Most people tend to think that social media only works for companies in industries that have a target audience of social media-motivated Millennials and Gen X-ers. It’s often believed that only “fun” and “young” industries, like Go Pro or Red Bull, can really rock social media… but this just an assumption.
While it’s true that some industries do lend themselves better to social media, there are some “boring” companies who have dared to show what makes them unique and are connecting with users as a result.
Struggling to figure out how you can make your industry, product, or service seem exciting on social media? Check out how and why these seemingly “boring” companies are truly killing it when it comes to making their content more appealing to their audience.
1. Magna International
Some companies are at a natural disadvantage when trying to leverage their products as visually appealing social media content. However, Magna International, a massive ‘behind-the-scenes’ automotive supplier, has spiced up their Instagram content by choosing to focus on the finished product they helped to make.
Why?
There’s no denying that a cherry red Lykan HyperSports car is going to get much more attention and likes than a photo of a high-pressure vacuum casting. By focusing on the beautiful cars designed using their mechanical parts, Magna’s social content becomes more visually pleasing and yet remains relevant to what they do.
2. MailChimp
Email automation platforms are exciting, right? Uh, not so much.
However, while creating quality visuals for MailChimp might seem like a challenge, the company expertly leverages social media for something other than advertising their software.
How?
MailChimp uses Instagram to show off their lighthearted company culture and to attract young talent to their team. MailChimp uses the image-based platform to meet their hiring and recruitment goals, even though an email marketing social page might not seem glamourous or “worth the follow” to most users.
3. SAS Software
Software analytics company SAS is smart about the content that they post on Facebook. Rather than strictly posting about things related to their niche market, they branch out into other topics that are fun but not entirely off base.
How?
In their Thanksgiving-themed Facebook post (see below), SAS managed to relate the hugely popular American holiday with data analytics; giving a regional breakdown of where popular holiday foods are sourced. A very clever connection!
4. Mr. Clean
Cleaning products probably don’t get you excited, but Mr. Clean is trying to change that by posting hilarious GIFS and memes on Twitter.
Why?
Mr. Clean has chosen to add a “sexy” and humourous flare to their line of cleaning products to attach some fun and youthfulness to their “tough” cleaning image. As a result of their use of funny GIFS and memes, they are able to connect with the next generation of cleaners and have earned nearly 30,000 followers on Twitter to date. Wow!
5. General Electric
General Electric has managed to breathe life into their social media content, not just for their consumer products, but for their business-to-business products as well.
How?
To make their Facebook content more engaging, General Electric avoids tech jargon in favor of staggering facts about the capabilities of their products (which acts as an attention grabber). Compliment this with edgy visuals, and you’ve got a business-to-business company that is finding success on multiple social platforms, not just LinkedIn.
Struggling to figure out how to make your social media content engaging? At Treefrog, our social media team specializes in providing out-of-the-box digital marketing solutions for companies of all types and in all industries. Leave it to us. We’ll take your social media presence from “meh” to “that’s amazing!”.
Ensuring the success of your social media presence involves consistent effort – from posting interesting content to engaging with your audience. However, for those who post frequently, it’s quite easy to find yourself in a creative rut.
Here are 15 content ideas to inspire your next post:
1. Take Your Audience Behind the Scenes
Sharing photos from the office, such as sneak peeks of work in progress, is a fun and easy way to humanize and get people interested in your brand.
2. Run a Contest
People love participating in contests, making this idea an easy way to boost engagement on your page. Offer a discount on a product/ service or give away something for free.
3. Ask a Question
Asking your audience questions is a great method for getting valuable feedback on existing or new products/services!
4. Fill-In-The-Blank
Boost your engagement by asking your audience to fill-in-the-blank! Example: “Fill in the blank: My favourite thing to do after a long day of work is ____.”
5. Conduct a Poll
People love sharing their opinions, and what better way to leverage that than conducting a poll?
The multiple-choice nature of polls makes it easy for your audience to participate.
6. ‘A Day in the Life’ Post
Here’s another great way to humanize your brand! Feature one of your employees and have them post for a day, highlighting what they do.
7. Take a Trip Down Memory Lane
Share photos of old events or company moments on a Thursday with the hashtags #ThrowbackThursday or #TBT.
8. ‘Caption This’
Post a funny image and ask your audience to caption it in the comments below! Comments increase post visibility, and you’ll likely see some hilarious answers!
9. Create an Infographic
Infographics are great for sharing important statistics or information about your company while keeping it easy to read and understand.
10. Celebrate Milestones
Celebrate the accomplishments of your company and any exciting employee milestones. You can do this by remembering to take and post photos and videos!
11. Weekly Round-Up
Create a slideshow of the exciting moments that happened over the week! This round-up can be anything from pictures of a delicious pie an employee shared at the office, to videos of an event that your company attended.
12. Share User-Generated Photos
Ask your customers to share photos of them using your products. As a bonus, request that they include a branded hashtag so that you can search and see them all!
13. Influencer Take-Over
Collaborate with an influencer in your industry and let them take over your social media for a day or a week! The influencer will likely post on their own social platforms, informing their followers that they will be taking over your social accounts, resulting in an influx of new eyes on your social profiles!
14. Inspire with Quotes
Quotes work well because people can easily relate them. Easy to find and source, quotes get liked and shared frequently.
15. Introduce New Employees
Show off some of the new faces at your company. This will humanize your brand while also making your employees feel valued and celebrated!
