How to Engage & Inspire With Interactive Content Marketing

Easy Ways to Stand Out from the Competition Using Interactive Content Marketing
I'm sure you've heard the old adage "Content is king." While that's certainly true, it's not enough anymore to simply write a text-rich blog post and expect engagement to happen.

According to a study by Microsoft, the average human has an attention span of eight seconds. Eight seconds! You need to attract your readers' or followers' attention and require their active engagement quickly.

That can easily be done with something called interactive content marketing.

While pieces like blog articles and eBooks are considered passive content, interactive content requires the person to actively engage with the content, whether that's by swiping, tapping, answering a question...

In this article, I'm providing 3 ideas you can use to attract your audience's attention and stand out from your competitors.

Some of you may remember those "choose your own adventure" books from childhood. The TV show Black Mirror did an incredibly unique episode called "Bandersnatch" that let you choose game designer Stefan's moves and his ultimate fate.

While you're probably not going to go that far with your marketing videos, one easy interactive marketing tool is having a Facebook Live where you answer questions and take comments virtually.

Here's an example. During episodes of my Tea Time Tips on Facebook, I ask questions and encourage my viewers to comment. They can also ask questions that I answer live in the video.

It's a fun and simple two-way conversation that gets everyone involved with the episode versus me just talking "at" my followers.

Polls and Questions
These are great interactive social media marketing tools. Let's start with polls. I'm going to go with a Facebook example again, because it's so easy to create a poll while you're making up your post. Here's how:

In addition to polls, another way to easily encourage engagement is by asking a question in your news feed on Facebook.

While it's a good idea to keep your question relevant to your business, go ahead and have some fun with it! You want your audience to be motivated and excited to answer your question, whatever that might be.

Here's an example from one of our clients who owns Malarys Fashion Network, a clothing boutique in Cloverdale, BC. Yvonne framed a fashion-related in a lighthearted way on her Facebook page and got a high number of engagements, including 20 comments.

To do this well, think about some interesting topics that relate to your business. Here are a couple of generic prompts that could help:

• Can you recommend some good [your product or service category] books this summer?
• What business advice would you give yourself when you were just starting out?
• If you could run your business in any period in history, when would it be and why?

Infographics
Infographics engaging visuals to communicate stats or other information quickly and clearly. Neil Patel did a great article back in 2014 on the power of infographics. It's still relevant today, and you can read it on our blog.

However, it's time to step up your infographics game with interactive elements. It's true that it takes more time and effort to create a two-way infographic instead of a static one. But if it's relevant to your business and captivates your audience, the traffic, engagement and social shares you get (which will link back to your site) will be well worth it.

There are numerous sites out there that allow you to create infographics from a template, or you can hire a professional graphic design company to create them for you.

Here's an infographic Google did to explain the complex topic "How search works." You can interact with various elements to move you through the content, which is much more interesting than a long page of text.

Now that we've gone over some ways that you can create these unique content marketing pieces, let's look at some of the benefits.

I talked a bit about it increasing engagement: you share an interesting and fun piece of content and users are more likely to interact with it and share it themselves.

In addition to increased user engagement, here are 3 other ways that interactive marketing tools can be beneficial:

They can collect data for you.
As marketers we rely on data to make decisions that will benefit our business. It can be a challenge to collect behavioural data by asking questions outright for a few reasons: Customers are extremely wary of these tactics and it's not fun!

(When's the last time you filled out one of those surveys a website randomly asked you, just because?)

By using a poll or engaging question, you can learn more about your audience's likes and dislikes. If you're inviting your audience to interact with an infographic, you can gain valuable insights by looking at where they navigate and click.

They increase clicks and conversions.
As a small business owner, you should always be looking for ways to engage with potential clients. It can be a real challenge to get someone to download your eBook or to convert on a landing page on your website.

That's where interactive content comes in. It can boost your click-throughs and conversion rates big-time. TheContent Marketing Institute did some case studies of brands that each saw upwards of 50% click through rates when they used it.

Put yourself in your potential customers' shoes: what would you rather click on at the top of the marketing funnel?

A 'Submit' button on a website asking you to provide your email so the business can send you a white paper? Or, a quiz or poll that asks for your opinion on a relevant topic, then asks for your email to send you the answer?

You'll find that many people are much more willing to provide their info if it's presented in an engaging way and it doesn't seem like you're asking.

They build brand loyalty.
When a viewer just reads an article or watches a video, their participation is minimal, and so is their engagement. But content people can interact with is different; it can create deeper relationships.

