regularly, the engagement is reduced if you stick to only a YouTube video content marketing strategy for several months. Varying the media, the actions, and being creative to stand out are more than ever necessary with or without an audience.

How much time should you dedicate to promoting your video content on various social media?

It is customary to say that each element is worth one. In other words, if you spend an hour shooting a video, devote an hour to writing its screenplay, an hour to edit it, and therefore also an hour to promote it. And if you need to put in more effort, spend it on editing and promotion. Finally, it’s hard to spend less than half a day on all of the video content.

Once your video has been edited, exported and the additional elements finalized such as thumbnails in the adapted formats for YouTube, IGTV, and Facebook Watch… Here is where to put your energy on broadcasting videos.

Video Marketing Tips to Fuel Your Content Marketing Strategy:

1. The YouTube network itself

As you can imagine, a significant portion of the video traffic will be generated from the platforms on which you will publish your video. And the platform holding the crown is YouTube.

Plus, if it finds your video content relevant, YouTube will push your video to audiences searching for the specified keywords.

This is why when posting a video, it is important to pay special attention to these 4 points:

•       The title,

•       Tags that also serve as keywords,

•       The description in which you must add hashtags. The first 3 are then displayed just above the title of your video,

•       And especially the thumbnail of your video! The thumbnail is the showcase of your videos. This is the image that YouTube will display in search results.

However, since the volume of videos published is very high, if you do not carefully work on your thumbnail, you have no chance of obtaining visibility on YouTube.

Read: How to improve the SEO of your Youtube channel?

Respect your graphic charter and find a more catchy message.

Our advice: Even if these obligations seem clickbait-y, it is an essential way to develop your audience on the platform. Don’t overlook it as YouTube itself points out. This is one of the sure-fire tips for an effective video content marketing strategy.

2. Social networks

Publishing your video content natively on social media is another way to promote it without necessarily having to do a very different one.

Here are some social networks where videos are popular:

• Facebook (with Watch),

• Instagram (with IGTV),

• Pinterest,

• LinkedIn,

• And even on Google My Business.

Also, on these platforms, users are not fond of video content that is long. If your video is well over 2 minutes, I recommend that you select an excerpt and cross-reference the full video posted on YouTube.

Our advice: Find the place where the “watch time” is the longest to make your sample.

Watch Time is the average viewing time of a video by your audience. You find it in analytics data on YouTube. In addition to the duration, all these platforms offer different sizes for your visuals. It is, therefore, necessary to devote a little time to adapt the size of your images in order to look professional.

Finally, as a video marketing agency, we also determine the best time to post a video. This has helped us gain better visibility.

Our advice: Do not broadcast your videos simultaneously on Facebook and LinkedIn for example. Your audience is not there at the same time either.

Have you checked our detailed Social Media Marketing Guide for the perfect strategy?

3. Natural influencers

Faced with the versatility that currently exists on this network, it is always important to ensure an audience as soon as your video is published. And for that, nothing like going through “natural” influencers.

How to do it?

Here are some video marketing tips for LinkedIn:

• Post a teaser a few days before your first video,

• Record the names of people who have interacted with this teaser (liked, commented or shared). Since you’re starting up, there aren’t many,

• Contact these people to validate their interest,

• List these names in a file organized over time,

• On the day of the post, “tag them” in your post on LinkedIn for instance.

This way, you are sure to collect a few likes and even comments very quickly after posting. It is also a way to put the odds on your side with regard to the LinkedIn algorithm.

To test a campaign, it is always useful to go through “natural” influencers. This saves you from funding a paid influencer.

As a part of our video marketing services, to increase your visibility and check if the test campaign is well received, we guide you on choosing ‘real’ influencers that are recognized by your target audience.

4. Stories to promote your videos

On Instagram and now on Facebook and LinkedIn, it is also possible to publish stories. (Read: How to integrate stories perfectly in your content strategy?)

Why not promote your video content with a story, or even by mentioning potentially interested parties? If these are dynamic enough, they will also transfer your content to their audience, which will increase the number of views and perhaps open up new opportunities for growth.

Our advice: Consider adding your best hashtags to your story!

Note: Stories also exist on YouTube. However, they are currently only available for all channels with more than 10,000 subscribers.

5. Boosted publications

Engagement is shrinking across all social platforms. This is due to the strategy of these several platforms which seek to generate more turnover, but also to the diversity of video content creators and volume of content published daily.

To remedy this, there are only 2 solutions:

•       Increase the pace of your publications, which may affect their quality,

•       Or invest a little budget to boost your video content

In fact, it is possible to spend the budget on almost all social media platforms.

• Business Manager manages the boosted posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger,

• Google Ads offers to push video content on YouTube,

• Linkedin allows you to sponsor content on company pages,

• And even Pinterest is getting started.

Advice: As a video marketing agency, we suggest that you plan a monthly online advertising budget to increase the distribution of your most popular content while controlling your costs.

6. Add video content to the articles on your business blog

Associating a video with an article increases your credibility in 2 ways:

• For your post on your business blog, a video reduces the bounce rate since people will watch it. In addition, it “humanizes” your articles.

• For your video, being in an article increases the number of views since it is de facto exposed to your most loyal readers.

If you’re shooting your video first, publish an article with the video transcript. In addition, it makes the job of the search engine crawlers easier and adds content to your professional blog.

In this way, your video is present on a URL address with your domain name which strengthens the authority of your channel on YouTube. In addition, with the right keywords in this URL address, your video content will help your article rank.

If you do the opposite of knowing how to start writing your article, then it’s easy to shoot a video on that topic.

Video Content Marketing Tip: Showing your video through a page of your website will help the SEO of that page while taking advantage of getting natural audiences with both the textual content and your video.

7. Other content platforms to distribute your videos

Video marketing on social media is the easiest. However, there are also many content platforms on which you can communicate your content. Medium, Reddit, or even Tumblr, to name a few. All of them allow you to distribute your content well to a different audience to find new opportunities. This is useful even if you’re not super active on it (if you are, of course, even better).

Medium works as a platform for research and provision of content. A search bar gives everyone the opportunity to make discoveries. In the free version, publications are limited to 3 per day. An already very active audience can provide good visibility.

Redditt works with a point system (collected on content and comments). It is, therefore, more difficult to find a place there (unless you are very active). However, the community being so large, it is a shame to do without.

