The Five New Laws of Content Part One: The Law of Consumption

As promised, we’re delving into the first law of content from our “Five New Laws of Content” white paper today. The first and, for many organizations, the most challenging law, is the Law of Consumption.

The Law of Consumption can be summarized as follows:

As the rate of content consumption increases, the value of fresh content increases.

Let’s think about this for a minute. Do you read any blogs or other content-rich media on a daily basis? If so, which blogs/media do you check in with most frequently? If you’re anything like me, you’re drawn most to the places with the most up-to-the-minute, regularly updated content.

Today, there is more information to read, watch, analyze and share than ever before. Yet, for many, simply consuming these vast tides of information is not enough. We now place a very high premium on the currency of information.

Experience tells us that audience engagement increases as the rate of new, timely content increases. Even content that is written or produced at length (e.g., white papers, collateral, videos) is not immune to the effects of this phenomenon. While people will always appreciate the effort that goes into this “slow content,” they will increasingly seek out the latest — even if it sometimes comes at the expense of the greatest.

As the white paper explains, this may have to do with our physical makeup, and our brain’s tendency to become hardwired to desire more fresh content as it becomes more available.

So why does this law present a significant challenge for content producers? As anyone who has managed a content marketing program knows, good content takes creativity, resources and a significant amount of time to produce. The law of consumption indicates that content is perishable. The content you produce yesterday may be old news today.

In a recent study by the Content Marketing Institute and Marketing Profs, 20% of those polled found that producing enough content was their biggest challenge. This percentage is likely to get larger as the rate of content churn increases.

How will you manage the increasing need to produce more content, more frequently?

Check back next week to learn more as we introduce another challenge for content producers and marketers: The Law of Complexity.

Image via The Storage Effect.

Branding Yourself in a Creative World

Editor’s note: Today’s post was written by guest contributor Stephanie Hides. Stephanie is a Resource Manager at Movéo and is responsible for recruiting new talent to the agency.

People are always asking me: “What can I do to make myself stand out?”  “Can you look at my resumé and give me some pointers?”  “What should I be doing in order to ensure I’m staying current?

The answer is always the same:  Think of yourself as a brand.  This brand has a story, a purpose and is consistent.  This brand is one that every company should want to hire.  And the best part?  While there will be tons of interpreters of the brand, only you get to be the creator and manipulator of your own personal brand.

Copywriter, Programmer, Account Executive — these are each generic titles within the creative field.  Which one are you?  Maybe the answer is none.  Maybe you don’t want to settle for generic and lump your capabilities in with millions of others with this title.  While your background and expertise may fall into one of these categories, it should not define who you are.  Your brand is different.  It’s unique and it’s fun.  No other brand like yours exists and none ever will.

Below are 5 tips to remember when branding yourself amongst a world of creative:

1. Whoever said resumes should fit onto 1 page was NOT in the creative field.  A good story takes more then one page to develop.  Stop worrying about making your font smaller, decreasing your margins or manipulating the format to accommodate what has now become old school and in fact, boring to us hard-to-please recruiters.  Your story is interesting.  Tell it!
2. Websites are not just for designers.  I just had this conversation with my Creative Director last month.  She recalled walking into interviews with her extremely large, very organized, perfectly matted portfolio where she would lay it on the table, imagining how impressed her interviewers would be as she stood up to turn the massive pages during her presentation.  Today, if I have a candidate walk into the office with a hard copy portfolio (although it happens less and less now) and no URL to accompany it, I instantly cringe.  Next!
3. Brands are consistent!  What do you instantly think of when you see a swoosh symbol, or a golden M, or a deer with a green background?  No matter what medium an audience is consuming (TV, web, print, etc.), the awareness of that brand should be instant, and the same goes for your individual brand. So let’s say I attend a networking event and speak to a smart individual who hands me a thick, light blue colored card with white type and a logo or graphic that represents her brand.  When I visit the URL listed on the card, I see the same color scheme, same logo and same type.  When I bring this person in for an interview, the resume, again, has the same visual look.  It’s almost like they started with a mood board and continuously referenced it to make sure everything would be consistent.  In fact, a mood board to start your brand isn’t a bad idea!
4.  Look the part.  Come on!  You are creative!  You are looked upon in your career to be unique, different and cutting edge.  Your fashion should mirror this.  I’m not insinuating you run to the nearest Forever 21 or Guess in order to capture the latest trends.  How you do dress and accessorize, however, should be consistent.  I’m far from a fashion advisor, but having a signature trend or accessorizing conservative attire can be what sets you apart.  Recruiters and hiring managers are interviewing tons of candidates.  Putting a face with a name can become foggy — unless there was something that stands out.
5. Maintaining a positive reputation doesn’t end in high school. The creative world is a small one.  Even here in Chicago, I’m constantly running into people I met years ago, or who know someone I worked with.  And I LIVE by referrals.  Just like high school, it’s very easy to get a reputation.  And unfortunately, the bad ones stick faster than the good ones.  So make sure that you consider your reputation before making decisions — no matter how big or small — that could impact your career and perceived work ethic.  Don’t burn any bridges and always keep an open mind.

