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April 8, 2019 Content Chat Recap—Community Conversation: Keeping Up With The Expanding MarTech Landscape

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The marketing technology landscape is full of awe-inspiring newcomers and tried-and-true incumbents all promising to be the best for your organization. But with tight budgets and the need to quickly demonstrate ROI on any tech investments, marketers need to be strategic with their investments.

There are only so many hours in a day to demo new vendors, so in this #ContentChat community conversation we share our MarTech must-haves and trade tips on how to cut through the buzzwords and stop chasing the shiny new objects to find solutions that will actually help your company.

To kick things off, we started by sharing one piece of MarTech we can’t do our job without.

Check out some of the community’s favorites below, there’s suggestions for tasks like keyword planning, graphic design, email marketing, social media, and more!

Q1: The good news is, this year’s graphic only showed a 3% increase in new vendors, versus last year’s 23% increase. That said, it’s still a pretty overwhelmingly large pool. Are there any categories you see that are new to you/your MarTech stack?

20 years ago, the list was a mere fraction of its current size.

Some categories and solutions will be tailored toward specific business functions, so as pros switch roles (or their companies invest in new spaces), more of the vendors will become relevant.

Digital asset management is one area not all companies will be involved with.

Personalization is an interesting space to watch, considering how impersonal so many marketing messages can feel.

Conversational Marketing & Chat vendors continue to grow, and may signal the power of chatbots in buyer enablement.

Content & Experience vendors help to illustrate the critical role that a content can have on business success.

The sheer volume of vendors helps justify companies that assist with integrations to piece all your solutions together.

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April 1, 2019 Content Chat Recap—Community Conversation: Is The Brand April Fool’s Joke Played Out?

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Every April 1, people worldwide brace themselves for trickery from their friends, family and even their favorite brands.

While some brands take immense pride in crafting their jokes (see also: Google), others haphazardly throw something together in an attempt to be relevant. Often times, they fall flat.

In this timely #ContentChat community conversation, we discuss if and when brands should partake in April Fool’s jokes, or if the tradition has played out.

Q1: As a content marketer, I’ve been strong-armed into some pretty meh April Fool’s jokes over the years. Have any of you found yourself in that position? And if so, how’d they turn out?

Last-minute campaigns rarely are worth the scramble. Pros should question why their brand wants to engage on such short notice, and assess whether they will be able to drive value from the efforts.

April Fool’s jokes in general are a risk, and many companies have shifted away from them for legal reasons.

Everything depends on your audience and brand voice. Some external audiences do not want jokes, but jokes could resonate with an internal audience (if any higher-ups are itching to pull a prank). Just don’t send a box of donuts filled with health foods.

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March 25, 2019 Content Chat Recap: Improving Content Marketing Performance Through A/B Testing

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Basing marketing decisions on your gut and hoping for the best is one approach, but most pros know that using data is the best way to guide a successful strategy. If you’re torn between two approaches, or want to test how different elements on your marketing collateral may impact your audience, A/B testing is the way to go.

In this #ContentChat, community staple Patrick Delehanty (@MDigitalPatrick), marketing manager at Marcel Digital, gave us the 101 on A/B testing and explained how it can improve your content marketing performance.

Q1: What is A/B testing? And why should I be using it as a content marketer?

A/B testing involves testing two versions of some marketing collateral (web page, newsletter headline, email subject line, social content and imagery, etc.) with a segment of your audience. Part of your audience sees version A, part sees version B, and the rest will see the version that performed best (based on your goals for the content).

A/B testing allows you to collect data on different approaches to see which performs better.

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March 11, 2019 Content Chat Recap—Community Conversation: How To Repurpose and Reuse More of Your Content

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As a content creator, it can be easy to slip into a pattern of churning out new, single-use content left and right. The trouble with this approach is that it is resource intensive and could muddy the larger picture of the work you’re creating.

A great content strategy recognizes the importance of repurposing and reusing content, inviting your audience to explore your work in new ways, and creating a cohesive brand experience across channels.

In this #ContentChat community conversation, we discuss ways for you to make the most out of your content, and why you should plan to use your content at least three different ways.

Q1: Is upcycling, recycling, or repurposing content currently part of your social media and content marketing plans?

If repurposing your content isn’t part of your plans, it should be. Nearly every piece you create can and should be repurposed, and you can optimize a project from its start to ensure you can take it a few directions.

Note the importance of a quality repurpose. There’s no value to your audience if your “repurpose” is just a copy/paste across platforms. We’ll explore some examples later.

Live by John’s mantra: If you haven’t used one piece of content three times, you’ve wasted it.

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March 18, 2019 Content Chat Recap: Improving Content Marketing Attribution with Google Analytics Goals and Dashboards

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Google Analytics is a must-have tool to get the data needed to optimize your content marketing strategy, but many pros may not know where to begin or how to get the most value from the platform.

#ContentChat regular Tod Cordill (@TodCordill), principal at Moderno Strategies, is an expert on the topic, and he took the hot seat to share how you can improve your content marketing attribution with Google Analytics goals and dashboards.

In true Tod fashion, let’s start with a joke:

Q1: What are the benefits of setting up a Google Analytics dashboard? And what should I include in it?

Google Analytics gives you the data you need to measure against your goals. The dashboard can show how your content is performing and whether you are tracking toward your goals.

Dashboards give a simple look at the KPIs that matter to your company decision makers, and Google Analytics can be the key to communicating your marketing ROI.

The data also provides audience insights, including how people are discovering your content and what content they engage with. This can help guide your content roadmap to reach your goals.

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March 4, 2019 Content Chat Recap—Open Mic: What Are You Working On And How Can We Help

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The first quarter of 2019 is almost over, and content marketing folks are wrapping up any projects for March and laying the foundation for Q2.

In this #ContentChat open mic, we channeled our collective resources to help with projects that individual community members are working on. Check out some of the broad topics below, and feel free to keep the conversation going if you can weigh in.

General resource—Using UTMs for Attribution

If you want to learn how to use UTMs to their full potential, check out the below resources from Erika and Tod!

How do you find “fresh” sources for stories?

HARO is an option, but the volume/quality of responses may be a hurdle, and you have to meet certain requirements to post.

Facebook can be a great tool depending on your audience. Leverage relevant groups, or ask your Facebook friends (or LinkedIn connections) if they “know anyone who knows someone who” can help.

Universities are an often overlooked avenue. Check out Google Scholar to find relevant studies and reach out to the professors involved. Depending on how loyal your alma mater is, you can reach out to connections from your campus (this can include Facebook or LinkedIn groups for alumni or professors who may have someone they can link you to).

Should I pay to have interviews transcribed?

The community agrees that transcription services are worth the cost. Record your interviews so you can take notes without feeling pressure to write every word exactly, and use the transcript to revisit anything you may have missed.

Where should I explore guest post opportunities? Anyone want to cross-post?

Spin Sucks is one option (which Emilie just got a connection with), and we previously learned that Quora could be valuable for personal branding and to stand out from your competition.

Does anyone have QA process examples?

Erika is going to follow up with David, but if you have any resources he can use, DM him!

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