Archives for December 2013

December 27, 2013 By Dawn Walnoha Leave a Comment

Yes, Virginia, There Really is Measurable Content Marketing

Here at Brandsplat, we’re often surprised to learn that new clients once shied away from joining the blogosphere simply out of fear that they couldn’t measure the results of their efforts. Had they never heard of Google Analytics? Some hadn’t, so we set that right. Others had, but felt overwhelmed at the prospect of tracking Return on Investment (ROI) on content marketing. Still others had tried using Google Analytics to help them paint a picture detailing which content provided what audience and so forth. But all of them had thrown their hands up at one point or another.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. But measurable results are vital to ensuring your content is doing what you ask of it. And, frankly, it’s part of our sales pitch: We want to get you measurable results, so we have to know how to measure them. So let’s walk through a few tips for using Google Analytics to judge just how well your content marketing plan is performing.

Arnie Kuenn, author of Accelerate! Moving Your Business Forward Through the Convergence of Search, Social & Content Marketing, admits that using Google Analytics can be overwhelming at first.

“The amount of data available are innumerable,” Kuenn says. “However, there are specific subsets of data that are valuable in assessing content marketing success once you have determined your goals.”

Kuenn suggests choosing just one of the following three ways to measure content marketing using Google Analytics: traffic/time spent on your page, conversions, downloads and referral traffic. Of course, it helps to know a bit more about how each of these things is expressed in Google Analytics, so let’s take a look.

1. Measure Time on Page Alongside Traffic Figures

We know that traffic alone doesn’t tell the whole story, but when you’re investigating the ROI on your content marketing strategy, it’s a great place to start. It is safe to assume that if a page gets a lot of traffic, there’s something on there that visitors dig. It might be as simple as a headline. Or it may be that your content’s SEO and ads have boosted its click-through rate. But have you checked to see how much time they spend on your pages?

“When the average time-on-page for a certain page is higher than the site average, it implies this page captures and keeps visitors’ attention more than other pages,” Keunn notes.

Rest assured, even Google Analytics newbies can navigate around the site and find this information. With a few simple clicks of your mouse, you’ll be viewing these in no time. Then ask yourself: What is it about the content of your most popular pages in terms of time on page that is holding (not just capturing) visitors’ attention?

2. Measure Conversions

What do your conversion numbers look like? Whether you’re asking them to purchase something or simply to provide their contact information as a prospective business lead, do you know what your rate is? Do you know what pages visitors frequently view before they sign on the dotted line? By setting up a goal in Google Analytics, you can effectively track visitors’ interactions with your site and learn more about what motivates them. There’s a bit of decision making ahead, but don’t let it deter you: The information on the other side of this tool is worth it.

There are four types of goals you can set up via Google Analytics. The first is Destination, which tracks when a visitor lands on a specific page of your site. This is a raw numbers tool, allowing you to monitor page visit growth, for example. Duration, the second tool, allows you to determine a specific length of minutes or seconds and then track visitors who meet that goal. This way, you can monitor visitors who, for example, spend quite a bit of time on your site. Did they commit? Did the ones who committed spend more time on a specific portion of your site? The Pages/Screens Per Visit tool lets you see how many pages or screens each visitor viewed while at your site; from this information, you should be able to glean some insight as to which portions of your website are holding visitors’ interest. Finally, the Event section helps you see who played a video or downloaded a white paper (hopefully you’re set up to trade this “event” for the visitors’ contact information — but that’s a whole other blog).

3. Measure Referral Traffic

How did they land on your site? Knowing the answer to this question gives you immediate ROI on any content marketing and advertising strategies you use. Did they click through via a social media link? Google AdWords ad? Email your company sent directly to that visitor? You’ll see which of the tactics you’ve used to spread the word about your company ultimately worked best. Then you can use this information to tailor your next round of outreach efforts. What could be better than that?

Finally, you can use Google Analytics for free if your site is generating less than 10 million hits per month. That means more money for hiring content writers to help boost your time on page numbers, now that you know the baseline!

But what say you, dear readers? If you’re already using Google Analytics, do you have any other tips? Let us hear from you in the comments section below!

December 20, 2013 By Dawn Walnoha Leave a Comment

What Beyoncé Knows About Social Media Marketing (and You Don't)

What does Beyoncé do when she’s not busy getting everybody pregnant with her newly-released secret album? Oh, not much… just using social media to change the way we market.