Tumblr is both a micro-blogging platform and a social network. Hashtags are quite popular there. It’s much more relevant to post short content there and engage followers to discover the entire content via a link.

Imgur is also a blogging-type platform that favors the visual. This is another great reason to spend time visualizing your video content. You can also use video content creators to make your videos.

All of these platforms generate traffic, but also some no-follow backlinks.

Conclusion on planning your video content marketing strategy

Remember that you must optimize the video for each social platform and publish it natively. Of course, there are many other ways to promote your videos such as Email Marketing or push notifications. As a part of our video marketing services, MeDigit agency provides a well laid out strategy along with activities to all our clients.

Keep in mind that spending time promoting your videos is essential today. It must be a part of your Content Marketing Strategy.

How do you use YouTube or other video platforms to grow your business? 

The post Video marketing strategy: 7 Effective Ways to promote videos on the internet appeared first on | MeDigit.

source https://www.medigit.in/ways-to-promote-video-on-internet/

Social Media Marketing Guide – Build Visibility for your Brand

Unless you’ve spent the past five years locked in an underground bunker, it’s hard to deny the importance social media has taken on in marketing. What started out as a nice hobby gradually turned into a real social phenomenon, disrupting user habits … and pushing marketers to adapt their web marketing strategies! However, to launch out blindly in the very particular universe of social media marketing would be a mistake. In order to domesticate these tools, it is essential, above all, to know them – and to understand them. 

That’s the whole point of this guide which shares social media marketing tips and strategies, trends in social media marketing management, and tools that can help you plan it better!

Social networks and digital marketing: what are we talking about?

For many professionals, social networks still boil down to technological gadgets used heavily for personal purposes. However, limiting social media to these uses means missing out on a formidable marketing lever with multiple advantages. And this, because from an online social media marketing perspective, these platforms allow:

• To hit a large number of new targets;

• To develop your market;

• Increase your brand identity and visibility;

• Build a more qualitative customer relationship, by opening a direct communication channel with users;

• To distribute content (as part of a content marketing strategy);

• To identify prospects more effectively

Admittedly, for a long time, Facebook and others were only “extras” to integrate into a marketing strategy, while emailing and natural or paid referencing did all the work. But today, these platforms play a predominant role in your presence on the web.

What is Social Media Marketing?

Basically, Social Media Marketing includes all the marketing actions that you implement on social platforms. So, as soon as it involves Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn… then it’s Social Media Marketing management.

In addition, most of the actions carried out are not specific to social networks. You just have to adapt your social media marketing plan to this type of platform.

However, the number of social networks is very large. But most brands primarily use the following networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Medium, Reddit.

Why do you need a social media marketing management plan?

Marketing can come down to analyzing the needs of your target customers and taking specific actions to reach your target. However, as soon as we talk about the Internet, your customers spend their day essentially on:

• Google and possibly other search engines,

• And on social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest.

To reach the largest number of Internet users possible on Google, you use Natural Search techniques or SEO. As all your customers and prospects spend time on social media, taking action on these platforms is also an opportunity for any business.

Do you doubt it?

In India, the average daily time spent on social networks is 2.4 hours (the world average is 2.5 hr)

Here is the number of active users: source

Facebook: 346 million active users

YouTube: 265 million active users

Instagram: 103.38 million active users

Snapchat: 15.1 million per month

LinkedIn: 62 million active users

Twitter: 13.15 million active users

Pinterest: 15 million active users

These figures are enough to make you dizzy.

Now, not being active on social networks or missing out on social media marketing means losing opportunities!

To summarize, whether it is by hosting your social accounts for free or by spending the budget on paid advertising campaigns on these platforms, social media marketing strategies give you easy access to a large audience.

Of course, it is necessary to devote time to publish, animate, initiate conversations, but with a good social media marketing guide and with a little time, it is easy to find new opportunities.

On the other hand, it is wrong to consider Social Media Marketing as a quick and easy way to gain new customers. Unfortunately, it is not enough to send a few tweets to receive orders. Nonetheless, there is enormous potential in properly harnessing Social Media Marketing Management for business.

Benefits Of Social Media Marketing

There are many benefits to working your presence on social networks. Obviously, it all depends on your initial goal. But here’s an overview of the main benefits of online Social Media Marketing:

• Promote your offer on additional channels

• Reach new audiences by promoting your content for free

• Retain your customers

• Provide fast customer service

• Show your expertise

• Increase your brand value on the Internet

• Generate web traffic

Note: All these advantages are a part of social media marketing strategies and strengthen the sustainability of your business. But notice that none of the social media marketing tips directly relates to sales promotion.

Creating a Social Media Marketing Expert Plan

This online social media marketing guide helps you start by carefully defining the goal to be achieved. Then choose the best platforms based on that goal and your personas.

To do this, ask yourself these questions:

• Do you sell products or services?

• Do you have a B2B or B2C activity?

• Who is your target customer?

Let’s take an example.

Imagine that you work in a company that offers its services to other companies (B2B). You decide to drive traffic to your website which is where you present your offer. Your end goal is to generate a steady stream of leads as a part of your social media marketing plan. This gives clear objectives for designing the approach to adopt.

In that case, here are some tips to start with social media marketing management:

• Decide to focus on LinkedIn which is the best professional social network

• Refine your profiles to highlight how you help your customers

• Work your network

• Mark the field by regularly republishing your best content published on your website

• Create and lead a LinkedIn group

• Follow and interact with influencers in your profession

• Add a LinkedIn share button on your website

• Engage in useful conversations with any contact that appears in your notifications

• And why not launch targeted paid campaigns to increase their follow-up and sales

These are just a few social media marketing tips to fuel your strategy.

But it’s easy to imagine that your LinkedIn contacts will get to know you, appreciate you, and visit your website to find out more. It is the best way today to find customers at least for a B2B activity.

Social Media Marketing Guide: 8 Social Media Marketing Tips

Here are some general tips for your Social Media to consider:

    1. Diagnose your social presence

First, analyze your current efforts in social media advertising and marketing:

• What networks are you active on? Are they well suited to your target?

• Do your contacts match your personas?

• Which networks are you most successful on?

• What types of posts have and have not worked in the past?

