So it’s no surprise that a social media site has grown from the dissidents who like interactive engagement without the supposed data troll. Enter Ello, the hot new social media site whose manifesto seems to lay out an aversion to advertising and people as commodity. Hmm, clearly it means that your marketing content isn’t welcome…

…except that it is!

“We believe there is a better way. We believe in audacity. We believe in beauty, simplicity, and transparency. We believe that the people who make things and the people who use them should be in partnership.”

It’s likely your company has yet to give notice to Ello and with good reason — it’s new, and trends come and go quickly. Annual budgets and strategic meetings leave little flexibility and resources to experiment on a fledgling social media outlet. However, Ello is currently amassing upwards of 50,000 new users per hour. Though the focus of Ello is to circumvent traditional advertising pitfalls associated with social media channels, there exists an opportunity to establish content for the untamed wilderness of Ello that kowtows to its trepidations and its pioneer spirit. All the steps you need to know exist within the manifesto:

Audacity

The only steadfast rule of Ello is the untethering of social data from advertisers and corporations that aim to exploit. So heed the warning and go bold!

Content doesn’t need to be complicated think pieces or cut from the style guide cloth to match the tone of your company brand. Ello offers a chance to find a new audience by delivering marketing content of any medium that may be too outlandish for Facebook or too lengthy for Twitter. Ello is no place for white papers and status reports. It speaks to the old Gen X skepticism of advertisers. You don’t have to sell anything, and just by being a part of Ello at the start and generating content, you position your company as forward-thinking and daring.

Simplicity

This is a no-brainer for content producers. The moment you begin to weigh content down in minutia is the moment you lose your audience. Ello isn’t looking for sales pitches or sponsors, so speak directly to the early adopting audience while discovering new ones. Showcase how your company mirrors Ello’s beliefs. Empower your audience to be active participants in your company and to help shape its content moving forward. Twitter isn’t the only place to be loose and interactive.

Transparency

Ello freely admits to collecting data but explains how and why it is used and offers an easy way to opt-out. But beyond the obvious transparency of data usage, Ello presents your content with the opportunity to also be open and honest.

Companies often speak of their culture but it’s often presented in abstract terms and ideas. Ello provides a chance to experiment with your content to demonstrate just what that culture means to potential customers, interested parties, or curious readers. This goes beyond talking about your company’s softball team and annual picnics. You have the chance to showcase unique facets about your company on a platform that has yet to be cluttered with noise and updates.

Though it’s not prudent to begin a wholesale assessment of Ello, dipping your toes into the latest social media phenomenon could present a unique opportunity to get on in the ground floor of what could be the next long term social media trend. Better yet, it’s a chance to test out new content and strategies that may align your company with the culture of Ello while delivering a new audience you never knew could be tapped.

The post Tapping the Content Marketing Wilderness of Ello appeared first on Relevance.

So let’s turn the table on these turn-of-phrases and explore why the advice of a cliché may be the worst way to look at your content.

Do Sweat the Small Stuff

If you’re confident in your services and certain that those who are creating content can find the right audiences to consume it, that’s a great foundation for delivering big in the marketplace. However, convincing prospects that your company – and therefore its content – is better than the competitors cannot be done with big ideas alone. Just because a company is new, part of a marketing trend, or offering an innovative service that people will love, both consumers and organizations are more comfortable working with a known entity, even as brand loyalty slowly dissolves.

That’s where focused, detail-oriented content makes all the difference. It goes beyond advertising and brand identity. How you position your company as thought leaders and service pioneers can make or break the public’s perception of the content you are creating. You need to ensure that your content producers understand the nuances that separate your company from the competitors. How is it superior? Why is it an improvement over what people have used or known for decades? What is so revolutionary and different about it?

By “sweating” the small stuff and answering these hard questions early on, you’ll be an emerging brand and a potential thought leader. You can’t have the big idea without the ability to explain and demonstrate it via intelligent, inventive, and exciting content. Sweating the small stuff early saves heavy flop sweats and big fixes later.

Maybe it’s time to rely on a different quip from coaching legend John Wooden: “It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”

The Truth is in the Details

You’ve likely heard an outraged or upset consumer rumble, “The devil is in the details.” It’s an ideal that has long outlived its purpose; the notion that the details of an offer are the hook by which a business reels you into a world of false promises is a hurdle hard for many content producers to overcome.

Content is not fine print; it is not the means by which to pull the wool over customer’s eyes. Though it’s useful to understand the growing skepticism felt by many consumers, there is also an opportunity to be had by focusing content on such suspicions. Presenting detailed – and honest – content is a chance to build trust and establish brand loyalty. It’s the opportunity to present why your company is not like the others who have created a consumer base that is mistrustful.

Marketing is more than the hard sell. Connecting with potential customers on a personal basis by showcasing the identity and mores of your company is vital to building trust. Soon your detail-oriented emails, white papers, and social media messages become down home messages that separate you from bigger companies with (perceived) vanilla personalities.