At midnight on Thursday, Queen Bey wowed the entertainment world with the news that she was releasing her fifth solo album. The self-titled work represents a first in many categories — including, in a nod to the visual aspect of music entertainment, more videos than songs — but will be remembered for its stealth: No one outside of her recording label, Columbia, knew to expect it. And where did she break the news? On Instagram, with a short promotional video for the project and the one-word caption “Surprise!”

That’s it. No weeks of dribbling out singles, no media interviews, no daytime talk show appearances.

According to a press release from her label, Beyoncé herself was behind the change. Columbia called her decision “an unprecedented strategic move by the artist to deliver music and visual content directly to her fans when she wants to and how she wants to, with no filter.”

“This unique approach allows music fans to be the first to listen, view, engage and form their own opinions void of any middleman,” the release continues. “Stripped of gimmicks, teasers and marketing campaigns, this project is truly about art before hype.”

Regardless of where you stand on whether the lack of pre-release marketing is a gimmick all its own, the popularity of appealing directly to consumers through social media can’t be denied.

“I didn’t want to release my music the way I’ve done it,” Beyoncé is quoted as saying in the release. “I am bored with that. I feel like I am able to speak directly to my fans. There’s so much that gets between the music, the artist and the fans. I felt like I didn’t want anybody to give the message when my record is coming out. I just want this to come out when it’s ready and from me to my fans.”

And her fans, of course, ate it up. On Monday, Apple reported that her album has become the fastest-selling album ever on the iTunes Store with an unprecedented 828,773 albums sold in just its first three days. In addition, it broke the U.S. first week album sales record with 617,213 sold and soared to No. 1 in 104 countries.

But what does it say about the state of consumer-centered marketing? Simply put, consumers are eager to play a central role in spreading the word about their favorite brands.

“This is very much in line with what’s happening right now in marketing, which is this idea of marketing without marketing, or anti-marketing, where you appear to be just delivering your product directly to the consumer without any mediation,” Jason King, a musician and professor at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, told National Public Radio. “This seems like a direct gift from the celebrity to the consumer.”

A gift that keeps on giving, judging by the 1.2 million tweets posted in the first 12 hours. Why not let your army move your product? But what do you say, readers? Are you convinced that relying on your brand’s social media followers to be the main drivers of your marketing efforts will pay off? Let us hear from you in the comments section!

December 17, 2013 By admin Leave a Comment

A Good Life, Too: Alonzo Clemons

This is some dummy copy. You’re not really supposed to read this dummy copy, it is just a place holder for people who need some type to visualize what the actual copy might look like if it were real content.

If you want to read, I might suggest a good book, perhaps Hemingway or Melville. That’s why they call it, the dummy copy. This, of course, is not the real copy for this entry. Rest assured, the words will expand the concept. With clarity. Conviction. And a little wit.

In today’s competitive market environment, the body copy of your entry must lead the reader through a series of disarmingly simple thoughts.

All your supporting arguments must be communicated with simplicity and charm. And in such a way that the reader will read on. (After all, that’s a reader’s job: to read, isn’t it?) And by the time your readers have reached this point in the finished copy, you will have convinced them that you not only respect their intelligence, but you also understand their needs as consumers.

December 13, 2013 By Benjamin Porter Leave a Comment

5 Predictions for 2014 Digital Market Trends You Might Have Missed!

Anybody else eager to unwrap their 2014 digital marketing plans, if only to get access to next year’s funds? We here at Brandsplat love the smell of freshly baked goals and the new budgets that accompany them, and we know it’s hard to wait. So let’s take a look at the digital marketing trend predictions from seasoned analysts across the Internets together to pass the time. You know, just in case there’s something out there you can use to convince accounting to let you crack into those 2014 funds a little early. Here are five predictions for 2014 digital marketing trends that you might have missed:

1. Where it’s at: Location-based marketing is the new black, according to several analysts. Using GPS technology to send multimedia content specific to a consumer’s geographical location directly to that potential customer’s mobile device helps shorten the distance between want/need and the point of purchase. Current apps include Ban.jo, Path and, yes, even Foursquare. Google Wallet and other similar tools are being refined to speed up payment methods (just wave your smartphone!), so when you combine “you’re already there already” with faster checkout, you can see why this is bigger than that big data everybody’s talking about.

2. Mr. Big Goes Small: Speaking of big data, one agency’s already got an Alice in Wonderland “drink me” approach to big data. Helen Graney, managing director of Jack Morton Australia, says brands must look beyond the data themselves and use them to improve the customer experience. “The way we interact with brands is rapidly evolving and as customers become increasingly empowered, it has never been more important for marketers to understand engagement and experience trends moving into 2014,” she says. If brands can establish an authentic connection with their consumers, they’ll pay more, she says. Better is the new big?

