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Highly coveted in the public eye..

I don’t know how many times I have seen some celebrity wear an article of clothing on social media apps like Instagram or Facebook that I didn’t know I needed, but figured I needed it at that moment. This followed by me trying to look extensively online to find that exact piece of clothing so I can try and rock as good as it was when they were wearing it. But, how did I become so infatuated with purchasing those clothes (other than me trying to be like that person)? What gives? I didn’t really realize that it was intentional for brands to use people of influence to push their products for them, and advocate for the brand as walking advertisements. I mean, it was obvious, but I didn’t understand the massive affect it has on nearly everyone.

Lets take a look at a few examples of brands that are effectively using certain people to sell their brands, and how it positively impacts the longevity brands can leverage off just a few certain people. Also, how the results of these strategies incorporate Berger’s “public” section of the STEPPS process to make them successful. 

First, we’ll start by looking at Fear of God. If you haven’t seen or heard of what the brand is, think about the general directions fashion trends have gone, especially for highschoolers and college students. Are you thinking about 80s and 90s grunge fashion with band shirts and ripped jeans too? Yeah, Jerry Lorenzo of Fear of God essentially pioneered the return of those (forgive me when I say) retro looks. 

How did one brand have such an enormous impact in the fashion industry though? Actually, the brand was on its fourth collection by the time those designs were considered ‘in’ in 2015. What designers at Fear of God did, was that they took Justin Bieber and other artists in the music industry, and heavily tried to gear them to wearing their clothing. Notably, Justin Bieber at the time was currently going through a music hiatus, trying to reinvent himself to be more appropriate and adult, growing farther away from his pubescent tendencies we all know him for. So, on the verge of adulthood, he changed from: 

To:

Now, some may still think his style is pretty bland and unoriginal, and that’s totally valid, but I mean, take a look at what fashion was like in 2015:

Band shirts, rock, grunge, punk, whatever the late 80s and 90s were all about (I think? I wasn’t alive). But the most important thing is that this revolutionary ‘movement’ that completely changed the direction fashion was going is literally illustrated in Contagious, a book by Jonah Berger. In the Public chapter, Berger talks about, “When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate one another.” As well as the quote, “Monkey see, monkey do.” Berger is impressively right in the sense that people who were looking at Justin Bieber reinvention, they subconsciously look at the clothes he wears, and the viewers ultimately want to have the same styles of clothing. 

Second, lets take a look at Tyler the Creator from Odd Future and the brand Supreme:

As a quick intro, Supreme is a skate based brand that has two stores in America, one in Los Angeles and the other in New York. It catered to the typical skating culture, and continually sells street wear catered to that identity. Around 2012, however, Odd Future’s Tyler the Creator came into the Los Angeles music scene hailing from Fairfax Ave., the same street the Supreme store is on. 

The difference between Justin Bieber’s Fear of God, is that Supreme didn’t endorse Tyler the Creator and his friends with Supreme gear; Tyler just wore the clothes while filming music videos, as well as featuring Supreme in some of their lyrics. 

The similarities, however, lie in the public’s perception of the brand. All things considered, music spreads faster than clothes, and once people across the nation began listening to Tyler the Creator, they started to pick up on Supreme, too. 

Even though Supreme honestly had nothing to do with the artist and his music, a huge outflow of free advertisement poured into the scene and skyrocketed the brand across all corners of the world. The clothing isn’t all that special either, with simple designs and their iconic red ‘supreme’ logo on clothes that could sell almost 5 times the amount of retail online, the fact that people listened to Tyler the Creator and Odd Future’s music, they were bound to start being curious about Supreme. 

These two examples are impressive feats of utilizing public influences to increase reach with your content. 

[ryancmkt-blog]

TACO BELL’S CRUNCHY CONTENT MARKETING FIRE

I remember being a kid eating Taco Bell and thinking it was authentic Mexican food, with their basic burritos, tacos, salads, tostadas, and more. I also remember growing years later in high school, and drunkenly grabbing Taco Bell to go at 3 AM. But eating at Taco Bell was really always an afterthought. Some fast food spot like McDonalds, Burger King, and Carl’s Jr., I didn’t really care about and moved on towards the toilet the next morning. Just kidding. But really. It wasn’t until I ended up randomly following them on Twitter, and seeing some of the funny posts they did, that I realized that I was eating it more and more.

Now, as we all know, Taco Bell is king for young people to indulge themselves in cheap and fast Mexican rip off eatery. Delicious Crunch Wrap Supremes, Beefy 5-layer Burrito, Smothered Burrito, Chalupa Supreme, Cheesy Gordita Crunch Dorito Tacos, with their cheesy processed goodness, and barely legal processed meat. Mmm. Fire. Yum. How the hell do they make their foods sound so good?

