CELEBRATING MARKETERS WHO ARE UNAFRAID TO TEST, STRETCH, ITERATE AND ADAPT - ALSO INSIDE: DEMAND GENERATION GUIDE
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CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY FOR EXECUTIVES February 2018
FOR THE LOVE OF LIBRARIES
SCORING CONTENT FOR READABILITY
COCA-COLA’S KATE SANTORE
CELEBRATING MARKETERS
WHO ARE UNAFRAID TO
TEST, STRETCH, ITERATE
AND ADAPT.
ALSO INSIDE: DEMAND GENERATION GUIDE
IDEA GARAGE
MARKETOONIST
WHAT’S ONLINE
TALKING INNOVATION
EDITORIAL
SOCIAL WEB
VERTICAL VIEW
TECH TOOLS
A Nod to Tinkering
A
few months ago I decided do some spring cleaning of the tech variety. I was relying on a lot of tools Push past your comfort zone
that weren’t working for me anymore (Google Drive, I’m looking at you), and wanted to try out some by attending the Intelligent
Content Conference in
new ones that promised to make my life a little easier. Las Vegas, March 20 - 22.
In the last 90 days, I’ve switched to AirTable for editorial calendar planning because it’s an insanely intelligentcontentconference.com
elegant combination of spreadsheet and database. I’ve become more intentional about using Evernote for
compiling research—a tip from journalist-turned-marketer Cameron Conaway. I now depend on a Gmail
app called MixMax, which automates many of the tasks I was doing manually (for example, choosing
meeting times, auto-populating text, setting up email triggers). I’ve adopted Asana to manage tasks and
deadlines across projects and teams—my single source of truth for what I need to do on any given day. And
I’m experimenting with Tableau to help me visualize complex data and deliver more value to my clients.
These changes aren’t only about efficiency (though they deliver on that); my new and improved set of
tools helps me do more of the things I enjoy (and get paid for) and fewer of those I find draining (and don’t
get paid for). They simply fit me better than my old solutions.
I decided to embark on what slightly mockingly I call Clare 2.0 because I’ve been inspired by marketers who
seem to exist in a state of rapid experimentation and adaptation. Interviewing them makes me feel downright
slothful in comparison. In this issue you’ll read about Luke Kintigh from Intel, who may be the most prolific
experimenter I know. Kintigh’s team is consistently among the first to experiment with new channels and
tactics (find some examples of its productivity on page 8_). Lisa Kalner Williams explains how her company,
AgoraPulse, founded a new content channel dedicated to experimentation. Kate Santore from Coca-Cola
describes her team’s “What if?” exercise. And our own Monina Wagner takes you on a tour de force of
interesting and lesser used features you may want to play around with on Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.
We are dedicating February to tinkering, fiddling, futzing, and all those things you do when you think you
can improve something but don’t know exactly how.
In this vein, I strongly recommend Hacking Marketing by Scott Brinker, founder of the Chief Martec blog
and vice president of platform ecosystem for HubSpot. He makes the case that marketing effectiveness is
less about speed and more about adaptability. And he believes software is the master key to that adaptability.
Brinker explains, “As marketing becomes more and more entangled in software—as everything becomes
more and more digital—the art of managing marketing increasingly resembles the art of managing software.”
Brinker continues, “Software gives us the potential to innovate and scale marketing in highly agile ways
that defy the conventional laws of gravity as we knew them in the classical marketing universe. But it’s like
the leap from Newtonian physics to quantum mechanics—the ‘rules’ of what’s possible are different and can
feel a little counterintuitive. To effectively harness the digital forces of software, we must not only innovate “We must not only
what we produce in marketing, but innovate how we produce it too.” innovate what we
If you could set aside one afternoon each week, what would tinkering look like for you? Can you identify produce in marketing,
solutions that redirect some of your low-value time to high-value work—for example, automating some of but innovate how we
what you do manually? Are there AI-driven platforms that can accomplish part of your job better/faster/ produce it too.”
easier than you do? Or are you, like so many of us, too short on time to figure it out? If you need a big dose of – Hacking Marketing
motivation from marketers who turn experimentation into an art form, read on. by Scott Brinker
May your February include a healthy dose of dabbling,
Clare McDermott
Chief Consulting Editor, CCO Magazine
@soloportfolio
CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER | CONTENTMARKETINGINSTITUTE.COM | 3
08
IDEA GARAGE
FEBRUARY 2018
MARKETOONIST
WHAT’S ONLINE
IN EVERY ISSUE
TACTICIAN
VERTICAL VIEW
22 SOCIAL WEB
A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE
TECH TOOLS TO AUDIENCE
28 TECH TOOLS DEVELOPMENT
36 TACTICIAN The strategy, tools and mindset
that make Intel iQ innovative.
40 EXPERT INSIGHT
44 IDEA GARAGE
46 UNSOLICITED ADVICE
12 THE UX OF WORDS
Shining a light on the readability blind spot.
16 STORIES & FILTERS & BOTS …
Review the latest social media bells and whistles.
20 MULTIPLIER EFFECT
Find out how the team at AgoraPulse reinvented its
approach to original content.
FEATURES
24 TELLING INSPIRED STORIES
Kate Santore from Coca-Cola shares the core principles
behind the iconic brand’s recent successes.
30 TECH GUIDE: DEMAND GENERATION TOOLS
32 FOR THE LOVE OF LIBRARIES
How libraries use content to tell their own stories.
4 | CONTENTMARKETINGINSTITUTE.COM | CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER
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WHAT’S ONLINE 2018!
