5 Changes to Make Today to Optimize for Voice Search Technology

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It’s predicted that 50% of all searches will be done using voice search technology by 2020.

Ever since its introduction in 2011 with Apple’s Siri, voice searches have evolved over the years and now there are many voice-activated applications in the market. Some of these voice-activated apps have human accuracy when delivering feedback to their users.

With this fast growth in the market, businesses should start optimizing their apps and sites for voice searches so that they can stay ahead of the game and keep up with the latest search trends.

If your content is not optimized in the right way, you could be missing out on a precious opportunity.

Here’s how to optimize for voice search technology:

1. Optimize Your Structured Data

Unlike normal searches, voice search only displays one answer to searchers from the number one best-optimized result.

To be at the top of searches you need to use structured data like Schema markup that will help create metadata for your websites.

Although it doesn’t help you rank higher, it gives you the advantage of illustrating information about your business for specific queries.

2. Focus on Questions

Many people use questions when searching using search voice applications. This is because they consider the applications as their “assistants” and communicate to them just like a normal person would to their assistant.

Because of this, you’ll want to adapt your voice search SEO to include:

Natural Language SEO

There is a huge difference between the written word and the spoken word. When crafting a voice search optimization strategy, you need to focus on the spoken – natural language – word.  This is because voice search technologies give priority to how the user wants to search when speaking.

For example – Most voice searches are made in the form of a question, using natural conversational language. Create content that asks and answers these types of questions – like Q&A pages for your products or services.

Localized Long-Tail Keywords

When it comes to voice search, especially for local services, long sentences get priority.

Do your research to find out what your visitors enter into a search engine to find your business or site. You’re particularly looking for ‘long-tail keywords’ which are often complete phrases that searchers use, for example, ‘Air conditioning service in Ohio’.

For accurate keyword research results, hire a digital marketing agency to help you get found easily.

3. Speed Up Your Applications or Websites

The time taken for a voice search to display results about your business might affect how your business ranks.

The faster your website loads the higher it will rank and the more searchers it will get. This is because many people use voice search to urgently look up for information when they are doing something else such as driving or cooking.

4. Make it Mobile Friendly

Not all voice searches are performed on screenless digital assistance platforms like Alexa, Siri, and Cortana. Rather most voice searches are carried out using mobile phones, therefore it’s important to optimize your business’ website for mobile voice searches.

5. Test it First

Voice search optimization is still in its developing stages so you will need to ensure that your work is perfectly fine. To do so you will need to:

• Test it with different devices to see if your results will appear on the majority of them.
• Check if the results generated relate to the question asked.
• Check how many results return for the search.
• Check if you rank higher than your competition when searched for.

By testing the voice search SEO, you’ll be able to know what keywords to use to rank among searchers.

Why Should You Optimize for Voice Search Technology?

Ranking your business at the top will mean a great deal to you, this will mean that you’ll get more user traffic than your competitors.

If your business uses voice search SEO you’ll be at a greater advantage to make it to the top three results when searched for by phone.

Still, it can be the first result that pops up when searched for by a smart speaker. So, just imagine your business coming up as a result of almost 50 percent of searches just because you optimized it for voice search.

Make the right move and let your customers find you easily by hiring a digital marketing company. If you need assistance and have your business around Cleveland, contact us today.

The post 5 Changes to Make Today to Optimize for Voice Search Technology appeared first on LocalBizGuru.com.

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CMWorld Roundup: 5 Key Trends Every Marketer Should Know

Content marketing isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it’s getting more and more sophisticated as new formats (e.g. voice and smart audio), advanced methodologies (e.g. agile marketing), and cross-functional strategies (e.g. an integrated approach) are being employed to meet the heightened expectations customers have when it comes to the content experience.

Coming off the back of one of the industry’s largest conferences — Content Marketing World — now is the opportune time to do a roundup of the biggest shifts that marketers can expect to see in content marketing in 2019 and beyond. From how to build the best team to planning for the future of content and implementing agile strategies, these are the five trends from this year’s CMW that every marketer should pay attention to.

1. Building, growing, (and keeping) the best content team

With an entire track focused on teams and culture, building high-performing marketing teams was a big topic at CMW 2019.

