content marketing Archives - Page 3 of 9

5 Ways to Create a Business Blog for Your Target Audience

Posted on January 16, 2018 by NextJSjointviews

Business blogs pull traffic and are central to your content marketing success. According to Hubspot, B2B companies that blog more than 11+ times a month attracted 3X times more traffic than those blogging once a month. The success of your best blogs only compounds over time and one successful blog can get you consistent leads for years to come.

The essential aim of creating business blogs is to grow your traffic and reach new markets. For this to happen, your blog must talk to the right market about what they are searching for. Here are five ways to help you create a business blog for your target audience.

1. Know Your Topic

It is essential that business blog writers are well versed with the products and services that you offer. A good blog gives people answers that they cannot find elsewhere and in the form that is easy to understand.

Research the content which is already available online. Study the statistics of the bigger blogs and try to break their monopoly over the audience. This can be done by giving more in-depth knowledge or presenting the same information in an easier form. In any case your blog will sound better if they are written by someone who is an expert in your industry.

Apart from knowing the company’s products it is important to know the branding and philosophy behind a business. This is because your blog is your voice online.
The most important skill to make a blog successful after understanding the topic is the ability to present it in a simple way.

2. Know Your Audience

Right marketing is all about finding the right market and fine-tuning your message to them. Before you start writing the blog always ask these four questions to yourself about the audience:

a. Who are they?
b. What do they need?
c. How much do they need?
d. When do they need it?

Firstly, who are they? This question should answer who your audience really is. Are they small business owners? Do they require information to grow their business? Are they big business owners and need solutions to organize their business?

What do they need? Will the topic you are writing about help them? The title of the blog should catch their attention. The audience should get an instant feeling of security after reading the blog title itself. They should feel “Yes, this blog is going to help me solve my problem.”

How much do they need? It is very important that you understand the main goal of your blog and provide the right amount of information. Avoid overwhelming the readers with too much information or too little information.

When do they need it? At which stage of their business would they need assistance from your blog? If their business is at an initiating phase then how can you help them? Will the same blog be able to help people who have already set up their businesses?

After answering all these questions, make a buyer persona of your audience and write the blog as if you are conversing with them. You now know what, how, why, and when they want information, you just have to provide them with the right answers.

3. Organize the Blog

Organizing the blog includes many factors such as having a strong introduction, structuring the content, breaking the paragraphs after regular intervals, and making the blog look clean.

Using images and videos is a great way to hold attention of the audience. Statistics show that blogs with images get 94% more views compared to blogs with no images.

Remember to include all the necessary information in your blog. Do not shy away from long form blogs that get to the depths of topic. Long blogs with detailed explanation are in-fact doing better in SEO results nowadays.

4. Monitor and Update Your Blogs
This simply means that you should regularly keep track of what the audience wants. Which type of blogs does the audience prefer and how can you evolve your blog into that type. Regularly update your best performing blogs to keep them relevant.

You can even create a small feedback form that your audience can fill once they have read one of your blogs. This will help you create better blogs in the future and at the same time you would be creating a data base of your readers as well.

5. Online Presence
One of the most important steps in creating a successful blog is ensuring its visibility. Visibility is essential for any blog in order to reach its target audience.

In 2017, 66% of marketers reported using blogs in their social media content. This would help you get audience from all the platforms but more importantly you will easily be able to understand how your blog is performing. You will be able to see what people are sharing, liking, re-tweeting etc.

Final Thoughts

These are some ways for creating a successful business blog. Once you understand your audience and their needs, you are on the path of success with the help of your ideas. After all, content marketing is all about giving your customers what they want.

Now that you have the pointers to create a great blog, go ahead and start writing. One last tip would be to write consistently. The more you understand your audience and write for them, the better your blog will get.

How to Use Customer Reviews to Leverage Content Marketing

Posted on January 8, 2018 by NextJSjointviews

Word of mouth has always been important for businesses small or big. The word-of-mouth channel has even more reach because of the internet today. This is good news for businesses that deliver on their promise and take care of customer service.

It is common for users to search for a business and look up its reviews and ratings before making a purchase. E-commerce websites know that customer reviews of products greatly influence sales.

According to BrightLocal, 72% consumers say that positive reviews make a business more trustworthy.

Customer reviews obviously affect your online conversion. But is there a way to use them in your content marketing too?

Adding customer reviews in your content gives it authenticity and social proof. Customers are more likely to trust words of other customers. Here are ways to leverage your customer reviews for content marketing.

Social Media Posts

Social media is a place to connect with other people and get social. You can also share the experience of other customers instead of just posting your own blogs, ads and graphics. Thrive, a nutrition centre, posts their customer reviews on social media to gain confidence of other members in community. Seeing others successfully complete the program makes other readers more likely to give your product or service a serious thought.

