Brad Johnson is an author and blogger who helps writers discover their niche, build successful habits, and quit their 9-5. His books include Ignite Your Beacon, Writing Clout and Tomes Of A Healing Heart. For strategic content and practical tips on how to become a full-time writer, visit: BradleyJohnsonProductions.com.
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Editor’s note: To be inspired to write in these difficult times is hard. With so much going on in the world, it can feel impossible to carry on writing when such monumental events are unfolding before our eyes. So this week we’re re-publishing one of Mary’s most popular posts to help re-inspire you to write. […]
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In this week’s Dispatches from The Secret Library, Dr Oliver Tearle considers the remarkable achievements of the greatest Elizabethan poet nobody reads George Gascoigne wrote the first original poem in blank verse, the first prose comedy, and arguably the first English novel. He wrote the first treatise on prosody (the […]
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Editor’s note: To be inspired to write in these difficult times is hard. With so much going on in the world, it can feel impossible to carry on writing when such monumental events are unfolding before our eyes. So this week we’re re-publishing one of Mary’s most popular posts to help re-inspire you to write. […]
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B2B content marketing trends continually evolve, making it necessary to stay on top of how things develop. MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute recently released the B2B Content Marketing 2020 report. It profiles some of the emerging trends related to B2B marketing, giving insight into how these concepts evolve in the upcoming months.
Here are six B2B content marketing trends to keep an eye on this year:
A question that B2B marketers may struggle with relates to the best way to distribute the content they make. Some content marketing statistics from the report indicate that companies will most often rely on social media and blogs or short articles to connect with their B2B customers. The research showed that 95% of respondents posted social media content within the last 12 months, and 89% published blogs or short articles over that period.
Most popular content types for B2B marketers
Marketers’ preference for those outlets did not only begin this year, however. For example, Dropbox Business won a 2018 LinkedIn Marketing Award by moving to an always-on approach featuring targeted content delivered over social media platforms and elsewhere. The brand enjoyed a 29:1 return on investment from that strategy.
Due to results like those, marketing professionals will realize that readily accessible outlets, including social media and blogs, are well worth exploring this year. A goal in content marketing is to reach people where they are, and both approaches help that happen.
Most B2B content has promotional aspects. The aim is to get people to take desirable actions, and that often means doing business with a company or at least showing a willingness to learn about them. When asked about their priorities, though, the vast majority of the most successful marketers put their energies into fact-checking and delivering highly informative content for their audiences.
The vast majority of the most successful B2B marketers put their energies into fact-checking and delivering highly informative content.
The results showed that 95% of the most successful B2B content marketers — and 92% of all respondents — fact-check their content for accuracy before distributing it. Moreover, 88% of the most successful marketers, and 66% of all respondents, said they cater to the audiences’ informational needs more than the company’s promotional message.
95% of the most successful B2B content marketers fact-check their content for accuracy before distributing it. #B2B #content
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The idea is that correct information builds trust. Trusting customers are more likely to support companies than those who lack such confidence and doubt the information they read. Some businesses rightfully understand that it’s nevertheless possible to integrate promotional content into a primarily fact-based piece.
When CipherHeallth recently described how its automated solution helped screen for COVID-19 in incoming hospital patients, it mentioned and linked to guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Additionally, the content specifically mentioned statistics related to a hospital that uses the technology.
Approaches like these help people feel confident in the information they read. Individuals conclude that the publisher cares about giving straightforward facts on a hot topic. Marketers can and should do things similarly to build trust in readers.
The research from the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs also asked study respondents to reveal some of the goals they set over the last 12 months. They also inquired about what goals these marketers met due to successful content marketing for B2B audiences. Brand awareness was a big winner, with 86% of people saying they increased that aspect with their content marketing efforts.
Brand awareness is the top goal B2B marketer shave achieved by using content marketing.
Moreover, 79% of people reported that content marketing helped them educate audiences, and three-quarters of those polled cited that it improved trust and credibility. Blog posts can do all those things and more, especially when marketers take the time to write about relevant subjects that matter to their readers.