In today’s digital world, everyone’s head seems buried in their devices, scrolling through Facebook and double tapping on Instagram. Naturally, you would then expect that your content would get in front of many eyes and be liked and shared by your followers. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen often. People end up scrolling right past your content without a second glance. In fact, the average attention span is now only around 8 seconds! So how do you get someone to stop and pay attention to your posts? Eye-catching visual content.
Organic engagement on Facebook is highest on posts containing photos and video.
With today’s technology, you can take impressive photos without spending a fortune on fancy equipment. Whether you have a high-end full-frame DSLR, a standard point-and-shoot, or a smartphone, these tips will help you get more creative with your photography and create visual content that speaks to your viewers:
1. Try New Angles/Perspectives
The average person takes a photo by standing directly in front of their subject and by taking the photo from eye-level. Now, there is nothing necessarily wrong with taking a picture this way, but it’s become extremely commonplace – there’s nothing unique or interesting about this angle unless the subject itself is interesting or unique.
The next time you pick up your camera, force yourself to shoot from a different angle. Get low to the ground and aim your camera upwards, or stand above your subject and aim your camera down. Shoot from the side, shoot from below, or find interesting perspectives upside down! Giving your viewers a new perspective will immediately draw some interest.
TIP: When shooting children or animals, get down to their eye-level rather than shooting from above. This can create a sense of intimacy in the picture – making the image feel more personal.
2. Follow the Light
The word ‘photography’ literally means ‘drawing with light’! Lighting makes a huge difference in the quality of your images, especially if you’re shooting with a smartphone. Before you raise your camera, look around you and notice where the light is coming from, as well as what type of light it is. If you’re shooting outdoors, acknowledge the position of the sun and the direction of the shadows that it casts. Shooting against the sun can create amazing sun flares and a warm, soft glow on your subject. Shooting in the direction of sunlight can create a bold look with harsh contrasts. You can position your subject so that the light only hits one side, or you can look for trees and buildings that create interesting shadows. If you’re working with artificial light, try positioning the lights in different places and see what kind of effect it gives you. The possibilities are endless!
3. Colours
Colours are often associated with different emotions: oranges are warm and inviting, while greens and blues tend to be calm. You can play around with different colours to get the mood that you are looking for in your image. You can also add that extra ‘pop’ to your pictures by looking for contrasting colours such as a green leaf against a red brick wall, or a white sail boat on blue waters. You can choose to look for strong, bold colours, subtle, pastel colours, or you can avoid colour all together and shoot monochrome images in black and white or sepia. Each of these options has its own way of bringing out different elements of an image. It’s up to you to decide what you think portrays your picture, and your message, in the best way. If you need some inspiration, take a look at the works of Ernst Haas, a master of colour photography.
4. Leading Lines
A great way to improve your photo composition is with leading lines. Lines create a path for the eye to follow along your picture and can have different effects depending on their orientation and direction. Horizontal lines invoke a sense of restfulness and peace, whereas vertical lines create a sense of power, and diagonal lines suggest movement.
Before you shoot, take a moment to look at the scene in front of you and identify if there are any prominent lines that your eyes are naturally drawn to, such as roads, fences, buildings, rivers, or rows of trees. Once you identify your strongest lines, think about how you can use it to your advantage. You can create depth by positioning a strong line that leads from the foreground to the background, or you can place your subject at a point where several lines converge, giving your subject more importance in the frame and causing the viewer’s eyes to be naturally drawn there.
Leading lines can be used to tell a story, to place emphasis, or to draw a connection between two objects. Use them creatively!
5. Patterns
The world is filled with patterns, but many of them are overlooked in our day-to-day lives. And while patterns may seem boring, capturing them in a picture can create an image with real impact.
Look for repeating patterns or interesting textures when you are composing your next image. Patterns can be found everywhere – in nature and man-made constructions. You can use a pattern as the focal point of your picture, or you can use it as a backdrop. A great way to add interest to a picture is to break a pattern, such as a row of blue flowers with one red flower. This pop of inconsistent colour will immediately draw eyes to the object that doesn’t belong and this method can be quite impactful if used creatively.
6. Rule of Thirds
The Rule of Thirds is a composition technique that helps you to position your subject in the best spot when taking a picture. When you are taking your picture, imagine the frame as being split up into a grid of four lines as shown below.
The points where the lines intersect identify the four important points of your frame. According to the rule of thirds, you will want to position your main subject at one of these points so that the image becomes more balanced and easier for the eye to roll over naturally. Studies have shown that your eyes tend to naturally go towards one of the four points when looking at an image, rather than the centre.
7. Show Depth
A picture that shows a sense of depth is much more interesting and engages the viewer, inviting them to explore the scene rather than just to observe.
There are a number of different ways that you can add depth to your shots. You can add foreground interest by adding an object closer to the camera and a secondary object farther away. You can also use foreground objects to create a natural frame around your main subject. Photographing with a wider angle also creates a sense of depth by naturally exaggerating the perspective of a scene.
Another great way of showing depth is by layering objects in the frame. By overlapping objects, you help the viewer reconstruct the 3-D view in their mind, allowing them to mentally be ‘in’ the scene, rather than just seeing a photo of it.
8. Negative Space
Negative space is the ‘emptiness’ that surrounds the subject of interest, and making use of this space is a great way to add more emphasis on a subject and to evoke different moods. Negative space can provide context, it can create a sense of lightness or airiness, or it can emphasize the emotions of your subject.