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CHRISTIN KARDOS @CHRISTINKARDOS
CHIEF STRATEGY ADVISOR ROBERT ROSE
robert.rose@ubm.com LUKE KINTIGH @LUKEKINTIGH
FERGAL MCGOVERN @FERGALMCGOVERN
VICE PRESIDENT OF EDITORIAL KIM MOUTSOS
kim.moutsos@ubm.com NATALYA MINKOVSKY @HEJHEJNATALYA
JESSIKA PHILLIPS @NOWMG
SENIOR MARKETING DIRECTOR CATHY MCPHILLIPS KATE SANTORE @KATE_MCLAUGHLIN
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MONINA WAGNER @MONINAW
CHIEF CONSULTING EDITOR CLARE MCDERMOTT
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A Step-by-Step Guide to
Audience Development
Intel launched its digital magazine, IQ, five years ago, during which time it has earned countless awards.
Yet the team continues to improvise and improve. In early 2017, the team borrowed a page from the
traditional media playbook—focusing on sustaining loyal readers rather than a “more eyeballs” approach.
Luke Kintigh, head of publishing at Intel iQ, shares how they did it.
Clare McDermott
THE CHALLENGE
By all accounts, Intel iQ was a successful digital publication in 2016. It
boasted 2 million monthly readers, who averaged more than two minutes
of engaged time per visit. Yet the Intel team wondered: What is the
additional value of a returning reader versus a first timer?
A lot, it turns out.
The iQ team knew its efforts were successful. Even so, it was clear to
Kintigh that something was missing. He explains, “Creating content is
not the difficult part of content marketing. Distribution of your content,
particularly with paid media, is also not that hard to do initially. The true
challenge of becoming a successful publisher is sustaining an audience—
WHY BUILD AN OWNED providing so much ongoing value that they naturally seek out your content
AUDIENCE RATHER THAN RENT and become a loyal reader. When this happens, you’re transitioning away
AND WIN SCALE? from renting momentary audiences one campaign at a time to owning
Look no further than Facebook reach. If you Google long-term audiences that add real equity to your brand … equity that
“Facebook reach plummet,” you’ll see the collective wail remains well after your product launch or short-term KPI.”
of thousands of community managers. An analysis by Rather than chasing volume in the short term by whatever means
SocialFlow showed average organic reach per company available, the team committed to earning readership in a long-term
post fell 52 percent in the first six months of 2016. When you relationship—a simple enough maxim but one that eludes many content
depend on the Facebooks, Twitters, YouTubes, etc. of the marketers. “We can get people to watch a video or read a blog post, but
world, you’re also beholden to their whims. Facebook in when you take a ‘direct response’ approach to content marketing, you
particular has shown that marketers will have to pay to pull essentially start from zero each time you attract someone new,” explains
the kind of reach they enjoyed in years past. Kintigh. “We wanted to develop and deliver value to our audience over
time and think about how to keep them coming back.”
8 | CONTENTMARKETINGINSTITUTE.COM | CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER
LAYING THE GROUNDWORK
To figure out how to build a longer term relationship with the customer, the iQ team defined what it calls a “customer
ladder”—the steps someone takes to progress from first timer to engaged subscriber. The most important KPI for the
team is the number of email subscriptions—a sign that someone finds the iQ content valuable.
SEQUENCING TOUCHPOINTS
1 2 3 4 5
iQ ad exposure First-time reader Repeat reader Email sign-up Recirculation
Luke Kintigh calls this person First-time readers may find iQ Repeat readers visit iQ more The holy grail of content Kintigh says a small subset of
the “fly by”— someone who may through a native ad, a social than once and demonstrate an marketers … readers convert to the readers are loyalists or as
happen upon a mention of iQ or media ad or a shared social affinity for the content iQ talks subscribers. This is a sure sign he puts it, “fanatics.” This is a
Intel content but hasn’t slowed post. They stop and read about—from VR/AR and artificial iQ content is paying off. particularly valuable group to
down to consume that content. because they’re interested in intelligence to robotics and Intel because they care deeply
the content iQ is publishing. autonomous vehicles about the topics iQ shares and
can help steer the program’s
editorial strategy.
MATCHING TOOLS TO TOUCHPOINTS
What makes Intel’s example unique is that the iQ team believes truly engaging quality content is key, but it also knows
to get that content in front of an audience, it must leverage data science, technology and advertising. In other words,
quality alone will never win; masterful content marketers exploit technology to maximize their investment in quality.
FOR AWARENESS FOR GROWING AN AUDIENCE FOR AUDIENCE LADDERING FOR LOYALISTS
Predictive Recommendation engines Marketing automation Customer relationship
Predictive tools like SimpleReach While some marketers use tools like The team uses Eloqua and Adobe Tools management
help the team optimize the content it Outbrain to grow awareness, the iQ to automate all the parts and processes Once an iQ reader is in the email
publishes; predictive tools analyze what team finds it much more effective for of an ongoing content marketing database and reads iQ content, the
has worked as well as content trending retargeting those who had visited iQ at program—from defining key audience team triggers lower-funnel actions and
online, and suggest topics, key phrases, least once. segments and third-party overlays to tactics based on the signals derived
headlines and formats to ensure iQ personalizing emails based on content from the data. Tools like Salesforce or
maximizes its reach. In-feed native advertising consumption patterns and engagement even programmatic media buys can be
iQ uses Sharethrough in conjunction with behaviors. leveraged to micro-target iQ readers for
Social media management social platforms like Facebook for multi- specific calls to action more aligned to a
The team uses a host of tools, from Opal, channel native advertising, specifically Email marketing sales goal.
an editorial planning tool, to SpredFast, sharing iQ content to help drive readers Intel uses Eloqua for its email service
a publishing tool to manage its social back to the owned site. Other native provider (ESP), which allows it to map
channels (primarily LinkedIn, Twitter platforms like Nativo, Flipboard and content consumption and behavioral
and Facebook). Kintigh says social TripleLift fall into this category too. actions to the content email subscribers
channels offer different values for each receive based on actions and attributes.
audience type. Twitter is effective to drive
new audiences, but Facebook is more
successful for retaining audiences and
converting email subscribers.
CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER | CONTENTMARKETINGINSTITUTE.COM | 9
THINK PROGRAMMATIC: DESIGNING SERIAL CONTENT
LUKE KINTIGH EXPLAINS WHY In addition to defining an audience development framework and
HE FEARS COMPLACENCY. matching the right content to each stage, the team also changed its
approach to content marketing strategy. “iQ began to move into a
Pulling off the kind of experimentation described programming mindset,” says Luke Kintigh. Consider how the team
here isn’t for the faint of heart. Luke Kintigh says even treated a series devoted to virtual reality.
with a successful track record back in 2016, the team
knew it could do more. The pivot from emphasizing
sheer volume and traffic to focusing on building an
owned and loyal audience was essential to withstand
INTEL’S SERIAL APPROACH TO VIRTUAL REALITY
the whims of social media algorithms and to build a
sustainable content program. Kintigh describes
the breakthrough:
“As marketers, we want
to believe we can build
audiences instantly, but we
can’t. Significant trust and
loyalty occur over time and
happen sequentially.
At Intel, we researched
and refined a strategy
that helps us drive first-
time readers to become more engaged and take the
next strategic action—all of which leads to loyalty and
subscription. The strategy isn’t based on a hunch, but based
on a series of KPIs we measure ourselves against.
We believe content is not the end goal; it’s a means to an
end. The ultimate aim is to harvest and cultivate an audience
from the content we create. If done right, your content is
merely the cheese to your mouse trap. Simply ‘reaching’ your
Primary stories Deconstructing the story
audience with an ad or headline is not the problem to solve in
When taking on a new topic, such as With a three-part VR series and
today’s ecosystem. Moving people to take action, instead of the future of virtual reality, the editorial accompanying video, the team
scroll past your ad, is the real challenge. team designed a serial approach. In the chopped the assets into smaller pieces
Anyone can get an auto-play video ‘view,’ but can you case of VR, it built a three-part series to for other channels. For example, the
get your audience to stick with the video for more than five dive deep into VR’s use case for retail, video was cut to size for three stories
software development, and impact on on Snapchat. Users swiped up on the
seconds? And even more, will they click through to the full story? tech start-ups. Some serial projects short video to go to the primary story.
If you’re just after ‘views’ as defined by Facebook, then included as many as 10 primary stories. And a feature video was uploaded to
the answer is you don’t care. However, if you’re trying to Also the series included short feature YouTube. Fifteen- to 30-second videos
build a long-term audience, then think differently about videos interspersed with other content in were used for retargeting ads, leading
a splashy presentation on iQ. back to the primary content on iQ. And
how to create content differently for Facebook. It’s all about
because of the insights available through
how to use Facebook as a means to harvest an audience retargeting, sequential ads had higher
from its one billion users on to your own platform. click-through rates.
The question for content marketers should be, ‘How do “Delivering sequential content has
I get first-time readers back to my site? What else do they been a big win for us,” explains Kintigh.
“You have to think about content from the
want to read? What intelligence can I gather from their initial hook to the ultimate pay-off, which
behavior and data that we possess?’ All of these ideas and can span a 15-second video on social to
actions are what Netflix and Amazon do extremely well— an 800-word long-form article on iQ.”
and as marketers we need to learn from them.
They get exponentially smarter about what their
users want as they consume more content. That’s the
holy grail for content marketers who want to build ongoing
relationships through valuable content.”
10 | CONTENTMARKETINGINSTITUTE.COM | CHIEF CONTENT OFFICERMINING FOR INSIGHTS
Part of Intel iQ’s success is a thirst for doing better, not necessarily doing more. The team spends considerable time testing and tweaking:
studying what the audience wants through the signals it receives, fine-tuning content and delivery to maximize the network effect from social
media, and analyzing how best to deploy new tools available on the market.
Rethinking the pop-up Optimizing native ad timing Valuing loyalists Agile fueling the approach
Many content-first companies push the Similarly, the team studied how to use About 15 percent of email subscribers “Having an agile team that’s truly
“sign up for our emails” pop-up on a other channels to maximize value. Native are “loyalists”—people who open and connected to your content supply chain
first visit to their site … sometimes even ad platforms like Outbrain, says Kintigh, click on more than 10 iQ e-newsletters is critical to drive the progression of your
before the visitor had a chance to read are more effective for retargeting than every three months. “We look at audience development strategy,” says
anything. That’s a mistake, says Luke for growing awareness. And Facebook these loyalist as our core focus Kintigh. He explains that to succeed with
Kintigh, because readers rarely sign up ads are more effective when displayed to group,” says Kintigh. “Loyalists are an audience-first approach, editors must
for an email subscription on the first visit. users who have visited iQ multiple times immensely valuable to us so we spend understand how their content is moving
The team determined repeat readers are rather than someone who’s unfamiliar considerable time listening to their audiences from one stage to the next,
four times more likely to sign up for emails with the publication. actions and feedback, and learning and content distribution managers must
than first-time readers—so it delayed the from them.” The opinions of loyalists see how content is being developed and
pop-up push until a reader’s subsequent help define the editorial calendar and optimized to drive strategic actions.
visits. And as the team finessed the are instrumental in suggesting new
analysis—looking at post-click data to content formats and concepts.
spot more patterns—it realized someone
who spends more than 90 seconds on the
site is eight times more likely to sign up. Learn 4 ways to shift your thinking to focus on your audience.
These findings helped the team optimize http://cmi.media/audiencefocused
the precise moment a visitor sees the
sign-up pop-up.
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cmi.media/contenttech18 • #contenttechThe UX of Words
Shining a light on the readability blind spot.