For example, the blog maintained by the CAT Rental Store caters to people who need to rent construction equipment. The content there discusses how to choose the right size of construction equipment, how to select a bucket attachment to rent, what considerations to make when renting a generator for an event and more.
That type of highly specialized content helps people learn more about how the CAT Rental Store could help them. It also delivers material the target audience is most likely to want to read, which could increase on-site time and keep visitors eager to discover more during future visits.
Once B2B content marketing professionals decide to use social media to spread their content, the next decision to make involves platform choice. As the graph below shows, LinkedIn was the top selection for both paid and organic marketing efforts.
Most popular B2B content social media distribution channels
But, another thing that’s evident from those content marketing statistics is that other platforms are not far behind. What this suggests is that marketers should take the time to research all the social media channels available to them. They may determine that LinkedIn is the most appropriate choice, but not necessarily.
In one instance, CBD’R US, a cannabinoid products brand, found that Instagram was the best B2B channel for the company. That outcome was due to several aspects, including smoke shops and wholesalers operating in the same niche on the platform. Plus, the brand partners with Instagram influencers to expand its reach.
Metrics platforms show whether or not content marketing for B2B brands has the desired outcome. When it doesn’t, that may tell marketers it’s time to tweak a campaign. Metrics-related investments are relatively new for content marketing in the B2B sector, as the chart below shows. Since 65% of respondents established key performance indicators (KPIs) for content marketing initiatives within the last 12 months, they’re still in the early stages.
B2B content marketing measurement and KPIs
Also, whereas 80% of respondents use metrics to gauge content performance, only 43% currently do so to keep tabs on the return on investment (ROI) for content marketing. Metrics-related investments should continue this year and for the foreseeable future. However, more professionals will probably start paying attention to content statistics about ROI. After all, content performance is a smart thing to track, but efforts must pay off for a company’s bottom line.
80% of #B2B content marketers use metrics to gauge content performance, only 43% currently do so to keep tabs on the return on investment (ROI) for content marketing
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Companies that want to start focusing on or increase their commitment to B2B content marketing often rely on outside organizations to help with the work. A budget may not currently allow for hiring an in-house team, and the business may want proof that B2B content works for them before they devote the resources needed to build an internal team.
The research from the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs indicated that 84% of respondents outsource their content marketing creation needs. Content distribution was the next most likely reason that companies depended on outsourcing, but only 31% of people mentioned it.
Content creation is the most popular content initiative that B2B marketers outsource
However, the report also revealed that 50% of people outsourced, and 50% were not doing that yet. The highest percentage of companies that chose to outsource (71%) were large entities with at least 1,000 employees. The report also clarified that the overall success a company experienced with its content marketing had little bearing on whether the enterprise decided to outsource.
As companies make that choice, they must evaluate their in-house resources and figure out if they’re sufficient enough to give the enterprise the positive results it wants, needs and expects. Outsourcing is not the right option in every case. However, it could be instrumental in empowering a company to do more with its content marketing plans if an internal team does not exist, or it is not feasible to create one with the current financial resources available.
If you haven’t already, grab your free copy of the MarketingProfs and Content Marketing Institute B2B Content Marketing 2020 report today. While today’s environment is constantly shifting, these B2B content trends are very relevant to your success this year.
The post B2B Content Marketing Trends to Watch in 2020 appeared first on Content Marketing Consulting and Social Media Strategy.
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By Kiki Schirr, {grow} Contributing Columnist
In this time of social distancing and sudden transition to working from home, Zoom has emerged as the primary tool for online collaboration.
Their stock price has soared to ridiculous levels. Zoom’s PE ratio, a measurement of the value of all their stock against one year’s revenue, is far above the 13-15 ratio most investors seek. Over the last few weeks, Zoom’s PE ratio has been in the 1000’s, with a high of over 6,400.
