by Miriam Hara | Oct 6, 2015 | Content, Interactive, Latest, Social Media
When someone comments on content in your Social Media post, your response to that comment is as important as the original content you posted. Tread carefully! Your Social Media responses are content too!
Sharing expertise, providing information and responding are at the core of Social Media.
Sharing expertise, providing information and responding are at the core of Social Media. Good social media initiatives create value. Great content = Great Value. So what makes for great content? Useful, thoughtful and thought-provoking ideas that resonate with your core group. Great Content = introductions to people. Introductions lead to engagement and the start of beautiful business ‘friendships’.
… the essence of Social Media is not about selling, it’s about sharing.
Social Media is the gifting of expertise or information with no expectation of a return. Yes, Social Media helps you develop and cultivate brand awareness, so there’s a big return on that, it’s true. But the essence of Social Media is not about selling, it’s about sharing. It’s about giving back, or if you will, paying it forward. So give back!
When a reader responds to your Social Media post, that reader is engaged. Conversation is now flowing two ways. Congratulations. Your Social Media effort was successful. But you can’t stop there. You must give those responses the respect they deserve. Remember, you’ve started a friendship and friendships must be nourished and nurtured. So respond!
Ignore Social Media responses at your peril!
Ignore Social Media responses at your peril! Content is King, but royalty can still get into trouble. Remember what happened when the British Royal Family was slow to respond after Lady Di’s tragic death. Public opinion turned against them and for a long time! People want responses, emotion, authenticity; they wanted to feel the love. When your brand takes the time to respond to comments on a post it shows a little business love and a lot of respect. So respond.
Great content without follow up?
Great content without follow up? Save your money and don’t even bother starting the process! Posting or tweeting and then not responding to questions, messages, thoughts, the sharing of ideas. What’s the point?
Building Identity Loyalty Through Social Media
Social Media takes effort, even after you’ve created content. You need to spread the word, create buzz and add to buzz. You need to search out like-minded people and see what they write about and introduce yourself. You need to respond to them too. Everything on social media is a conversation, including Social Media responses.
… people are often as interested in responses to content as they are in the content.
It’s also important to remember that people are often as interested in responses to content as they are in the content. They like to see how brands respond. So when you do respond, remember that it’s your brand speaking. Answer thoughtfully, honestly and respectfully.
A community isn’t built on one-way interaction.
Social media is about being part of a community. A community isn’t built on one-way interaction.
- Be prompt with your responses, answer in a timely manner.
- Not every comment will require a response, but be discerning. Read closely to see if it does.
- Not everyone might agree with your Social Media Posts. That’s okay. Social Media is a conversation. Agree to disagree. But like mom taught you … be nice about it!
- Feel free to ignore obnoxious commentary and truly obnoxious commentary can be deleted. It’s about respect — and it runs both ways — if someone is being truly disrespectful, with nothing valuable to say, then there’s simply no room for a real conversation.
- Responses can also be an opportunity for learning? Is there something to be learned from the comment? A point of view, idea or suggestion that you’ve never thought about?
Bottom Line.
Bottom Line: Social Media responses are content too. Put thought into each response.
Had a unique experience with comments or your response to a comment on a Social Media Post? Share it with us!
For a quick review or a primer on creating content, download our free e-book: Content Creation Understood. In it, we share a little content expertise and some suggestions, including a few do’s and don’ts, for content creation.
by Miriam Hara | Sep 25, 2015 | Creative, Design, Latest, Marketing
Are you on trend? In the creative field, being on trend or staying ahead of the trend curve is something that needs to be constantly monitored. As designers of packaging, creators of TV ads and developers of Social Media initiatives, being on trend is a must.
… being on trend really means being next to the minute or slightly ahead of the curve. That takes talent … or does it?
We hear a lot about trending these days … we can thank Twitter for that! However being on trend and trend setting are completely different things. Of course, the concept of trend is still the same. Ultimately, it’s about what people are adopting. In other words, what’s the next big thing? What are people tweeting about most right now?
Within the creative field, being on trend really means being next to the minute or slightly ahead of the curve. That takes talent … or does it?
It’s not about talent, it’s about taking the time.
There’s a subtle difference between what is popular and what is on trend or trend setting. The ability to identify what is already passé is necessary in order to understand what’s next. How do you do that? It’s actually easy. It’s about turning habits into skills. It’s not about talent, it’s about taking the time.
- Read: Read a variety of things from a variety of sources – the more unrelated the better. Of course not everything you read will take flight. But accumulating knowledge is the first step needed before assimilating the information you gather.