• Is there irrelevant or outdated content to clean up?

Appoint one or more managers for the management of your social media marketing tools and resources.

Our advice, as one of the leading digital marketing agencies in Ahmedabad – you must also participate.

    2. Define your communication style

Again, the style of communication on social networks depends on:

• Your offer and your business
• Your overall communication style
• And of course, your audience

For example, a little sarcastic comment can go very well on Twitter. On the other hand, on Linkedin, be more concrete and provide advice.

Certainly, social networks are very well suited to have offbeat communication. But often it’s not worth it. It can even be dangerous. A joke that goes wrong or a misunderstood opinion can take a bad direction for your brand.

Make sure the person handling your social media marketing is aware of the importance of your reputation. If necessary, write a charter of good conduct with a list of prohibited subjects. But also leave room for creativity.

Finally, don’t spam your contacts by aggressively promoting your products and/or services. No one goes to social media to make a purchase. For a successful social media marketing campaign, paid or organic, don’t try to sell at all costs. Rather, try to get in touch, to start conversations. You can post promotional content every now and then, but sparingly.

The classic ratio for a good social media marketing strategy is 8 informative messages for 2 promotional.

    3. Understand each of the selected social platforms

I’m not going to go through all social networks one by one. Obviously, the type of content present is different.

• For posting videos, use YouTube

• On the other hand, for infographics, choose Pinterest

• You participated in a conference, share your presentation game on Slideshare.

In addition, the present and active populations are not the same either.

    4. Finally, there are the algorithms!

Just as Google is developing an SEO algorithm to rank these search results, each platform also has its own algorithm to highlight the publications of its members.

An algorithm gives the rules of the game. You do not respect it and you go out. There are several social media marketing tools that help you understand it.

On the other hand, if you master it, you can work miracles. It is, therefore, essential to know the general principles.

• Provide the best possible information on your profile and on your company page

• Publish regularly

• Interact with other members to get engagement, that is to say likes, shares, comments

• Then, it is necessary to refine according to the platforms selected

Here are some details to understand the algorithm of Facebook, Instagram or even LinkedIn.

    5. Provide customer service

For internet users, social networks provide instant and easy access to your business. No need to call, no need to write a letter, just go to the company’s Facebook page to complain.

And what’s more, it’s public.

So take all positive and negative reviews on social media seriously as you do on Google My Business. Of course, the complaint may be unfounded or unfair, but you should always respond to it professionally. And your response is also public.

In this way, you increase the satisfaction of your customers while showing it to everyone.

    6. Build your network

It is certainly the most difficult thing to do if you are not a recognized brand. However, it is one of the rising social media marketing trends. There is not just one way to do this, but rather several tips to do at the same time:

Start by connecting with your customers. And by network effect, connect with the connections of your customers who are of interest to you. And so on…

Take your time and do it right. Ultimately, you will have a loyal network. Then to gain the necessary commitment, here are some steps:

• Create content that your contacts will want to share to reach people beyond your network

• Become an information point for your customers

• Share content from other members related to your industry

Note: creating content that your contacts will want to share is what makes your social media marketing an expert strategy.

    7. Invest in ads

Companies are spending billions around the world reaching audiences via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn. Social media advertising is not much different from other types of advertising. You target a certain segment of people to whom you serve ads to them.

The only key difference is to use social data to create personalized audiences to target. In addition, today, platforms are decreasing organic reach to encourage more and more companies to use their paid ads.

Take the time to study each platform in detail. They all operate differently with different costs.

Either way, paid social media marketing is a great way to get to know new people. Do not dismiss them.

    8. Plan your posts with a social media management calendar

Schedule your posts with a calendar. Another thing to study is the frequency of your publications. Again, it depends on the platform.

For example, one post per day on Facebook works well, while on Twitter you can reach ten.

For a business, it’s not always easy to produce content on a regular basis. So, don’t feel like you have to post on Twitter all the time. Your followers will quickly get tired of seeing the same press release several times.

On the other hand, always keep an eye on the news of your sector. This will ensure that recent events do not make your posts irrelevant or in bad taste.

Finally, also define the post times for each of the platforms as a part of your social media strategy. It depends on the time of day your personas are connected. The best way is to do tests to understand what is most effective for you and your followers.

Social Media Analytics Guide: Monitoring And Analysis Of Your Social Media Marketing

As always in Digital Marketing, it is easy to measure the results of your work by analyzing the results through various online tools. Each of the social platforms has its own dashboard to measure your performance, such as:

• Facebook Insights – to study engagement on your Facebook business page

• Social Selling Index – on LinkedIn

• Pinterest Analytics and more

You can also rely on a social listening tool as a mention that gives you in real-time everything that is said about your company or your competitors.

9 points to start your Online Social Media Marketing actions

Here is a summary of the checklist of steps to go through:

1. Appoint one or more managers for the animation of your social networks

2. Define your goals and share them with your team

3. Regularly carry out a diagnosis of your actions on social networks

4. Set up a specific approach for customer service on social networks

5. Plan a budget and set goals for your social media advertising campaigns

6. Define a publication schedule in accordance with your objectives

7. Monitor and analyze your performance with the help social media marketing tools

8. Improve and adapt your online strategy based on these results

Conclusion on Social Media Marketing Management Guide

You now have a good idea of ​​the benefits of Social Media Marketing. And the list above gives you all the information you need to get started properly.

We recommend that you establish an active presence on at least some of these platforms. Determine where your target audience is and be active on these platforms.

Are you going to change your approach on social media? On which platform will you focus your energy for your Social Media actions?

Need help? Let’s connect and plan a result-driven Social Media Marketing Strategy for your brand.

The post Social Media Marketing Guide – Build Visibility for your Brand appeared first on | MeDigit.

source https://www.medigit.in/social-media-marketing-guide/

How to make your YouTube videos SEO friendly?

YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world with 3 billion monthly queries. In 2016, the number of searches on YouTube is higher than the number of searches on Yahoo and Bing combined. YouTube reaches more adults between the ages of 18 and 35 than any conventional television channel.

It is essential for brands to give visibility to their YouTube channel on search engines and this, of course, requires a good knowledge of best practices. The world of video has become highly competitive. Thanks to many tips, it is possible to improve the SEO of your YouTube channel in order to allow the videos to be more visible.

