3 must-know ways to make your content and campaigns stick

As marketers, we are always on the lookout for the next big gig that can drive up our engagement factor. Brand engagement has become the mantra of 2016 with everyone gunning for more than just clicks and conversions. They are after the customer outcome that is more valuable than money – their time.

With deafening noise in the online world only increasing by the day, how can you be heard loud and clear? The answer lies on how you let your customer spend a little extra time with you. This comes as a direct outcome of a great content strategy. Here are three things you can do to make your content the ‘glue’ that holds it all together:

1   Storify it

A good story can keep the reading journey interesting and keep us glued to the very end. Then why not use the same principle when it comes to your brand? Make your brand the typical (or not) movie ‘hero’ that we love and narrate how your brand is living its journey with its customers. There are three ways to do this

a)    Via your marketing material: Behind the scenes photos, insider stories, employee testimonials and even innovative solutions provided for a customer problem

b)    Via customer testimonials: Testimonials are a classic way to showcase the light at the end of the tunnel – that’s the destination you want to sell to your customer

c)     Via your “How it works” page: Some products require a little more ‘help’ with their demo before your customer can decide on the purchase. Storify your demographics with a persona and take him / her through the buying process with an animated video that has the classic before-after end

2    Gamify it

Gamifying content means that you’ll link the outcome of the customer / user’s action to a reward. Some great examples of gamified content are short quizzes, games, contests and surveys. While tangible incentives work best, even the chance of winning something interesting can keep your users hooked.

A popular apparel brand recently hosted a contest on social media, which had participants combing through its website to quickly find a particular outfit and shout out the link in the comments. This had a whole bunch of users accidently scanning thorough the site collection and a few came back to become customers!

3    Customify it

Okay, we just made up that word to rhymi-fy it! We’ve heard a lot about how your social media posts can’t sound like a something you shout out to a room full of individuals and instead needs to be customized like a one-on-one conversation. While this may not be possible in all contexts, personalizing your brands touch points like your customer service communication plays a key role in making your customers not feel like ‘just another guy’.

Thanks to user behavior tracking and proper segmentation through the customer lifecycle, even brands with millions of customers can choose to be up close and personal with their users.

Happy Learning

Training.com