by Miriam Hara | May 29, 2015 | Business Success, Communications, Latest, Marketing, Social Media
Earned media isn’t new. It’s been around for a very long time, under the umbrella of PR. As with everything in marketing and communications, technology has widened the spectrum for PR to include much more than traditional, editorialized media. When it comes to earned media today, many relevant, niche blogs have opened up the traditional PR channel standbys of newspapers, magazines, e-magazines, broadcast and, yes, web sites.
Earned media has always been the coveted prize in marketing and branding. Suffice it to say, 92% of consumers say they trust earned media, such as word-of-mouth from friends, above all other forms of advertising.* That also isn’t new. What’s new is the accessibility to tap into this space. But it isn’t for the feint of heart!
Unlike traditional PR, social media has enabled the earned media channel to open up, allowing many businesses to establish themselves within this context.
No longer is the proverbial water cooler the only place people gather to talk about their experiences with products, their likes in advertising and their opinions. Social media properties; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Personal and niche blogs (to name only a fraction), are all out there providing thirsty information seekers with what they crave. They are reaching hundreds if not thousands of people who are listening and making buying decisions based on the information provided. According to inPowered and Nielsen, 85% of consumers regularly or occasionally seek out trusted expert content (credible, third-party articles, and reviews) when considering a purchase.
So what is required for business and brands to successfully harness this channel?
Let go: That is, let go of control! Understand that this communications environment cannot be controlled: Brand or business will not control the messaging, communities or influencers – consumers will.
Plan on it: Just because it’s social media and accessible, doesn’t mean that clear, concise objectives shouldn’t be established. Once objectives are set, create short and long-term strategies. Be sure to also create a content plan, editorial calendar, key communications topics and a concise SEO plan of action.
Be found creatively: One of the most important elements of earned media is to be interesting. Only content that resonates with your target audience will get shared. And of course all your creatively awesome content needs to be backed up with SEO. Whether it’s funny or useful, in written form, video or infographic; it must be shareworthy. But it doesn’t end there. Once it’s shareworthy, you need to make it easy to share!
It’s about time: Just because it’s free doesn’t mean it’s cheap. Earned media takes time to develop, initiate and nurture. We all know that time is at a premium. So before you embark in the earned media channel journey, know that both time and patience are required to garner results.
Be present: Yes, responsiveness and follow-up are key. This is not a one-way channel. It’s not just about putting the message out there. You also need to monitor it. You need to respond to comments, answer questions, offer opinions and reach out to influencers. There are many monitoring software programs out there to make that job easier but you really need to be present. It demonstrates that you care enough about your potential audience and what they have to say about your business. If done properly, over time this will garner the much coveted earned media result: Positivity towards your brand or business. It will have become worthy of chatting about, posting about and writing about over social media networks – ultimately developing grass roots brand ambassadors.
I hope this post was relevant and share worthy for you! You can subscribe to our blog here, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Or you can contact me. Share this post by clicking on the buttons found on the sidebar. Thanks in advance!
*Nielson Research Global consumers trust in earned advertising grows.
by Miriam Hara | May 13, 2015 | Agency, Business Success, Latest, Marketing, Social Media
Marketing has expanded and evolved due largely in part to the internet and the launch of what is now referred to as the social media channel. Social media was once all the buzz. Now it needs to step aside to allow for the new buzz: Content marketing. Content marketing is increasingly becoming all the buzz. It’s an integral part of social media. Content marketing is now ‘where it’s at’. Or is it?
As a content marketing agency, it’s a given that we are immersed in content creation and everything that goes along with it. Google now supports content marketing with its recent change to its algorithms (once again!) to include phrasing structures, incorporating them into the SEO keyword data metrics. This provides for optimal referencing and content creation to take place around a key thought. The possibilities with this are endless. Building a content marketing strategy around a topic is now a little easier, more authentic and dare I say more fluid! But the question begs to be asked: Are brands and businesses there yet?
