Feeling “taxed” today? Well, rest assured that you’re not alone, but on the plus…you are one of the lucky ones who stopped by for the Friday Fix, so unburden yourself with this week in content marketing. Today we look at ways to achieve success on social media, how to get your stories out of the campfire and into the content marketing campaign, ways to give your stories a wow-factor, and a look at some passed and upcoming content marketing conferences (among other things). So, consider your dues paid and take a little personal time to get caught up on content the best way, the Friday Fix way.
Storytelling: Out of the Campfire and Into Your Marketing Campaign
While I’ve seriously never been able to weave a decent yarn off the top of my head over a roaring campfire (possibly because I’m too busy going to town on the smores), I definitely understand the essence of Jake Athey’s wise words in this article, which is that nothing trumps a good old-fashioned story. The end. No, I’m kidding…there’s more to Jake’s piece than that; specifically, he looks at how these stories are being consumed (on a mobile device during a toilet break, for example) and what modes of communication are best for storytelling (among other things).
Four Traits that Turn Your Brand Story from Meh to Marvelous
nivedya.net
Brad Shelton just gained a fan in me because he tells it like it is. In this case, it’s the fact that everyone claiming to tell a story is a heaping pile of the smelly stuff Marty McFly used to bury three generations of Biff Tanens with. Yep, it’s crap. As he says, real stories are powerful…they’re memorable; they have emotional mojo that can’t be found around just any old campfire. That said, Brad (and the rest of us) get why everyone wants to weave the next yarn that reaches around world; it’s powerful and memorable, and holy moly, what it will do for your brand to have the right story…. Thus, Brad dishes on four must-have story traits that will help strengthen your yarns.
Marketing Metrics and Getting Back to Basics
Even though Donna Lehmann’s article is centered around content marketing in the context of higher education, her well-spotted insight on marketing metrics are broadly applicable. Donna explores the scramble to collect data, the ROI of storytelling, and how everything comes together in a way that’s not really measurable by a single bit of data. I know, I’m being vague, but it’s so you’ll read the piece and get a grasp on the bigger picture.
4 Major Employee Advocacy Barriers to Overcome in 2016
skyword.com
So, I heard someone who worked for Yelp got fired (or punished?) because they wrote a bad review of Yelp on the Internet. I know, I know…the irony. I digress. The point is employees can make or break your brand if you let them. Obviously, you want them to make it. As Daniel Ruyter notes in this article, “Customer service is 1 on 1 marketing,” which means that you kind of need to let your employees advocate for you. In this article, Daniel reviews the status quo of building those one-on-one connections and how to overcome related obstacles.
Business Relationships, Not Reach in a Post-Social Media Marketing Age
With all of the rhetoric about storytelling, it’s no surprise that Jeremy Harris Lipschultz’s sentiment on the value of relationships over reach is spot on. Jeremy looks at specifics on how relationship-building is best-accomplished; he specifically looks at Carlos Gil’s use of Snapchat, MLB.TV, and Lenovo; he concludes that fragmented outreach isn’t going to go as far as authentically-built long-term relationships.
What Your Global Content Strategy Can Learn from Multilingual Stand-Up Comedians
skyword.com
Try saying the title of Carlos Garcia-Arista’s article ten times fast. Yeah, I can’t either. But really, we’ve hashed out the relevance of a global content strategy before, and we’ve talked about how important comedy / humor is in a content marketing approach, but I feel this is new. Carlos makes a gripping point (echoed in other pieces) on the importance of mirroring and being multilingual in one’s approach. Using examples from stand-up comedy, Carlos drives the point home while also making me want to go binge on good stand-up for the rest of the afternoon. Well-played, Carlos, well-played.
How Brands Need to Go Beyond Posts; Get Witty, Emotional, Interact with Consumers @ the Right Time
While much of what Sarmistha Neogy has to say in this piece is echoed in peers’ rhetoric, Sarmistha goes into greater detail here discussing strategies for what I consider to be more or less “being real” with the audience. As an audience member who enjoys brands that seem like authentic people and not companies or people who are trying to get something out of you (this would be like if the head cheerleader would have walked up to me, power-nerd and led with, “Hey there, girlfriend!” I’d have known something was up…obviously she was just trying to get me to illustrate her as an anime as I wasn’t cool enough to be “girlfriend”), this piece speaks to me. How can you come across in the right tone with the right media at the right time? Check out this article to find out.
How Canvas Changes the Facebook Marketing Game by Making Ads Obvious
skyword.com
A couple of months ago, we mentioned when Facebook rolled out the mobile-specific ad platform Canvas. In this piece, John Montesi picks up the conversation and talks about how Canvas is shaking things up. Specifically, Canvas enables users to build their ads within Facebook’s parameters, and it enables them to be interactive as opposed to interruptive. The way it enables creativity and interactivity, which John explores in this article, can’t be overstated.
Dig South Gears Up for 4th Annual Conference
I can’t remember which pundit or Fix it was, but a while back, we mentioned a few content marketing conferences that you should bend the budget to be at. In case you haven’t been making the rounds or you really can’t afford to go far (and you happen to live in the southeastern US), then Dig South in Charleston is the place to be. The event takes place at the Gaillard Center in Charleston April 26-28 and will feature Shaun Dorris, known for creating brand campaigns on Snapchat; and an interview of Gary Vaynerchuk of VaynerMedia by senior editor of Re/code Peter Kafka. Keynotes include MapQuest co-founder Chris Heivly and 500 Startups partner Paul Singh.
5 Things I Learned from SXSW about VR/AR
Speaking of conferences, in case you missed it, Austin’s SXSW has come and gone; however, Mary Ermitanio covers five things that she learned from the event specific to VR/AR and VR/AR’s impact on storytelling, travel, music…the whole shebang. So, here’s a rundown of what Mary dishes on in this article: consumer brands will drive VR/AR awareness; location-based experiences will be the second driver; it’s going to take more than 360 degree video to go beyond the VR/AR sampling phase; it’s the new frontier for advertising; and display will no longer be limited to screens.
10 Quick Tips for Social Media Success
thestorytelleragency.com
I realize that saying content marketing on social media is a tough business sounds ridiculous, like when Laurie Foreman tearfully raged, “Cosmetology is too hard!” on That ‘70s Show; however, striking the right tone with the right audience on social media is hard. I mean, there are what, 100 social media platforms out there and you’re expected to be present and proficient on at least three of them (or at least it feels that way). I digress. If you feel the way I feel, then Kathryn Jones’ run down of 10 quick tips for social media success is for you. She covers finding your brand’s voice, when to post, choosing platforms, and more in this savvy listicle.
Amy Delcambre is a freelance content and travel writer from Mobile, Alabama with a Master's in Creative Writing. When she's not painting the page with nouns, verbs, and adverbs, she's slaying grammar beasts as a freelance editor and saving the world one sentence fragment at a time teaching university writing classes. In her free time, Amy enjoys cooking, traveling, and testing which plant species best survive prolonged neglect.
Connect with Amy: LinkedIn