According to Babbel’s Executive Producer of Content, Jennifer Jordan, executing successful, omnichannel campaigns with innovative creative all begin with building an A-team. The best way to do that is by starting with who and how you hire. Though it can be difficult to ensure from just a couple of interviews that the person you’re hiring has the knowledge and grit required, there are some ways you can safeguard against a hire that doesn’t quite fit. Jennifer, who was responsible for growing Babbel’s content team, listed some essential do’s and don’ts:

DON’T: Waste your time reading cover letters — they rarely provide information that isn’t already found in a resume and they don’t give any indication of the applicant’s quality of work.

DO: Require applicants to provide a portfolio (website, blog, YouTube, etc.), and have them complete a short assignment that will demonstrate the skills required for the role to which they’re applying.

DON’T: Hire for culture fit. Contrary to popular belief, this may not actually be in the best interest for the marketing team (or the organization as a whole). Why? It can lead to a lack of diversity, points of view, and creativity — all of which are important aspects of a well-rounded content team.

DO: Hire for potential. Review portfolios and hiring assignments to make sure skills are in line with what’s required for the role. Other indications of a good hire are qualities like having a growth mindset and grit.

Once you have your A-team, it’s important to set individual goals with each member based on their role and ensure that everyone is being given the opportunity to learn and grow. Here are a few best practices from Jennifer for content team leaders to keep in mind:

• Set expectations. Everyone on your team should know the team’s goals and mission and should be able to answer the questions: What are my priorities? How do I contribute to the business? Personalize the goals for each team member’s production (both quantity and quality), and provide them with regular feedback.
• Balance content creation. Content marketers are inherently creative people. And while producing content that drives leads and business results should be a part of your content strategy, make sure that there is sufficient opportunity for your team to create content that is interesting to them. Jennifer recommends the 80/20 rule: 80% of content should “pay the bills” (e.g. SEO, performance campaigns, etc.), and 20% should be creative experimentation (e.g. new media formats, content hack days, etc.).
• Prioritize creativity. Competition for attention in today’s content ecosystem is fierce, so creativity and innovation are paramount. Give your team a chance to get their creative juices flowing by regularly dedicating time to brainstorming sessions. You never know — this might lead to a standout campaign that will land your team on a “top content marketing” list.

The last thing to consider when heading a content marketing team is that it starts with the leader. As Jennifer mentioned at the end of her session at Content Marketing World, leaders have to model the behavior that they expect of their team.

2. Integrating teams for a better brand experience

Piggybacking off building a high-performing content marketing team, another trend for 2019 is driving organizational change within marketing — starting with content marketers. By changing the way marketing teams work — operating as collaborative, cross-functional teams rather than in silos — brands are better able to ensure consistent messaging and tone of voice across every channel in a campaign. And according to Shafqat Islam, NewsCred’s CEO, content marketers need to be the catalyst for the shift to integrated campaigns.

In his session, Shafqat pointed out that consumers have come to expect a consistent content experience. And by making the shift to integrated marketing, marketers can ensure unified messaging, build their brands, optimize resources, and improve marketing results.

Why does this fall on the shoulders of content marketers? Think about the entirety of a campaign. There are many moving parts, but the one deliverable that remains consistent (and necessary) is content. It’s the steel thread of the marketing organization, so content marketers are in the best position to drive organizational change and an integrated approach, which will ultimately better support their content efforts and influence campaign performance.

Use this template to get started creating and executing integrated campaigns.

3. Preparing for the channels of the future

Imagine a world without screens. Imagine not having to go to Google to type in a search inquiry or not having to navigate to your favorite online store in order to buy new shoes. Now, imagine doing it all by voice instead. That’s what Mitch Joel of Six Pixels Group discussed during his session around the future of content marketing and emerging technologies. And though he acknowledged we’re not quite at the point where screens will become obsolete, statistics show that we are on the cusp of shifting to a smart audio society in some capacity.

According to Voicebot.ai, smart speaker ownership is on the rise with 3.25 billion devices currently having voice technology, which is estimated to scale to 8 billion by 2024. And a Gartner report has corroborated Mitch’s prediction of the boom of smart audio, stating that in 4 years, 30% of searches will happen without a screen. So what does this mean for content marketers?