You can also run a campaign to invite written or video testimonial for your business. LuluLemon, a Canadian athletic apparel retailer, encourages its customers to tag them in Instagram posts. Customers promoting your brand in their personal posts give a boost to your brand authenticity on social media.

Blog

There are many ways to use positive customer reviews in your blog posts.

You can display testimonial in your blog or on side panel on your blog page. This can be done by inserting relevant customer review in a highlighted box.

You can also request your most loyal customers to write a guest blog for you. This is especially good for a B2B company. A blog from a marketing head explaining how your system improves marketing ROI for them can do wonders for your conversion.

Case Studies

Case studies are a great way to use customer reviews for storytelling. Case studies can be a part of your presentation or content on your lead page. They also go well in e-books and email campaigns.

Case studies weave customers’ words into a relatable story. Pick a demographic that is closest to your target market and recount the problems that the customer had before. Like any good story, a case study must have a clearly defined character, struggles, solution to problem and a renewed life after the use of your product, service or advice.

Testimonial

A testimonial page to display all your customer reviews is great when you have accumulated many reviews. Alternatively, you can also display your testimonials in a scrollable carousel format on the home page of your website. Simple plugins like Slidervilla allow you to display your testimonials in a tasteful manner.

Email Campaigns

Emails are another place where you can use user generated content. Using customer reviews and ratings will make your promotional emails more compelling and actionable.

Shape FX uses this beautifully to drive their leads to a purchase.

Lead Page Content

Lead page is the most important page in content marketing. It converts visitors to leads and leads to customers in the sales funnel. An account from customers who have made this transition and happy with the result is a must have on your lead page.

You can also display your ratings earned on third party review sites such as Google seller rating, Yelp or other local business rating sites. Video testimonials and celebrity quotes do even better on lead pages.

Final Thoughts

Customer reviews can be used in many different ways in content marketing. They form the social proof that is needed to convert your leads into customers. Use them in different formats mentioned above to make your content more authentic and your brand more trustworthy.

15 Popular Jointviews Digital Marketing Blogs of 2017

Posted on December 30, 2017 by NextJSjointviews

The end of the year is just around the corner and it’s time to look back at some of the best blogs published by Jointviews Digital Marketing team. We have generated some good piece of content this year in the form of blogs, infographics, and videos.

Considering the popularity, we have sorted out 15 best digital marketing blogs generated by our team this year. Let’s have a look:

15 Best Social Media Monitoring Tools You Can Use in 2017

Social Media Marketing is crucial for any marketing business. But, today social media marketing is not confined to posting and sharing content. You need to use social media monitoring tools to create effective marketing strategies and campaigns. This blog has introduced 15 best social media monitoring tools in the form of an infographic.

9 Digital Marketing Certifications You Can Get in 2017

If you are a person who is so much interested in digital marketing the first thing you should do is to get certified by Google, Bing or HubSpot. Nowadays companies prefer digital marketing professionals with marketing certifications. A lot of free certification courses are now available on the web. This infographic has listed out popular digital marketing certifications that you can acquire in 2017.

15 Best Content Curation Tools You Can Use in 2018

Publishing content that is relevant to your audience gives you good results in Digital Marketing. Content curation helps you to find interesting topics from a variety of sources. It helps you to know the interests of your target audience as well. Using the right content curation tools will help you to offer content that your target audience like to read. This infographic has listed some popular content curation tools to help you create high quality content.

22 Top Email Marketing Tools of 2017

There is a widespread misconception that email marketing is just about creating an attractive email and sending it to many through automated software. That’s all in the past. Now the tools used for email marketing has become so much sophisticated and guarantees excellent results.

A striking feature of these new age tools is that they can predict the outcome of an email or even a social media marketing campaign. We have illustrated 22 top email marketing tools through this stunning infographic.

What is the Scope of Content Writing in India

Can you believe that content for business marketing was implemented since eighteenth century? It’s quite surprising, no? Yes, Content Marketing began in the eighteenth century when Benjamin Franklin published his yearly paper. In early 2000s search engines gave birth to SEO copywriters who finally evolved into copywriters. As Google rewarded quality content and penalized spammy content businesses now wanted professionals to write content.

This blog from Jointviews throws light on different aspects of content writing such as brief history of content writing, role of content writers, importance of quality content, scope of content writing in India and the future of content writing.

How to Set Up Google AMP on Your WordPress Website

Google has officially declared that more than 52% search requests are from mobile devices. SEO experts have confirmed that latest search updates of Google are giving prominence to mobile friendly websites. These facts clearly suggest the desperate need for mobile friendly websites.

This blog talks about the ins and outs of AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) installation. We hope that this blog might help you to set up Google AMP on your wordpress website in the right way.

10 Outdated SEO Practices You Need to Discard in 2017

If you are a digital marketer it’s important to reinvent your SEO skills and strategies to stay ahead of the game. Sticking to the old school SEO strategies cannot assure you higher rankings and some of them are deemed as black-hat by Google. Do you want to get rid of outdated SEO practices? If you want to avoid such wrong SEO practices go through our blog on outdated SEO techniques. This blog has discussed 10 outdated SEO practices you need to discard in 2017.

