Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention. What’s New This Week Google Improves YouTube Ad Experience: Google introduced two new ecommerce features on YouTube that give retailers “more control [...]
What if we are approaching agency new business all wrong?
We marketers help our clients generate awareness and new sales every day, so when it comes to driving new business for ourselves, no wonder we apply what we know best. As a rule, us agency folks place a lot of importance on outbound sales and inbound marketing. It’s where we look first when the well is dry. But are those two channels the most lucrative to help grow (and sustain!) our firms?
As it turns out, the answer might be "no."
Data from the Agency Management Institute shows that only 1 in 40 new business reps works out. And among those who do make it for the long haul, they take about 12 months to even pay for themselves. It’s a tough dang job, which leads to a revolving door when the unspoken truth is that the best agency sales person is most likely the owner.
And we all sound the same with our four-step processes, integrated approach, and “award winning” creative. (Bleh.) The fundamentals of digital might work well for your clients, but unless you’re extremely differentiated, aiming to compete in SEO or PPC with the agency down the street is becoming a futile exercise.
So what if there was a better channel to generate leads and sustained revenue for your firm? What if you didn’t have to pay for an expensive sales guy and try to outbid your rivals in search? There’s even a chance you’re already good at this "unsung hero" and just not focusing enough attention on this unheralded source.
Introducing the 3Rs
You might have heard about 3Rs in grade school when it comes to reading, writing, and arithmetic. But for marketing firms, relationships, reputation, and referrals can be an unrivaled source of new business.
When thinking about 3Rs at the highest level, we’re talking about a collection of strategies aimed not at marketing to your prospects, but creating more opportunities for them to find you.
Author and agency advisor David C. Baker writes: “The more prospects learn about you on their own, already aware of your expertise and primed to hire your firm, the less time and money you need to spend on selling your services. The easiest way to achieve that is to be viewed as a thought leader among those prospects you serve in the marketing field.”
Well said.
While 3Rs should exist as a pillar within your marketing funnel alongside inbound marketing and outbound sales, chances are it’s already driving the bulk of your sales. We analyzed four years of business development data here at Industrial Strength Marketing and found that 65% of new deals and 80% of revenue had been driven via 3Rs (sadly, without us even properly acknowledging it until last year). Our growth has truly stemmed from people we already know, people who hear or see us organically, and people being sent our way. So now we have a plan in motion to further maximize these results.
In doing a quick straw poll of agency owners -- firms big and small, from New York to Austin -- this 3Rs truth seems to hold true.
“Most of our growth has been through existing clients,” said Keith Miles, partner at Nashville-based McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations. “We do have an active marketing committee on the lookout for new business, but organic growth has clearly been the most productive for MP&F.”
Strangely though, in chats with other principles, few of us have seemingly commemorated -- much less focused on -- these critical channels. So how do you amplify this source of clients?
Just like any strategy you’d recommend to a client, you need to make a plan for it, and devote sufficient time from your team. So let’s kick-start your own 3Rs (relationships, reputation, and referrals) program with these staples.
1) Speaking and Writing
At the center of any 3Rs plan is a concentrated effort to establish a face for the agency and get that person out into the wild as much as possible. Whether it’s the agency owner or another partner or two, key folks from the firm should be speaking at conferences, penning white papers and articles, and generally demonstrating consistent thought leadership via as many channels as possible.
But this high-priority tactic shouldn’t stop at the top -- all experts within the firm should have a mandate to get your message out there.
“Everybody should write -- speaking is only a fit for some folks,” Baker writes. “But you won’t ever reach your potential unless you write, regularly and thoughtfully. That’s how you get smart, develop a point of view, attract opportunity, and move up the value chain.”
2) Client Nurturing
When agencies hit a dry spell of sales, we often lose track of our existing client relationships in favor of finding new ones. And you know that it costs five times (to up to 25 times) more to gain a new account than it does to retain an existing one. If you’re already speaking and writing to generate new business, be sure your client base receives your thought leadership, too. Via that content, see if there are ways to become a megaphone for your clients’ successes and insights -- they likely have a lot to say as well. And finally, increase the number of touch points and quality of interactions with your most valuable accounts, even asking these key allies if they wouldn’t mind referring business. When they do, don’t forget that a nice bottle of booze or a small gift goes a long way in getting more nods in the future.