Negative space is also important if you are planning on adding text to your image before posting it. You should always have a general idea of what you want your final post to look like before taking the image. Prepare ahead of time and be sure to leave enough space around your subject for texts and other graphic elements.
Great brands resonate with customers through the strategic execution of look and feel, reputation management, and by telling a great story. And while some brands like Pepsi and Instagram can take things to the next level by making small adjustments to their brand, other companies may require a full brand overhaul to revitalize their presence.
How do they do it?
They hire professionals who can help to identify when their brand identity is becoming stagnant and mature their logo, website, packaging, and messaging – seamlessly and according to trends identified in the marketplace.
How do you know when it’s time to contact the professionals?
1. You’re Making Too Many Excuses
Are you at the point where you’re making up excuses for updating your branding? You know, saying things like, “We’ve just been too busy,” “It’s not that bad,” and, “Maybe next year”?
If this sounds like you, it’s time to take the necessary steps towards a brand overhaul. Think about it, if you, (a person who is biased towards your brand) is noticing that you’re falling behind, imagine what your potential customers and clients are thinking.
We know your brand may have sentimental value, but it’s important that over time, it still appeals to your audience. Revitalize your business by contacting a digital marketing agency that can begin to strategize and action your creative and innovative comeback.
2. You’re In Need Of Reputation Management
If your business is looking for ways to overcome a series of bad reviews or some sort of scandal; a brand overhaul and reputation management may be able to save your company from losing momentum. Re-branding is the perfect way to articulate that improvement and change are being made to rectify the concerns of your customers.
Creative re-branding is also helpful in distracting customers from the ‘bad’ and getting people excited about the ‘good’ that’s to come as you turn a new leaf. Take fast food giant McDonald’s for example:
When American filmmaker Morgan Spurlock released his documentary Supersize Me, McDonald’s, unsurprisingly, panicked. While customers knew that McDonald’s wasn’t necessarily healthy, the negative press and shocking results of the documentary turned into a massive scandal for the brand.
To minimize the hit, McDonald’s quickly went to the drawing board to try to change the way people were thinking about their food. Since then, McDonald’s has re-designed their restaurants, ordering experience, and promotes sophisticated McCafe coffee and smoothies, Happy Meal apple slices, salads, snack wraps, Angus burgers, and shows no signs of slowing down – a brand overhaul well done.
3. Your Business Is Growing Rapidly
Start-ups typically launch with one service or product, but as they develop a following and identify consumer interests and needs, they are likely to expand their offerings – potentially changing their target market and brand messaging. Therefore, when growth develops outside of the scope of an original business plan, a brand overhaul may be necessary – to target and appeal to a wider audience.
In the beginning days of a start-up, it’s also not uncommon to try to save money by building your own basic website, designing your own print materials, and crafting your own logo. However, as your business begins to grow, you may want to consider consulting print, web, design, and content professionals who can mature the logo and promotional materials you started with, making them more sophisticated, versatile, and professional.
4. Your Brand Is Losing Interest & Customers
Over time, audience preferences change, and it’s your responsibility to keep up. This is especially true for brands that have been around for decades and must launch new campaigns to remain fresh and relevant with changing trends and target markets. Take men’s deodorant brand Old Spice for example:
Before launching their 2010 campaign featuring athlete Isaiah Mustafa, Old Spice had become stagnant, dated, and boring. However, through their successful commercial campaign, Old Spice rebranded with humour, connected with a younger demographic, and became a key creative player in the marketplace. They even went viral with ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’.
Other successful re-brands include Keds partnership with Taylor Swift, Burberry’s innovative use of technology and personalization, and The Bay’s shift back to their original name, ‘Hudson’s Bay’.
How Treefrog Can Help
Need professional guidance on how to execute your brand overhaul or logo maturation? That’s our specialty. Our Treefrog team of content marketers, social media gurus, kick ass designers, and programmers, can help to deliver a brand refresh that will keep your business moving forward.
A good brand can be the difference between having a product and selling a product.
A great brand can be the difference between selling a product and creating a business.
Your brand is more than your logo. It’s the core of your identity – culture, mission, ethics, competitive advantages – that your customers will identify with when they interact with your organization. When a brand is strategized and executed properly, it will not only increase a company’s popularity and visibility, but it will also compel others to act.
How do you accomplish this? Let’s look at the importance of effective target marketing, staying competitive, and brand development – in regard to both graphic design and content.
Target Audience
A brand is only as effective as the market it targets. In advertising practices, a target is a clear and focused description of the demographic a company would like to reach. While some companies will target many different markets, depending on the product or service they provide, other companies will consistently target the same market.
A successful target audience is one in which a company has been able to narrow their focus, taking the time to study and understand their wants and needs. It is then the mission of a company to attract these people and satisfy these desires through effective and consistent brand advertising.
Market Context
While it is important to understand the target market of your brand, it is also just as important to understand your competition and how you plan to remain competitive against them.
How do you do this? Research and strategic brand execution.
To understand the advantages of your competitors, you must work to understand what their product or service offers, fully. Then, to get ahead, you must look to develop and advertise new features that will make customers chose your brand instead. These features can be as complex as offering an entirely innovative new service, or as simple as integrating more colour variations in a new logo design.
How else can you remain competitive?
Through creatively marketing your uniqueness and strengths:
Unique Benefits
It is critical to identify all the unique benefits your company, service, or product offers to customers. If you can’t identify a clear advantage in your business, get creative and think outside the box.