How does Social Media Support Content Marketing?

Content is at the centre of all digital marketing efforts. But how do you ensure that your content reaches your readers once it is ready? According to CMI 93% of B2B marketers list social media as one of the top five content marketing tactics. This blog helps you understand that how you can use social media for successful content marketing.

How Influencer Marketing Powers Content Marketing

Influencers are users who are popular online and have good number of followers and user engagement with them. They are looked up to by many people and have the ability to influence opinions. They could be popular YouTubers, Instagram celebrities with following of more than 10,000 of Facebook users with active user engagement.

This is one the popular blogs published by us in 2017. The blog gives you a clear picture of Influencer marketing and how it boosts your content marketing efforts.

Top Google Search Trends in India 2017

Google has released its country specific lists of the top trends in online search data for 2017. As usual, showbiz and cricket dominated the Google search trends in India. Google has listed top searches of the year into 9 categories. This infographic illustrates the search trends of the year in an interesting manner.

Creating Stunning Infographics Improve Brand Awareness. Learn How

Infographics are a great way to present your content visually. Research shows that our brains process images 60,000 times faster than text! Let’s understand the different ways you can use infographics to improve brand awareness via this blog.

10 Best Ideas to Promote Your Business Using Instagram

Instagram has more than 80 million users now and it is likely to increase in the coming years. If you are planning to put your business on Instagram you can read on this blog to get 10 best ideas for business promotion.

9 Indian Startups that have Aced Content Marketing

Startups have more advantages over established businesses when it comes to content marketing. Startups may not have the budget to create and promote large amount of content like their bigger counterparts. However, being passionate about making it to the top will force startups to work hard and churn out relevant but creative content.

Get ready to know about 9 Indian startups that have done exceptionally well with content marketing!

How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy that Works Best for SEO

Most businesses are now focusing on creating more content than ever before. The major thing to note is that the content is used everywhere and influences every other type of marketing strategy. This blog discusses some points that help you create a content marketing strategy in line with your business goals.

25 Best Tools for Improving Your Content Writing Skills

Improving your content writing is one of the best ways to succeed in the SEO world. High-quality content can boost organic site traffic, improve SEO rankings and strengthen your on-site conversion rates.

Get familiar with 25 best tools for improving your content writing skills via this blog.

Final Thoughts

So, that is all about our digital marketing efforts in 2017. We will strive to generate engaging and relevant content in 2018 as well. Thanks for reading and we wish you a great year ahead.

9 Mistakes to Avoid While Hiring a Content Marketing Agency

Posted on December 22, 2017 by NextJSjointviews

Quality content needs continuous effort and time. This is the reason why many companies choose to hire a content marketing agency for it. It’s not enough to publish just any content on the saturated internet anymore. Content marketing needs compelling content to work successfully.

Bad content can actually leave you in a worse place than you started in. It is difficult to re-build your reputation and authority once it is spoilt on social media. Adidas had to face the public heat after their tweet on Boston marathon which unintentionally reminded everyone of the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing. Adidas recovered with a heartfelt apology. However, smaller brands may not have a chance to recover from a social media post gone wrong with the same ease.

Delay in promised content, website ownership issues, followers database privacy, breached timelines are all real issues that companies face while dealing with content marketing agencies.

We have put together a list of 9 mistakes that companies usually make while hiring a content marketing agency. Read on to avoid them and hire the right agency for you.

1. Not Knowing the Service Team

Sales personnel are usually the first ones to meet you from the content marketing agencies. They tell you about the success they have had with other clients and show you a vision for your content too.

That is great! But who is actually going to put this plan in action? Do you know the team who you will work with? Are they passionate about your growth and will they understand your brand? These are a few questions you must ask before you seal the deal. Many companies sign up impressed with the sales person only to be disappointed with the results of delivery team.

Request the salesperson to put you in touch with the content team and know your content strategist, content writer and SEO consultant by name.

2. Having Unclear Goals

Being fuzzy about your marketing goals is also a mistake that people make. It is better to take your time and think about this before you start hunting for a content marketing agency. Some of the questions to ask are:

What do you hope to achieve with a content marketing plan?
What does your brand stand for and stand against?
How will content marketing fit in your overall marketing strategy?

The final pieces of strategy will of course be put together by your agency. However, these are some of the answers that a content marketing agency cannot just make up. These must come from you. Being unclear on these would be starting on a wobbly foundation.

3. Not Checking for Relevant Experience

It is important to separate experience from relevant experience when it comes to choosing the right agency. It would be a mistake to go for an agency based on its size and popularity alone. Many a times, niche agencies specialize in start up, small & mid-sized brands or certain industries.