3) Public Relations
This might be a “no duh” channel for our clients -- especially for you PR firms out there -- but how much are you focusing on publicity for your agency? In most cases, it’s the "cobblers’ kids" thing. If you have the PR capabilities in house, be sure that machine is working for you. Or seek out a local PR firm to barter with. If you’re a digital shop, chances are they could use your help and vice-versa.
4) Webinars
There’s no better vehicle to establish thought leadership than hosting a webinar series. If you’re specialized in a particular industry or marketing vertical, there will be folks who want to hear from you (especially if you’ve done the legwork of building credibility through writing and speaking). Make your webinar private behind a registration gate to capture information for future marketing initiatives. You can even turn it into an on-demand offer for a future campaign.
4) Board Involvement
Another avenue for 3Rs success involves joining and actively participating in a couple of key community organizations as a board member. Every non-profit and industry association in town has either a board of directors or board of advisors, and these groups are an excellent avenue to meet potential clients. Or, at the least, you’ll meet other well-connected individuals who can refer you to folks within their network.
5) Awards
Some firms live and die by the awards they win -- we’ve all seen the agency lobby with a trophy case full of ADDYs. But small firms that traditionally don’t bother submitting often miss the real benefit of winning awards: free press and exposure to a brand new audience. Instead of focusing on insular competitions about the work itself (who needs another trophy anyway?), think about awards like your local business journal's Best Places to Work list, which have broader exposure than the local advertising newsletter.
Do you know how much of your new sales are coming from one of the 3Rs? If not, consider reviewing your previous year's account wins or start tracking now. You might be surprised by how much of your revenue base is the result ofrelationships, reputation, and referrals.
Then, consider how you can monitor and maximize the most lucrative channels to build a more predictable and profitable new business engine.
It's no secret that the way people buy has fundamentally changed over the years.
These days, people are conducting their own research, reading product reviews, and seeking out recommendations before making a decision, and online communities are beginning to play a role in this process.
With74% ofbusiness buyers conducting more than half of their research online before making a purchase,B2B communities like G2Crowd or GetApp can be used to educate prospective customers and help them make better buying decisions.
These forums provide people with an opportunity to learn from existing customers experiences and offer space for community feedback that can be used to bring trust and authenticity into an otherwise stale procedure.
If you are launching a new community or refreshing your existing community, taking time to prepare a plan is crucial for ensuring success. The best way to start off is to determine why you are building the community to begin with. Reasons may range from you are trying to support your existing business or marketing efforts to wanting to counteract negative reviews and identify passionate fans.
Either way, there are two questions you should consider when creating an online community:
Why should I engage with my customers online?
What’s the best platform to do it with?
To walk you through the process of setting up an online community in more detail, keep reading.
Free vs. Owned Community Forums: What's the Right Move?
Although social media networks and community platforms can seem to be interchangeable, there actually is a clear distinction. A social media network could be composed of users who have nothing in common (only using the platform because their friends are on it), while communities revolve around a specific issue.
There are "free" platforms like Facebook and Google+ which offer community-like features, however using them has its pros and cons ...
Pro: It's free and comes with a built-in audience.
Con: You don't own your database and are beholden to Zuckerberg and friends.
Then there's the owned platform like a community forum. This is a place that is owned by the brand and offers all the benefits of the social media platforms with much more control and flexibility on how you communicate with your members. In addition, you have tighter controls over your branding and messaging without having to compete with other's noise.
Community platforms allow you to go beyond the limitations of social networks. Features such as deeper analytics, single sign on (SSO), gamification, more access to your members and custom design allow you to create a better experience for your fans. If you require a secure, private area for your fans to interact with one another, this might be your best option.
How to Launch a Successful Online Community
1) Choose the right platform.