In this article, we offer you 9 effective techniques to optimize the natural referencing of your YouTube videos and attract as many Internet users as possible from the search results (SERP).

9 Tips to Improve the SEO of your YouTube Video

To rank videos on YouTube and in Google’s search results, YouTube’s algorithm takes into account several factors or “signals”.

Video title, tags, retention rate and time spent on the video, keywords in the description, length of the video, number of subscriptions after watching the video, number of comments, number of keywords in comments, number of likes and dislikes, number of shares on social networks, etc.

All these factors do not have the same weight, although it is difficult to know exactly the weighting chosen by Google. To improve the SEO of your YouTube videos, you need to work on the main signals. Here are the 7 techniques that we offer you with this in mind.

    1. Use “video keywords”

When we talk about YouTube videos SEO, we are actually talking about referencing in Google because that is where you will be able to attract people to your videos. All the techniques that we are going to give you aim to make your videos appear better in the general “All” tab of Google and in the “Videos” tab.

A “video keyword” is a keyword that is attached to queries for which Google displays videos. When you type “Cute Cat” into Google, videos are featured at the very top of the first page of results. This is also the case if you type “google search console tutorial” in the search bar.

If you want your videos to appear on the first page of Google, you should target queries that show videos as results, using the keywords used in those queries. Before choosing the keywords for your Youtube videos, check-in Google that they are “video keywords”. Otherwise, there is almost no chance that your video will appear in the results.

Once you have identified your video keywords, place them in the name of your video file, in the title of the video (which should ideally contain around 50 characters), in the description (we come back to this point below), in the tags.

    2. Write a long description of the video

Google and Youtube cannot play the content of your videos. Never forget it! To “explain” to Google robots what your video is about, the best solution is to write a rich and sufficiently long description. At least 150 words; ideally 300 words or more. In any case, avoid descriptions of 2 lines.

The longer the description, the more keywords you can put on it and the more likely you are to reference yourself well. Intelligently place your keyword, using variations so you don’t end up with keyword stuffing. Also, remember to place links to your website and your social profiles within this description. This will better engage your audience.

Needless to say, you should absolutely avoid duplicate content. Concretely, you must create an original and unique description for each of your videos. Do not copy and paste the same description for each video.

For some videos, it may be relevant to transcribe part of the video content. This is handy if you don’t have ideas for a description, but it is not possible for all videos.

    3. Add subtitles

YouTube now offers to add captions to your video. To do this, go to your video manager and click on the Subtitles tab.

    4. Add smart tags

YouTube gives great importance to tags. It is not a question here of adding dozens of tags, but rather of limiting yourself to 5 or 6 tags, including:

– Your main keyword

– Your secondary keywords

– And the name of your YouTube channel

Why? When a user watches one of your videos, they will see the other videos in your YouTube channel appear in the “associated videos” section.

    5. Encourage Internet users to like and subscribe to your channel

YouTube’s algorithm places great emphasis on user experience signals. And in particular, the number of likes and the number of subscriptions to the channel after watching the video. For Google, these are the factors that indicate the relevance of a video and therefore influence your YouTube SEO.

The best way to get more subscriptions and likes is to request it directly from the people who are viewing your videos. All known YouTubers use this technique thoroughly.

There are several ways to ask people to subscribe to your YouTube channel and to like. You can do it:

• Inside the video (if you appear in the video) or at the end, in the credits for example.

• By means of annotations integrated into the video. YouTube has several annotation formats available to you. Choose those that are consistent with your positioning and your image.

    6. Create links to your videos on third-party pages

The algorithm used by Google to reference YouTube videos takes backlinks much less into account. However, we recommend that you create links to your videos. This will allow you:

• Increase the number of views on your YouTube videos.

• Obtain qualified traffic, which will send positive signals to Google and help improve the SEO of your videos.

Where and how exactly can you link to your videos? You have several possibilities – on your own websites, on guest articles, on social networks of course, on online communities (such as Quora or forums), in blog comments. For this technique to work, you must link quality videos, which answer questions that users are asking.

    7. Create SEO optimized playlists

We recommend that you organize the videos from your YouTube channel into playlists. This will help Internet users to navigate better if your channel has several dozen or hundreds of videos. But it will also improve your SEO if you choose titles rich in keywords for your playlists. Google will understand the topics of your videos better and tend to rank them better in its search results.

YouTube playlists are a bit like categories on a website. They play the same role and must also be organized according to a semantic logic.

Good to know: Playlists are indexed in Google, just like your video pages.

    8. Customize the thumbnail of your YouTube videos

The click-through rate is a signal that influences the SEO of your YouTube videos. A video that has a good CTR will go up more easily in the results. You should, therefore, seek to maximize the click-through rate on your videos. For that, a technique consists of personalizing the thumbnail by choosing an attractive image.

FYI – you are invited to choose the thumbnail of your video just after importing it on the YouTube platform.

     9. Optimize your YouTube channel profile page

Many Youtubers neglect the profile page (About section) of their YouTube channel. It is a mistake. This is a golden opportunity to enrich your channel with qualified content that can be read by search engines. Take the time to describe the content and purpose of your channel. Do not hesitate to use more than 200 – 300 words, remembering to place a few keywords wisely. Make links to your social networks and your website.

A well-completed profile sends a very positive signal to YouTube and helps improve the SEO of your videos. Moreover, it improves the user experience and increases engagement.

These are some of our suggestions. What are your best practices to improve the SEO of your YouTube channel or videos? Share with us in the comments section below.

The post How to make your YouTube videos SEO friendly? appeared first on | MeDigit.

source https://www.medigit.in/youtube-video-seo/

8 Redefined Content Marketing Trends of 2020

 

Indispensable to any communication strategy, content marketing allows you to make your brand speak on different platforms and to enrich your company’s culture.

Content marketing is evolving before our eyes, and specialists need to be aware of the changes to stay relevant. Being up to date with content marketing trends can be a challenge, but the trends of the past few years have given us an idea of ​​what to expect in 2020.

1. Content marketing will become omnichannel

Younger social media users, for example, use fewer platforms but spend more time on those platforms than older social media users.

Content marketers must ask themselves how they can reach the widest possible audience without duplicating their content.