Look at the past record of the agency to know the industry and size of clients they have worked with. Also look at the success rate they have had with those clients. An agency who has worked with companies similar to yours will be better able to understand your challenges in content marketing.

Also look at the agency’s own website, blogs and content they produce for themselves. How can you trust a content marketing company that doesn’t market itself successfully through good content?

4. Not Budgeting Time and Resources Required

Many companies think that they can ignore content marketing totally because they have outsourced the work to a content marketing agency. This is far from the truth. Even though your agency will take the task of creating and strategizing content, you still need to account for time that will be required for communications, approval of plans, share references and resources.

Nobody wants a content that does not sound like the voice of your brand and lacks authenticity. Be sure to ask for weekly meetings (virtual if face to face is not possible).

5. Not Having a Clear Written Agreement

Having a written agreement on terms of service and deliverables is important to avoid running into problems later. Make sure everything is written down to the last detail with timeline for delivery.

6. Falling for Impossible Promises

Never fall for agencies that promise to achieve unbelievable goals in a short time. There is no short-cut in content marketing. It requires time for your rankings to go up no matter how good your content is. There is no fixed recipe for viral content, so beware of anyone who promises it to you.

Working with agencies that employ unethical practices (such as buying followers, black hat SEO, keyword stuffing) without creating valuable content can get you red-listed from search engines and other web platforms.

7. Choosing Cheaper Option over Quality

Choosing an agency without checking the quality of content is actually expensive. Cheap content that lacks value doesn’t get you anywhere. You will just end up paying up for content that nobody wants to read.

If you lack the budget for a good agency currently it is advisable to wait until you have one. You can also request for financing options or part consultancy until then.

Paying for content that lacks quality is actually counterproductive and leads to extra work of re-building your reputation later.

8. Thinking of Content Marketing as a Project

Content marketing is an ongoing strategy rather than a short term project. It is not a campaign that you do but a philosophy that you follow. Changing agencies frequently can be damaging for your content marketing plan. Hence, it is important to look for a partner who will be with you for the long-term. This brings us to the last mistake that people make.

9. Not Looking for the Fit

It is important to look for an agency with a cultural fit. We do not mean same regionality or nationality here, but a partner who understands your purpose of business and shares your working values. This synergy helps in producing content that has a strong voice and builds long term trust. Ask yourself if you can trust them as a long term partner before signing up.

Final Thoughts

When done right content marketing will be a continuous source of leads and revenue for you. Remember that results can take six months to a year to show. So choose your partner wisely and choose them for the long term.

How Influencer Marketing Powers Content Marketing

Posted on December 14, 2017 by NextJSjointviews

Distribution of content is an important part of content marketing. Reaching the right audience online is more complicated than it was in 2010. People filter out messages from brands and as many as 64% of ad blockers say that ads are annoying and intrusive. To top it all, even social media platforms such as Facebook are restricting page posts unless they are paid for.

Marketers need a trustworthy and organic way to reach their target. Influence Marketing provides exactly that.

What is Influencer Marketing?

Influencers have attained the status of celebrity in recent years. They are known world-wide and have a cult following. The most popular YouTuber, PewDiePie, earns an estimated $12 million from ad revenue and product endorsements annually.

Influence Marketing uses this fame of influencers to spread their brand message and content. Influencer marketing is word-of-mouth amplified by social media.

According to Rhythm One’s Influencer Marketing Benchmarks Report marketers get a return of $9.6 for every dollar they spend on Influencer Marketing. This is why leading brands such as Nike and Sprite are taking leverage of influence marketing in their content marketing program.

How Influencer Marketing Powers Content Marketing

Market Research

Influencers are more than just a channel to reach your audience. Influencers are often sought after for product launch, content creation, event management, SEO and market research.

Usually brands spend thousands of dollars on market research, focus groups, surveys and developing buyer personas. Collaborating with an influencer can give added insights into your market along with the data of millions of followers. Since influencers are in touch with their followers on a day to day basis, they are in a better position to evaluate what content will work.

Include Influencers early on in the content marketing strategy and take the benefit of their experience.

Fresh Perspective

Unlike traditional marketing, marketers have to let go of control over the messaging in influencer marketing. Influencers don’t like to spam their followers with salesy posts and they usually use the product in the context of their audience to maintain integrity.

Content by internal teams often tends to follow the same angle and messaging. Influencers can lend a fresh perspective to your products. For example, each influencer can use the same dress in different ways for different occasions.

Targeted Reach

Social media influencers have millions of followers all over the world. However the most attractive fact for marketers is that they have a following of targeted followers. A beauty and cosmetics brand can easily find fashion bloggers of targeted ethnicity to partner with. This gives them instant reach to a highly targeted following which would have taken them years to develop on their own.

Influencer marketing is especially useful for companies that want to target a niche market.

Trust

People are averse to advertising and block out messages from sources they do not identify with. According to a January 2015 Ipsos study, 96% of people feel that the advertising industry lacks integrity.