Though we shouldn’t expect actual search engine use to plummet for some time, content marketers need to begin considering how consumers might search with voice in addition to a traditional SEO strategy. For example, one might type into Google “Hi in French,” to learn how to greet someone in French. But if they were to be searching via voice and asking Alexa, one might say, “Alexa: How do you say hi in French?” Brands will need to begin to think about how they can create content that will reach their audience both on-screen and by voice.

4. Using Netflix as a content model

Netflix is repeatedly used as the golden example of content personalization. From its suggestions based on what you’ve recently watched to its algorithm that chooses the most enticing tile images for programs based on your behavior in their platform, it’s no wonder. But there’s something else marketers can take away from Netflix’s content strategy: serialized programming.

Serialized programming is the model on which TV series and podcasts are built. And according to a session presented by Mark Bornstein of ON24, these TV-like experiences are what really resonates with audiences. If consumers like the content you’re putting out, then they’re going to want more, so taking an episodic approach to content will help you build engagement and give a reason for your audience to keep coming back.

It’s easy to see this in terms of a B2C approach (think: Vogue’s YouTube series, “73 Questions Answered by Your Favorite Celebs,” that get over 10 million views each), but this model can work for B2B marketers, too. Creating a webinar series is a great way to introduce serialized content to your content marketing program. In fact, 48% of buyers prefer webinars compared to any other format, according to Demand Gen Report.

Here are some quick tips from Mark’s session for creating a successful, engaging webinar series:

• The goal should be focused on building the audience rather than generating leads
• Keep it interesting with casual “coffee talks” as a format rather than slideshow presentations
• Have a regular cadence (e.g. monthly, weekly, etc.)
• Use an established host
• Use creative branding for the webinar that’s different from your regular branding
• Integrate the experience with social (e.g. live-tweeting, stream preview clips, etc.)
• Suggest another webinar or piece content based on what the viewer has watched

5. Executing with agile marketing

The final standout trend of CMW was agile marketing. This was a trend at last year’s event, as well — indicating that we can expect this one to stick around for a while.

Though many engineering teams are familiar with the agile methodology, how does it translate to a modern marketing organization? In NewsCred’s Shafqat Islam’s presentation, he emphasized agile marketing as a way to help marketing teams become more integrated, more collaborative, and more successful. For marketers, agility means continuously iterating on and optimizing content and campaigns and using agile methodologies powered by technology. Taking an agile approach was listed among Shafqat’s 5 traits of modern, integrated marketing, along with being collaborative, transparent, aligned, and scalable.

One of the biggest takeaways for having success with agile marketing is getting full executive buy-in and commitment from the top-down, according to Andrea Fryrear, President and Lead Trainer at AgileSherpas. She explained the importance of having everyone on board when getting started with agile marketing. And while you can expect people to be resistant to change, true agility won’t be possible if you have detractors.

 

That’s all for CMW 2019! Thank you to everyone who attended our CEO’s session, stopped by our booth, and drank some cold brew. If you weren’t able to make it, request a demo and one of our experts will be in touch!

Ali Hart is NewsCred’s Content Marketing Manager.

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Brand Spotlight: Australian Travel Company Intrepid is Driving Action Through Content

As a follow up to our first Australian Content Marketing Top 20, we caught up with one of our winners to learn more about how their content drives business results. 

We spoke with Justin Meneguzzi, Global Content Manager, and Emily Kratzmann, Global Content Editor at Intrepid Travel, the world’s largest adventure travel company and travel B Corp.

Both Emily and Justin are to thank for the award-winning strategy and execution that landed them in our Top 20, so we were excited to learn more about their content marketing journey and share the advice they have for other brands.

The below interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Can you share the story of Intrepid’s content marketing journey? What is the mission behind the content you are creating?

So we’ve had the Journal for a while. The Journal blog was the first step into content marketing that Intrepid took quite a few years ago, and it started up pretty small as kind of a newsletter platform. Over the years it developed and we had a team of copywriters and editors working on growing it. A couple of years ago, it got to the point where we had so much content and so much was being produced, that we had to take a step back and assess what we were actually doing. What was the purpose of all the content? You can’t easily make that assessment, so we did a massive audit of the blog and all of our content touchpoints. The data we collected is what influenced our strategy.

How long did it take you to get to the point where you were able to take a step back and realise you actually need to rein it in and become more data-driven?

