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Law Firm Marketing: Nine Effective Digital Marketing Tactics

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Nowadays, more and more businesses rely on digital marketing to bring their venture to the next level. Businesses need more than customer referrals and walk-ins. Law firms and lawyers are not exempt and must employ targeted law firm marketing strategies in order to succeed.

When people need to know something, all they need to do is type in their queries on Google. Your law firm should adopt online marketing to secure clients. Otherwise, your competitors will snatch them from you.

Apply these nine digital marketing tactics to make your law firm’s marketing strategy more effective:

Determine Your Goals

The goal of marketing is to get more clients and increase your law firm’s revenue. However, not everyone knows that to write goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.

Let’s say your overall goal is to increase your gross revenue. Here’s how you can make it S.M.A.R.T:

  • Specific: Instead of saying that you want to increase your law firm’s gross revenue, indicate how much increase you want. For example, increase the law firm’s revenue by $500,000.
  • Measurable: This refers to how and when are you going to measure your success. Do you want all of that revenue increase to come from your marketing efforts? Are you going to set milestones for every quarter?
  • Attainable: Do not fall into the trap of setting impossible goals. So, if you want to increase your law firm’s gross revenue by $500,000, check if you were able to achieve such a stunt in the past. Otherwise, look for a growth trend during the past three to five years and start from there.
  • Relevant: Not all goals are worth pursuing. In the case of your law firm, an increase in gross revenue can be relevant since that would mean better compensation for your employees, higher dividends, for your investors, or more funds that you can use for pro bono cases.
  • Time-bound: Of course, everything must have a deadline. You cannot chase a goal for the rest of your life, can you? For this example, you can say that you want to increase your law firm’s gross revenue by $500,000 within the next 12 months.

Why do you need a S.M.A.R.T. goal? That’s because your goal will set your marketing direction.

Develop and design your website


In case you do not have one yet, your law firm must have an official website. This will be the starting point of your online presence. In fact, your law firm’s website is what ties your online marketing strategies together.

As Dennis Dimka points out, “So much of the other components of a marketing plan, like SEO, PPC, and email marketing, tie back to your website.”

Keep in mind that your website must have the following characteristics:

  1. Easy to navigate
  2. Mobile-friendly
  3. Loads fast
  4. Succinct “About Us” page
  5. Visible contact information

This is something you should communicate with your web developer. If you already have a website, now is a great time to update and modernize it.

Improve Visibility with Search Engine Optimization

According to MOZ, search engine optimization (SEO) is “the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results.” Simply put, SEO is a process of making your website visible on search engines like Google or Bing without paying them.

Say you are a personal injury lawyer, and your law firm is based in San Diego, California. If you are applying SEO on your site, then you should likely appear when someone types in “personal injury lawyer San Diego” on Google.

SEO is a long and continuous process, and it will take some time before you can see results. Nonetheless, it will be worth optimizing your website when done correctly, because that can help generate a steady stream of potential clients in the long run.

Run an Optimized PPC Campaign

Of course, if there is an unpaid way of making your website visible on search engine results, there is a paid way. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is when you pay search engines to make your law firm’s website visible for relevant keywords. However, you will only need to pay a search engine when someone clicks on your ad.

But why run a PPC campaign instead of using the money to put up a billboard along a national highway? Here’s the thing: Not everyone who would pass by the national highway is your potential clients.

But when someone types in “personal injury lawyer San Diego” on Google, that shows intent to hire a personal injury lawyer. So you have to be there. That’s how PPC can help make your law firm’s website visible online.

Attract Prospects Through Inbound Marketing

SEO and PPC are not just digital marketing techniques. They are also integral for your inbound marketing strategy. From the term itself, inbound marketing refers to marketing tactics that can help you bring in qualified traffic to your online asset (i.e., your website).

However, it does not end with bringing in traffic to your website through SEO and PPC. You have to make sure that they will land on a particular and valuable part of your website.

Using our example earlier, when someone comes into your website after searching for “personal injury lawyer San Diego,” some possible online assets you can present are your Homepage, About page, or Contact Us page.

But if someone lands on your website for “what is a personal injury lawyer?” then you might need to create and optimize a different online asset for that.

Setup Email Marketing Campaigns

There is a reason you should apply inbound marketing for your law firm. This is to help you capture leads, or potential clients, that you can nurture until they eventually hire you. One way to do that is through email marketing.

But when it comes to nurturing potential clients, keep in mind that you should not bombard them with something salesy. Instead, create an automated newsletter campaign that will make them feel that you care about them.

However, your email marketing campaign should be relevant. For example, if you are sending a newsletter to a past client, it can because you are offering a discount should he hire your legal services again. It could also be because you are offering an incentive in case he refers you to a new client.

Develop a Solid Social Media Marketing Strategy

Another way to draw and nurture potential leads is through social media marketing. While it is not necessary to have a presence on all social networks known to man, it is important that you have one where most of your potential clients are.

So, for a personal injury lawyer, this could mean having a Facebook page for your law firm. That’s because most people posts about how they incur a physical injury on their Facebook account.

You can also opt to have an account on Quora so you can answer legal questions related to your practice.

Engage Your Visitors with Video Marketing

It is expected more than half of the general internet traffic will be from video by 2021. This means now is the best time for your law firm to engage in video marketing.

Luckily, it no longer costs a fortune to produce a video. In fact, you can create a video using your smartphone.

As for your law firm, here are some video content ideas:

  • Question and Answer video regarding your legal practice
  • Interview other known lawyers in the field
  • Webinar “personal injury law” if you are a personal injury lawyer

Other than that, you can also use video to promote the causes that you support. Regardless, make your video content beneficial for your viewers and potential clients. That way, you can establish your law firm’s credibility.