Is your product essentially the same as that offered by your competitors? You may still have an advantage over them in the quality of your customer service or your warranty. Think about the customers you already have – why do they choose to deal with you rather than your competitor? Leverage those advantages to speak to new prospects with an authenticity they will relate to and want to experience.
Culture
People like to do business with people they know, like, and trust. You may think your culture matters only for internal recruitment and retention, but sharing the philosophy of your company with customers and prospects can help to engage them in your brand.
For example, if your employees regularly go on fun camping weekends together, why not use pictures and content from these excursions as a way to promote your company on social media? You may not see the direct link between camping excursions and insurance brokerage, but this fun and interactive material may be the reason a customer connects with you and wants to hire your company over another.
You may then even be able to integrate this theme into your logo, website design, and beyond! When an organization positions themselves as on-trend, relatable, and fun, customers are more likely to engage with them on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and to then also remember and hire them in the future.
Reason to Believe
A brand must also convey trust. In a society filled with “fake news”, what will make someone truly believe that your company provides the best service or wants to help the community by participating in charity events? It’s one thing to claim it, but it’s another thing to show it.
Effective brands practice what they preach. If your company claims to support Charity X every year, why not include a page on your website that includes a pictures collage of your team at various Charity X events and content about why your company is passionate about that charity. You can also use infographics to show how much money you’ve raised for them.
Customers need proof that you are who you say you are. So give it to them.
Brand Slogans & Logos
Effective brand slogans typically include “we” language rather than “I” language, evoking a sense of collaboration and inclusivity. Great slogans also put forward a call to action, creating a mission that will actively push for and drive success. These slogans do not ‘beat around the bush’; they are instead direct, powerful, and concise, leaving no room for misunderstandings.
Example: Barrack Obama’s, “Yes we can” instead of “I can do it” or, Nike’s “Just Do It” instead of “Try it”.
Even more effective than a slogan, a brand logo will push a sale. These icons register with people when they are simple and say something about the brand – without saying anything at all. In other words, great logos are distinctive, appropriate, “cool”, and visually appealing.
Have you ever purchased a Coach purse? How about a Nike hat? In some cases, people may even buy a product simply because the product features an attractive and popular brand logo that they want to associate with their own personal brand.
How Treefrog Can Help
Through the effective implementation of content, graphic design, and social media, your brand will attract its target market and compel that group to engage and buy.
Together, we can strategize, create, and execute your brand. We can design your logo, your website, your product packaging, your business cards, and beyond! We can also help to develop your brand messaging, developing content that will reach all the right people, in all the right channels.
We’ll work to make sure your brand is not only effective, appealing, and directed at the right target market, but that it is also consistent across all platforms.
“A Key Opinion Leader is a person who successfully combines expertise and passion, both online and off”
– Sean Stephens
A mainstay in the pharmaceutical and life sciences fields, the concept of Key Opinion Leader, or ‘KOL’, has infiltrated digital spaces as an adjunct to the popular, and perhaps cliché, concept of ‘Thought Leader’.
What makes a Key Opinion Leader? In the medical field, a Key Opinion Leader is a person with long-standing respect, who builds their influence and reputation by speaking at conferences, developing new theories, being published and re-quoted in journals, popular press, and by others who possess considerable influence. A KOL is a person who other professionals look to for answers and guidance because they have distinguished themselves by pushing the boundaries of their field.
Pharmaceutical marketing teams look for KOL’s to act as product advocates – someone who will give their ‘stamp of approval’ on the efficacy and effectiveness of the product. As advocates for the drug brand, KOLs are used to generate increased revenue by capitalizing on their popularity.
Within the realm of digital media and marketing, a KOL possesses social, rather than purely academic, influence. This social variant of a KOL is open to regular, everyday people who can become influential to their peers or “following”.
Out of our discussion with two real-life Key Opinion Leaders in the digital world, Treefrog Inc. CEO Sean Stephens, and Perfect Community Manager and local entrepreneur Lucas Chang, we’ve assessed how both content and social media can help launch and support your KOL career.
Get Social
“It’s critical to be involved and accessible.”
Sean Stephens and Lucas Chang both agreed that Key Opinion Leaders don’t necessarily need to be high profile, but they do need to get out there and be social.
If you are interested in becoming a KOL, it is critical that you make yourself accessible to your community, both in person and online. It is also important that you ensure to leave a positive impact on those you encounter, making your followers feel valued, heard, and more informed after speaking to or hearing from you.
To accomplish this, take advantage of various speaking opportunities and attend conferences in your field of expertise. Afterward, make time to shake hands, exchange contact information with those who may present further opportunities to you, and join in for pictures. The more you are seen, the more you will become recognizable and established.
Another key tip is to be engaging and active on various social media platforms. Social media will allow you to access a wider audience, as well as to spread your message instantly. By leveraging social media, your material has greater potential to be shared, liked, and commented on.
You should also consider pitching interview topics with both local and national media, increasing your platform’s visibility. Not only will producing this material build your resume, but it will also provide documented proof of your ability to lead and educate, establishing a more concrete reputation.
Make Strategic Connections
“In order to develop an opinion that isn’t just fluff, you have to surround yourself with people who are also equally engaged in the same material as you.”
Using the analogy of iron sharpening iron, Sean Stephens stressed the importance of surrounding yourself with people who are passionate about the same material as you; yet don’t necessarily share your same exact opinion. Stephens went on to explain that Key Opinion Leaders gain credibility when they engage with other leaders and not only express their personal opinions, but also actively listen and learn.
