Not all forms of content creation will make you famous, but some come with built-in amplification boosts that can put you well on your way to star-quality promotion.
Working with industry experts and influencers to co-create content is a proven tactic for adding more inherent promotion right from the start of your campaign.
Harnessing the power of industry events, keeping abreast of trend forecast data, and incorporating interactive elements are also tactics that can significantly up your content promotion game.
Let’s take a look at all of these methods and more, and see how to best utilize each, including examples showing how each tactic has driven star-quality success.
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Tactic #1 — Co-Creation With Industry Experts & Influencers
Whether you call them industry experts or influencers, when you work with noted figures in your profession and include their insight along with your own, you’ll both reap rewards on several levels by joining together.
Co-created content will by nature provide promotion potential that is greater than the sum of its individual parts, as the value and relevance industry experts add to your content makes it something that not only your target audience will want to learn from and share, but which also benefits from the additional sharing and social amplification influencers can provide.
For any kind of content a business creates and publishes to the world, there is an opportunity for collaboration with credible voices that have active networks interested in what those voices have to say. @LeeOdden Share on XA recent poll on our Twitter channel asked B2B marketers what their biggest influencer marketing hurdles were:
In this informal poll measuring, impact was seen as the top hurdle, which highlights the importance of having an accurate data analytics strategy. I’ve written about this in “New Year, New View: 3 Ways to Approach Analytics in 2019,” including specific tips for dealing with influencer marketing.
Finding the right influencers for your industry has also been a top concern, and a key element in strong influencer partnerships is the ability to share in mutual benefits, as Luciana Moran of Dun & Bradstreet has pointed out.
In order to be successful, the work has to be mutually beneficial to both parties. @lucymoran on #B2BInfluencerMarketing Share on XShe shared some of the challenges and rewards of working with influencers in an interview with Lee that is a helpful resource if you’re looking to develop or improve your own influencer marketing program.
With multiple recent estimates predicting influencer marketing as a $10 billion industry by 2020, including 35% growth through 2025, getting influencer marketing right will be more important than ever, which is why many B2B firms turn to a professional marketing agency specializing in the practice.
TopRank Marketing was named by Forrester as the only B2B marketing agency offering influencer marketing as a top capability in its latest “B2B Marketing Agencies, North America, Q1 2019” report.”
“Partnering with influencers can provide a dramatic boost to your brand’s credibility and authority in the eyes of your audience.” @NickNelsonMN Share on XHere are three additional resources we’ve compiled recently relating to content co-creation, to help you design and implement your own influencer marketing plan:
- Words of Wisdom: Lee Odden’s Top 9 Insights on How to Succeed at Influencer Marketing 2.0, by Caitlin Burgess
- Trust Factors: The (In)Credible Impact of B2B Influencer Marketing, by Nick Nelson
- Sowing the Seeds of Success: 3 Elements of Strong B2B Influencer Relationships, by Caitlin Burgess
Tactic #2 — The Promotional Power of Events
Industry events bring people together, and the collective promotional potential they offer when smartly utilized is a tactic that’s sometimes overlooked, so we’ll explore some of the ways conferences, trade-shows, and other professional events can amplify your marketing campaign efforts.
Tip for creating #ContentGold around industry events: Reach out to organizers, sponsors, or speakers that represent topics and brands of interest to your community to do pre-conference interviews. @LeeOdden Share on XThere are many ways to build promotion around events, and we’ve written several recent in-depth articles on the specifics which we’ll share below, including how to take advantage of the follow event-related content promotion areas:
- Speaking at Events
- Event-Specific Content Creation
- Hosting In-Real-Life (IRL) Gatherings at Events
- Participating in Podcast Interviews
- Being Social During Events
- Finding Event-Related Hashtags
- Connecting with Speakers, Exhibitors, and Other Attendees.
- Starting Event-Related Buzz
- Scheduling Event-Related Content
- Joining Private and Public Event Discussion Groups
- Sharing Interesting and Inspiring Speaker and Keynote Quotes
- Inviting Key Industry People to Meet Up
- Amplifying Event Content and Engaging with Attendees
- Giving Social Shout-Outs to Those You Meet
- Sharing Top Session and Keynote Take-Aways
- Forming New Connections with Speakers, Exhibitors, and Attendees
- Savvy Surveying of the Event Schedule
To get you started in event-related content promotion and how to utilize the items listed above, here are three recent articles we’re written:
- Content Marketing Gold Rush: How to Unearth Content Gold at Marketing Industry Events, by Caitlin Burgess
- Learning Changes Lives: Top Insights from #MPB2B & 5 Tips for Rocking Marketing Events, by Ashley Zeckman
- 12 Helpful Tips for Effectively Using Social Media at Events, by Caitlin Burgess
Tactic #3 — Promotion From Relevant Trend Research
Knowing where your industry is and where it has been are important factors in creating top-quality, relevant promotional efforts, however what can set a campaign apart is having the forward-thinking insight that can only come from a thorough examination of future trend forecast and analysis information.
Our CEO Lee Odden recently shared his latest trends relating to B2B influencer marketing, published in infographic format at Social Media Today, in “The Top B2B Influencer Marketing Trends for 2020 [Infographic].”