Generate a Content Marketing Strategy

Last but not least, your law firm must have a content marketing strategy. Here’s what would happen if you do not have one:

  • You have nothing to publish on your website
  • You have nothing to share on social media
  • You have no emails to send
  • You have no topics to talk about on your video

To kick your content marketing strategy off the ground, you can start by setting up a blog for your law firm.

Like in many industries ‒ such as health, food, and beauty ‒ wherein the marketing landscape has moved online, you need to embrace the change if you want your law firm to acquire new clients. Thus, you will need an effective online strategy that will not just grab their attention but can also help you prove your worth. If you need help with social media, email marketing, SEO, or any other general content marketing needs, contact Social Hospitality for a complimentary consultation.

About the Author: Bryan Mixon is the owner of AmazeLaw where he builds websites for solo and small firm attorneys. Bryan has built websites since 1999 and spent his last four years helping companies like HubSpot, Mill33, and LivingSocial. Bryan knows first-hand how difficult it can be for small business owners to get their digital marketing off the ground, so he built AmazeLaw as a super-simple place for solo attorneys to build their sites, collect leads, and get on with doing lawyerly things.


7 Ways Live Video Changes The Way People Consume Content

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It’s easy to forget YouTube is nearly 15 years old. When it launched in early 2005, internet infrastructure was far from ready to deal with anything approaching HD video. Even SD footage was a challenge — plenty of people were still on dial-up connections, and mobile data was barely in its infancy.

We’ve become so accustomed to high-speed internet that we imagine it’s always been there. Today, we regularly stream 4k content across devices of all kinds with minimal buffering, even on mobile connections. We can also easily record high-quality footage through low-end smartphones.

The foundations are so strong, in fact, live video quickly moved from an occasional and unreliable novelty to a viable channel for countless purposes. Consequently, it rapidly changed how we experience the internet — how we consume content, and how we engage in ecommerce. Let’s look at 7 particular ways the evolution of live video changes the way people consume content:

It reduces the desire for polish

One of the most interesting effects of live video is that it’s reduces the demand for slick production values. YouTube videos are increasingly glossy. For a time, people thought they had to invest in heavy production. However, live streaming shows that it isn’t the case.

Particularly from brands, younger people would rather see choppy unedited streams that feel natural than finely-honed videos with all the edges sanded down (they strongly prize authenticity).

Kohl’s, for instance, streamed a real live workout with minimal gloss (and plenty of sweat). Customers appreciated the utility and the honesty.

It creates major influencers

The rise of the influencer has been remarkable. Live video adds to that world in major ways: it makes it possible for people to broadcast their lives as they live them. Through sites like Twitch (which has become an increasingly-significant platform for marketers) or Instagram, influencers can be live on camera for hours every day. This allows them to steadily get people invested in their activities. It also gives influencer’s opinions tremendous weight. Think about this: Fornite streamer Ninja has over 14 million Twitch followers.

It makes communities from hobbies

Ever since online forums were available, communities formed around hobbies, but not in the way they do today. Live video allows people to share what they’re doing (whether it’s gaming, cooking, or taking part in a sport) while supporting real-time conversations between community members who can react to events as they happen. This brings people together and makes the community feel vibrant. For instance, in gaming, a whole community emerged around beating games without being hit. Streamers often pursue ludicrous challenges (and pick up mainstream attention).

It supports interactive marketing

Think of a classic pitch from a store assistant; one that not only demonstrates a product, but also stands ready to field questions and provide effective rapid-fire sales patter. Through live video, this type of marketing is executed online. Plus, you can record the footage and use it as a regular product page video to add social proof.

Experian does this well through a live Twitter chat every week:

It allows virtual event attendance

To attend events in person is often expensive and inconvenient. Some people can’t attend them due to disability or illness. Live video makes it possible to get a good experience of an event as it happens. Combine this with VR, and you have both a viable backup and a great promo tool for your event. This is what the NextVR service is all about: the ability to stream sports and music events (among others).

Some ecommerce services (Shopify being the most notable for its VR investment) already support 360-degree product videos. Thus, you could add a VR preview to your event listing and sell more tickets as a result.

It enables greater exclusivity

FOMO, or fear of missing out, is a huge motivator. Live video allows marketers to take it to another level. For instance, a brand that live-streams a product presentation can offer 20% off to anyone who orders while viewing the stream. Note this isn’t a code that can be redeemed later. It’s a limited-time offer than won’t last. J.Crew does this through its Instagram live feeds.

This incentivizes people to follow live streams. People are enticed by the lure of attractive offers. The content itself can also be exclusive — no need to record, after all. Tim Coppens did this for his Pitti Uomo fashion show, which could only be viewed live (either virtually, or in person).

It changes the nature of sponsorship

We don’t typically like to consume ad content. We skip it wherever possible. And through ad blockers, we can often skip it, even on sites like YouTube. But live content is trickier. Sponsored live streams can work the ads into the content, as has been done on radio for many years. The streams can focus on sponsored products which makes entertaining content from paid topics. This is great for shoppers, who don’t mind watching good ads, and great for sponsors who can count on strong levels of engagement and great viewing numbers. Dollar Shave Club was an early pioneer, and continues to sponsor countless videos across YouTube and Twitch.

 

Overall, live video indulges our basic interest in raw, natural-feeling video, and using the associated vibe to build robust communities. It also changed how we buy; it allows us to preview events and products, find exclusive offers, and get to experience relevant ads that are worth watching.

