mktguru-blog1

[mktguru-blog1]

THE KEY TO “SHAREABLE CONTENT” 

When great content fails to attract the audience intended , what’s the problem? People who are in to content marketing say, “I want my post to go viral.” or, “we want to share this content everywhere with everyone ” It’s a great realistic goal, but even the best marketers in the business don’t go viral every time they publish content. 

There is no guaranteed way to expect your content to be shared so much it goes viral. Though, with a few simple tips, you can boost the chances of your website content being shared and optimize your posts for easy sharing and boost the odds of your posts receiving the deserved attention from social media users.

First Things First Your “Headline”

I can’t stress enough about how important a catchy headline is. If your headline is boring and dull no one is going to want to click on your post or even bother looking at what you have to offer. Take it from me if I scroll through content articles and post I will pass about 50 post before I decide to finally read one only because the headline was funny or interesting, I read headlines and subject lines and if it does not catch my attention I skip.  

A headline can be extremely effective at getting people to share it. If it sounds exciting or has a strong call to action in the headline, people are more likely to share it. It must always be related to your content and be relevant to what you are talking about. It should stand out and make people want to read it. Don’t mislead and trick your audience, but keep it new and engaging. 

Focus on making it a catchy headline and even accompany your content with an interesting image that compliments the content and draws people in. Being visual is key.

Dons Skimp Out On Visuals!

“Tweets with images are 94 percent more likely to be shared, and photos on Facebook get 53 percent more likes.” There is no doubting that visual information is shared more often. Use photos or images wherever you can, pictures are a very important element for increasing social shares. The visual elements are vital to getting attention for your post in social media, to communicating the key message! Try to make your images:

Simple. Don’t over complicate them.

Powerful. Use wow/awe factor

Emotive. Use images to start emotion in your followers.  

Funny. If it makes them laugh out loud, they will share it.

Make them want to hit the Re-tweet, Re-pin or like button.  Take advantage of images and get creative.

Get Involved With Current Events or Memes

Linking topics that your readers care about with current events is a great way to create a relevant and attractive post. People love to share a new point of view on a current topic with a creative new Meme. To connect with current topics and Memes in your content, you have to move fast or plan ahead!

1. Know your target audience

Who are you trying to appeal to with the social meme or current event?

2. Stay creative

Memes are meant to engage your target market through human connection, humor, awe, call-to-action, or inspiration. Creativity is key when you’re trying to grab people’s attention quickly.

3. Stay Current

Using older meme images or events can be effective, but the most viral content will result from the latest event or image of the day. For Memes, search for popular ones on Imgur or Instagram or better yet create one. It could possibly be the next biggest Meme.

Last but Not Least 

Don’t Be Afraid to Ask!

At the end of the content, you can include a small space for suggesting that your readers share the post with their network if they enjoyed it. Just ask! Make it simple for your audience to share relevant content and don’t be shy about asking them to share it directly. Make it easy by having social media share buttons right at the end. No one likes having to click on something multiple times just to share something make it one click if you can. If your content is good and means something to them, a lot of people will enjoy to share. As you build up an audience and loyal followers, more people will share your content without you needing to ask. 

[mktguru-blog1]

Denny's, Weird or Genius ?

Okay so I can honestly say I haven't been into a Dennys in years. Last time I was at a Denny's was probably about 5 years ago and I was in there for their grand slam deal.  Always packed with family’s and really loud in there, but loud enough for everyone to hear about how someone didn’t order onions with their burger. The Grand Slam was good, but not enough to bring me back to Denny’s again,didn’t really like the atmosphere in there. Though, after looking through their social Medias and blogs, I’m really tempted to try Dennys again just because I enjoy there post. Kind of weird how that makes me want to go back. That proves something. The most suitable description I can give is that they’re showing their crazy creative side and it is working.  July 2013, the brand selected Erwin Penland to run its social channels, and since then, engagement has increased over 200 percent. By commenting on current events, usually with its now-signature “snarky tone”, or posting relatable complaints, the brand has insinuated itself to its followers.

The brand’s funny and culturally relevant social posts have resulted in a large amount of followers across its social platforms. In less than a year, the restaurant chain has increased:

Tumblr audience by 253 percent

Twitter audience by 132 percent to nearly 95,000 followers.

Instagram followers from 1187 to 14.1K

Facebook to 1 million likes

If your image of Denny’s restaurants is a place to take mom and dad for the dinner buffet, think again. The restaurant chain is re-inventing itself with its new comedic and weird social media strategy. Taking on a brand image alone isn’t enough to gather attention and sales. It seems that Denny’s is focusing on the young adult crowd to become a late-night, after-party spot to go too. So what has Denny’s done to create a successful content marketing strategy? Let’s analyze…

Denny’s keeps an energetic existence on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.  As I look through their platforms I notice they take a different approach to each one.

Let’s break it down:

On Facebook, Denny’s posts seem how any diner post should look like, normal featuring information on deals and pictures of food. The predictable strategy is one that makes sense for Facebook’s now older audience. Focusing standard content that pushes the food and the brand makes a lot of sense to me on Facebook.  Similarly, Instagram is mostly food photos just what Instagram users expect to be.

It’s on Twitter and Tumblr that Denny’s strategy starts to look less conservative.

Twitter has character limits that must be followed and many of Denny’s tweets are short messages about food, most of the time combined with today’s young culture, popular memes, or other timely references. An example:

Not all of Denny’s tweets are big hits, but most of them have a few hundred retweets and favorites and when they hit on a specific viral subject, those numbers jump into the thousands, giving the brand great social reach.

