Trends Talk - What's in a Name?

http://www.slideshare.net/katiebarnes731/trendstalk-2013-whats-in-a-name

Sundae Blogging

In my personal opinion blogging is all about knowing your audience. If you know your readers, their likes and interests, and how they think, then everything else is just the icing on the cake.

Writing a compelling blog is easy… if you keep in mind who you’re talking to. Your tone, focus, topics, length, goals, schedule, headlines, design… it all hinges on what your audience likes and finds interesting. The connection you form with your readers is what will make or break your blog.

Tone – I am a firm believer in the phrase write the way you speak. There’s a certain communications teacher out there somewhere who I know would cringe at that thought, but its what I think works. Especially for writing blogs. Again, its about relating to your audience. Blogging should be like having a conversation with your readers. You’re talking to them, not at them.

Extras – I love links! When I write a blog, all I want to do is add links to everything. Videos, articles, my friends’ blogs, Facebook, Twitter, my past posts, anything I can find some inkling of relevance in. Not only do links increase interest and credibility in your blog, but they can also add some humor to something that could be construed as a somewhat dry topic. And since I know my audience is a bunch of stressed out, grumpy students, I figured they could use a laugh.

So in conclusion, writing a compelling blog is a lot like creating the perfect ice cream sundae. The bowl is your audience, holding all that delicious goodness in place. Ice cream = blog; boring, mundane, very vanilla. All that extra stuff you put on top (chocolate, chocolate, CHOCOLATE) that’s your tone. It adds personality and makes this ice cream worth eating. And obviously the extras are just the cherry on top.

That metaphor was a bit of a stretch I know. But I bet you all want ice cream now. 

Its an Absolutely Amazing Story...

This week I would like to focus on the content of a brand near and dear to the hearts of many.

Absolut.

That’s right. The vodka.

We’ve all had that night that ends with us curled up on the bathroom floor, pleading with a friend to never let us drink again.

In my case this night involved a 26er of Absolut Raspberry, and since then I’ve swore off this particular flavor. But my own bad judgment doesn’t change the fact that Absolut is an advertising guru. Their advertising does what it’s supposed to do; connects the consumer with the product. Watching one simple commercial makes you not only crave the product and the rush it provides, but the lifestyle that comes with it as well. There’s not one pimply, nerdy virgin in the Absolut world. Everyone is a smooth, beautiful party animal, dripping in money and swag.

It’s content like this that makes people forget the pounding head and cold sweats that accompany the morning after an Absolut night out.

Now I would love to talk in detail about Absolut’s blog, launched in 2008, but unfortunately it has since been taken down. The vodka giant’s blog entitled In an Absolut World, There are no Labels was dedicated to breaking through the stereotypes forced on the LGBT community. I wish this blog was still accessible because I would have loved to see more. Absolut used a very newsworthy and controversial topic to drawn in viewers. The blog’s main purpose was to discuss the issues surrounding homosexual discrimination, or at least that’s what Absolut wanted the viewer to think. Using this hot topic as bait, Absolut drew in new consumers with the promise of a supportive and enlightening discussion, when in reality they were just selling their brand. In this case the content had very little to do with the actual product, it was just used to add to the overall brand image and popularity.

Absolut uses many different forms of advertising and creates a plethora of content which is shared over a variety of platforms. One example of their unique content that really caught my eye was a series of videos Absolut recently released entitled Transform Today. These videos center on a group of people creating a variety of different art pieces.

The future is not a given. It’s yours to create. Embrace imagination. And the power of creation. To change tomorrow. You must first transform today.   

The campaign’s tagline relieves nothing about the actual product of Absolut; it is purely about creation and transformation. In fact the product is barely mentioned or showed in the videos at all. This is exactly why I like this kind of content. The viewer isn’t smothered by the product but is rather enjoying a good story. Absolut features a musician, designer, digital media artist and graphic novel creator in these videos. These four people talk about transformation and their artistic journey. Absolut products are featured for maybe a grand total of two seconds in a two-minute video. The rest of the time is spent on these four individuals, their artwork and their outlooks on transformation. The visuals, the graphics and the narration, all work to paint a picture and tell the viewer a compelling story.

The video itself is artsy and stylish. This isn’t just your average floating head testimonial. It goes along with what I mentioned before about the sleek, cool Absolute world. The artists and styles of the video are versatile, while at the same time, work together to create a longing in the viewer. The creativity and stories of the artists are meant to be inspirational to those watching and make you want to be like the people featured.