Research has shown that the more of a relationship a consumer has with a brand, the more likely they are to be loyal long-term customers. You start to be seen as an expert in your area, and people trust you.

And the more people trust you, the more likely they are to buy from you.

The content marketing landscape is always evolving, and you need to be willing to change with the times if you want to be successful.

Expect to see more interactive videos, quizzes, polls, questions, infographics and more; it's time to seriously consider adding these to your marketing tools if you want to stay ahead of the competition.

We know it can be nearly impossible to keep up with your marketing when you've got a business to run!

Susan Friesen, founder of the award-winning web development and digital marketing firm eVision Media, is a Web Specialist, Business & Marketing Consultant, and Social Media Advisor. She works with entrepreneurs who struggle with having the lack of knowledge, skill and support needed to create their online business presence.

As a result of working with Susan and her team, clients feel confident and relieved knowing their online marketing is in trustworthy and caring hands so they can focus on building their business with peace of mind at having a perfect support system in place to guide them every step of the way.

Visit http://www.ultimatewebsiteguide.ca and download your FREE "Ultimate Guide to Improving Your Website's Profitability - 10 Critical Questions You Must Ask to Get Maximum Results".

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Susan_Friesen/260293

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Your 2019 Guide on How to Use Video in Email Marketing

It's not news that video is at the forefront of marketing these days.

From creating videos for your website to hosting Facebook Live sessions, this marketing tool has transformed from a nice-to-have to a must-have if you want to effectively engage with your audience and build a loyal following who will be more apt to purchase from you.

Video-based marketing is a great way to stand out from the multiple messages people get in their inboxes every day, not to mention how effective it is on social media.

This article focuses on using video in your email marketing. Keep reading for the technical parts of utilizing video in your email marketing and the creative aspect for some inspiration.

I've talked about using video many times in the past, but in case you're still not convinced or didn't think to use video in your email marketing efforts, it's time to pay close attention. According to a study done by SuperOffice, including video in emails led to open rate increases of six percent (the average open rate across industries is about 25 percent).

Some other benefits of video marketing:

• It saves time. You can create short, engaging pieces of video much more quickly than it will take you to write an 800-word blog. It also gives info to your viewer in an easy-to-understand way.

• It can help SEO. Your Google search ranking can improve if your footage is viewed and shared by enough people.

• It's cost-effective. You don't need CGI effects or animation to make something great. A video can be much more affordable to produce than a blog or ad.

• It grabs attention. Especially when added into your newsletter, a video captures your audience's attention and compels them to want to watch.

First, the Technical Part of Video Email Marketing

Before you start brainstorming ways to use video in email, you need to know how it plays in different email clients.

There are over 30 major email clients, including Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail and Yahoo Mail, and some of them don't support the requirements for using email with video.

Traditionally, marketers would use HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Language) to code HTML video directly into an email, but recipients with certain email clients aren't able to play it. Many popular email providers will only show a fallback image, and your marketing message will be lost in the crowd.

Fortunately, some of the popular services like MailChimp, Constant Contact and AWeber make it easy to share across all providers by using a screen capture image of your video and linking it to your original content on your blog, YouTube, Vimeo or similar sites.

This gives the appearance there's actually video in your email and avoids technical issues with your email provider.

Instead of having to learn HTML5, there are also 3rd party services that can create a video snippet for you to include right in the body of your newsletter. In fact, I did this in a recent newsletter of ours!

Check out Playable to embed a short video in your next newsletter. Playable will replace the video with an image of your choice if the email service provider doesn't support the video technology.

>> Learn more about the features of our favourite email providers.

No matter what eNewsletter tool you use, it's crucial to test your campaign before you send it out. You'll need to have accounts on all of the popular email platforms so that you can see how your footage works in each of them.

Sound like a lot of work? Trust a professional marketing company that's been helping clients create successful eNewsletter campaigns since 2003.

Next, Make Sure You're Mobile

According to Hubspot, mobile opens accounted for 46 percent of all email opens. That means you have to ensure you're keeping smartphones in mind when you're email marketing with video.

Fortunately, eNewsletter providers such as MailChimp and Constant Contact let you test and see how your messaging will look before you send it out.

It's still important to keep the file size as low as possible so the video doesn't need to buffer to start playing. Mobile devices don't have the fastest download speed.

A good tip is to take a 10 second snippet of your video to use in the newsletter. That snippet can then link to the full feature on your blog.

Also, always make sure autoplay is off, especially on mobile. Most people don't appreciate having something start playing (often noisily) as they sit in the office or on a bus; they prefer to click on Play themselves.