I mean, as much as I would like to go on about their fire foods, I should probably talk about some of the things that Taco Bell does right to get their audiences intrigued with their content, as well as a few ways Taco bell has successfully engaged with their customers through content marketing across various social media platforms.

Embracing their personality

It’s pretty clear who Taco Bell is targeting. If you take a look at their Instagram and Twitter, you’ll notice that they have solidified their target demographic to younger audiences, namely millennials, gravitating towards sarcastic and humorous attitudes, punchy and vibey colors, and all-around creative fun that ties directly into trendy events.

How are they so successful with engaging with their target audience? Younger audiences are always keen on staying updated with the most current news, data, information, and popular culture, and since Taco Bell understands that, they’ve been able to get the demographic to engage. Additionally, many companies Twitter accounts are set up with automated response ticketing programs that robotically answer tweets across the platform. Taco Bell doesn’t do that; by genuinely connecting to their audience on a more personal level and in real time, people feel a sense of trust with the Taco Bell brand, sensing that Taco Bell is customer oriented. “The main difference in strategy now vs. before is that what we are doing today in social media is real-time, and we listen and engage all the time,” said Nick Tran, head of social media at Taco Bell, in an interview with CMO.com.

Examples of how Taco Bell engages with their audiences on multiple channels

Twitter:

Taco Bell replies to the most common of peoples tweets, and engages with them through witty responses (responses any millennial would probably tweet their friends).

There is one where they reply to someone who posted a picture of them with their friends, and responded with “when your squad lit”:

Here is one where Taco Bell responds to someone’s tweet about romance:

YouTube:

I personally think Taco Bell does a great job at engaging with their audiences, by creating customization videos to a lot of choices for their foods. They create interesting instructional videos that break down parts of their products, and replaces them with other ingredients to either make it taste differently, or even better.

This is the type of engagement that resonates with a lot of younger audiences. When a company decides to let their customers have the power to choose an alternative product, or at least the illusion of it, customers feel personally connected to the product and the brand. This in turn creates a lot of re-engagement with the brand. And since food is a universally welcomed subject, different audiences can utilize their content for different applications.

Here is a link on different taco hacks that anyone can make: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxB0noDwuds

Here is a link on how to hack your Crunchwrap Supreme recipe to make it taste even better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKfuWjan_kE

Instagram:

Here are some pictures that engage with their audiences based on events that are upcoming:

“This Halloween, we’re going all out with our first Taco Bell inspired costume contest. Prizes include $1,000, $500 Taco Bell gift card, a trip for you and a friend to Taco Bell’s headquarters and test kitchen, and collaborating with us to produce your costume for fans to buy next Halloween.”

In retrospect, it is pretty interesting how everything kind of culminates together to form this ultra perfect snack that caters directly to Taco Bell’s target demographic: young people like me. Taco Bell’s marketing strategy is working, and with their personal approach to handling tweets both directly and indirectly, their YouTube engaging with customers through medium length videos aimed to expand their creativity, its pretty cool that they and unsurprising they are this successful on social media.

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Triggered: How content marketers utilize triggers to appeal to customers

I am sure we have all been dealt with feelings that remind us of something that has happened before, something that was capable of teleporting us back to a certain point in our lives good or bad in an instant. The smell of hot cocoa brings memories of waking up in winter with gloomy skies, and cold winds. The song I’m Not Okay by My Chemical Romance reminds you of your worst middle school break up. Hearing about the Dodgers potentially winning the World Series brings you back 29 years ago to when they last won (if you were born), and the list goes on.

Second on the list from Jonah Berger’s Contagious: Why Things Catch On convenient “STEPPS”, is triggers. In the book, he gives a great example on how one of the most shared songs in 2011 went viral, just because of the name. 

Rebecca Black’s Friday song and music video went viral, not because of how good the song, or how innovative and intriguing the music video was, in fact, it was absolutely atrocious to listen to. It went viral because the name and lyrics in the video relied heavily on Friday (the day), so when people listened to it especially on Fridays, they felt more inclined to share the song. 

But now six years later, and it is interesting to see how content marketers use triggers to relay information, and appeal to customers en masse using dates, seasons, and more, to generate buzz about a certain product. Here are two examples of companies that successfully utilize triggers to aid in their content marketing campaigns:

Just Do It by Nike has become an international slogan that massively helped Nike skyrocket from $877 million to $9.2 billion in sales in just ten years. Coined in 1988, the slogan was aimed to inspire not only athletes, but anyone who was reluctant to accomplish any goal that they may have faced challenges with. Can’t wake up before noon on weekdays because you’ve always had afternoon classes, but next semester you have one 11 AM class? JUST DO IT. Find it hard to spend less and be frugal, so you can save for your next laptop? JUST DO IT. The list goes on, and every life scenario where you find yourself at an impasse, Nike’s JUST DO IT slogan is always there in the back of your head.