On the other hand, influencers are trusted source of information and entertainment for their followers. They share a relation of authenticity and friendship with their followers. This is why influencer marketing is so powerful compared to any other content delivery channel.

Branding

Partnering with the right influencer is a win-win for both the brand and the influencer. Brands that are a natural fit with the influencer are easily accepted in the minds of followers. With repeated messaging, followers who already identify with the influencers also begin to identify with the brand sub-consciously.

On the other hand a strong brand also leads to stronger branding and authority for the influencer.

Some Helpful Tips

68% of marketers consider finding relevant influencers their largest influencer marketing challenge. Following points would help when you want to evaluate an influencer.

1) Find influencers in your niche area and who share your brand values. Partnering with wrong candidates will only confuse your online branding

2) There are many tools available to evaluate and find your perfect match. Some of them are Traackr, Little Bird, BuzzSumo, Keyhole

3) There are plenty of options to choose from today. Keep looking till you find an influencer who is passionate about your brands and wants to work with you in the long term

4) Larger following is not always better. User engagement and activity are also important metrics to be considered. Sometimes, influencers lose the personal touch with growing number. A following of 10K to 100,000 is ideal for most brands.

5) Always give your influencer the freedom of content. Pushing your product will only spoil your brand and your partner’s as well. The best influencer marketing campaigns are very organic and do not look like advertising.

How Anchor Content Defines Content Marketing Success

Posted on December 8, 2017 by NextJSjointviews

Every marketer is jumping into content marketing to succeed in digital marketing. But why is that out of millions of blogs published every day only few become popular. It is rare that a blog becomes popular on social media and attracts tons of traffic.

Yet, there are some sites that do it day after day. What is it that sets their content apart? The answer is anchor content or anchor text. In this blog we will look at anchor content and why it is the foundation of content marketing success. We will also share tips to create anchor content for your business.

What is Anchor Content?

Anchor content is a piece of content that drives huge amount of traffic because of its uniqueness. It is often a comprehensive guide on a problem that your target audience is looking for. It is well researched and offers an in-depth perspective that no one on the internet is offering.

It attracts lots of visitors because it solves real questions that readers have. It is a piece of quality content that can drive more traffic than hundreds of sub-par blog posts. In this essence it is the cornerstone of successful content marketing.

Why Anchor Content is Important?

Ranking high on Google is difficult enough. This is especially true if you are targeting a competitive keyword. Going head to head with bigger companies that have been posting for ten years is only going to waste your resources. You will need thousands of links to your content before you show even close to top results. Anchor content is the way that can ensure you a place over your competitors.

Getting shares and external links for your content is another task that most marketers fail at.

Moz and Buzzsumo conducted a study of 1 million articles and found that 75% of articles had 0 shares and insignificant number of external links. It is indeed hard to grab attention on the internet where millions of blog posts are published every day.

Your content marketing requires the momentum of anchor content for it to stand out. Anchor content differentiates you among the overload of information that search engines throw up. It earns backlinks as a useful resource and establishes your authority online.

Here are some examples and ideas for anchor content that work for businesses.

Tips to Develop Anchor Content

Type of Content

Certain type of posts gets more attention than others. Step by step how-to posts are great for large number of audience looking for solutions.

People want to quote experts in their industry. Hence, industry experts’ round up interview are other type that gets lots of backlinks.

Statistics and research results are another type that qualifies as anchor content. If you can conduct studies in your industry and publish results, you will have unique content that everyone wants to link to. If that is not possible currently you can always bring all important industry statistics in one post that will be extremely valuable.

For example, we often link to Hubspot’s Marketing Statistics as it is a valuable resource in content marketing industry.

You can also play around with visual media such as videos, infographics and listographics to give a unique twist to your content.

Word Limit

A 2016 study by Backlinko found that the average word count of Google first page result was 1,890 words.

This is especially true for anchor content as it is in-depth information that touches every part of the topic. In general, long form posts do better.

Remember; do not worry about the word count as long as the topic is being covered in best possible way. The value of content is most important.

Fresh Perspective

It is essential to differentiate your anchor content by giving it your own voice. Find a fresh perspective and new angle to the same information that everyone is talking about. Look for an angle to the topic that is not showing up in top results and then write a data backed, long , in-depth post on it.

This is especially true for anchor content as it is in-depth information that touches every part of the topic. In general, long form posts do better.

Remember; do not worry about the word count as long as the topic is being covered in best possible way. The value of content is most important.

Do not be afraid to go against the popular opinions. Opinionated content builds authoritative reputation and are more likely to be shared.

Collaboration

Anchor content cannot be written in two days. It usually requires years of industry expertise and a thorough research of articles currently out there.

In case you do not have an industry expert with required experience (or they are just be too busy to put in the hours) , you can always collaborate with guest bloggers or industry specific content writers. This will also give you the support of their followers and earn links to others blogs.