Y
Fergal McGovern
our team has created, socialized Fortunately, there are several widely at that level versus run-on sentences of
and measured content in just about used measures. The Flesch Reading Ease 40 or 50 words with several competing
every possible way … except for one Index, created by Rudolf Flesch in the ideas, and it’s clear which they’ll prefer.
of the most important metrics: how 1950s, calculates the average syllable per
your audience is engaging with the word and the density of long sentences What is good readability?
words. You want visitors to find and assigns a readability score—the higher There’s no one-size-fits-all, but the gold
information, stay engaged or complete a task. But the number, the easier content is to read. standard of readability for business
once readers’ eyes hit the words on the page, if it The Flesch-Kincaid measure, derived communication is grade eight or lower.
takes too much effort, their interaction falls off and from the index, scores readability at You should limit long sentences and
you have churn. You know this anecdotally. Yet most grade level, approximating the number passive voice to 5 percent or less of the
don’t measure it scientifically. of years of education required to easily total content. Active voice rather than
Which of the thousands if not millions of words understand content (though with passive makes it clearer who needs to do
on a website are helping or hurting? What content is this tool, a lower score means higher what. By shortening sentences and using
too dense or confusing? readability). The U.S. Navy developed active voice, you can make even technical
Content teams work hard to create compelling the Flesch-Kincaid measure in the 1970s subject matter more readable and
content, but they have a natural blind spot. They’re to ensure soldiers under stress in the engaging without any “dumbing down.”
too close to their creations—the blogs, thought field could easily understand written The best writing makes complex topics
leadership and marketing pieces—to see them instructions in their manuals. While easy to understand.
through the audience’s eyes. today’s audiences most likely aren’t The clarity problem isn’t new; but
Now, with advances in natural language in combat, they do face the stresses of organizations are now producing vast
processing and artificial intelligence, a new breed information overload and too little time. quantities of content for their audiences.
of technology can test content for readability and And with that proliferation comes a
clarity, which go to the heart of user experience Your readers are checking out quality control issue. President Barack
and engagement. It can move organizations from and churning Obama signed the Plain Language Act in
a subjective approach, often fraught with editorial Research shows that the average U.S. 2010 to make U.S. government-created
friction, to an objective, metric-based approach. citizen reads at a seventh to eighth grade content less dense and confusing.
In this article we look at how to test for level—and it’s not simply a problem of low Federal agencies must now use “plain
readability across your organization. For CMOs academic achievement. Some studies show language” to communicate more clearly
and chief content officers who want more engaging even highly educated people disengage with citizens.
content, you now have ways to measure and rather than spend the mental energy to There’s no equivalent plain-language
benchmark clarity across the organization. And unpack dense, complicated prose. Josh law in the commercial sector, but
these tools can also help individual writers and Bernoff, author and a contributor to given how fiercely brands compete
creators produce better quality content. The Harvard Business Review, surveyed for audience attention, they should be
550 businesspeople in 2016. As many as addressing it voluntarily.
Let’s define readability and clarity 81 percent said poorly written content One financial organization my team
Content clarity is the user experience of how difficult wasted too much of their time. worked with set an internal goal that all
or easy it is to read text. Why is that important? We That’s one reason Reader’s Digest and consumer-facing content must be of a
know from neuroscience that processing words Time Magazine are successful. Reader’s grade eight to 10 readability level—an
places a far greater cognitive load on the brain than Digest has a readability index of about 65 ambitious goal. Our organization also
images. Plus, attention spans are shorter, meaning and Time scores about 52. Give people worked with government agencies that
visitors have lower tolerance for confusion. the choice between reading something have similar objectives. For example, the
Continued on 14
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2018 CONTENT
MARKETING AWARDS!
YOU PUSHED BOUNDARIES, BUILT YOUR BRAND,
NURTURED YOUR AUDIENCE…AND INCREASED SALES...
CONGRATULATIONS!
It’s time for you to be recognized for your
content marketing successes. With over
90 categories focused on strategy, editorial,
design and distribution, the Content Marketing
Awards judges are ready to see your best work.
CATEGORIES INCLUDE:
n Influencer marketing
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n Branded content
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n Design
n Editorial feature
…plus multiple categories on editorial and
design, specific to various industries
Early Deadline: March 9, 2018
Regular Deadline: April 20, 2018
Category winners will be announced in August,
with top honors being revealed during a
special ceremony at Content Marketing World
2018 in September.
www.contentmarketingawards.comContinued from 12
Australian federal government aims for Choose your tools wisely
a grade five readability level as part of its One of the biggest benefits of tools is that
Selecting digital service standard. All companies you can measure readability with objective
Readability Tools that create content for customers and metrics. You move from subjective
and Technology other stakeholders should set similar opinions to quantitative measurement.
As you consider which tools to goals for published content. These measures ease the editorial
adopt, ask these questions: friction between content creators and
Behavior change is hard but doable editors/publishers. Companies should
1. Will it support regular business Getting people to change their consider a two-pronged solution:
users as well as subject matter writing habits is far from trivial. Large
experts? Determine who inside your organizations that use numerous • Lightweight clarity tools in the
organization will use the technology agencies, freelancers, and internal hands of writers can help them
and whether it supports their needs. contributors face tremendous challenges measure, edit and revise work to an
with regard to readability, consistency and agreed upon readability metric before
2. Will it force too much friction or brand coherence. Simply getting people to submitting.
behavior change? For example, test their content can be a big challenge. • Audit tools for the content team
some solutions expect a business Leadership should adopt a “people, allow it to control, review and score
user to switch from Microsoft Word process, tools” approach. The content across the enterprise. These
to edit content directly in a content people element must focus on two tools allow editors and content leads
management system; this approach factors: awareness and education. to benchmark quality over time, track
rarely works. Many commercial and government the readability (and engagement) of
organizations send employees to writing- writers and their published work, even
3. Can it measure improvement of for-the-web style training courses to test and vet new writers for clarity.
content across possibly hundreds raise awareness of readability. These
of content creators? Many low-end courses not only cover webpages but While web analytics can show page
tools are great for single users but inward-facing content including letters views, dwell times and usage paths, they
have no dashboards for organization- and product brochures. won’t reveal issues with the content
wide metrics. These are critical to The process element focuses on itself. Rather than obsessing over poor
show ROI. mapping the current publication content performance on the back end,
process, and identifying which steps consider an investment in technology
4. Is it suitable for work practices can be automated. Unfortunately many that can improve content on the front
in a larger commercial or organizations rush to roll out tools end, tailoring words to how your
government organization? Less without an adequate understanding of audience’s brains want to process them.
