Have you recently started a blog or are planning to start one — but still skeptical about whether it’s worth your time and resources? You’re not alone — with the number of blogs out there, most new bloggers are thinking about whether blogging is worth it or not. Yet, blogging continues to be one of the most effective ways of putting content out there and finding the right audience for it. It’s also one of the most sustainable and effective ways to make passive income online, as long as you get it right. At Justwords, time and again, we’ve seen blogs become the most successful content marketing channel for our clients. So in 2020, we decided to share some fascinating blogging statistics with you, in the hope that it inspires you to go all guns blazing into your blogging journey. 3 Million+ blog posts are written every day This is the one statistic that is often used to scare prospective bloggers, so we’ll get it out of the way first. While it’s true that there are far too many blogs written on a daily basis, there are also 3.5 billion Google searches happening every day as well. This means, more and more users are looking for information online. What’s more, while there are a ton of blog posts written on a daily basis, most blogs are neither consistent nor uniquely informative. So when you think about high-quality, consistent blogs, the number comes down considerably. Also Read: https://justwords.in/blogcorporate-blogging-eight-things-remember/ 77% of internet users regularly read blog posts If this statistic doesn’t inspire you to become a prolific blogger, we are not sure what will. 77% means that most internet users are regular readers of blog posts, so if you’re looking to build a target audience, a well-planned blog is the best way forward. 72% of online marketers say that content creation is their most effective SEO strategy As far as SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is concerned, creating effective content is the best way to go. Good content lies at the heart of every single SEO tactic — whether that’s building backlinks, creating credibility, or optimizing for long-tail keywords. 47% of buyers viewed 3–5 pieces of content before taking a step towards product purchase This is a great statistic for those who are wondering about the efficacy of content marketing. Today, most users will buy your product if they look at you as an expert authority in your field. This means that your content has to be both compelling as well as highly informative, if you want it to convert leads for you. Only 20% of bloggers create posts that are over 1500 words This statistic simply means that there isn’t enough long-form content out there. But this is also important because the average word count of top-ranked content in Google searches is between 1140-1285 words. Plus, long-form content generates 9 times more leads than short-form blog posts. This means that instead of churning about 3-4 posts of 400-500 words every week, it’s a much better idea to publish fewer pieces of content but make sure that they are in-depth, unique, and informative. 70% of consumers would rather get to know a company via an article than an ad There was a time when ads were all-powerful — they were really the only way consumers came to know a brand. But today, it’s all about content. As of 2015, a whopping 200 million people had ad blockers installed on their devices. So, having content that actually understands the target audience, solves key problems, and adds value to them is the best way to build a loyal customer base. Also Read: https://justwords.in/blog/do-this-dont-do-that-while-executing-your-content-marketing-plan/ Content marketing is 62% cheaper than traditional marketing If you need one more reason to invest in content marketing, what can be more compelling than cost-effectiveness? Traditional marketing in the form of pay-per-click advertising will only give you returns until you’re actually investing money. With blogs, on the other hand, you will keep getting organic traffic long after you’ve invested the time and effort to create and publish the blog. Almost 50% of marketers say that if they had the chance to redo their content marketing strategy, they would focus more on blogging This is perhaps the most telling statistic out there. These days, there’s a lot of focus on social media and even on newer content formats like videos. Yet, consistent and high-quality blogs have paid off for brands across the board. It’s a very good idea to make sure blogs are an integral part of your content marketing from Day 1. The median time spent reading an article is 37 seconds If users are only spending 37 seconds on your article, is there even a point to creating those long-form posts? Yes, there is. The only thing to keep in mind here is that you need to make your posts skimmable. This means lists, sub-headings, simple sentences. Basically, do what it takes to make your posts readable. Blog posts with images get 94% more views than posts without images This statistic is inspiring because it makes your work as a blogger that much simpler. Instead of sticking to a wall of text only, use graphics and images that help you make your point more effectively. At the end of the day, blogs continue to be one of the most effective marketing techniques in the digital landscape. Not just from an SEO perspective, but also to establish you as a credible authority and get users interested in your products and services. If you’re still on the fence about whether blogging is going to be your thing in 2020, stop over-thinking it and get started as soon as you can. If there are any other amazing blogging stats that we missed out on, let us know in the comments below. Watch: How does content marketing work to get your business traffic?