But be careful not to make sweeping generalizations or use the wrongdoings of competitors. It’s best to stay positive, focus on what you do best, and make sure content is a reflection of those attitudes. As it turns out, content becomes a big part of your business’s character.

The Details Make The Design

It’s time to adopt a more positive outlook courtesy of architect and furniture designer, Charles Eames: “The details are not the details. They make the design.”

And that’s the key to content. It’s the design by which best practices are created and instilled. Without first concentrating on how the content you are producing will put your best foot forward, you aren’t building a sturdy frame for your business.

Turning a blind eye to imaginative content on multiple channels cheats your company from creating a colorful and engaging palette that builds an engaged audience. Unappealing or slap-dashed content will be viewed with leeriness – or worse, apathy.

Content is a key detail, whether you’re a well-established brand or a twinkling new start-up. It should be part of the company fabric from day one, never left out of the big picture to be revisited later.

Details are crucial to making contact with your desired audience. The fast-paced, interconnected world in which we live provides ample outlets and opportunity to put your best foot forward from the get-go. Don’t neglect investing early and often in content that best reflects just how detail-centric and exciting you are.

The post The Importance of Detail-Oriented Content appeared first on Relevance.

You research and write; then proofread and rewrite. It’s pored over by editors and management until the message is on point. It’s sent via the channels long decided after careful deliberation.

But did it really find its rightful audience?

Sure, the genius software engineer or COO of the fast rising retail chain saw the tweet and read the email newsletter but is that the only viable audience? Shouldn’t your content be reaching more than just a set demographic?

Considering turnover rates continue to rise globally, it’s important to ensure the content you generate is being seen by more than just one concentrated audience. How can you better the reach of your content?

Repurpose Content

We’ve touched on this before but it goes deeper than just editing a few paragraphs and changing words to fit a different audience.

If you’ve written a strong white paper intended to reach CEOs, there’s a good chance it should be read by their management and support staff as well. Before you comb a company’s database for email addresses, it’s best to use alternate channels and different messaging to tap this new audience.

Management may care about the steps to achieving a more efficient workplace but their day-to-day activities differ from the CEO. They’re checking Twitter and LinkedIn, perhaps even browsing Facebook—but one thing is for certain, they’re just as active on social media and just as influenced by content as the higher-ups. And they are part of the decision-making process, so it’s best to make a connection with them now as they continue to rise up the ranks.

And who knows – maybe your content will be part of the reason they do.

Be Creative

With the rapid growth of new technology and workplace practices, it takes more than just well-written content to make a dent. As you update and change content to fit a new audience, it’s also wise to make sure it’s creative enough to draw them to it in the first place.

A good example is the software engineering industry, which evolves daily as new languages and ideas are created. It’s a competitive industry for fresh perspectives and emerging hotshots. Start-ups and corporate giants need an advantage and where can they find it? In creative marketing content.

A new graduate is unlikely to find a white paper captivating. Though they may carry aspirations of becoming management material, their immediate wants are a desirable salary, ideal location, and a competitive benefits package. Your company may be the best fit but a lengthy list or a few pictures aren’t enough to sell them on your company.

However, there are ideas in the content that are appealing and a means to make them stand out to a new, younger audience. Turn a benefits package into a quick Vine or Instagram video that showcases the fun atmosphere of the office and how those benefits have created it. Transform a lengthy list of best practices into a quirky animation that can be shared across multiple social media platforms. The message doesn’t need changing, just how it’s delivered to meet an undervalued audience.

Don’t Hard Sell

Though the main audience for content is primed for the hard sell, your secondary audience likely isn’t. They may be aspiring leaders or new recruits eager to start their career, but what motivates their decision making isn’t the same as it is for CEOs, COOs, and Boards of Directors.

Putting pressure on them to sell your sundries is a turn-off. Putting them in a position to believe that’s their way to get to the top is worse. These are potential allies and future clients, so treat them with respect and guidance. Foster a relationship by making sure repurposed content isn’t dumbed down and is unique in its delivery.

When you put so much time and effort into creating content, it’s almost a waste to target it to just one segment of your audience. The first step is to figure out how to repurpose existing content so that it’s relevant to someone in a different stage of the inbound marketing funnel. Be creative in your efforts to migrate marketing messages from one channel to the next; what works well on one platform might need significant design or creative work to translate into its new format. Finally, when repurposing bottom of the funnel content for a middle or top of the funnel audience, soften the sell to avoid scaring them away.

The post Expand Your Audience With Multi-Level Targeting appeared first on Relevance.

Yet there is much to learn from the nonstop coverage of the Kardashians and the rise and fall of television shows that hit the bottom as quickly as they achieve mass acclaim. The entertainment industry is ever-evolving, quickly assimilating to emerging tastes and opinions from the audiences they seek to win over. It’s an epidemic that has swelled as access to information has sped up in this technological boon.