Tumblr

The company’s Tumblr presence leans towards bizarre content, including graphics and animated GIFs, typically with a breakfast theme. This kind of strange content works perfectly in the Tumblr environment, especially since it doesn’t feel forced.  Because of this, Denny’s Tumblr presence starts conversations, inspires reblogs, and even has followers creating their own Denny’s inspired GIFs and art the best kind of engagement for any brand.

How does Dennys do it ?

Engagement

Over the last few years Denny's has developed a unique, funny but weird brand voice that's been shared across a number of different channels that drawn attention from the media and from its growing number of fans. There’s a space on Tumblr for customers to ask questions and submit their own content. Not only does Denny’s respond (as you should always!), they share the questions openly and continue with their brand voice. They also do a decent job of retweeting and responding to Twitter and Facebook posts. Denny’s stays loyal to its followers and they stay loyal to Dennys.

Take Risks

You're not going to accidently stumble upon that next great content marketing idea by playing it safe. Of course, you're not always going to be successful with content shared. But the key is to take risks and ensuring that these ideas are related to the brand, made for the intended audience and stay true to the brand strategy.

In Conclusion:

Companies hoping to make a connection with their customers have now looked to social media as a quick way to connect and inform. Which is a good strategy but the challenge is creating content and an experience worth sharing that has a good ROI. As Denny’s has proven with their use of Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube, and other channels, breakfast can be an unexpectedly exciting topic.

“One of the things we try and do in our diners is feed people what they want when they want it,” explains Kevin Purcer, Senior VP of Digital Strategy at Erwin Penland, leader of Denny’s social team. “It’s why we are open 24 hours and why we have such a large selection of customizable menu items.

Though what’s funny and what isn’t can be hard to identify, many followers can find some content and the message trying to be made across an issue to be distinctly un-funny. Trying to hit the latest topics and trends without upsetting any of your followers means you need to be careful, but if you can manage it there are a lot of positives to Denny’s new approach in terms of building awareness and engagement.

Sometimes a little out of the ordinary thinking in your social plan can really pay off huge!

[mktguru-blog1]

Red Bull’s Extreme Content

One word to explain Red Bulls marketing content strategy “EPIC”, that word summarizes Red Bulls entire marketing approach. 

Red Bull’s mainly targets a segment of 18- to 34-year-old men based on their interests like being outdoors, taking risks and having fun. The brand sponsors “edge sport” athletes, like base jumpers, BMX racers and mountain bikers, basically adrenaline junkies who did not have many big brands attached to them. This meant Red Bull pulled and built its audience, rather than pushing messages out. 

The product has become secondary to the activities that Red Bull’s customers enjoy.  

Red Bull understands that its customers are young and active.  The brand is targeting the younger end of its demographic, and they understand that customers in this age range are extremely a “know-how” group when it comes to advertising.  So instead of trying to market its product to these customers Red Bull focuses its content on the activities they love. You'll know the familiar sun logo on the skate ramp. And yes, you'll spy the bulls on the back of the wingsuit. But there's no mention of the actual drink.

 “ Red Bull is a publishing empire that also happens to sell a beverage.”

Through the use of exciting channels, notorious partnerships, and their very own media house, they are able to create content that not only builds up a following, but makes them known for being more than just an energy drink, at the same time still bringing in the sales and profits.

What makes Red Bull different? 

Red Bull does a amazing job of shaping its content.  Red Bull creates great content and videos narrating how these amazing athletes prepare to engage in their activities.  This is for the hardcore extreme sports fans that want to learn more about these athletes and how they train for and perform these amazing jumps, stunts and tricks. Red Bull takes actual footage from the event and shows it by itself hardly being edited, and works it into its commercials.  One of Red Bulls greatest stunts that got a lot of publicity was from Felix Baumgartner’s free fall from space. The brand divided footage from that amazing event into a highlight video that currently has about 36 MILLION views. They are huge on Facebok, with over 40 million followers on Facebook, Red Bull is one of the most popular brands on one of the world’s largest social networking site.  They stay consistent with the content it creates on other online channels, the product itself is almost never promoted or even mentioned.  

Story Telling 

Red Bull’s marketing is all about telling a story.  It’s about personal triumph, about pushing the limits and going farther than you thought you could.  These ideals speak to the heart of extreme sports and these extraordinary and bold athletes.

What makes this marketing so convincing is that Red Bull is telling a story where the customer is the hero. The content is placed so that the customer watches these athletes performing these amazing activities then feel inspired to push themselves to go farther.

Consider all of Red Bulls commercials, it’s a story of an athlete with a beginning, middle and an end. The end of these commercials always ends with something inspiring and a hard core message to its viewers such as:

- “If you believe in it, then anything is possible.”

- “The only limit, is the one you set yourself.”

- “You can dream about it, or you can go out and make it happen.”

The content inspires you to do more and to accomplish more than you thought you could.

What can we learn from Red Bull as a marketer? 

1. Connect with your supporters.

Your supporters will back you up if you give them an outlet.

2. Think like a publisher.

Red Bull operates like an publisher or a film studio, focusing on creating content, which can range from airplane races to skydiving from space. Red Bull creates content in multiple areas such as print, internet, video, events, and competitions. Your brand should mix several channels into its content marketing plan and increase content for each specific platform.