Category: Content Marketing
7 Ways to Deal with Internet Trolls: The Underbelly of Reputation Management
Pooja, a social media manager with a hospitality brand, had to excuse herself from a friend’s party at 11 PM. Her company’s social channel had erupted with 60 negative tweets from a disgruntled guest who was not ready to stop until the company was taking heed of his demands. The guest was now in the process of instigating and tagging others to fan the spark of dissatisfaction into a forest fire. It was classic online reputation management (ORM) nightmare situation. The main job was to stop this from escalating into a PR nightmare. Now, most of us have faced a similar situation as social media managers. So, taking a stance and dealing with such experiences is a must. It is common knowledge that positivity hardly comes actively on social media. People have to be prodded and probed to extrapolate a positive. Negative, on the other hand, comes with the explosion potential of a ticking time bomb. Some part of it is potent with malice because the attackers are hiding behind an online identity and have a false belief that they can’t and won’t be tracked. While every situation will have to be dealt with differently, here are some best practices to follow: Create a solid policy and fall back on it often As a brand, you have the right to maintain the decorum of your social handles. Don’t give control to the bullying few. Create a social media policy document and share it with all admins of the page. Admins should have the right to remove/hide/delete harassing, anonymous or spam comments. Put up the policies on your own website and use the link as a reference point to anyone crossing the line. Don’t delete posts easily as it only irks the person and may also encourage others to write things they don’t mean. They are likely to come back with worse in the future. Have a standard offline approach for customer care Trolls thrive on the attention they receive over a sustained period of time. Cut off the potential for this by redirecting them to an email id that can have a quick turnaround time (TAT). Let them know that you have heard them and registered their grievance. But keep redirecting them to email or even direct messaging. If you are dealing with an irate customer who won’t wait for an email response, have an escalation process and have a customer care executive call them on a priority basis. Being heard and responded to will destroy the troll’s steam to hurl abuses online or rally others to join them. If you can’t resolve the issue immediately, request a 24 – 48-hour timeline and be sure to keep the deadline. Once you have this, share your response online so that others following the update know that you have responded. Create a specific customer care handle If your brand handle is getting clouded with trolls, create a redirect mechanism with a separate customer care handle which is purely for handling queries. If someone approaches on your brand handle, redirect them to the customer care handle to keep the conversation going without hampering the brand image. Pick your battles via GIPHY There are times when you are right and times when you will have to apologize and move on for a genuine problem at your end. If you know that you are right then be willing to take on the troll on your own terms. People think that they can get discounts or refunds if they escalate the problem to the CEO of the company, leaving the minions scurrying. Don’t be perturbed and follow the standard response procedure if you are right. Respond with facts and proof documents if need be. There are times when one of your staff/processes could have gone wrong. This is especially true for the service industry. If there is clear proof in the pudding, it is best to take the higher road, apologize, and swallow the bitter medicine. At other times, you may hear a simple statement complaint like the food tasting bad or the service not being up to the mark. Reply with a sense of humour and the tension may get diffused. Block that noise via GIPHY It is not an easy thing to do but one has to do it when running out of options. Some trolls can go on tangent and decide they won’t stop until their ransom demands are met. So, it is important to take a stand and eventually block them from engaging in a conversation on your page. This is done in an extreme case when you label the person as a ‘detractor’. Keep maintaining and updating this list so that you can build a case history if required. Identify the difference between a troll and an irate customer. A customer may be making noise to set a wrong right. A troll is making noise to get attention and often do scathing personal attacks. Be stern with trolls and patient with customers. Use analytics to bring the internal culprits to court Errant member-facing staff is also a problem that the ORM team has to deal with. Whether it is someone in the sales team who has gone astray or someone in the customer service team who has in a moment of weakness lost patience, it is important to track and maintain records. The weekly/ monthly report for the particular department is eventually likely to catch fire and attention and bring more discipline in dealing with customers. Amplify your positives to drown the noise What you see is what you believe. If you see 100 positive reviews to one negative, it is easier to believe that the overall experience with the brand is positive. Encourage, and if need be, incentivize positive behaviour by requesting customers to share their positive experience without fail. The more you amplify the positive noise, the less likely you are to be
6 Powerful Ways Marketers Can Use Psychology to Improve Content
Being a marketer is not easy. You need to wear several hats to create that perfect selling proposition – you need to have the understanding of the product manager, the content team, your sales guys, and even the data people to add that new perspective in positioning, pricing and placement. A good marketer is always on the lookout for a spark of insight about their target audience that can help them create the right messaging for the product. This insight comes from a deep understanding of their psyche – knowing which statement is most likely to tug their heartstrings and push them off an indecisive fence and become a customer. While you may already be applying a lot of psychology lessons to connect with your target audience, here are a few that we found comes in handy: 1. Emotional marketing Has an ad left you feeling so emotional that it has affected the way you perceive the brand? Sometimes these emotions are powerful enough to make a consumer spur the buying decision before the rational brain kicks in to understand the product features or price. If such an emotional buy is then ratified with a good product, it results in winning over a loyal customer. A great example is the Nike Dream Crazier women ad. That and several in the genre that tugs on an emotion. The ad never once tries to sell Nike or explain the product features or mention the price. The intent of the ad is to appeal to the emotions of women athletes. The brand demonstrates that it ‘knows’ you. It ‘feels’ you. And it is one standing by as a silent supporter in your struggles. Of course, women will try out the shoes and buy them for the quality they offer. Not that rival brands may be any less in quality. That’s where the emotional marketing works and creates a differentiator pull of brand affinity. 