Article | June 9, 2016

Secrets Of MSP Marketing Content

By Contel Bradford via StorageCraft

There are two things that can literally make or break a business venture. Customer service is one. Content is the other. According to the Content Marketing Institute, 88 percent of B2B companies invest in content marketing, but only 32 percent have a documented game plan. What may be even more alarming about this report is that only 30 percent believe their content marketing strategy is effective. That’s some admission, huh? It’s sort of like disaster recovery, in that organizations realize the importance, yet many still don’t invest the attention and effort it deserves.

In our last post we put marketing copy under a microscope. This time around we’ll adopt a slightly broader focus with some examples that reveal what both good and bad content looks like.

Social Media Successes and Fails

Social media gives businesses the opportunity to connect with audiences in new and exciting ways. From Twitter to Facebook, it is a platform that enables brands to favorably shape their image by fostering more meaningful relationships with customers and followers. While social media is a powerful tool, it can also be a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands.

Marketers should aim to develop as much shareable content as possible in the social sphere. Pro wrestling powerhouse company World Wrestling Entertainment makes it look easy. The sports entertainment giant posts several updates to Twitter on a daily basis, many of which are shared hundreds of times by followers. A classic example is this tweet posted by insanely popular and recently retired superstar Daniel Bryan in honor or Teacher Appreciation day, which garnered well over 600 retweets.

A mix of wrestling-related content and feel good material like this has made WWE one of the most successful brands in the social media space.

Speaking of Twitter, hashtags are among the most potent tools the platform offers to social media marketers. However, the power they wield can work against you if you’re not careful. The easiest way to fall victim to the hashtag hex is to simply abuse them, like author Sanna Hines. This tweet promoting her latest ebook is one of many that ignores best practices by using one too many hashtags.

An innocent error in judgment? Perhaps. But it can turn out to be a huge deal when those hashtags result in congested, messy looking tweets her followers are compelled to ignore.

Two Observations in the Blogosphere

SolarWinds N-Able has one of the most remarkable blogs in any industry. The global leading IT service provider feeds its content-hungry readership with new posts on an almost weekly basis. That’s according to its massive archives. While it doesn’t generate comments or discussions on the level of a gossip or sports blog, I imagine this one still reels in tons of traffic while generating its fair share of new leads. SolarWinds N-Able clearly drew up a content marketing strategy and stuck to its guns no matter how grueling or repetitive the process became. I’d say this blog is the ultimate model of consistency.

We stumble upon our counter-example without switching markets. IT Solutions Inc. began its blogging journey with a consistent and frequent posting strategy, but at the time of this writing, has not published a new blog post in nine months. Who knows what happened here, but in the eyes of the average new visitor it probably looks like they abandoned ship. This could lead some to assume that the company quit on its readers, or leave potential customers questioning its reliability. You’re honestly better off scrapping your blog altogether rather than leaving enormous gaps between posts. I guess you can say silence is the ultimate sign of a failed content marketing strategy.

The Best and Worst of Video Marketing

The video marketing revolution is in full swing. Savvy brands have come to realize that video is the most effective way to engage audiences in the era of YouTube and short attention spans. Digital marketing enthusiast Ian Gordon pushes all the right buttons with his moderately successful video “How to Write a Business Plan.” This video strikes a chord with the entrepreneurial masses for several reasons, but we’ll highlight the top three:

  1. It addresses a need: The “keyphrase” in the title yields about 80 million relevant results in Google. In addition to search popularity, the comment activity on YouTube lets us know that this video at least caters to an urgent need.
  2. It’s time-efficient: Video is engaging, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you get an hour to work your magic. Unlike similar videos that drag the viewer through hour-long presentations or a series of videos, this one manages to get its point across in less than ten minutes and one clip.
  3. It’s valuable: Several of the business videos on YouTube are more gimmicky than the WWE lineup. This one provides real substance and actually delivers on the promise of helping success-oriented CEOs hammer out a business plan.

On the flip side we have one of the worst attempts at video marketing you’ll see this year – or any year. International business advisor Bjorn Wellgraff claims to have tabs on the “Next Big Thing,” yet fails to even muster up a shred of intrigue with this attempt. The video is a disaster on multiple fronts, but we’ll be consistent and highlight three of the most depressing flaws:

  1. It’s misleading: As you might have guessed from the length of the clip, Wellgraf doesn’t elaborate on what the next big thing is. Heck, he doesn’t reveal or even offer a hint of what it might be.
  2. It’s confusing: Wellgraf calls for the viewer to leave their contact information and click on the next page to unlock the secret. Not sure where else this video is hosted, but he failed to keep the YouTube crowd in mind with those kind of instructions.
  3. It has no value: This video offers absolutely no substance whatsoever. Basically it comes off as the ramblings of a man who wants to let it be known that he’s discovered the latest greatest trend in digital business, yet isn’t in the mood to share with the rest of us.

A simple oversight. A single lapse in consistency. Sometimes that’s all it takes to ruin potentially good content. Sure, you’re bound to make mistakes here and there, but the fewer, the better, right? If you can learn from the many examples that have already been set, you can start producing a rich mix of content that delivers more hits and far fewer misses than the ones we’ve discussed here.