A strong social media presence is the foundation from which you can build a world-conquering brand.
As per the Digital 2020 July Global Snapshot, nearly half of the world is on social media. Today, to build a personal brand, there’s nothing quite like social media. The potential audience and exposure that the platform can generate would be unimaginable to yesteryear’s advertising and marketing teams.
Through social media, brands can connect and interact with their audience on a sincere and personal level. In turn, this creates customer loyalty, generates leads, and provides the sort of marketing and advertising money cannot buy.
Social media creates its momentum and can take what once was a niche brand and make it a household name. Here are three reasons why social media has become the most formidable and powerful tool any person can leverage when building their personal brand.
Social media adds an air of authenticity to your brand
In a digital landscape where everyone is jostling for attention, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for any brand to stand out. The biggest compliment any audience can give you is to believe in your brand. They will only do this if you’re an authentic and genuine article. “Once you have authenticity on social media, the world is your oyster,” shares wealth coach Rob Coats, founder of Connect and Grow Rich Consulting Agency. Coats made his name on social media through positivity and perseverance. “People tend to follow me on social media because I break it down in simple terms how they can generate wealth, and I make their financial goals tangible,” Rob continues.
He further adds that you should steer clear of bluff or bluster to gain your followers’ trust on social media. “You have to be honest on social media, or you’ll be called out as a fraud,” he explains.
Social media elevates your brand into a way of life
Social media is a place where people who share similar lifestyles connect and broaden their horizons. Lifestyles are a tangible commodity and encompass a broad spectrum. Social media can document a lifestyle like no other medium. Founder of TripleOne Inc, James Awad, who lives the sort of lifestyle that many entrepreneurs endeavour to emulate, uses it as an example of what his social media followers can achieve if, in his words, “They commit themselves to their passion and leave no stone unturned to master it.”
He explains, “With the rise in social media usage, individuals, as well as brands, must figure out what cult they want to build around themselves and then work harder and be more innovative than anyone else.”
Social media gives your brand worldwide exposure
The most dynamic thing about social media is its reach. It is a platform where ambition can truly thrive. In today’s world, you do not need a marketing firm or team of advertisers to make your brand a global one; you need to be social media savvy. Above all, social media is a level playing field. It doesn’t care where you’re from or what you’ve done; it just cares about where you’re at.
“Social media offers everyone a chance to make it big,” shares business coach Julian Kuschner. The millennial mentor knows all about having his back to the wall. He has survived getting kicked out of college and being fired from a series of dead-end jobs and came out the other end as someone who has achieved great success on his own terms. Julian now inspires others on social media to find the inner strength and resolve needed to build a successful business.
He explains, “Social media has given me an opportunity to help people all over the world. More and more people are financially struggling than ever before, but I believe it’s not so much the struggle but how you respond to it. Through social media, I aim to inspire people to stay positive, stay strong, and rebuild one step at a time.”
Have you ever wondered howI influencers are able to afford all of those designer clothes and extravagant trips? Well, tax deductions might have something to do with it.
“I was today years old when I realized YouTubers do clothing hauls on their channels so that they can write off the clothing on their taxes,” she said in the video. “They literally get all this cool [clothing and] make a video of it so it’s considered work and then they get to write it off. THAT’S SO COOL!”
This might sound too good to be true, but Holmes is right. According to tax advisor Handy Tax Guy, all you have to do is prove that your clothes are necessary for “accomplishing your job as an online influencer” in order to write them off as a business deduction.
That’s not the only thing influencers can write off when they’re doing their taxes, either. Travel expenses like transportation and lodging can be considered essential for an influencer, which makes them a tax write-off. Prizes used in giveaways, charitable donations and meals eaten while discussing work can also be written off as business expenses. For bloggers and influencers, the list of write-offs is seemingly endless.
On Holmes’ video, many influencers noted that the amount of things that can be written off during tax season is “insane.”
“And as a travel content creator I get to write off my travel,” travel blogger @whereintheworldisnina said. “And lots of other stuff!”
“Being a small business owner has its perks,” another person added. “I write off my entire house mortgage because my office is in my basement.”
Other people who aren’t as familiar with the business of being an influencer were just plain shocked.
Before you make a YouTube channel just to get “free clothes,” you should consult a tax expert to learn more about how write-offs work. Write-offs lower your taxable income, thereby lowering how much you owe in taxes. At the end of the day, you will still be paying something for those trips and clothes.
Every entrepreneur is after two things: exposure and profit. As the co-founder of multiple million-dollar companies, I can fully appreciate the power of networking and have gone as far as closing high-ticket sales through a single social media message. Here are some tips for networking effectively:
1. Create a personal brand.
What all of my businesses have in common is that they are focused on personal branding for individuals and businesses. With the rise of social media, having a rock-solid personal brand has become absolutely essential across the board. Getting prestigious mentions, appearing on Instagram and Facebook lives to share a message and engaging with one’s followers are the keys to success in 2020 and beyond.
The importance of having a credible personal brand is so that people can see your creativity, vision, consistency and reputation when they go to your profile. If you’re putting out consistent brand content with the angle you want to work on, it’s much easier for influencers to take you seriously and eventually work with you. Your personal brand goes far beyond entertaining or informing your followers. It’s your own personal billboard.
2. Reach out on social media.
Through my latest venture organizing celebrity loop giveaways, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the world’s most renowned names, such as artist Snoop Dogg, comedian Kevin Hart, actress Bella Thorne and more. My way of going about sales is quite unconventional. I often “slide into the DMs” and make conversation that then grows into a sale.
While some say sliding in DMs is risky, I abide by the phrase “no risk, no reward.” If you aren’t willing to take risks in business, you need to honestly ask yourself why. Obviously don’t go and DM Drake hoping he will save your company, but you need to assess if the risk is attainable based on your skill set and brand. Start small and slowly work your way up.