Absolut’s Transform Today campaign goes beyond this form of videos too. They also created a longer, more in depth series of videos called Open Canvas. These videos carried on the same theme of Transform Today but on a grander scale. In August of 2013, Absolut brought together 25 contemporary artists in order to transform a mundane city block into an extraordinary work of art. Unlike the sleek, almost music video feel of the Transform Today video, Open Canvas is more like a documentary, with interviews and point of view pieces. Though the message of The Future is Yours to Create is featured throughout both of these videos, it is expressed in two very different ways.

In my opinion, Absolut is not only amazing at telling compelling, one might even say intoxicating stories, but they also inspire this kind of creation in other people as well. Many of the great stories of my life start out with a vodka cranberry or two… or three. 

Reaching the Summit

The Social Media Success Summit 2013, was a live online conference spanning over four weeks and taking place all over the world. This conference gathered the world’s leading social media experts to discuss the power of social media in marketing.

One speaker at this year’s Summit was Lee Odden, author of Optimize: How to Attract and Engage MoreCustomers by Integrating SEO, Social Media and Content Marketing. He is also the CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, a marketing and PR agency, as well as a successful online marketing blogger.

So I think it’s safe to say; Lee knows his stuff.

Odden is a firm believer in the power of social media in today’s world. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Google+ and so on, make it so much easier for businesses to not only create but share content with the public. During his presentation Odden mentions that 90% of all the data in the world has been created in the last two years. Social media has made it possible for anyone, anywhere to share their thoughts and opinions on products, businesses, events and really anything that catches their attention.

When something has this much power and influence with the public it would be foolish for any company to not utilize it.

Enter social media marketing.

Odden mentions the statistic that 79% of marketers agree that they have integrated their social media with their traditional media. This fact is laughable. Integrating social with traditional media is more than just creating a Facebook page or adding a Twitter icon to your website. If a business wants to be called social media savvy then they have to be willing to put in the time and effort. Weekly, if not daily Facebook posts, Tweets and blogs must be created, and they can’t be mediocre either. The content needs to be useful and interesting to be relevant to potential consumers.

As Odden preaches, this is the age of ubiquitous connectivity, and social media is what makes this possible.    

Social Media's in the Hospital

This week I am writing my blog from the waiting room of KGH. No nothing life threatening has happened, just the ever-reliable idiocy of boys and their skateboards. But when presented with numerous empty hours of waiting and staring at a beige wall there really is nothing better to do then blog.

Now the tricky thing about this situation isn't finding the time to write, I’ve got plenty of that, it’s finding the inspiration. I'm sure most of you can imagine that the dim yellow halls of a hospital aren't really the best place to draw inspiration from. Especially when you’re writing about Social Media Marketing.

In today's world social media is king. It’s everywhere. In our homes, our workplaces and our schools. We all use it and some may even say a lot of us need it. And hospitals are no exception. You can follow KGH on Twitter, they even have a Facebook page. Hospitals are like any other business; using social media to boost their popularity, update their followers and stay a topic of conversation.

You would think that hospitals would have more important things to do (like saving lives) than updating their Facebook page and tweeting, but I’m sure there’s someone sitting in an office somewhere thinking up status updates.

This just proves, social media is everywhere.  

Social Media What??

I think its safe to say that social media is definitely the wave of the future when it comes to advertising and marketing. And "wave" is an understatement...its a tsunami!

This is definitely a problem for some of us.

Don't get me wrong - I love social media! I can waste time on Twitter and Facebook like no other! But if it’s possible, I'm not good at social media.

Now personally I think I'm hilarious, but I am forever posting things that no one gets or finds funny. My Facebook, Twitter and blog are all flooded with inside jokes and personal funnies. I need to learn how to make my posts relevant to the people reading them, not just for me.

That, for me is the hardest part of writing blogs. Keeping posts relevant and interesting to readers is the most important part of blogging but its also the most difficult. If people don’t find what you’re writing about interesting, funny or useful they wont continue to read your posts and you’ll lose viewers to your competition. 

