Content Marketing – Corrao Group Blog

How to Build a Structured Content Calendar

Is your content creation team struggling with staying on top of marketing content? If so, you need a comprehensive digital content calendar. Every company, from start-ups to Fortune 500s, can benefit from the structure of a content calendar, so if you’re not using one, you can start to fall behind. Making sure you have planned content posts in advance is one of the best ways to make sure you are providing the consumer with current and relevant information.

Here are our top 5 tips for creating your digital marketing content calendar!

digital marketing assistance

1. Decide what you want to post

When your content creation team begins to build the calendar, they need to decide what kind of content your company would like to post. If you want to post pictures, social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter would be your best options. If you would like to share information about your company’s services, blogs and emails may be best. Do your research on the times that are best to post for each outlet, as you don’t want your posts to get lost in the abyss of social algorithms.

Another question you need to think about is who your ideal audience is going to be. Your content creation team will want to target the content to your audience, so you need to make sure it’s relevant and interesting to get them coming back for more.

Social Media trends for 2019 that can improve your business

2019 has arrived, and with a new year comes new trends. Social media has been on the rise as one of the main ways people spend their free time with, so it’s important to stay on top of current trends that can set your business up for success. Social media marketing is crucial for businesses in today’s society, and it’s not hard to figure out why.

Here are the top 4 social media trends you should be thinking about this year, with tips on how to implement each!

Video Content

video content social media

Video content has been a major part of social media these last few years, and 2019 will be no different. With Youtube and IGTV on the rise, it’s important to hop on the bandwagon to make sure you are creating content that people want to engage with. Short videos about your company’s products or services are a great way to tell prospects what you can offer them without taking up too much of their time. (Bonus: if you make a fun and compelling video, they will most likely share it with all of their friends).

Vertical videos are huge on social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, and if you want to target to those consumers, you’ve got to change the way you present your content. Creating vertical videos is actually a lot easier too, as you can just start creating videos on your smartphone!

82% of consumers have been encouraged to take action after watching a business marketing video.
90% of consumers watch videos on their mobile.
74% of consumers said that they have been convinced to buy a product or service after watching a brand’s video.

(Wyzowl)

E-commerce

e commerce social media

A lot of brands are now looking to social media to sell their products. With sites like Instagram that allow brands to tag their items right on the post, the buying process has become a lot easier and more straight-forward for the consumer.

Buyers are always on their phones, so it makes sense to market to them there. Creating video content and visual ads through your social media can kickstart your e-commerce business.

Mobile e-commerce sales were projected to make up 63.5% of total e-commerce sales of 2018.
Product videos can increase conversion rates by as much as 144%.

(Social Media Today)

CRM Utilization

social media

CRM software can improve your sales through tools such as templates, campaign management, and marketing automation.

One way you can utilize a CRM, such as Salesforce, is through social media marketing automation. This tool is great for customer service because it can provide consistency for your posts and responses can be quicker. Consistent content is crucial for keeping customers engaged, so utilizing AI and automated messaging is a great way to stay connected even when you’re sleeping. You can also add personalization through these automated messages, which help your customers feel valued.

74% of businesses using a CRM have acknowledged that they have improved customer relations.
CRM software can improve sales by as much as 29%

(Hosting Facts)

User-Generated Content

user generated content social media

Sharing content created by your social media followers is not only a great way to stay engaged, but it’s also an avenue that helps your company stay relevant without having to take the time to research and create content on their own.

Not only will you save time and money, but you will also foster brand loyalty. Sharing user content is also a great way to seem genuine in your marketing approach as you connect with your audience and acknowledge their content. Social channels and blogs are a great place to share user content, and the more you share, the more likely your customers will share!

68% of millennials are receptive to information shared through social media
86% say that user-generated content is representative of brand quality.

(TINT)

social media trends

Social media is always changing, but acknowledging these trends will help your business have a successful year. Videos are a great way to have interesting and digestible content and allow creative freedom. With videos and user-generated content, you will be able to keep customers engaged and willing to purchase your product. A lot of companies don’t have the time to leverage digital marketing experts, such as us at Corrao Group, but we have a full-service digital agency to get you started.

Utilizing a CRM can make this all easier through automation and organization of customer data, and with 10+ years of experience in this realm, we can help!

15 of the Best Email Subject Lines Waiting to be Opened

email marketing

When it comes to email marketing, one of the hardest parts is actually getting prospects to open your email. Even if you have the most valuable, revolutionary information in that email, no one will see it if they don’t open it.

We have curated a list of the 15 best email subject lines just waiting to be opened!

1. The Intriguer

Look what you did…. – Hustle

This type of email subject peaks the curiosity of the reader because they want to remember exactly what they did. The way Hustle used this email subject was to get the reader to open an email from the new list they subscribed to, so it’s fresh in their mind, and they obviously want to hear from their company!

2. The Urgent Statement

$10 OFF—Last Day! – Groupon

Having a sense of urgency, such as “last day!” in this email, always entices a reader to open. If they are a fan of the product or service already and have subscribed to receive alerts, chances are they have been waiting for this email. Also, instead of a percentage off, there’s a straight forward dollar amount, which would get any shopper excited because they won’t have to calculate anything to figure out how much they would be saving!

“Will ABM completely replace my Traditional Marketing strategy”?

One of the first questions asked when looking into Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is, “Will this completely replace our traditional marketing strategy”? While it may seem that way at first, traditional marketing isn’t left in the dust when adopting ABM, the time-tested marketing strategy that focuses on understanding the customer at the account level. In this post, we’re going to go over how traditional marketing is consolidated into Account-Based Marketing tactics, as well as how they’re different.

6 “Best of Breed” Platforms To Draw Visitors To Your Pardot Marketing Funnel

For your marketing funnel, Pardot is a powerful B2B marketing automation machine that works 24-7-365 to increase the velocity of your funnel with incredible synergy with Salesforce. The software is attractive to organizations everywhere because of its ability to engage better than anything else, but there are ways for users to really ramp up their results using supplementary marketing programs.

If you combine Pardot with these six top of the funnel (Awareness Phase) tools, you can save time and see a substantial boost to your marketing efforts!

You don’t collaborate

When all the pressure of content generation is put on one person, it is possible to publish topics unspecific to your customers’ needs. Eliminate these problems by collaborating on topics with every department, not just marketing. Regularly brainstorming new content allows all levels of the organization to be involved.

Don’t limit the creator or content within the workflow!

Your workflow isn’t specific enough

Content workflow has many steps, be sure to specify all responsibilities to reduce the chance of content breaking up along the way. Having a well-documented marketing workflow with strict assignments not only helps with accountability but also reduces the creation of duplicate/irrelevant content.