How to Engage Customers with Animated Marketing Videos

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Animated Marketing Videos Can Play a Pivotal Role in Your Marketing Mix

From Snow White to Toy Story 4, decades of material proves animation can stir people’s emotions in powerful ways. Audiences love animated pieces that make them laugh, cry, and wonder over fantastic worlds and unlikely heroes. It’s only natural, then, animation would also work well for telling your brand’s stories.

It might seem like a stretch to compare an animated explainer video with a Disney classic. But, the latter crafted and refined the foundations of the former for decades. We can generate emotion and interest with marketing pieces by using techniques honed by animated classics. For that to happen, an animated marketing video must be crafted in a meaningful and creative way.

Want to know exactly what that means? Here are a few important things to keep in mind when harnessing the power of animation for your business’ marketing videos.

Know Your Audience

Any marketing content you create should speak directly to a target audience. Every effort you make will most likely fall flat if you fail to speak to your audience.

To start, figure out your intended audience and create an “ideal customer” profile based around them. Compile as much information about your prospective clients as possible: From their ages and genders to likes and dislikes.

Then, use this information to flesh out this persona that’s represents your audience. That representation should influence every aspect of your animated video – from character design to the narrative and pacing.

The following video, for example, knows its audience is environmentally conscious and in need of web hosting. So, everything from coloring to vogue of language adapts to that concept.

As you develop your persona, ask what the purpose of your video is. You should also consider the goal you are trying to accomplish. For example, it’s different to talk an existing customer into a purchase than it is to try to convince a potential lead to convert. Define your objective early on – as you work on your audience’s persona – to help shape the whole project from the get-go.

Know Yourself

Your target audience is one of the two most essential components that define how you’ll work on your animated video. The other one is your business. That’s why understanding your business’ identity and its strengths is another key to unlocking animated marketing videos’ full potential.

Consider the type of product or service you offer, the market you’re in, who your competitors are, and what makes you stand out from the rest. These high-concept ideas can often be translated – and conveyed through – elements like color palette, logo, product or service type, industry, and brand voice.

From something as innocuous as the color you use throughout the video to the music and the type of narrator you pick; it all conveys a certain “vibe.”

If you’re a digital security company, you want to project a certain formality and seriousness. Contrarily, you can be funnier and more informal if you own a doggy-daycare. The great thing about animation is you get to adapt these elements to get the exact tone you are after.

Write A Script That Reflects Your Research

The next step is to write the script that will guide your creative process. You might want to seek the assistance of a video production company to help (especially if you’ve never read a script). The process will move more smoothly if you understand what goes into a script.

Most animated marketing videos’ scripts follow a classic 3-act structure – A beginning, middle, and end – Each one answering one of 3 basic questions: What, How, and Why, respectively.

The “what” introduces the characters and the problem. In a marketing video, this can be the issue that leads them to seek out a product or service in the first place (someone looking out for a respectable place to take care of their dog, for example.)

Once the problem has been established, your company and its product or service make their entrance to save the day. The second act explains “how” you can help solve your audience’s problem.

It all wraps up with act three, explaining “why” your solution is the best solution around.

Writing a script with these three acts in mind makes it easier to organize the video later on, and helps the whole production along to completion.

Plot Everything Out and See How It Feels

After you have the whole story mapped out, it’s time to work on the visuals. There are several things to which you should pay attention here.

One of the most important tools is the storyboard, a pre-visualization sketch of everything that will happen in your video. Think of it as somewhat of a comic where you see some of the most important vignettes.

The storyboard allows you to understand the whole feel of the video since it includes the narrative’s main points, as well as the shots, transitions, camera movements, and other details. Once you have a solid idea there, you can work with designers and illustrators to come up with the characters, the scenarios, the colors, and the extra elements needed for the video to come to life.

At this stage, the research you did on your prospective audience will be crucial. You should use that information to shape up your video’s protagonist.

For example, let’s say your doggy day care’s clientele is mostly comprised of millennial women that spend a lot of their time on Instagram. Your main character should be female, young, and probably have a smartphone on her – even when walking the dog!

Who you are will also come into play. Your brand’s voice should dictate whether you go with a colorful and vibrant video or a more toned-down alternative. Sketches will make it easier for you to judge the direction you take.

Before you animate the video, ask the design team to choose selected frames from the storyboard and draw them in high resolution with the characters, backgrounds, and colors you defined. These style frames will show the big picture and provide a first encounter with the animated video’s final style.

Quality is Paramount

High-quality finish is vital for everything related to your video. That goes well beyond visual definition.

You notice the quality of an animated piece in its music, the voice-over narration, the script’s message, its call to action, branding, and yes, the animation itself. Basically, in every little detail that makes the whole piece.

Since we’re talking about marketing content, everything should be perfect for maximum effect. Remember, the quality of your piece will serve as a reflection of your company’s product or services to your customers’ eyes, so don’t cut corners here!

Distribute Your Video Wherever You Can

Lastly, once your piece is done, promote it effectively. That means distribute through the channels you find most appropriate.

In our doggy daycare example, share it through social media, especially Instagram, since audience research found that’s where most of the clientele is.

Using an animated video on your website, your emails, your presentations, and practically in every place suggested by your audience research is always recommended. However, keep in mind that you can end up abusing your video (that is, sharing the same video so much in so many channels that your target audience gets bored of it quickly,) so be prudent with your distribution strategy.

Final Words

Animated videos are an effective too to engage with audiences. Videos can stir up emotions due to folks being able to identify with the characters, scenarios, and the narrative they depict.