The blog started in 2014. Honestly, for the first couple of years that the blog was on the website we had a pretty rogue approach to it. We would sit around in brainstorming meetings and just come up with cool ideas rather than have any sort of strategy behind it. At the end of 2017, we started working more closely with our insights team to have a look at what was actually working. Up until that point, none of our content was mapped to our customer journey or touchpoints. Now we always work to identify the main pressure points for our customers when they’re researching booking a trip with us.

The driving force behind a lot of the content we produce is around the key question of what we provide to our customers. How are we helping to inspire and inform them about a trip they’re thinking about?

We also realized in the mapping process that Intrepid operates in so many countries, but the content that we were covering on the blog maybe wasn’t as broad as it could have been. So about 18 months ago, we looked into developing more destination markets just to make sure that we were covering all of those countries and regions that we travel to.

We got that data from a few different points in the business: our commercial team told us the current top-performing destinations and emerging destinations, and our data team told us to look at insights outside of our own business. What are the audiences in the community talking about? What are they searching for on Google?

Have you seen a change in the performance of your content since you altered your approach and how are you able to measure that?

As I mentioned, we did have that really rogue approach to the blog and we weren’t doing a whole lot of reporting — certainly not from a strategic point of view. Now we can look at how much revenue the Journal is making compared to this time two years ago. And it’s gangbusters. Over the past couple of years, we’ve begun to understand the importance of merchandising articles on the blog. We make sure that we have links going back to trips to make it as easy as possible for readers to find the information that they’re looking for.

Traffic is a big goal for us. We’re getting more people from social media onto our platform and engaging with our brand. A concrete indicator of this is that we’ve seen sustained monthly year-on-year growth of 200% or more for 13 consecutive months.

We also want to remember to not treat every single piece of content as a conversion goal. We shouldn’t necessarily expect it to sell a trip if we’re telling a really great piece of purpose-driven storytelling, which is a critical part of our brand. We’re a business focused on purpose before profit. So if we’re telling a really important story about not riding elephants in Thailand, the goal is to raise awareness, not to create micro conversions.

How do you manage to set expectations internally for which content is supposed to accomplish which things?

I think it’s just an ongoing process of education. Everyone in our business works in content. Some people don’t realize that content means more than just written articles, videos, etc. The way someone thinks or feels about your brand can have a longer-term impact or it can result in an immediate conversion. I think people generally understand that.

There is also a lot of great existing travel content already in your category and it could be seen as a bit saturated. How do you distinguish yourselves and own a part of this conversation?

For us, sharing stories from our travelers is what sets us apart from the rest of the travel space. We have a really engaged audience. They want to share their stories and the majority of them are sharing really interesting and life-changing experiences. Those are the most exciting stories to publish. Having content around how to prepare for your trip to India, or what to expect on the train in Vietnam are really helpful, but sharing those personal stories can help people visualize themselves on our trips.

What also sets us apart is that we are purpose-driven, which is really part of our brand ethos. So that allows us to take a different approach, in that we’re not just trying to sell a holiday. We’re also trying to educate our customers as well. For example, what does it mean to travel responsibly? A lot of people are unaware of that. Tourism can be quite damaging, so we’re trying to be part of that conversation and educate people.

You mentioned you have a lot of different freelancers, content creators, and data analysts. How have you operationalised that process and how do you facilitate collaboration?

We’re quite lucky here to have our own in-house studio. We have the content and the producers all here. We have a production team and we do the video shooting and editing all in-house. Communication is really the most important thing.

It can be daunting to have everyone aligned around the same goals when they’re off working on their own projects, so we really try and focus on integrated communications. We have stand up meetings at the beginning and end of each week. We also have an open-plan environment, so the literal lack of walls really helps with the cross-pollination of ideas.

What is some advice that you would give to brands who are just starting out in their content marketing journeys? What do you think is next for content marketers?

Focus on what your customer wants, what their needs are, and how you can help them. We found the best-performing content is usually that which provides a solution to the problem your customer has.

There is a lot of exciting opportunity around user-generated content. I don’t think brands quite grasp that yet, but it’s a really unique opportunity to harness the energy of your audience.

Personalization is also going to be increasingly important. We’re used to logging onto Netflix and finding what we want right away, and consumers are beginning to expect that of brands. Content marketers need to able to create personalized content experiences based on what someone has read. For example, in future, if someone looks at a trip to Iceland on our website and then they go and look at our blog, they’ll be shown Iceland-related content.