Network, network, network — and sell your brand at any given opportunity.  After all, it’s free advertising!  As a recruiter, I can only open doors for you.  I am the facilitator of your dream career.  It takes a masterful person, and brand, to own that career and take it to the next level.

Image via Glassdoor.com

Introducing: The Five New Laws of Content

We’ve been thinking a lot about content here at Movéo. This makes sense, as we recently announced the addition of content marketing to our core offering, but we’re not the only ones with content on our minds. In fact, according to a recent Content Marketing Institute study, 9 out of 10 B2B companies are currently engaged in some sort of content marketing, and 49% plan to increase spending on content marketing over the next year.

However, for such a popular practice, content marketing is still relatively new. As with any nascent enterprise, it is in need of mooring. Realizing this, Brian Davies, a Managing Partner here at Movéo, decided we could all benefit from establishing some workable laws around content. He did just that in a new white paper, “The Five New Laws of Content.”

Over the next four weeks, we’ll break each of the five laws down to a separate blog post on Get There. Check back on Friday when we will introduce the Law of Consumption, which deals with the importance of keeping content fresh. Other laws, including the Law of Complexity, the Law of Reputation, the Law of Evolution and the Law of Exchange, will be explored in subsequent blog posts.

At the end of the series, the white paper covering all five laws will also be available for download. We hope you’ll join in the discussion!

Image via Chicago Press Release.

Why Thinking Mobile Means Thinking About “User Scenarios”

Editor’s Note: Today’s blog post  was written by Irene Westcott, Creative Director at Movéo.

By now, you’ve heard all the impressive statistics –– like the fact that mobile searches have increased 400% since 2010¹, and that smartphones will be the Internet device of choice by 2013.²

But what you may not have heard is how to create impactful content for those millions of mobile devices. And while there are many factors that shape effective mobile content, it all begins with the “user scenario.”

What’s a User Scenario?

User scenarios are about trying to envision where people will be and what they’ll be doing as they consume your content. The goal is to understand how these contextual factors shape their content needs. Keep in mind, user scenarios are not the same as “user personas,” another often-discussed content strategy tool. The difference? User personas are frameworks for understanding people; user scenarios are frameworks for understanding situations.

Here’s a sample user scenario that comes from CMSWire.com and Content Strategist Ahava Leibtag:

User A is at one of our physical stores. He wants to know how much the camera that he is holding in his hand would cost online. Can he save money by buying the camera or any of the accessories online? Is it possible to use the online price in the store to negotiate for a better deal?

Moving from Context to Content

So let’s say that you –– and your crackerjack web team –– have thought through as many user scenarios as you can. Now what? How do you use those insights to create compelling content?

•     Evaluate and prioritize your existing web content

      For the purposes of this post, let’s assume you do not already have a mobile optimized site. Start by looking at the metrics for your traditional website, paying special attention to the pages/features get the most traffic from mobile users. Then map this information against your user scenarios. Content that is popular on your traditional site and that addresses your user scenarios is ripe for mobile delivery. 

•     Identify and address content gaps

      Be prepared: Your user scenarios may raise issues not covered by your current content. In addition, you may find that a popular piece of content is simply too complex to translate directly to the mobile world. As you take stock of what you have, these “content gaps” will need special attention from your designers, writers and strategists 

•     Edit, edit and edit again

      To say that mobile content should be straightforward and brief is a  monumental understatement. In the mobile arena, every piece of communication must be boiled down to its essence and expressed in the tersest way possible. Expect to  hack away at verbiage and visuals until you think you can’t possibly cut anymore. Then go back and do it again. 