Similarly, you can contribute to others blogs with your expert content, linking it back to your anchor content.

Conclusion

You can start off with analyzing your current posts to find opportunities for anchor content. What are the posts that get maximum traffic? Which is your most shared blog post?

After putting in so much effort on anchor content, do invest some time in sharing it on social media and running back-linking campaigns for it. Once the post starts getting momentum you will see your domain authority rise and even other content on your site getting more traffic.

7 Online Tools to Create Impressive Visuals for Social Media

Posted on December 5, 2017 by NextJSjointviews

Visual media has become an essential part of content marketing strategy. Visual content is 40 times more likely to be shared than any other form of content on social media.

Marketers have noted the rise in interest for video and image content. 71% of online marketers use visual assets in social media marketing.

Involving a professional graphic designer for every piece of content can overshoot your budget. Spending days on an infographic takes up precious time too. Luckily there are online tools that let you make visual content quickly and without a fuss.

Here are 7 online tools to create impressive visuals for your social media success.

Canva

Graphic Design Software

Price: Free for limited features, $12.95 / month

Canva is online graphic design wesite that is great for creating everything from social media visuals to company brochures. It has a very easy to use drag and drop user interface with thousands of free templates to choose from.

Canva makes it easy to choose dimensions by giving ready design for various social media platforms and documents. It also allows teams to collaborate on work on projects.

Most of the templates and elements are free and you only need to upgrade in case you need more storage and customization.

Piktochart

Infographic Maker

Price: Free for basic plan, $15 for lite plan and $29 for Pro plan

Piktochart allows you to make appealing infographics for your blog or social media. It is extremely useful tool considering that infographics are 3 times more likely to be shared than any other type of content in social media.

You choose from ready templates, upload your own pictures and choose from thousands of icons. You can do pretty much do everything with the free version of this intuitive app. Upgrade to a paid version only if you want Piktochart watermark removed and want to manage team projects on the website.

Pablo

Visual Post Creator

Price: Free

Pablo is specially focused on creating visual posts for social media. Simply type your text in a box and choose a background image to go with it and you are good to go.

Since Pablo is tool offered by Buffer, a social media management app, you can schedule your posts directly form Pablo. The app fits the image automatically to custom dimensions of Facebook or Twitter.

Pixlr

Image Editor

Price: Free

Pixlr is an image editing software that is easy to use even if you are not a professional photo editor. It is great for visual social media platformssuch as Instagram and Pinterest.

Pixlr allows you to play with image filters, contrasts, frames and overlay and even lets you add text and logos to images. It is an online only tool available both on browser and as a mobile app.

Giphy

GIF creator and Database

Price: Free

With Giphy you can create funny GIF or Graphics Interchange Format. GIFs are entertaining and a great way to show your humorous side

Creating GIF with Giphy is easy and quick. Just upload your video or insert url link of video, specify length of GIF and type in text.

via GIPHY

Vennage

Infographic Maker

Price: Free for basic plan, $19/ month for premium and $49 for business plan

Vennage is another online tool that allows you to depict statistics in easy to understand graphs, charts and infographics. It is easy to use Vennage without getting lost in millions of templates. Simple and clean interface sets Vennage apart from other tools. It makes choosing templates easy by filtering them under:

Reports
Infographics
Charts
Listographics
Social
Marketing Material

You will have to upgrade to paid version for PDF format downloads and image uploads beyond free limit.

Biteable

VideoMaker

Price: Free for basic plan, and $8.25/month for premium plan

The list is incomplete without a video making tool on it. According to Hubspot, 43% of people want to see more video content from marketers. YouTube is now the second most popular search engine next only to Google.

Biteable allows you to create videos like a pro with just a laptop and internet connection. It’s easy tool in which you can create your own high-quality videos from available video templates or from custom template of your own.

How Augmented Reality is Changing Content Marketing Experience

Posted on December 1, 2017 by NextJSjointviews

Marketers must always look at innovation in delivering their messages. Banner ads are replaced by entertaining and informative video on the internet today. Intrusive traditional marketing has given way to content marketing over the period of time. However, people have become averse to even email marketing, social media and search engine advertising. Users do not want to see ads, they want content that is fresh and interesting.

In this blog we will look at how Augmented Reality or AR is transforming content marketing experiences. The application of augmented reality to deliver content is all set to change how we see marketing messages and interact with them.

What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented reality (AR) is superimposition of video, images, virtual objects onto the real world. AR came into the mainstream last year with the success of PokemonGo. The game unlocked the potential of AR for anyone with a smartphone in their hands.

Currently, all the tech giants and many startups are working on the potential to realize AR. There are more than 336 startups listed under the category on Anglelist. Research suggests that around 2.5 billion AR apps will be downloaded by end of this year. By 2021, mobile AR market alone is set to cross $83 billion in revenues (Source: Digi-capital).