Content: The Single Biggest Threat to Content Marketing

I recently came across a video entitled The Experts Weigh In: 7 Stellar Examples ofContent Marketing, which features seven content experts talking about their favorite content marketing campaigns of 2013. Thought leaders like Jay Baer, Ann Handley, Aaron Kahlow, Joe Chernov, Michael Brenner, Michael Stelzner and Joe Pulizzi lend their unique insight into the people, companies and agencies doing content right.

We all know that content marketing is the wave of the future. Marketers are now using more and more content on their digital medias, and they will continue to do this well into the future. Without new and exciting content being posted to their websites, blogs and social media sites, businesses have nothing to attract and maintain new and current consumers.

Content is the key to success for any business.

But it can also be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Because of the rising popularity of content marketing, more and more businesses and more and more departments within these businesses are starting to create content. It is vital to keep your content current and updated, but with so many people (some of them inexperienced or untrained) creating and uploading, some of it is bound to be of lower quality.

Doug Kessler, Co-founder and Creative Director of the business-to-business marketing agency Velocity Partners, created a Slideshare “rant” about this problem. Crap: The Single Biggest Threat to B2B Content Marketing outlines the current trends in content marketing, the over saturation in the industry and the best ways to stay afloat a midst all the crap.

“If you’re in the business of generating great content the kind that really helps people do their jobs; the kind that entertains as well as informs; the kind that blows people’s socks off, then sells them slippers; you’re increasingly going to be up against the other kind of content. The Shite”

Now content marketers not only have to constantly create relevant and helpful content for consumers, but they also have to differentiate their good content from all the other crap out there. Content marketing is all about turning prospective consumers into consumers, and you do this by getting them to lower their Marketing Defense Systems. This is the viewer’s force field, their barrier against content. If what you post is relevant to them, riveting and helpful they will slowly lower their barriers and absorb more of your content. But as soon as a speck of irrelevant, boring or useless information crosses their path. Whoosh. Up go the defenses.  

The best way to convert casual visitors into customers using your digital assets is with great content. Content that helps people solve their everyday problems is what gets people into stores and buying products. Content isn’t about convincing people to buy your products or about promoting your company, it’s about telling a good story.

Business Communications expert Barb Sawyers wrote the article Five Ways to Tell Stories the Sell, which highlights the five ways to tell stories that build relationships and credibility. Sawyers uses five steps to “open the minds and wallets” of people, as well as to keep them coming back for more.

1. "Don’t Play the Hero" – don’t praise yourself, your business or your product. Focus on the reader

2. "Show Don’t Tell" – use characters and actions to tell your story. Don’t spew facts and adjectives at potential customers. Paint them a picture.

3. "Simple Story Structures" – Keep it simple stupid. Kisses are key.

4. "Grab Your Audience Quickly" – Don’t wait to get your story going. People have short attention spans. They want to be entertained and entertained immediately.

5. "The Moral, or Selling Point of the Story" – In content marketing the moral of your story isn’t don’t talk to strangers or be kind to one another. Its buy, buy, buy. The moral is your call to action. 

Kmart used these steps when creating their Ship my Pants commercial earlier this year. The story line is simple enough; Kmart ships things now. This information isn’t exactly riveting but instead of just telling the audience about it in a boring, mind-numbing way the company utilizes humor to attract attention and get their point across. This content is relevant and attractive to Kmart customers, and the humorous aspect, which begins immediately in the commercial, keeps people watching. 

Another company utilizing content in an amazing way is Lowes. The home improvement super store is not only doing content right but they are also doing it in such a way that it appeals to the masses. Using the most recent super star of social media, Vine, Lowes has found a way to entertain and lend a hand to their audience in six short seconds. Their campaign Fix in Six features a number of six second videos showing viewers how to complete a series of household hacks. The videos are short enough to hold the watcher’s attention yet don’t fail to get their point across and be useful. Vines are the hot new kid on the block right now and Lowes has taken full advantage of this. This social media outlet is particularly popular with today’s young people. Twenty something’s who would usually have no interest in things of the home improvement nature are watching these videos because they’re short, useful and entertaining.

In my opinion these are all great examples of content marketing. The experts have spoken. I know I’m not a thought leader like some but personally I think that video and visual content will soon take over the world of content marketing. I hate to say it but people are lazy. The more watching and the less reading we have to do, the better. No one wants to sit around and read a 1000 word blog post when they could watch a thirty second video and gain the same information.

Over content is over kill.

"Bottom Line:
The Content Deluge is approaching. Raise your game, build a great content brand or prepare to get soaked."