Welcome to our series Digital Marketing in a Noisy World. This content was originally presented in our breakout session at Breathe Christian Writers Conference 2015. (Check out our Prezi here.) We hope this information is helpful and encouraging for you. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or contact us.
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Welcome to our series Digital Marketing in a Noisy World. This content was originally presented in our breakout session at Breathe Christian Writers Conference 2015. (Check out our Prezi here.) We hope this information is helpful and encouraging for you. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or contact us.
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The 4 Rules of Content Marketing
by Alexis De Weese
With an understanding of the WHY, HOW, and WHAT of your platform (read the post here if you missed it!), you are ready to leverage your content and develop your voice.
Developing your unique voice is the key to producing great content. This can sound daunting if you’re not sure what your voice is. It can be really easy to look at the platforms of those you admire and mimic their voice. Or fall to the temptation to put on a salesmen persona when promoting your work.
Neither of these tactics are recommended, namely because neither are you! Marketing does not mean becoming someone you’re not. Only your voice can capture your WHY. Developing your voice is the key to successful content marketing.
Here are 4 content marketing rules to help guide you in discovering and writing in your unique voice:
If you want people to hear what you have to say, you have to be there to say it. Be a source they can rely on.
This does not mean you need to blog every day or tweet every hour on the hour. This means that whatever content your are producing should come regularly. Your audience will know when they can expect new content and will be ready to listen to what you have to say.
Your voice is as unique as your WHY.
No one else has your perspective, your take, or your specific passions. You are the expert of your WHY. Approach your content with confidence. You are the only one who can capture your message—be bold!
It can be overwhelming to think that you will need to create new content for years to come. It is okay to recycle!
Build content from what you’ve already worked on—speaking outlines, writing prompts, drafts, questions you encounter, even commentary on the content of others (with credit, of course!).
Your platform is a conversation. As people respond to your content, respond back. Ask follow up questions to continue the discussion.
Don’t only respond, but also reach. Comment on the content of others whose message speaks to you. You contribute to their conversation and, you never know, they may contribute to yours!
With a developed voice, you can easily leverage your content. Don’t be afraid to be clever. When it comes to content marketing, there are points for creativity.
Digital platforms leave room for innovation and experimentation. Don’t be afraid of trial and error. Some things are going to work better for your platform than others, but you’ll never know until you try.
This takes time, but the same amount of effort, time, and thought should be put into your platform as you put into your creative project. (Don’t worry! Remember, you can recycle.) Building your platform is part of the writing project, not a separate entity. Your WHY drives both.
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Creative writer, editor, word wiz and self proclaimed ‘punk-kid’ Alexis is Apricot’s content magician. Lex is passionate about books, music, movies, scrambled eggs, and nail polish. She prefers her music on vinyl and tea leaves loose.
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Thank you for joining us on this series. Tune in next time to learn more digital marketing tips.
Welcome to our series Digital Marketing in a Noisy World. This content was originally presented in our breakout session at Breathe Christian Writers Conference 2015. (Check out our Prezi here.) We hope this information is helpful and encouraging for you. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or contact us.
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Great Content: Why, How, What
by Alexis De Weese
Simon Sinek’s 2009 TED talk really gets to the heart of what makes a digital platform thrive. It is easy to get distracted by numbers or making your platform go viral, but that it not the purpose of having a platform. (View the 5 minute version below or click here for the full 18 min TED Talk.)
You want people to be invested in your platform because of why you do what you do.
To re-purpose a phrase Simon repeats:
People don’t buy WHAT you write—they buy WHY you write it.
Think about it this way: your favorite book is not your favorite because of the sentence structure or the specific words written. It’s the power behind what was said in the book—the ultimate why that drove the author to write the book in the first place. That why resonated with something deep inside you.
Here is an overview of how that breaks down:
Your marketing platform needs a healthy foundation and identifying your ultimate “why” will be the plumb-line for the content you begin to build.
Your why is the driving force in how and what you do. This informs your message or plot, your voice, and how you market. It is behind everything you produce. It is your why, not your what that will reach people. Knowing this will change how you approach your platform.
Start with your WHY—Your message deserves to be heard, is valuable and relevant. What makes you a thought leader?