3. Invest in content.

Creating good content that people actually want to spend time with is not easy, and it’s not cheap. To catch the audience’s attention, and more important, to keep it, the content has to be great. Bottom line for any company is investing in content, that is the key. 

4. Focus on the customer.

The best content is created with the highest level of compassion and with the consumer in mind. For the customer by the customer.

5. Aim to create content, not ads.

Red Bull is not making ads. The actual Red Bull energy drink is rarely ever seen in its content. They are making content that people gather to see, which is proved in the company’s almost 4 million YouTube channel subscribers. Even if you don’t have the budget or the audience that Red Bull has, the company’s approach to content gives ideas to different strategies of marketing content.

[mktguru-blog1]

Snapchat For Your Brand or Business!

Why Snapchat ?

- Over 100 million daily users and 400 million snaps per day being shared.

- 26 million U.S active users

-  Core Audience is between 13- 25 years old.

- 70% of snap chatters are women

How It Works

A Snapchat picture, or snap , users can take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a controlled list of recipients. Snaps are only available from 1 to 10 seconds depending on the time limit you set for it, once the user opens it. Now there is a new feature called the Snapchat Stories which allows items to be available for up to 24 hours and you can replay them as many times are you want within those 24 hours. The limited lifespan makes Snapchat the perfect tool to deliver a "call to action" that creates excitement for the user.

How is Snapchat a useful tool for marketing?

#1 Your Audience

If your target audience is age 13-25, Snapchat may be the platform you're looking for. It is primarily used by younger generations. When creating a strategy for Snapchat, you need to settle on a tone of voice that will be used across the board for your specific brand. It’s a must that the language you use should be easy-to-understand, and your posts should have a sense of fun to catch your audience attention and interest.  If you’re just starting out on Snapchat, take a little time and look around and do some research. Browse through other accounts and follow other people to get a better idea of how they use the app.

Regularly remind your audience on more recognized channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter that you’re on Snapchat and doing cool different things there. Offering exclusive content on Snapchat or promotional content is a smart way to do this.

Post frequently! If you want to stay on people’s Snapchat radars, set a regular rhythm and stick to it and stay consistent.

#2  Ten second video/picture

It might seem like the time limit would make it extra hard to market through this platform, though you need to learn to embrace it ! Use it to your advantage.

This can give you a perfect opportunity to offer teasers to your followers on Snapchat. Since videos and photos only exist for a few seconds, you can use Snapchat to give people a preview of an upcoming product or service that your brand may be offering. You can also use Snapchat to create contests or a sweepstakes.

 For example, you can ask other users to send you pictures of them using your product and offer a reward to those who do. The key is that you are always looking for ways to engage with your customers. So you can keep people coming back for more, giving you extra opportunities to engage users.

#3 Your Personality

Snapchat is supposed to be fun. Marketers need to show personality, tell your business's story and make customers feel special with your Snapchats, like if they are a part of your business. Snapchat is all about one-on-one interaction, making it much more personal and private than Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, etc.

Preferably, the media that you share over the app should give people a better idea of your business and what you have to offer. You should always be working to insert personality into your photos and videos to help people connect to your brand.

How to Stand out?

Snap Codes

They are images that are scanned by the app which is now the most common way to build a following. Numerous publishers including The Huffington Post and The Daily Dot have replaced their usual Twitter profile pictures with “Snapcodes,” used for easier following. Snapchat users usually find people to follow through phone numbers in their address books, so this offers a good alternative for brand accounts that aren’t usually tied to a phone number.

Influencers

Coca-Cola and Sour Patch Kids are two examples of brands that hired popular social media stars to build a following. The theory is that these stars already have huge followings on the app, making it easier for brands to grow an audience. Just like with Instagram and other social platforms, social media influencers on Snapchat can help spread brand awareness and reach. By hiring influencers, you can spread awareness to a demographic that’s hard to reach through other traditional media.

Offer Contests, Perks or Promotions

Everyone loves social media giveaways and promotions, so think of ways you can keep your followers coming back for more.

Exclusive sales and events - Tell your valued customers about special sales or events, maybe even going so far as to hold insider events just for these people.

Preview new products - If you own a clothing store, show them clothing that your store is about to put onto the floor.

Take People Behind the Scenes- With Snapchat, you can provide behind-the-scenes content to your community, which helps create and engage a strong following.

Snapchat is a new authentic platform to create a stronger following of your brand. It will strengthen your brands name with real time marketing.

[mktguru-blog1]

*Super Bowl 50 Content*

Super Bowl 50 is here! Many people sometimes don’t like watching the Super Bowl game but the ads are a big part of Game Day. Every year that passes Super Bowl ads tend to go higher and higher in spot prices. Total ad spending has become ridiculous.

According to CNN, “the average cost for a 30-second spot in last year’s Super Bowl was $4.5 million and the price has hit $5 million for a slot in Super Bowl 50. The average yearly rise in the cost of a Super Bowl spot since the first game was broadcast in 1967 is a staggering 10%.”

Since advertising during the game is so expensive for some companies, the ones that didn't get a spot have to put in some extra work to be seen or recognized. So a marathon of social media campaigns have to be executed to make up for that costly 30 to 60 second spot.

When it comes to one of the biggest events on TV of the year that capture the attention of people across the globe, the Super Bowl is one event we can look forward to each and every year to wow us.

User-generated content campaigns

User-generated content is powerful for numerous reasons. It gives users the opportunity to feel personally close to a brand. Just the fact that you are being involved with a huge brand name motivates thousands to create content.