3. Communicate to negotiate.
I’ve always been drawn to high-profile people. Money aside, I love their motivation and mindset. Since I share the same mindset, it isn’t hard for me to establish a connection. We always mutually benefit one another. In business, everything is a two-way street. Communication and negotiation are crucial.
The best way to negotiate is to figure out what the other person wants most out of the deal. Once you figure that out, you can then present an opportunity that’s valuable to them. It’s not about the cost; rather, it’s about how much value you can provide. What can they gain? How can you provide for them? Answer those questions, and you will be a master negotiator.
4. Be enthusiastic and put in the work.
My secret to networking isn’t all that secretive, after all. I simply approach everyone with a genuine attitude and enthusiasm. I back up this enthusiasm with a relentless work ethic because dreams alone don’t work. I put a lot of work into the process and do a lot of research into the celebrity, their team, and their management. Then, I tailor my pitch and send it off to the team. These are the fundamental steps of the process that I follow each time. I want to pioneer the industry as a leader, and one aspect that is crucial to me is that my team and I uphold the values of hard work, networking and showing up with enthusiasm on a daily basis.
As one of my best clients, Ricky Carruth, would say: “Relationships over transactions.” I’m not in this business to take advantage of people, but I’m in it to help others. Where can I provide value? How can I get everyone satisfied with my output? When you ask those questions, you will be setting yourself up for success.
Placing a heavy focus on minimal details such as a varied colour palette and direct typography, United Sodas of America takes a different path to packaging design.
When it comes to packaging, most designers tend to zoom in on the details, looking endlessly for an illustrator to work with, or an inventive approach to its labelling, maybe – or even an extra bold typeface to catch someone’s eye off the shelf. It seems little attention is often paid to the actual vessel, an element thought of as a non-negotiable factor handed over from the manufacturer. Yet the newly launched United Sodas of America pushes against this design approach, surprisingly placing its can’s shape centre stage and in turn making the everyday become iconic.
The result of over two years worth of work by Brooklyn-based brand design company Center, the design approach for United Sodas of America is built around the idea of reinventing soda and an audience’s initial perception of it. Beginning by studying and visually riffing off the name provided – as well as the brief’s leading question: “What if soda was invented in 2020?” – the agency’s founder Alex Center notes that the team (made up of Kevin Batory, Ashleigh Bowring, Pete Freeman, Andrew Galloway and Alex himself from Center, and Marisa Zupan and Kate Reeder from United Sodas) first identified soda as “a classic American beverage”. Therefore in its attempt to reinvent it aesthetically, the agency and brand should purposefully “embrace that, not avoid it,” he tells It’s Nice That. Center’s focused on the idea to add very little to the can visually, creating a minimalistic identity that manages to retain the same nuanced detail of its neighbours in the fridge.
The most obvious design decision when looking at Center’s approach is the colour palette used, again a concept driven from the product’s name. The inclusion of a 12 colour rainbow-like selection is a purposeful step away from the red, white and blue we often associate with the US, developed from the team feeling that “in a world that sees just red and blue, variety unites,” explains Alex. Collectively believing in this concept also led United Sodas of America to launch with 12 available flavours, and include one of each in their flagship variety pack. “That’s not normal for a beverage company,” adds Alex. “So that’s why the brand is so colourful, because the idea is that within the range of flavours, everyone is going to find one that speaks to them. A flavour for every flavour, if you will.”
Despite its simplicity, deciding upon this unified yet wide ranging colour palette took the team’s time. As Alex points out: “With a brand that is as minimal as United Sodas, all of the details needed to be perfect”. Beginning by tracing back the approaches of great American midcentury colour masters and colour field painters, including Ellsworth Kelly, Clyfford Still, Helen Frankenthaler and Mark Rothko, Center’s team aimed towards utilising colour as “a way of creating deeper meaning” as these artist had, referencing their colour palettes as a starting point.
More specific shades were then selected when it came to assigning colours to flavour, an approach which suitably “thought beyond just ‘the colour of the fruit’,” says Alex. Referencing not only flavour but wider ingredients, personality and a feeling, each comes together “in a tone that created an entire immersive experience, a flavour world,” he continues. This was also inspired by how the painters mentioned often made their own paints. “Clyfford Still used to mix them in his garage, Frakenthaler added extra oil to get the paints to mix with the canvas, creating a more complex tone,” points out Alex, “so, of course, a simple ‘blue’ wouldn’t do it for sour blueberry!” Each of these careful decisions add nuance to United Sodas of America’s branding, and is an area Center will continue to explore, “with more visuals, copy and sounds that make each a complete sensory experience.”
Aside from colour, the beverage’s branding is then brought to life through typography. The decision to use Klim Type Foundry’s Founders Grotesk as the main brand typeface was driven from a want to “feel unbranded”. Founders Grotesk offers “just the right amount of trustworthiness and directness but also some quirk to it,” says Alex. “It’s matter-of-fact and informative at times, and humorous at others.”
With United Sodas of America now launched in a design style which utilises minimalism “to represent the idea of a new America,” Center’s branding has piqued the interest of many with its unique approach. Reflecting on this, Alex adds: “The reaction has been truly everything we could have hoped for, and more,” he tells us. “We’ve been working on this project since we launched the studio in 2018 and have been itching to get it into people’s hands ever since.” For the founder, it’s been an additionally rewarding experience, given his background of working at Coca-Cola and across the wider beverage industry. “To go out on my own and put together a team of amazing humans that are building this iconic brand, I’m just so insanely proud.”
It’s that time again, when we look back at the agencies, the brands, the organizations, movements and trends that have shaped the past year. In 2020 – a year so many of us would like to forget – our industry of problem solvers proved time and again that they have what it takes to muck in, help out, ask questions, shape cultures and change the world. It is them that we celebrate in our New Year Honors.
Lockdown has been a lucky break for TikTok. The short-form social video platform has seen its growth catalysed and its place in the cultural zeitgeist secured, while successfully pursuing advertisers’ budgets in straitened times.