•     Make it easy to take action

      Determine upfront what sort of action(s) you want users to take, then optimize your mobile site process for this type conversion. You’ll want to have as few steps as possible; keep forms to just one or two fields and use click-to-call functionality for any phone numbers.     

•     Constantly re-evaluate and optimize

Remember that publishing your mobile content is just the beginning. User needs

–– as well as those of your business –– are always evolving. Be prepared to revisit your content frequently with an eye to making it even more simple, bite-sized and relevant.

 ¹ Google, 2011

² Gartner, 2010

Image via ImpactLab.

Introducing: Movéo’s New Content Offering

The future advances on us whether we adapt to it or not.  And the future for marketers — especially B2B marketers — is indisputably going to include more and more content.

In fact, the future is here. A recent study from the Content Marketing Institute showed that 90 percent of B2B marketers do some kind of content marketing, whether they know it or not. And many marketers are having trouble keeping up — the same study found that 62 percent of companies outsource part or all of their content needs.

And done right, it pays off.  Search engines and content consumers both reward companies that provide meaningful, useful content.  Key words: Meaningful and useful — no one likes to be served up what is essentially content spam.  In fact, Google has committed to improvements in its algorithms to “punish” with lower search rankings what it deems to be thin content sites, such as content farms.  As Erik Kain noted on Forbes.com, “originality, sincerity, and quality are much more important than making sure you get the right SEO tricks down.”*

But content as a marketing tool is a hungry beast.  Because of the exploding use of (and demand for) quality content, good content marketing needs a strategic approach — a disciplined practice of planning content creation, delivery, governance and resource allocation. In essence, marketing professionals need to think like publishers in the way they create and distribute content.

Enter Movéo’s new content offering. 

At its heart is the concept of COPE — Create Once, Publish Everywhere. That means moving from one-off content creation to a strategic process for developing and publishing content. Assets, topics, vehicles and timing for content should be considered holistically before pen gets put to paper to develop a blog post, video concept or white paper.

Pie in the sky, you say? You say you don’t have a blank canvas on which to paint a lovely, best-practice content marketing program? No problem. No one does, unless they are starting their whole company on a blank canvas.

The first step in content marketing strategy is to do an audit of what already exists, with an eye to leveraging anything that can be leveraged. COPE is about working smarter and not harder on content marketing — using and repurposing whatever wheels have already been invented — as well as developing new and purpose-driven content.

The crucial elements of content strategy are familiar ones: 1) clearly identifying the goal to be achieved, and 2) developing a plan to get there. What can be challenging is focusing on what goals are achievable and understanding all the pieces of the content planning puzzle.

But with an audit, a goal and a plan, efficient and steady publishing of quality content is within reach for any marketing department.

Movéo’s content offering is designed to provide a turnkey solution to this challenge. We offer services at every phase of the content marketing cycle — from assessment of content possibilities to content creation and distribution. We hope you’ll join us as we explore content marketing both in our business and here on Get There.

Three Habits of Highly Effective B2B Social Media Marketers

Last week, BtoB Magazine announced the winners of its social media marketing awards. Hobart Corporation, IBM, Constant Contact and Intuit were among the awardees. These companies are all consistently named among the best and brightest in B2B marketing, but there are many other B2B marketing powerhouses that didn’t make the cut. That led us to ask: What is it that separates a truly effective B2B social media marketing effort from a simply average one?

Among the winners from this year’s awards, we noticed three common habits:

1.     They engage. All too often, we focus on “pushing” information about our companies and brands via social media, and forget to interact. However, social media really is a two-way conversation, and to be effective, you must interact with your fans/friends/followers. All of the winning brands from this year’s BtoB awards devote significant time to responding to comments, asking questions and forming relationships with their networks.

Take, for example, Constant Contact. One look at their award-winning Facebook page shows threads rich with back and forth discussion between the company and its customers.

2.     They integrate. While some of BtoB Magazine’s award categories focused on specific social channels (i.e., best Facebook page, best use of LinkedIn), all of the winners integrated their campaigns across various social channels. This is vitally important in today’s media environment where most people are active on more than one social network, and network preferences vary with each individual.

