Tuesday, May 14th, 2019
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard all of the hype about content marketing. It’s an important part of your overall marketing plan. For certain businesses, it may be the most important part. Diverse content can introduce new audiences to your brand and products. Keep your content fresh and varied to keep your audience from getting bored. There are so many opportunities for unique content beyond your typical social media post or email blast. If you’re not mixing it up you may find yourself stuck in a content rut. Read on for some some content marketing ideas. We want to help you incorporate different types of creative content in your marketing plan. You may have not even considered some of these ideas as content, but they are.
20 Content Marketing Ideas
- Infographics – Infographics provide an eye-catching mix of a design and copy. Analyze something quickly and concisely or show statistic using an infographic. It’s an ideal way to present data in a visual format that is interesting for your audience. Infographics are made for ease of reading and are often shared on social media. Best of all, they are a great way to show your expertise on a particular subject. Create your own infographics with software such as Befunky, Visme, Snappa or Canva.
- Short Video – We all love a good short video, there’s no denying it! Oh, and we share those shorts at an amazing rate. Don’t worry about buying expensive equipment for a quick video. Your smartphone can take a decent short video.
- Longer Videos (YouTube) – You just can’t ignore the statistics. YouTube has over a billion users, which is almost one-third of total internet users. 45% of people watch more than an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos a week. This is one of our most important content marketing ideas. Invest in video and do it now. What types of content translate well into videos? Product demos and tutorials, testimonials and reviews. Presentations, interviews, behind the scenes, and vlogs (video blogs) work as well.
- Live Streams –Channels like Facebook Live and Periscope are enabling brands and individuals to go live whenever they’d like. Reach your audience immediately with live streaming. Content that is best for live streaming includes things such as new product announcements, grand openings and live behind the scenes looks. Similarly, Q & As, how to’s, special events, special announcements and breaking news make for great live streams.
- Podcast – Podcasts are becoming increasingly popular. Podcasting is a great way to build a strong and lasting relationship with your audience. To do a podcast right, you need to commit. It’s going to take some time and effort. Stay consistent once you get started. Begin by choosing your niche and your topic idea. Then come up with a catchy title for your podcast. You’ll also want to design a look for your podcast for advertising purposes. Write a podcast description and select music. You will also need some equipment to get started, including a quality microphone, an audio interface (if you have an analog microphone), headphones and editing software. This will depend on the type of computer you are using. Finally, you need to pick a reliable podcast hosting provider. You can select your host based on your budget, the simplicity of use and integrations, and support. If you’re interested in looking more into podcasting, but are unfamiliar, we suggest some additional research.
- Webinar – Hosting a webinar can help position you as an expert in a particular field. With the right content, a webinar can help you to sell your products and services. Webinars can help to keep an audience engaged and generate leads. Just like podcasting, a webinar needs a commitment on your part to be successful.
- How to Guides – We’ve all Googled how to do this or that at some time or another. How to Guides are a popular way for consumers to learn how to do something free of charge. Therefore, a how to guide can be of great value to a consumer. Whether you’re a financial institution providing a guide on purchasing a new car or a retailer compiling a guide on putting together a new wardrobe on a budget, you’re sure to get many readers.
- Whitepapers – A whitepaper is an authoritative and informational document that contains very detailed information on a particular topic or product. They are typically data driven and pretty lengthy. While whitepapers can be labor-intensive to complete properly, they can be extremely influential in marketing. Although they are not for every business or brand, they can help the right business become a thought leader in an industry.
- E-books – While a white paper has a more academic tone geared to a niche audience an E-book has a more casual vibe. E-books can be useful for various topics. They create greater awareness and enable you to go into greater detail. Depending on the topic, they often appeal to a wider audience that a whitepaper.
- Case Study – A well-written case study can be an invaluable asset when it comes to proving the value of your product or services. It’s a great way to tell a story. Case studies focus on a problem, a solution and an outcome. Once developed, a case study can be used in various formats, including blog posts, ads or even video.