While many expected TikTok to have a decent 12 months (we included it in last year’s New Year Honors after it took pole position as the youth social platform of choice and somersaulted creators such as Lil Nas X to the top of the charts) few would have predicted the highs and lows the platform has faced this year.
This year, big brands chased young users making a home in its endless archives of short-form films. While they’re still experimenting with how to engage with TikTok users, it has begun to siphon off spend from more established channels and will continue to do so, with a Kantar study finding two-thirds of senior marketer planning to increase their spend on the app next year.
TikTok has been proactive in encouraging that migration, launching its TikTok for Business portal in the summer and touting its ability to help place advertisers right in the thick of its rapid-fire discourse by sponsoring hashtags and sparking trends. It has also actively courted creators from other platforms, expanding the toolkit available to those with large followings and working in partnership to secure their status on the platform – an innovative approach compared to the hands-off policies of many social networks to date.
That policy has not just been in aid of expansion. TikTok’s rising star has already attracted would-be competitors of its own, most prominently US short-form app Triller. It’s unlikely that app will catch TikTok’s ascendancy, though it has tried to prise away stars such as Charli D’Amelio with the aid of a sizable war chest. TikTok itself has responded with its first advertising campaigns, growth among older demographics and a recent design tweak that will soon enable videos of up to three minutes in length – developments that signal ambitions beyond capturing just the youth market and which likely suggest designs upon YouTube’s throne.
Most of all though, the app has survived its stint as a political football. Banned in India, TikTok was handed an ultimatum by President Donald Trump: sell up to an American operator or get out of town. Following a scare over the app’s data policies, the president tried to squeeze the platform and remarkably failed. Although a sale seemed likely, the deadline set by President Trump came and went without the threatened official ban; TikTok shed a US chief executive officer in the form of Kevin Mayer, but gained street cred and avoided the worst-case scenario. An unusual approach to lobbying, but one that paid off nonetheless.
Feature Image: TikTok launched its TikTok for Business portal in the summer
Yesterday, I witnessed one of the finest pieces of digital marketing that I’ve seen for some time.
For 24 hours my social feeds on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook were clogged with branded content that’d been shared by my friends, connections and followers.
It was an onslaught of user shared content and a tour de force of brand dominance. The campaign in question was called ‘Your 2020 Wrapped’ by Spotify.
The music app’s campaign was simple – show their users what they’d been listening to – and offer them the chance to share this information on social media. Their user’s accepted.
On the same day that Spotify launched this campaign, MyWallSt reported that their share price had risen by 13%.
This graph (from Google) highlights a marked spike on 2nd December, the day Spotify launched ‘Your 2020 Wrapped’.
Contents
Are Social Shares Worth Anything?
I’m faced with a lot of emails – a large percentage of them are about one thing – ‘links’.
I receive requests about guest blogging, updating old content, link exchange proposals, monetary offers – you name it, these people are willing to give it in exchange for a simple URL inserted on our website.
This is an example of a very, very bad outreach email.
Why is it then, in an age when every other marketer and website owner is tilting towards a link-building, Google optimised strategy, that an established brand can increase their share price by 13% in one day with shareable content?
In the remainder of this article, I’ll investigate the value of the social media share, whilst uncovering the 5 steps to the most shareable content on the internet.
And as usual, we’ll have take-aways, videos, supporting images, examples, explainers and tons of shareable content…
Shares and Long Term Results, Is There a Correlation?
The main objective of this article is to provide you with something that you can take-away and action (if you’re mildly entertained – that’s a bonus) because I know social shares can have a big impact on your long-term success.
It might not say it in the textbooks, or the guides, or even list it in the depths of the marketing annuls, but social shares have a noticeable effect on long-term results. Many of the best performing content on Einstein Marketer (in terms of evergreen content scores) are located on pages that boast the highest social share counts.
For example, this is one of our most shared blogs and coincidently, one of our most visited too…
I’m not suggesting that social shares have a direct impact on search ranking, but the evidence shows that more shares = more results.
A study by CognitiveSEO discovered that the top 4 results on search engines have significantly more Facebook activity (with shares being a key part of that).
Shares aren’t just valuable in the short-term. These social signals have an impactful knock-on effect.
Social Shares As Social Proof
Regular readers will understand the delicate balance required to succeed with social proof, and this knowledge is pretty handy when it comes to understanding the importance of social shares (and how to get more of them).
If you weren’t there, here’s what you need to know:
Social proof is the theory that we are impacted by the decisions of the people in front of us
72% of people copied the action of the person in front of them (in our real-world marketing test)
Our Facebook ads performed better when social proof was inserted into the advertising copy (watch the videos if you don’t believe me!)
Social proof doesn’t work well when used in the incorrect places (i.e. in promotions for luxury brands)
Showing your target market that you’re popular by using social proof signals, can help your marketing performance
If you missed it, here’s a video of me handing out leaflets on the streets, to prove the theory of social proof:
Social media shares act as digital recommendations.
Yes, they look amazing on the page and that definitely has an impact on the psychology of your target audience, but more importantly, they allow us to see what the people we trust most recommend.
Who would you trust more:
Your mother
A stranger
This kind of social proof is invaluable for digital businesses – and reveal one reason why it’s so important for content creators and marketers to aim for ‘shareable content’.
The 5 Steps to The Most Shareable Content on the Internet
Before we dive into our 5 steps to the most shareable content on the internet (a grand claim, I know), I need to draw your attention to an article I published a little while ago called, The Psychology of Sharing.
In this article, I analysed a three-part research program conducted by The New York Times known as ‘The Psychology of Sharing’.
The study revealed that the most likely reason people share content is to:
Bring Valuable or Entertaining Content to Others
Define Themselves to Others
Grow and Nurture Relationships
Enjoy Having Others Engage
Spread/Share Good Causes
With that knowledge in the bag, and these 5 points acting as a useful reference point for the rest of this article, it’s time to get into the content marketing tactics that will create irresistibly shareable content.
