Flossing & Your Digital Marketing Strategy

Did you see that report that says there’s no evidence that flossing works? 

Apparently the studies funded by Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson (a family company!) that said flossing helps to remove plaque, were discredited back in 2011.

Apparently what flossing is really good for is sustaining a $6 billion industry.

And This Is Relevant How?

The argument being used by Dentists to refute this report is that flossing is actually good for you but that most people are doing it wrong.

Here’s the tenuous link to digital marketing…

Content strategy works - but most people are doing it wrong!

Your Content = Your Teeth

I know it’ll come as shock to most of you but, content production is probably the easiest part of your marketing strategy.  

Oh sure, it takes a while to find the format that works for you and it takes even longer for you to get good at it, but nowadays there’s no barrier to producing and distributing content.

Your articles, videos, pictures & witty comments are just like teeth - everyone has them!

Promoting Your Content = Flossing

I’m not talking ad spends - although that’s definitely a good way of getting your content in front of people - I’m talking about what you do to ensure that other people will find, view and link to your content.

Remember you’re producing this stuff so that when someone comes looking for your services or products:

1/ they’ll actually find you because people will have linked to your content and the search engines see the links and think - this must be good stuff - so they put you higher in the search results and...

2/ when people do arrive on your site they see all this great information that answers their questions, demonstrates how wonderful you are and so they choose you to meet their needs.

What Should You Do?

Well, everyone’s different so your situation is likely unique but there are things to consider.

Technical stuff like targeting the right keywords, formatting content in the right way, getting the filename right on your video, things which are tedious and take longer than you wished they did, these are super important.

But the holy grail of generating links is creating a community that looks out for your content - that is kinda stoked you took the time to produce it, that reads it when they see it and shares and links to it.

You only get this by investing your time in them - by reciprocating, by creating real world loose relationships with strangers.

It requires you spending as much time (preferably more) on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc than you do creating your content in the first place.

Need Help?

We can help with the technical stuff - I have access to trusted people who know how to set things up and can take the tedious bits off your hands.  

As for the whole outreach, community building stuff, that will be unique to you and will require some strategy - that’s when you should talk with me.

Dealing with Loss or Grief? Listen to this, it really helps you feel better.

Image credit: Mikael Kristenson on Unsplash

Snapchat Is Growing Up - Here's Why

So Snapchat just secured another $1.8 Billion in funding after making $59 million in sales in Q4 last year. It has well over 100 million daily users, is growing fast and most people on this list have no idea what it is or how to use it.

Here’s What I Know To Be True

If I use a social platform - like Twitter or Instagram - and I see that a business I’m interested in is also on the platform - I will check them out.  I will spend more of my time looking at the business and potentially interacting with them.

The thing is that over time, social feeds have become a lie, nothing more than a carefully curated version of what the poster wants you to see.  This is as true of Business’ feeds as it is of that annoying friend on Facebook who seems to live the perfect life.

Honest Is Better Than Perfect

In a world saturated by marketing messages that don’t live up to their promise, people are hungry for the truth - the real, unedited, uncontrolled version of who and what you really are.

Snapchat’s ephemeral nature rewards immediacy and places a heavy ROI on high production values.  It’s winning the social wars because it’s the network that provides the truest and fairest reflection of what a person or small business is actually like.

Markets Form Where People Are

I wrote about Snapchat at the beginning of March with a recommendation that unless your target market was Millennials you didn’t need to be on the platform - I also said that recommendation may change over time.

With over 200 million people and usage growing rapidly, I don’t think as marketers you can ignore it any more.

Feeling a little down? Listen to this, it really helps you feel better.

Image Credit:#Snapchat me, Ryansings by Ryan Nagelmann on Flickr

Curious About Snapchat?

• 200 million+ users - growing rapidly
• Driven by Tweens & Millennials (and social media gurus!)
• Brands are all over it

Ephemeral Advantage

The biggest thing to wrap your head around is that information on Snapchat is temporary - it has a shelf life between 1 second and 24 hours - but after that - it’s gone.

This is its core point of difference and its core advantage.

To the generation who grew up with the internet, who subscribe rather than buy, who don’t own but share - not having to worry about storing something is actually freeing.

Authentic Information

Content is either 10 second videos or photos with text or sticker overlays.  You can’t use a video you created for YouTube or take your favorite Instagram photo and upload it - everything is created and experienced inside the app.

When something you share has a super short shelf life - there’s no real point in spending time making it look great.  As a result - the photos and videos on the platform are raw and honest and often humorous.