There are two types of forums: one revolving around shared interest and the other that is more informational in nature.
With a shared-interest forum, you’re bringing together people who happen to be interested in a common topic where they can explore and connect with each other on a larger range of topics. Collaboration between members is key here.
Informational forums are largely used when you want to create a space for the community to search for and share content related to your product, service, or designated topic in one location.
Once you’ve identified the use case and the type of engagement you're after (i.e., customer support operations or brand loyalty), you'll want to start looking at detailed features that would support your community goals. These can range from:
Deeper analytics
Ease of use and good user interface
Customer support
Platform flexibility
Integrations
Mobile
2) Develop the launch framework.
When determining what business problem you want to resolve with your community, consider the following.
Are you looking to:
Increase your customer satisfaction ratings?
Decrease costs related to customer support?
Increase demand of your product/service?
Identify and mobilize influencers and advocates?
Increase collaboration?
What is your use case? Will you use the information gained internally, externally, or a combination of both?
Knowing these answers will make it easier for you to identify why you are launching your online community and help you align its purpose to your intended goals.
3) Identify key stakeholders.
After determining the need for forming your community, your next step is to identify your company’s stakeholders. You can consider three categories of stakeholders:
Those who will be managing the community. For external facing communities, this group of stakeholders may include the community manager, marketing department, and/or customer support. The stakeholders may vary greatly for internal communities.
Those who will be impacted by the community. If your community is external facing, marketing is generally involved because the answers you are seeking will have the most impact on them. If there is feedback from the community regarding product improvements, product management may also be involved.
Upper management. This stakeholder is the person who is responsible for the community and all that are affected by it. Usually, an executive could be an operations manager or a CMO who oversee all digital experiences.
Another way to go about identifying stakeholders is to lump the role of the community manager along with the social media management role. Your marketing team, operations department, customer service, or perhaps a specially created department may be put in charge of the community launch. In this instance, each department is likely to put focus on key performance indicators (KPIs) that are meaningful to them.
Marketing KPIs
Market share
Customer sentiment
Mobilizing influencers and advocates
NPS - Net Promoter Score
Operations
Operational efficiency
Reducing support costs
Customer Service
CSAT - Customer Satisfaction Score
NPS
Product Management
Product testing
Market research
Beta testing
Customer feedback
Typically, only one person will be tasked with the community launch. However, by leveraging resources and other talent within your company, your launch can be less stressful and more successful.
4) Set up the community.
Making a decision on what platform to use for your community is the first step. If you are launching the community on your own or taking a team approach, you will want to make sure that you or your team are familiar with the software you will be using. This is a good opportunity to play with a demo or go through some hands-on training.
After you and your team have a good understanding of the software you will be using, you can move on to making some setup decisions, including:
Keeping your community pre-launch private. You do not want outsiders having access to your community until you are ready, so make sure to enable your privacy settings.
Displaying a list of recent discussions for the forum on the “homepage view.” New members or first time visitors may be more apt to join in the discussion if they see what is trending in your community.
Creating your initial categories. Remember, your initial category list is not carved in stone and you should avoid creating too many categories at the start. Keep it simple and let your categories evolve. This will help keep a handle on discussion noise.
Reviewing the sign-up process for members. The easier the process is, the more likely people will want to sign up for your community. You should consider a setting up a single sign-on (SSO). It is also important to thoroughly test your sign-up process before the pre-launch.
Defining the roles your staff and members. Decide what roles will be included within your community, such as moderators or super members. Consider who on your staff will be the community’s admin, moderators, or community manager.
Assigning permissions for roles. You will need to assign and test permissions to the roles you create. For example, you may restrict new accounts from posting pictures or links.
Deciding which features will be enabled. This includes plug-ins, add-ons, and other features that are integrated into your online forum. Some features may not be needed right away, but others may be crucial to getting your team the data they need.
Setting up gamification. Start thinking about the perks you want to reward your members with. This could be badges or other types of recognition for different achievements, such as being a beta-tester.