1. Personalisation
Let’s go back to the very start of this article when I praised Spotify for their excellent ‘Your 2020 Wrapped’ feature.
The one word in this campaign that made all the difference was ‘Your’ – this possessive pronoun (thank me later for the English language lesson) is the reason that they received so many social shares.
If Spotify had created a feature called ‘2020 Wrapped’, and sent their users the best performing artists, songs and genres of the year in total, their results would’ve been very different.
As revealed in The New York Times study, a top reason why people share content is ‘to define themselves to others’ – and let’s face it, there are few better ways to define yourself than by sharing the music you listen to.
Ever seen a t-shirt like this? This is a real-world equivalent of Spotify’s Wrapped campaign.
Personalisation is a key stepping stone towards the holy grail of virally shared content and Spotify hasn’t been the only ones to notice.
A bigger brand has made a bigger splash, with a bigger marketing campaign based on the shareability of their personalised content.
Coca-Cola’s ‘Share a Coke’ campaign is one of the most famous marketing campaigns in recent memory – and I couldn’t write an article about creating shareable content without mentioning its name.
The campaign involved Coca-Cola removing their brand name from labels and replacing them with the 250 most popular names of each country they were released in.
A bit too sugary for my taste, but a purchase is tempting when the product has my name on it.
In the first year of the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign, photos were tagged with the hashtag ‘#shareacoke’ more than 500,000 times, and Coca-Cola gained more than 25 million Facebook followers (Source: Investopedia).
The personalisation of their products gave them the leverage to increase product sales AND the platform to build on their growth – thanks to the shareability of their personalised bottles.
Before 2011, Coca-Cola had seen ups and downs but never surpassed its peak share price in 1998. After their ‘Share a Coke’ campaign, their share price did nothing but rise until 2020.
How to Personalise Your Content For Shares
Creating shareable content via personalisation requires one very important thing: data.
Without information, you simply can’t personalise anything.
For instance, regular readers will know that my name is Josh, and therefore have enough data to personalise a message to me. A message or comment like this will capture more of my attention than one addressed as ‘Dear Sir’.
Data is a touchy subject – but nobody seems to care when it’s used to let us show off, as Spotify’s campaign proved.
Spotify succeeded because they had collected tons of data from their customers. Coca-Cola succeeded because they had enough resources to create a blanket personalisation campaign.
We don’t all have the budgets or data holding of companies like Spotify and Coca-Cola, so here are a few ways that anybody can use personalisation in their marketing campaigns and content to increase shareability:
Know your audience: Start with a customer avatar, create stuff that will help your ideal customer.
CRM Tags: Tag actions and behaviours in your customer relationship management software, and use this to inform future promotions, e.g. tag everyone who buys specific products and tailor their future communications around it.
Pixel/Cookies: Track behaviours and actions on your website and create custom audiences based on this behaviour, e.g. clicks, scrolls, URL visits, conversions. Retarget each segment with personalised content.
Collect More Data: Use sign-up forms to collect as much information as possible – first names, last names, company names, location etc. Use this information in communications.
Analytics: Use Google Tag Manager and Analytics to track what content your audience is most in tune with, and create more of it!
Implement a Live Chat: Create a live chat/messenger option for website visitors and personalise their conversation and future interactions with your website.
2. Let Them Share!
I see too many talented creators and marketers fail to offer their audience the chance to share their work.
It’s as easy as this:
Click on the share buttons below to spread the word:
BTW: The social share buttons (above) are provided by a company called Social Warfare. They act as a WordPress plugin. Install these (or a similar plugin), activate them and add them to your website – it’s not rocket science.
Calling your audience to share shouldn’t be restricted to written content, it should be done in videos and podcasts. too The best times to do this are at the start and end of your content.
These sharing recommendations are known as a ‘call-to-action’.
We can explain why calls-to-action work, thanks to a 1966 book by James J Gibson, called The Senses Considered as Perpetual Systems.
Good luck to anybody who tries to read this – it’s not for the faint-hearted.
Gibson coined a term known as ‘affordances’. This explains why certain objects have properties that direct us to take action.
For example, when we see a button, we instinctively know (and want) to press it, when we see a doorknob, we know to twist it, when we’re faced with a switch, we want to flip it.
Thanks to digital, affordances have stretched much further than simply flicking and turning switches. We know to pinch our fingers to zoom in, double-tap to like (on Instagram) and drag down to reload pages.
It’s up to you to provide your audience with the correct sharing ‘affordances’, so they’ll instinctively want to share your content.
Unfortunately, there isn’t an option to add 3D knobs and switches to your content, but, as you’ve already noticed, there are some powerful ways to use share buttons in your content:
Make it visible: Use floating bars at the side or bottom of your content to keep your share buttons in-view at all times. When the ‘I want to share’ moment hits, the option needs to be there.
Embed share buttons: Don’t ram sharing buttons down your audience’s throat, embed them where appropriate
Ask, be polite: Don’t tell your audience to do stuff, ask them politely. Many of them will understand the importance and impact of a social share and will do so if you ask.
Use incentives: A click-to-tweet is effectively a free piece of content for your audience, offer them the incentive. Alternatively, offer them offers/deals etc within your email content in exchange for shares.
Colours: Green’s and oranges are the most commonly used CTA colours, why not try using them in your social share buttons. It might be worth testing.
Show share numbers: If your content regularly receives high levels of shares, put a share counter beside your share buttons. This technique uses social proof to encourage more shares – just don’t overdo it!
3D Buttons: Design your share buttons so they look like they’ll depress when they’re clicked on. Alternatively, change their design when a mouse hovers over them.
3. Stand Out!
Doing the same thing as everyone else achieves below-average results – especially when you’re relatively new in content.
It pays to stand out – and the currency for your achievements are social shares.
The number one reason that people share content in The New York Times study was ‘to bring valuable or entertaining content to others’. People are inherently social creatures, and they are always looking at ways of helping their social circles (and raising their standing within it).