Always the first to try out innovation, marketers are experimenting with the technology to bring novelty into the field. Customers love these experiences as they are new, cutting edge and entertaining. They give audience a memorable and meaningful experience they love to share with their friends. According to Content Marketing Institute, 71% of consumers think that a brand using VR and AR is forward thinking.

How are brands using Augmented Reality?

Brands are using AR for publicity campaigns or to display their products in a personalized and visual context. Check out the interactive AR campaign carried out by Visa in Poland.

Brands are also using AR to allow users to try on their products virtually. This gives users an immersive experience that is exciting as well as functional. IKEA takes the guesswork out of furniture shopping using its AR app. Users can check how a piece of furniture looks in their room before buying it thanks to IKEA Place app.

How is AR changing Content Marketing?

As you can imagine these experiences catch the attention of users worldwide and quickly become viral.

In Pepsi’s London AR campaign, a bus stop was modified to give the commuters unique experiences such as alien abduction and monster attacks. The campaign video went viral and got more than 50 million views across web! The campaign also reportedly led to a 30% increase in sales of single serving Pepsi bottles.

AR campaigns get huge publicity and which is great for content marketing. AR is not limited to just publicity campaigns and product apps, it is also changing how users are consuming content itself.

Many magazines and print ads are using AR interactive print to bring their content to life. Users can scan the ad to see a 3D model or video on their smartphones.

AR is already revolutionizing how content is consumed by in-store retail shoppers. Clothing retailer, American Apparel, has an AR app that allows shoppers to scan products and view its variants, reviews, inventory etc.

Future of Augmented Reality

AR will allow users to choose the format and context of content they want to see. AR is more promising than Virtual Reality (VR) for many companies. Unlike VR which takes users in an artificial world, AR allows brands to tell stories that adapt to the user’s reality while keeping him or her in context.

In future, we can also expect to see AR lens that do not even require a smartphone screen for AR. Scientists are working on eye lens that would project AR objects in our everyday reality. This can only be expected in a distant future though as we are far behind in terms of technology required for this.

Research team lead by Babak Parviz has already tested the lens on rabbits. “I mean, I don’t quite know what the timeline is going to be, but I give it a very, very high likelihood that they’re (AR lens) coming” says Babak Parviz, researcher on display lenses and former Google X director.

The early phase of AR will be used by content marketers to create exciting content as well as deliver usual content in new immersive ways. As the industry matures, expect to see AR as common medium of communication while more products such as AR arenas, apps, lens, etc., are launched to support AR experience.

5 Ways to Create Customer-Centric Content

Posted on November 29, 2017 by NextJSjointviews

In the modern era, the future of a brand lies in the hands of online communities. The collective voice of online consumers is so powerful that it can either make a brand successful or bring it down to nothingness. This has been the trend of marketing today and we’ve all seen such events unfold before us.

How many times have you come across a Facebook post wherein customers are roasting a particular brand for an oversight or mistake? This may not result in the end of a company but it can deeply affect its brand image. In short, brands must be wary of the voice of online customers and strive to leverage it to their own benefit.

One of the most popular yet challenging ways to gain customers’ trust is through customer-centric content. Such content helps to position your brand as an authoritative and credible leader in the market.

Now, let us understand what customer-centric content is?

In traditional forms of marketing, content is focused on putting the brand in the forefront. It is aimed at generating brand awareness, website traffic, and driving leads through the sales funnel.

Customer-centric content, on the other hand, targets these objectives through a more subtle approach. Some of the characteristics of this form of content are:

It is based on data collected from the target audience
It provides readers value without requesting for anything in return
It is customized according to certain user preferences
It is in sync with a brand’s customer-centric approach

Let us now look at 5 different ways of creating customer-centric content:

1. Create Customer Personas

Customer personas help in creating content that is relevant for the buyers. It is basically a guideline to understand the real customer, their job titles, their interests and preferences and education level. There are several free persona templates that startup brands can use.

Once customer personas are created, set out to establish your marketing message, your mission statement, and the possible reactions of the audience to your value proposition. Keep referring to these personas during content development to ensure that your communication remains relevant.

2. Interview the Audience

In order to understand the audiences’ mindset or fill out personas accurately, you must collect information and data. Interviewing the target audience is one of the best ways to acquire data. This could be a face-to-face interview or an online survey created using Google Forms.

Take a look at your customer personas to understand what kind of information you need and frame the questions of the interview/survey accordingly. You can maximize the response rate for your survey by offering a discount or incentive for responding to it.

3. Search Engine Optimization

This is a widely recognized approach and you must utilize it in the best manner possible. Creating consumer-centric content involves a presence on platforms that are used to find solutions to their problems. Search engines are one of the most popularly used discovery platforms for consumers. The tricks and tactics for this technique are easily available online.