2. Provide social proof Social selling is new-age marketing. From using influencers to sell your wares to providing the opportunity for reviews, testimonials and other user-generated content, the awareness and selling proposition brought out via social proof is more powerful than a brand peddling its value proposition. The case from social proof comes from the fact that we want to emulate the behaviours of the people we trust and follow. View this post on Instagram my daily essentials. what are yours? #madedifferently @smartwaterind A post shared by Radhika (@radhikaofficial) on Oct 10, 2019 at 1:06am PDT Although many industries have adopted social selling, it works really well for travel and fashion. Having an influencer or customer wear your label and tag you often becomes a more powerful reason to buy than other factors. Seeing beautiful destinations visited by someone in your peer group gives better validation to your own choices. Check out the top 10 travel influencers of India in this piece, their brand marketing tie-ups and how they have benefited the advertisers. 3. Grounded Cognition Before we continue, take a minute to watch this Nescafe Gold video. We have to admit it left us with goosebumps. Would I buy the coffee because of this ad? Probably not. When the decision making happens on the supermarket shelf, we will look at blend and aroma than the emotional appeal. Then why did Nescafe decide to create this ad? That’s because this ad takes the storytelling approach that almost makes you feel standing in place of the man in the stadium. You’ll feel the anxiety of the protagonist almost imagining who in your friends and loved ones will be left standing if you were to ask these questions. This coupled with the product cut ads did the trick for the brand. 4. Paradox of Choice The common experiment quoted to demonstrate this marketing psychology is the one conducted by Sheena Iyengar, a professor of business at the University of Colombia and the author of ‘The art of choosing’. In a California gourmet market, the professor and her assistants set up a booth of jams and switched from a selection of 24 to 6 jams every hour. Here’s the math: No. of people who sampled the larger assortment: 60% No. of people who bought after sampling the larger assortment: 3% No. of people who sampled the smaller assortment: 40% No. of people who bought after sampling the smaller assortment: 30% The other appending factor is the lack of information in the choices. If one variety of jam gave out information on being from an organic source or having more nutrient value for children, it could easily tip the scales of choice. Choices can also be used to tip the scale to your advantage. Check out the choices offered below for a women’s magazine: 1 year subscription: INR 399 1 year subscription with a monthly mystery box of make-up from leading brands: INR 1499 The difference in the values are too high to make the decision easy. What if you now introduced something that could tip the scales in the favour of one choice? 1 year subscription: INR 399 1 year subscription and a bi-monthly mystery box of makeup from leading brands: INR 1299 1 year subscription with a monthly mystery box of make-up from leading brands: INR 1499 You’ll notice that the 2nd choice is a dummy one introduced by marketers to simplify the choice. No one will go for it when the difference between the two is just INR 200 and you get an additional 6 mystery boxes for it. That’s how you can use the paradox of choice to your advantage. 5. Loss Aversion Theory FOMO or Fear of missing out is real. It is one of the most common psychology theories put out by marketers. Other people are thinner, more beautiful, have happier families, travel to exotic destinations, have instagrammable food and in general live a better life because of the brands they choose. The fear of
The yay and nay of Influencer Marketing and should you do it
Keeping up with the latest trend, there would hardly be a marketer who may have not considered Influencer Marketing in their mix. Given the paucity of visibility in organic marketing and noise in paid marketing, Influencer Marketing seemed like idea that was clutter-breaking. Like all media, it comes with its pros and cons. The ROI from using this channel has been under severe scrutiny and skeptics think this is all hoo-ha and no moolah. The 2018 Mediakix survey predicted that Influencer marketing will become a $5-10B industry by 2020. Let’s share a quick background on this medium of outreach and how you can check for the pros and cons for your brand and industry. Influencer Marketing From celebrities to micro-influencers, influencer marketing is a way for brands to communicate via a third-party influencer whose opinion resonates with the brand’s audience. The medium, as such, isn’t new but the emergence of social media has distributed the power and given everyone an opportunity to become an influencer if they garner a good following. It’s one thing to see Bournvita talk about being the best health drink for a child. It becomes more personal and believable when “mothers like me” says how the chocolate-filled sugary powder with some nutrient content has helped her child. It instantly induces trust, becomes personal at some level and makes the brand believable. It would make another mother eventually add Bournvita in her list of consideration when buying a health drink for her child. There is no direct way for Bournvita to attribute their influencer campaign to the final purchase (unless they do a digitally traceable campaign via a series of coupon codes, contests or hashtags). But the final impact on the revenue is undeniable. Choosing mothers as their micro-influencers works well for Bournvita. But other industries don’t have it so straight. Let’s continue with our pros and cons debate Pros 1. Reach the right audience If you can identify your target audience well and the influencer who can sway the opinion of your audience and if the influencer has a sizeable following, the reach for an influencer marketing campaign can hit the bullseye. As you will see, there are a lot of ‘ifs’ in the sentence which makes the medium experiment-worthy. Let’s say that you want to promote your hill-station hotel during a low-occupancy period. Right before the period begins, your influencer campaign encompassing of travel bloggers and writers can start seeding in content that gives away titbits about your destination. Once they do this, contests and hashtags can be used as a more direct way to generate interest. Here, we put our trust in the influencer blogger’s relationship with his audience and how much they’ll believe what he says on the destination and the hotel. Will it drive people to come? That one you’ll have to wait it out. 2. Build credibility Building trust in a brand can take years. Taking the influencer route consistently is like receiving positive word-of-mouth with built-in amplification. It sounds like a dream come true for any brand. Influencers here have done all the heavy-lifting of creating content over time that people follow and like. Even with a single post that doesn’t overly advertise but sounds more like a first-hand review can do the trick. 