And during these last few weeks, Zoom has abruptly changed from an obscure service with 10 million business users. Now, amid this coronavirus crisis, Zoom has become the connection point for an economy that relies on communication and collaboration. Within a few weeks, Zoom ballooned to 200 Million users.
And privacy advocates are up in arms because Zoom is a security mess.
News outlets as prestigious as NPR have bashed Zoom’s lack of user protections. EFF, the digital privacy advocacy group, has written about them numerous times, often in relation to the class action lawsuit currently levied against Zoom. The suit posits that Zoom gave user information to Facebook even if Zoom users did not have a Facebook account.
Zoom CEO Eric Yuan said he “really messed up” and is struggling to restore the reputation of the video tool.
In light of Zoom’s new popularity, the EFF has renewed their warnings with a fresh wave of articles. I’ll recommend the most important of these later in this post.
Wired magazine laid out all of Zoom’s security failures in a dizzyingly long list of offenses. This post explains how a hacker could breach any account if he knows the email address.
Senators and government prosecutors have launched independent investigations into security failures, the most damning of which might be Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown’s letter to the FTC seeking an investigation of Zoom’s advertising claim of providing end-to-end encryption of messages and other data shared between users.
Likely in response to Brown’s letter, Zoom wrote a blog post clarifying that not everything is encrypted, with diagrams and definitions to help Zoom users discern when they have or have not been protected.
Even with my technical knowledge, I find the blog post overly complicated. The crux of the post seems to be that if you don’t download their software onto your computer or phone (and grant Zoom greater access to your systems and personal data), they will not guarantee your protection in return. This fact has not been clear in Zoom’s marketing efforts, according to Senator Brown.
And The Guardian went so far as to question if Zoom is malware in the headline of a widely circulated article.
Being malware is a serious charge. Trojan viruses are probably the most famous form of malware, but ransomware attacks on hospitals are quickly catching up. These attacks target patient medical data and lock hospital staff out of their own files until the hospital pays the attacker to retreat. And recently, we have discovered that these hackers are even willing to lock COVID-19 research.
Zoom’s CEO also made a public statement on April 1st vowing to pause any development projects that were not security-focused in order to make safety their primary directive. However the security conditions on Zoom seem to only be getting worse as new users, and new trolls, sign up.
In my view, Zoom’s lack of security seems to be more oversight or incompetence than malicious intent. However, because I think Zoom is culpable, I’m confused by the United States government’s haste to prosecute so-called Zoombombers.
As Internet trolls became more aware of Zoom’s vulnerabilities, they began to use Zoom as a platform for harassment. In particular, they tend to target racial minorities and women. Black women professors at Historically Black Colleges and Universities seem to be the most desirable target. Zoombombers post pornographic images and racial slurs into group discussions and there is no method of defense after a bomber enters the room, beyond ending the call.
If that isn’t bad enough, remember that many grade schools are now using Zoom, and a Texan Sunday school was recently exposed to pornography and harassment.
Zoom just enacted a measure that could prove helpful. Zoom has turned on, by default, the password-protection, and waiting room visual identity confirmation and approval tools within their software that hadn’t been widely adopted. Time will tell whether this will solve the Zoombombing issue.
While Zoombombing is both criminal and vile, I am concerned that the United State’s government’s crackdown on troll perpetrators doesn’t address that Zoom’s service is also at fault.
I think it is fair to liken Zoom’s vulnerabilities to the legal definition of an attractive nuisance. An attractive nuisance creates a dangerous situation for children that also appeals to them. The most common offense in real life is having a swimming pool without a lock or barrier. I see the illegal but easy act of Zoombombing as similarly dangerous and appealing to young would-be hackers who wish to prove themselves online.
While the age of Internet trolls has yet to be a focus of research, anyone who plays Fortnite is aware that trolls begin at very young ages. Last year a mother in California attempted to raise awareness when she discovered that her teenage sons had been targeted by white supremacist groups. These groups were recruiting minors with Hitler memes and funny YouTube videos with subtle anti-Semitic overtones.