- Surf the Net: Look at shops, (both online and bricks and mortar) to see what it out there. When you travel, even when you’re just out for a walk, look around. See what’s happening. Look at people, cars, colours and styles.
- Be Aware: Associate similarities across different categories (i.e., fashion, food, automotive, consumer electronics, leisure, etc.). It’s important. It allows you to connect the dots in order to see what “trend” is about to explode onto the scene.
It’s been my experience that a trend usually happens in one context. If it really catches on, it’s adopted and applied to a variety of contexts across different categories. Bamboo is a great example. Think back eight years, bamboo was a real ‘on trend’ material. Think about bamboo today. It’s definitely popular, but is it still on trend? Is it next to the minute or has it become passé?
What’s your experience with identifying trends? Let me know.
Read more:
Search Insights: Spotting Category Trends and Opportunities
by Miriam Hara | Sep 17, 2015 | Advertising, Branding, Creative, Design, Latest, Marketing
Powerful product packaging. It’s not just about the product experience anymore. Today, even the packaging needs to be an experience. Powerful packaging requires more than a basic understanding of packaging fundamentals. It’s not just about being pretty and persuasive with packaging, it’s also about being practical.
… powerful product packaging design can be likened to a powerful social media initiative
As you may have guessed from previous posts, packaging design is one of my favourite aspects of marketing. I’ve written about it often. In an earlier post, Package Design: Think of it as Social Media on a shelf I spoke about how a good package design compares to a good social media initiative: it’s inherently social, stands out from its neighbours, starts a conversation and gets people to connect with it. I promised a follow-up to that post with 7 quick tips for creating better package design. Here goes …
Product Packaging: 7 tips to get it right!
Want powerful product packaging? Here are 7 things you need to know before you even begin to design:
- Know your market. Who are you designing for? Research is the foundation for all successful marketing and advertising and that includes packaging design.
- Know your competition. Take a walk down those crowded store aisles and see what your competition is doing, then do it better! Be original.
- Know your story. Every brand has (or should have!) a story. Packaging tells your brand story but in a thoughtfully scaled down version that fits the physical format.
- Know your product. Packaging copy must tell your customers what you want them to know as well as what they need to know. These two things are not necessarily the same.
- Know your personality. Is your brand/product personality serious or fun? Your packaging design (i.e. shape, size, colours, textures, imagery and type fonts) must work together to reflect that personality. Don’t be afraid to use humour!
- Know your materials. Can the design be reproduced effectively in mass and is it cost effective to reproduce? Will your materials stand up well in the retail landscape … from initial transport to life on the shelf.
- Know your responsibilities. Brands have a responsibility to be environmentally conscious. Packaging should be eco-friendly.
Read more about the fundamentals behind powerful product packaging …
Packaging: More than a pretty on-shelf face
Delivering Great Packaging Design
10 Secrets to Eye-Popping Package Designs
by Miriam Hara | Sep 14, 2015 | Branding, Design, Latest, Marketing, Social Media
What does your product’s package design say about your brand’s personality? It should say (almost) everything.
If people haven’t seen any advertising for your product, then the first time they’re going to see it is in the store. Think of packaging as Social Media on a shelf – its role is the same: good package design is inherently social, it’s original in that it stands out from its neighbours, it starts a conversation and gets people to connect with it. Creating an engaging brand/product personality is the key to establishing these vital connections. The ultimate retail challenge is getting consumers attention.
… if your product’s package design doesn’t immediately establish a connection with consumers, it’s lost
Unlike the Social Media space, ‘real estate’ is physically limited on a store shelf, so if your product’s package design doesn’t immediately catch the consumer’s eye, it’s lost. This is particularly true if you’re launching a new product and you can’t rely on established brand equity or the halo effect.
The perfect analogy is a book cover
The cover is a book’s packaging. (Typically, authors don’t have much say about the covers of their books, it’s left to those marketing the book.) You’re at the library or in a book store. If you already enjoy the author, you’ll reach for their latest book — that’s brand equity in play. If you don’t know the author, it’s often the cover that attracts you. If it resonates with you, you reach for it. If it doesn’t, you pass over it. It’s the same with product packaging. And the process happens in seconds.
The look and feel of a product’s package design plays a definitive role in consumers’ purchasing choices
Never underestimate the power of package design and the influence it has on purchasing behaviour. Research shows that the look and feel of a product’s package design plays a definitive role in consumers’ purchasing choices.