By understanding that everyone may or may not be an aspiring professional athlete training every day and becoming exhausted from the strenuous exercise, Nike created a broad slogan applicable to everyone who saw the JUST DO IT ad, ultimately indirectly shaping the choices customers made, things customers talked about, and especially, the products customers bought. Who couldn’t buy products from a brand that had inspired them to overcome their obstacles? If you look at it, Nike is essentially creating an individual story for each person to share. Nike is selling more than a product; they’re selling aspiration. 

These triggers affect social media because of its convenient application to people and their environments. Specifically on Instagram, if you take a look at #justdoit and peruse the feed, you will see tons of people posting progress pictures and fitness, however, there is also quite a bit of people posting pictures relating to ambitions referencing city skylines, aspiring models, motivation quotes, car pictures, and accomplishments. Because the slogan has become ubiquitous, people can really relate to each and every picture that they see tagged with the #justdoit. And every video, motivational quote, and post becomes a call to action against your own voice in your head saying, “You can’t do this”, with which Nike says: “Just do it.” 

Secondly, we have Starbucks:

I can already smell the Pumpkin Spice Latte; I can hear the weather confused valley girls screaming in their high waisted shorts and Uggs, but most importantly, I am already thinking about Starbucks. I don’t even need to live in a season prone region like Michigan, Colorado, or Oklahoma, carrying the browning of trees, colder days, darker nights, and orange colors to understand that Fall is here. All I really need to know is when the date that Starbucks is bringing back the Pumpkin Spice Latte, and, “Welp, Fall is here.” 

Starbucks does an impressive job in triggering millions of people that when the Fall season comes around, so does the Pumpkin Spice Latte. But how does Starbucks successfully prime one of their drinks to be based solely on one season? By using scarcity. The Pumpkin Spice Latte is only available in the Fall season, and because of heavy marketing using the aforementioned orange coloring and browning of trees, amongst other things, they were able to spread this drink into becoming essentially a symbol of Fall. Similar to how hot cocoa reminds you of Winter, the Pumpkin Spice Latte reminds you of Fall. 

Similar to Nike, when people post pictures of themselves buying the Pumpkin Spice Latte on Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram, they are effectively spreading awareness that the drink is a must have for people who crave the festivities of Fall, and it all loops cyclically as more and more people drink the Pumpkin Spice Latte. Because the season of Fall is such a frequent stimulus in the environment, and everyone knows its Fall, by linking the the drink to the season, it essentially becomes an advertisement for Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice Latte. 

Using triggers in marketing is important not because it just reminds them of something that you want them to see, but because they will associate that certain phrase, season, or date with your product, from basically here on out. 

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I am currently on my laptop trying to find inspiration to write this blog for the upcoming week. I’ve done mainly everything I have wanted to write about thus far, and I want to write about different, compelling stuff, but I’ve hit quite the writers’ block. So, here I am, at Whole Foods, sitting upstairs in their makeshift “study corner” over looking the rest of the grocery store. As I am looking around, I noticed a lot of their main dining furniture, and overall layout, including, signs, directories, wallpapers, floors, store brand items, and more, offer many distinct bright colors ranging from baby blue, light orange, tomato red, and others that seem to have an effect on people who enjoy modern aesthetic.

Additionally, the interior design within this certain Whole Foods location is incredibly interesting, yet very familiar. But what is it about the interior that makes me feel comfortable while doing my work? It makes me wonder what is the modern aesthetic? Is it simplistic design? Raw, gritty skeletal framework? Hi-tech with sharp lines?

It has been proven, that the trending designs from the early 2010s to now have taken steps back from the 00s era, and have succeeded in drawing attention to the younger masses by dissenting from the norm. Now that dissent is the norm, Millennials find themselves familiar to trendy interior designs and bright colors, and they feel inclined to shop there more. Well, for Millennials and Whole Foods, it is definitely the gritty skeletal design. Open ventilation, low hanging lights, wood, brick, and chic, are all important specifications Whole Food’s takes into account when creating their stores.

Whole Foods has completely capitalized on the instant gratification approach that many people in my generation suffer from. Patience has been dwindled down into an after-thought, which you then post satirically on Twitter. If people don’t get it, or don’t get it the second they first see it, they’ll keep scrolling, and ignoring, and refusing whatever content is in front of them without any second chances.