Done right, animated videos provide unparalleled flexibility: you can adjust to fit even the wildest of stories and brand voice, from serious businesses to whacky startups. BUT, be attentive to details and understand the reason behind each major element in your video.

That isn’t precisely an easy feat, as it includes a lot of aspects and tasks. However, the benefits considerably outnumber the challenges, so it’s an endeavor that you should definitely consider to better engage with your customers.

Author Bio: Victor Blasco is an audiovisual designer, video marketing expert, and founder/CEO of the explainer video company Yum Yum Videos. Besides running the business, he’s a lifelong student of Chinese philosophy and a passionate geek for all things sci-fi.

3 Online Marketing Tips for Real Estate Professionals

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As a real estate professional, you know people are shopping for homes differently. The ease of looking online for properties makes old-school marketing efforts inept. In fact, one report from 2013 found 90% of home buyers searched for houses online as a part of their process — 7 years ago!

In this digital world, consumers get information they want quickly. If your marketing efforts don’t keep up, you run the risk of losing potential clients. Without those leads, you naturally won’t sell as many homes.

You can generate new leads if you take advantage of evolving digital marketing techniques. It’s critical to build relationships with those interested in the housing market. To close more sales, boost your online presence with the right marketing tools.

Earn Your Place with SEO

Online marketers should familiarize themselves with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Simply put, Google and other search engines have specific algorithms in place that determine where your website will show up in a search.

Obviously, it should be your goal to rank high. But there are no participation trophies when it comes to SEO. If you want to appear in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages), there are a few important steps to take first and uphold later.

You should have a user-friendly website. It’s crucial to make sure it’s optimized for mobile devices, too. It’s estimated that by 2025, 72% of people will access the Internet through mobile devices. The first step to an improved search ranking is having a website that is easy to navigate.

Content also remains king in the world of SEO. Having fresh and relevant content that focuses on the user experience will grab Google’s attention. That said, don’t count out the importance of keywords within that content.

Choose the keywords people search for, especially locally, to give your business a boost. Use tools like Google Analytics to help determine which keywords rank and where you can make adjustments.

The higher your website ranks, the more likely it is that people will see it. Obviously, the more people see it, the more people will see which homes you list. They’ll also find more about you in general. Don’t ignore the importance of SEO when it comes to getting the attention of potential homebuyers.

Connect With Social Media

As a real estate professional, you know the importance of connecting with people in order to form relationships and gain their trust. Social media provides a unique opportunity to form those relationships before even meeting someone face-to-face for a showing.

Either your real estate company should have various social media accounts, or you should have a professional one for your own endeavors. Social media allows you to be less formal, and shows people that you’re a real human with a personality, not just a “business.”

It gives you the opportunity to answer questions, respond to comments, and offer prospective buyers a behind-the-scenes look at what you do. More than that, social media is a great place to show off properties, too. You can take pictures of houses, share special features, and even do live streams of a walk-thru or open house.

One of the biggest social media trends for 2020 is location-specific pages, which is perfect for the real estate industry since you likely work in a specific area. You can advertise on social media using a select target audience within that location, so you’ll hone in solely on the people in your area who want to buy a home.

If you’re not already taking advantage of social media, you can create a profile on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Once you’re establish, start connecting with people in your area who are interested in homes.

Take Advantage of Video

Video marketing continues to grow. In fact, 87% of marketers use it regularly as a tool, and many believe it to deliver the best ROI.

As a real estate professional, use video marketing to your advantage. For starters, you can create a fun animated video that’s almost like a “trailer” for who you are and what you do. A scripted video about yourself will capture attention and give people the information they need to know all in one place.

Once people know more about you and what you do, you can share videos of the homes you have for sale. Walk through them with people via video and share special features. You can also do live question-and-answer videos via social media. Or, share regular video updates on home buying and selling trends in the area.

In Conclusion

When it comes to online marketing for real estate professionals, connect with people on every level. Real estate is about more than just selling houses — it’s about forming relationships with buyers and sellers. Those relationships aren’t going to change, but how you develop them can shift when you start to take advantage of online marketing.

Author Bio: Jori Hamilton is a writer from the Pacific Northwest who enjoys covering topics related to technology, AI/Machine Learning, VR/AR Technology, Data Analysis, Cybersecurity, sociopolitical topics, and more. 

7 Ways to Create a Compelling Instagram Video Content Strategy

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Creating a compelling Instagram video content strategy is no longer optional. eMarketer predicts 26.9 million new users will join Instagram in 2020. With that, 75.3% of the US businesses are also predicted to be on Instagram by 2020. This evolving scenario paves the path for new marketing trends designed explicitly for this platform.

Many brands already promote their products and services on this platform. Along with creating brand awareness, the new trend is a delight for consumers. Users find it convenient as they need not venture out to find information on other sites. Authentic information is rightly available at their fingertips.

According to HubSpot, around 70% of Instagram users have searched for a specific brand on this platform. Instagram is now one of the crucial platforms for content marketing. But, creating a video content strategy isn’t easy. This is a different set of customers who are impatient and need quick information. The attention span of these users is less than a goldfish; around five seconds. A savvy marketer must create a compelling marketing strategy that can hold attention.

The content must be entertaining, lucid, and meet the needs of the user. Here are some of the best tricks to ensure you have a compelling video content strategy:

1. Captivate in the First Few Seconds

As mentioned before, users have a short attention span. They quickly hop around from one piece of content to the other. Tou have to develop the right video content that entices and compels them to watch til the end. As an Instagram user yourself, you know how quickly you scroll through all the feeds only to stop when something catches your eye.