Standing out requires creativity, skill, ingenuity and having the bravery to go against the grain, or in the words of a Nobel prize winner:
‘The opposite of a great idea is another great idea.’
Niels Bohr
A sports brand like Nike would be well advised to use athletes in their ads as aspirational figures that are aligned with their products. However, one of their most virally shared campaigns was their ‘Find Your Greatness’ ad, where they did the exact opposite:
Or a drink brand like Guinness should – to any rational thinker – hide that their product is slow to pour, but instead they advertise it like a badge of honour.
And it’s one of the foremost reasons that at a time when everyone is publishing as much content as possible, I’ve decided to reduce the number of blogs being published on Einstein Marketer, in order to raise the level of quality that’s associated with our brand.
Great ideas come at both ends of the spectrum. Find which end suits you and create content that warrants the ‘stand out’ motivated share.
And if you need further inspiration, here’s an apology from KFC that received tons of shares for ‘stand out’ reasons:
How to Make Your Content ‘Stand Out’
The Austrian psychologist, Ernest Dichter, released a study in 1966 about word-of-mouth marketing.
He discovered that the most common reason for somebody to recommend a product to a friend was ‘product involvement’. This occurred when an experience with a product was so novel and pleasurable that it simply had to be shared.
You must aim to elicit that same feeling with your content.
A brand that have achieved this with their content is Blendtec, with their infamous YouTube videos, ‘Will it Blend?’:
But, how can you use content to stand out and gain those all-important social shares? Here are a few ways that we’ve used them in the past:
Think of a good idea and do the opposite: Let’s face it, you aren’t the only person online creating content – your good idea has probably been executed before. Why not flip it on its head and try the opposite?
Do something immeasurable: Almost everything online can be tracked, but why not try something that can’t be tracked – have longer conversations with prospects, post less, post more, publish elsewhere, go offline, create branded merchandise.
Create nonsense: I only know one brand of blender, because Blendtec is the only one who created nonsense content with their product. If you have a product, try some nonsense for yourself.
Be honest: Trust is one of the hardest commodities to find online – being honest about yourself, your brand and your journey will stand out from the crowd.
4. Positivity
I’m smiling already.
‘Positivity’ is an especially relevant point for me because I regularly share it. My most recent retweet (at the time of writing) was about the world’s first Covid-19 vaccination:
And I’m not the only one, in Contagious: Why Things Catch On, Jonah Berger and his colleague analysed seven thousand articles to discover what elements contributed to their most emailed articles.
Add this book to your reading list
They discovered that there were two primary factors that led to the sharing of articles:
How positive the article was
How excited it made the reader
Joy is a feeling that we instinctively want to share it with others. Spreading happiness builds and nurtures relationships and gives us enjoyment (both of these are top 5 psychological share factors according to The New York Times study).
News sites like Good News Network are often seen shared on social media.
The message itself doesn’t have to be positive to incite positive sharing feelings. As brands and marketers, it can be difficult to find feel-good topics when we’re creating content about our products or problem-fixes.
Instead, we can use easter eggs (hidden gems in our content) or our medium delivery to spark joy in our audience. Check out this promotional video about train safety:
This video for Dumb Ways to Die has been viewed more than 200 million times on YouTube and even has a mobile app.
Try watching that video and telling me that you don’t want to hit these share buttons…
If your singing voice isn’t quite up to a catchy new jingle, and you’re fresh out of inspirational stories, there are other ways to generate positivity.
Excitement and positivity are similar emotions, you can use either to create the shareable content you’re seeking.
Here are a few ways to make your content more positive and your shares more frequent:
Release dates:If you have a product, content or changes to your business that will impact your customer positively – create content about them and build excitement. Computer game companies earn $$$ in pre-orders from shares of their release date promos.
Product teasers: If you have something that’s in development, a completed prototype or potential change to your services – create a content teaser and post it on social media. Think positively!
Staff stories: We’re social creatures, and people love people. Try using your own funny industry-related stories, or those of your staff.
Video: It’s much easier to share positive emotions about a mundane topic when you’re on video on doing it.
Curate: Use your social channels to curate positive news from other sources. You won’t own the content, but you’ll be the messenger.
Think positively: Don’t force the feeling. Positive vibes radiate off you when you’re in the zone and will flow into your content too. Enjoy the process!
5. Stories
In 1996, a few weeks before the Olympic Games, a young athlete was diagnosed with stage 3 testicular cancer. A year later, after undertaking chemotherapy and having the cancer removed, he was declared cancer-free and started his own foundation.
The man was Lance Armstrong, his foundation, Livestrong. Fast forward 7 years and Armstrong had just picked up a record-breaking 6th consecutive Tour de France.
This seemingly impossible story led to Nike selling more than 80 million yellow wristbands with his foundation’s ‘Livestrong’ branding:
It’s probably best not to mention what happened to Armstrong a few years later.
This yellow bracelet went ‘purchase viral’, and the same thing happens to content and marketing campaigns when they’re attached to the correct story.
In the UK, many people eagerly await John Lewis’s Christmas advert (if you’re not a Brit, John Lewis is a large department store) because they’re always built around touching stories.
When these ads drop, you cannot move on social for shares of their video.
My favourite John Lewis ad wasn’t even created by them. In this ad, Twitter teamed up with a man named John Lewis, who lives in Virginia, US and owns the Twitter handle @JohnLewis. Because of his username, he is regularly inundated with tags, mentions and requests from UK twitter users:
Since @johnlewis tweeted this ad, it has been shared more than 25k times from his account alone.
BTW: If you haven’t seen a John Lewis Christmas advert, check them out on YouTube.
Stories are an amazing way to elicit emotion. They give us the opportunity to share good causes (like the Livestrong band), build relationships and entertain others – 3 big psychological reasons why we share content.
I opened this blog with a story about Spotify to capture your attention, and I’ve weaved in several more to keep you engaged. As a creator, marketer and entrepreneur, you must understand the value of attention.
A great story can pull new audiences from their ferociously busy newsfeeds – giving you the chance to convert that into a share.
