I am a big fast-forwarder. I almost never watch commercials, but lately I admit I've been breaking my own "watch no commercial" rule. Have you seen the Apple commercial called "Your Verse"? It's awe-inspiring.
Apple understands that 75 percent of buying experiences are based on emotion.
Some companies get it. Others just produce the same media they've always produced without acknowledging that as a society we've changed. Unfortunately much of the content coming out of marketing departments is still unrelateable, awkward, almost robotic. Let's change that this year.
Interesting content is one of the top three reasons someone will follow your brand on social media. B2B companies with blogs generate 67 percent more leads per month on average than non-blogging companies. 67 percent of twitter users are more likely to buy from brands they follow (on twitter). According to Mashable 70 percent of customers prefer getting to know a company through articles rather than ads.
There are a lot of factors that go into making good content. It's about the relevance and timing, relateability, medium, the storytelling and the ease with which we can view it.
The social media audience is a large audience. On Facebook most of us now have the following people on our friend lists: friends we've known for years, friends we've never met, colleagues, industry contacts, parents, grandparents, children and people we've never met--and have no clue who they are. So when you're creating content it's important to make it relate-able to a pretty diverse group of people. What's the platform you're standing on?
Before you set out to create a campaign ask yourself the following three questions:
1. Is our marketing department a true newsroom? The Oreo tweet from last year got marketers scratching their heads. How did that piece of content get produced and approved so quickly? The truth is you need an agile smart team that can move quickly without legal having to look at everything. If you don't allow your content team to engage without 20 people reviewing the content, you are missing out on the true dynamic of social media. Intel now has an incredible Newsroom team with a ton of powerful content and storytelling. For more on our newsroom visit us here.
2. Have we tried video for evocative storytelling?
In my opinion the most powerful medium to tell a story is no longer a book. It's through a camera. Last year brands got pretty creative with video content. If you haven't watched the Pepsi MAX & Jeff Gordon "Test drive" video you're missing out. With 40 million views, this video was high risk, high reward.
Chipotle generated 12 million views with their compelling video "The Scarecrow." Chipotle was the first American restaurant chain to ban genetically modified foods. Getting Fiona Apple to sing a beautiful tune didn't hurt--the song "Pure Imagination" made this film even more evocative.
The Google Nexus 7 video generated 5 million views. Public speaking is the number one fear, before death. Google hit a home run by hitting on something every human can generally relate to.
Every company is a media company. Video is high-risk high reward. Figure out what compelling story will resonate with audiences. If creativity isn't your strong suit tap into your employee base and crowdsource an idea. Or hire an agency. With so many movies using hand held cameras to make things appear more DIY--studio equipment shouldn't be a roadblock.
3. Is our content mobile and tablet friendly?
Since 56 percent of American adults have a smartphone and 91 percent have a cellphone, it's not rare that your audience is watching content on a screen other than a computer. If your content can't be viewed from a mobile device--you probably shouldn't publish it. According to Mashable, brands that haven't adopted a "mobile-first" mentality will fail, as they'll miss this enormous, marketable audience." You've got to make it easy for people.
How are you going to knock the socks off of your audience this year? Get started on your content plan and shake things up.