3. Expand your audience Organic communication cannot control who you reach. Paid advertising can allow you a certain degree of control, especially with targeting and lookalike audiences. But influencer marketing takes your reach to a different level. Zoe ‘Zoella’ who tops Forebes’ Influencer list along with Michelle Phan and Huda Kattan has a multimillion fan following and a bank balance that is in the millions too. She reviews a $3 moisturiser from the local store or a $30 brand from a beauty store with equal ease. View this post on Instagram I didn’t know what to caption this, so @poppydeyes said “SPLISH SPLASH I WAS TAKING A BATH” so there you go ? What are you currently loving in your bath routine? This @herbivorebotanicals scrub is INSANE! A post shared by Zoë Sugg (@zoesugg) on Aug 1, 2019 at 11:58am PDT It makes her believable and trustworthy. Women from 18 to 50 follow her everyday to see if the product she is reviewing matches their tastes and wallets. Reaching such a diverse audience with a single or series of posts makes it well worth it to try steering your brand communication via an influencer and get to say things that you wouldn’t say directly. 4. It isn’t as expensive and saves time While celebrity influencers do tend to cost a lost, going with micro-influencers can be more cost-effective than other channels. Some influencers can work for barter when you give your product away. Others can work on a mix of barter and a small fee. This post by Shane Barker helps you see what the market looks like for the cost of a sponsored post. Also, an influencer is then given the responsibility to create quality content. Be it a blog, a vlog, a post or a video, the content quality is responsible for the eventual reach and engagement. 5. The statistics tell a story The 2017 influencer marketing report by LINQIA said a lot of marketers think it worked for them. 77% of marketers use influencer collaborations to drive engagement. 89% of marketers use it to create authentic content about their brand. 56% of marketers use it to drive traffic to their websites. 43% of marketers use it to reach younger audiences who detest traditional ads. Now that we’ve built a case on why you should be trying it out, here are a few cautionary points. 1. Measurable ROI? Marketers often like to live in a world which is surrounded by words like creating brand pull, increasing positive sentiment, increase visibility, reach, engagement and creating brand recall. Talk about sales numbers and all these words tend to
7 Actionable Tips to Give Your Content More Personality
It’s true- there are over 2 million blog posts being written every single day. So how do you engage readers in this era of short attention spans and information overload? The only way of effectively doing this is by creating unique content. But as our clients always ask us, “is any content really unique in today’s day and age?” Of course, most topics under the sun have already been written about. But unique content doesn’t mean you have to a unique topic. What it means is that you have to bring your unique perspective to the topic, whether that’s in the way you structure your article or the personality you bring to your content. In fact, content writing in a voice that’s interesting and unique can put a fresh spin on even the most mundane topics. So without further ado, here’s our pick of the 7 most effective ways to give your content more personality. Tip 1: Don’t write, talk Does that sound confusing? Believe it or not, this is one of the simplest ways to give your content more personality. Unfortunately, ever since school, we’ve been taught that’s there’s a difference between how we speak and how we write. So long-winded sentences, extensive vocabulary, and complex ideas meant you were a better writer. But that simply isn’t true. When you create content today, it has only one main purpose— to engage the reader. So a simple technique is to just imagine your reader is standing in front of you and you’re having a conversation with them. The words will be simple and direct; and will flow naturally. And your content will automatically become so much more engaging. Tip 2: Tell a powerful story Humans have been telling stories since the dawn of civilization, and there’s a reason for that. Stories immediately hook the reader and capture interest. Of course, you’re not always writing a compelling narrative. Sometimes, you’re writing a 1000-word guide on which building materials to use. Even in that case, use anecdotes. Anecdotes are an effective way of transforming a drab and dry piece. Every time you feel the pace is slowing down try and use a compelling anecdote. Of course, you need to find an anecdote that is both interesting but also relevant to the point you’re making. Also, try and sprinkle them through the content without going overboard. Too many anecdotes can be jarring and take attention away from the meat of the content. Tip 3: Craft a detailed buyer persona A buyer persona is basically a detailed account of an average reader of your blog. Put some time and effort into cultivating a buyer persona so that you’re able to understand your audience better than anyone else. Figure out who your reader is; how old they are, what gender they belong to, what their income is, whether they have kids, where they went to school, what their hobbies are, and so on. Once you start writing, always keep this buyer persona in mind and address your post to them. You’ll notice your writing immediately becomes more intimate, personalized, and effective. Tip 4: Tug at the heartstrings Jonah Berger analysed over 7000 articles from the New York Times to figure out what made a particular piece of content engaging. He found that stories that provoked an emotional response in readers — whether that was empathy, joy, frustration, pain, or even anger — were far more likely to be shared than stories that weren’t high on emotional content. If you’re stuck wondering how to make your staid content idea evoke an emotional response, just think of it from the reader’s point of view. Which pain point of theirs are you addressing with this piece? Why will they value what you have to say? Once you figure this out, writing an emotion-driven piece shouldn’t be hard. Tip 5: Formatting The right formatting is just as important as the actual words. You need to understand that in this age of frenetic content consumption, readers don’t always “read” content. Sometimes, they just scan it. So making your content easily scannable is the key. Formatting is actually one of the easiest tools to pick up. For starters, keep your paragraphs short; ideally no more than 100 words. This helps break the monotony for readers. Another technique is using subheadings to break down the text and let the readers know what’s coming next. Other techniques include using paragraph spacing, emphasizing important words and phrases by putting them in italics, using em and en dashes, and parentheses. Tip 6: Be interested in the topic