expensive and free tools are great for what the current or future state of their Companies are spending huge amounts
copy-and-paste-style text analysis process will look like. This rarely succeeds. on content management systems and
by individuals but don’t natively With the people and process elements looking for ways to improve the user
support MS Word, PDFs or direct URL sorted, now you’re ready to consider tools. journey. But to what end if they continue
analysis. If you map your process, to overlook half the content problem?
you’ll quickly see which tools will Automation now lets us measure and
work and which won’t. find the problems in millions of words.
Ready to learn more? Read this step-by- Humans can then focus on editing
5. How will you know if people step guide to scoring content. and fixing those words to make them
are using the solution? The tool http://cmi.media/contentscoring clearer, easier to read and engage with.
should give you usage dashboards Shouldn’t we?
across all content contributors.
6. Will it allow you to audit sections of Fergal McGovern is the founder of
websites for readability or hundreds VisibleThread, a natural language
of documents? A solution that forces processing and AI technology company
the user to analyze individual URLs or that automates and improves content
individual documents one at a time clarity. Follow him @VisibleThread.
will not cut it for whole or partial site
and content audits.
14 | CONTENTMARKETINGINSTITUTE.COM | CHIEF CONTENT OFFICERStories and Filters and
Bots … Oh My!
Are you aware of latest features and tools available on major social channels?
Monina Wagner, head of social media for Content Marketing Institute,
walks marketers through the possibilities for their brands to stay at the forefront of social.
Monina Wagner
K eeping up with what’s new and exciting in social media can feel like a sprint. Just as
you’ve mastered a new tactic or tool, one of the major social networks announces a new
feature you need to wrap your head around. Find some new (and not so new) features you
may not know, as well as a few channels that may not be on your radar.
SNAPCHAT
Filters Versus Lenses
What’s the difference? The two terms
are often used interchangeably,
but they don’t mean the same
thing. Filters are static images you
add to a photo on Snapchat—like
a company-sponsored illustration
to commemorate a special event.
Lenses add animation to your
Snapchat photo or video—often
using augmented reality (AR). For
example, you can transform your face
into an AR-enabled kitten face (but Sponsored Lenses
please don’t) or add an animated Snapchat is boosting its inventory
rain cloud to your video. The of advertising opportunities by
opportunity for followers to engage expanding the ways sponsors use
with lenses is much higher than with lenses. Now companies can sponsor
filters because users are more likely animated AR lenses and in-app
to play with it and share it. games on the platform.
For National Donut Day, Dunkin’ Donuts
let users turn their faces into donuts—
Audience Lenses complete with animated sprinkles
Want to ensure you’re getting the right impressions on Snapchat? dropping into cute donut mouths.
The platform’s audience-lenses feature lets you customize your
target market by regions—guaranteeing a number of impressions by
age, gender and lifestyle in that area.
Geofilters
Want to make sure your audience shares their experience with
your brand? Create a custom geofilter that’s only available to users
within a geographic location you define (cost is determined by the
Snap Map
size of an area and how long the filter is available). Geofilters are a
This new feature lets you see if any friends are close by. When
great option for events, retail locations and destinations.
turned on, Snap Map shares your location—a boon for advertisers
who can leverage the information. So far there’s no ad offer for Snap
Map, but I won’t be surprised if that comes soon.
16 | CONTENTMARKETINGINSTITUTE.COM | CHIEF CONTENT OFFICERMEDIUM: On the way
out? We don’t think so.
Clare McDermott
Medium arrived on the scene in 2012 when
Twitter Co-Founder Ev Williams launched
it as an antidote of sorts to the loud, look-
INSTAGRAM at-me culture of the bigger platforms. As
he put it, “Medium is ... designed for little
stories that make your day better and
manifestos that change the world.”
While Medium has a loyal following of
readers who appreciate the quality content
In April 2017, the number of people using it publishes, it still struggles to monetize
Instagram Stories surpassed the number using the platform. In late 2017 Medium
Snapchat stories, making it a must-use channel replaced its advertising model with a new
for many marketers. But do you know about subscription-based model—readers pay $5
some of its key features for businesses? per month for access to premium content,
and Medium bloggers (called “partners”)
are paid based on how well readers rate
the content, which is measured by readers
“clapping” on the site.
Live Stories and Live
Video Replay For marketers, Medium is a work in
Like many other social channels, progress—though I’ve observed a number
you can livestream using Instagram of brands setting up content channels
Stories. Instagram also lets users
on Medium since the transition from
replay the video for 24 hours.
advertising to subscriptions. Some
companies use Medium to set up a niche
blog that matches the site’s audience more
closely; for example, Facebook’s design
team runs a Medium channel to give voice
to Facebook designers spread all over the
Sponsored Stories globe. A smaller number of companies even
The Canvas ad format popular forego a company-hosted blog in favor of a
on Facebook is now available on
Medium channel to save on development
Instagram. The ad is larger and more
interactive than earlier iterations of costs and benefit from the Medium
sponsored content on Instagram. network effect. (When you set up your
company account, your Twitter followers
auto-follow you on Medium.) For now, it’s
hard to tell whether Medium’s bold move
will pay off, but for content-first brands it’s
a channel worth considering.