Implementing your theme. You will want to tie your forum into your brand. Do not settle for impersonal default settings. For example, utilize your company’s color scheme and add other personal touches.
Configuring spam controls. Take advantage of your software’s spam controls. Test the controls against a baseline of your trusted users. Adjust the settings as needed if you find that valid content is being labeled as spam.
Setting up outgoing email. Decide what email address will be used for forum notifications. Review your welcome and registration emails to make sure they say what you want.
Testing. You need to test everything before over and over until you are happy with all the parts of your forum. As you get closer to launch-time, your testing should become more stringent. Consider all types of probably scenarios and prepare yourself beforehand that not everything will be perfect. Get ready to decide on a launch date.
5) Begin your soft launch.
Once you are satisfied with the workings on your community, it is time to get ready for a soft launch. The purpose of a soft launch is to get your community ready for your full and public launch.
A great example of a soft launch is from BigFish Games with the introduction of their new game: Dungeon Boss. While preparing for the launch, they placed their app in the Apple Canada store and drove users to their community forum in a closed and private environment. They got a lot of feedback, some of which was incorporated into the Dungeon Boss game title. Consequently, when they launched worldwide, it became one of their most downloaded games.
Your soft launch should occur in three stages:
Preparing for the Soft-Launch. At this point, your community should be ready to be launched. All test content has been removed and any known issues have been fixed or have been scheduled to be fixed. It is time to pre-populate your community with quality content that will spark discussion and make good use of your existing content. Start off with at least 10 discussions using your existing material. Recruit your colleagues to get the ball rolling with these discussions. Tone is important, so you will want to set the right tone before moving on to the internal soft-launch.
Internal Soft-Launch. The purpose of the internal soft-launch is to identify problems using trusted people from your organization, colleagues, and friends before your forum goes public. While they are trying out your community, they can provide you with valuable feedback and report errors they find before moving to the full launch. This phase will allow your moderators an opportunity to learn how to use the tools that will be used in your forum. Any training deficiencies should be addressed and additional training provided if needed. Request feedback from your internal users. Then, set a deadline to move to the next phase: your public soft-launch.
Public Soft-Launch. This launch should be limited to a select audience that you will encourage to give you feedback on your new community forum. To form this group, try requesting volunteers from trusted customers, creating a banner on your website, or including a mention of it in your company newsletter. During your public soft-launch, address the following questions:
Who should you include in this group?
What problems do you want to solve while in this beta stage?
What is needed to transition the community to live status
What is your hard deadline to take your community to fully live?
Your goals should include:
Getting the public involved
Refining your community
Receiving feedback
Ensuring that your moderators and team are comfortable with the platform
6) Promote your community.
Once you have your date set, it’s time to get the word out to your target audience. The best way to do this is to take advantage of your existing presence online. Promote your launch all over your website, through email communications, and by having your sales team and customer service reps tell your existing and potential customers about the launch.
Here are some more tips that will help you drive the first 100 members to your community:
Invite your contacts. No, it’s not always fun to bombard your family members, friends, or professional contacts about something you’re working on ... but it works.
Discuss with everyone and anyone. Get in the habit of talking to people everywhere you go, especially if your community is centered around a broad product or service that has value for many people.
Enlist the help of new members through gamification. Ask your growing, early group to help you broaden the network by inviting their friends, colleagues, and digital connections. You can encourage this through contests or reward systems integrated into your platform.
Partner with influencers. Collaborating with a related and complementary company can be an effective way to promote your new community and welcome new members who like both products and services.
Make sure you have configured all your Google and Webmaster tools accordingly. Provide a sitemap and make your community visible. If you have completed all these steps, the odds are that your online community launch will be successful.
What tips do you have for launching an online community? Share them below.
I know, I know. It's little depressing to think about how much time we spend staring at screens on a daily basis. Turns out the average person spends just under seven hours looking at a device screen every day -- whether it's their smartphone, tablet, laptop, or TV.
As discouraging as that is, it's important for marketers to understand how people are using all of their favorite devices to read, watch, and interact with content on the web.