This involves them as part of the action and not just inactive viewers. Audiences might ignore the bombardment of typical advertising, but they’ll participate in games, contests and conversations about their favorite brand.

For Example:

Doritos is no stranger to user generated content. For the past decade, Doritos has repeatedly used the power of user-generated content to their advantage. Doritos is one of my favorite advertisers for the super bowl they are so creative and the humor level is on point. Thousands of users submit original content that reflects their love and version of the brand hoping of winning the million-dollar grand prize or what ever the contest is giving away and most importantly being able to see your own commercial aired during the Super Bowl. This means fans have to encourage their friends and family to vote and share the video. Doritos is winning in ad production and their marketing tactic.

This Super Bowl, stay aware to what’s happening in real-time, and leverage user-generated content to make a bigger impact. Everyone will be to focused on the game to care about whats being advertised. Though everyone is still always on their phone. Talking, tweeting, posting about the game and anything that happens. This year we might get another “left shark” incident. When the performer on stage during the half time show forgot all his moves or maybe another wardrobe malfunction. 

User-generated content falls in perfectly, the tactic should involve sharing and conversation building. The goal is to provide something engaging for when people look away from the game and turn to their tablets or smartphones.With more than 100 million people expected to be watching, brands have to be super conscious of the message their commercials deliver and the content they are providing if not they will have a slip up and they will feel the wrath of the internet. I kinda hope some good memes come out of this Sundays game but we will see!

Who has done it right in the past?

Some of my favorites and the kings of Super Bowl Ads

Budweiser and Bud Light – #UpForWhatever and #BestBuds Campaigns.

Bud Light always get strong results for Content, Engagement and Conversation. Their 2014 hashtag, #UpForWhatever, Bud Light’s branded location page for all user created content made it really easy to locate all content and kept it well organized.

The beer company also created over 140 messages on their bottles as part of the campaign to encourage "fun”. They knew beer was going to be there best weapon.  They did very well promoting on social media  both Bud Light and Budweiser. Some of Budweiser’s real-time tweets during the game were re-tweet favorite among fans on Super Bowl night.

For major events like this Sunday’s Super Bowl, you don’t have to be too aggressive to dominate the conversation to come out as the winner for viral content. Though, you do need to take an active part in it and stay on top of live news and headlines. Utilize social media and interact with your consumers in an engaging way, and your brand will be winning!

[mktguru-blog1]

Are celebrity endorsements worth the big bucks?  

2016, it’s a new world of social media, marketers are overloading on celebrity endorsements, betting on stars’ earned media expertise to help their campaigns rise in popularity. Marketers are paying a pretty big chunk of change for these celebrities to be on their brands. Celebrities promoting products and services has become a gainful way to build brand awareness and credibility. When brands create a relationship and connection to popular names in entertainment, sports, fashion, and other forms of marketing, there is a huge chance to boost sales enormously, especially when the consumer believes the product or service is actually used by the celebrity him or herself. Which in most cases they do. 

What are their goals? 

When looking for a celebrity to represent your brand, it’s important to know what the expectations of having that celebrity endorsement are. 

- Does the brand hope to connect to a larger audience? 

-Does the brand need an identity? 

-Is the brand trying to start a new look for itself? 

Whatever the reason for seeking out a celebrity endorser, a brand should go at the situation with a specific goal in mind. Even though, choosing a celebrity to endorse an entire brand can be complicated. Not all celebrities are equal. Or will like the brand that is trying to recruit them. 

Examples:  

“$1 billion campaign starring Robert Downey Jr.”

Pepsi’s $50 million “endorsement agreement with Beyoncé.”

Most recent we have brands like Audi, Honda, KIA and Diet Coke have enlisted popular names like Nick Cannon and Taylor Swift, Blake Griffin who are fueling their ads with celebrity exposure. 

How does this work? 

The key for brands is choosing the right celebrity to endorse your products. The most important features that marketers look for are trustworthiness and credibility for the brand. Why? the most effective celebrity endorsements are those who seem to flow and make sense, like they would realistically be a customer of the product or service that they are promoting, and enough so that fans and consumers really do believe. 

Different celebrities will accomplish different things for a brand as an influence. Most of the time you would have choose the celebrity with the most fans because more fans mean more customers and profit. Realistically  It  only improves your odds with those people who are fans of the celebrity. Though, you can get lucky an make potential fans into new consumers depending on the outcome of the celebrities work.

Ultimately brands should be targeting through social media communities and platforms of these celebrities. Makes it a better approach for the marketing strategy to be effective. It makes sense because utilizing his or her personal social platforms creates a unique and personal connection with fans and followers.

Social media platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr are great resources for finding what is trending and viral at the moment. Look for users similar to your brand's target audience. Have to basically stalk and learn their likes and dislikes on their social media profiles.

Overall, these relationships are built on trust, and businesses research possible celebrities as much as possible before making it official. It can be a huge risk because at any moment the celebrity being used can have a downfall and eventually be a bad look for your brand. For one, celebrity endorsements can be super expensive. Celebrities demand millions of dollars to endorse a product or brand. Second, like all humans, we make mistakes and celebrities sometimes get in trouble. When a celebrity gets in trouble the whole world knows about it. Meaning the brand is now also in trouble because of the association and could potentially lose followers. 

In the marketing world, a celebrity is only as valuable as their public image. If that image is a bad one just means bad news for a brand. Just as a celebrity has the power to attract individuals to a brand, he or she has the power to chase away individuals the same way. 