Watch me briefly explain the value of attention on stage at EMC 2020.
How to Use Stories In Your Content
Stories are everywhere, it’s just a matter of knowing how to find them. Here are a few ways that anybody can use stories to create irresistibly shareable content:
Brand stories: Your business must’ve started for a reason, and there has to be some background to this. This is your brand story – you simply have to use it. Think of the emotional steps that took you from where you were, to where you are today.
Customer stories:This type of story are great on landing and sales pages because they increase conversion rates. Ask your existing customers to talk about their life (in relation to your product’s problem-solving ability) before and after they found you. Use quotes and videos to build trust in your brand.
Progress updates: Nobody ever started at the top of the tree. If you’re on your way up, show your audience every step along the way. We are all living, breathing stories. Use updates to build a community who are invested in yours.
Vlogs/blogs: Vlogs and blogs are a great way to go into more detail about your journey. You can reveal problems you’ve faced, shortcuts and advice.
The 5 Steps to the Most Shareable Content On the Internet
There we have it – the 5 steps to the most shareable content on the internet.
We’ve been through highs and lows, witnessed some great modern marketing campaigns, and put the theory of shareable content to the test with examples and explanations.
As a quick recap, here are our 5 ways to create shareable content:
Personalisation
Let them share!
Stand out!
Positivity
Stories
If you can tie two or three of these elements together, you’ll create something that is irresistible on social media.
I’ll be back soon with more super-valuable content like this – as always, scroll down to the bottom of this page to subscribe for updates…
…and please share this article to spread the knowledge (and love).
Josh is an award winning content marketer and the Director of Content at Einstein Marketer, previously working as a content manager, freelance copywriter and marketer. He writes, edits, proofs and strategises content for Einstein Marketer’s agency and their clients, sharing the most successful tactics and strategies with his lovely audience. He hates writing in the third person, follow him on the social links (above) so he can get back to writing as himself.
All apps are required to show what data is used to track you, and what data is linked to your identity. Looking at that more comprehensive category reveals some stark differences between four popular messaging apps…
None. (The only personal data Signal stores is your phone number, and it makes no attempt to link that to your identity.)
iMessage
Email address
Phone number
Search history
Device ID
WhatsApp
Device ID
User ID
Advertising Data
Purchase History
Coarse Location
Phone Number
Email Address
Contacts
Product Interaction
Crash Data
Performance Data
Other Diagnostic Data
Payment Info
Customer Support
Product Interaction
Other User Content
Facebook Messenger
Apps have to show what data is used in what way — categorized by such things as third-party advertising and developer marketing. Some data is shown in more than one category, but it was easy enough to de-dupe them in the above apps. With Facebook Messenger, in contrast, the list is so long I have to list it in full.
Third-Party Advertising
Purchases
Purchase History
Financial Info
Other Financial Info
Location
Precise Location
Coarse Location
Contact Info
Physical Address
Email Address
Name
Phone Number
Other User Contact Info
Contacts
Contacts
User Content
Photos or Videos
Gameplay Content
Other User Content
Search History
Search History
Browsing History
Browsing History
Identifiers
User ID
Device ID
Usage Data
Product Interaction
Advertising Data
Other Usage Data
Diagnostics
Crash Data
Performance Data
Other Diagnostic Data
Other Data
Other Data Types
Developer’s Advertising or Marketing
Purchases
Purchase History
Financial Info
Other Financial Info
Location
Precise Location
Coarse Location
Contact Info
Physical Address
Email Address
Name
Phone Number
Other User Contact Info
Contacts
Contacts
User Content
Photos or Videos
Gameplay Content
Other User Content
Search History
Search History
Browsing History
Browsing History
Identifiers
User ID
Device ID
Usage Data
Product Interaction
Advertising Data
Other Usage Data
Diagnostics
Crash Data
Performance Data
Other Diagnostic Data
Other Data
Other Data Types
Analytics
Health & Fitness
Health
Fitness
Purchases
Purchase History
Financial Info
Payment Info
Other Financial Info
Location
Precise Location
Coarse Location
Contact Info
Physical Address
Email Address
Name
Phone Number
Other User Contact Info
Contacts
Contacts
User Content
Photos or Videos
Audio Data
Gameplay Content
Customer Support
Other User Content
Search History
Search History
Browsing History
Browsing History
Identifiers
User ID
Device ID
Usage Data
Product Interaction
Advertising Data
Other Usage Data
Sensitive Info
Sensitive Info
Diagnostics
Crash Data
Performance Data
Other Diagnostic Data
Other Data
Other Data Types
Product Personalization
Purchases
Purchase History
Financial Info
Other Financial Info
Location
Precise Location
Coarse Location
Contact Info
Physical Address
Email Address
Name
Phone Number
Other User Contact Info
Contacts
Contacts
User Content
Photos or Videos
Gameplay Content
Other User Content
Search History
Search History
Browsing History
Browsing History
Identifiers
User ID
Device ID
Usage Data
Product Interaction
Advertising Data
Other Usage Data
Sensitive Info
Sensitive Info
Diagnostics
Crash Data
Performance Data
Other Diagnostic Data
Other Data
Other Data Types
App Functionality
Health & Fitness
Health
Fitness
Purchases
Purchase History
Financial Info
Payment Info
Credit Info
Other Financial Info
Location
Precise Location
Coarse Location
Contact Info
Physical Address
Email Address
Name
Phone Number
Other User Contact Info
Contacts
Contacts
User Content
Emails or Text Messages
Photos or Videos
Audio Data
Gameplay Content
Customer Support
Other User Content
Search History
Search History
Browsing History
Browsing History
Identifiers
User ID
Device ID
Usage Data
Product Interaction
Advertising Data
Other Usage Data
Sensitive Info
Sensitive Info
Diagnostics
Crash Data
Performance Data
Other Diagnostic Data
Other Data
Other Data Types
Other Purposes
Purchases
Purchase History
Financial Info
Other Financial Info
Location
Precise Location
Coarse Location
Contact Info
Physical Address
Email Address
Name
Phone Number
Other User Contact Info
Contacts
Contacts
User Content
Photos or Videos
Gameplay Content
Customer Support
Other User Content
Search History
Search History
Browsing History
Browsing History
Identifiers
User ID
Device ID
Usage Data
Product Interaction
Advertising Data
Other Usage Data
Diagnostics
Crash Data
Performance Data
Other Diagnostic Data
Other Data
Other Data Types
Some have suggested that Apple respond to Facebook’s full-page newspaper ads with a response consisting solely of the above list.