For example, when do people move from using one device to the next sequentially, versus simultaneously?
Online shopping, for example, is often a multi-screen activity: A person might find something they like on their smartphone, put it in their cart, but then complete the order on a computer. Same with watching television: A person might watch a TV show, and then hop on social media via their smartphone to discuss what's happening.
The devices people choose to use and when they choose to use them are all important clues to consumer behavior that marketers like us can use to inform our online strategies. Check out the infographic below from TollFreeForwarding.com and Gryffin to learn more about the statistics behind how people use their devices.
Do you broadcast live video? Have you considered hosting a regular show on Facebook Live? To discover creative ways to use Facebook Live, I interview Lou Mongello. More About This Show The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It’s designed to help busy marketers and business owners [...]
Riddle me this: Why do people buy quarter-inch drill bits?
While there are a million possible answers to this question, Leo McGinneva offers perhaps the most interesting explanation.
"They don’t want quarter-inch bits. They want quarter-inch holes," he explains.
This notion suggests that as consumers, we aren't after all the bells and whistles as much as the solutions they provide. In other words, we don't want to know what brands are selling, we want to know what's in it for us.
Not only has this mentality lead to the demise of traditional marketing efforts, but it's also set the stage for more human interactions between brands and consumers. Interactions that don't feel like marketing.
And what better medium to propel this new wave of humanized marketing than video? It’s one of the most effective mediums for marketers. Seventy-three percent of respondents in a 2015 Web Video Marketing Council study indicated that video had a positive impact on their marketing results.
To help inspire your own video marketing efforts, we've rounded up 12 lovable video marketing campaigns. So go ahead, grab some popcorn. These examples will be waiting here when you get back.
12 Marketing Video Campaigns You'll Actually Enjoy
While the curation probably took a while, there wasn't much original content creation going on here -- it's really just a series of clips of unlikely animals palling around together. I mean, who doesn't want to see a parrot feeding spaghetti to a husky? Or a monkey climbing onto (and promptly falling off of) a horse's back? And yet, the video was shared more than 6.4 million times,according to video ad tech company Unruly.
The Takeaway
Even the simplest of videos can be super shareable with the right subject matter. In this case, that subject matter is animals, which the folks at Android used to focus on shared experiences. By tapping into viewers' emotions, the video has built-in broad appeal and sharability.
2) Reebok: "25,915 Days"
The average human lives for 25,915 days -- and Reebok wants us to use those days to continuously honor and push our bodies to their physical limits. Their video promoting the #HonorYourDays campaign doesn't contain any spoken words, but the message is powerful: Make the most of the days you have by, as they put it, "honoring the body you've been given."
The video follows one woman's relationship with running in reverse, from her running the Reebok-sponsored Spartan Race as a middle-aged woman, to running track in high school, all the way back to the day she was born. It's a great way for Reebok to communicate their brand mission of changing how people perceive and experience fitness at every age -- and of letting customers know they'll be there to cover their athletic gear needs throughout their lives.
At the end of the video, there's even a clickable CTA that reads, "Calculate your days."
Although it might strike some as a bid morbid, the copy is in keeping with the brand's "tough fitness" theme. Click the CTA, and you'll get taken to a campaign website where people can share photos showing how they're honoring their bodies, along with their "number." Pretty cool.
The Takeaway
Putting a sense of urgency (limited time) behind your message can be a powerful psychological motivator (take action now so you don't miss out). This makes your message not only compelling, but also actionable.
3) Dove: "Choose Beautiful"
Dove does it again. While this video marketing campaign by Ogilvy & Mather Chicago received some mixed reviews when it was first released, there is no denying that Dove is adept at crafting stories and encouraging their community to participate in those stories.
By focusing less on their product and more on their mission, Dove has been successful in creating emotional viral videos that have helped them stay top-of-mind.
The Takeaway
Think about tying your marketing to a larger mission to cultivate a loyal following. According to research conducted by Scott Magids, Alan Zorfas, and Daniel Leemon, customers who are "fully connected" emotionally to a brandspend twice as much on average than customers categorized as "highly satisfied." Take advantage of this by committing to emotionally-charged marketing that makes customers feel recognized and important.