While Ultimate Software’s decision to focus their efforts on LinkedIn was likely based on a finding that its target is most active on that network, the company also wisely acknowledged that their customers are often driven to LinkedIn through their blog and Facebook page. As a result, they integrated LinkedIn callouts into Facebook and the blog channels, and cross-posted blog and Facebook posts on LinkedIn.

3.     They add value. In the early days of social media, simply posting updates about your company, products and customers was enough. Those days are now gone. Today, B2B customers interact with businesses on social media because they expect to get something of value through the interaction. Each of the award winners recognized this fact and found unique ways to offer valuable, brand-relevant resources to their networks.

Hobart Corp’s “Back to Scratch” campaign is a great example. The integrated effort, which used a variety of social channels to encourage culinary and baking professionals to share their passion for from-scratch foods, added value for Hobart customers by giving them an outlet to promote their businesses and a platform through which they could connect with other like-minded professionals.

What other habits of highly effective B2B social media marketers would you add to this list?

February Favorites in B2B Marketing

Since February is officially over, we thought today would be a great day to round up and share some of our favorite posts on B2B marketing from across the web. In fact, we plan to do a roundup like this at the end of every month.

Think we missed something great? Send it our way.

Content Marketing. Content Strategy. What’s the difference? via Altimeter Group.

Content marketing and content strategy are generating a lot of attention in the B2B marketing space right now, but many people still confuse the two. This great article from Altimeter Group explains the difference, and more importantly, explains how the two can — and should — work together.

How Marketing Executives are Adapting to Online Tools via Marketo.

This infographic captures today’s marketing environment perfectly. We weren’t surprised to see that nearly half of marketing executives expect to increase their use of mobile apps in light of last week’s post.

Why B2B Marketers Should be Pinterested via Godfrey B2B Insights Blog

The blogosphere has been flooded with posts on how different industries can leverage Pinterest for marketing, but this is the first post we’ve seen on the site’s application for B2B. We think product-specific and idea-driven pinboards could be a great fit for some B2B companies, and are excited to see how the B2B world begins to embrace Pinterest.

The User Experience: Five Things to Consider When Designing for the Mobile Web

Earlier this week at Movéo, we had a Lunch and Learn session where we explored the user experience and its design implications for mobile applications. We’ve seen an increasing number of our clients express interest in optimizing their sites for the mobile web lately, and for good reason. Mobile browsing has shown explosive growth in the last few years thanks to devices like iPads, iPhones and Android powered smartphones. In 2014, mobile browsing is expected to outpace desktop browsing, and right now, there are six billion active mobile subscriptions. That’s the equivalent of 87 percent of the world’s population.

If your target customer is like the majority of the population, they are browsing the mobile web. To make their experience a positive one, your site needs to be optimized for the mobile web.

Are you wondering where to start when optimizing your site for mobile? Here are five key things to think about:

• Your mobile site should not be a copy of your desktop website. For it to function well on a mobile device, it needs to be designed specifically for the context in which mobile is used. On the go. This means optimizing content into “bite-size” chunks for quick and easy consumption.
• Mobile sites are about tasks. Most users visiting mobile sites are not there just to browse. They are there to complete specific tasks. Identify and limit content to those core tasks but always include a link to the full site.
• Touchscreens replace keyboards and a mouse. The same functionality that works on a desktop doesn’t necessarily translate over to a mobile device. Things like hover and rollover states, small links that are difficult to click, and long forms should be done away with on a mobile site.
• People have shorter attention spans and less patience. Content should be optimized for brevity, and information should be easy to find. For starters, this means using straightforward navigation and making the search bar prominent on the site.
• Data can help. Unsure about what content deserves a spot on your mobile site? Look at analytics data about how people are using your current site on mobile devices. The pages most visited on mobile devices likely deserve a prominent spot on your mobile site.

While we’re on the topic, here are a few of our favorite mobile sites and the reasons we love them.

Are you optimizing your own site for mobile? What challenges have you faced, and what have you learned?

airbnb

The people behind Airbnb realized that, while people looking for accommodations were likely to use their mobile site, people interested in renting out their own homes for travelers (a much more involved process) were not. They optimized their site accordingly and created a user experience focused on the core tasks associated with finding a place to rent.