If social media so far has been our idealized selves - Snapchat is our actual reality.  

Stories & Interaction

During a 24 hour period you can add your photos and videos to “Your Story” - a continuous loop that strings them together to show your day’s “story” - after 24 hours the content is erased and a new story begins.

This the part of the app that is gaining traction and the one advertisers are most geeked about.  I know this all sounds odd but bear in mind that there are in-app celebs whose stories get watched on a daily basis by up to 4 million viewers!

Should You Be On SnapChat

Unless your primary target market is Millenials and you have an additional 30 minutes every day to personally invest in marketing - my view would be - not at this time.  I suspect that recommendation may change over time...

Written while listening to: Frustration by music2work2

Image Credit: Snapchat

A Beauty Tip For Your Digital Footprint

I know it’s only February but here in LA the tree’s think it’s Spring!

Time for Spring cleaning then - here’s an easy one:

Go back through your Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feed and get rid of all the stuff that didn’t work.

Why?

Think about how a potential customer interacts with your digital presence for the first time.  They arrive on your Twitter feed or Facebook page and if they’re interested scroll down to see what you have to say.

If the majority of your posts don’t resonate with anyone and barely get shared or re-tweeted you’re going to look pretty lame.

If however - you prune your feed and only leave the successful ones, first time visitors will think you’re amazing!

Score!

Written while listening to: Andy the Barman by music2work2

Image credit: The Wisteria in my garden by Andrew McCluskey

6 Point Marketing Checklist For Business Owners In 2016

You should have these - if you don’t you’re wasting time and money.

1/ A Marketing Budget

As a business owner you have an Ops plan - yes?  A spreadsheet that breaks down the year into quarters and months and that tracks income and expenses - right?  What do you have allocated to the marketing line this year?

2/ KPIs

Similar in style to your Ops plan, you should have a document that tracks the effects of your marketing behaviors and compares them to revenue.  If you tracked KPIs last year you can now create a beautiful document that projects the entire year and allows you to plan and measure the efficacy of your efforts.

3/ Defined Target Audience

Who is your customer?  What frustrations and needs do your best clients have?  When you’re producing content make sure you are writing for them - not for you, your spouse or your peers.

4/ Key Words

Remember that we’re doing this so that people can find you on the internet.  What are the keywords that they’re using to find businesses like yours?  Pick a handful of keyword phrases - no more than 3 - and make sure you incorporate them into your writing this year.

5/ A Publishing Schedule

I cannot overstate how important this is - it’s one of those things that seem odd - but once you commit - good things start to happen.

6/ Defined Social Platforms

Work out which social platforms you’re going to concentrate on - Facebook / Instagram / Linkedin / Twitter etc.  You can’t do them all and if you’re going to be on one - you need to invest time in developing relationships.

If you need help developing any of the above - get in touch - sooner rather than later.

Written while listening to:  C major Theme - Lisbon Development

Image Credit: Scotland by music2work2
 

How To Create Better Content Faster

Burbn was a fairly popular app - a location based social network with an option that allowed people to upload a photo with a filter.  When growth slowed the founders took a hard look at the data and saw that the only part of the app that people really used was in fact the photo and filters.

They got rid of the social element, re-tooled the app as a way to post mobile pics with filters, called it Instagram and 18 months later sold to Facebook for $1billion

Not quite instant success

Back in ‘07 a couple of guys created airbedandbreakfast.com, they reckoned they could build a social network around people who wanted to crash on a sofa and get breakfast for cheap.  

8 years later airbnb.com has a $10billion valuation, offers appartments for a kings ransom and nobody really talks about breakfast.

Takeaways for content marketers

• Startups don’t know what is going to resonate with the public until they take it to market.
• You don’t know what content is going to resonate with the public until you publish

• Startups focus on data to tell them what is working and what isn’t
• Your KPIs are essential if you want to be successful in the future

• Startups ruthlessly cut that which isn’t working and focus on what is
• If you’re not seeing traction with one type of content or on one network, do something else

• Startups focus all day everyday to iterate, yet success still takes years
• No matter how fast you produce content, it can take years before you see results

Your big advantage

Unlike startups, you aren’t depending on revenue from your “content product.”   This means you don’t have to move and iterate as quickly as they do in order to survive. 

If however you apply the startup mindset to your content production, you will find the quality of your output improves more rapidly.  This is turn drives the visibility of your business in search, which is where the new customers are.

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Written while listening to: C Major Theme Dev 4 on music2work2

Image credit: Startup by Dennis Skley on Flickr