Social media can significantly support these types of connections as social websites like Facebook contain customizable group and event pages where meetings can be set up, conferences can be advertised, and discussions can be had.
While Lucas Chang reminded us that there is still a lot of value in face-to-face interaction, social media now plays a huge role in guiding people to an actual in-person meet. Think about it. When you read a book or article that genuinely interests you, you are more likely to reach out to the author, through either social media or email. Once an online relationship is fostered, you are then more apt, (and likely more comfortable) to meet and interact with that person in real life.
Using social media as a tool, there are limited boundaries with whom you can connect with online and in person. Why not give it a try?
Become A Specialized Expert
“A KOL is a person who successfully combines expertise and passion.”
By attending local events and networking, you can begin to build your personal brand and reputation. However, Sean Stephens reminded us that the social persona of a true Key Opinion Leader is only valuable if based on validated expertise.
KOL’s must responsibly invest in themselves, as well as their area of interest, consistently working to develop their opinion by further investigating the subject. KOL’s can become experts through online research, meeting with others who are interested in their same field, and through receiving accreditation.
Above all, creating quality publishable content will position your brand as reputable. Experts become known when their novels, theories, and opinions are published on websites or in credible magazines, newspapers, and journals. Without a foundation of content, your ‘expertise’ will be seen as just talk.
Be Consistent & Present
“Always go to the things you say you’re going to go to.”
Sean Stephens expressed that one of the most valuable things a KOL can be is consistent and therefore reliable. He stressed that absence and lateness do not go unnoticed and that being considered inconsistent can ruin a reputation. Stephens also claims that there’s a notable difference between being present and truly having a presence both in person and online.
In a digital era, online presences can either make or break a Key Opinion Leader. When a person chooses to support a social media account by following and engaging with it, that person is essentially saying, “I like what this page has to offer me” and “I’d like to see more”. However, when media platforms are neglected, or if the posts do not reflect the messaging a follower initially followed that page for, that person is likely to un-follow and disengage with the account.
If you commit to having a social media page, be sure that you are able to set ample time aside to support that page, making frequent, appropriate, and applicable updates, which will keep your audience interested.
When strategized correctly, social media can launch your brand towards success, but when not executed well, these failed campaigns can damage your reputation.
Be Passionate
“When you can tell that someone is passionate, whether it be quietly passionate, or overtly passionate, you want to hear more about what they have to say.”
While anyone can educate themselves on any topic, especially in a digital era, both Sean Stephens and Lucas Chang believe that passion is what sets regular experts and Key Opinion Leaders apart. When a speaker is truly passionate, their level of excitement will naturally transfer to their spectators, leaving a lasting impact.
To build one’s passion into a credible opinion, you must allow yourself to continuously learn and rediscover the meaning behind your passion as it grows. In a technology-obsessed world that is constantly changing, a KOL must be adaptable, finding new ways to keep their message interesting, informative, and up-to-date.
One of the most powerful ways to express passion is through open, genuine, and relatable online posts. Key Opinion Leaders can demonstrate love for their specialty by writing exciting articles about new finds in their field, sharing promotional material for related events on Facebook, posting pictures of themselves in action on Instagram, and more. When audiences physically can see that a Key Opinion Leader is consistently engaging with their area of interest, that person’s passion becomes believable.
Be Practical
“Any person can come up with an idea, but a majority of people never execute those ideas.”
Lucas Chang explained that aspiring KOL’s must pick a specialty that they are naturally passionate about, and then must find a way to make their dream practical. Chang claimed that most people fail in becoming a KOL when they are full of ideas and yet are unable to make their dream a tangible reality.
However, with incredible advances in technology, becoming a Key Opinion Leader has never more achievable. Social media sites are built with the intent to connect people to the things and people they find interesting, expediting one’s ability to gain momentum and success.
In the past, Key Opinion Leaders relied on content alone, to build a reputation of expertise. However, the value of printing words in a book is fading. Content now needs to be supported by the internet, making the sharing of content practical and accessible to more people.
It is then opportune for potential Key Opinion Leaders to leverage social media to support their written work, preventing incredible ideas from just being stored and ignored on a dusty bookshelf. You never know, your message might even go viral.
It is not enough to simply want to become a known expert; you must also be willing to put in the work to make it happen.
Too busy to do it alone?
Through expertise in the development of engaging social media campaigns, as well as content writing, Treefrog Inc. can help establish your Key Opinion Leadership.
By managing your social media profiles, building your website, developing blog topics, and more, the Frogs at Treefrog Inc. can customize your path to success, helping to relay your message to the right audience.
Content marketing is all about creating and sharing information online in a strategic way to generate interest in your products or services, develop awareness for your brand, and build trust in you and your company. You can target the information and the way you share it to reach your ideal customers, whether they’re actively searching for you at that time or not.
Generally speaking, the content you share out into the world should bring readers to your website and make them want to connect with you and ultimately do business with you. If you want to engage them and keep them coming back, your content has to be relevant and current.
So, how’s your online content?
Having a comprehensive and engaging online presence has become key for successful marketing, but building quality content takes time. And time can change the relevance of content you’ve written in the past.
When was the last time you really looked at the content on your website? Is there outdated information on it? Are there holes in your content that you need to fill? Is your best content buried and difficult to find? Are you out of content ideas and looking for a way to re-engage? Do you know if your content is bringing visitors to your site and is it resonating with them when they do see it?
Enter content auditing.