- Blog – By now you know about the power of blogging. Blogging as a form of content marketing has tremendous SEO benefits. It also can bring in high quality leads via organic searching. A well-written blog can bring a more long-term ROI than many traditional marketing avenues. Once written, a blog can be used on your website, as well as all of your social media platforms. Businesses that publish regular content, such as regular blogs, receive much more web traffic. Not blogging? Contact Corcoran Communications to get started today. It’s the fastest way to improve your content marketing efforts.
- News Release/Newsletter –A well-written news release or newsletter can still help to spread the word about your company, products and services. When a press release gets editorial coverage, it can also help your business build links. Press releases can help to improve brand image, announce a new product or service, expand knowledge and more. It can be used on your website as well as all social media channels, giving you a big bang for your marketing buck. A newsletter is another great way to use content to create awareness. Additionally, a newsletter can provide useful information to your audience. Newsletters can be distributed via email, social media, website or good ole’ fashioned postal service. It’s just another method of using content to stay in touch with your audience.
- Checklists – The possibilities are endless when marketing with a checklist. 7 steps to follow when buying a new house, 5 ways to find the right preschool for your child, 10 ways to improve your diet. Just tie that list in to your brand and you’ve got a captive audience.
- Customer Testimonials/Success Stories –Nothing beats the value you get from an honest customer testimonial or success story. A satisfied client will usually be happy to give you a testimonial. The key is to ask immediately. Get them while they still remember just how satisfied they are. Make it as easy as possible for the customer to provide that testimonial. Ask the right questions to help them provide you with the information you’re looking for. One testimonial can be used in so many ways. It’s truly invaluable.
- Product Guides – If someone is on the fence about buying your product, an informative guide can go a long way in closing the sale. You can provide so much more information and detail in a product guide than in a simple ad.
- Photos & Images – Content created using visuals is more engaging than plain text and is important to overall success. Most importantly, people respond much more positively to images. Just be sure to select appropriate visuals for your piece of content.
- Emojis/Memes/ GIFs – People love them, so be sure to add them into your mix. Just keep in mind that they should enhance your content, not distract from it. Customize your own image for more reach.
- Animations – Animation is very stimulating to viewers. They can also be much more memorable and help you reach a larger audience. Again, they need to tie in well with your content. You can test out some animation software easily online, such as Animaker.
- Polls & Surveys – Getting feedback from your audience on questions can be a great way to keep them interacting with your brand. Use polls for serious feedback or just for fun. While Instagram limits its polling feature to Instagram Stories, Twitter lets you add a poll to any Tweet as you’re writing it. Facebook polls are the most in-depth social media polling option. Create polls easily with the “Create a Poll” button.
- Social Media Posts – Our advice as it relates to your social media posts is to stay consistent. Be authentic and share moments that matter. Enhance your social media marketing using the content marketing ideas we’ve mentioned above.
Creating and distributing valuable content can help you to build your brand and develop a loyal audience and large customer base. Take advantage of the content marketing ideas above to grow your business. Utilizing content in the creative ways we’ve mentioned can help you to achieve that goal. Keep your audience engaged and drive a greater ROI on your marketing efforts. When it comes to driving online traffic, content is skill king. Contact a digital marketing expert to learn more about content marketing
Tags:
blog writer,
blogging,
content marketing,
content marketing ideas,
Corcoran Communications,
digital marketing expert,
email blast,
marketing plan,
social media marketing,
social media posts,
valuable content,
well-written blog
Monday, August 20th, 2018
Facebook ad benchmarks matter, especially when your goal is business growth. Companies large and small in almost every industry are scrambling for attention on Facebook. How do you know if your ads are working? We’d all love to have what we’d consider high click-through rates (CTRs) and low cost per action (CPA), but how do we know how we’re stacking up? How are our metrics comparing to those of our competition and our industry in general? Wouldn’t it be great to have access to industry averages to measure your results against? Luckily, our friends at WordStream have made that information available to everyone in their Facebook Advertising Benchmark report which includes click-through rate, cost per click (CPC), conversion rate (CVR) & cost per action data across 17 industries. Let’s take a look!