Add a Link
This option is available for business
accounts with over 10,000 followers.
Before publishing your story,
click the paperclip icon and add a
relevant URL. When it’s published,
your story will include a “swipe up”
to follow the link. (Savvy marketers
add visual cues to their story to
emphasize the swipe-up option.)
Want to see what a brand channel looks
like on Medium? Brands use Medium to
reach a niche community and leverage the
Polling network’s simple UX. To see how it works,
Now you can add a two-answer poll check out Facebook’s Medium-hosted
sticker to your Instagram Stories.
After tapping an answer, users see
designer community or visit Hacker
poll results right away. Noon, a high-quality, Medium-based
content hub from Mattermark.
CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER | CONTENTMARKETINGINSTITUTE.COM | 17Must-Try AI: Chatbots
A look at a range of chatbot applications, from dipping your toes to
cannonballing off the high dive.
Clare McDermott
In early 2015, something happened that most of us marketers
missed. The number of active daily users of messaging apps
surpassed the number of active daily users of social networks. Let
me repeat that: More people are spending time interacting through
messaging apps than are interacting and posting on the major social FACEBOOK &
media sites. At some level you knew this. Your kids aren’t using FACEBOOK
Facebook that much anymore, and even sites like Instagram seem
to be falling out of favor with the younger generation. Messaging
MESSENGER
apps offer privacy and in-the-moment interactivity in a way that
make sites like Twitter and Facebook feel slow and outdated.
Of course this begs the question: What’s the role for marketers Facebook Canvas
on messaging apps? (Yes, it’s an uncomfortable question, but one These are interactive mobile ads that offer
marketers have to ask.) While we don’t have all the answers, it’s advertisers much greater flexibility to promote
clear chatbots are one alternative in the post-advertising portfolio. content assets. Luke Kintigh from Intel explains, “For
our online publication, iQ, we use Canvas to show
For those still living in 2017, chatbots are apps within apps—tools
photo galleries, vertical video, tilt-to-pan images,
to automate conversations between humans and non-humans, pull quotes, GIFs and other assets that lead users to
often leveraging artificial intelligence. Chatbots enable one-to-one, our site. The Canvas units are unique in that they can
natural language interactions between customers/followers and contain pretty much everything you can or would
an automated assistant. They can take many forms, and reside on put in a microsite or landing page—all in mobile.”
many channels—from SMS and Apple iMessage to Slack, WeChat
and Facebook Messenger.
Facebook Live
The most obvious application for chatbots is customer service—an
Most are familiar with Facebook Live, but do you
extension of those “can we help you?” pop-ups you see when you know about some of its hidden features? One
visit a website, which are often “staffed” by AI. But brands are also feature I love is the ability to use a split screen for
finding more unorthodox and entertaining ways of using bots. The interviews. When setting up your livestream, choose
the interview mode, then decide how each person
chatbot I’ve enjoyed most of late is called And Chill. Not sure what
in the stream will appear on the screen; for example,
you want on Netflix tonight? Send And Chill a message, and tell it you can use a split screen or toggle back and forth
a movie you love and why. Your sweet bot will send over a couple of between individuals. With enough planning and
recommendations along with trailers. (The chatbot always asks how practice, your livestream may be useful to post on
well it’s performed so that it learns from each interaction.) I’ve also social channels even after it’s over.
called on the Whole Foods’ chatbot to help brainstorm recipes while
at the store, though I find it a little less practical and a lot less amusing.
You don’t have to be a massive consumer-facing company to Facebook Instant Articles
Facebook created Instant Articles in 2015 to help
try chatbots. I spoke to Christin Kardos, community manager at publishers’ articles load faster in newsfeeds.
Convince and Convert, about her ongoing experimentation with Marketers who publish their content using Instant
chatbots. Convince and Convert uses a bot to distribute content, Articles sacrifice the chance to drive readers to
including a welcome sequence for new subscribers. Rather than owned sites, but the upside is a better reading
experience for end users—particularly on mobile.
develop the bot from the ground up—a cost-prohibitive option
Keep in mind Facebook only approves brands for
for smaller companies—Convince and Convert uses a tool from Instant Article if they publish on a regular schedule
ManyChat. Kardos explains, “Using a third-party tool, it’s relatively and meet certain quality standards.
easy to implement a chatbot, get subscribers and launch a welcome
sequence. It begins getting a little more complex when you start
building ‘if this, then that’ flows, but it’s still just common sense.” Chatbots
She says it’s important, however, to oversee the chatbot and watch Chatbots are just a new way for users to interact
with brands on Facebook. Bots usually take the form
its interactions with customers (a member of the team checks in
of a virtual assistant through Messenger and are
twice a day to ensure all is running smoothly). intended to be used conversationally—as if there’s
Kardos admits her company’s use of chatbots is a bit of an someone on the other end of your chat sending
experiment in keeping with Convince and Convert’s passion over what you’re looking for. Sound overwhelming?
for trying new tools to keep its audience informed. Given that Facebook recently launched Discover, an app inside
Messenger that makes it easier for consumers to
messaging usage is rising faster than social network usage, it’s an
discover new chatbots and help marketers make
experiment worth conducting. sense of this new dimension inside Messenger.
18 | CONTENTMARKETINGINSTITUTE.COM | CHIEF CONTENT OFFICERMore than 100,000 omnichannel marketing campaigns launch using Percolate each year. See how Percolate can help you master omnichannel marketing at Booth #3 during Intelligent Content Conference 2018. percolate.com | 646-396-3136
Multiplier Effect
What do you do when your company blog is named a top 10 social media resource? You resolve to do
even better. Find out how the team at AgoraPulse reinvented its approach to original content.