3. Personality’s not just for the office holiday party: Ben Romberg at Tug sees brands developing more distinctive online personalities in 2014 in the same way that people have a digital personality on a social network. This also means occasionally going head-to-head with a competing brand. “Lots of brands are bringing their digital personalities to life using a characteristic tone of voice, a figurehead, spokesperson or mascot and on occasions challenging or engaging with other brands or competitors,” Romberg says. “We expect to see this continue and develop as new digital technologies enable consumers to form relationships with the companies they love and products they purchase.”

4. Nobody’s perfect: “Imperfection and even outright ugliness — the quirky, the messy and the clearly flawed — are taking on new appeal in a world that’s become all too polished or mass-produced,” note the folks at JWTIntelligence. “The imperfect is coming to feel more authentic, and also more comforting and meaningful.” Of course, “imperfect” was also the hottest beauty trend of 2012, so we’ll see where this goes.

5. Engage, engage, engage: Brands that want to connect with youth audiences in a credible way must create and publish engaging, clever bite-sized content, says Emily Cramp of Thinkhouse. “Young people want to be entertained; customizing content for image-centric platforms such as Instagram or Pinterest, mastering the art form of storytelling in a 6-second Vine video or 140 character Tweet, or finding a presence on Snapchat means social media diversity for brands is firmly on the agenda.” Speed, humor and personality (there’s that word again!) will help brands shine, she adds.

But what say you, dear readers? Are there trends on your 2014 digital marketing plan that we missed? Let us have it in the comments section!

December 11, 2013 By admin Leave a Comment

Post with Gallery

In today’s competitive market environment, the body copy of your entry must lead the reader through a series of disarmingly simple thoughts.

December 9, 2013 By Benjamin Porter Leave a Comment

Get Your Game On: Gamification is Here to Stay

Digital brand engagement never had it so good. Just when we feared social media marketing was the last unicorn, gamification came along to restore our hope in humanity. But you’re still not sure if it’s right for your company. Well, get off the fence, because adding gamification to your site will help engage and motivate visitors — all in the name of fun! — and it’s not as hard as it looks.

First, for those of us who don’t attend GSummit, just what is gamification? Simply stated, it’s what happens when you add aspects of game playing to other parts of life. Remember how great it was when your second grade teacher had you earn marbles for good behavior? You know, the ones which she added to a jar which, once filled, got you a class pizza party? Even. Funner. For the purpose of digital brand engagement, gamification is a reward system that leverages the natural desires of your customers to compete, achieve, earn status, express themselves and experience closure — you like it already, right? — while learning all about your products or services. Points, badges, free stuff, bragging rights… You get the idea. Gamification motivates, entertains, even distracts — in a word, engages — your target audience for you, making learning fun.

But how does one employ aspects of gamification, especially as a small or mid-sized business? Good news: It’s more than just bells and whistles.

According to Search Engine Watch’s Howard Jacobson, the key is to concentrate on “tiny conversion opportunities.”

“Treat every visitor engagement with a button, link, form and scroll bar as a micro-conversion, a mini-outcome leading to the desired one,” a sale, Jacobson says.

That doesn’t mean you need to set up an elaborate game on your website that features your products. It just means you must learn what motivates your customer when designing or tweaking your webpage.

“Every click should be rewarded,” he adds. “What exactly does your visitor want at the moment they click the ‘learn more’ link? Figure it out and give it to them.”

And once you think they’re into you — i.e., ready to give you their email address in exchange for more information — add gamification features to that process. As the visitor enters information into each field, greet it with a smiley face (or a frowny face should they opt not to include the information). As anyone who has been close enough to hear its siren song can tell you, it’s an incredibly seductive thing.

“The small rewards are not meaningful enough to get me to do anything I don’t already want to do,” Jacobson adds. “It’s not like you could use checks and Xs to get me to sign up for the Miley Cyrus Online School of Dance. Yet they grease the skids and provide tiny momentum boosts that can keep me going in the face of momentary hesitation or unanticipated interruption.”

The Internet for the win (again)!

But what say you, readers? Are you game-happy or happier left alone? Sound off in the comments section below!

Archives for December 2013

Yes, Virginia, There Really is Measurable Content Marketing

Follow Us

1. Measure Time on Page Alongside Traffic Figures

2. Measure Conversions

3. Measure Referral Traffic

A Good Life, Too: Alonzo Clemons

Follow Us

5 Predictions for 2014 Digital Market Trends You Might Have Missed!

Follow Us

Post with Gallery

Follow Us

Get Your Game On: Gamification is Here to Stay

Follow Us