It is very likely that many of the Zoombombers are underage. Some might be pre-teens. It is possible that over the next few weeks we might begin to see children being accused of criminal activity on Zoom.
I’m sorry to present all this Zoom gloom-and-doom in one sitting, but a quick and jargon-free summary should be useful.
If at this point you’ve probably decided to avoid using Zoom and if you aren’t compelled to use it by company or university policy, there are more secure alternatives.
My favorite option is FaceTime. Apple has emerged as the dark horse of privacy advocacy in tech. Among the technology giants like Amazon, Google, and Facebook, Apple stands out as the only company that hasn’t sold user data as a primary source of income.
Someone at Apple must have recently realized that this was a selling point. In 2019 Apple launched a highly effective and very blunt marketing campaign to pose the iPhone and all Apple products as the secure option in a sea of personal data leaking devices.
But FaceTime is limited in terms of the maximum number of attendees—32 videos total, including the room’s initiator.
If you need to host larger video meetings, Microsoft Teams allows 250 users to congregate.
While Microsoft has a less stellar record than Apple on privacy over their lifetime, it is only fair to note that many of the complaints once lobbed against them have since been resolved. Further, if you Google “Microsoft Teams security issues” the results that suggest there could be vulnerabilities all seem to be pages devoted to selling corporate data protection services. So take those with a grain of salt.
But Teams is aimed at corporate groups only. Their landing page now has a link for individuals seeking a video calling solution. It brings you to the Skype homepage.
Many of you might be required to use Zoom. If you are, I apologize for what might seem like an alarmist article. But, in the words of G.I. Joe: “Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.”
And there are many ways to protect your data even when you have to use Zoom.
First, start by reading and following the EFF’s guide to optimal Zoom settings for privacy.
This guide is wonderful. It not only gives instructions for each setting with images but also tips on how to avoid common pitfalls.
The most important pitfall is that even if a Zoom password is enabled, and you take the necessary precaution of sending the password via a secure route like encrypted email, you could accidentally expose that password by sharing the Zoom room location publicly.
EFF explains that if you use the “Copy Invitation” button to copy-paste your Zoom room’s location invite link, it often inserts the password into the URL, allowing instant access to anyone who sees only the invite link and knows what to look for. EFF says that if you notice that the URL you have saved to your clipboard is unusually long and contains a question mark, it probably has your password embedded inside.
Another quick way to protect yourself is that if you are not the host of Zoom meetings, you can often avoid downloading the software on your device. Use Zoom’s in-browser solution as a more secure alternative. That means losing a lot of fun features like digital backdrops. If you’re disappointed, weigh that against the possibility that Zoom (or Facebook, if you believe the lawsuits) could have a list of everything you ever bought on Amazon.
Another option many people are pursuing is adding VPN to your work-at-home arsenal. A good resource to learn about that can be found here: what is a VPN guide by Surfshark.
Should you have to host meetings, another option could be to limit your use of the app to a quarantined device. An old computer or smartphone that you don’t use anymore would be perfect. Wipe the hard drive, go through set up again, and afterward only use that device to access Zoom, turning it off between uses.
This method might not be perfect since you’re going to be spending so much time on home wifi, but it will make it much harder to get interesting information about your Internet use.
Alternatively, if you are one of the few individuals who use a work computer as her IT department wishes she would, you might already possess a rather private device! But keep in mind that checking your bank account, ordering something from an online retailer, or having ever accessed Facebook on that work computer does pretty much compromise its use as a quarantined device.
I hope that you’ve found this post helpful. If you want to keep up with developing news regarding Zoom or privacy in general, I would recommend setting a Google Alert for “Zoom + security” or periodically checking EFF.org.
If you have any other tips or video platform recommendations, feel free to share them with the {grow} community in the comments.
Kiki Schirr is a freelance marketer who enjoys absorbing new trends within the tech scene. She is also the former founder and CEO of a small video chat company. During their short run, her team realized that while closing security holes in video software can feel impossible, it is always worth the effort to protect your users. Kiki is most easily reached via Twitter.