So, how does this tie in to content marketing? Just take a look at their Instagram. What do you see? After reading my thoughts about how Whole Foods delivers their content marketing strategies to the masses, does it make sense why a grocery store has over 2.4 million followers? The content Whole Foods curates on their Instagram account literally embody the Millennial mentality perfectly. Bright colors, raw, gritty backgrounds, and simplistic designs cater to their identity, and shows that understanding your audience will help net you a much larger audience than just posting random food pictures on your account. Look below for a few examples of Whole Foods Instagram posts..

Another point is my generations’ inability to sustain a glance at something that might be interesting for more than a split second. It seems Whole Foods has it completely in their hands, or I give them way too much credit, but by applying all of the methods mentioned above (bright colors, gritty backgrounds, simplistic designs), Millennials who are scrolling on their news feeds will more than likely stop on one of the Whole Foods posts, because it successfully hits all of the familiarities a Millennial would have regarding food.

Another point to bring up is my previous post regarding the difficulties and challenges that Kraft faces when attempting to create compelling content on their Instagram. The posts you see on both accounts feature close up shots of finely crafted foods aimed to make it pop to the audience, but Kraft has yet to understand what their audience truly is. Sure, you can say that their audience are people who are trying to figure out what to cook using Kraft ingredients, but that really isn’t understanding, it is more like conveying a general message to some people who happen to own some Kraft ingredients (and need to get rid of it).

I might be pessimistic about Kraft, but Whole Foods does a damn good job at appealing to their target audience.

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Imagine Dragons, one of the most prominent alternative pop rock bands has excelled in their attempts to market the b(r)and. The band use of social media has positively facilitated the band’s growth, as evidenced by over millions of followers across several platforms. When the band was young and new, each member would engage with fans via Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook on a normal basis. However, normally when Imagine Dragons blew up essentially over night, the massive exposure came at the expense of accessibility and intimacy. 

One thing Imagine Dragons does to compromise their inability to respond to millions of people, is to utilize superfans. There is no way for the band to match the engagement rate they had before they became global sensations, so they recognize the great value of certain “super” fans who were committed to diving deeper into the band's culture, by attending as many concerts as possible, attending meet & greets, being highly active on Twitter and other social media channels, and more. Because these superfans were connected to the band in such a strong way, Imagine Dragons employed them to generate higher awareness and garner positive public relations with the rest of their following.

After reading the How Social Marketers Can Overcome Creative Blocks #SimplyChat, written by Laurie Anne Nilo, and coming across this tweet,

I believe this “superfans” approach is such a well thought out marketing tool. And since there are more fans at stake, social media serves as an even more powerful medium to show that the heart of the band (plus their brand/culture) is still the same. After diving deeper into trying to understand their approach to challenge the norm of engagement problems many other artists have, it shows how well connected and passionate the band truly is. As @chevd80 says about those who don’t understand the social aspect of social media, “They fail to realize social media is actually social and when you build trust with audience, it saves you money #simplychat.”

I couldn’t have agreed more. 

No matter how big or small you or your company become, social media is used more strategically now, and should ultimately be geared towards small-scale and large-scale initiatives, but still facilitates communication and engagement processes that wouldn’t be available without the help of their superfans.  

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Outerknown is a fresh new clothing brand created by eleven time world surf champion Kelly Slater and acclaimed designer John Moore, that approaches the garment industry with innovative sustainability practices in an effort to curb fast fashion trends and high-wasting production factories. Their goal with Outerknown is to reach their consumers by shifting customer perceptions of what the traditional clothing idea is, to redefining buying clothes and targeting ways to conveniently help the environment.

Outerknown clothing brand does an excellent job in telling a story from a sustainability challenged standpoint. Revealing to customers that 70% of a company’s environmental impact happens at the raw materials level in the production cycle, 40% of our oceans wildlife since the 60s is now extinct, and the increasing amount of waste that pollutes and taints environments, Kelly and John aim to create these products with responsible innovation from the raw material phases all the way to shipping and handling. 

The story marketing within this company incorporates many different industries, and combines them in a relatively easy way to digest. From having a world renowned athlete with millions of followers eager to follow in his footsteps to a growing sensitivity towards sustainability in the general public, everything seems to come together really well. 

In our book Contagious, by Johah Berger, we learn that emotion can be the driving force in feeling compelled and finding a certain piece of content valuable. We also learned in the stories chapter, that stories act as informational vessels easy to digest. By combining 3 very different aspects (action sports, environmental sustainability, clothing) and driving them towards a responsibly innovative direction, they can help push for an alternative approach and change of perspective. And that previous sentence works extremely well in inducing people to feel compelled by use of story and not advertisements. Like Berger has said, “People are less likely to argue against stories than against advertising claims.”

