As content marketers, there’s one question we never stop hearing from clients — “Does content marketing really work?” While people can easily see how content marketing propels brands to success, they often doubt if it will work for them. That’s usually because content marketing doesn’t always have a very direct correlation between effort and result. What’s more, it usually takes some time before the results start to show. However, a sustained content marketing effort is one of the best ways to build a brand in the long run. This infographic takes a deep dive into what makes content marketing one of the most powerful brand-building techniques of our time. Share this Image On Your Site </p><br /><br /><br /> <p><strong>Please include attribution to www.justwords.in with this graphic.</strong></p><br /><br /><br /> <p><a href=”><img src=’https://justwords.in/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Why-Content-marketing-works-Justwords.jpg.pagespeed.ce.3ANrKi4KBO.jpg’ alt=’WHY CONTENT MARKETING WORKS’ 540px border=’0′ /></a></p><br /><br /><br /> <p> “Content marketing is the only marketing that’s left.” – Seth Godin 91% of B2B marketers use content marketing to reach customers. And 86% of B2C marketers think content marketing is a key strategy. Is this focus on content marketing warranted? Content marketing has lower long-term costs and deeper long-term benefits than paid marketing. It generates 3X the number of leads and costs 62% less. Content marketing brings 55% more visitors to the website 72% of marketers say content creation boosts SEO ranking Businesses with blogs receive 97% more backlinks, leading to more authority and higher search engine ranking So why does content marketing work so well? Reciprocity Content marketing creates value for your customers without pushing them to buy your products. This creates long-term goodwill that pays off as a loyal customer base. Establishes Authority It establishes you as a problem solver and thought leader vis-a-vis a product pusher. Content marketing showcases your expertise and builds your brand voice. Unity Good content equals good stories. And good stories bring people together. The more people can relate to your brand and identify with it, the more long-term equity you build. Why content marketing remains a big challenge 65% of companies find it a challenge to produce meaningful and engaging content 62% of companies don’t know how to define the ROI from content marketing 60% of companies can’t produce content consistently Tips to make Content Marketing work for you Personalize Use words like “You” and I to make the content more relatable. Produce visual content 84% of all online communications will be visual by 2018. Use infographics services, informative videos, and illustrative images to amplify the impact of your content. Subheadings Divide the body of your content into subheadings so that readers can skim through your content. Short paras Short paras with less than 5-6 lines make for much easier reading. Long form content Google prefers ranking content that’s at least 1890 words on Page 1. If you’re in a competitive industry, try to make your blog posts between 2000-3000 words. More data The more stats and data you use, the more authoritative you sound. Encourage engagement with your conclusion End with a question, inviting answers from the readers. This is a great way to get comments and build engagement. Mind-blowing headlines 8 out of 10 people will read your headline. Only 2 out of 10 people will actually click through to your article. To get that number up, you have to write headlines that are absolutely compelling. Know more about our content marketing agency and content creation services.