Disclosure: Surfshark VPN link is affiliate link
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Coronavirus has changed just about everything, but you still need to connect to your customers, prospects, partners, and team members. And now more than ever, social media may be the best way to do so.
But you cannot just continue with your regular social media strategy, content, and cadence. What works is different. What people want is different.
You must consider these 11 changes to your social media to continue – possibly even accelerate – your social media success during the pandemic.
The strategy team here at Convince & Convert has been working closely with our world-class clients to develop these approaches. We shared this advice on the 11 changes to your social media strategy during Coronavirus on a live webinar.
Access the video – including our answers to more than SEVENTY audience questions – below. Feel free to distribute widely. We want to help as many people as possible.
On that point, we have developed four new consulting packages. They are faster than how we usually work, and more affordable. If you are interested in a no-obligation call with one of our strategists, please fill out the form below.
The packages are:
Also, if you are in higher education, you might be better served by our webinar on marketing and communications shifts among college and universities.
If your operations have been impacted in a meaningful way, your social media bios should reflect that reality. For example, even though all Best Buy locations in the United States are now pickup only, their Twitter bio doesn’t reference that information:
Although all Best Buy locations in the United States are now pickup only, their Twitter bio doesn’t reference that information.
Also, if you have key updates for your audiences, a good place to keep them front and center are pinned posts on Twitter and Facebook, and Highlights on Instagram.
In times like these, everywhere you exist in digital is a potential customer service channel. You simply must expand your efforts to find, engage, and answer customers everywhere online. In fact, in our webinar, more than half of the 500 attendees said that customer communication via social media had increased since the Coronavirus outbreak.
This is not the time for frivolous posts that are sent because they are “due” per the social media editorial calendar. That doesn’t mean you can’t be lighthearted, or even funny. It does mean, however, that you must carefully consider WHY you are posting in social media.
For whom is this post intended?
How does it entertain, inform, educate, or benefit that audience?
What specific behavior change or thinking change are we trying to effectuate with this post?
I love what Cardinal Spirits is doing in this regard. Located in Bloomington, Indiana where I live, it’s a small distillery run by some very smart friends.
Each day, they post on their Instagram exactly what they need in carryout sales to support their new mission, which is to make as much hand sanitizer as possible.
And then, when they reach that goal for the day (they’ve made it almost every day) they immediately add a new post that says “We’ve reached out goal for today. Please go support a different local business.” Spectacular.
Each day, Cardinal Spirits posts on their Instagram exactly what they need in carryout sales to support their new mission, which is to make as much hand sanitizer as possible. Amazing!
This was true before coronavirus, but it’s especially true right now:
We care about and trust people more than we care about and trust companies or organizations.
Every business and every organization is comprised of exceptional PEOPLE and now is the time to showcase that. Use humans in as much of your social media as you possibly can right now. It’s the one problem I have with the Cardinal Spirits post above: I’d rather it show their team (although they do so in their IG Stories).
And even better, spotlight your customers!
This effort from the Getty Museum is brilliant. They asked their fans to find three household items and use them to recreate famous artworks. They received thousands of submissions, many of them AWESOME!
On a related note, influencers and influencer marketing can be more effective than ever before. In times of uncertainty we rely upon people we trust and believe in, which is why a recent study showed a 75% uptick in clicks on Instagram posts that included #ad in the first two weeks of March.
If you have an influencer marketing program already, don’t be afraid to activate it right now. If you don’t have a program, this is a great time to set one up. (we actually do this for our clients)
Social distancing has changed our perceptions (and reality) about a great many things. It’s easy to rely upon your repository of brand imagery for social media, but in doing so you may unwittingly be sending a message that’s not wholly appropriate.
I love the differences in how Schwinn Bicycles spotlights their products. These posts are just a week or so apart, but you can see how they’ve adapted the visuals for a coronavirus world.