Facebook Ad Benchmarks by Industry in 2018
Click Through Rate (CTR) By Industry
The first Facebook ad benchmark we’ll look at is CTR. Average click-through rate of all industries is 0.90%. You’ll see that the legal industry has the highest average CTR at 1.61% followed closely by retail at 1.59%. The highest ranked may come as a surprise to some. After all, legal has nothing in common with some of the other industries with high CTRs like retail, apparel, beauty or fitness. Consumers in these industries are more apt to be swayed by eye-catching, creative ads. Many of them make impulse purchases. Legal counsel isn’t exactly going to be an impulse buy.
Bringing up the rear of the industry field is employment and job training with the financial industry just slightly ahead. Social media marketers in industries like financial services have it harder than most. People aren’t often in the market for a mortgage home equity loan. This is why it’s so important for these marketers to build sales funnels and lead customers and prospects through the sales process. We’ll cover this important topic in a future blog.
Cost Per Click (CPC) By Industry
So, we know how often our ads should be getting clicked, but how much should it cost? According to Facebook ad benchmarks, the average CPC of all industries together is $1.72. Financials, consumer services & the home improvement industry top the charts in terms of highest cost per click. This makes perfect sense. Marketers in these industry groups are willing to pay more because a conversion can result in a much more significant return on investment. $3.77 per click when we’re talking about attempting to convert on a $200,000 mortgage loan is much easier to swallow than if we paid the same to try to sell a t-shirt for $19.99 (apparel has the lowest CPC).
Conversion Rate (CVR) By Industry
Now let’s talk conversions as they pertain to Facebook ad benchmarks. Remember, at the end of the day, clicks don’t pay the bills, conversions do! The average CVR is 9.21%. Companies in the fitness and education industries enjoy the highest CVRs at 14.29% & 13.58% respectively. Tech and travel & hospitality are our CVR bottom feeders with CVRs under 3%. Often times social media marketers can achieve average to high CTR & CPC metrics but experience a drop off when it comes to conversions. This may be the result of poor ad targeting, bad creative or an over-complicated landing page. It may also be as simple as putting a re-marketing plan in place. Re-marketing is another topic our social media marketing team will cover in the near future.
Cost Per Action (CPA) By Industry
Conversions are great, but we need to know how much they cost. If we’re paying more for a conversion than it’s worth, it’s time to go back to the drawing board. Or invest that money in other platforms where we’re achieving a higher ROI. The average CPA across all industries is $18.68. It’s most expensive for tech companies to sell products and services or obtain leads via Facebook. They pay over $55 per action! Organizations in the educational industry are only paying an average of $7.85. This is why it’s important for our tracking to be on point. It allows us to make decisions based on the return our Facebook ads are providing, not our cost.
Facebook ad benchmarks – the takeaway
To wrap this all up, is it helpful to know what the average Facebooks ad benchmarks are in your industry? Yes, of course. This important information can offer insight as to how well you stack up from a metrics perspective and provide an idea of where you need to improve. Just remember that what’s most important is the return on social media investment. Businesses and organizations are unique, even those competing within the same industry. Set up your tracking and know your numbers. It doesn’t make sense to throw money at any form of advertising if there’s no return. If you’re looking for help improving the performance of your Facebook ads, contact us. We’re always happy to help new clients get on the right track!
Tags:
advertising benchmarks,
average click through rate,
average conversion cost,
average conversion rate,
average cost per action,
average cost per click,
effective facebook ads,
facebook ad benchmarks,
facebook ad industry benchmarks,
facebook ad performance,
Facebook ads,
facebook advertising,
facebook advertising benchmarks,
facebook marketing,
high performing facebook ads,
social media marketing
Tuesday, April 17th, 2018
We as active people are on the move all the time. Fast is also the way we conduct business and gather information. Mobile devices are becoming our number one source for instantaneous content. Smartphones have become an important part of our every day life and many of the decisions we make are made in a micro-moment. We turn to our phones to research everything from new cars to new products. According to the 2018 Digital Suite of Reports from Hootsuite and We Are Social, mobile phones lead all other devices in share of web traffic. This includes laptops, desktops and tablets. It’s important to realize, that at 52%, mobile phones accounts for a greater share of web traffic than all of these other devices combined. In addition, Google reported that in the past two years, mobile searches for product reviews have grown over 35%. Searches for local places have grown 150%.