Lisa Kalner Williams
hat would you do with a blog that averaged 150,000 monthly views?
W Do tons more to drive leads, our team decided unanimously back in 2016.
Up until that point, we merely invited readers to consume our blog content, which
focused on the latest social media trends. Readers were free to enter and leave the
premises at any time. We didn’t ask for visitors’ email addresses in return for access.
Even if we wanted to use in-your-face dropdowns begging for an address, we had no
special content to offer.
Resolved to do better, in 2016 we began creating premium content on a monthly
basis. We published lengthier e-books, practical templates and how-to guides;
we also posted blog content pointing to those premium assets. And we hired a
full-time inbound marketing expert to generate leads through landing pages and
nurture those leads through an evolving set of email sequences.
The results came quickly. Our premium content brought thousands of
downloads and our email campaigns turned into a sizeable amount of free trial
activations and subscriptions.
Rather than build out our current
content site—which had thousands
of daily readers—we launched
a new blog with zero traffic.
Still, we were restless. Was this the best we could do? Within a year,
we knew we were ready for something more … something bigger.
Yet instead of going deeper into the funnel to garner more sales, How AgoraPulse Uses Agile Sprints
we chose to focus on the top of the funnel. We came up with a
content initiative that would establish us as thought leaders. And
to Experiment with Content
A sprint in agile methodology represents the period of
rather than build out our current content site—which had thousands
time you allocate to complete a finite number of tasks.
of daily readers—we launched a new blog with zero traffic.
In the development world, it’s common to have weekly
sprints. In fact, it’s what our internal development team
uses. In marketing, we’ve decided to set monthly sprints.At the beginning of each month, we decide which
Our writing was solid, well activities we’d like to take on (or have been asked to take
curated and helpful for on). Each activity is given a level of effort (LoE) using the
Fibonacci numerical sequence—called “story points” in
social media managers, but the agile world. At the beginning of the monthly sprint,
it wasn’t definitive. we all get on a call to count the points and assess whether
we’ve over- or underextended ourselves for the month.
While our existing blog had just won a coveted
If necessary, we adjust to ensure we can reasonably
spot on Social Media Examiner’s Top 10 Social
complete each activity.
Media Blog list (and was a great conversion
We hold ourselves accountable for these tasks by
engine), it lacked that “oooh, let’s see what
hopping on a daily scrum call with our team. Each of us
AgoraPulse says about topic X” factor. Our writing
has about two minutes to share what sprint tasks we’ve
was solid, well curated and helpful for social media
completed since we last spoke and what we plan to do for
managers, but it wasn’t definitive.
the rest of the day. We also share what blockers—whether
In our space of social media marketing, we
personal or work-related—are in the way of moving tasks
felt being definitive wasn’t merely pontificating
forward. At the end of the month, we review each assigned
about a new announcement from Google or
task and explain the success or failure of getting it done.
commenting on how to use a new feature on
With Social Media Lab, we are so keen on getting the
Instagram. Becoming a definitive source meant
word out about our experiments that content creation and
taking the time to see if an original idea holds up In our space of social media
content promotion get separate tasks and story points.
in practice. That sounds a lot like the scientific marketing, we felt being definitive Our lead scientist is responsible for the content from each
method, doesn’t it? It only made sense that we
called the project Social Media Lab.
wasn’t merely pontificating experiment and I’m responsible for the promotion of each
about a new announcement from of those experiments.
Treating Content as a Deep Dive Google or commenting on how to
We hired one full-time and one part-time “social media scientist” use a new feature on Instagram.
to test long-held social media myths that we were antsy to see
proven right or reveal to be completely off base.
Becoming a definitive
These scientists spent months setting up and running the source meant taking the
tests. During this time, we had nothing to show the public so it time to see if an original idea AgoraPulse’s Technology Tools
was a matter of waiting until we had posts about the experiment Asana is our home base for all sprint activities. Our monthly
holds up in practice. sprint boards hold the Level of Effort (LoE), tags, assignee
to push live.
On one fateful week in August 2017, after months of sweating, we and latest status of each activity. As a team, we run through
published our findings on three tests. Within two months, two of our Asana tasks at each month’s sprint kickoff meeting and
those three posts ranked on the first page of Google for their chosen retrospective. And each of us checks Asana a few times a week
keywords. And during that time, our lab experiments got social to make sure that we (and our direct reports) are on track to
media shoutouts from some of the biggest names in the industry. meet our goals.
We’re still evolving the model, but we’re confident we’ve hit a We use Google Hangouts to conduct our daily scrums
rich seam of original, data-driven insights.” (our marketing team is spread across seven countries)
and a Slack channel called “scrum” to log our daily tasks
and blockers. Slack is particularly helpful if one of us isn’t
able to join the daily Hangout or if we’re running late to
Lisa Kalner Williams is the content marketing scrum. Since Slack is more of a “push” tool than Asana, I’ve
director for AgoraPulse. Follow her @kalnerwilliams. integrated the two, meaning whenever a status is changed
on a key Asana project, a message goes out to the team on a
linked Slack channel.IDEA GARAGE
MARKETOONIST
WHAT’S ONLINE
EDITORIAL
SOCIAL WEB
VERTICAL VIEW
VERTICAL VIEW
TECH TOOLS Read more from
Jonathan Crossfield:
http://cmi.media/
crossfield
B2B Social Media Finally
Comes Of Age
“Why so serious?” B2B social media content can be just as creative, individual and
trusted as any other content … particularly on LinkedIn.
Jonathan Crossfield
92% “B ut I’m from a B2B company. How does all
of this apply to us?” I must get a version of
this question in almost every content marketing
conversations, allowing people to discuss topics and
share content once confined to the personal realm.