Classic imagery
Social-distancing era imagery
You know how you’ve experimented and optimized over and over to figure out what social media content formats and publishing windows work best for you? Well…..you can unfortunately cast that aside.
While social media usage in society overall is way up during the pandemic, people’s life routines are massively altered. No commutes. No treadmill. Having to oversee your kids’ Zoom homework during the day. It’s all a tangled ball of yarn.
Consequently, we’re already seeing big shifts in WHAT works, and WHEN it works.
Amongst our group of large clients (not a statistically valid sample, but directional), we’re seeing a huge increase in engagement rate for video posts, but an even larger increase for posts that include no photo, video, or link of any kind.
Further, for our financial services clients – as just one example – the “best” time to post before coronavirus became the world’s most unwelcome guest was 10am. Now? 10pm. In fact, we’re seeing a pretty strong pattern toward mid to late evening posts being disproportionately successful during pandemic, as people catch up on social media after dinner and maybe after the cherubs go to bed.
Again, this is not data you should use to modify your own program. But you absolutely must dig deep right now to figure out how your own social media success equation has changed.
The story is much the same with paid social media advertising.
Data from SocialBakers shows that cost per click and CPM for social ads is falling, as more and more advertisers stop their campaigns.
At the same time, overall click-through-rates for social ads are falling too, meaning that less expensive ads (yay) may not be working as well (boo).
And simultaneously, we are seeing clients in particular industries have incredible success with paid social media ads, more so than in those good ole pre-pandemic days.
In summary, just like with your organic social media, whatever math you’ve been using to figure out your ad spend and likely results is most likely borderline irrelevant right now. You’ve got to retest all of your data and projections accordingly.
Maybe people don’t want to (or cannot) buy from you right now. But that doesn’t mean they don’t want inspiration and education.
Try to become the Pinterest of your industry. How can you spotlight previous customers and how they use your products and services? How can you help your customers and prospects think about what and how they are going to do with you when they are allowed to do so?
For travel organizations, for example, this is a perfect opportunity to let people dream and stay motivated for the future.
But for all categories, helping customers create “wish lists” during quarantine can be a terrific social media content approach. Our client, David Weekley Homes, is doing this with their series of home trends, by region. This one is about kitchen trends, etc. in new homes in Austin.
David Weekley Homes is helping customers create “wish lists” during quarantine with their series of home trends, by region. This one is about kitchen trends, etc. in new homes in Austin.
You already have winning social media content. Maybe it was from last month. Or last year. Maybe it’s a big piece of content like a report or video series.
One of the best ways to succeed with social right now is to deconstruct, repackage, and republish those winners (assuming the content is still valid, and contextually appropriate).
We have a whole guide on this you may want to download (no cost). It’s called:
8 Ways to Extract More Value From the Content You Already Own
Several clients have asked us if they should “stop selling” right now. And while our answer varies a bit by industry, in general we’d tell you this:
Helping Beats Selling
I wrote a best-selling book about this principle. Youtility says that the best way to sell is to provide as much value as you possibly can – for free – and that as a consequence of your munificence, a percentage of the people you assist will become customers eventually. It’s never been more true.
Overt sales campaigns may be tough sledding right now. But if you can help your prospects, they’ll remember and reward you.
And if that’s the basis of your social media – to help – then if you sell a little along the way, you’re in great shape.
As my friend Rory Vaden from BrandBuilders Group says: “there’s no need to be nervous if your heart is on service.”
Wrapping Up:
In some ways, it may be harder than ever to be responsible for social media in your company or organization. But it may also never be a more vital job. You can continue to communicate and inspire and education and assist your audiences. You just need to make some changes to do so. We wish you great success in that journey and hope it’s truly a short-term scenario.
Meanwhile, do watch the webinar replay. The 70+ questions we answered from the live audience is worth your time.
Also a reminder that we are helping people like you and organizations like yours put these new social media and digital marketing best practices into place. If we can help you, please do fill out the form below for a no-obligation strategy call.
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