4) Facebook: "Tips" Series
In this video marketing series, Facebook presents 12 different functions of the platform as they relate to real-life user scenarios, such as the need to turn notifications off, add a friend to a group, unfollow your oversharing friend, or use a sticker to express feelings that don't quite translate into words (explained in the video above).
While the tutorials are tied directly to Facebook's product, they're not pitchy. Instead, they aim to provide answers to users’ most common questions in an entertaining and lighthearted way. It doesn't hurt that they're also simple to follow and clock in at only 20 seconds long.
The Takeaway
Understand your audience's needs better than anyone else, and play to them in your videos. In addition, don't mistake "longer" for "better" -- if your message can be expressed in just a few seconds, don't drag out the length of your video unnecessarily.
5) Intel: "Meet the Makers" Series
Intel's five-part "Meet the Makers" series looks more like the inspirational, uplifting stories you see on the news rather than videos created by a brand. Each video profiles a person around the world who uses Intel products to create amazing experiences and new technology.
In this video, for example, a 13-year-old named Shubham Banerjee tells the story of how he used Intel's technology to prototype and build an affordable braille printer to help more people who are blind read.
The common denominator? The folks in these videos use technology to help people and make the world a better and more interesting place. By providing viewers with an inspirational look at how technology is changing our experiences, they were able to drum up interest in a way that a traditional, product-centric advertisement couldn't.
The Takeaway
Think in terms of macro and micro in your video marketing. Evaluate the macro effect that your product or service is having on your industry or the world as a whole, and then hone in on someone's micro experience to deliver a relatable and compelling story.
6) Artifact Uprising: "On Legacy"
Artifact Uprising is a company that helps you create custom photo books, albums, cards, and print photos. As you can imagine, there's a lot of special meaning and emotion connected to each book -- and that kind of emotion is hard to capture with just words.
That's exactly why Artifact Uprising creates videos like this one: to showcase some of those touching, individual stories. In this case, it's an elderly man who created a photo book to leave his children and grandchildren as part of his legacy. At one point, the man is moved to tears as he reads the book, saying, "I haven't read it [in] a while."
The Takeaway
Find out how people are using your product or service to better their lives, and share their inspiring stories with the world through video. They'll do a much better job of advocating for your product or service's value than a piece of purely fact-based marketing content ever could.
7) GoPro: "Fireman Saves Kitten"
If you're familiar with GoPro's user-generated content, you probably noticed that this isn't their typical video. GoPro has done a great job of defining their brand as adventurous and extreme -- and the vast majority of the user-generated videos they repurpose and put out on their own channels involves stuff like jumping out of airplanes and surfing giant waves.
But this video of a firefighter saving a kitten from a fire doesn't have any of that. So why did GoPro chose to cut and polish this video for their own marketing? It helps them appeal to a wider audience outside the realm of extreme sports. It's still a unique and inspiring video like many of their others, and the "everyday heroism" theme is intact, but it goes beyond the brand's typical athlete persona.
The Takeaway
Don't be afraid to push the boundaries of your brand's image. Find ways to change the way you exhibit the various themes in your brand's personality, and experiment with different topics and formats that could help you widen your audience.
8) Google Earth: "Homeward Bound"
This emotional account of Saroo Brierley's journey to trace back his original roots after a tragic separation from his family is nothing short of powerful.
By inserting their product into a story of loss, love, and restoration, Google Earth was successful in positioning its capabilities as life-changing -- but it doesn’t feel too showy. The video makes you feel that Google Earth isn't out to make money, but rather, they're out to build a service to improve the lives of their users.
The Takeaway
Again, appeal to emotion. While you don't want to abuse this approach, emotion is an incredibly powerful driver that can influence the way people act and respond to your product or service.
9) Always: "Like a Girl"
Like Dove, Always has been approaching their marketing by combining empowering messages with realistic -- as opposed to idealistic -- portrayals of their target audience. In their "Like a Girl" campaign, the company uses the famous insult to grab your attention -- and then change the conversation about what it means to run, throw, and fight "like a girl."