These brands see social media as the most effective way to engage with people, especially the millennials, since it is the way our generation and demographics interact with each other, and everything around them. Friends, family, news, brands, athletes, etc....

Its good to remember nowadays we are too focused on making the sale we should engage the audience first by connecting with them in a way where they will interact back. 

[mktguru-blog1]

How Oculus Rift Is About to Reshape Content Marketing

The world of content marketing can be inspiring, confusing, and frustrating, but at least you can never say it’s going to be boring. There are always new ways of engaging customers, sharp new trends in competition and user behavior, and new opportunities to find the best strategy.

The Oculus Rift is a set of virtual-reality goggles that will work with your computer or mobile device. A prototype was shown at the E3 gaming convention in 2012, California-based Oculus VR with Brendan Iribe, who became CEO. Oculus Rift, ended up raising $2.4 million after it was available. On Mar. 25, 2014, Oculus VR was bought by social networking giant Facebook for a combined $2 billion dollars. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the headset “has the chance to create the most social platform ever,” we don’t know how exactly he will be doing that and how Facebook will be using the Oculus Rift.

Facebook acquired Oculus Rift because it believes virtual reality could be the next big thing after mobile. I might just start using Facebook again if he ends up creating the newest trend. Sounds pretty exciting!

How does it work ?

They kind of look like a pair of ski goggles in which a large cellphone screen replaces the glass. The screen displays two images side by side, one for each eye. The screens focus on reshaping the picture for each eye, and creating a sort of 3D image. The goggles have fixed sensors that monitor the wearer’s head motions and adjust the image accordingly.

Why the Oculus Rift?

Oculus isn’t just a virtual toy for gamers or a world of fantasy it has the potential to invent a whole new universe of marketing.

This new technology will be huge for millennials. Major brands have big plans for the year ahead, as many have already trialed the kits that Oculus distributed to media players, agencies, brands and vendors in 2014.

What do advertisers want most? What do marketers want the most? Engagement with a captive audience! I would say that this is the main ability for virtual-reality content.  The Oculus Rift will be focused on story telling.

Audiences want stories. As storytellers, we need an audience. We must constantly continue to build our audiences and give them content worth sharing. Good content marketers should always be listening and responding to their audience’s wants and needs. If we aren’t doing this, we’re just creating content to create content and it goes to waste.

This means companies have to put the story first and not focus on selling brands or products. Brands need to start looking into this new tech in order to keep a strong audience and with a large and strong audience comes a strong response from users.

We don´t know yet how Facebook will transform the field of Content Marketing and how it will look like in the future using the Oculus. Facebook will have to add new functions to its site to make them play better together and to make them easier to use for businesses.  We don´t know what role Oculus will play in their strategy. But what we know for sure is that Facebook´s advances and discoveries will be ahead of the game in the near future.

In the end

The field of content marketing will continue to change in 2016. Companies will realize that they have to focus on content. They have to focus on becoming storytellers, and not to keep pushing old trends and stories that don’t interest people in 2016.

I think it’s clear that every content marketer should constantly attempt to create better and better content but quality story ideas are becoming harder and more important than ever thanks to tech like the Oculus.

Marketing tools will get the long awaited push in technology.

[mktguru-blog1]

“The voice of the consumer is the heart of the brand"

Coca-Cola is one of the most known brands in the world. Coca Cola 2020 is one of Coke’s most important marketing strategies – Their term,liquid storytelling.

Coca-Cola’s main goal is to grab the attention of todays popular culture by creating and executing strategies that put them as a new storytelling brand. Every day they will aim for something bigger and better because times change and they need to keep up with todays trends.

Its communication is connecting with its audience in a way that makes it stand out from its competitors. The point isn't to sell products but to create a unique positive change to create value and make a difference for the consumer. A long lasting good impression.

So what is there to learn from Coca Cola’s new marketing strategy?

Create "Liquid Content"

The purpose is to create creative and new ideas so contagious that they cannot be controlled this is what is called “liquid content” according to Coca Cola. Its important to social media because people can easily share ideas, videos and photos on social networks such as Twitter or Facebook. The point is to create content that makes you feel like you have to share it with the world it can be an image, a video or an article.

Create a Trending Topic

Coca Cola has found out that the consumers have all the ideas they need to create strong and lasting content. The goal is to create conversations and create a huge strong reaction from the consumer that they cant control. Sort of like a viral video or image through out the internet. Only difference is they want their content to last a long time and leave a memory.  

Twitter, YouTube and Facebook and IG provide a great tool to stay connected with its consumers and fans. They don't just want to post content but  interact with their audience as well.

 Story Telling

Coca Cola has realized now in order to stay competitive and relevant and grow their business within social media outlets they need to move on to creative story telling.

This means they need to allow the story to create its self as you interact with consumers. They need to converse with them through every media outlet.

Its story telling that will keep the consumer engaged and able to be spreadable.

- The lesson I get is that we should experiment with creativity in our strategy for new content. This will keeps us up to date but also shows positive change in our work. Coca Cola is developing an emotional connection with customers and attracting their attention through different ways.

[mktguru-blog1]

http://powerdigitalmarketing.com/the-newest-form-of-advertising-content-360-video/

 A New Era Of Unique Web Content (360*) 

Technology is constantly advancing, especially in the online video industry, this new trend is slowly creating a huge audience and can be beneficial for marketing content. This is a trend all marketers should keep an eye on.  360 video is a recent advancement in the media world that was first shown by YouTube earlier this year in March 2015. Facebook also has recently adopted this video format.