This one can be tricky, especially for those of us who are professional writers. You may not always get to work on content ideas that you find inspiring or even interesting. But the trick is to move past this. The reason you’re writing that piece of content is because it will add value to someone who’s going to read it. This means that just because you don’t find the topic interesting, doesn’t mean no one else does. Instead of writing on a topic you don’t care about, take some time out to do your research. Not research on the topic, but rather research about and around the topic. Keep doing this till you find something about the topic that piques your interest. You’ll create a much more authentic piece if you’re actually passionate about what you’re writing. Tip 7: Break the rules When it comes to modern content, you don’t need to be a stickler for grammar rules. Starting a sentence with “and” or “but” is perfectly acceptable if it drives your point home better. As is using sentence fragments and even run-on sentences. The idea is to be unique, authentic, and relatable. Your customer needs to understand and identify with what you have to say — and if some rules get broken in the process, don’t sweat it. These tactics are fairly simple to implement, but they can really
Making the Online Offline connect for Your Campaigns
With limited attention span and mind space, most brands who want to create a sustained campaign recall tend to plan for a 360-degree campaign. This often means a campaign that encompasses print, radio, outdoors and digital. In some cases, it may also include in-store advertising and Below The Line (BTL) campaigns. Such campaigns do require a sizeable budget and a water-tight media plan to optimize spends. One of the biggest reasons to make this connection is that the performance tracking and ROI calculation becomes more tangible via the digital medium. Even if you share information vial all other media, you would ultimately prefer that your user comes and takes an action online so that the outcome is measurable. The best way to pick out ideas for such campaigns is by seeing how successful campaigns have been implemented so far. Let’s take a few examples. Online initiation to Offline execution: Events Event management is one industry that has tremendously benefited from the online campaigns resulting in offline outcomes. The simplest form of event marketing starts by creating an event page via Facebook. This works especially well for local events for a targeted user base. Let’s say you plan a conference for professionals in your industry, it will require a parallax landing page on your website along with a curated registration form and a payment gateway for paid events. Advertisements for premier events can start months before to give enough build-up time with content about the speakers, the opportunities the event brings and mirror stories about professionals attending it. Creating an online-offline campaign for the event The online channels you are most likely to use for a professional event is Linkedin which will allow you to target by industry and designation. This along with an email campaign to a relevant database can be a good starting point. After testing the waters with these channels, you can try out the search engine marketing route primarily via Google AdWords to see how it impacts your registration flow. The offline connect for the campaign can happen by directly identifying influencers for the campaign and reach out to them with an offline invite. Offline initiation for online execution: Let’s say that you want the final action of the user to happen online. Here you can create a website or microsite for the user to land on and complete the action – be it fill a lead, make a purchase or upload their contest entry. The promotion of the offer can happen via a variety of offline channels like print, in-store and radio. The online promotion can happen via a range of high-traffic websites. The best examples come from brands like Myntra, Jabong, Amazon and Flipkart who go all out to promote their sales. You’ll see their ad in newspapers, hear it on the radio and not miss it on your phone. Since most of these brands time their sales together, they also benefit by the cumulative visibility that rubs off from each other’s advertising. After all, it is a common trend for shoppers to check out multiple sites and go through endless scrolls before zeroing in on a purchase. Image Source Such campaigns have clearly proved their worth in ROI. Myntra added 5 lakh new users after its EOSS sale in 2018. This number along with a 10x sale prediction is only increasing every year. Try out an innovation One of the most innovative online-offline campaigns was done by Fox TV to promote their show The F Word. Digital posters with Gordon Ramsay were put up in the streets of Los Angeles. These were connected with microphones and cameras transmitting real-time data. As unsuspecting people walked by, the interactive poster had Gordon Ramsay speak to them real time! Another example of packaging innovation comes from McDonald’s. We all know that the children’s favourite Happy Meals comes with a toy that is the centre of attraction. In an innovation, McDonald’s converted its Happy Meal Box into a VR headset. The box came with dotted lines that could be folded into a VR contraption. Dubbed as ‘Happy Goggles’ these could be used by anyone with a smartphone to have a VR experience. Here are some quick things to remember to make your online-offline campaign successful Add online CTAs to build the offline-online connect All your offline campaigns should lead prospects to a landing page. This can be done either by directly giving them a simple, memorable URL. This can be a slightly complicated proposition if your landing page is not your homepage. In such cases, you can run promotional banners on your homepage to facilitate the journey or share a QR code. In the case of contests, you can ask people to complete an activity offline and upload their entry online to be eligible to participate. Use #tags #tags become a perfect channel for online-offline connect as it can be used and tracked across most of the popular social channels. #tags also solve the problem of having complicated URLs or avoid the trouble of scanning a QR code. Instead #tags can be used on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Create an offline story and continue it online Some brands often tend to use this style to build empowerment campaigns. Think of campaigns like Tata tea’s Jaago re which has become a movement in itself. Jaago re was popularized via TV campaigns. Today, long after the campaigns are off the TV and over a decade after it began, it continues to live on via online channels becoming a home for activism and public interest petitions. Another interesting thing to do is use the story-telling approach to narrate half the story online and ask the users to watch the conclusion online. Once you have them hooked, it is not difficult to make the sales pitch at the right time. Give out vouchers online which can be redeemed offline (or vice versa) If you are a restaurant who wants to increase walk-ins on a weekday, publicize your discount voucher online.