A content audit involves reviewing and assessing the information on an existing website to identify flaws, errors, and areas for improvement and growth. An audit can revitalize your online presence by refreshing and re-organizing content, identifying new potential, optimizing search results, and preparing for the future by thinking ahead.
Refresh
Keep them coming back for more with updated content
A content audit will help to ensure your website’s content is up to date and relevant to the marketing goals you are pursuing. If you built your site years ago, and you haven’t worked on it since then, odds are you have content that has expired or is no longer applicable to your current services.
When performing a content audit, content marketers will take note of various ways they can help to refresh your individual pages by adding and highlighting new features, removing or updating outdated information, and looking for opportunities to amalgamate redundant or “thin” content. Search engines aren’t keen on lightweight pages that don’t provide value to users. Sometimes you can combine information from multiple pages to create one high-value page instead. Auditors will also review your content for any grammatical errors or spelling mistakes made by the original publisher.
Having a fresh perspective and a new set of eyes to analyze your content will help to fill in any gaps your content has, as well as to help develop a more user-friendly flow.
Organize
Good content is a good start, but it must be found to be appreciated
It is also a content auditor’s job to find new ways to improve the organization of your website content. You may have the best content going, so it may not be necessary to re-write the material itself, but readers must also be able to find it easily as they navigate your website.
Do you have a dedicated place on your website for blog entries or articles? Where can users access that in your menu structure? Sometimes minor adjustments to how you organize your information and even how you label it can make a big difference in how often readers find it, read it, and connect with you, generating leads for your business.
Discover
Mining for gold in your website content
The day to day of running your business probably includes countless conversations with your clients. They ask questions, and you use your expertise to inform and advise them. You probably don’t realize what a goldmine of content exists in your experience and your day-to-day interactions.
Your website and social media have the potential to have those conversations 24 hours a day when you have the right content. The content marketers who audit your site can help to identify opportunities for new articles and posts that will proactively share the information your customers and prospects are seeking.
These opportunities could include highlighting key advantages in your services pages, or it could mean coming up with new topics for your blog.
A good content auditor will also look ahead to consider all areas for potential growth, including new pages or articles to write, optimizations for your existing content, and opportunities to build connections within your content with linking strategies.
Optimize
Making sure your content finds the people who need it
Content marketing differs from traditional marketing in the way that people tend to seek it out, wanting to consume it, rather than being pressured or forced to consume it. When someone ends up on your website page, it’s usually because they are searching for information related to what you offer. It is then content’s job to keep that potential customer on the page, convincing them of why they should do business with you and not someone else.
However, landing on your page doesn’t happen purely by chance – there is a reason people end up on your website and not someone else’s. A lot of this has to do with SEO or search engine optimization – the process of increasing the visibility of a website or webpage in search engine results for specific keywords.
Your auditor will use their knowledge of SEO and your target audiences and keywords to develop to optimize your content for the right terms in the right way. When done well, there is no “stuffing” of keywords – it’s a subtle blend of the right words, written in a way that users will want to read.
Content marketers also think beyond your website and search results to other ways you share your content. The topic and tone may be adjusted depending on whom you’re talking to and how you’re reaching them, whether through search engine results, social media sharing, or email marketing.
Plan For The Future
Think ahead
A content audit will not only benefit you in the now but will help you to better prepare for the future. Following the completion of your content audit, you will receive a list of recommendations along with a proposed plan to implement the suggestions into your website. It may result in a few content formatting fixes, or it may suggest adding articles or blog entries to your digital presence.
In competitive markets, it is essential that you look ahead. It is important to note that creating engaging content for your website shouldn’t be a one-off event. Content marketers can work with you to format material that can be consistently augmented and updated, such as creating a blog and posting a new content article every week or month. Allowing for regular content updates will keep your business’ online presence fresh, organized, optimized, and relevant as new trends continue to emerge.
Anytime is a good time to spring clean your website content. Let’s talk about your content concerns and put you on the road to content marketing success.
From your company’s site search engine ranking to the number of quality sales leads you receive, good storytelling and valued content reaps reward
Whether your company’s digital marketing strategy is successful or not depends on one key element: consistently producing and publishing great content.
Online and offline, we are bombarded by an unending stream of corporate messaging and advertising wherever we look or go. Naturally, we ignore content that does not interest us or that we regard as hype.
Think about it. You’re a consumer, too. When you’re online, what grabs your attention? Content and messaging rife with corporate jargon, spelling errors, and poor grammar? Or content that clearly and succinctly addresses a challenge you face, is educational, or useful to you in some way?
Can You Tell Your Customers’ Story Effectively?
Fifteen seconds. According to digital content analytics company Chartbeat, that’s about the average length of time visitors to your website spend reading your content.
And don’t be coaxed into thinking if someone socially shares a link to one of your webpages or blogs that they read it first. Some social sharers do, but many don’t. A joint study by researchers at Columbia University and the French National Institute revealed, “though social networks commonly measure a story’s popularity in shares, researchers found that 59% of all links shared in their sample went unclicked, and presumably unread.”
But here’s more promising news: data from the Pew Research Center finds smartphone users will spend an average of one to two minutes reading news articles provided they are well-written and of interest to them. Additionally, having a mobile-friendly website goes a long way toward attracting and retaining mobile-based audiences.
Nevertheless, it still presents you with a formidable challenge. And if you’re still reading this article, consider you need to be able to produce impactful, compelling, and SEO-optimized content that is of interest to your intended audience for a broad range of digital and print properties, including:
In light of the above, there are other important factors to weigh. Can you tell your target customers’ story well? Can you write concisely about how your company and its products and services solve people’s problems? Do you have the time to do it on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis consistently? And do you have the bandwidth and know-how to track the effectiveness of your content marketing efforts?