How many people will actually read the app privacy labels, let alone have that influence their choice of messaging app, remains to be seen.
During a Senate hearing today Senator Josh Hawley asked Mark Zuckerberg about Facebook’s mysterious “Centra” internal dashboard. His answers should worry us all.
Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg faced another grilling from the U.S. Senate today, mostly over spurious claims that their social networks are silencing conservative voices in the fallout of the presidential election. One more interesting tidbit from the hearing was when Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri asked Zuckerberg about “Centra,” the name for what he claims is an internal tool Facebook uses to track its users across the internet.
Hawley shared a picture of the purported tool on Twitter, which he says he obtained from a Facebook whistle-blower.
The dashboard, if authentic, shows a litany of data points Facebook has on individual users. And importantly, it highlights how users cannot easily escape the company’s tracking even if they want to.
Break them up — One such label visible in the dashboard, “3 Device Linked IG Accounts,” shows that Facebook can log the same user’s activity on a device even if they switch accounts by using the device’s unique hardware identifiers, like a smartphone’s fixed IMEI number. Basically, you don’t need to be logged into a particular account for the company to know it’s you — create a new Instagram account and device-level identifiers will be used to recognize you’re the same person. When you log in to Facebook on the web, the company drops a “DATR” cookie that will keep track of your activity even after you log out… and for up to two years thereafter.
It’s been previously reported that Facebook uses browser cookies to track people who’ve never created a Facebook account at all, creating “shadow profiles” for those it hopes might create an account later.
The state of ad-tech — None of this is surprising, and Facebook is far from alone in performing this type of tracking — the entire online advertising industry is built upon it. In order to generate a detailed profile on individuals for the purpose of precise targeting, Facebook needs as much visibility as possible into your browsing activity across devices and platforms.
If you switch accounts — or use a smartphone and laptop interchangeably and your browsing activity doesn’t sync across them — advertisers get much less information on you with which to target ads. Fixed identifiers allow Facebook to log user activity even if they’ve logged out, or deleted the Facebook app, or are using a different web browser.
The scope of this tracking may still be surprising to some people, despite awareness that Facebook collects heaps of data. Critics have said that users might be willing to exchange their data for free services, but the vast tracking apparatus used by Facebook and others is so complex as to make it difficult for the average person to know the extent of the tracking.
Apple responded to these privacy concerns with its release of iOS 14, which now requires apps to request permission before they can use a device identifier. Some apps monetize via advertisements from Facebook, which requires the company be able to identify who the user is. Without being able to link an app user to the information Facebook knows about them, the ads lose all the precise targeting secret sauce that makes them valuable. Zuckerberg has said that the change could wipe out billions in revenue. Apple has temporarily paused the change in order to give Facebook time to change its model. Meanwhile, all we hear are tiny violins playing a somber tune.
Abuse potential — The Cambridge Analytica scandal and revelations from Edward Snowden about NSA wiretapping showed how this data can get into the wrong hands even if Facebook doesn’t intend for it to happen. That’s the fundamental concern of privacy advocates — that Facebook is collecting unprecedented data in the interest of advertising, but is a poor steward of data privacy. Laws in the United States regarding privacy aren’t exactly stringent, either, with the Patriot Act effectively giving the government free rein to conduct secret searches of Facebook’s data under the guise of national security. That risks stifling free speech.
During the hearing, Zuckerberg said he wasn’t familiar with Centra. But a rose by any other name would smell as invasive.
If there’s one niche of the business world that never stops evolving, it’s marketing. Digital marketing is highly dependent on the maturation of online technologies and is continuously pivoting and responding to new developments. Having said that, are you prepared for 2021?
The Digital Marketing Trends Set to Define 2021
Now is the time to begin planning ahead to account for the digital marketing trends of 2021. By staying current, you can develop a digital marketing strategy that takes the latest tips, trends, and frameworks into account.
“A good digital marketing strategy gives your company a cohesive plan that is consistent through your many online and offline channels,” Marcel Digital explains. “After all, you want your branding and message to be the same on your point-of-purchase advertising in your stores as it is on your social media pages and website. A cohesive message saves time and effort by not having employees recreate a marketing message for every channel.”
But our focus is not to discuss how to create a cohesive message. While important, we want to dig into the how. In other words, how do you execute once you’ve zeroed in on your message?
Though classic marketing principles and approaches will always prove effective, sometimes it’s helpful to study the latest trends to get a feel for innovative opportunities that can take marketing to the next level. And in this article, we want to focus on a few of the top trends for 2021. Take a look:
1. Live Video
Live video streaming has exploded over the past three years (and will continue to do so over the next decade). Powered by social media platforms, live streaming is available to the masses and provides an avenue for the continued democratization of content. Just consider the following data points as curated by HubSpot:
Internet users watched approximately 1.1 billion hours of live video in 2019.
By 2027, the live video streaming market is expected to hit $184.3 billion.
By 2020, live streaming is expected to account for 82% of all internet traffic.
Those are significant numbers – too significant to ignore. And there are plenty of reasons why businesses are making the jump to live video, including:
There’s almost no learning curve to record live video. There’s no need for a script, props, or post production. You hit the record button and push out live content. It’s casual, relaxed, and relatable.
There’s no requirement for advanced technology. While you can certainly enhance quality with some tech upgrades, a smartphone is all that’s needed to get started.