For example, Boucleme is a UK-based company that develops products for curly hair. The brand executed a smart video content marketing strategy on Instagram which includes user-generated content and cute dogs to grab the attention of the viewer.


NatGeo also does a great job to immediately grab attention. The scenery of the northern lights in the background is breathtaking, and a visual treat for the viewer.

2. Don’t Use Too Much Text in Videos

Instagram videos are for instant gratification. Using too much text in videos can ward off many young users. The content has to be exceptionally visual, and fast. So, when one uses much text, it makes the video unappealing for millennial and Gen Z audiences who thrive on glamorous and visual Instagram content. If you need to add captions, make them intriguing and concise.

3. Make Videos Short and Effective

Develop videos that convey your message in a few seconds. Most Instagram videos are 60 seconds or less. As a marketer, build a marketing strategy customized to each platform. For Instagram, hit the bull’s eye instantly and make your content trend within a few seconds. Make it a roller-coaster ride for the user, so at any moment, they do not feel bored.

High engagement is the key to success on Instagram. You can be as creative as possible, but the videos should convey the message precisely and instantly to the user. For example, Oreo developed an effective and short Instagram video. It catches the attention of the user in a fun and exciting way.

4. Address a Problem

This marketing tactic works on any platform. Present content that addresses the customer’s problem and resolves it. As customers buy products for their benefits, identifying the challenge and solution will allow you to create video content that appeals to your audience. Hook them with enigmatic photo or video to create an emotional connection so they feel attached to your brand.

5. Create an Attractive Cover Photo for Videos

The first impression is the last impression on Instagram. When you post a video, make sure you select an attractive cover photo to display. An attractive subject line can make or break the impact of an email marketing campaign; a strong cover photo has the same power.

Ben and Jerry’s does a great job of creating attractive covers photo to attract the consumer:

6. Include a Clear Call to Action

Without including a clear call to action, your video content isn’t complete. Every marketing effort should reap results, so encourage user to take the leap with your mentioned call to action. So, make the CTA clear and concise for the user.

7. Optimize for Mobile Devices

Instagram is mainly accessed from mobile devices. So, when the call to action for the user leads to a landing page on your site, be sure it’s perfectly optimized for mobile devices and opens easily. Any issues such as the misalignment of the content can falter your marketing efforts and make a wrong impression.

Conclusion

Instagram revamped the marketing strategies of many organizations worldwide. Marketers are regularly brainstorming new ideas to hit the right chords with the user. They develop unique content that ‘s more visual and conveys a message within a few seconds.

Every social media platform has some unique strength, and Instagram has the power to reach users visually. So, make your video content strategy different, appealing, and engaging to get the right results.

Author Bio: Robert Jordan is a seasoned marketing professional with over 10 years of experience. He is a Media Relations Manager at InfoClutch Inc, which provides services & technology database including a list of companies that use Oracle Software, Salesforce users list & many more technologies.

Simple Ideas for Creating Valuable Ads that Convert

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Today’s business owners have a spectacular range of options when it comes to marketing their products or services. The rise of social media platforms and various online tools makes it easier than ever to connect and engage with target audiences.

However, the digital era also brings a few unprecedented challenges to the fore, with consumer behavior and sentiments constantly changing. So, how can you create simple yet valuable advertisements that are truly effective? Check out the following ideas for inspiration.

Make a Promotional Video

Consumers’ attention spans are decreasing, so your window of opportunity constantly gets smaller. If you want to market your products or services successfully, you need to engage your audience almost immediately.

One method is to make a promotional video that conveys what you sell in a fun, interesting, and informative way. If you keep it short and to the point, it’ll also be easier to share online. Remember to encourage viewers to do so. Don’t forget any crucial contact information, either.

If you feel out of your depths because you don’t know the first thing about videography, you’re not alone. Fortunately, there are numerous tools and promo video ad templates that’ll turn you into a pro in no time.

Sponsor a Podcast

Podcasts exploded in popularity in recent years. It may have taken over a decade, but podcasting is now a mainstream medium. This has opened up new avenues for advertising, allowing you to connect with listeners you otherwise might’ve never engaged.

All you need to do is design an audibly-pleasing advert that’s loaded with all the details of your products or services. Next, find a podcast to sponsor that’s within your budget and has a fair number of followers for maximum exposure.

Set up an Online Contest or Competition

Another way to create a valuable ad is by setting up an online contest or competition. Depending what you sell, it could be more cost-effective to award a hamper of products or a dedicated service.

It’s relatively simple to organize a competition with online contact forms, email campaigns, and social media tools. Alternatively, find a publication or influencer within your niche that’s running their own contest.

Offer to contribute prizes as a sponsor to bring attention to your business. Either way, you expose your brand as well as your products or services.

Harness the Power of Social Media

From Facebook, Snapchat, and LinkedIn to Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, social media platforms are a powerful marketing tool. Create valuable adverts by being consistent, posting informative content, and interacting with your followers.

Keep posts to the point, but don’t be afraid to be quirky and fun. Use eye-catching imagery, let your audience in on your day-to-day operations, and stir up the excitement with suspenseful “reveal” posts.

Bonus Tips

Here are a few bonus tips that can help you create effective ads – no matter which medium you use.

Define Your Brand

When you have a defined brand with clear and unique selling propositions (USPs), you can easily incorporate these elements into your adverts. Think about what makes your products, services, and business different from your competitors. It could also be something that’s not necessarily special but that none of your competitors are promoting.

Use Catchy Headlines

With the endless scrolling on social media, flooded email inboxes, and pop-up ads appearing at the most inopportune moments, consumers have little patience to read everything. That’s why a catchy headline is crucial. Plus, when you grab people’s attention, they’re more likely to take an interest in what you’re selling.