Now, On to the Creative Part

With the technical stuff out of the way, let's look at how you can actually create content that will engage your viewers and get you more visitors to your website.

You need a plan with clear objectives or else you're just sending content out into the world and hoping it will be seen and loved.

Why are you creating this campaign? To generate leads, brand awareness, followers... ?

Once you've identified your objectives and goals, you can start thinking about actual email, and the content you want to produce.

As mentioned, host the full-length video in a blog post, landing page or even on social media and then plan to incorporate a "sneak peak" of that video in your email marketing campaign, linking to the full-length version.

Here are six tips and inspiration to get you started:

1. Use the word "video" in your subject line to make your message stands out.

2. Promote an event. Let's use a law office as an example. We created a short video using Wave.Video for one our clients, A Family Law Firm, to promote an upcoming seminar they were hosting.

3. Offer tips. When it comes to email marketing with video, users want short, digestible clips. A "Top 5" or "4 ways to improve" will get more attention than a 2-minute creation of you trying to explain a product.

4. Create a series. This is a great way to keep people engaged with your expertise, as long as what you're providing is valuable to them. Stay away from a five-part series on your latest offering. Instead, solve a problem.

Using the law firm video marketing again as an example, you could set up a list-building campaign and do a four-part video series on ways to prepare for a separation or divorce:

• Part 1: DIY or hire a lawyer?

• Part 2: Filing the necessary paperwork

• Part 3: Dividing assets

• Part 4: Supporting your children

5. Make tutorials. Your product or service solves a problem, so how can you showcase this to your clients? Educate your viewers with a short explanation around how your product or service will improve their lives, using real-world examples.

6. Think outside the box. Now, we don't all have the budget outdoor company Patagonia does; however, look at how they've integrated amazing footage into their email campaigns. It doesn't focus on their surfing gear, but it's relevant to their customers.

Whether you're a life coach shooting some footage while you're on vacation or a wellness provider offering viewers a glimpse of your dinner prep process, get creative and get shooting!

Email marketing with video can be incredibly powerful, increasing your open rates, engagement, leads and sales substantially.

However, not every email should contain one. If you start using this marketing tactic every time you send out an eNewsletter to your subscribers, they'll stop paying attention. Think of it as one way to stand out from the crowd, but don't neglect your other tactics.

Crafting an eNewsletter campaign with video (or without), choosing the right email provider, testing and monitoring open rates and engagement is a tough job. And, it needs to be done well or else you'll end up alienating and losing subscribers.

Susan Friesen, founder of the award-winning web development and digital marketing firm eVision Media, is a Web Specialist, Business & Marketing Consultant, and Social Media Advisor. She works with entrepreneurs who struggle with having the lack of knowledge, skill and support needed to create their online business presence.

As a result of working with Susan and her team, clients feel confident and relieved knowing their online marketing is in trustworthy and caring hands so they can focus on building their business with peace of mind at having a perfect support system in place to guide them every step of the way.

Visit http://www.ultimatewebsiteguide.ca and download your FREE "Ultimate Guide to Improving Your Website's Profitability - 10 Critical Questions You Must Ask to Get Maximum Results".

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Susan_Friesen/260293

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DON’T Use Paid Ads My #1 Organic Marketing Strategy | Neil Patel

13 Small Business Marketing Strategies For 2019

Are you keen on learning digital  marketing to enhanced your business and therefore enhance your clients or personal life, checkout these tops tips in the video above, If still at lost what to do, why not checkout this website where you can learn about SEO's, Facebook chat bot, youtube hacker course, facebook marketing, Instagram marketing, podcast mastery and much more at https://onlinedigitalmarketingacademy.com/

Many thanks,

Online Wizard

Digital Marketing And Its Importance

Undoubtedly, the new and smart strategies for the businesses are the need of the hour. The market is now full with small and large scales business, thus the biggest challenge that both the consumers and producers both have to face is the presence of different brands selling the same product. For example, if you go to a store for buying dark chocolate, you can easily find 6-7 brands selling the dark chocolate even at the same price. This is the level of competition, which producers are facing these days. Therefore, to make your product recognized by everyone it is important to standout your business presence in the online world with smart digital marketing tactics.