When you understand your why, you can begin to look at how your are reaching your audience.
How are you representing your why in your content marketing? How are you engaging with those who will want to hear what you have to say?
Remember…
Content marketing’s purpose is to attract and retain customers by consistently creating and curating relevant and valuable content with the intention of changing or enhancing consumer behavior.
Marketing is impossible without great content.
Think about positioning content for consumption by those who want it. This will naturally lead to what.
Once you understand your why and how, you can begin to strategize what you are actually presenting to your audience.
This includes what content you produce on your sites, what social platforms you use to broadcast that content and what ways you interact with those taking in your content.
With your WHY, HOW, and WHAT defined, you can begin to think through your content marketing plan more clearly and strategically. Your audience will find engaging with your content to be more fulfilling because it is getting at the heart of why you do what you do.
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Creative writer, editor, word wiz and self proclaimed ‘punk-kid’ Alexis is Apricot’s content magician. Lex is passionate about books, music, movies, scrambled eggs, and nail polish. She prefers her music on vinyl and tea leaves loose.
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Thank you for joining us on this series. Tune in next time to learn more digital marketing tips.
Every January all the experts make their predictions on what is the next big thing in digital platforms, best practices, and market shifts. So does anyone ever follow-up to see if they’re right?
Sellpoints checked in with numerous experts to see if their predictions on 2015 digital marketing trends have actually caught on. These digital mavens were asked two questions:
Read the full article here and don’t forget to let us know about any digital trends you’ve seen come to pass.
A few weeks ago we discussed Facebook’s algorithm changes. The social media titan recently released an article explaining how they are trying to adapt with the feedback they’ve been receiving. How should they strike the balance between your friend’s updates and content from public pages?
We’re liking the looks of these changes. According to the article, the most recent Facebook algorithm change will allow content from public pages to rank higher in your newsfeed if it is a page you care about and interact with more often. No more need to worry about missing content from your favorite Authors, blogs, or other sites.
So what do you think? What makes a page you follow valuable enough to show up in your newsfeed?
To keep up a successful digital platform, you have to press into the tension between a steady audience and the ever-changing trends of the digital world. Not really sure how to strike that balance? It can be overwhelming to keep up with algorithm changes, industry standards and trends, new and changing technology, and the needs of your audience.
Recently, we found a great article from Forbes on the digital marketing trends they’ve seen so far in 2015. Neil Patel has some great thoughts on where things might be heading. We’re already exploring what these trends mean for our clients. What might they mean for your platform?
If you’re looking for some help with strategy in this ever-changing digital world, don’t hesitate to contact us.
This may be the question facing your church or non-profit. As digital marketers, of course we’re not going to say no. But apparently neither is Christianity Today.
In an article they released a little over a month ago, CT explores how social media can be harnessed as a great tool for leadership of a congregation.
Discussion in the church has centered around whether social media is good or bad. Our thought? It’s neutral. As the article describes, “Social media is a tool. A tool in the wrong hands is dangerous. A tool in good hands is extremely useful. Churches and leaders that remain absent from social media are not able to use this tool to expand the Kingdom.”
At Apricot Services, we want to see churches and non-profits learn to wield this tool to the best advantage. Are you a church leader who doesn’t know where to start with your church’s social platform? Maybe we can help!
Read the three ways they believe social media benefits church leaders and let us know what you think.
Photo credit: Sean MacEntee, Creative Commons
Here in the Apricots world, we’ve recently been wondering about recent Facebook algorithm changes and what that means for serving our clients. If anything, trying to reach your audience has certainly become more difficult. You may feel that your social media strategy has become obsolete. So is jumping the Facebook ship in the best interest of your platform?
This isn’t a new discussion. We are reminded of a Forbes article that was released nearly two years ago.
Recently, we debated the benefits of focusing our efforts for a client through Google+. Unfortunately, where the algorithm may work more in the favor of those trying to promote their platform, the audience just isn’t the same. At least not in the engaged manner they are on Facebook. For this client, the answer was yes, Facebook is worth the hassle… and the added cost of promoting posts to reach the same size audience as before.
The answer is not likely uniform for all however. Have you found your social media promotion to be a struggle since Facebook’s algorithm changes? Drop us a line. We may be able to help.
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