Don’t Forget About Visual Appeal

For the same reasons above, plain adverts get lost among other brighter, more exciting ones. Humans are visual creatures, so your audience is likely to appreciate vivid, striking imagery much more than dull and mundane design elements.

The Bottom Line

There are countless simple yet effective ways to design a valuable ad. Make a promotional video, sponsor a podcast, or set up an online competition. By harnessing the power of social media and defining your brand with catchy headlines and visual appeal, you’ll be able to create compelling ads in no time.

TikTok Video Marketing: Secret Weapons To Gain More Followers

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In a relatively short period, TikTok evolved from just another app to a household staple. Even those who don’t identify as one of the 800 million users worldwide know the name and what it’s all about.

TikTok is a powerful tool for video marketing, allowing brands to reach followers in a new and exciting way. Here are some helpful starting points for using TikTok video marketing as a secret weapon to gain more followers.

Referring and Repurposing Across Platforms

One of the biggest benefits of creating marketing content on TikTok is it promotes cross-platform sharing and referrals. You can share TikTok videos on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and more with the click of a button. This makes it easy to expand your reach and refer followers from one platform to another.

This multipurpose approach also makes it simple to create one video to be reused for various applications. A TikTok video editor can be a good option to create content with high sharing potential to extend your cross-platform followers.

Resonating with Your Audience

The most important consideration when creating TikTok marketing content is to resonate with your target audience. Over half of TikTok users fall into the age 18-24 category— this is a huge opportunity for brands who want to expand into this demographic as they enter buying power. As such, it makes sense to create content that resonates with this group.

Authenticity and relevance are everything when using TikTok. Share content that elicits an emotional response or holds value. Empathize with your target market and use this platform to share your knowledge and expertise. The more you resonate with your target audience, the more likely they are to share your content with other members of their demographic and follow your various accounts.

Hopping on Trends and Challenges

TikTok trends and challenges have become all the rage in 2020. Chipotle was a pioneer in using branded challenges on TikTok, and many other brands are following suit. To take advantage of trends and challenges, marketers must be ready to act and create content on the fly. In many cases, these trending hashtags and challenges amass millions of participants within a few days and fade before the month is out.

Some of the top TikTok challenges of 2020 include the Level Up challenge, Flip the Switch, and Dreams. Brands need to pay attention to daily trends and monitor hashtags as they progress in the feed.

Accessibility with Captions

Another aspect of TikTok that makes it stand apart from other video marketing platforms is the accessibility. Many content creators use music and text to make their point. This approach makes it possible to consume the content and understand the context even without audio.

Using captions and text is more important now than ever, as over half of the video content is consumed on mobile devices. If someone is viewing your content on the way to work, while standing in line at the bank, or in a noisy public area, they may not be able to use audio. Keep this in mind when creating your videos to extend your reach and attract more followers.

Prioritize Branding Over Promotion

As authenticity and transparency are a driving force behind TikTok, it’s important to find your promotional balance. If your audience feels as though you’re overly promotional, they won’t follow you or share your content.

Instead, focus on organic branding over promotion. Use this platform to create a connection with your audience by creating engaging content and responding to their comments to spark a conversation. Try to keep your TikTok content non-promotional by using a passive approach to selling.

It takes some time to find your groove on TikTok. Monitor your analytics and use the data to reshape your strategy over time. With dedication and consistency, you’ll find the branding balance that attracts more followers.

7 Content Marketing Trends To Look Out For in 2022

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Content marketing is essential to reach your target audience and grow your business. It’s crucial to monitor content marketing trends to keep up with what your customers want and stay ahead of the competition.

Here are content marketing trends to look out for in 2022.

Compelling and Relevant Content

In 2022, increase focus on creating relevant and compelling content. This helps raise your customer retention rate, acquire new followers, and get in front of more people. You should also strive to be recognized, gain loyalty and trust, and be memorable. In addition, marketers realized the significance of content-focused strategies to maintain existing customers. The right educational or storytelling mechanics can keep people coming back to your website. When creating content for your audience, be sure to use inclusive language and speak directly to them.

Account-Based Marketing

Personalization and user-generated content are crucial for online businesses to stay ahead of the competition. Therefore, another content marketing trend to watch out for is Account-Based Marketing (ABM). With ABM, sales and marketing teams work together to target accounts and turn them into paying consumers. Instead of developing broad ads to appeal to a bigger audience, ABM uses a personalized and focused program to win over certain business accounts. It also emphasizes quality outreach and helps foster business relationships.

Visual Content

Not all folks prefer to read the content they consume. Other people are aural and visual learners. They retain more data and analyze visuals and sounds faster. Another content marketing trend to remember is to use visual content. Incorporate incredible videos, images, infographics, and more. Moreover, using video content can keep your audience engaged for a longer period of time. It also provides businesses the chance to connect, educate, and drive more participation.

Podcasts

Educational podcasts are very popular nowadays. Many businesses launched podcasts to widen their reach. Podcasts provide helpful information to listeners about various topics and can make a difference in maximizing your content marketing strategies. With podcasts, content marketers can share their stories using the right podcasting strategy. A podcast works well with social media platforms and can complement your blog content to cater to consumers who prefer listening to audio. Unlike text, podcasts have a human touch as you can use various voice qualities and emotions to make recordings more relatable to your audience.

Voice Search

Although voice search has been around for some time, it has never been as popular as it is now. Since more consumers want convenience, many take advantage of voice search technology. If you wonder how voice search relates to content marketing, we’re expected to see an increase in casual voice searches in the coming years. This means businesses will need to optimize their content for search engines and voice search. It implies using more conversation-like and simpler language to show up in the results.