“Stories thus give people an easy way to talk about products and ideas.” Just like how I am writing this blog up about this company right now, I didn’t have to see any advertisements to already feel attached towards the company vision. I think the story telling at Outerknown helps the brand immensely, with utilizing an already increasing awareness to helping the Earth, Outerknown puts themselves at the forefront of clothing companies, and hopefully can set standards across the industry. 

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Do you remember this guy? He was your first friend on Myspace, and also the first one you automatically tried to unfriend. But, no matter where you go, or wherever you are in life, if you see this picture, you’ll be reminded of Tom Anderson, the man who created Myspace. 

But seriously, when was the last time you saw this picture? Don’t remember? Curious to see what’s up with sly face Tom now? Check out his Instagram @myspacetom, and you will be in for a surprise.

If you haven’t figured it out already, Tom Anderson aka Myspacetom is an absolute beast of a photographer on Instagram. He travels the world and takes the most awe-inspiring pictures from around the world. 

How is this content marketing related? Most of his posts include a short journal of his time spent at each location, with excerpts of the best parts of his trip there. Also, his photos are incredibly engaging and easy to look at, his entire account is essentially focused on photography, and one of the most important aspects of his account: he does giveaways by picking one random winner from his likes and comments section, and flies them out to have a vacation! Oh, and before I forget, his profile picture is the same as the picture he’s had from Myspace. 

Check out his Instagram, it is awesome. It is fabulous. It is inspiring. His in-depth analyses in his captions offer great insight into the areas he travels to, and shares knowledge that he has learned, too! Everything from the comments to the profile pictures are great and show his deep connection to each of the breathtaking pictures he posts on his account.

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So many things go viral, it’s pretty crazy that we as consumers of social media can even remember some of them. What is it that makes us remember them, though? In the current book we’re reading, Contagious by Jonah Berger, we’re taught that physical arousal and emotion play the two most pivotal parts of making something memorable. Whether it’s humor, dark, sad, anger, confusion, surprise, or awe, any piece of ‘viral’ media content that moves you in some way, is successful. Take for example the Hotline Bling music video by Drake. 

The music video was released after his single “Hotline Bling” released on all music platforms, and it was a guaranteed slam to the top of the charts. Everyone was listening to it; you heard it on the radio, on tv, youtube, from friends, family, and coworkers. Everyone and their momma’s knew of Hotline Bling. And then Drake released his music video.

It was a saucy music video, I think we can all agree. The pastel colors and ambient lighting intertwining with his dancing to the song makes for a pretty entertaining watch. Furthermore, the video played an excellent role in providing viewers a visual illustration of what Hotline Bling’s sound, atmosphere, feel, and overall emotion evoked. It was a cool retro beat that drummed harmoniously to the semi-monotonous voice overlay by Drake, but the kicker was the way he danced. 

Something about the way he dances was off, and people noticed it very quickly. Because people were sharing the song with virtually everyone on virtually every platform, naturally people flocked to catch the music video on streaming platforms. What ensued was unsurprisingly brilliant and creative: people started animating his dances and adding their own little flare to make the way he danced even funnier. 

people made hilarious memes about the way Drake danced in the video, and it created an explosion of memes, jokes, clips, and gifs relating to the way Drake dances in this music video. 

But things always go viral, why pick this one?

I picked this one due to the social currency aspect of the meme. Like most memes, people created their own content and shared it with others in hopes that theirs was the funniest. Like the tennis, pizza, and emoticon face example above, creating these memes gave you some serious street cred within your friend group, and possibly the rest of the social media universe. The Hotline Bling dance memes were no different, however, the memes were created from an already household title. 

Since everyone knew the song and the music video, the single was already a hit sensation across the globe. Creating an engaging meme that culminated from the already popular Hotline Bling rewards the creator with an insurmountable taste of pleasure. Who else can create a viral meme to an already viral song, and have millions of people know what you created? Talk about social currency.. 

[ryancmkt-blog]

I’ve attempted to corner my Tumblr account with posts of positive and influential content marketing accounts across various industries including action sports, alcohol, apparel, and information. I want to take a dive into what companies are doing their content marketing not necessarily incorrectly, but with the wrong mindset. In both of the books we have read, Epic Content Marketing, and Contagious, we see how effective creating a content strategy from the perspective of your audience is pivotal to claiming success. Some of these strategies include consistent updates on all social media platforms, varying messages and goals with each platform, as well as creating a cohesive story to tell in every given post. However, the number one most important rule I have found from reading both books is that engaging with your customers is absolutely imperative to attracting as many people as possible.

