content Tag

In this next installment of our series on major trends in communications for 2022, we're talking about interactive content as part of a strategy that works in tandem with emotional marketing and ephemeral content. As we discussed in our piece on ephemeral content, one of the top tips to ensuring your content has impact is to involve the viewer's input in some way. Whether it's taking a quiz or a survey, or playing a game that supports what you're sharing, allowing your audience to interact with your content creates an immersive and memorable experience. Interactive content is the next level in content consumption and engagement that lets viewers interact with the content instead of passively view it. Previously the engagement tactic for most social media, e-mail marketing, blog posts and multimedia content was to encourage viewers to like, reply or share to engage and spread the word. Interactive content is a more rewarding, real-time way for your audience to feel engaged and connected to your brand.

Welcome to the first in a four-part series in which we'll be exploring major trends in communications for 2022. In this initial installment, we're examining the concept of emotional marketing, its traditional definition,  and its current state. People have been appealing to emotions to motivate others for millennia. Aristotle himself established techniques for emotional appeals that were quite persuasive. While appealing to emotions may seem manipulative, it's usually not nefarious. Emotional marketing connects people with the things they want and need on a deeply personal level. True, some marketing and advertising campaigns play on negative feelings of fear or greed.  Here, however, we're looking at how emotional marketing can elicit positive results, and why it's a major trend in communications with tremendous staying power.

What is emotional marketing?

Emotional marketing identifies and builds on an audience's emotions to market to them more successfully. Rooted in current best practices in research and behavioral psychology,  today's emotional marketing requires a deep understanding of the feelings a specific audience has toward a product or service and its competitors.  To work, emotional marketing has to get a good handle on an audience's vibe, and how it affects their view of the entire product genre. A very simple example is marketing campaigns for online talk therapy providers where emotional marketing is essential to conversion. The target audience naturally includes anyone who's experiencing distressing emotions and could benefit from online mental health counseling. You don't have to look far on Twitter to see people tweeting about their struggles with mental wellbeing - and you also don't have to look far to see ads for these therapy providers in the same places.

Is it ethical?

Learning about SEO is something that every marketer, blogger or business person trying to advertise their brand needs to do. SEO is one of the most important segments of digital marketing and without it, you can't expect great results. This is why more and more people try to master the art of writing SEO friendly content and using this technique to rank higher on Google. Despite best efforts there are still many common SEO misconceptions. This article will break down the 6 most common mistakes and teach you how to do the right thing instead. Let’s take a closer look.

A lot of business owners are still really intimidated by SEO and the general difficulty of it. They just don’t understand all of the technical mumbo-jumbo and they also don’t have the time to devote to it either. The truth is that SEO is now no longer difficult. It’s really easy and if you have the right mentality and the right commitment then there is absolutely no reason why you can’t go on to experience a huge amount of success. Any business owner can become a master of SEO, and this is especially the case when you have the right tools at your disposal. Is SEO That Hard? Those who are not familiar with website development may hear the words “Google algorithm” and instantly feel uneasy. Sure, the algorithm is complex and it is really difficult, but there is no reason why you can’t go on to be successful with it. The truth is that sophisticated algorithms don’t actually need a sophisticated strategy, and it’s really easy for you to go out there and achieve positive results. Google wants to provide the best online experience and if everything was as hard as you think it is then they wouldn’t be able to do that - purely because nobody would have a clue how to get started.

Facebook marketing and advertising have a lot to learn from SEO, and vice versa. When integrated, Facebook and SEO strategies can be a powerful combination, though it might not be obvious at first glance. Here are some tips for synergizing Facebook and SEO to create more powerful results for your IMC campaigns. 

Think Beyond Marketing Silos

Six years ago analyst firm Forrester published a report showing that 86% of marketers see an integrated campaign as crucial to their success. A siloed approach to social media, content, paid search and organic search can end up feeling disjointed. As two of the bigger components of an omnichannel approach, integrating Facebook and SEO makes sense as a marketing priority. It’s important that social media, content, and search teams are not only briefed on each other’s activities but working together. An integrated team approach will improve marketing results, and probably save you some money too. When brands don’t connect all the different elements of their marketing strategies, they miss out on the potential to engage their audience from multiple angles. Facebook and SEO can work hand in hand when you're using communication as a basis for consistency. (If you're still planning your overall SEO strategy, there's more about SEO in 2018 here.)

Evaluate The Opportunity

For years, the tried and true adage has been "content is king". That hasn't changed much - content still rules the 'net, whether it's user-generated like CNN iReport, click-baited goofiness on Viral Nova, time-wasting inanity on Buzzfeed, professional advice on Inc., breaking news on MSNBC.com,...