Etsy

We love how Etsy changed the treatment of their images (a key component of the site) and product information to a more concise format while retaining the integrity of the design. The use of large graphic icons allow for a compact yet intuitive navigation menu.

NK Interactivo

NK Interactivo makes nice use of the vertical scroll layout and keeps things fresh with simple yet powerful graphics. We also like the prominent “view full site” button

Observe other great examples of mobile optimized sites at mobileawesomeness.com.

Are you optimizing your own site for mobile? What challenges have you faced, and what have you learned?

What the New WC3 Privacy Standard Means for Branding

In a new white paper out today from Movéo Integrated Branding, our VP of interactive Services is discussing the World Wide Web Consortium’s new privacy standard and its implications for B2B branding. The white paper is a must-read for anyone who involved in marketing their company on the web.

Here’s are a few of the main points:

• A new standard. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recently released an initial draft of their new standard designed to improve online privacy. The standard builds off a bit of technological innovation called the “Do Not Track” (DNT) HTTTP , which is a small bit of code that the browser uses to communicate with a web server that allows users to tell websites they do not wish to be tracked.
• Implications for marketers. This new standard affects our ability as marketers, to collect data about how users are interacting with the site and turn that data into insights that help us personalize our content and make it more relevant to the user.
• Compliance issues. Site owners and advertisers that do not  embrace the DNT standard will face the wrath of angry consumers and consumer advocacy groups. However, there’s no denying that site owners and advertisers will still want –– and need –– to target their messages.
• A changing environment. Targeted advertising is changing. Users are taking more control over how, when and where advertisers can identify them –– a trend that will only be amplified by the new DNT standard.

2012: The Year of Content Marketing?

In case you haven’t noticed, there has been a great deal of buzz around the topic of content marketing lately. Just before the new year, a Content Marketing Institute study showed that marketers are becoming significantly more confident in the effectiveness of content marketing, and that 60% plan to increase their content marketing spend in 2012. In January, The Post Tribune wrote that the trend among B2B marketers in 2012 is “to dedicate a quarter of their total marketing budgets to content marketing activities.” Just last week, BtoB Magazine’s Steve Callahan declared that content is becoming vital in B2B marketing. With all this positive news, people have been quick to deem 2012 “the year of content marketing,” and they just might be right.

However, we need to be clear on one thing: content marketing is not a brand new concept. In fact, most B2B marketers have been participating in some sort of content marketing activity (think white papers, case studies and newsletters) for years. What has changed is that a strategic approach to content is now being taken by organizations. This has become a necessity in light of the ways the Internet (e.g, social media, nurture marketing, etc.) is revolutionizing content marketing. In 2012, we think the full potential of content marketing might be realized by many forward looking  B2B marketers. Here are three reasons why:

1. The internet makes new types of content possible. In the past, marketers worked with a small and fairly standard set of content marketing tools. Things like case studies, white papers, and print newsletters were popular, and they still are. But now, the content marketer has a whole new set of tools at his fingertips, from blog posts, to social media channels, to webinars and podcasts.  Some of these content tools and types have been around for a few years, but most B2B marketers were not early adopters. Many B2B marketers are just beginning to fully embrace the power of new content types.
2. Social media allows content to be distributed and shared on a much larger scale. In the past, when you put out a content marketing piece, you usually had a pretty good idea of who you would reach. Your white paper might be sent to your list of qualified sales leads, while your newsletter might be sent to existing customers. Now, thanks to social media, your content can reach people across the world with the click of a button. Your blog post, tweet or webinar invitation could be discovered by just about anyone with an interest in your field. If someone appreciates your content and wants to share it, they can do so instantly. Thanks to the internet and social media, we now have more avenues for reaching more people with our content than ever before, and marketers are taking notice.
3. New content types are budget-friendly.  Make no mistake, content marketing is still a big investment in terms of time and effort. However, in comparison to traditional content, the new content types that have been made possible by the Internet are often less expensive to produce. Costs can be cut when things like printing and postage are eliminated. Shorter content is also more acceptable in social media, so content development may be less time-intensive for some new content types. This fact alone will drive many smaller B2B companies with small marketing budgets to jump into content marketing.

What do you think? Will 2012 be the year of content?

image credit: MSLK Reactions.