Kraft’s @Kraftrecipes Instagram account boasts incredibly beautiful and well-shot photos of delicious foods, from desserts to entrees. These pictures will make anyone salivate, and crave the foods they have posted. But why do they only have 33,000 followers? Kraft as a food company has become a household name; a staple in the American dining world. Regardless of the reputation for cheap eatery, the food we have been accustomed to eating from Kraft features feelings of nostalgia and family. So why are they failing miserably at Instagram?

First, we have to take a look at the previous posts on my Tumblr. Look at the examples I have shown that depict successful content strategies from various markets. Adidas stocks their photos with plethora of tech and cutting edge content that easily appeals to the eye. Corona drives their content through honing in on their consumers innate thoughts whilst consuming their products, by showcasing what it means to drink Corona, while simultaneously driving their branding to audiences. Gopro relies heavily on ‘what adventures lie beyond the horizon’, in the perspective through their products. Even without thinking, companies like Redbull, Nike, Hurley, and even GE, have garnered millions of followers on social media platforms across all spectrums, due to the amount of tactful content they produce for their consumers.

Kraftrecipes doesn’t do any of that. And that is okay, because they are a food company. But what is not okay is how they approach their content strategy. As stated before, the point of engaging with your consumers is to offer them a link, or ‘helping hand’ that encourages them to find a connection with your content. Kraftrecipes entire Instagram account essentially relies heavily on photos of their foods, which is essentially the first thought anyone would give to a big food company’s social media accounts. However, the name of this particular account is Kraftrecipes. The point of their content strategy is to help their consumers create marvelously looking dishes with the help of their products. But, but they are not doing it successfully. Instead of offering their consumers content that they can empathize or familiarize themselves with, they are offered glamorous, and even heavily edited photos of the potential foods consumers can create. Kraftrecipes isn’t trying to engage with the photograph industry, they are trying to engage with hungry eaters.

In addition to offering fantastic photos of the finished product, they should also try to cultivate courage to create these masterpieces. By showing their audiences how to create the dishes, through tutorials, pictures of people actually cooking, shopping, gathering necessary groceries, lists, and more, they could potentially bring in exponentially more feedback than the 30,000 they have now. In one post regarding how to make their Tex-Mex chicken, their caption states, “Tex-Mex chicken with authentic flavor is as easy as combining seven ingredients in a slow cooker- and adding a sprinkle of cheese before serving. Recipe in bio.” That sounds horribly corporate and unoriginal. Why not list some of the seven easy ingredients in the caption? Why not incorporate real life examples, images, and information to help relay to your audiences that your company is actively trying to help every individual hungry to eat this Tex-Mex chicken?

Despite all of this, I am certain what they are currently doing is effective. I am not trying to relay that their content strategy is null and completely useless. However, there are so many options that they can take with the account that could most likely increase their engagement with consumers on many levels. Their food is all created utilizing Kraft ingredients, which shows that they are on the right track.

If they took a solid look at other extremely successful accounts with proper content strategies, they could become absolutely huge in the social media food world.

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It is interesting to see a formal breakdown of large 50-500 employee companies regarding their measurements to define content marketing as a success or a failure. Of all the respondents, 35% ranked their content marketing and distribution strategy as very successful, 46% described their strategies as somewhat successful, and 19$% ranked them as unsuccessful. 

Seeing the differences between media driven companies such as, Redbull, Gopro, Coca Cola, and Old Spice, etc. and traditional companies like, Sears, JC Penny, and others, I figured the 35% of respondents who ranked very successful was going to be a lot smaller. It is only recently do we see companies truly define the purpose of their content, and successfully drive their content strategy to their audiences. “Historically, industrial companies seem to struggle to create content, yet we’ve been able to generate a bunch of creative content ideas for our marketing campaigns taking a more aggressive approach to connect with our audiences.” says Jacqueline Gay from Quincy Compressor. 

However, on the bigger picture, it does seem to make sense that 81% of respondents considered their company’s content strategy remotely successful. As the digital era continues to rise, more and more companies are beginning to transition from heavily business selling to consumer direct advertising to business trying to connect with consumer advertising. But how do you take all of this data into account, and measure it? 64% of respondents said that brand awareness was the most useful metric, and to do so requires various analytic tools for measurement. 

This article is a good read for those that don’t necessarily believe that content marketing is a growing key factor in maintaining audience growth. It lists from the survey, the sales cycle, paid distribution, resources used, metrics, types of content, and strategic objectives, that are all key components to effectively integrate content marketing into your distribution channels.

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Adidas does their content strategy properly within their specific industry zone. Simple, clean, tech, sharp, are all the descriptions that their photos on Instagram evokes. Adidas still tries to create a distinct image behind their brand and the images their consumers want to see themselves as. However, the biggest distinctions between Adidas and other brands I have talked about, including Corona, Gopro, and Coke, is that Adidas mainly shares their products in most of their content on Instagram.