Marketing that empowers the consumer -- rather than making them feel inadequate -- resonates. Acknowledge those all-too-familiar human emotions like anxiety or self-consciousness, and turn them on their head.
Aside from the small quip about getting your mom a card for Mother's Day at the close of the video, the bulk of the content is seemingly free of sales innuendo and product placement. Refreshing, right?
By using a creative, faux interview process to bring to light the impressive day-to-day routines of moms everywhere, it's hard for viewers to walk away from this video not feeling appreciative. (Now go call your mom and tell her you love her!)
The Takeaway
Leverage a plot twist. When the audience can't predict the outcome, they'll be more likely to remain engaged throughout the entirety of your content.
11) Nike Women: "Better For It"
This series by Wieden + Kennedy and Nike Women uses honest humor to shed light on the "inner thoughts" women experience at the gym (though I'm certain there is a male equivalent to these types of situations).
This instinctively human account provides viewers with an opportunity to bond with the brand. This ultimately gives them a leg up on the competition, as a sense of empathy often goes a long way when it comes to influencing a consumer's preferences.
The Takeaway
Add a little humor into your messaging. Though it can be tough to pull off, it can lower the barrier between you and your audience and establish a sense of relatability.
12) BuzzFeed for Purina: "Puppyhood"
Although this video is about a man who adopts and raises a puppy, it's not meant to be inspiring -- it's meant to be entertaining. And entertaining it is: BuzzFeed did a great job writing a script that takes all the classic puppy stories you've heard (puppy chewing on the furniture; puppy keeping you up all night) and turns them into a delightful story of a man and his dog spending time together.
Although it's obvious to today's trained consumer that Purina's Puppy Chow brand is behind the video, the product placement is so subtle that it's not bothersome at all. Video marketers, take note.
The Takeaway
Create stories that show your product or service in the context of an average customer's daily life without making it feel like an ad. That way, the video gets its point across and moves the marketing needle while still delighting viewers.
Now it's your turn.
Video can do wonders to increase content engagement and clickthrough rates -- but we know that actually making videos can be intimidating. Many marketers get paralyzed by the "no time, too hard" fallacy of creating video content.
But if you think you need fancy camera equipment and editing software to make video work, or that video seems like a luxury you can't afford ... it's time to take a new approach to your video marketing strategy. You can create great videos for social media without all those bells and whistles. (Ever heard of Facebook Live? It was made for creating videos using just your smartphone!)
So use these marketing videos as inspiration, and create some cool visual content of your own.
Which marketing videos from this list were your favorites, and why? Share with us in the comments.
Editor's Note: This post was originally published in April 2015 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
While the content your business creates is important, delivering it to the right people is easily half the battle. Using Facebook’s paid tools to expand your reach might be a no-brainer, but leveraging them to their full potential is another question entirely.
Facebook's advertising platform allows marketers to effectively target a specific audience, which makes it far easier to deliver content to the people that actually want to see it -- resulting in higher engagement. Additional functions help you build credibility and relevance when users see and interact with your ads.
But while these tools are helpful out of the box, tailoring your ad strategy requires a solid understanding of your competitive market, as well as what works and doesn't work on the network. And that's where HubSpot and Social Bakers' new ebook The Future of Facebook Advertising comes in.
In this ebook, you'll find data from over 4.5 million Facebook and Instagram ads to help you perfect your Facebook advertising tactics.
More specifically, you'll learn:
The latest trends in Facebook advertising from several different regions.
How to improve your ad campaigns according to each trend.
What the global competition looks like, and how your region compares to others.
Which types of Facebook ads are becoming more and less competitive in each market based on CTR, CPC, ad distribution, and budget.
What you as a marketer can do to outshine the competition.
http://bit.ly/29JpKNn
http://bit.ly/29V5PKT
http://bit.ly/29VqDEY
http://bit.ly/29ShLQv
http://bit.ly/29UuRJI