“We talk about so many more things,” says Claire
of B2B marketers
use social media workshop I run. My answer is always the same: “B2B Austin, content marketing evangelist for LinkedIn
for content customers are people too.” Australia. “There’s no way my parents would’ve
distribution On entering the office, we don’t stuff our B2C discussed things like mindfulness, the psychological
brains into the desk drawer, replacing them with effects of working, or the challenge of going back
pin-striped B2B versions allocated to us by HR. to work after childbirth. These were just things
If that deathly dull and overly formal white paper you just got on with and no one spoke about (in the
would put me to sleep as a B2C reader, it’s not workplace). Whereas now, these are things that we
suddenly going to find me more attentive because do need to speak about and we’re happy to speak
LinkedIn the clock is somewhere between 9 and 5. about them.
commands Of course, there are some differences between “People want to share their experiences. They want
97%
of B2B social
B2C and B2B marketing—multiple stakeholders
for one—but on an individual level, the two have
far more in common than not. Social media has
to be able to help others–help inform and inspire.”
LinkedIn has long been seen as the formal
pinstripe suit to Facebook’s Hawaiian shirt.
media action broadened the scope of so-called professional According to the Content Marketing Institute’s
22 | CONTENTMARKETINGINSTITUTE.COM | CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER“Only 3 percent of employees share company-relevant content.”
– Claire Austin, content marketing evangelist, LinkedIn Australia
latest B2B benchmark report for North Austin. “That says a lot about how people their brand and to have that thought leadership and
America, 92 percent of B2B marketers are using the platform and how they see it. to have focus and to start owning key words or key
use social media for content distribution, For brands, that’s a massive opportunity.” subjects and being known for certain topics and
a rate just below email usage (93 But not every person speaking on themes. Then they can layer campaign work on top
percent). And LinkedIn commands a behalf of a brand is equally trusted, even of that.”
massive 97 percent of B2B social media on LinkedIn. According to the Edelman
action, almost double the number report, people trust information and Click me! Click me!
reported in 2010. advice given to them by an employee While B2B marketers spend a lot of time publishing
But it has changed a great deal since of a company significantly more than and sharing content on LinkedIn to build a
first launching as a careers-focused they do from the CEO. And people trust following, most eventually want the audience to
networking platform in—wait for people who are “like them” even more follow a link to the website or wherever the lead
it—2003. (Yes, LinkedIn is older than than company people. It is the individual might be captured or conversion might happen.
Twitter, Facebook and even MySpace. rather than the faceless brand who “It’s about having an equal balance of
Crikey, most of us probably hadn’t even carries more authority, particularly if understanding what they will consume in their
heard of social media back then.) people can relate to them. (social media) feed and when it’s right to drive them
LinkedIn may have started as a way Yet Austin believes many brands don’t off platform,” says Austin. “Marketers often think
to find career opportunities via job take full advantage of that authority and too much about one piece of content. This content
listings and networking, but that’s not trust. “Only 3 percent of employees share has to go there, and then they’re going to take this
why people return regularly these days. company-relevant content, so there’s still next step and then they’re going to do that, and it’s
Today, visitors view content on LinkedIn a massive opportunity for marketers to so linear.”
seven times more often than job listings. look at their employee base and say, ‘Well Austin explains that people typically consume
It’s not hard to see why. LinkedIn has why aren’t they sharing? How can we help at least three to four pieces of content before
steadily evolved into a content platform, them? What do they want to be talking clicking to engage with a brand on its platform. She
acquiring and integrating other content about?’” she says. “Direction needs to be continues, “Expecting people to immediately go
services such as news aggregator Pulse, given from the company as well. ‘This is and sign up to your newsletter and then download
presentation platform SlideShare and for you to be able to build up your personal something is quite narrow-minded. This is where
online learning company Lynda. brand,’ and, ‘Here’s some content to help we need to get more creative with the content that
“Just seeing the amount of work that’s you do that, and here are some topics you we’re doing on LinkedIn.
going into developing the platform might be interested in sharing.’” “If you’ve created a white paper and you’re
and, especially since the Microsoft thinking, ‘OK, I’m going to host this on my website and
acquisition, the amount of product Not just for campaigns anymore I’m going to drive people there,’ that’s not how people
innovation that’s happening, it’s While most B2B marketers are using behave. What is in that white paper? How can we use
really, really interesting,” says Austin. LinkedIn, some still use it as an it more effectively? That’s when it becomes about
“LinkedIn is growing and building occasional strategy when time, budget creating content for the platforms. It’s about taking
that reputation to be that one place for and resources allow, or when there is a some of the stats out of that, making it into really great
professionals to stay informed, stay big campaign or product launch. creative that sits on the LinkedIn platform.”
connected and learn.” “It’s more crucial than ever to be Every new piece of related content reinforces
‘always on.’ Pretty much any B2B buyer the idea in the person’s mind, says Austin; “It’s like
In whose content do we trust? (will consume) 10 pieces of content seeing an ad for a blockbuster movie. You might see
The 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer during that purchase process,” says it once and think it looks interesting. You see it again
report reveals that 62 percent of people Austin. “So, if you want to be in that and then the third time you see it and now you really
trusts a brand’s social media more than consideration set and you want to be part want to go and see that movie.”
its advertising. And Business Insider’s of the 10 pieces of content, you need to be
Digital Trust Report found LinkedIn is visible at all times.
far more trusted by users than either “The brands that are flourishing and
Facebook or Twitter. doing really well—getting the best return DEPARTMENT EDITOR
“LinkedIn is up there as the number on investment and the best performance
one amongst social, and is also from their campaigns—are those that Jonathan Crossfield is an award-
(comparable) to publications like The have this ‘always-on’ strategy. winning writer, blogger and journalist.
Wall Street Journal and Forbes,” says “It’s really helping to build trust in Find him at @Kimota.
CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER | CONTENTMARKETINGINSTITUTE.COM | 23You can also read