To see the other 19 winners of NewsCred’s Australian Content Marketing Top 20, check out the full report here.

 

Esti Frischling is NewsCred’s Regional Manager, APAC.

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3 Things Brands Should Consider Ahead of Every Influencer Partnership

Influencer marketing has long passed the point of being a trend and is now, for better or worse, a staple element of the advertising industry. But that doesn’t mean brands have it all figured out. Questions abound around allocating influencer marketing dollars, drawing up campaigns, and perhaps most importantly, choosing which influencers make sense for the brand.

Adweek sat down with Lynsey Eaton and Suzanne Droese, co-founders of Estate Five, a Dallas-based influencer agency that represents a slew of recognizable influencers, as well as Jamie Wachlarz, Estate Five’s VP of strategic partnerships, to discuss how brands can navigate the world of influencer marketing—and see return on their investment. The three biggest takeaways from that conversation, below.

Influencers are more than their Instagram accounts

So much of what influencers do today centers on platforms like Instagram or YouTube. But it’s important to remember that oftentimes, a single social media account is only a sliver of what the influencer in question has to offer during a partnership. Eaton said that brands can need a little coaxing to open up to influencer partnerships that go beyond what they’re familiar with.

“Even though people have become much more open to influencer marketing, a lot of times they’re very comfortable with respect to what they’d been doing in their plans, and they’ll say, ‘Oh, this has worked for me. Instagram seems to be what’s working best for me,’” said Eaton. “They’re not really finding out about an influencer and learning about how each specific influencer platform works, because not they’re not all the same.”

In particular, Eaton said, this is important because what works and drives conversion with one influencer might be different than another.

“There are some influencers where we’ll tell brands, ‘You really like her, you really want conversions, what you really want to use is their blog, that’s what converts,’” she said. “And they’ll say, ‘Oh no, Instagram is what does it for us.’ But if you want to work with her, her platform that converts is her blog.”

Realize different teams within a brand can use influencers in different ways

Influencer partnerships can stretch across sectors of a company, and the way these varying departments will use influencers will change depending on what they’re looking for, according to Wachlarz.

“What we’re finding in some cases [is] that different aspects of different people within the same company need to use influencers in different ways,” she said. “The creative team might want to use influencers as models, just to have that association. The public relations team might want to use the influencers for awareness.”

However, that doesn’t mean you should try to make one influencer partnership work across the board. Each campaign is unique and requires specific attention—and specific goals. In an influencer campaign, there are typically one of two driving factors: conversion or awareness—it’s a rare influencer that will do both for a brand.

“You can’t have one activation hitting multiple KPIs,” said Wachlarz. “If you’re really going after conversions, you should not necessarily care as much about impressions and really just worry about the sales and vice versa.”

Engagement doesn’t tell the whole story

Influencers are so much more than just their follower count or how many people like their photos. But sometimes marketers can get so blinded by the more obvious numbers that they could be missing out on more important indications that an influencer campaign will be a success.

“As a marketer, the one hiring influencers, we’re so obsessed with the idea of engagement rate and how can we work with somebody that has the highest engagement rate,” said Wachlarz. “That’s gonna be the best person because they’re connected with their community. But engagement really doesn’t take into consideration some of your highest indicators for purchase conversion. Things like a send, a share, a bookmark or even a link click isn’t accounted for in an engagement rate.”

If brands want greater transparency when it comes to data, the easiest way is just to go straight to the source. Wachlarz said influencers care about the data and want to work with brands to showcase how they’ll best succeed.

She said: “There’s a misconception that, like, influencers don’t necessarily care about the data, but all of our influencers do.”

 

This article was written by Diana Pearl from Adweek and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@newscred.com.

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How to Plan Your B2B Content Marketing Strategy

In the content marketing world, a lot of attention gets paid to top B2C brands doing amazing or flashy things, but content also has a huge (albeit less glamorous) role to play for B2B marketers as well. In fact, according to the Content Marketing Institute, the most successful B2B marketers reported spending 40% of their budget on content marketing in 2018.

But budget power is not enough. Along with it, you need a content marketing planning strategy to ensure that you can achieve your top business goals. In most cases, for B2B marketers, your main focus will be some combination of lead generation, conversion, and/or sales.