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital Marketing is a broad term that includes advertising, promoting, and strengthening the online presence of businesses through digital platforms. Some of the digital tactics that fall under the umbrella of 'Digital Marketing' are digital advertising, email marketing, content marketing, pay-per-click, online brochures, and more. Unlike other offline marketing efforts, digital marketing allows getting accurate results in real time. For example, if you put an advertisement in the newspaper, it is nearly impossible to estimate how many people flipped to that page and paid attention to that ad. While with digital marketing, you can easily measure your ROI of any aspect of your marketing efforts. According to Crux Creative Solutions Private Limited, one of the best online marketing agencies in Delhi NCR is here to explain why digital marketing has become so important.

Website Traffic: As discussed above, it is very difficult to understand how people are engaging with your brand through offline marketing. While online marketing helps you in identifying trends and patterns about how people are behaving with your brand. Hence, you can make better strategies in the future to attract more and more consumers to the website. Not only can this, with digital marketing you get the exact number of people who have viewed your website's homepage in real time by using digital analytics software. These stats help you in deciding which digital strategies to continue and which to stop using.

High Visibility on Search Engines: Search Engine Optimisation is another powerful digital marketing strategy that offers a variety of benefits to the business owners. As discussed, there is tough competition between the brands in the market. When we search any service on the search engine, we get 100s of results. Naturally, we believe in the top five searches because they are the most reliable website links according to Google. Thus, by optimizing your website content through digital marketing strategies, you can reach to more online buyers.

Content Performance: Online marketing lets you estimate your content performance. Let us understand this with an example, imagine you have delivered pamphlets and posters to a different sector of societies. The problem is that you have no idea how many people opened those posters or threw it in the dustbins. Now imagine that you have that same poster on your website. You can exactly measure how many people clicked that poster, how many closed that poster and the details of those who clicked the poster. This not only informs how engaging is your content also generates leads for your website.

Digital marketers at CRUX, the renowned digital marketing agency in Gurgaon offers the best campaign plans with excellent planning, adaptable strategies, and precise execution to cater to the needs of clients. After Fujifilm, Sony, Quantum Naturals, Park Hospital, and many more, we would love to have you in our client's list. Our set of services includes creative designing, SEO development, web development, content marketing, and more.

CRUX is a online advertising agency in Gurgaon which provides digital solutions, giving its clients a wide range of possibilities and concepts via its strategy and consulting, Contact us for social media management, brand marketing, corporate video production, creative designing services, SEO, creation of digital content. For more info about us contact us at http://www.cruxcreativesolutions.com

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Yash_Pal_Singh/2128387

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Build Your Business With Instagram

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Like any other social network, Instagram can be used to build your brand for your business when used in the right and clever way. Instagram serves as a tool of making your business available to the consumers. Social media marketing using Instagram can open up a world of opportunity for your brand. It is thus obvious that Instagram is very important for your business. The question arises about how you can build your business with Instagram and below is the answer to that question.

First, you need to conduct a research to know the best businesses on Instagram. You also need to check out other brands in the industry and also know who your competitors are so that you can know what strategies to use in order to build your business. You should always set realistic Instagram goals that tie back to your business goals. These goals should include increasing awareness with hashtag targeting. Increasing product awareness and increasing traffic to your website. You should then come up with a strategy of posting your content. Here you need to consider how often you post, what time to post, and choosing your content themes. You need to maintain a regular posting while at the same time avoid too much posting.

Remember that Instagram is all about visuals. Your profile photo should be your company's logo. You need to choose one filter that you will use for the majority of your photos. By choosing one filter for your photos it makes your brand easy to recognized. your photos easier for your followers. Ensure to post photos that reflect the character and culture of your business. If you are not sure on how to visually represent your company, you should consider monitoring the accounts of your followers in order to know what they are re sharing. This will enable you to know their trends and hence help you to efficiently present your business.

Another technique that you can use to build your business on Instagram is the branded hashtag. You should find a hashtag that embodies your Instagram brand and encourage your followers to share photos that fit that image. This will enable your brands to be exposed to new potential customers and this is a chance for your business to grow. You should also consider geotagging. This is adding your location to your photos when you post them. It is very effective as it makes your followers know where to find you and your business. More so, followers who live near you will love to interact with you and your business. You should also post exclusive deals on your Instagram. This can be done through offering discounts to your followers, it will make them feel special and hence tell other people about your business. Instagram can actually be used to build your business, try it today and enjoy the benefits.

https://www.fiverr.com/gramwizard/target-hashtags-to-increase-audience-engagement?arrived_from_manage_gigs=true&display_share=true

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Alexander_Singelos/2088117

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The Difference Between Digital Marketing and Traditional Advertising

Your 2019 Guide on How to Use Video in Email Marketing

It's not news that video is at the forefront of marketing these days.