Admittedly, that last one was a trick question. Determining how strong your content’s performance is (the return-on-investment) at increasing your sales leads and revenues is no simple feat. Why? Because content marketing is a long play, and you need to decide which metrics are important to track.
For example, many companies and publications are taking a different approach to online measurement. By switching from solely tracking the number of pageviews and click-thrus to including time-on-site and other attention-focussed metrics, their goal is to try to infer which content resonates with their audiences most.
Good Storytelling Creates Value
Good storytelling stirs interest and creates meaning, fosters contemplation in its readers, and in turn, becomes valuable to your intended audience. But not everyone is a natural storyteller. And not many business owners or leaders can commit the time to writing engaging content for all of their company’s marketing needs.
You need to be able to weave a compelling tale; to sell without selling. In short, you may need to hire a ghostwriter, aka an anonymous writer, to tell your customers’ story (and subsequently yours) to the world.
Some of the world’s most important literary works were written by anonymous writers. And the practice of hiring a professional writer to write on another’s behalf is as common today for everything from business books to marketing collateral to thought-leadership articles, blogs, and company websites.
But you’re keen to write your company’s content yourself. Okay, what do you need to do? How much time can you commit to writing? And how do you go about writing stories and marketing content that appeals to your existing and prospective customers intellectually or emotionally? Try these tactics:
Find the right topics. The notion of brainstorming with others is dead, and besides, there are no guarantees it will work. Does that mean you need to dismiss collaborating with a group of people altogether and go it alone? Not necessarily. Conferring and working with trusted sources to come up with important topics and an editorial calendar, or to discuss how to approach writing about a particular subject can produce great results. Most importantly, think about your customers and the questions they have for your company. Arrange to have an informal discussion with one of your longtime customers to get their thoughts if you’re uncertain. Or tell a story about how you failed at something – reading someone else’s account of how they mucked up badly, but who ultimately learned from the mistake and went on to succeed never gets old. You can also create a list of what are referred to as “evergreen topics”. Evergreen stories are based on broad subjects that have lasting appeal like why content marketing is important.
Manage your time efficiently. Just as you would plot the tasks involved in conducting any other aspect of business, build an executable schedule that divides up the work you need to do, and don’t waver from it. As you begin to write, different things will occur to you, so allow for lots of revision and editing time.
Research your topic. Once you know what to write about, hop online and find statistics, as well as the supporting or opposing points of views of others and link to them (or cite them accordingly). Depending on what your topic is, and if you can’t find useful sources to cite, you can always get help from a librarian in your community.
Write your first draft. Ernest Hemingway is famously quoted for allegedly remarking, “The first draft of anything is shit.” Whether he uttered those words or not, there is truth in the sentiment, and it is this: don’t get emotionally attached to the first draft of anything you write. Let it ferment in your head. Read it aloud. Have others proofread it for errors. Get the feedback of others you trust, and don’t be hurt by their constructive criticisms, mull them over. Then revise your first draft – and second, third, or fourth drafts if necessary.
Any literate person can write, but writing well is hard work, and you need to be damn good to attract and retain an audience, especially online.
It takes a significant amount of time to adequately research, write, edit, and produce good content for different media types and audiences. You need to discover what your brand’s voice is, determine your writing style, and commit to the craft on a daily basis.
In her 1969 autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, American poet, author, and civil rights activist Maya Angelou wrote, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” I couldn’t agree more. But sometimes, you need a professional writer’s help to tell that tale effectively and generate the reaction you desire.
Are you ready to tell your story to the world? Drop us a line and tell us what your content marketing and storytelling wants and needs are.
Deciding which monetization model best suits your branded application depends on many factors
Like the moneyed prospectors who raced northwest to the Yukon’s Klondike region in the late 1800s in search of fortune in the form of gold, the modern equivalent of the gold rush may be the desire of businesses and independent developers to create a new revenue stream via a mobile application. But like the Klondike gold rush, not everyone will end up hitting the jackpot.
Conceivably, finding a way to make money from a mobile app is similar to the plight of social media marketers to generate sales through the use of compelling content, in that it comes down to a question of user engagement.
There are different ways to generate revenue through a mobile app. Deciding which model to adopt and what to charge your targeted audience may be the most taxing call you will need to make. But here’s food for thought: according to research by Statistica, the most profitable option is the in-app purchase. In 2012, global in-app revenues were an estimated to be US$2.11 billion and are predicted to rise to $36 billion by 2017. However, the in-app model may not be the lucrative windfall for all types of apps, with about 15% of smartphone users making such a purchase.
Four App Monetization Models to Consider
In general, apps have four major channels available for generating revenue. Determining which model you should employ depends largely on the type of app you have or intend to build, and what your expectations are for user engagement:
Charging to download it from the Apple App Store or Google Play.
Provided your app offers something of value to your customers, then you can monetize it by charging people to download and use it. However, you should also know that Apple and Google will take approximately 30% of every sale or download, and the cost you can affix to your app must be based on either Apple’s or Google’s pricing scales.
Using mobile ads banners and offering an ad-free version of your app.
Instead of charging your users to download and use your app, you can sell advertising space in it like many newspaper companies do, and subject your users to mobile ads banners within the app. You can also charge your users for an ad-free version of the app, but know that Apple and Google will take 30% of what you charge your users for an ad-free version of your app.