The answer is to create an omnichannel strategy. It may sound simple enough – brands should already be present on all platforms to publish the same content – but that’s not how omnichannel content marketing will work in the future. Instead, brands will need to create a refined strategy that takes into account the specific needs of the user of each platform.

Check out our Content Marketing Guide for Building a Successful Strategy

For example, a Twitter user is looking for brief news, while an Instagram user is probably looking for inspiration and things to buy. Snapchat users are an entirely different demographic that only wants to be entertained.

You cannot use a single strategy for content marketing trends in 2020 and beyond. You will have to adapt your omnichannel content as well as the e-commerce channels that you adopt.

2. Live video will gain importance

Video marketing has been dominant in the past few years, but the statistics aren’t quite additive. Video is expensive and takes time to produce – Brands had to replace entire content teams in order to focus on video production.

However, live video content is another story. (Read: Video Marketing Trends for 2020)

Live video is personal, engaging, and fairly easy to produce. Brands take on a human face and people feel more connected because they see a person, not a logo.

According to a Digital Information World study, 13% of internet traffic will consist of live videos in 2021. The reason? The main social networks support the broadcasting of live videos – Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, et al.

On Facebook, 1 in 5 videos is live. Its asset? Be much more attractive, since a live video is viewed 3 times longer than a recorded video. Live videos are considered more authentic by the public, they bring a human touch to your brand and offer an opportunity for real-time discussions with consumers.

2020 will, therefore, be the year when you have to pass in front of the camera. This will allow you to retain your new customers, gain others, and prove your expertise. This is something that needs to be factored into content marketing trends & strategies in 2020, as live video can make a huge difference in your social media numbers without hurting your budget.

3. Voice is essential in the creation of web content

In 2016, voice searches accounted for 20% of queries on Google. This figure should reach 50% in 2020. More and more consumers are using connected speakers to find a local business. By 2022, voice commerce will represent $40 billion in revenue.

Hence, you’ll need to factor voice search into your content strategy. In other words, your articles must answer questions frequently asked by your prospects. For this purpose, your content marketing must contain articles starting with: “what is”, “how”, “where to find”, “what to do”, etc. In general, favor long-tail keywords if you want to have a place in the voice search results.

If you own a local business, consider including geolocated keywords in your title tags, meta description, and internal links.

4. AI and Chatbots will dominate

If there is one technology that has evolved considerably in recent years, it is artificial intelligence (AI). Artificial Intelligence from a few years ago has nothing to do with what we have now, and brands should take note.

AI has improved considerably with machine learning software – it has become more sophisticated and is constantly learning from new inputs. As a result, more and more companies are starting to incorporate Chatbots to help with tasks such as planning.

Chatbots make it easier for the business and the customer. For example, if customers want to schedule an appointment for a salon, they can use the Chatbot in the salon to specify the service and time of the appointment.

Machine learning chatbots will not completely replace customer service agents, but they will make the customer request process more user-friendly. Chatbots can give quick responses to simpler queries and, with machine learning software, they can tailor responses and suggestions based on user needs.

Obviously, brands will need to integrate Chatbots into their content marketing strategy and following content marketing trends as soon as possible.

5. Content marketing will become more personalized

There has been an obvious movement towards personalization in content marketing and this content marketing trends is expected to continue in 2020.

Data will become an increasingly important product – marketers will need to study customer behavior to understand not only what customers need, but how they need it.

More emphasis will be placed on understanding the context of the buyer’s journey – how and why they are on the path they are taking, not just their end goal.

We are already seeing some of this personalization factor in content marketing as market segmentation is implemented at all levels in email marketing and social media. Market segmentation refers to knowing your target audience.

Once you know who your primary customer is, you can start collecting other types of data, such as:

•       Life situation

•       Level of education

•       Spending habits

•       Values ​​and priorities

•       Future goals

•       Interests

Market segmentation and the creation of personalized content take time to plan and implement. But brands can outsource the project.

6. Brands will focus on community development

Instead of engaging with the Internet as a whole, consumers spend more time in groups on Facebook, WhatsApp, Quora, Slack, or Microsoft Teams to interact with their peers.

This will have an impact on how brands target their audience. It will not be enough to post on a page and wait for people to see your content and come to you.

Marketers and brand representatives will need to join groups and build meaningful relationships that will help them build communities and give their brand a more human touch.

Community building will not only impact how marketers and brands reach their audience but also how they create visuals and mockups. The content should be personalized for the group, rather than focusing on amplifying a brand voice.

7. More brands will collaborate with each other

In 2019, brands collaborated with influencers, celebrities, and other brands to build brand awareness, and we’ll likely see this trend continue. For example, Baskin Robbins teamed up with Netflix to promote Stranger Things, and Sephora teamed up with the Museum of Ice Cream for an unusual new set of cosmetics.

The brands also collaborate via guest blogs.

We will see even more brands come together to promote awareness of complementary products and services and draw from their respective audiences.

Brands have gained a lot of traction by influencer marketing in their field, and this will continue to generate brand awareness and sales beyond 2020.

Marketers will need to look into their markets and find like-minded brands, influencers, and bloggers who can deliver relevant content while reaching new audiences.

8. AR will become more popular than VR

The phenomenon of virtual reality (VR) has disappeared, which is a relief for brands who did not know how to tackle VR on a low budget. On the other hand, augmented reality (AR) is accelerating and will be the main method of creating interactive content in 2020 and beyond.

The reason that AR dominates VR is because of its ease of use. An application on a phone can create AR elements and environments around people. VR, on the other hand, needs headsets that are often expensive to implement.

In addition, AR is integrated into social networks via filters and Snapchat and Instagram games. Brands can now create their own brand filters with AR to make the user experience more immersive and memorable. For example, eyewear companies like Lenskart use AR filters to allow customers to “try on” different frames before purchase.

This allows customers to easily interact with the products of an e-commerce company. Ikea and Sephora, for example, have implemented similar technology, allowing customers to see furniture in their home and try on cosmetic products before purchasing.

Companies that use AR to demonstrate and allow customers to “try” products establish a relationship of trust between the brand and its customers.

Content marketing will evolve in 2020

Content marketing is changing all the time and the brands that manage to keep up with these changes are also the ones that continue to make an impact in the digital sphere.

Content marketing takes a milestone every year. 2020 will be the year of Artificial Intelligence, qualitative automation, interactive formats, and ultra-personalization! Prepare now and rethink your content strategy by incorporating these 8 content marketing trends.