Month: May 2019
The Best Social Media Marketing Channels Strategies for 2019
Social media marketing is no longer a novelty but an everyday reality for most companies. In fact, research reveals that 90% of customers have already used social media as a way to communicate with a brand while another 63% of customers actually expect companies to offer customer service via social media. The problem is that while most brands have enthusiastically adopted a social media presence, few are using it to build a genuine connection with customers. Most social media marketers we speak with are confused about where their social media strategy is going, and end up creating random content for the sake of consistency, without enough clarity on how to achieve their marketing goals. While it’s not the only thing to factor in, an important starting point of any good social media strategy is the choice of social media channels. There are so many different social media platforms today, all of which seem compelling in their own way. It’s important to recognize which channel is best suited to your product, your marketing goals, and your brand voice. It’s also important to be aware of the latest shifts in social media usage so that you can stay ahead of the curve and design a futuristic marketing strategy that pays off in the medium to long-term. In this article, we will break down the social media channels of 2019 and help you decide which ones you should incorporate in your marketing strategy. Is it the end of the road for Facebook? There are a number of recent changes that many experts believe will herald the end of Facebook’s domination. For instance, the changes in their newsfeed algorithm have wiped out massive organic reach for so many brands and advertising now seems like the only way to build a following. The Cambridge Data Analytica scandal and the recent privacy issues also mean the brand reputation has taken a hit. Finally, there’s Facebook’s biggest challenge — it simply isn’t hip anymore. The younger demographic across the world is increasingly moving towards Instagram as its go-to social media channel and Generation Z looks upon Facebook activity as infra dig. Reinventing itself is the biggest challenge Facebook will face in the next decade. So should you just give up on Facebook marketing altogether? Of course not. Despite its shortcomings, Facebook, with its user base of over 2 billion and rich marketing features is still the platform with the widest reach. Yet, keep these things in mind when you’re leveraging Facebook. Focus more on newer features like stories, Messenger, and groups. Facebook is looking to build groups in a big way so this is the right time to build and nurture a thriving online community. Definitely, do not put all your eggs in the Facebook basket. If your social media marketing strategy is predominantly Facebook-dependent, start diversifying immediately. The Challengers: Instagram and Linkedin Last year, Instagram crossed the milestone of 1 billion users. More exciting than the number itself is the fact that they actually doubled their user base in 2 years. With a much younger demographic (Users under 35 make up more than 70 per cent of Instagram accounts) and higher levels of engagement (the average Instagram user spends 53 minutes per day on the Android app), Instagram has definitely emerged as a massive marketing opportunity. With features like Stories that see amazing engagement rates, Instagram is the platform of the present and the future. For a long time, marketers have complained that Instagram simply isn’t as marketing-friendly as other platforms but the slew of marketing features they have launched in 2018 will change that. Instagram marketing is definitely something that should become an integral part of your marketing mix. LinkedIn is the other incumbent that will really shine in 2019. LinkedIn has always had a stronghold in B2B marketing but it has consolidated this position with a well thought out strategy and feature roll out. LinkedIn doesn’t suffer from the loss of credibility and trust that other social media channels have been subjected to. Over time, it has grown into a platform that’s much more than an online resume. It’s a place where people engage meaningfully over work-related conversations and that will not change anytime soon. The Up-and-comers: Whatsapp and Tik-Tok 2019’s round-up of the best social media channels is incomplete without talking about two new entrants. Although both are at very different stages, they are both still new for marketers, who are still finding their feet with the platforms. The first of course is Whatsapp. After years of relentless focus on user experience with no thought of monetization, Whatsapp has finally launched its Whatsapp for Business app which already has more than 5 million users. Given Whatsapp’s strict focus on user experience and privacy, chances are it will never become the thrust of your marketing strategy. Yet, Whatsapp can be a great complement to your primary marketing channels, especially to deliver better customer experience. This brings us to the newest kid on the block; Tik-Tok. The platform has grown at a phenomenal rate and already boasts of 500 million monthly active users. Tik-Tok is the new avatar of Musical.ly after its acquisition by Chinese tech giant ByteDance. Although the channel is still very nascent and building marketing features is probably not in the picture yet, this is undoubtedly the channel of the future. If you’re looking to build a futuristic strategy, this is the time to start experimenting with some organic brand content on the platform and get ahead of the curve. At the end of the day, the choice of social media channels and the emphasis on each one is a very personal decision. It is a combination of factors — previous performance, suitability to your product, and relevance to your current goals. Having said that, it’s important to be aware of the shifting trends in social media channels so that you stop playing catch up and are able to build a competitive strategy.