Take a look at their Instagram (www.instagram.com/adidasoriginals/). Adidas has successfully researched the types of people their consumers are, and you can see the differences in the types of photos they post. Just in these photos I’ve shared onto Tumblr, an artsy model and high contrasting color palette shot, a famous basketball player, a clean aesthetic picture, and there is a picture of just Adidas shoes and small details about it. Each of these photos evoke a different feeling to four very distinct types of customers. 

First: The high contrasting oranges, blues, and reds offer a distinct palette that offers an artsy appreciation to the Adidas brand. People with a creative mindset will especially find this piece of content attracting, therefore, creating a relationship of appreciation from a consumer mindset.

Second: Everybody loves basketball; it is one of the keystones of American pride. One of the leaders in the NBA, James Harden, is a key model for Adidas to create content with, considering the amount of fame the basketball player has. Not only is partnering with an NBA superstar a smart move, it is also just as important to realize the connections an already established brand like Adidas is creating through other important individuals. People will inevitably think, “damn, James Harden is rocking some Adidas shoes, and he’s been killing the basketball scene, I gotta cop me some shoes.” 

Third: Simple aesthetics. Anyone can see what is going on here, as it is easy on the eyes, and continues Adidas content strategy of clean and clear. One thing to note, is that it is not like the second post, where we have an easily recognizable face. Perhaps this is to show how any one (consumer) can feel they are engaging with the NBA model by wearing Adidas shoes. 

Fourth: Finally, being a shoe brand, sneaker heads all over the world don’t exactly care about the external aesthetics, like place, setting, model, etc., but they especially care for the look and feel of the shoe itself. The last photo pays homage to those seeking strictly shoes. 

In conclusion, it may be different than other brands and products, but they get it right. It goes to show that understanding your audience is the key to figuring out how the brand can best engage with their customer. 

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I really like what Corona is doing with their Instagram. Creating pictures that their viewers envy, what else is there to like about their photos? I’ve realized that the only times I am on my phone is when I really have nothing else to do (unless it’s something work related). Using this mentality, I think its safe to say most of us who follow Corona, Coke, or any other product-turned-lifestyle brand only look at their content because we wish we can be a part of the content itself. 

To prove that people wish they could live through Corona’s content and make it a reality rather than vicariously, look at the comments section of each of their photos. For example, look at the picture (on Instagram) of the four friends sitting on the beach drinking Coronas. the comments include: 

Livingdeads69 “Just chilling with corona right now lul”

Bradymacbigblue “Days as long as the horizon.” 

Ursula22s “Yes please!!!!”

Themagiclyfe “living the Magic Lyfe! FRIENDS!”

Many of the posts on Corona’s Instagram boast comments similar to these ones. It is interesting to see how interactive a beer company can manage sustaining its products, as well as creating a lifestyle image through their products. It’s like Coca Cola, but instead of spreading happiness, they’re spreading relaxation

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2020 business vzn

What I understand about Coca Cola’s Content 2020 Initiative Strategy Video:

The Coca Cola content 2020 video suggests creating contagious stories to share to its consumers, hoping to spread its content uncontrollably. By creating brand stories, Coca Cola can evoke emotions and personalities into the content they create, leading to conversations that are shared exponentially. From there, Coca Cola can act and react appropriately, bringing their brand stories into what they call ‘liquid content’.

But that is the ultimate goal desired to be achieved. Prefacing these brand stories is what I believe to be a consistent stream of preparation, depth, and information importance that allow Coca Cola to create content that is engaging to its consumer. They realized that the key to finding empathy between Coca Cola and its consumers is for the consumers themselves to help formulate the brands content. 

Although the preparations and screenings that must be had before pursuing a certain brand strategy in Coca Cola’s content creation are vital for its success, the highest priority for Coca Cola is their ability to change from one way storytelling to dynamic storytelling. Coca Cola defines it as, “elements of a brand idea that get dispersed across multiple channels of conversation to create a unified brand experience.” which allows them to check and balance the information being shared in a way that it doesn’t result in noise. 

I have seen countless companies try their best to follow in Coca Cola’s path of storytelling, but fall unbelievably short. What most companies get wrong is their inability to gauge how much of the story needs to be said from the company’s perspective, and how much can be received by the consumer at one time. As we all know, it is challenging to create something from a business standpoint that resonates with consumers in the same way it does for you. Instead, dynamic storytelling works by creating a relative field with its consumer. For example, making the world a better place and how Coca Cola can utilize that message/idea to develop a story for consumers. 