How to Rank on Position Zero in Google
We know that Google is constantly experimenting with search results. For search engine optimizers, goals keep shifting. SEO earlier was about ranking against competitors in the same category. Now it has moved to a point where SEO is about having a sustained approach against Google’s changing algorithm. Ranking on position 1 is yesterday. SEO is now about ranking in position zero. What is position zero? Position zero is the ‘featured snippet’ that shows above the first search result. It looks different as it is highlighted in a grey outline box and features the answer in the first few lines. For a typical query, you are highly likely to find your answer in this snippet, so much so, that you may not go beyond if the snippet gives you the answer you need. You are also much more likely to click on this result compared to others that appear below. How do featured snippets work? Here’s what Google has to say: Here’s the nice additional bit that a lot of people miss – “Featured snippets commonly contain one listing, but more than one may appear.“ This means Google is picking the most definitive reply to a query which is most likely based on its historic performance. It is highly likely that these are: It’s high ranking in organic search based on various existing parameters of the search algorithm High click rate on the query Likely answer to the exact question in the format of an answer in a few lines and also a detailed explanation for support The average amount of time spent on-page and a lower bounce rate which is a signal that the answer is relevant Are there different types of featured snippets? Well, the are different types of content that get featured. This includes paragraphs, numbered lists, bulleted lists, tables, YouTube videos, images, and charts. Why are featured snippets important? Other than the most obvious fact of added visibility, featured snippets are also what you hear as an answer if you do a voice search. Not just that, 55% of households are expected to own smart speaker devices by 2022. From this lens, if you are not in the featured snippet, nothing much else will matter. The good part is that more than one result can be in the featured snippet. Here’s an example of what multiple featured snippets looks like We searched for ‘top 10 places to holiday in India’. While the main featured snippet read ‘According to Travel Triangle’, it also had ‘View 5+ more’ on the top right corner. The result takes you to a page where Travel Triangle is still featured in the first two search results and also as a first result in the answer box. Then you’ll see search results from competitors like Thrillophillia and MakeMyTrip among others on the same topic. Here’s another thing that grabs attention – the featured snippet is not a paragraph directly taken from the page. The snippet program is built in a way that it will scan the entire page, select content from the page in parts, gather it and show it in the more relevant and effective manner. With this instance of the Travel Triangle blog, you’ll see that Google has reformatted the content and just picked up the list for display with minimal or no text from within each list item. Another reason to care about position zero in terms of search is also that it is shown before the ads. It takes up significantly more real estate space than regular results garnering more attention – and there is no way you can pay to get here. And now the question you are really seeking the answer to – How do I get to rank in the featured snippet? As with all things SEO, there are tips and tricks to get yourself into position zero. Here are some things that can help First – get to the first page of search results – the higher the better. This is half the battle won for any SEO. Now, even a no. 10 listing on page 1 has a chance to get into position zero, however, the majority of featured snippets come from results that rank between 1 to 5. Work backward – what is the most likely question for which your particular blog can be the best possible answer. Provide the right information in the right format. Include all possible information through that one page Include rich media including infographics and video on the page in the same context Keep updating the page as often as possible. Keep a timeline check on when the page was last updated and if it the latest page is crawled Optimize the title by adding a part of the query to it as an H tag. Also, add the year/month where relevant. For example, something like ‘2019’s most definitive list to get to position zero on Google’. Keep the page engaging by opening comments so that there is always fresh user-generated content on the page that gives the impression that the page has useful information. From a content perspective, answer the 5 Ws of who, what, when, where, why. This is most likely to cover the questions in context. Google’s answer box about the topic is likely to give you the questions people are already asking. Don’t forget to answer the How. Many questions seek instructions as answers on how to do or make something. If you have a video, image or content that answers this, make sure you include it in the page Add definitions: Definitions help solve the ‘What’ part of the question in a way that can keep it simple to understand and complex enough to intrigue someone to click through. Do a comparison: An a v/s b approach can be a great winner for a featured snippet people like to get information in context. For example, do a simple cat vs dog search on Google, you will see a featured snippet, featured videos, answer
Whatsapp for Business – All you need to know and how to assess if its worth it
Most marketeers have already heard about Whatsapp for Business that launched sometime back. A few early birds have tried it out. Most others are trying to figure their way around this new and seemingly powerful means of customer communication. Let’s get into the details of what this medium is, how to evaluate it for your business and what you’ll need to get started. What is Whatsapp for Business? In simple terms, it is a way for businesses to have one on one communication with their customers. As a business, you can be a just chat away from your customer at all times. Even though businesses have always wanted to do this, there has never been an easy way to do it. Our earlier means of communication like emailers SMSes and even notifications have long reached their saturation point, enough to be partially consumed but also easily ignored. Whatsapp, primarily because of its market penetration, established usage and a huge set of the captive audience becomes a gold mine for a savvy marketer. Where is Whatsapp for business users? In case you booked a movie ticket, it is likely that your booking service provider sent an update about your ticket on Whatsapp. Same goes for a travel ticket booking or even if you are interacting with your bank and want to know your balance. Most people received their first communication on Whatsaap as a transactional message which you can’t reply to. You must not have even realized giving consent during the booking/transaction process. Now you have your ticket right in a chat window – unmissable and quick to access. This establishes a window of communication initiated by the brand – but with rules. What are the rules I need to know before I use this medium? Whatsapp currently is trying things out and they have authorized third-party vendors who can help you with the technical set up and the communication strategy. Their primary fear is that brands exploit the medium and soon make it spammy. Aren’t we already tired of the Good Morning messages from various groups? Now what if brands start selling to you on Whatsapp – it can get irritating and mostly result in people blocking brands altogether. Most service providers