In-app purchases.
While allowing your app to be downloaded for free, in-app purchases are purchases your users make inside of your mobile app. The items they purchase could be to access additional features of the app, or for virtual items to use within your app. For instance, many gaming apps provide in-app purchases so their users can buy special characters or abilities within whatever game they’re playing. It is currently the most successful way of making money with an app. You should also be aware both Apple and Google will take 30% of all in-app purchases.
mCommerce or mobile commerce.
Whereas we refer to selling products and services online as “eCommerce”, selling goods or services via a mobile device is known as “mCommerce”. The good news with mCommerce is neither Apple nor Google will impose a 30% cut for whatever products your users buy via your app. However, a mobile app with mCommerce functionality also requires a backend server for things that can’t be done solely on-device, such as sharing and processing data from multiple users, or storing large files. You will also need a payment processor to facilitate debit or credit card payments.
Other App Economic Options
There are a couple of other options to consider for your app: the freemium model, and the use of a paywall.
The freemium model is often found on gaming apps such as the wildly addictive Candy Crush, which allows users to play for free, and offers gamers the option of purchasing in-game features or an interruption-free version of the game. You’re not obliged to purchase anything in this game, but it will impose a short-term time-out on its users after they hit certain game milestones. For gaming apps, the freemium model has proven to be the most successful type to date, suggests data from mobile marketing and engagement firm Swrve.
The other option – one that’s typically used by newspaper and magazine publishers to generate subscription revenue – is the paywall. Similar to the freemium model, paywalls let users access a fixed amount of content for free before restricting access, and asking them to buy a subscription. The problem with the paywall model is unless you’re in the publishing business, it may not apply to your company or industry.
Are you curious if your business should create its own mobile app and how to monetize it? Zap us. Our knowledgeable and talented development team can bring your mobile app concept to fruition.
A combination of digital and traditional marketing materials can build brand loyalty and spur sales. But if your printed collateral falls short of expectations, it can bruise your reputation
Get ahead of the rush to prepare for trade show season and be ready to wow conference attendees and increase your sales leads with professionally designed printed marketing materials.
Taking the helter-skelter approach to your professional printing requirements prior to a major trade show or customer presentation is stressful. More importantly, scrambling at the last moment to have new trade booth banners, brochures, and business cards printed, cut, and delivered on time and on spec can be risky. Why? Because you’re leaving yourself no margin for error and no time to fix any imperfections that crop up. Mistakes made at the print shop in the rush to be ready for your next trade show are expensive, irreversible, and completely avoidable. And what if your last-minute delivery doesn’t arrive on time?
The quality and appearance of your company’s printed matter are mission-critical. Anything less than exemplary is unacceptable and potentially harmful to your firm’s reputation. Design and print go hand-in-hand, but they are not one and the same. There is a great deal of strategy and skill required to ensure the translation between your digital design properties and the printing press are accurate and as you envision them.
“The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most.” – JOHN RUSKIN
A Worthwhile Investment
An experienced, professional designer has the knowledge required to set up any size or type of design for a print shop flawlessly. It is a critical point to bear in mind since mistakes can be costly when they’re made by a printer whose expertise does not include the finer points of graphic design.
Through their work, a knowledgeable and seasoned designer who is familiar with the printing lexicon will ensure your printed materials are neither delayed nor rife with rookie errors. Five important things designers focus on for print-related requirements include:
The difference between RGB and CMYK. RGB (red, green, blue) are primary colours of light. CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and key or black) are the primary colours of ink used in printing. Your computer monitor uses RGB colours. Print shops use CMYK colours. To print digital designs on a four-colour press, the RGB colours must be converted to CMYK, but in doing so, their appearance can change significantly. Hence, colour conversion is a delicate affair best not left to chance.
What the Tristimulus colourimeter reads. In the fascinating world of colourimetry (the science of describing our perception of colour), a Tristimulus colourimeter is a device that measures the quality, intensity, and hue of colours omitted by a computer monitor. It helps designers to calibrate the colour levels on their monitors to accurately match the levels of the printer.
Being mindful of Pantone colour coverage. With more than 1,000 Pantone spot colours available to commercial printers, it is the industry standard spot colour printing system they rely on when mixing inks to produce colours on printed materials. Pantone colours are listed by number, and how they translate into print also depends on whether or not the paper stock is coated or uncoated.
Understanding how to use bleed effectively. In commercial printing, bleed refers to the elements of a design that touch the edge of a page without leaving a white margin. The bleed area is what is trimmed off of printed materials. For designers, knowing what the bleed is helps them determine how digital artwork files need to be set up before they’re sent to the printer.
Triple checking the spelling and kerning. If words are misspelled or the spacing between letters and words is out of whack, changing them digitally is no big deal. Errors of this nature on printed materials, however, is another matter entirely (and a costly one).
Generating Sales with Slick Printed Materials
Professionally designed and produced printed materials – whether for the trade show circuit, a direct mail campaign, or as handouts in your office’s lobby – can reinforce brand loyalty among your existing customers, and help your sales force generate new leads. In fact, producing printed business materials is an important part of complete content campaign strategy.
Moreover, and according to a study conducted by MarketingProfs, three out of four small businesses prefer using both print and online channels as part of their marketing strategies because it tends to produce the best return-on-investment.
Do you have marketing materials that need to be printed for an upcoming trade show? Talk to us before you randomly pick a printer.