Look at current trends and see how you can slowly adapt your strategy to reflect the changes, so your brand can reach its audience “when and how” they need it.

If you need more clarity or have some ideas, let’s connect and discuss what an ideal strategy for your business should be. 

The post 8 Redefined Content Marketing Trends of 2020 appeared first on | MeDigit.

source https://www.medigit.in/content-marketing-trends-2020/

Content Marketing Guide for a Successful Strategy

24% of marketers plan on increasing their investment in Content Marketing in 2020.

Very few companies doubt the power of Content Marketing. But unfortunately, only a few have the skills and expertise to leverage content marketing strategy for making a real impact on sales.

With the right content marketing strategy, you can promote your business, attract qualified prospects, and maintain good relationships with your customers.

This article positions Content Marketing at the center of your Digital Marketing actions. We aim to give you complete insights on the types of content, why businesses need content marketing, what are the best channels for content marketing, and best practices for setting up a Content Marketing that converts. This blog also offers insights on the measurement metrics you can use to map your content marketing strategy’s performance. 

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is the creation and sharing of online content designed specifically to help you reach your digital marketing goals. Its format can vary, ranging from video or infographic to blog article or email. 

Content must be original, useful, and entertaining to showcase what your business has to offer. Relevant, high-quality content can be used to drive more traffic to your site. It is essential to attract the right customers.

Why is Content Marketing important to your business?

Content Marketing helps improve your conversions. Indeed, it educates your prospects and connects you with your customers. On the one hand, you build the necessary trust with your prospects. But besides, you also encourage conversions by providing the information they need to make their decision to contact you.

60% of consumers enjoy reading relevant content from brands

82% of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading custom content

70% of consumers feel closer to a company as a result of content marketing

67% more leads are generated by B2B businesses that produce content

Why practice Content Marketing?

The Return on Investment (ROI) of Content Marketing is phenomenal!

Content Marketing is at the center of all your marketing actions. All your prospects, whatever their age, their location, consume information on the Internet. Hence Content Marketing is merely Marketing today.

Content Marketing refers to sharing your knowledge or advice in various formats:

• Blog articles,

• Videos, Podcasts, Infographics, Webinars,

• Social media publications,

• Emails,

• Quiz, Generators, Calculators, and other widgets

Content Marketing is, therefore, essential to building a brand in our increasingly digital world.

All of this content is also material for Social Media Marketing.

They fully contribute to the SEO efforts:

• By providing quality content to search engines,

• While participating in obtaining backlinks.

By targeting specific “buyer profiles,” Content Marketing becomes the key component of Inbound Marketing.

As a reminder, Inbound Marketing uses tactics to generate and feed your prospects so that you can gradually transform them into customers.

Finally, Content marketing gives your business a huge advantage to stand out from your competitors who do not practice it.

But the reverse is also true.

Not practicing Content Marketing puts your business at a disadvantage

because Content Marketing contributes to all the levers of Digital Marketing, and even to all your traditional Marketing actions.

• Keeping a Business Blog is the Basis of Content Marketing

Personal blogs have given birth to Content Marketing for businesses.

Companies that maintain a blog get 55% more visitors to their websites than those that don’t (source HubSpot).

Corporate blogs are commonplace today to provide high-quality information for free to your website visitors. With all of this content posted on your corporate blog, you are seen as an expert in your field.

As you provide them with free useful advice on your activity, this establishes a relationship of trust with your readers. And with recognized expertise and a relationship of trust, you are not far from being able to make a sale.

Our advice: Keeping a business blog is the quickest way to create a sharing platform and turn your business into a content-generating machine.

• Content Marketing contributes to the SEO of your website

There are many tasks to improve the SEO of your website. But nothing compares to Content Marketing to boost the SEO of your site on Google. And it makes sense.

Google’s goal is to match the most relevant information with its users’ search queries. As a result, without content, you have no chance of being ranked high in the search engine results pages. Natural Search (SEO) requires content. And Content Marketing is a flood of content. 

The proof: if you arrived at this article, it is probably with a search on Google. There is no SEO without content since you need words, articles, substance.

In search engines, you position yourself for specific keywords available in your content. Having lots of content means having more keywords, and therefore ultimately more ranking possibilities in Google. The other major factor of SEO on the Internet is obtaining backlinks. When other websites link to your site, Google treats you as a respected authority and ranks you high. And how do you just get backlinks? Produce quality content so that other sites want to quote them in their content, with links pointing to your pages.

Finally, Google also promotes regularly updated websites. So by posting content regularly, your website will likely be ranked higher.

On the other hand, without new content, Google assumes that your website is abandoned. As a result, it lowers your rankings for fear of highlighting obsolete pages.

Our advice: Focus your main SEO efforts on Content Marketing.

• Content Marketing is the starting point for your emailers

Buying or renting an email address database is increasingly difficult if you want to secure your activity. Besides, it has never worked. So how do you do it? 

Your Content Marketing should be thought of to get the email address of your readers. 

For example, white papers available for download usually address the questions your prospects are asking. But they also point your readers in the right direction: your product and service offering! 

Encouraging them to subscribe to your newsletter or to download a white paper or a Bonus is a smart way of collecting their email address and, therefore, of being able to keep in touch with them. With an email subscriber base, your business has what it takes.

• Share more content,

• Keep in touch with your prospects,

• And possibly encourage them to contact you.

• Content Marketing replaces public relations

Public relations includes all the communication methods and techniques companies use to inform internally, but especially externally.

However, it’s the 21st century. Your customers are always connected to the Internet at their office, home, and even on the go. So you no longer need to rent a TV spot! Upload a video to YouTube, and you can reach millions of people for free.

With a little luck, your video can go viral and generate a significant volume of traffic and increase your visibility. You don’t need to use an advertising agency to broadcast an ad. Use Google Ads.

Blog articles have also replaced press releases, and Facebook Live the traditional press conference.

Our advice: The Internet is reducing the gap between a business and its target customers. And Content Marketing provides all the supports to animate your public relations for free!

• Content Marketing improves customer service

Content creation isn’t just for attracting leads. Good Content Marketing also helps your existing customers.

