Balancing Your Content

Balancing Your Content

Consumers graze the internet. They search for solutions to problems, sometimes without realizing it. They may start with a search for the “best way to remove a stain” or the “healthiest food for my dog,” but eventually they follow up with Facebook or Twitter to validate what they find or see what others may recommend. All the while still thinking about how to solve their little problem in the back of their mind.

Within this process, they may come across your brand. They assess you with a series of questions:

  1. Does this brand understand my problems?
  2. Does it fit my lifestyle?
  3. Can it improve my life without disrupting it?
  4. Do I trust them?

Creating a content marketing strategy is an effective way to raise awareness for a brand. By actively creating content that their audience cares about, a brand can build relationships as well as word-of-mouth and search results. Part of any good content strategy is finding the right content mix. This is where the 80/20 rule comes into play: 80% content about the audience, 20% content about the brand.

Your first goals are for the audience to approve of you and to “like” you. By measuring your content against that series of questions, you teach your audience to trust you. Keep 80% of your content centered around your audience and start to build the relationship.

80% of your content: About your audience
-Audience problems
-Audience lifestyle
-Audience trends

This is the set-up. After some time people start to trust your brand and believe in what you say. While timing can vary wildly depending on your brand and your audience, this is always a first step. The more your audience gets close to you the more receptive and accepting they become. This is your opportunity to interject with content about your brand.

20% of your content: About your brand
-Brand promotions
-Brand story
-Brand news

By starting with a content marketing strategy with an 80/20 balance of content, you can build solid relationships without verging too far into “marketing” territory. Adjust these numbers over time to find your sweet spot, but always remember that the 80% about your audience is what makes the 20% about your brand so effective.

Peter Dycus Joins Infuz as Director of Production

Last week brought another new face to the Infuz team. Peter Dycus joins us after nearly four years at Coolfire as our Director of Production. Between his time as Director of Interactive at Coolfire and a couple of Project Management and Account Service roles at Zipatoni, he’s worked with some major brands and just about everyone in town. Think that’s an exaggeration? Take a walk downtown with Peter during lunch time and marvel at his inability to take more than 3 steps without saying hello to someone that he’s worked with or worked for.

Peter’s pedigree comes with some strong convictions about how projects should be managed, and he hit the ground running. There’s a new energy in the office this week thanks to his leadership. We’re digging his fresh perspectives on old problems and how he’s challenging the ways “we’ve always done things.”

First Erica, now Peter, and we’re not done yet. We’re still on the lookout for fresh talent to join us.

In Defense of the Boring Tweet

Last night, or rather quite early this morning, I did something I’m not particularly proud of. I put out a Boring Tweet. I’m not saying everything else I tweet is golden, but most of the time I try to consider my audience and make sure that at least some subset of my followers will care about what I have to say before I tweet it out. Last night? Not so much:

You know the type. Those tweets about waiting in a doctor’s office, eating a bologna sandwich for lunch..again, or in, my case, that I was up past my bed time for no good reason. They’re usually about being bored and almost always boring. They’re the sort of tweets that make Twitter infamous and seemingly useless to your mom or to the brand manager who doesn’t understand “the power of social media”. It’s bad for business and we poke fun when other people do it, so why do we do it?

I pondered this as I finally drifted off to sleep and woke up to my answer: solidarity.

Within minutes of my tweet I had responses from a couple of timey-wimey Australian friends who were more than halfway through their Tuesdays. I had a “right there with you” retweet from a friend. The next morning, as I was skimming my Twitter feed and chiding myself for getting a mere 5 hours of sleep, I read tweets from other friends who were feeling the exact same thing, hundreds of miles away.

Suddenly, I felt better about the whole thing, boring tweet and all. I wasn’t the only one who stayed up late and regretted it the next morning. I had friends literally across the world that were happy to keep me company. That boring tweet, and the “boring tweets” that followed linked us all together for a moment. And it was a good thing.

I doubt I’ll turn into someone who regularly says good night to the Twitterverse before going to bed, but the next time I’m bored and waiting, or lamenting my disappointing lunch choice, I just might reach out and tell the world.

Earning Facebook Love Rather Than Facebook Likes

Earning Facebook Love Rather Than Facebook Likes

You’ve got your brand set up on Facebook. You have a custom page, nice branding, maybe even some interactive applications. Now it’s time to start communicating, but what will you say? If your goal is to generate long term relationships and conversations, keep reading.

It’s very easy to think about Facebook messaging as an extension of other advertising: Post your specials. Talk about the features of your product. Write about your “brand promise”. It may seem like a natural fit, but it’s not what your audience wants in most cases. In most cases a Facebook page is as much about the audience as it is the owner. New studies by eMarketer and Insight Strategy Group show that audiences may “like” your page, but don’t necessarily “like” what you’re saying on it.

69% of all consumer actions on top brands’ Facebook pages were in response to personal posts while only 11% were in response to promotional posts according to eMarketer. Think of it as if it were real life. Does anyone “like” to hear people talk about themselves all day? Balance your promotional posts with a higher volume of post about things your audience talks about.

The Insight Marketing Group study helps to reinforce that position: Your audience expects you to be on Facebook but doesn’t want to feel “marketed” to.

By being more authentic and showing that you care about what your audience cares about, you can earn more than just their “likes”. You can earn their love.

Now Hiring: Interactive Art Director

Now Hiring: Interactive Art Director

We’re looking for an Interactive Art Director with strong design instincts that can work independently and collaborate with larger teams. You are a fresh thinker, with a passion for design in all media and love to create.

You live for interactive, have a contagious work ethic with a maniacal attention to detail, strive to produce the work at the highest quality standards and absorb design knowledge and trends. If you encounter a problem, you seek out a solution rather than waiting for divine intervention.

You are a talented Art Director with the experience to conceptualize as well as translate and extend concepts into effective visual designs for digital marketing, online campaigns, web and motion-based projects. Under the direction of a Creative Director, you will work on several projects at a time and will be involved in all phases of creative development, with a focus on design execution. You may also be involved in new business projects and pitches.
Read More…

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18  Scroll to top