Artificial Integration

In today’s modern world, it shouldn’t surprise you to see Artificial Intelligence (AI) among content marketing trends for 2022. The reason is AI technology integrates with human effort for greater outcomes and better strategies. For example, expect to see a rise in the use of AI to create optimized blogs and data analysis. AI also may be used to check for plagiarism and grammar errors. Such innovations provide automation, making content marketing simpler and more effective.

High-Quality Search Engine Optimization

The eCommerce industry exploded during the pandemic and only continues to grow. This demands a better and higher-quality Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy in 2022. Businesses must work hard to set themselves apart from others in the online market. With high-quality SEO, you should also produce high-quality content for your audience. When done properly, you’re more likely to land among the top search engine results.

Conclusion

Since the attention span of online users is very short, keep the above trends in mind to stay ahead of the competition. Once you implement these content marketing trends properly, your business will have a competitive edge, allowing you to make 2022 an incredible year.


Interactive Content: What Is It and How to Master It

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Content marketing revolves around creating and publishing content aimed at your target audience. Content can be incredibly effective for encouraging people to return to your website, generating leads, and increasing engagement. Furthermore, it positions businesses as authoritative and knowledgeable sources in your industry, which in turn builds trust. It’s no surprise 97% of 1,500 businesses from different industries said content marketing is part of their marketing strategy.

Content is a valuable tool for any business. Given its versatility, businesses are able to showcase their brand values and personality. There are many types of online content to consider, such as:

Interactive content is growing in popularity and more businesses are taking advantage of it. But what is interactive content? Read on to find out!

What is interactive content?

Interactive content is any type of content that conveys a message by encouraging user participation. It can be a great tool for drawing audiences in and increasing user engagement.

Interestingly, 88% of marketing professionals claim utilizing interactive content helps them differentiate themselves from other brands. There is a wide range of types of interactive content that businesses can take advantage of, and below we’ll discuss some of the most popular examples.

Interactive webinars

One of the easiest ways to dip your toe into interactive content is through webinars. A webinar is a live online video conference or presentation that allows the audience to get involved by asking questions and discussing the topic. By ensuring presentations give the audience the opportunity to join in, organizers increase engagement and keep their audiences interested.

Some tips for creating interactive webinars include:

  • Start discussions – Initiate two-way conversations. Throw in thought-provoking topics and encourage the audience to express their thoughts.
  • Offer criticisms – Ask the audience to submit questions and feedback in exchange for your opinions. Just make sure your criticisms are constructive and aren’t offensive.
  • Include breaks – For example, schedule five-minute breaks for webinars that’ll last for two hours. During those breaks, the audience can have casual chats with each other.

Quizzes and polls

Quizzes and polls are another common way to engage with your audience. This type of content is flexible: they can be used as stand-alone pages or added to other pages of your website, such as blog posts.

Another benefit of quizzes and polls is they require minimal effort from your audience. Polls are less time-consuming than something like a webinar. Businesses can also gather valuable data from quizzes and polls in order to better understand their target audience.

There are many types of quizzes and polls. For example, multiple choice questions, image identification systems, and matching items together. You can also include a basic question-and-answer quiz. Below are tips for creating quizzes and polls:

  • Simplify the user interface – Design with simplicity in mind. And clarify where users can find the navigational buttons.
  • Add visual appeal – Create products that are good for the eyes. To do that, mind color choices, font choices, and layout.
  • Use a friendly (and professional tone) – Show gentleness, avoid rude language, and toss questions with respect.

Interactive infographics

Infographics with interactive features can be a hit. Examples include moving graphics, scrolling effects, and disappearing text. As an example, check out this interactive infographic of social media in real-time. To create interactive infographics:

  • Add animation effects – Apart from the examples above, include glitter, stickers, and bouncing emojis. Design with audio, too.
  • Avoid monotony – Entice with information other than text. Load it up with images and rich media. Then, once a user clicks on a particular section, make graphs and charts appear.
  • Hide parts of the content – Make basic information visible. Then, if a user clicks on a particular section, present an in-depth version of that information — just like the idea above.

Interactive video

Interactive videos give the viewer the ability to click on the video for actions to occur. The rise of live video in the past few years has altered the landscape for interactive video, too. For example, Instagram Lives allow people to watch and engage with a brand or user in real-time. Tips for creating interactive videos include:

  • Feature a TOC – Add a Table of Contents (TOC) so the audience can play the parts they want. This way, they can replay, fast-forward, skip, and pause ideal portions.
  • Test the audience – Insert a poll, quiz, or survey every three minutes or so. You can also ask for feedback at the end of the video.
  • Include captions – Increase the accessibility of your video. Enable translations, too.

Benefits of interactive content

Understanding the types of interactive content available for businesses is one thing, but the benefits are another.

Get a Higher Engagement Rate

Engagement rate refers to how actively involved your audience is with your content. If your rate is low, it might indicate your audience is not interested in the content you’re producing. Interactive content often improves engagement rates because it incentivizes your audience to get involved and respond.

Capture More Data

Capturing data is so important because it transforms information into something understandable — and as an extension, usable information. Interactive content can help to generate leads, collect data and further understand your audience. There are a variety of ways to build engagement with your audience, such as using personalization campaigns, chatbots, or leveraging social media.

Improve Brand Loyalty

Brand loyalty is a perception-based concept. It describes how the audience sees a particular brand to offer better quality. Brand-loyal people may buy every product that a particular brand features — a reason it’s essential to maintain (or improve) the level of brand loyalty. Interactive content can help build trust and increase retention rates, which in turn reduces churn.