360 videos use multiple cameras to record a 360 degree all angle view of the recorders surrounding environment. 

360 videos, also known as VR or virtual reality, are clips displaying a “spherical” scenario where the camera has recorded all possible angles of the environment. 

This new video format allows viewers to become completely immersed into the environment shown in these videos. To encourage engagement, viewers can click a mouse or move their phones to experience video from all angles.The amazing feeling you get from watching one of these videos has created a lot of opportunity for brands to engage viewers like never before.

Creating 360 Videos 

Creating a 360 video is easier than you think. The software given with your camera and the social network where you post the video does most of the work. You don’t need any advanced knowledge of editing software.

There are a few simple steps to create your 360 video: 

1.  Get a 360 Camera

2. Record in 360 Mode

3. Preview the Video

4. Edit the Video

5. Upload the Video

Why 360 Video ? 

It’s a different form of storytelling. The user controls the recorded camera angle by tilting and moving on their computer or mobile device through the video player. This can be a smart tool for marketers  that want to deliver a more interactive media experience. You could give your audience an insight look at a real estate listing, car listings, a new building, or even a sports or news event, for examples.

There’s a lot of opportunity for viewership! The popularity of spherical video is rapidly growing thanks to YouTube supporting 360-degree video uploads. First time I heard about these 360 videos being on YouTube I checked them out and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. My favorite one was about these fighter Jets in formation in the sky.Viewers can watch 360-video on YouTube through a computer and Android apps. Facebook is right behind YouTube. The social network is definitely making a push for spherical video distribution. Mark Zuckerberg knows how valuable this new way of video will be and he revealed in March that Facebook was testing a 24-camera setup that would allow users to move around within a video.

There are plenty of ways to use this new technology were it will generate a bigger audience and promote anything you want. 

Showcase Your Products -  Mercedes for example hopped on this new trend. During this year’s Motor Show in Frankfurt, the car manufacturer presented some concept cars. Mercedes didn’t want the experience to be a regular one so they so they created this video as a way to increase user engagement and extend the reach of their message.

Promote Destinations - You can use it to promote cool vacations in foreign countries or promote a specific area. 

Share Adventures  

Enhance Video Blogging

360 videos in social media are pretty new, but their use is growing fast, mainly due to the content being presented and high levels of user engagement. If you don’t know what 360 videos are, go ahead and do a Google search and enjoy!

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Pinterest Effective Social Media Tactic!

For some companies, Pinterest can be a huge online marketing opportunity. To know how to make the most use of the picture and idea sharing platform, lets take a look at a company that is using Pinterest at its full potential. 

Lowe's: specific boards about a single topic

Lowes has almost 3.6 million followers and has built a strong presence by focusing on very detailed boards about a single topic including, "Grillin' and Chillin' which are recipes for when grilling at the house and the most creative dishes you can think of. They also have "50 Projects Under $50" which is pretty much self explanatory. This type of engagement has helped Lowe's become one of the most followed brands on Pinterest.

To be as popular as Pinterest you have to think outside of the box and really think what would gather a crowd towards your Pinterest boards.

Tips to Grow Your Pinterest Marketing Results:

Build a successful board:   Is your target on Pinterest? When starting on Pinterest, you’ll want to fill new boards with quality starter pins. Once you’ve created your new boards, it’s important to pin more content to them daily and stay up to date with it. 

Optimize Your Page: The best way to convince visitors to follow you is to optimize your Pinterest page. For the business name, use your company‘s name or your name on the board. Upload a relevant profile image, such as your company logo or an image with your company’s name. You want to make it easy for people to recognize your brand. Write a great Bio explaining who your are and what you do. Add your website and social media platform details so you can add more awareness to your other platforms.

Be Strategic With Your Pinning Schedule:  On Pinterest, people can follow you or follow your boards. It’s important to post to all your boards if you more than one. You can pin more often to the most popular ones and less often to your least popular ones. On Pinterest on certain days pins for certain categories are popular on specific days:" fitness on Monday, technology on Tuesday, inspirational quotes on Wednesday, fashion on Thursday, humor on Friday, travel on Saturday and food and craft ideas on Sunday".   You need to pin several times a day on Pinterest to get the best results.

Understand Pinterest Advertising

Pinterest has a feature where you are able to promote your pin as an advertising. To get started, you have to select one of your recent pins to promote. It can be one of your pins or a pin from another site. Once you have your selection , you hover over the pin and select to promote. Very useful tool to promote your ads and encourage trial and promote brand awareness.

Test Various Pin Times

Schedule your most important updates at a specific time, best times are from 2 pm to 4 pm and 8 pm to 1 am. These are the best times to pin, according to "Social Marketing Writing". The best day to pin is Saturday.

Using these small tips can help your marketing campaign and strategy on Pinterest a successful.

[mktguru-blog1]

WhatsApp Changing The Social Media Marketing Game

WhatsApp is a mobile messaging app that allows users to communicate via free SMS style messages within the app. It launched in 2009 and gained popularity as a way of avoiding SMS charges. The app now has over 900 million users, a huge 70 percent of which access the app daily. WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook INC for 19 billion making even bigger than it already was.

WhatsApp Messenger has been making headlines everywhere since Facebook announced its acquisition of the app. So what does this mean for content marketers? Two-way communication! Two-way communication with your audience.

WhatsApp has many advantages for marketers.