Simplify their lives with:

• Tutorials to help them use your products and services correctly,

• Frequently asked questions (FAQs) are great topics. When a client asks you a question, it is more efficient to send them to the right page rather than writing an explanatory email each time.

Note: Content Marketing is also a strategic weapon for recruiting new talents. Any candidate will come to look for information on your website to understand who you are and decide to work for you.

Types of Content

What are the best practices for Content Marketing?

You are now aware of Content Marketing and its importance, but how to do it well?

This is usually where most entrepreneurs face challenges. Fortunately, by following a few basic good practices, you can reap the benefits.

• Set a goal

The success of Content Marketing goes far beyond publishing content.

Measuring your Content Marketing impact is the only way to know that what you are doing is working. And for this, it is essential to define the objective that you expect from it clearly.

Without a well-defined goal, the content you produce just adds noise without meeting the needs of your customers.

Although the goal of Content Marketing depends on your business, here are the five most common goals:

• Develop your brand,

• Drive traffic to your business website,

• Generate leads,

• Convert prospects into customers,

• Build customer loyalty.

In a B2B context, Content Marketing is also a proven way to feed your prospects so that they want to get in touch with your company.

• Identify your target audience precisely (Persona)

Not analyzing your buyer profiles is the most common mistake of a Content Marketing approach.

Without taking the time to understand your audience, how can you identify the subjects that will interest them?

Organize a brainstorming session with your team to identify the characteristics of your personas:

• Age range, location

• Profession, function

• Financial situation,

• Level of education, home groups

• Way of talking,

• Interests, challenges

• Internet habits, favorite sites

And take inspiration from this model to formalize them.

• Follow the buying cycle or intentions of your visitors

This is the principle of free entry into a store.

Some consumers enter, ask questions, and exit without buying anything. Others go directly to the right department, take a product and run to the checkout.

So, for your Content Marketing, are you doing the same thing?

Post content for all stages of the purchasing cycle:

• Awareness of the problem,

• Search for a solution,

• Consideration of a solution

• Purchase the solution.

This is because visitors to your website are in a different phase of the buying cycle.

Some are just looking for information (TOFU or “Top of the Funnel”). They may not be aware of their need yet and have little interest in what you have to offer.

But, at the same time, prospects visit your site for the nth time. They know their needs and their problems (MOFU or “Middle of the Funnel”). They are looking for the best solution to help them solve it.

So carefully organize all of this content according to user intentions to engage the right kind of visitors, at the right time with the right content.

Being aware of the different stages of your prospects’ maturation is essential for the visitor experience and crucial to the success of your generation of B2B prospects.

If your content is poorly organized, don’t expect to receive a lot of phone calls.

• Publish quality content

The main objective of Content Marketing is to provide information to your readers and prospects.

For their part, they seek quality information, that is to say, that it is useful to them. So always prioritize quality over quantity.

If your quality score drops, you will start losing readers, prospects, and ultimately customers. To write quality content, respect your company’s communication style, be honest and authentic, and stimulate reading.

Write about what you know, what you master, and with your beliefs.

Don’t be afraid to take a stand. Your unique point of view. You will distinguish yourself from the rest of the noise.

However, nobody wants to read an article written by a self-centered entrepreneur. So avoid creating content about yourself, your offer, and even your business. Instead, focus your content on the needs of your audience with storytelling techniques.

Also, write as you speak: your content seems less formal, and therefore more interesting. Grammar and spelling mistakes are obviously to be avoided. Then, before publishing any content, allow 24 hours to elapse, then read it over carefully.

Important: The title of your content is the first thing that people see on Google, on your website, on social networks, in your emails. A catchy title makes you want to click. Work it carefully.

In addition to the title, the introduction (and conclusion) should show the value of your content. So, arouse the curiosity of your readers to encourage them to read your article until the end.

Finally, with Google’s algorithm becoming more efficient, quality content is the only reliable way to stay ranked.

• Publish regularly and maintain an editorial calendar

To keep your audience active, it’s important to post frequently.

Indeed, as soon as you stop publishing for a significant period, your readers will stop visiting your website. So post as often as possible, while ensuring that your readers are addicted to your content.

To be sure to respect your publication rhythm, and to keep the overall coherence of your content, set up an editorial calendar. Thus, you establish the messages to communicate, the most suitable types of content, and their publication date. This is the objective of an editorial calendar. Without a schedule, it is impossible to plan in advance.

• Avoid the headlong rush

You are not a media site looking for the latest scoop. Hence, avoid publishing content whose validity is too short.

Experts in Digital Marketing talk about permanent (or evergreen) content. Permanent content becomes a lasting asset for your Content Marketing. But it also can meet the needs of your customers over time.

Despite all these precautions, all content will become obsolete: your offer evolves, as do the needs of your customers and also Google’s algorithm.

Hence, rather than posting new content, regularly review your existing content to update or make it better. Also, remember to recycle your existing content to optimize your workload.

Recycling your existing content is the easiest and most cost-effective way to stimulate your content creation without compromising the quality of your resources. You can do this by finding a way to reuse your existing content to create new, thought-provoking resources.

Here are some ideas for reusing your content:

• A report can be divided into several articles,

• Create a video, an infographic on Canva or a set of slides linked to an existing article,

• Conversely, transcribe your audio and video files in a written format,

• Improve your existing content by addressing new points,

• Promote your white paper by posting an excerpt.

Don’t let your content age and see your work go up in smoke. On the contrary, recycle it. You give it a facelift with little time to do it.

Are you out of ideas? Browse our list of 10/12 possible content types 

• Encourage engagement

All your content will generate dialogue. Dialogue also creates word of mouth, which can potentially transform the way consumers see your brand.

So, as you want your readers to contact you, encourage them to do so.

Call to action (CTA) buttons: In general, many entrepreneurs forget to add calls to action on their content. And the best way to guide people to other parts of your site is to have CTA incentives. Each web content must have a goal.

And no matter what the goal – get a quote or download a white paper, always add one CTA!

This rule also applies whatever the lever of Digital Marketing: emailing, social networks, online advertising. 

Sharing buttons on social networks: Watch yourself consuming content on the Internet. As soon as you enjoy an article, you look for the social share button to share it with your friends or colleagues. If the button is not present, you drop.