“Not only is influencer marketing one of the fastest growing areas in marketing, it's also one of the disciplines where B2B brands are seeing trend-setting marketing performance.” @LeeOdden Share on XFinding relevant trend and forecast report data can be a daunting challenge, but it’s well worth the effort for the added insight you’ll gain and be able to include in your marketing efforts.
We’ve made it easier than ever to locate some of the top recent reports, with our recently-published “15 Reports Charting the Future of Content Marketing,” featuring new trend data from the Pew Research Center, Edelman, Edison Research, Cision, Shutterstock, Mary Meeker, Buffer, LinkedIn, Content Marketing Institute, MarketingProfs, Chief Marketer, Vidyard, Triton Digital, Sprout Social, Social Media Examiner, Hootsuite, and We Are Social.
“Finding trends in what your current customers need can help you answer questions that your prospective customers might be asking, too.” — Jessica Best @bestofjess Share on XBelow you’ll also find three addition resources for not only locating existing trend publications, but for digging in and doing your own research using audience intent and question research tools.
- 10 Smart Question Research Tools for B2B Marketers, by this author
- 7 Top B2B Influencer Marketing Trends for 2020, by Lee Odden
- Key B2B Takeaways From the 2019 Internet Trends Report, by this author
Tactic #4 — Inclusive Use of Your Digital Archives ; Re-Purposing
The longest journeys in life, and indeed the adventures of life itself, aren’t taken in one fell swoop, but in a continual series of steps that each build on previous steps.
The information in the content we create is similar, and if we wish to build inspiring and life-changing content, we shouldn’t ignore the wisdom that has come from our prior work, which is where content re-purposing comes in ready to shine.
Some information that you’ve previously published will be the type of always-relevant evergreen content that can add to the usefulness of new campaigns, and smart marketers will re-use it, oftentimes adding slight modifications or improvements.
We don’t need more content. We need better content! @annhandley of @MarketingProfs Share on XRe-purposing can help create a more authentic type of content as well, and provide the kind of best-answer content that audiences are seeking.
“Using a modular approach will make the repurposing process easier, keyword relevant and meaningful for the audience because topics are driven by an understanding of customer interests, questions and triggers.” — Lee Odden @leeodden Share on XHere are three recent articles we’ve written to help you successfully re-purposing content:
- Don’t Blink: 3 Often-Overlooked Practices for Highly-Effective Content Creation, by this author
- When & Why Net-New Content Creation Makes Sense—And When It Doesn’t, by Anne Leuman
- A Tasty, Strategic Addition to the Content Marketing Table: ‘Repurposed Content Cobbler’, by Caitlin Burgess
Tactic #5 — Promotion Using Interactive Elements
With our fascination in two-way online experiences instead of traditional passive one-way content, it shouldn’t come as any great surprise that elements of interactive content have some of the highest engagement rates of all.
Since 2016 93% of marketers have viewed interactive content as effective in educating buyers versus just 70% for static content, according to survey data by Inc. and others, with similar figures continuing through today.
As the technical capabilities of the Web have grown significantly since its inception, more than ever before audiences are seeking out and expecting the type of content they can engage and interact with beyond merely clicking links.
Whether it’s live-chat — either automated or with an actual person — real-time virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR), in-content playable moments, or any number of the new methods for two-way online communication, adding interactive elements to your content is a fantastic way to build a stronger connection with your customers and target audience.
“Creating compelling experiences with interactive content is one way to stand out, differentiate, and optimize for effectiveness.” @LeeOdden Share on XFor its recent “Reshaping Customer Experience Management: The Future of #CXM” campaign, *Adobe worked with TopRank Marketing to create a unique interactive online story featuring a wealth of helpful B2B influencer content to increase awareness of Adobe’s Customer Experience Management solutions.
The campaign combined expert insight from top industry experts including Jay Baer of Convince & Convert, Ann Handley of MarketingProfs, Scott Monty of Scott Monty Strategies, Rachel Richter of Dun & Bradstreet and others, with enticing and useful interactive elements to bring Adobe’s CXM to life.
Another recent poll on our Twitter channel asked B2B marketers which element offered the biggest performance increase potential in a blog post:
Interactive elements was the top choice in this informal poll, highlighting their power to drive engagement.
YouTube recently announced new augmented reality (AR) advertising options, which will be available later this summer through its influencer marketing platform, FameBit — an example of how the world’s largest video platform is expanding its use of interactive content elements.
Finally, here are three helpful interactive experience resources for marketers looking to begin or start utilizing the power of interactivity:
- The Future of B2B Content: Data-Informed, Interactive, and Influential, by Lee Odden
- B2B Brands Go Bold: 7 Great Examples of Interactive B2B Content, by Joshua Nite
- How B2B Marketers Can Make the Most of Interactive Content Tools, by Caitlin Burgess
Be Your Own Best Content Promotion Shining Star
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Content promotion fame isn’t in the stars for every campaign, however by using influencer co-creation, harnessing the power of events and trends, and incorporating smart re-purposing with engaging interactive elements, you’ll be that much closer to the red carpets of Cannes.
*Adobe is a TopRank Marketing client.
