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Not so long ago, agile methodology practitioners were all developers, and they would swear that there was no way UX design could fit into the mix. Agile was for development-centric projects. The methodology empowers developers to build and create, “fundamentally incorporat[ing] iteration and the continuous feedback that it provides to successively refine and deliver a software system.” (VersionOne) In a system like that, it was long thought, there was no room for UX design or content.
Today, ”agile” is like a new sort of ice cream, with a wide variety of flavors. There are UX design teams working in “agile for UX,” and others branching out to Lean UX, both putting an emphasis on prototypes over wireframes, and collaboration over documentation. But agile is as prone to the game of telephone as anything else, and so as the word of agile spreads, it morphs, or evolves. Which brings me to look at what happens when content strategy is integrated into agile, and how agile can be whispered to so many people it no longer remotely resembles the original word....
What to do when social media is not working. Reevaluate your social media tactics with these tips to find and engage with your audience on social media.
With a mix of print, online, social media, and in-store content, the apparel chain is giving its biggest fans everything they want.
Take one of my favorite brands, Anthropologie. This eclectic and increasingly popular store is a self-proclaimed “destination for women wanting a curated mix of clothing, accessories, gifts, and home décor that reflects their personal style and fuels their lives’ passions, from fashion to art to entertaining.”
That says it all. Anthropologie has mastered the art of balancing curated and created goods in its stores, as well as in its marketing presence.
From its beautiful catalogs to its bubbly blog to its upscale yet estate-sale-styled stores, Anthropologie has homespun a lacy web of content confection that dazzles us at home, online, and in person.
Here are some reasons Anthropologie is a storytelling superstar, examples from which all brands can learn...
As someone who spends most of his time talking to brands and agencies about content, I see far too many of them keeping content in a silo, rather than using it as part of a holistic marketing plan. Here are a few best practices for using content to supercharge your marketing spend....
In this age of noise, it’s critical that your message cuts through the static and connects with customers.That’s why persona research is an essential part of your overall content marketing strategy – to ensure your content is speaking to, and connecting with, the right people.
Persona research is as much an art as it is a science. In Raven’s recent post “48 tips for SEO newbies from 48 experienced SEOs,” Sarah Peters says this about content: “Know your audience/customer, first and foremost. What do they need? What are they searching for? How much do they know already? Where do they gather? What do they value? Find out, and then give them that.”That’s awesome advice, and it’s really the core concept behind persona research. In this post, I’d like to walk you through my process of using this research to create targeted content....
You hear a lot of talk these days about crowdsourcing — the idea of using a large online community to complete tasks as diverse as compiling an online encyclopedia (thank you Wikipedia!) or creating a database of popular bars that directs you to watering holes around the world. It’s such a great concept, and yet, based on my conversation with other B2B content marketers, I’ve found that it hasn’t been incorporated into many content creation and promotion strategies. That’s why I’ve put together this short list of questions that will help you gauge how good a job you are (or aren’t) doing of crowdsourcing your content creation efforts. If you can’t answer yes to all of them, chances are that you’re missing out on a few opportunities for easy wins....
There is a growing market out there for content marketing. Not the old fashioned kind where magazine companies would create custom magazines for brands, marketers, and retailers. I am talking about the Internet version in which brands, marketers, retailers and other businesses create blogs, twitter accounts, facebook pages, and the like and then spend money filling those pages with content. Many brands have full time employees creating this content. Others use third parties and even freelancers to do it. In many ways I see this as the future of online marketing. Instead of paying tens of millions of dollars a year (or more) creating banner ads and paying to run them on pages filled with someone else's content, marketers can create their own web and mobile presences and use the most efficient form of advertising, pay per click advertising, to drive traffic to these pages and then engage in a conversation with their customers and potential customers. I like to think of this as moving the message from a banner to your brand and changing the engagement from a view to a conversation. It also helps that this approach works better on mobile where we are spending more and more of our time every day....
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Successful content marketing requires a fundamental shift in thinking about how you communicate with consumers—and how your brand serves them.
...Now, we have entered the age of transparency, brought on almost singlehandedly by social media. The message is no longer controlled by brands; consumers now share the conversation. When the brand message is inconsistent with the consumer experience, the disparity is quickly and publicly exposed.