An excerpt from The Consumer Factor’s website on consumer insights, market research, consumer behavior and neuromarketing …
“According to a recent study published by researchers from the University of Miami and California Institute of Technology in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the packaging of a food product would have a proven and important influence on the consumer purchase decision in-store. Researchers showed that the aesthetic aspects of products’ packaging (color, brightness, typography, etc.) will influence where the shopper’s eyes will land on the shelf – and thus the products he will look at and the time spent for each product.
The study showed that packaging influences consumers in a ratio of 1:3 or 2:3 compared to their personal preferences. Thus, even if consumer’s tastes have a bigger influence, a product’s visual attractiveness plays a significant part into the decision to buy.”
We make decisions based solely on a product’s package design
Before we even know if we enjoy the experience of the product, we make decisions based solely on its package design. It should go without saying that the inside has to deliver on what the outside promises. If the actual experience of the product is a letdown, the consumer won’t reach for that product again, no matter how smart and sexy the packaging. Packaging, particularly that for a new and as yet unknown product, gets only one chance with consumers, so it’s important to get it right.
Packaging is psychology in action
Packaging is psychology in action, particularly the psychology of design. It requires expertise and creativity to get right. Most important, it demands an understanding of the people who are going to buy your product and that’s where research comes in … who will buy your product? You can’t create personality for your packaging design without knowing your target market intimately.
Good package design tells a story
Good package design is good storytelling. You don’t skimp on the cost of packaging. As I’ve said before, packaging design shouldn’t even be viewed as a cost, good package design is an investment. My next blog will offer 7 quick tips to help you create better product package design.
Additional reading:
by Miriam Hara | Sep 11, 2015 | Communications, Content, Latest, Social Media
News is when you have something original to say. Noise is when you don’t.
Be relevant in 140 characters or less!
The 140 characters or less is simply a reminder to be relevant and stay focused when creating content. Visualize yourself writing a standard Twitter tweet, which limits us to 140 characters or less: say as much as you need, then say no more.
Don’t get too attached to words. Even for content writers, it’s not always easy to be ruthless and cut out words, but it’s necessary. You’re fighting to be heard. So be ruthless. If it isn’t necessary, boot it out of the sentence!
The proliferation of internet content, particularly with Social Media — whether visual (graphics), video or written — is overwhelming. I’ll say what many of us in the business say in our heads: everyone’s a writer or a wannabe writer. Students, business owners, executives, CEOs, celebrities, the guy next door, everyone’s writing. But what makes for good content, what speaks to good content, is relevancy.
10 ways to be relevant and remain relevant:
- Decide what you want to write about. Make a list of the hot topics and categories that surround your business or interest. Develop word clouds to help you decide on topics to write about. Word Clouds and the Value of Simple Visualization. Wordle is a good website to help you get started.
- Decide a) how you want people to perceive you and b) how you want people to perceive what you write about. It’s easy to forget about ‘perception’ in our hurry to ‘get writing’; but who you are and what you write about are important. The internet has a memory.
- Decide on the angle you’ll take in creating content. There are different angles to every subject. Being relevant doesn’t necessarily mean being trendy or current; certain topics are evergreen, meaning they’re always relevant.
- Define your target market and the niches within that market. Demographics are not the only definition of a target market.
- Nail down what you want to say and say it thoughtfully, with conviction. Rewording other people’s thoughts doesn’t add value. However, reflecting on other people’s thoughts can lead you to develop new ideas or new points of view that offer relevance to your readers. Being relevant also requires being aware of what’s going on out there, so stay informed.
- Decide how to say what you want to say and which vehicle you will use to say it. Which vehicle parks you closer to the place(s) your target market hangs out.
- Have others review your content for brevity, clarity and to make sure you’re actually saying what you wanted to say. If even one person doesn’t understand something you’ve written, look at it again, critically, and make the necessary change.
- Content needs to be actionable: promote action, ask for feedback, work hard to get your audience to connect with you by giving them reasons to connect.
- Check spelling and grammar and have someone else check it too. A good editor is every content writer’s best friend.
- Many of us sleep on things to see how we feel about them in the morning. Content’s no different. Allow time to step back from what you’ve written for a while and reread it with a critical eye before you hit the ‘publish’ button. Having said that, the beauty of the internet is we can update content easily, quickly and regularly.
Be Relevant Stay Relevant: Download our latest FREE eBook
For more tips on how to be relevant and stay relevant, download our free eBook: Content Creation Understood. 21 short, snappy insights (we call them biz-isms) that will help you look at content from a number of different angles.