First of all it’s important for businesses to understand what content marketing is. The digital footprint of businesses and brands needs to expand. 30% of adults (35-54) and 39% of adults (18-34) access their information digitally. Clearly there is a strong need for brands to be seen digitally. From a marketing perspective, the lines are continuously being blurred between traditional advertising and PR. New content marketing agencies are being launched with the aim of incorporating a blend of both. However, content marketing is much more than writing editorial or blogging. It’s larger than posting on Facebook or composing a Tweet within 140 characters. It also includes video content and streaming. Showing information is quickly becoming the norm. Many consumers are searching YouTube to learn how to build, create, make or bake! In Canada, YouTube hosts 80% of the online video consumed*. That’s significant, to say the least.
As any content marketing agency will tell you, you need to “work it”.
In other words, you need to spend the time, money and effort to make it happen. Many marketing and business professionals are mystified by content marketing and its affect on brand. That’s understandable. This is often tied into the illusion that content marketing can be handled internally. Like everything in marketing, content marketing needs to have a strategy. The strategy behind the content marketing, (preferably with the support of a content marketing agency), can and should be owned internally. Although, the development and “working” of content marketing, should be left to the experts.
There exists a need for a more integrated approach to social media to include content marketing for businesses, brands and branding. This includes everything from web design, SEO, eNewsletters, eBooks, eZines, subscriptions to blogs or forums to sales lead generation and marketing. All of it in the hope of “getting found” at the right place and at the right time.
So, are we there yet? Or more succinctly, are brands and businesses there yet?
by Miriam Hara | Apr 15, 2015 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Interactive, Latest, Social Media
Every day we see brands entering the world of brand publishing. Having a content marketing strategy is a must for any business, no matter what industry they operate in. Have you ventured in yet? If not, why not? The terminology may be different. How it gets distributed may not be the same – but brand publishing has been around for many years. It used to be called PR.
Today, with the internet (or should I say Google) being the go-to source provider of information, many purchasing assessments are started on line – and referred to time and time again during the customer journey. If you are a business owner or a marketer, that fact alone should trigger thinking about brand publishing as a viable marketing initiative.
At this time, a large part of marketing carries a component of brand publishing – whether it be a blog post of 350 words, a Facebook update of 30-50 words, or even a tweet that’s only 140 characters. Brands and businesses have entered the publishing world to develop more intimate and authentic connections with the buyers of their products or services. In order to do this effectively, developing a content marketing strategy is essential in garnering the results necessary. In fact, without rolling up your sleeves and developing a content marketing strategy you may be just spinning your wheels.
A content marketing strategy allows your business to:
- Define the objectives of brand publishing
- Establish the success metrics with specific time intervals
- Set the parameters for the scope of the content that will need to be created
- Determine what properties it will be shared to
- Timing as it relates to frequency of content deployment
- Identify the different communities that your content will resonate with most
The marketing of editorial content is exactly what your brand or business needs to be doing in order to get found. Good editorial content will resonate with your target market – and that’s what it’s all about. Establishing a content marketing strategy has become hugely instrumental towards the success or failure of brands and businesses. It is time to embrace brand publishing and truly understand the value of how creating content can impact your business in the long run. Are you there yet?
by Miriam Hara | Apr 2, 2015 | Branding, Business Success, Latest, Marketing, Social Media
There was a time (in the recent past) when brand sell was all about showcasing features and benefits to an intended target audience. With the emergence of social media, the art of the brand sell has evolved to include a very real social component. Social media has made engagement and response rate some of the main objectives for brands. With that, in the framework of brand development, the art of storytelling has become much more important. What was once brand sell, is now story sell. Now brand marketers need to wrap their initiatives around the story sell of their brand. Like it or not, engagement is where it’s at today and the way to consumers’ hearts is through storytelling.
The connection established through story sell is much deeper than brand sell.
So why not merge the two? For most of us marketers, this is nothing new. Brand sell was and is about brand storytelling, but now it is more socially inclined. Brand stories need to take their intended audience on an emotional journey. They need to connect with them on a deeper level, establishing a promise not so much in words, but in context and feeling.
Here are some pivotal components to developing good story sell:
1. What is your brand’s personality? What are its characteristics? Is it serious and no-nonsense? Is it fun? Is it highbrow? List all of them.
2. How does your brand’s personality and characteristics tie in with its potential consumers’ values? Dig deep. We like people based on their personality and characteristics, but we maintain the relationship because they connect with our values.