1. It’s quicker

It is as simple as that. Whatsapp is an instant messaging application which involves less efforts to get the message across. We all know that people like to fidget with their smartphones people like me always on their phone. Looking for information every now and then and Whatsapp allows you to feed them instantly without avoiding it.

2. Costs you almost nothing

With just $1 a year, WhatsApp costs absolutely nothing for marketing efforts and instantly increases customer conversations around the brand.With SMS becoming expensive,  a large audience has moved on to Whatsapp for messaging purposes which has already resulted in a huge blow to the telecom service providers.

3. Customer relationship

 The consumer and with the rise of social media, consumers are encouraged to voice their concerns about a brand quite easily with WhatsApp. Communication with the customer is not time bound and is open 24/7.

Don'ts for WhatsApp Marketing:

1. Do not send messages to all the mobile numbers that you get your hands on. If you send irrelevant messages, you would anyway end up being blocked.

 2. Do not send messages too frequently. Overdose of information is not healthy for a brand image.

 3. Do not ignore customer feedback! Customers tend to lose interest in your brand.

 The app uses innovative techniques that promotes a business to customer relation.  WhatsApp, is arguably  the world’s fastest-growing communication app. As of September  2015, more than half a billion people around the world were regular, active WhatsApp users. These users are sharing more than 800 million photos and 200 million videos every single day.

[mktguru-blog1]

Social Media Frequency

How often should you post on social media?

Twitter – 3 times per day, or more

Engagement usually goes down after the third tweet. We cant be to aggressive on twitter because then it gets annoying to users.

Facebook – 2 times per day, at most

2x per day is just fine, if we post to much on Facebook your likes and comments will slow down or die out.

LinkedIn – 1 time per day

20 posts per month (1x per weekday) we have to be careful with LinkedIn. 1 per week is fine for your audience to see what you are up too.

Google+ – 3 times per day, at most

The more often you post, the more activity you’ll get.

Pinterest – 5x per day, or more

The top brands on Pinterest have experienced steady growth because they post multiple times per day. It seems to be working for Pinterest and its users.

Instagram – 1.5 times per day, or more

Major brands post an average of 1.5 times per day to Instagram. If two pictures are spread out during the day it seems like an okay strategy. Too many pics will flood someone's feed and lead them to un follow you.

Blog – 2x per week

Companies that increase blogging from 3-5X/month to 6-8X/month almost double their leads.

Sharing your content multiple times on social media can create strong reactions. Some people don’t care for the act of sharing the same content more than once on a social account, but  it is hard to argue with results. If it works it works.

It is important to monitor your results to make sure the changes you make to your social post schedule actually works.  Few of the things you want to watch out for:

A decrease or an increase in post activity

Negative feedback from your audience- less likes, no comments

A slowly fading interest in your content- no views or visits to your platform

Its always good to stay testing, experimenting, and improving your strategy. You need to find the perfect balance between informative and annoying , just takes trial and error. 

[mktguru-blog1]

Safety Check

On October 15, 2015 Mark   Mark Zuckerberg annouced the launch of Safety Check on Facebook. 

Over the last few years there have been many disasters and crises where people have turned to the Internet for help. For example hurricane Patricia in Mexico or even the most recent sad incident in Paris . Each time, we see people use Facebook to check on their loved ones and see if they're safe. Connecting with people is always valuable, but Facebook figured out a way to be helpful when it matters most.                                                         

Safety Check is Facebook’s way of helping the community during natural disasters and gives an easy and simple way to say you’re safe and check on all your friends and family in one place.

It is sad and unfortunate what happened in Paris on Friday the 13th, 2015, This Facebook feature kept people connected during Friday night’s terrorist attacks, you may have noticed an unusual notification appear on Facebook for the first time: “[Friend’s Name] was marked safe during Paris Terror Attacks.”   If you’re in an area struck by some kind of life-threatening situation, Safety Check will prompt you to tell your Facebook friends you’re safe. To figure out your location, the feature looks at several data points, including your profile data, your last location if you have location services on, and the city from where you’re connected to the Internet.                                                                                           

Paris seems to mark the first time Safety Check was deployed during a terrorist attack. 

During a major disaster, Safety Check will help you:

Let friends and family know you’re safe

Check on others in the affected area

Mark your friends as safe                                                                                                                                                                                         

If you’re ever in a situation that would require you to use Safety Check, Facebook hopes it’s new tool will help you stay connected to those you care about, and gives you the comfort of knowing your loved ones are safe.

[mktguru-blog1]

Built A Multi Million Dollar Brand With Social Media

Using social media marketing this brand blew up ! Social media marketing is the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites. That is exactly what this brand did and they executed right.

Influencers are marketing's money makers. Their reach is huge and there target audience listen to them. Uwheels a company founded by Dan Fleyshman used social media influencers to generate 11.2 million in sales. Using influencers and celebrities to build Uwheels into the empire it is today. Even though Uwheels has many competitors now it remains the leader in sales in the industry.

Using a smart marketing influencer strategy it continues to stay on top. Here are some ways reasons why Dan Fleyshman remains on top:

Exchange product for promotion 

 You may not get lucky to get some of the most famous people in the world to promote your brand and product for you but if you have the right exciting product anyone would be more than happy to post images and promote for free. Uwheels was such a “cool” product all influencers he used couldn't refuse the free product.

