viral content

The 3 Metrics That Matter for Content Marketing Success

by SEO Savvy August 21st, 2014

On July 22, SimpleReach, a startup that helps marketers and publishers measure the effectiveness of their content and ads, announced that it had raised $9 million in Series A funding to meet this demand and measure content, as reported by TechCrunch. That’s big news, since over 90% of marketers are not confident in how they’re measuring content, according to Contently. Currently, SimpleReach says that The New York Times, Forbes, The Huffington Post and The Atlantic all use their product to measure the effectiveness of their native advertising programs and that brands like Intel and Xerox use it to analyze and promote their own content marketing.

While nearly every company today has its own company blog, far fewer have a concrete distribution strategy or even a clear measurement system in place for evaluating ROI, according to Contently. In theory, that’s what SimpleReach will do, and should help you to answer the questions: What metrics should your content marketing team measure? Is content marketing effective, and if so, how can this be measured?

If you’re wondering how to measure content marketing, you’re not alone. Here’s what you need to know about the three metrics that matter most for content marketing.

#1: Engagement. 
This is all about “stickiness”, specifically how much and how often prospects return to your site and engage with your content. Keep an eye on the following metrics:

• Unique visitors
• Page views
• Average visit duration
• Return visits
• Bounce rate

#2: Amplification.
What makes content “go viral”? Take a close look at your amplification metrics, specifically the number of shares, re-tweets, likes, etc. Consumers are more likely to talk about and re-share information about products they find personally and emotionally relevant. Look for a correlation between an uptick in SEO and organic traffic and shares, tweets, etc. For example, you may notice that one blog post is re-tweeted over 1,000 times on Twitter and that there is a simultaneous bump in site traffic. That’s a clear sign your content is resonating with your target audience and being amplified appropriately.

#3: Leads. 
In the B2B world, content marketing is designed to drive leads to your sales team by building awareness, attracting interest, and cultivating relationships. In many cases, your content serves as an “entry point” for the first interaction that leads may have with your business. The metrics that matter here are cost-per-lead, cost-per-new-name, and cost-per-opportunity.

Tying revenue to content marketing can be incredibly difficult, but SimpleReach is working to make this possible. Don’t get caught up in revenue numbers alone, however. When it comes to analyzing the success of your content marketing efforts, engagement, amplification and lead metrics are just as important.

How Content Marketing Gave Red Bull Wings — and How It Can Help Your Brand Fly, Too

by Mark Hawks August 14th, 2014

With content marketing continuing to be the hottest marketing trend for 2014 – more than 70% of companies plan to increase their content marketing expenditures this year, according to Curata– is your business investing wisely? If you’re creating content designed to promote your products or services, rather than your brand’s values, then you’re missing the point. Great content marketing builds relationships with customers based on brand values. And, in many cases, there’s barely a product mention in sight.

Red Bull is an excellent content marketing case study. Upon entering US markets in 1997, “Red Bull” was little more than a carbonated energy drink that was trying to create a new segment of the beverage market. Now, thanks to brilliantly executed content marketing campaigns primarily focused on the brand’s values, Red Bull is the ultimate brand for pushing your limits and going further than you dreamed possible. Red Bull is synonymous with living an extreme lifestyle. In fact, their website boasts verticals such as Adventure, Motorsports, and even eSports, for those who prefer to do their thrill seeking in a virtual setting.

Red Bull isn’t shy about throwing their resources into their marketing; they’ve got a team of reportedly 135 people, even have their own record label, Red Bull Records. While your business may not have access to these resources, Red Bull can still teach you a few lessons in how to improve content marketing to support your brand’s value. From popular social sharing sites where users engage with Red Bull’s brand message and lifestyle on their own accord to the beautifully crafted company slogan “We give wings to people and ideas”.

Here’s how content marketing gave Red Bull wings – and how these content marketing best practices can do the same for your business:

Lesson #1: Lifestyle first, product second. Red Bull’s content never pushes the company’s product. Sales-y content turns customers off, and can create a feeling of distrust that authentic stories rarely do. That’s why Red Bull focused instead on creating aspirational lifestyle content. Most of us will never re-create Felix Baumgartner’s death-defying world record free-fall from the edge of space – nor do we actually want to do so. However, we do want to be associated with the brand that helps us do more than we ever thought possible.

Take the time to figure out what your brand stands for, and what you value. Are you a health food company? Then chances are that you care about a fit body and mind all around. Discuss other aspects of health that go along with eating healthy, including exercise and sleep. You may find many opportunities to expand your reach without pushing customers by determining relevant markets, and appealing to that clientele.