You must also identify keyword opportunities on the basis of what consumers are searching for. AdWords Keyword Planner is a tool that can help to create the right content for the right customer using the right keywords. Make use of this tool efficiently as it will give you an insight into the topics that your customers are talking about.

4. Focus on the Content Format

The content format is dependent on customer demographics. For instance, if you are reaching out to professionals, you must utilize whitepapers, case studies or research reports. Similarly, if you are trying to engage with teenagers, your content must take the form of quizzes or humour.

Furthermore, the consumption channel will also vary on the basis of your target audience. This focuses on the social media platforms and an understanding of where your target audience is active.

5. Eliminate the Jargon

Certain brands tend to utilize jargon in their communication. Remember that this does not impress the audience since they are unable to comprehend what you are trying to say. Always keep the language simple and easy to understand. Keep it concise and straight to the point.

Customer-centric content is of immense importance today and no brand can attain success till they start focusing on this aspect of marketing. Without resourceful and engaging content, a brand cannot place itself in the customer’s mind and will eventually die out of the market.

A Guide to Create Ego Bait Posts

Posted on November 24, 2017 by NextJSjointviews

Ego bait is content created to capture the attention of a certain group of people. It is basically producing something so that the ego of the person, group or company, in particular, is boosted.

Each individual has an ego, even industry influencers. And so if you process your ego bait posts in a manner that is subtle, you will not be recognized as a flatterer but instead gain a lot of exposure, traffic, and links. If the work you do is good, even after realizing that you are trying to stroke your ego, people will tend to help you out.

Ego bait posts are not widely used and therefore, most individuals still struggle to understand how they can be created. They cross over in various areas of content. Here’s a guide to different types of ego bait posts that can be created.

1. Play the curators role

Organize a talk-show on your website and be the host. Ask experts and industry leaders to share their knowledge with you. Curate these comments, reap out maximum value and promote it in collaboration with the influencers.

2. Prepare a top list

A top list instantly attracts the attention of the target audience. In fact, it is one of the most successful forms of ego bait posts. If a list is prepared correctly, it is cost-effective and helps to generate links. Some of the examples of a top list are as follows:

Top 10 blogs on electronic music in 2017
Most shared SEO content in 2017
Top 10 tricks for lead generation

3. Produce a badge

One of the most popularly used forms of ego baiting is badge baiting. However, successful execution of the same is only possible when you have a reputed and established brand presence. If that is the case, badges help in enhancing your brand visibility and massively boosting your link profile.

4. Regular ego bait

A mention of any individual or company can change the way your regular blog post interacts with the target audience. A lot of SEO blog posts have an individual or a tool mentioned and suddenly those mentioned want the piece of content to be read by as many as possible. This is why you must never say ‘an expert’ in the field of marketing, and use the actual name of the individual instead.

5. Laser Targeted Egobait

While badge baiting helps you reach a larger target audience, laser targeted ego bait posts are more crisp and precise. Suppose you interview an industry veteran, it is only one individual and his or her viewpoints have been covered. This is not a bad thing since you are guaranteeing to get at least that one link from the individual, which is good enough for stroking egos.

How to Get Ego Baits Right?

Knowing the different type of ego baits does not mean that you will be able to get them right instantly. Read on to understand how you can optimize the results of your efforts to the fullest:

1. Ensure that the Website is Maintaining Standards

Just like any other form of decent link building, you will require a basic presence or reputation if you want to be successful in your efforts of promoting ego bait posts. The chances of an individual helping a completely unknown brand are low.

If the current condition of your website is not satisfactory, getting interviews can be tough. Not just that, a lot of people would not even want your badge and you will not be able to curate the inputs of influencers in your industry.

2. Get in Touch With Them

There are a lot of people who create fantastic content, mention the right individuals in the industry but do not inform the featured individuals about it. They hope that the individuals would notice on their own and this is one of the worst mistakes to make.

You must subtly inform the thought-leaders of your industry about your efforts it can completely change the output of your ego bait post.

3. Do not be a Sycophant

While it is good to respect the influencers and give them a high pedestal, do remember to maintain your self-respect. Be polite and let them know that you understand their value but don’t become a bootlicker because they also need to buy into you.

If you treat influencers as someone above you, they will always perceive you like that. Your goal in the future is to be an influencer yourself and you must behave at par with them.

4. Don’t forget the Call-To-Action

Brands, sometimes, send an email with all the information about the piece but without a direct call-to-action. This does not result in any kind of association.

The influencer you are trying to reach out to is in all likelihood busy and does not have the time to find what he is supposed to do. For instance, if you want the influencer to tweet some information, put in a direct link that takes him or her to the option of retweeting that information. A call-to-action tends to give in more benefit than an email with lots of information and no such action-based communication.

To conclude, always remember to be subtle in your communication. Asking for a direct link is not recommended since the influencer could feel that you are using their popularity for your own benefit. If you really want to do the same, make sure you know what you are asking for and where you want it to be placed.