Top 5 Ways to Use Instagram Marketing to Improve Your Business
Over the years, we’ve seen many standpoints towards Instagram marketing. Some clients feel it’s just a fad while others feel it may not work for their product. On the other end of the spectrum, we’ve also had clients who see Instagram as the only thing their marketing strategy will ever need. In our experience, both perspectives have usually been off the mark. On one hand, Instagram is one of the most effective social media marketing platforms with engagement rates that are far ahead of other marketing channels. Instagram has 500 million users accessing the app every day. What’s more, an Instagram user spends an hour on an average scrolling through their feed. This kind of unprecedented engagement makes Instagram one of the most powerful tools out there today. People who believe Instagram won’t work for their product usually think it’s because Instagram has a perceptibly “younger” audience base (64% of 18-29 year-olds use Instagram) or because it only works for “lifestyle” brands. While Instagram is undeniably popular with young people, it now has diverse demography that is only getting more diverse with time. At the same time, a large range of businesses now advertises on Instagram; from mental health organizations to hardware stores. It’s all about using Instagram’s platform to tell your brand story in a compelling way. Here are some of the most effective ways in which brands have used Instagram to dramatically transform their business. Branding View this post on Instagram ? A post shared by Zomato (@zomato) on Sep 23, 2018 at 11:30pm PDT Generating brand awareness is the biggest opportunity that Instagram’s high levels of engagement provide a business enterprise. Crafting content on Instagram must echo the brand voice since it is a key imperative to build credibility for the brand that will go a long way. The content need not be blatantly promotional — in fact, one should constantly avoid thrusting one’s product in users’ face — rather, they need to create content that resonates with the vision, mission, and values of the business. Humour, beautiful visuals and crisply edited videos are all useful tools. Before creating your messaging, though, it’s important to find your brand voice. Are you quirky, trendy, edgy, professional, etc? Brands like Chumbak and Zomato does a great job of this. Albums and Captions View this post on Instagram Opposites attract. A post shared by Ben & Jerry’s (@benandjerrys) on Apr 24, 2019 at 10:30am PDT In the early days, taking a meaningful photo, adding an appropriate filter, and posting it was enough. That’s not true anymore. Instagram now allows up to 10 photos in a single post, and you should leverage this feature to tell a visual story through each post. Also, you need to make sure that visual captions are created that add to the story while lending it a finishing touch. Today, every post on Instagram can tell a unique story through a series of photos and captions that goes with it. And that’s what effective marketers are striving for! For instance, Ben and Jerry’s Instagram posts are not only drool-worthy but tell you everything you need to know about their latest products and flavours. Influencer Marketing View this post on Instagram Hydration never tasted so good ?@meyagirls #earthsfinest A post shared by FIJI Water (@fijiwater) on Oct 10, 2018 at 2:00pm PDT Influencer marketing is set to become a $10 billion industry by 2020. In fact, most marketers are looking at influencer marketing as an integral part of their marketing strategy and with good reason. 22% of users aged 18-34 often make a large purchase after seeing an endorsement from an influencer. When it comes to influencer marketing, few platforms are as effective as Instagram. If you think you can’t afford to invest in influencer marketing, think again. Influencer marketing is no longer about huge online celebrities with millions of followers. Instagram has a number of micro-influencers who have between 15k to 100k followers. These micro-influencers are far more accessible and much less expensive. Best of all, even though they have a smaller following, chances are that their followers are more loyal and highly engaged. As long as you’re able to find the right influencers to match your product, you will be able to get great results from influencer marketing. If you want to understand how to use micro-influencers to grow brand awareness at a phenomenal pace, check out Fiji Water’s influencer campaigns. Stories/IGTV Most marketers have found that Instagram stories, and more recently IGTV, are performing exceedingly well. Even within stories, videos are especially attractive. Stories also have a number of features that make them more discoverable. For instance, by tagging your location in a story you can appear in your city’s Instagram story, instantly making your content more discoverable. Similarly, you can also add URLs to your stories so that people can instantly go to the website that offers your product or service. Shoppable Posts For a long time, one of the key issues most marketers have had with Instagram is that it isn’t as advertisement friendly as Facebook. In fact, the platform has intentionally prioritized engagement over ads for many years now and that was seen as a major disadvantage from the brands’ perspective. However, Instagram has recently introduced “shoppable posts” which is set to change the dynamic completely. Shoppable posts allow people to buy products from an Instagram post, without leaving the app at all. As a business, you simply have to tag a product catalogue to their Instagram account. You can tag your product the same way you tag a person and people can directly shop through your post. In fact, now, influencers can also create a shoppable post which expands the scope of this feature even further. Nars and Michael Kors have been experimenting extensively with the feature. Of course, it isn’t wise to make Instagram (or any one platform