Lesson #2: Presentation matters. Red Bull’s content marketing is built around the curation of gorgeous, stunning visual imagery. A quick look at Red Bull’s Twitter feed reveals lots of beautiful photos and videos of extreme activities. People love visuals; they boost brand interactivity, and bring folks back for longer form content, which deepens brand engagement. And Red Bull is not ignoring traditional publishing platforms either; their magazine reaches 5 million people.

The saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” holds true here – especially on Twitter, where there are minimal characters to work with. And studies show that our brains are wired to process images faster than we do text. Going back to the health food company example, images of active people and brightly colored produce are great for supporting your message.

And don’t forget about colors: Marketing psychology tells us that green is associated with health, so be sure to utilize is often. Red Bull using red (urgency and body stimulation) and blue (curbs appetite, trustworthy) definitely supports the psychology of colors.

Lesson #3: Partner with the right people. No brand is an island, and Red Bull has wisely chosen partnerships that build upon the brand’s extreme values. Their logo was all over 2011’s big budget film the “Art of Flight.” From action sports sponsorships and events to the aforementioned Felix Baumgartner’s free fall from the edge of space. These partnerships all underscore Red Bull’s fundamental brand values: risk-taking, courage, and boldness.

Smart partnerships should do the same for your business. After figuring out other values that align with your brands message, look into other organizations and campaigns that you can work with for a mutually beneficial partnership. The health food company might want to look into sponsoring a free workout class at a local gym in their community or a broad national campaign similar to Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move!  Cross-promotional efforts and sponsorship opportunities are a great way to show what your brand is about, and help your content marketing take flight.

Vetting Your “Viral” Content: Can You Predict The Next Big Thing?

by SEO Savvy June 19th, 2014

We’ve been talking about viral marketing and advertising since the 90s, and seen it come into play in forms such as music video clips, word-of-mouth advertising, and interactive online marketing campaigns, to name just a few. But how does one predict what will become viral, and create that on their own? There’s no exact science, but many have done the research, and determined a number of factors that have proven successful in viral content.

Strike a Chord

While it may be your first instinct when creating content to try and avoid offending anyone, this can lead to very neutral and sometimes boring content. The fact of the matter is, it’s almost impossible to avoid ticking everyone off, and the content that strikes a chord with people is that which takes a stand. Get passionate with your content creation, inspire emotion, and allow your consumers to vent their feelings via a comments platform. The debate will bring your readers back, and lead to organic shares to get more voices involved. In other words: We all love to state our opinions, so give us something to talk about.

Of course, emotions encompass more than just anger and agreement. Videos that make us laugh, cry, or just say “aww” are often the ones you see popping up over and over on your Facebook feed. This content is often void of controversy, and while it provides less fuel for conversation, it gets shared often, and still spreads your message. If you can figure out how to make cute kittens relate to your business, then this method may work for you. Just look at Budweiser and their Clydesdales.

Dig Deeper

No one wants to see a carefully constructed piece of their content marketing plan dismissed with the Internet’s equivalent of the cold shoulder, “TL;DR.” But a recent analysis of The New York Times’ most emailed list reveals that “too long; didn’t read,” doesn’t hold a whole lot of water after all; It’s actually the longer pieces that receive the most engagement. So if you have something important and interesting to say, don’t shy away from creating in-depth content that really explores an issue and presents a well-formulated opinion.

Immediacy vs. Longevity

Forbes recently named two different viral effects that we can use to describe successful viral marketing efforts. First is the Roadblock Effect, which refers to a kind of hyper-saturated content that becomes impossible to avoid. This is the content that is being shared by multiple users across multiple platforms, and seems to infiltrate a moment in consumer consciousness.

To achieve this kind of instantaneous shareability, you typically need some serious resources in addition to a canny sense for the right time to release your content. Weekly television shows receive this kind of bump with viewers sharing their thoughts on social media, but even brands without a captive audience can capitalize on a shared moment if they play the timing right. The downside to this is that while this content hits hard, the momentum doesn’t always last long.

More accessible is the “Stagger” approach. By targeting key influencers in your industry that will share your high-quality content, you can achieve a slower, but still steady saturation. This approach, like all quality content marketing methods, requires knowing your audience well and working within your industry to leverage the customers and collaborators who love your work. These are the people who will initially share your content, and the more of them that to so, the further the reach.

Creating intriguing content that is either very topical or solid and evergreen takes some luck, but it also takes work. Very few viral campaigns have done so without tapping into their resources, be it the right connections, an abundance of funds, the right platform or, more likely, a combination of these and other factors. Study up on what both big and small brands have done in the past, and you’ll be putting yourself in a good position to create very marketable content.