3. What are your brand’s preferences? What does your brand like? What does your brand dislike? What your brand doesn’t like, want or have is equally as important as what is does.
4. Who are your brand’s potential friends? We all have various types of friends. Those friends have at least one thing in common – they’re friends with us. What are the other common denominators that make your brand a fit in amongst its friends?
The social sharing of a brand story is of paramount importance to forging a deeper connection with the consumer. Entering into the zone of the consumer’s intimate social media space is where sharing your brand story is crucial. Make your next brand sell approach all about brand story sell.
Heard a good brand story lately? Please share it here with us.
by Miriam Hara | Mar 31, 2015 | Business Success, Communications, Latest, Social Media
Google makes it easy for us to search for any kind of information we want, instantaneously. It has taken the guesswork out of life. But how accurate or relevant is the information we find?
Let’s face it, Gen Y and Z are largely responsible for changing today’s marketing landscape. Not only with how to communicate with them but who is best suited to provide relevant information. Although, it’s not only Gen Y and Z that are responsible for this shift in how we access information. You can now throw in Gen X and even the Baby Boomers into the mix. All of us, no matter what generation we belong to are taking part in this evolution of communication.
How many of us say “Google it” in a day?
The internet as a platform has enabled us to find answers, offer solutions and provide advice instantly. Social Media with its content creation and emphasis on sharing is a product of this social way of thinking. There are so many opportunities within the business environment to create an on-going dialogue with niche targets. Business can provide them with the information they want, when they want it and in the way they want to receive it. However, this opens the door to a lot of misrepresentation of information.
And it’s not just business that can take advantage of the Google platform. Everyone can take advantage of it. It’s in our everyday discussions. When faced with a question that no one knows the answer to, what do we do? We take out our smart phones and Google it. Wonderful! No more debates. No more arguments! But how credible is the information? What happens after we Google it and different sources say different things? We all know Wikipedia isn’t entirely accurate. So how do we decipher what is right and what is wrong when Google provides us with a well of possible “go-to” sites for the information we seek.
Should we be taking what we find on our search from Google at face value? Should we click on the advertising results that appear first? After all, if sites are spending money to get you to their site, aren’t they going to provide the proper information?
Google has made our lives much more efficient. Instant gratification and knowledge is at our fingertips. Awesome. Knowledge is power – as long as it’s accurate.
What are your thoughts on the credibility issues that may arise from providing wrong information? I’d like to hear them.
by Miriam Hara | Mar 13, 2015 | Branding, Business Success, Communications, Latest, Management, Social Media
Could it be that corporate social media has seen its day in the sun? Only a few short years ago social media growth was exponential. Now it’s slowing down – almost to a crawl. Yet the explosion of the social media channel caused major corporations and small businesses alike to throw budget and people power at it.
Today, I feel that the burst of corporate social media has come and gone. Now, corporate social media as a channel has taken its place alongside the many other communications channels that are available to businesses and their brands. Corporations are reallocating the resources they once channeled into their corporate social media initiatives to other marketing, sales and customer service departments.
It wasn’t that long ago that social media as a communications channel was the place to be, especially for big corporations. Business and brands alike jumped on the bandwagon to be among the first or second waves of those to be part of the corporate social media growth phenomena.
It’s a little disconcerting that what was just recently touted as the channel to be in, is now almost an add-on in the corporate landscape. Why is this happening? Has business grown more fickle? Or is it that corporate social media initiatives haven’t delivered the desired results?
Like any emerging channel, corporate social media had a growth/learning curve. This resulted in ill-defined tasks and roles as well as a lack of understanding about realistic objectives or ROI expectations. The essence of social media is that it takes time. It takes effort and it takes patience. The expectation of a quick ROI was ill-founded. Corporations saw small businesses, entrepreneurs and even everyday people take to social media and succeed virally – thinking it was easy. Inevitably many found out that it wasn’t that easy and even if initiatives did achieve viral status, few garnered true ROI.
The state of corporate social media is really sitting on a precarious perch. It’s at risk of becoming part of corporate communications, or even worse, shared by many departments with no one strategy leading the way. Many would say that social media is part of corporate communications. Well, maybe I just see it differently.
I’d like to hear your thoughts on this? Do you agree that social media as a channel in business is moving away from what it was intended to be?