Tips for mastering interactive content

Want to create hard-to-resist interactive content? Here’s how.

Determine a strategy

Before starting any new project, it’s important to have a strategy in place. The same goes for content marketing. Consider the following when developing a content marketing strategy:

  • Who is the target audience?
  • What type of interactive content will appeal to that audience?
  • How is success measured?

Know your audience

Knowing your audience is integral to success. After all, knowledge is power. And the knowledge of your audience’s identities will help you accommodate them effectively — and sell to them better. How can you get to know your audience better?

Regularly review and analyze content

It’s essential to review and analyze your content to know if it’s effective or not. Without assessing your content, you may be wasting time and resources. An important part of reviewing your content is to understand what is working well and what’s not. This enables you to then make improvements.

A few key metrics that can be tracked are:

  • Conversion rate (because it tells you your content persuaded the audience to take action)
  • Time on page (because it tells you how much or little time the audience spent on your content)
  • Page views (because they tell you how many people viewed your content)

Conclusion

The common marketing phrase “content is king” is still true. However, audiences are now more demanding and expect more from businesses. If you want to stand out from the crowd and make your audience pay attention, interactive content is a great way to do that.


Author Bio:
Rebecca DiCioccio is the Marketing Manager at Paperform. Outside of work, Rebecca can be found exploring the outdoors or with a book in hand. Rebecca’s background in copywriting and a keen interest in SEO and digital marketing mean she understands the importance of staying up to date with the latest trends in a dynamic and ever-changing industry.

How Tech Advancements Drive More Immersive and Personalized Marketing Experiences

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Marketing is all about connecting with consumers. Great campaigns are both memorable and moving; they make your audience feel “seen” and build brand loyalty amongst your customers.

However, creating a personal connection when writing a campaign for thousands of people is tricky. You can’t manually write personalized campaigns for your whole audience and individually emailing every customer you’ve ever had is a poor use of time and resources.

Recent technology can help streamline your campaigns and drive more immersive, personalized marketing experiences for each of your consumers. Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs can tailor your email content to each customer and social media is the perfect place to post personalized, immersive video content.

AI and Data-Driven Marketing

AI is reshaping the way that marketers approach the market. Machine learning-based segmentation can help you analyze your audience and maximize your operational efficiency as a marketing department. You can use AI to gather data and produce hundreds of experiments like A/B testing to optimize your approach to consumer marketing.

Machine learning algorithms are particularly useful if you want to personalize your website and customize the user experience based on their preferences. AI-integrated online marketing campaigns use predictive analytics to track user preferences and refine your website to a granular level.

AI can even the SEO playing field, too. AI can improve the relevance of the content that audiences find on search engines and show web pages based on audience search intent. This can help small businesses climb search engine results pages (SERPs) organically when they produce immersive, high-quality content.

Automation can free up time for more creative, immersive projects, too. By embracing AI and data-driven marketing, you’ll spend less time manually recording user data and more time shooting video-based content and engaging with users.

Video-Based Content

Video content is king in the digital marketing world today. Great video content convinces folks to stop scrolling and pay attention to your marketing campaign. Immersive videos help you build a brand image that lasts, too, as you can dive deeper into your messaging in short-form films.

Before you start shooting B-rolls and interviewing employees, you should understand the different types of video advertising:

  • In-stream ads: video content that is connected to other pieces of content (e.g. advertisements that run before YouTube videos or on TV)
  • Out-stream ads: videos that are placed within non-video content (e.g. advertisements that automatically play while you read news articles or a blog page)
  • Native video ads: sponsored advertisements that are made to look like the content they are placed within (e.g. sponsored video posts on Reddit or Facebook that look like user-generated content)
  • Rewarded ads: you “reward” users for watching your short video while they’re playing mobile games.

These common forms of immersive video-based advertising content drive engagement on your website or social media pages. You can even run personalized advertisements based on user behavior and preferences. This can help you differentiate your brand from your competitors and will ensure that your video content connects with your audience.

Video content can help you climb the SEO rankings, too. Help Google find your videos by making each video available on a publicly accessible web page and using an appropriate HTML tag (e.g. <video>, <embed>, <iframe>, or <object>). Provide a quality thumbnail to ensure that Google can index your video and use a supported format like BMP, GIF, or JPEG.

Social Media

Video content is king on social media. TikTok and Instagram Reels are extremely popular online and short-form videos can help you stand out from the crowd. Social media supports personalization, too. Ads can be shown to different users based on their demographic information, follower list, and likes.

Conduct social media market research before you produce a sponsored campaign online. Most major platforms have a dedicated analytics page to help you break down your current followers. Make full use of analytic programs like:

These data analytic tools can help you better understand your audience and create personalized marketing content for your followers.

Creating social content that connects can be tricky if you are new to the scene. Consider working with an influencer if the idea of TikTok dances and informative Instagram stories fills you with dread. Find the perfect influencer for your brand by searching via hashtags and sites like LinkedIn. Experienced influencers know how to create a personalized marketing experience for their audience and will help build your brand reputation online.

Conclusion

Technological advancements can help you better understand your audience and refine your approach to market research. Machine-learning programs can break down massive amounts of data in the blink of an eye and AI can automate monotonous tasks that take you away from creative projects. Make use of the current video-content trend by producing short-form films that are designed to immerse your audience in your brand messaging and boost your SERP ranking.

The post How Tech Advancements Drive More Immersive and Personalized Marketing Experiences appeared first on Social Hospitality.





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