What is a Micro-Moment?
Consumers experience what Google refers to as “micro-moments” every day related to their mobile devices. They have identified four micro-moments of users, which include:
- I want to know.
- I want to go.
- I want to do.
- I want to buy.
These moments not only include research for information, inspiration, searching businesses or products, but also learning how to do things or making mobile purchases. Many decisions are made and preferences shaped in these micro-moments. They are an ideal opportunity for a brand to engage. Micro-moments happen quickly. Marketers and brands have mere seconds to capture and keep the attention of a consumer. It’s definitely changing face of digital and social media marketing.
Capturing the Attention of a mobile society
We go right to the palm of our hand in our quest for immediate answers. Who of us hasn’t turned to our mobile device for inspiration for our weekend plans or to search for restaurants. We seek out travel ideas, weather updates, answers and we make purchases. As digital marketers, we need to capitalize on mobile search and more specifically, these micro-moments.
First and foremost, consumers want value. This can include valuable educational content and exclusive information. It can also include discounts and quick and easy purchase opportunities. Did you realize that more than 80% of smartphone users report consulting their phones in-store when making a purchase decision? Imagine the opportunities both gained and lost in those split seconds.
Opportunity can be Gone in a Micro-Moment
Google recognized the increase in mobile searches and reacted with a change in algorithm. Just last month, the company announced that “mobile-first” indexing of the web is finally starting to roll out. Mobile-first indexing means that Google will use the mobile version of a web page for indexing and ranking. The goal is to better help primary mobile users find what they are searching for.
Expectations are higher than ever, so user experience needs to be a top priority in mobile marketing. Equally important, the load time of a site can spell death for a retailer. You only have a few short seconds before a mobile user decides to move on to another site. Give them what they want and give it to them right away. What’s going to reach out and grab attention? Videos and imagery that wows is a great start. Furthermore, valuable content is a must. Useless fluff is a thing of the past.
Raise the bar and follow your own vision. Be the go to site and source for authenticity and original information. Exert your influence by being the fastest in your industry out of the gate and capitalize on consumer micro-moments.
Five Ways to Leverage a Micro-Moment
- First and foremost, understand your consumer. They expect information of value and to have more personal experiences tailored just for them. To deliver this, you need to know your consumer. This includes their wants and needs. Knowing this will help you create more effective digital content. It will also help you to better understand when and where your consumers are searching. Once you know, you’ll want to be sure you’re there as well.
- Be sure you have high-quality content that is readily available and easy to access. Significant content is what’s going to help you take advantage of consumer micro-moments. Google will still put a priority on indexing useful content first. Think short, attention-grabbing headlines and engaging visuals. Easily accessible useful content is the name of the game if you’re going to succeed in a mobile world.
- If you haven’t already done so, optimize your site for mobile devices. Implement design changes to ensure mobile usability. This should include utilizing flexible text and images that are easily adaptable. Mobile visibility is critical to achieving your digital marketing goals. Responsive design is imperative if you want to provide a mobile-friendly experience. Be sure to optimize content for readability. Another key point, responsive sites that change based on the immediate needs of the users and the device they are viewing on are imperative.
- Focus on the user experience. You want every experience a mobile user has with your brand to be a content rich, positive experience. You want them to come back for more. Don’t make mobile users search endlessly or go through multiple steps. By all means, simplify your navigation and highlight clear calls to action.
- Optimize site speed. Speed it’s crucial when you’re dealing with a mobile micro-moment. Page loading speed is not only important for a better user experience, but also to your search rankings. A delay is just a few seconds can make a user move on to another site. A report by DoubleClick found that 53% of users would bounce from a mobile site that takes more than three seconds to load. With this in mind, if you’re selling something, simplify your purchase process. Limit the number of clicks it takes to reach checkout. You want consumers to finish that purchase every time they shop your site.