The truth is that the roller coaster of achievements and failures that plague the entertainment industry are those that also haunt the content marketing world. Fads come and go in the blink of an eye. The latest trend in branding can become hackneyed over the course of a text message conversation between teenagers, and that toy your child coveted 15 minutes ago is obsolete by the time you’re ready to help them purchase it.

So how do entertainment companies survive, and how can these tactics help you improve your marketing content?

Establish Brand Reputation

This seems like the easiest takeaway because it’s the pursuit of any company, agency, or marketer. Though we all want to be Apple or Google, their branding connects to their willingness to take chances on creative campaigns (and their ability to handle flops when those chances taken don’t pan out).

Marketing on a smaller scale does not allow for successive failures—or any perceived failures, for that matter. So how do you establish and cultivate a brand reputation? It begins by identifying your audience.

For example, Disney understands the customer base for Marvel products. They started small by casting Robert Downey Jr. in the titular Iron Man role. Downey Jr. had a reputation for being a superb actor, but also for many personal failings. Iron Man was a popular niche comic book character that mirrored Downey’s foibles. It was a risk, but one that fell in line with the branding Marvel sought to attach to their name.

It’s a similar formula in music. Though major labels seek to sing myriad artists across numerous musical genres, smaller independent labels often curate a sound and image to attract a particular audience share that may be neglected by larger conglomerates.

Founded in 1986, Sub Pop Records existed as a means to explore the evolving music scene in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. As much of it exploded into grunge and alternative music in the early part of the decade, Sub Pop was at the forefront of that success thanks to early investments in bands such as Nirvana and Soundgarden.

In other words, they understood the value of their own community and the branding associated with connecting and fostering it.

Recycle Content

The entertainment industry is often accused of lacking original ideas, but it’s hard to argue against the popularity of sequels and reboots. Ours is a world filled with a handful of Supermans, Batmans, and a spree of cheaply made, and yet high grossing, horror films.

The world of young adult novels finds countless hits in trilogies obsessed with teenagers fighting against a dystopic future where adults have taken away decisions and resources, squashing freedom of choice in favor of myopic control. The Harry Potter series has spawned countless copycats and websites filled with devout fan fiction. When an audience finds a world or subject matter that it enjoys, it wants to live in it as long as possible.

The same is true with the pile of case studies, white papers, and social media content you accumulate. A few edits and you can reboot your case study into a white paper, transform a tweet into a new blog post topic, or whittle down a white paper into bullet points readymade for LinkedIn or Facebook. Good content isn’t meant for a single use. It should be repurposed, improved, and rebooted to engage different audiences.

Use Social Media Channels Differently

Speaking of varied engagement, understanding how to use a wide array of social media channels has amounted to stars being made on a daily basis. No longer does it take a reality show or dedication to stage and screen to birth a new celebrity.

Entrepreneur Dan Bilzerian has made a name for himself not as a high stakes poker player and venture capitalist, but as someone who has an engaging (and risqué) Instagram account. Kim Kardashian has used mobile gaming to boost an already ample profile by putting her image within an app so popular that even the EPA is apparently playing.

Understanding the audience of social media is important to establishing your brand and making use of generated content. If you’re a company actively courting a young female demographic, set up a profile on Pinterest. If you’re trying to lure recruits to work at your firm, you should be connecting with them on LinkedIn and following them on Twitter. If you’re a goods-and-services business, try using Snapchat to lure customers into trying out your latest product.

Content Is Visual As Well As Written

As important as robust dialogue and complex characters are to entertainment, it’s equally valuable to understand that content generation isn’t just perfectly edited words and ideas but how they are presented. Though some films can find moderate success in spite of massive plot holes and terrible acting or bad direction, it’s imperative to match up the written message with the right visual setting.

The best movies and television shows make sure we’re a part of the time and era. “Mad Men” makes sure to write snappy dialogue that can speak to a modern audience, and yet its set props and main plot points are ensconced in the 1960s to ensure a unified message. Music and literature also rely on visual cues to connect the message with the setting. Album art often sets the mood and illustrations or descriptive prose is integral to proper storytelling in print.

It’s no secret that blog posts with images are read and shared more often than those without accompanying visuals; make sure you employ that common knowledge on all of your channels (where it’s appropriate) and spend as much time developing beautiful graphics as you do on writing the copy to go with them.

Never Fade Away

With so many entertainment options and channels, it’s not uncommon to find the hottest young stars struggling to find work after their initial success. The world is full of Topher Graces and Harper Lees who reach great heights only to succumb to the new flavors of the month.

Audiences are fickle and the moment a celebrity takes a step out of the spotlight, they soon find that it isn’t so easy to step back in and renew that hard-won success, which is why it is necessary to pick the best social media outlets for your content and keep them updated.

Content production may never go out of style, but any lull in its publication can mean losing the audience you worked so hard to cultivate. You must work just as hard to keep your brand in the public eye as you did in establishing the social media base in the first place.

Content may be king, but how you use it is crucial to its appeal. How is your content influenced by the entertainment industry and what cues can you take from it?

The post Content Marketing Lessons From The Entertainment Industry appeared first on Relevance.