Some brands choose to expend their energy trying to guard the doors and maintain control of the conversation. (Your PR firms and lawyers thank you for your patronage.) However, it is a losing battle; the control has already shifted....
...A social business is more than an organization that invests in a positive global footprint to overcome the world's biggest problems, such as inequality and poverty. The term has developed to now also represent companies that are more open, transparent, and participatory in conversations and activity that defines markets. But the challenge is that social media strategists may actually be hampering its potential by not helping executives see the bigger picture beyond the technology.
Last month, Charlene Li and I published our latest Altimeter Group report, "The State of Social Business 2013." In our research, we were surprised that businesses were still unsure of the role social media played enterprise-wide, beyond marketing and communications. Many, we found, were limited in scope and not universal in engagement with customers, employees, suppliers, partners, community, et al...
So you want to get good at social media?
You need to have a plan. A guidebook. A strategy.You need some rules.
And rule number one? That’s obey the rules. As for rules number two through eighty, check out this fantastic infographic courtesy of Jeremy Waite, head of social strategy at Adobe.
And remember: while you can’t get anything done in the world without rules, sometimes it’s just as important to know exactly when you need to break them.*...
Sure, you have a business, but whether you sell a product or a service, you must provide SERVICE. What makes you so much different from your competitor that your prospects are knocking down your door? Or are they?
Solving problems is your real product not your widget or your services. Anyone and everyone does that. It is you, your service and your ability to meet the customer/prospect needs that will drive your business.You already know that people buy from people. You are “people” not just your brand or your company. It is your responsibility to meet needs, solve issues and instill a level of comfort and trust with your audience.
The buying decision occurs in the emotional environment.“Too many business owners and sales people try to sell their product or service, neglecting the fact that their customer is a person. In fact, the customer is a person who has feelings, influences and a mind of their own. They want to be connected with, and to trust and believe the person from which they are buying.” Rebecca Wilson....
... However, in earlier stages of the buying journey and the beginning of the funnel (I know, the funnel is just a metaphor), in general they will be more suspicious of vendor content. That's not just common sense, it's also smart buying behavior. If you want to invest as a B2B buyer, you want to be as sure as you can.
So-called "native advertising" is not a solution for marketers in B2B buying in that regard. How often did you read advertorials in B2B magazines, for instance? In my days as a B2B publisher I (and the editorial staff) were relieved to get an advertorial that made sense and was actually worth reading and relevant for readers.You can focus on making your content more suited for the stages in your customer's buying journey but you will never fully succeed as different buyers are...different buyers and trust is hard to earn.
The subject matter expert and the corporate babble: it’s about the people, stupid.
Furthermore, it's not just about the relevance of the content. It's about the 'messenger': the subject matter expert, the individual that can become part of that inner circle of trust of the B2B buyer, even if he or she works for a vendor and – indeed – essentially is in sales. But, in the end, the person matters at least as much as the content (even if both are connected).To me, the main challenge of B2B content marketing is not about content strategy and so on (although that all matters). The challenge is to cut down on the corporate babble....
With social selling, you’re no longer simply pushing information about products and services out to your audience. Instead, you’re discovering what they’re passionate about, which can lead naturally—organically—into a discussion of how you can solve a problem or improve their lives, and why your company is the right choice to help them,” Nimble CEO Jon Ferrara said recently, as I was researching technologies that enable this kind of social approach. Building a socialized selling strategy involves completing the following three basic stages: Research: This stage is all about identifying your ideal customer – also called your Buyer Persona – then finding out what their fears are when buying your product: Content: This stage is all about creating content that speaks to the buyer persona you identified in the first step. Distribution: This stage is about getting the word out about your content, then using the results to refine future content.
Ikea USA serves as a blueprint for social media content creation. There are some great ideas to steal from Ikea USA’s editorial calendar. If I were to reveal a hidden talent of mine, I’d say I’m good at assembling Ikea furniture. As most Swedes, I’ve grown up with flat packages and family quarrels around mounting manuals. I’m practically born with a hexagon key in my hand. Therefore, as a devoted brand advocate, I wanted to check out Ikea’s social media strategy; curious to know if it is as innovative as their products. Ikea Sweden is not on Twitter while Ikea USA tweets according to a clear content strategy....
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Maker or manager? Thoughtful POV on content strategy and agile methodology from Marli Mesibov.