So make sharing content as easy as possible for your readers. Social sharing buttons improve the user experience and also contribute to the visibility of your brand. A simple social sharing will reach one or more other readers, who can, in turn, share it with others, who can then relay it. Do you see the snowball effect? So place sharing buttons accessible to your readers so that you can access them wherever they are on the page. 

Last tip: also encourage your readers to comment on your articles by adding one or more open questions at the end of them.

All these points invite interaction and, ultimately, improve the collective user experience.

• Promote your content

Creating your content is one thing. Then make sure that your message reaches your future customers. Promote your content on social networks

To do this, promote it on social networks and via a newsletter. Social media accounts are among the most valuable resources a business can have. Sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are full of members of your audience and other potential customers waiting to be found.

So share your content with them!

It can only help answer their questions while immediately establishing your credibility. You have spent time creating quality blog articles. Sharing your articles on social networks expands your audience by taking advantage of the shares of your subscribers.

B2B marketers often wonder how to use social media.

Best practices for B2B Marketing specialists to integrate Content Marketing and social media:

• Choose the right networks: Identity where your target audiences spend their time online and the platforms on which relevant conversations have occurred. For B2B, it is undoubtedly Twitter and LinkedIn. Then, some content is better suited to LinkedIn, others to Twitter. Again, find out what your audience expects and on what networks and experiments.

• Publish at the right time: all platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn give you access to your statistics. So you know the days and times when your audience is most active. Test and analyze your results.

• Promote your content with emailing: Similar rules apply for promoting your Content Marketing via email. In particular, practice segmenting your email address databases to send the right message to your audience and checking the sending times. On the other hand, emailing is only possible if you have a good base of contacts. Again Content Marketing comes in with what Digital Marketing experts like a customer.

Content Marketing Channels

Social Media: Social platforms allow you to contact your customers and prospects through the “comment” or “share” options. If we exclude the role of customer service played by social networks, it is your content strategy that must dictate your strategy towards social media and not vice versa. Your brand content that circulates can be commented on, shared, communicated, and enriched by consumers. They become ambassadors for your brand.

Email: If you have a list of emails filled with potential customers, you can use it to attract customers to your site and boost your sales. Keep in mind that you have to encourage people to join your mailing list, and merely asking them to do so will not be enough. What you can do, however, is offer them downloadable content in exchange for their email address. As long as the proposed content is interesting and relevant, there is no reason why they refuse.

Link Building: To attract the most audience on your content, you must increase it in Google positions. For this, you need to get backlinks. More specifically, it links to sites that are authoritative in your industry or related to the subject of your article.

You should, therefore, go in search of other web copywriters who could link to your article.

Advertising: In addition to publications on social media and within your community, have you considered using your article as an advertising medium to attract new visitors to your website?

If your title is attractive and your subject corresponds to your persona’s expectations, you can promote your published content. All you need to do is target a specific audience and encourage them to visit your website.

Content Partnerships: Through content partnerships or syndication, you can ensure that your resellers have up-to-date content about your products/offers featured on their websites to improve the conversion of visitors to consumers. Content syndication can apply to banners for your offers on the partner’s site, up-to-date landing pages with all information about your products, and much more.

How to Measure Your Content Marketing Efforts? OR How to Analyze Content Marketing Performance? Measurement and Metrics

Source: https://www.smartinsights.com/content-management/content-marketing-strategy/essential-content-marketing-statistics/

In a perfect world, you publish content, and immediately your turnover increases, as if by magic. But unfortunately, it does not happen like that. So how can you be sure you are on the right track?

Here are three indicators to analyze your performance.

1. The volume of traffic

Increasing page traffic for content is a useful indicator of whether your content is paying off.

Use Google Analytics to analyze the number of page views and the primary sources of traffic.

If you find that some of your content isn’t attracting a steady flow of traffic to your website, it’s time to reassess its presentation or subject.

2. The level of engagement

The volume of traffic determines the number of people that your content reaches. But this data does not guarantee engagement.

There is a difference between reading, commenting, and sharing a post, and just visiting a page and then deciding that it doesn’t interest you. The statistics of social sharing buttons measure the level of social engagement on your blog posts.

The number of comments is also a good indicator. They show that your visitors have read the content well to form an opinion on the subject or have developed a question.

On Google Analytics, the bounce rate and the duration of visits also influence the level and quality of the engagement generated by a particular content

Finally, social networks all have a statistics system.

The number of tweets, retweets, comments, shares, and likes of content is strongly correlated to your audience’s perception of this social network.

These indicators highlight the platforms that offer the best performance.

3. Conversions

But the most important indicator to measure the effectiveness of your Content Marketing is undoubtedly the number and quality of conversions. Conversions from prospects to customers translate into revenue. Therefore, the higher the number of conversions, the higher the value generated. Conversions indicate that your visitors understand what action they are expected to take if your content contains a call-to-action. It also implies that they are interested enough in what you had to offer to do this.

To do this, set up conversion tracking on Google Analytics.

And to go further, use Google Tag Manager to track all clicks on your CTAs.

To assess your conversions, research the sources responsible for the highest conversion rates. For example, were people more likely to convert e-books or webinars?

Conclusion on the Benefits of Content Marketing

This article is comprehensive yet not exhaustive. What you need to remember for now is to master the fundamentals of Content Marketing.

Substantially, Content Marketing can be successfully implemented with the following tasks:

• Set up a business blog,

• Get to know your buyer profiles or your target audience (persona),

• Become aware of all stages of a purchasing cycle,

• Decide what types of content best serve your business,

• Publish quality content regularly,

• Promote it on social networks,

• Measure, test, improve, repeat.

Best practices in Content Marketing are slowly evolving. These best practices put your business in a position to win new customers today and over the long term.

And before you start too quickly, choose the type of content you want to publish. In 2020, Video Marketing is on the rise.

To summarize

Your content conveys your message and your brand image. It educates your readers about the offer and persuades them to buy products and services instead of appealing to your competitors. In summary, producing quality content is essential in Digital Marketing that you can do to attract customers and generate interest in your business. 

So what is your experience? Are you already using Content Marketing?

Are you having difficulty implementing your Content Marketing strategy?

MeDigit Solutions is a specialist in Content Marketing, the next growth lever for your business. We work with a network of 50 talents to support you on all your projects regardless of the sector or the volume of content to be produced.

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