Focus on building the brand to stand out among the competition

Uwheels worked hard to make the product appealing to its audience. With built in Bluetooth speakers and an affordable price it had the potential to be big. Uwheels received a large number of new followers every time an influencer posted about them. That automatically drove instant sales. Credibility was established from the beginning because the brand was introduced through a celebrity or influencer.

Identify the right influencers

Uwheels didn't focus only on follower counts it identified influencers specifically for its marketing program. Uwheels gave its product to Wasserman Sports Agency to pass on to a client who is a professional skateboarder. The skateboarder didn't have followers In the millions but it did have extremely engaged followers that happened to be the exact market that would be interested in the hover board.

Build valuable brand partnerships

A strategy that paid off for Uwheels was to build relationships with brands that aligned within the same market. Uwheels gave dozens of hover boards to a brand of clothing that the company then used as giveaways for customers and social media followers. It turned out to be a success for Uwheels since the Brand he built a relationship with were the same target market that is more likely to be interested in and able to afford the $700 Uwheels product.

Social media and celebrity influencers are a powerful marketing combination that more brands need to experiment with.

[mktguru-blog1]

Word Of Mouth Marketing (WOM)

Opinions of other people do matter, in this case.  Whether it’s about simple things such as which brand of soap to buy, or bigger decisions such as who to consult with on investment matters, we’ve always taken the opinions and the points of view of those important people, in order to get the data we need to make the best choice.

Word of Mouth Marketing - " the passing of information, hopefully beneficial to our brand, from one to another via oral communication."  All it takes for effective word of mouth marketing is a happy customer or buyer who feels pressured in  a way to share his or her story with others. It's pretty simple and efficient. If you can create an hundreds of these happy customers shouting about your company and how pleased they are, you can find yourself with more business than you can handle.

- Social media comes in to play with people trusting other people’s opinions more than paid advertisements, and with so many people using social media to have conversations, we can say that social media has become a powerful “word of mouth” tool.

How To Maximize "Word Of Mouth" Marketing Through Social Media

Give people reasons to talk about you-You can’t spark word of mouth marketing without giving people reasons to talk about you. Using the various social media platforms, ask a question, create an exciting online event, or give away freebies that can help start conversations with followers and potential followers.

Identify Influencers- Inside social networks, there are people who grab the attention of others without even trying. They are attractive, respected and heard. These are the people you want supporting you.Reach out to these influencers to ask for support but make sure they are relavent to your product.

Provide excellent customer service-The secret here: "treat your customers and prospects the way you'd like to be treated yourself " A few basics, Smile at customers or like and comment back on post , be friendly, be knowledgeable and always thank your customer for there business.

 Focus on Relationships-  simple, but developing meaningful relationships with customers will make it easier for people to recommend you. Be genuine, respectful and honest and create relationships.

Stay Consistent- Consistency is one of the keys for successful social media word of mouth marketing. Keep the conversations going even past your campaigns and keep your fans interested. 

Just like any other type of marketing, effective word of mouth requires a marketing plan and a targeted approach because just as helpful WOM can be it can also easily destroy your reputation and the word will spread fast. Have to be careful on how you execute and the type of strategy you will be using.

[mktguru-blog1]

Looks Like Mobile Ads is where its at ! Facebook cannot be stopped.

#FridayFunFact: we think we have used the line “Facebook’s conversion to a mobile company is complete” before but these latest numbers how how much Facebook has become such a mobile company!

[mktguru-blog1]

#HASHTRACKING

SO WHY A HASHTAG ? Hashtags make it easier for people to find and follow discussions about brands, events and promotions. They also let brands track the performance of promotions across social media.

- Sometimes, you need to track your hashtags, for example, if you want to see whether twitterers are mentioning your company or brand. People talk about you and your company on Twitter, everything gets shared on Twitter, although probably not as much as you would like them too as they discuss celebrity deaths or charges and who is dating who.

Hashtags can determine how easily you can target and track a campaign. You’ve probably seen many brands use general hashtags like #food or #cute. While these will get your update into a huge conversation, using such a broad hashtag is a waste of time.It’s better to come up with a unique hashtag that fits with your particular campaign.

- A good hashtag is memorable, unique and relevant to your campaign. Using those details, you’ll find it’s much easier to keep track of how many people are participating in your campaign and spreading the word on the world wide web.

Tracking Methods:

1. Tagboard: Get the Complete Conversation. (website). Tagboard gathers text, video and image posts to give you an overall picture of what’s being said around a hashtag. Tagboard puts them in a user-friendly interface where you can view your results.

2. Hashtags.org: A site that lets you see not only what’s trending that day, week, or month, but it also gives you a graphical representation of tweets on the topic, who’s using hashtags, and even a count of how many times a hashtag is used per day , week or month.

3.Twitterfall: A Twitter search site that searches for your hashtags and similar keywords, it can search for nonhashtagged items also. It displays the tweets that it finds.

4. RiteTag: Find the Perfect Hashtag - It improves updates for Facebook, Twitter and Google+ with the best possible hashtags for your post, then analyzes them and you can then create a library of hastags to use.

5. Twitter Search: Twitter’s own search function not only lets you search for keywords and hashtags, but it also keeps track of what’s trending the most that day. Most useful convenient tool on twitter for keeping up with a campaign.

Warning:  When hashtags go bad

Just like domain names, hashtags suffer from the same problems that arise when any sequence of words are together without spaces. Always run your hashtag ideas past a second pair of eyes to spot these potential mistakes.

With the right tools, hashtags make it easier for brands to manage and maintain social media campaigns.