Smart and strategic enterprise content marketing can help attract customers to enter your sales funnel and, more importantly, keep them there. But it’s not as simple as throwing up a few blog posts or asking your CEO to post on LinkedIn.

What you need is a detailed content game plan that outlines exactly how your team will create purposeful content for each part of the buyer journey so that your efforts ultimately drive your B2B bottom line.

Follow this guide to get started:

Start with your team

Particularly for B2B brands, it’s important that all stakeholders be on the same page when it comes to content marketing planning. That includes your marketing, communications, PR, and sales teams, and anyone else involved with working with customers. Every team has its own agenda and targets to hit, but with an integrated effort and an understanding of each team’s role, everyone can contribute to one cohesive plan.

For instance, involving sales can reveal what the customer pain points are or where in the journey prospective customers most commonly drop off. With that knowledge, the content marketing team can cover topics that help the sales team educate customers and address their concerns.

Action items:

• Create a chart that includes each internal team that can benefit from content marketing in some way; the types of content that you want to create; the role each department will play in the content creation; how the content will be distributed; and who is responsible for each moving part.
• Establish a regular communication loop (a weekly call perhaps?) so that everyone understands who is responsible for what, and can be kept up to date on priorities and progress.
• Map out the buyer journey (awareness, consideration, purchase, retention), and describe which type of content will be created for each stage, and which team members are involved.
• Share the master workflow with all involved parties, and revisit and revise as needed.

Dig deep into personas

Now that your high-level content marketing planning is underway, you can get more granular by figuring out exactly what type of content will help you meet your B2B goals.

The best place to start is to develop personas – profiles of the typical people you want your content to target. It’s likely that you will have more than one persona, including the main buyer of your product or the person in charge of making purchasing decisions. Depending on your industry, one of your personas might be the head of IT or some other business function.

For every persona, think about each one’s unique challenges and what they need help with. Do they need a lot of information so they can go to their manager with your product offerings? Do they want to see case studies of similar businesses to figure out if your solution is a good match for them? Do they need content that shows them unique ways to maximize the services they’re already paying for?

Action items:

• Get input from the people on your team who deal directly with customers at various buying stages to find out more about them and what motivates them.
• Dive into your content marketing analytics to find out which types of content they engage with most, and which social channels they tend to use.
• Put together a full picture for each persona including their average age, experience level/job title, and other demographics.

Once you have well-developed personas, you can create content that is less generic and more personalized, which has proven business impacts. In fact, 77% of consumers have chosen, recommended, or paid more for a brand that provides a personalized service or experience.

Develop your editorial calendar

Once you have everyone on board and a good idea of who your target audiences are, you’ll be ready to start creating the actual content. The question is: what type of content will work best?

Figuring that out will take some trial and error, but there are some general rules of thumb that might help.

For starters, long-form content is popular among B2B content marketers with 74% of them saying that they’ve used it in the past year, according to a 2019 Content Marketing Institute study. This includes content like white papers, ebooks, original research, and case studies — all of which are geared toward converting customers who are in the later stages of the buyer journey.

Of course, you also need to reach potential buyers way before that, such as those who want to learn more about your company, your products, and your services or maybe just the industry in general. That’s where awareness-type content like your blog or social media posts will come into play.

Once you’ve hooked readers in, you’ll also want to have some meaty types of content available that can help move them along into the consideration phase. This can include content like guides, webinars, and slideshows.

Action items:

• Create an editorial calendar with content that appeals to your different personas as well as each part of the buyer journey.
• Consider using a centralized content management platform so that everyone can see the status of each content asset in real-time.
• If you need more content than your staff can create in-house, look into licensing or hiring a third-party agency for support.
• Develop a distribution plan for each piece of content that includes where it will live and how/where it will be promoted.
• Track progress with analytics so that you know how your content is performing, and make tweaks accordingly.

By following a robust content marketing planning strategy, your team will be well equipped to develop targeted content that can deliver the business outcomes you want.

Interested in learning how NewsCred’s CMP can help you to ideate, plan, and execute your content marketing strategy? Request a demo.

 

Dawn Papandrea is a NewsCred Contributor.

The post How to Plan Your B2B Content Marketing Strategy appeared first on Insights.

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