Time for a Mobile Marketing Strategy
Someone once told me that I had the attention span of a gnat. Apparently, I’m not alone. Consumers are living in the moment. As a business or brand, you need to as well. Consumers want and need answers at their fingertips. It may be the right time to begin developing a mobile marketing plan. Understanding those important micro-moment opportunities for your business is key. Your goal is to provide the information consumers need when they need it. Keep in mind, when it comes to mobile search, speed can save the day and your sale! To read more articles on various topics and trends of digital and social media marketing, follow Corcoran Communications on Facebook or Instagram. You can also subscribe below to be notified as new informational marketing blogs are posted.
Contact the digital marketing team at Corcoran Communications for helping develop a mobile marketing strategy today.
Tags:
accessible useful content,
attention-grabbing headlines,
brand,
brand to engage,
consumer experience,
consumer micro-moments,
consumers are searching,
content,
content first,
content rich,
Corcoran Communications,
design changes,
digital content,
digital marketers,
digital marketing,
digital marketing goals,
digital marketing team,
educational content,
engaging visuals,
flexible text,
high-quality content,
imagery that wows,
instantaneous content,
leverage micro-moments,
marketing,
micro-moment,
mobile devices,
mobile marketing,
mobile marketing plan,
mobile marketing strategy,
mobile search,
mobile searches,
mobile usability,
mobile visibility,
mobile-first indexing,
mobile-friendly experience,
opportunity for brand,
optimize content,
optimize site speed,
optimize your site,
page loading speed,
readability,
responsive design,
responsive sites,
search rankings,
searching businesses,
significant content,
simplify your purchase process,
social media marketing,
trends of digital,
useful content,
user experience,
valuable content,
web traffic,
what is a micro-moment
Wednesday, January 31st, 2018
Facebook Pixel is an important analytics tool that helps users better understand how to engage with customers and drive meaningful action. Simply put, the Pixel is a piece of code applied to your website. When the Pixel is installed, you can better measure the effectiveness of your Facebook ads and allocate marketing spend accordingly.
Facebook Pixel is a great tool for re-marketing
Have a lot of web visitors that don’t convert to sales? Facebook Pixel will enable you to track this, learn more about your visitors, and then target those visitors with new ads and offers. This is referred to as re-marketing or re-targeting. You can improve your social media marketing by creating your own custom audience from website traffic and enhancing ad delivery to your best targets. Pixel provides the data you need to optimize your ads and focus on qualified leads. By monitoring how people interact with your website once they view your ad, you can get insight as to which type of ads get your desired results. You will soon be developing more effective ads. Set up Facebook Pixel today for a more focused Facebook advertising effort.
Steps to setting up Facebook Pixel
Create a Facebook Pixel.
Go to your Ads Manager and click on the menu button at the top of the page. Click “Pixels.”
Then click “Create a Pixel.”
Enter a Pixel name and click “Create.”
Add a Facebook Pixel to your website.
Once the Pixel is created, you will have to select an option for installation instructions. You can install the code yourself, have the instructions emailed to your web developer, or select that you use an integration or tag manager. Choose an installation option and follow the directions.
Track important actions
Once Pixel is active, you can track certain actions on your site. This can include people visiting certain pages, such as a particular service or a blog. People who place items in a shopping cart, but never complete the purchase. Even people who are frequent site visitors, but never take any action. You can easily set up events on your website while completing the installation process. Events can include purchases, leads, searches and content views among other things. You can access your Pixel analytics from the Pixel page in Ads Manager.
Need help? Get it with Facebook Pixel Helper!
The Facebook Pixel Helper is a Chrome plugin you can use to see if there’s a Pixel installed on your website, check for errors and understand the data you are collecting. Facebook Pixel Helper can also help troubleshoot any problems and make sure your pixel is working properly.
You need to have the Chrome web browser to get the Pixel Helper
- Go to the Chrome web store, search for Facebook Pixel Helper and click “+ Add To Chrome.”
- Click “Add Extension” and you’re ready to go.
Need help with your social media marketing and ad management? Contact Corcoran Communications today!
Tags:
Corcoran Communications,
Corcoran Communications digital marketers,
create a Facebook pixel,
digital ad management,
digital marketers,
Facebook ads,
Facebook Pixel,
Facebook Pixel Helper,
pixel,
re-marketing,
social media marketing,
social media marketing company,
targeted ad campaign