Live video feels exclusive and commands longer average view times when compared to pre-recorded videos. (There’s a sense of urgency from the viewer that they might not be able to see the content later.)
Live streaming video is used in a variety of capacities and is highly dependent on your brand, goals, and content strategy. However, it’s ideal for things like Q&As with an audience, customer support, special announcements, interviews with influencers, live events, and backstage events.
If you’re new to live video but want to get started, the best piece of advice is to jump in and do it. Try a couple of videos and see what happens. Were you comfortable? Did you enjoy it? Did the audience engage? What can you learn?
Your first shot at live streaming won’t be perfect, but you can always optimize over time.
2. Programmatic Advertising
Another sweeping trend is the growth of programmatic advertising. If paid traffic is part of your strategy for 2021, you need to gain some understanding and proficiency in this area.
As MarTech Advisor explains, “Programmatic advertising is the process of automating the buying and selling of ad inventory in real-time through an automated bidding system. Programmatic advertising enables brands or agencies to purchase ad impressions on publisher sites or apps within milliseconds through a sophisticated ecosystem.”
Over the past couple of years, programmatic advertising has become the preferred method of running ad campaigns. It offers real-time insights, enhanced targeting capabilities, increased transparency, better budget utilization, and provides a way to combat ad fraud effectively.
Programmatic advertising can be deployed in a variety of channels and formats, including display ads, video ads, social ads, audio ads, native ads, and digital out-of-home (DOOH) ads.
Contrary to how traditional media buying works, programmatic advertising doesn’t usually involve publishers and advertising working together in a one-to-one fashion. The type of programmatic deal – such as real-time bidding, private marketplaces, preferred deals, or programmatic guaranteed – determines how they’re delivered.
3. Voice Search
Would it surprise you to learn that approximately 27 percent of the online global population uses voice search on mobile? Or that more than 1 in 3 US internet users use a voice assistant monthly (up from just 9.5 percent in 2018).
Consider that by the end of 2020, roughly 30 percent of all internet browsing sessions will include voice search. And that more than half of adults use voice search on a semi-regular basis.
The writing is on the wall. Voice search will soon become the preferred method of browsing the internet. It’s faster, hands-free, and ultimately more convenient.
So what does that mean for digital marketing? Well, it changes everything, particularly on the content strategy side of things. People speak differently than they write. Consider, for example, someone searching for a pizza restaurant. Their queries might look like this:
Typed: pizza restaurant Bronx
Spoken: What’s the best pizza restaurant in the Bronx?
Voice search is ushering in a new age of SEO and content creation where long-tail keywords are the focus. Natural, conversational language wins the day. Brands that adapt to this style will see their SEO rankings improve and search traffic scale.
In terms of blogging strategy, brands should focus on developing content that answers questions. People go to Google when they have a question and the search engine knows this. So in an effort to satisfy their users, they’re elevating content that answers very specific questions.
4. Interactive Content
Online users are growing bored with basic blog posts and static content. They want to be stimulated. They also want control over their experiences. And these desires are currently culminating in the rise of interactive content.
Research shows that interactive content gains 2X more engagement than static content. This has led 34 percent of marketers to include interactive content in at least 10 percent of their strategies.
The most popular types of interactive content include quizzes, polls, interactive infographics, AR, VR, and online calculators.
Interactive content is typically just a subsegment of the larger content strategy. But in 2021 and beyond, it’s going to become an even bigger portion. While many brands are currently developing one piece of interactive content for every nine pieces of static content, that number will likely increase to 20 percent.
5. Shifts in Influencer Marketing
In 2016, the influencer marketing industry was worth an estimated $1.7 billion. By the end of this year, it’s projected to be worth somewhere north of $9.7 billion.
People like to hate on influencers, but they’re effective. The earned media value for money spent on influencer marketing was roughly $18 for every dollar spent in 2019. And over the last three years, there’s been a 1500% increase in brands searching for “influencer marketing” on Google. In other words, it’s effective and here to stay. But as we enter into 2021, this industry will undergo significant shifts that will ultimately change the way businesses approach marketing and advertising.
One of the biggest shifts will be the rise in micro influencers. These are influencers who have small yet loyal followings (anything less than 10,000 followers). And what they lack in reach (compared to large influencers), they make up for with high engagement and affordability.
It’s also possible that we’ll see an increase in performance-based influencer marketing. In the past, it’s always been sort of a flat fee deal. Businesses pay per post and the influencer gets the same amount of money no matter what happens on the engagement front. But as the influencer arena gets more competitive, brands will gain more leverage. Soon, we could see payment based on the number of clicks, comments, or even sales.
Ultimately, the changes in this space will be dictated by consumers. Followers make it clear what they do and don’t respond to by the type of engagement they offer. As brands and influencers gather more data and analytics from these types of posts, they’ll iterate and zero in on what works best.
Hit the Refresh Button on Your Digital Marketing
No digital marketing strategy is set in stone. As you approach 2021, take the time to understand the new trends so that you can shift your strategy into a direction that aligns with the trajectory of the larger consumer marketplace. Whether it’s live video, programmatic advertising, voice search, interactive content, or shifts in influencer marketing, there’s ample opportunity for growth and expansion.
Frank is a freelance journalist who has worked in various editorial capacities for over 10 years. He covers trends in technology as they relate to business.
Amid the pandemic, Amazon’s ad revenues along with its retail sales have increased as consumers continue to shift to ecommerce at elevated rates. We now forecast even faster growth this year for Amazon’s US ad business than we had expected in March.
It’s critical that marketers stay ahead of the latest B2B buying committee trends. Join eMarketer’s Tech-Talk Webinar, with sponsored content presented by Salesforce. Learn how demand generation leaders are adopting new practices and AI-powered technology to grow ROI and outperform competitors.
Amazon has a unique place in our US digital ad revenue breakout: It’s the only company for which we revised our 2020 estimate upward between March and October. We now expect Amazon to earn $14.55 billion in net US digital ad revenues in 2020.
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