will share a per-message cost with you. The cost varies depending on the base number of messages you commit to per month. The cost applies if you initiate the communication, but is free for a 24-hour window if your customer messages you first Whatsapp is establishing itself as a convenient way for customer service. They are being cautious to not open the platform for promotional content which they believe can lead to it becoming spammy All message templates need to adhere to stringent guidelines and will be executed only if approved by Whatsapp If your customers being to block you and report your messages as spam, Whatsapp too will block your number The most basic but most important rule – Whatsapp requires explicit customer consent before you send a message to them. The consent can be taken on other media like SMS, email, website form, etc. The consent can also be collected in an offline form but the record needs to be preserved electronically for easy access in case of conflict. What are the types of communication possible via Whatsapp? Whatsapp can primarily hold up the burden of your transactional communication. Ticket booking confirmations, links and relevant messages on Whatsapp allows easy access. The second type of communication is initiated by the customer with a service request or query. Thus, it can be used for issue resolution. What should marketers be varied while using Whatsapp for Business? It seems like a good bet to jump on the Whatsapp bandwagon and announce to your customers. Here are a few important things to consider before you do this The opt-in process starts from scratch. You’ll have to write the right opt-in message so that your customers have set expectations from the medium. The more transactional the better initially as those come as utility messages than regular communication.7 Consider a base technical set up cost and the cost per initiated communication from your end. Consider resource requirements to handle Whatsapp messages. This is similar to having people on standby for a live chat with your customers on your website. Except, many customers may think it is OK to reach out to you at an odd hour. Invest in training people who will be actually answering customer queries. If the first people in the line of fire fall, the whole system can crumble very quickly. We can see screenshots from Whatsapp chats floating on Twitter on how an irate customer service reacted on chat. Keep a thorough quality check on the responses delivered and be agile to intervene and change processes where required In spite of your best efforts, some disgruntled customers are likely to block you because of an unrelated issue. Because the line here is unclear, Whatsapp is more likely to side with your customer than you. How can you evaluate if Whatsapp for Business is right for you? To evaluate Whatsapp for Business, you need to have a handy document that establishes the business case. Here’s how you can do this: Get clarity on all customer-facing functions in your organization. In most companies, you’ll have a customer service team and a sales team in this line. Others may include finance (governing transactions). The sales may further split into offline and online sales depending on your business model. Collect volume data on communication from each of these functions. Understand how many touchpoints exist for each function (emails, SMSes, notifications), who they reach out to, how much overlap exists and the frequency of communication. This will help you get to a rough ballpark on the number of messages that you are likely to initiate via Whatsapp and what the cost will be. Shortlist which functions really need Whatsapp and which
How Customer Reviews Can Bring a Whole New Meaning to Your Content Marketing
Content Marketing and Customer Reviews have traditionally been two very different things, belonging to completely different domains. Content Marketing is used to build interest and educate users while customer reviews come only after the product has been purchased. Yet, in a world of peer reviews and social proof, the lines between the two are blurring rapidly. Let me give you an example. One of our clients that has a very niche B2B product, came to JustWords claiming that they simply didn’t have enough content surrounding their product that users would actually be interested in viewing. The product they sold was extremely vital for most businesses, it just wasn’t particularly interesting or exciting. We realized we didn’t have to inform or educate users through the content, we simply had to convince them of the credibility of our client’s product. We also found that our client had a solid and loyal base of existing customers. So our content marketing strategy really became about showcasing why customers loved the product through different channels and content formats. Simple and yet very effective. It’s not hard to understand the appeal of customer reviews — people tend to trust each other more than they trust businesses. With social media becoming such an integral part of everyday life, this peer reviewing has become even more important. A Brightlocal survey found that a whopping 84% of people trust online reviews as much as they trust a personal recommendation. Not only are peer reviews becoming more trustworthy, but people are actually using them to make purchase decisions. For instance, the same survey found that 70% of consumers need to read at least 4 online reviews before they trust a business. Tips to integrate customer reviews If you want to revamp your content marketing strategy to make sure it incorporates customer reviews, here are some key tips. Make it easy to collect customer reviews The first step towards creating a content marketing strategy based on reviews is to make sure you have a steady stream of positive reviews coming your way. For starters, make it as easy as possible for people to leave a review. Use email software like ActiveCampaign or MailChimp to send an automated mail to customers requesting them to leave a review on your preferred platform. Make sure you also leave a link on your home page to make it easy for people to leave a review on your preferred website. You can also ask customers for more detailed feedback through an online form submission. You can use this longer, more personalized feedback on important landing pages or critical content pieces. Use an independent review platform For reviews to be taken seriously, you need to make sure they are published on an independent, third-party platform that customers trust. If your reviews are not trustworthy, all the effort spent in collecting them will be wasted. There are two ways to approach this. The first is to find a platform that works for your industry. Zomato for restaurants, Amazon for e-commerce, and TripAdvisor for travel and hospitality are some credible forums. The other approach is to collect your reviews on a review platform like Trustpilot. In any case, make sure you check the site’s policy on sharing reviews before you make it your go-to review platform. Use embedded reviews in your website Well researched articles, versatile writers, and wide coverage of topics! Posted by Arielle Ann on Friday, February 3, 2017 Embed reviews from the third-party platform within your website, especially those critical landing pages. When users enter a new website, they are immediately looking for signals to confirm the credibility of the product. Embedded reviews from a credible, independent site like Yelp, Trustpilot or TripAdvisor can go a long way in building credibility right off the bat. In fact, customers won’t even need to go elsewhere to look for social proof; they will find it on your website itself. Use the latest marketing tools to incorporate reviews into your marketing content Recently, Promo.com and Trustpilot came together to create an