By creating a culture of creativity within the brand through participation, connection, sharing, and persistence, creative thinking can be achieved. For most of Coca Cola’s strategy to evoke happiness is resulted in successfully engaging their products as a secondary to their consumers. This means that Coca Cola is a vessel for which their consumers use to achieve their shared connection. Like most of the company’s content strategies in recent times, Coca Cola depends on your interest in the story they built to share to you, even though the product itself isn’t visible until the very end. Like the advertisement we’ve seen in class about the kids traveling across the country near Burma (I believe..), we’re stuck with watching the entirety of the story unfold, waiting until the very end to see that the shared experiences between the kids culminate into receiving a bottle of Coke.

The video itself is chock full of information from the moment it starts, till the very end. If I had to summarize the video into one sentence that ties everything they say together, it would be, “How do you tell a story so well, it promotes happiness in the eyes of the consumer, and how do we connect our brand to that idea through creative processes?”

Watching the Coca Cola Content 2020 Strategy video as a complement to reading the Epic Content Marketing book, I can start to piece together the realistic concepts detailed in the book with the Coca Cola Content video. Seeing as how many companies strive to create a content strategy similar to Coca Cola’s, but do not allow the appropriate amounts of capital to create such stories, it is no longer surprising to me that Coca Cola is one of the few that have actually succeeded. In the book, it states that most of the ‘content’ in content marketing is applied directly to the preparation of the deliverance, rather than the execution. The amount of effort Coca Cola pours into its content strategies, we see their highly innovative and creative output with the stories they share, and the spectrums the stories gloss over. 

]These stories engage deeply with a specific audience, but still aim to be presented to a broad scale, and in their 70%, 20%, and 10% content development rule, they capitalize on maximizing their capacities to continue to grow, while maintaining growth in creativity, innovation, and popular culture. This video was eye opening to say the least, and I am excited to see what Coca Cola has in store for us, now that I am aware of the efforts they put into their content.

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What is content marketing and how does it differ from traditional marketing?

Content marketing differs from regular marketing due to its vastly contrasting perceptions of whom companies are marketing to. Often times we can see and register what we’re seeing as regular marketing through campaigns, showing the consumer what the products are. These campaigns span across broad spectrums of demographics, hoping to create a wide view of awareness to each individual. This in turn generates marketability by pushing the gears forward as the consumer at large can become interested in the product or brand.

On the contrary, content marketing allows the company to tap into a target demographics’ ethos and formulate specific campaigns that can directly interest them, because it’s thinking about the target audience’s needs first. Through distributing valuable and compelling content to attract a clearly defined and understood target audience, content marketers can precisely show what their consumers want to see themselves.

This is essentially the reason why valuable and compelling content is top priority for content marketers. The value a company creates for its’ target audience must appeal to them in the aspects for which the company bases its content upon. These next few posts will indicate why creating certain value and accurate compelling content is key to sustaining a loyal audience.

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I took a look at Gopro’s Twitter account and found this picture. The picture itself seems somewhat cliche, but the amount of energy and emotion that the picture fills and the story it tells to the viewer is unprecedented. Similar to the Coke commercials we saw in class (vending machine on the college campus), we can interpret this post with multiple meanings: using a Gopro can capture the essence of fun and create happiness, Gopro is essentially adventure, and Gopro can bring people together.

Furthermore, this picture illustrates the experiences that can both be shared and also become memories. There are photos similar to this that attract the same amount of subjective values from their audiences, and it reinforces the loyalty and trust audiences connect with GoPro.

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Again, we see the content Gopro is utilizing on their Instagram reflect through value and compelling content rather than directly showing us their products. We begin to associate the ideas of adventure with the brand itself, skipping the product step in the process; we are still arriving at the same outcome. One of the biggest differences between the two aspects of marketing is that content marketing helps fulfill your (the consumers’) internal needs and wants, rather than being told what they want from an outside perspective.

When you look at this photo, what do you feel? I can say that I personally feel a sudden desire and yearning to travel, hoping to experience the exact same emotions as the picture suggests. With this feeling, I can say that Gopro’s content strategy on Instagram has roughly succeeded on me. The picture is open-ended; it leaves me filling in the spaces with my own imagination, inevitably making a natural connection between me, adventure, and Gopro.

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This Instagram post along with the next 2 from Gopro offer zero pictures or merchandising from Gopro itself. Instead, they show what can be captured by using their Gopro products without explicitly telling you, literally and figuratively. The essence of the company revels in adventure, exploration, and travel. This post ties nicely into the concept and values at Gopro by offering a piece of content that connects with your subconscious. Sunsets, horizons, at the beach, and surfing invoke yearn and desire to achieve what the picture suggests: be the person taking the photo (by using Gopro). 

This picture and the next two express the differences of traditional and contemporary content marketing. As stated before, there are no physical Gopro products, there is only suggestions of what using the product can create.