integration that makes it extremely simple to incorporate customer reviews into your marketing. Promo.com is a tool that makes it easier for people to create marketing videos while Trustpilot is an online community for trustworthy reviews. With this integration, Promo.com customers can now identify important customer reviews on Trustpilot and easily incorporate them into their marketing videos. Similarly, rich-snippets stars that show up on SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) as a result of reviews can lead to an increase to a 10-20% increase in CTR (Click Through Rate). Reviews also help businesses to qualify for Google Seller Ratings which is an automatic extension in Google Ads that can lead to higher CTRs. Do some research and use the many different tools available to incorporate reviews into your digital marketing effort. Use customer reviews as an inspiration for other content Many times, we don’t know how to create content that is valuable to users without directly promoting the product. Did you know that 79% editors end up turning down guest blog pitches because they’re over promotional? For instance, if you’re looking for content to promote your gourmet snack company, a blog entitled “5 Reasons Why Our Snacks Are Amazing” isn’t going to go down well. A great way to combat this problem is to actually go through customer reviews. Many customer reviews will have detailed insights into how your product is solving customer pain points. For instance, a customer may have written, “I love your snacks because I know they are good for me. They also tend to fill me up without bingeing and leave me feeling full for hours afterwards.” This could inspire you to write a blog post titled “How to Snack While Also Taking Care of Your Body”. Understanding customer pain points through meaningful reviews is a great place to look for content marketing ideas. Summing up Companies are always on the lookout
6 Reasons Why your Content Marketing may be Failing and How to Fix it
If you ask me, content marketing is probably one of the best long-term marketing strategies that you can adopt for your business. For starters, there is enough evidence that it works. And there is research to support what I just claimed. As per research, content marketing is actually three times as effective as outbound marketing and costs 62% less. And yet despite the fact that content marketing has been transformational for so many businesses, many brands still look at content marketing with skepticism and suspicion. For eg, a small business owner very recently declared to me that the whole content marketing thing was a sham and nothing really works. Turns out that he had hired a small-time agency who had promised great results through “a foolproof SEO and SMO content marketing package” and significant results are still to come in after 3-4 months in the game. And there are many like him who are simply not sure whether they should invest in content marketing when the results won’t come for days or even months. The reason for this hesitation and skepticism is not unfounded. The fact of the matter is that many companies who do content marketing get it completely wrong and struggle for months, if not years. This survey found that a whopping 96% of respondents believed that content marketing isn’t very effective. At Justwords, we’ve have met several clients who came to us saying that they’ve been publishing content regularly but they don’t think it’s having any impact. However, what people don’t realize is that content marketing is just like any marketing effort. It can be broken down into a number of logical steps. If any of those steps are being neglected or followed incorrectly, chances are your content marketing will fail dramatically. So in this article, I have broken down these important steps so you can see where you’re going wrong and take action to correct it immediately. Problem 1- You’re executing without an effective strategy This may seem basic, but it is one of the biggest problems we’ve seen over the years. Most companies are vaguely aware of the benefits of content marketing so they start publishing a blog post twice a week and then wait for the magic to happen. Even worse, they hire writers who start churning out content without any basic content strategy in place. The biggest mistake with content marketing is to start executing without a proper strategy. You have to begin by outlining your goals as clearly as you can at the very outset. The next step is to define the content formats and communication channels that you will be using to achieve these goals. Then use this strategy to prepare a weekly or monthly content calendar so that every piece of content is now aligned to the marketing and publishing plan and the overall goals. Simply put – If should know for what you are generating content for, which platform you are using and why, how are you publishing and marketing that article, where is that content piece sitting in your marketing plan and what is its final goal. Once you know this, you have a strategy in place. Problem 2- You don’t have a brand voice There are many companies that are churning out content regularly. The problem is, far from going viral or even creating a ripple in the vast ocean of the internet, most of this content goes by unnoticed. With over 2 million blogs being created every day, it’s easy to think there’s just too much competition and creating content is simply not worth the effort. But, there is also the fact that people’s capacity to consume content has also increased manifold. In fact, there are new blogs building a following and becoming wildly popular every single day. So what are they doing right? The answer is two-fold. First, to stand out, your content has to be truly exceptional. Ask yourself if you’re actually solving customer pain points in a clear and succinct manner, preferably in a way that hasn’t been done before. Secondly, there has to be a seamless flow between your content and your brand. In order to achieve this, you need to focus on what your brand voice is all about, and then create content consistent with this brand voice. Problem 3 – You’re using the wrong content format This is a very easy one to get wrong; especially if you haven’t focussed on audience research while building your content strategy. While it’s easy to follow some standard patterns— for instance, lifestyle brands should use Instagram stories while newsletters are a great idea for B2B brands — there are other nuances which need extensive research. Invest the time to understand what content is working for your competitors, what is the format in which your audience regularly consumes content, and so on. You really don’t want to waste time drafting blog post after blog post when an Insta story is what your audience needs or vice versa. Problem 4- You’re not being guided by metrics It’s great to go by your gut, but it’s not nearly enough to be successful. Your content marketing will only work if it is also backed by solid data and analytics. Unless you inculcate a culture of scientific, data-driven decision making, your content marketing strategy is unlikely to work. It’s important to have objective metrics to evaluate every single piece of content and alter strategy accordingly. Conversions, article views, CTR(Click Through Rates), shares, etc are all important metrics to track. Google Analytics is great for basic insights and you can also use specialized tools like Kissmetrics for more detailed analytics. Problem 5- You’re doing everything yourself This is one of the biggest traps smaller organizations fall into. The founder might kickstart the content marketing journey by writing a few blog posts, but it’s nearly impossible to sustain this. From content planning to strategy to metrics, there is far too much for a founder or marketing