From creating videos for your website to hosting Facebook Live sessions, this marketing tool has transformed from a nice-to-have to a must-have if you want to effectively engage with your audience and build a loyal following who will be more apt to purchase from you.

Video-based marketing is a great way to stand out from the multiple messages people get in their inboxes every day, not to mention how effective it is on social media.

This article focuses on using video in your email marketing. Keep reading for the technical parts of utilizing video in your email marketing and the creative aspect for some inspiration.

I've talked about using video many times in the past, but in case you're still not convinced or didn't think to use video in your email marketing efforts, it's time to pay close attention. According to a study done by SuperOffice, including video in emails led to open rate increases of six percent (the average open rate across industries is about 25 percent).

Some other benefits of video marketing:

• It saves time. You can create short, engaging pieces of video much more quickly than it will take you to write an 800-word blog. It also gives info to your viewer in an easy-to-understand way.

• It can help SEO. Your Google search ranking can improve if your footage is viewed and shared by enough people.

• It's cost-effective. You don't need CGI effects or animation to make something great. A video can be much more affordable to produce than a blog or ad.

• It grabs attention. Especially when added into your newsletter, a video captures your audience's attention and compels them to want to watch.

First, the Technical Part of Video Email Marketing

Before you start brainstorming ways to use video in email, you need to know how it plays in different email clients.

There are over 30 major email clients, including Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail and Yahoo Mail, and some of them don't support the requirements for using email with video.

Traditionally, marketers would use HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Language) to code HTML video directly into an email, but recipients with certain email clients aren't able to play it. Many popular email providers will only show a fallback image, and your marketing message will be lost in the crowd.

Fortunately, some of the popular services like MailChimp, Constant Contact and AWeber make it easy to share across all providers by using a screen capture image of your video and linking it to your original content on your blog, YouTube, Vimeo or similar sites.

This gives the appearance there's actually video in your email and avoids technical issues with your email provider.

Instead of having to learn HTML5, there are also 3rd party services that can create a video snippet for you to include right in the body of your newsletter. In fact, I did this in a recent newsletter of ours!

Check out Playable to embed a short video in your next newsletter. Playable will replace the video with an image of your choice if the email service provider doesn't support the video technology.

>> Learn more about the features of our favourite email providers.

No matter what eNewsletter tool you use, it's crucial to test your campaign before you send it out. You'll need to have accounts on all of the popular email platforms so that you can see how your footage works in each of them.

Sound like a lot of work? Trust a professional marketing company that's been helping clients create successful eNewsletter campaigns since 2003.

Next, Make Sure You're Mobile

According to Hubspot, mobile opens accounted for 46 percent of all email opens. That means you have to ensure you're keeping smartphones in mind when you're email marketing with video.

Fortunately, eNewsletter providers such as MailChimp and Constant Contact let you test and see how your messaging will look before you send it out.

It's still important to keep the file size as low as possible so the video doesn't need to buffer to start playing. Mobile devices don't have the fastest download speed.

A good tip is to take a 10 second snippet of your video to use in the newsletter. That snippet can then link to the full feature on your blog.

Also, always make sure autoplay is off, especially on mobile. Most people don't appreciate having something start playing (often noisily) as they sit in the office or on a bus; they prefer to click on Play themselves.

Now, On to the Creative Part

With the technical stuff out of the way, let's look at how you can actually create content that will engage your viewers and get you more visitors to your website.

You need a plan with clear objectives or else you're just sending content out into the world and hoping it will be seen and loved.

Why are you creating this campaign? To generate leads, brand awareness, followers... ?

Once you've identified your objectives and goals, you can start thinking about actual email, and the content you want to produce.

As mentioned, host the full-length video in a blog post, landing page or even on social media and then plan to incorporate a "sneak peak" of that video in your email marketing campaign, linking to the full-length version.

Here are six tips and inspiration to get you started:

1. Use the word "video" in your subject line to make your message stands out.

2. Promote an event. Let's use a law office as an example. We created a short video using Wave.Video for one our clients, A Family Law Firm, to promote an upcoming seminar they were hosting.

3. Offer tips. When it comes to email marketing with video, users want short, digestible clips. A "Top 5" or "4 ways to improve" will get more attention than a 2-minute creation of you trying to explain a product.

4. Create a series. This is a great way to keep people engaged with your expertise, as long as what you're providing is valuable to them. Stay away from a five-part series on your latest offering. Instead, solve a problem.

Using the law firm video marketing again as an example, you could set up a list-building campaign and do a four-part video series on ways to prepare for a separation or divorce:

• Part 1: DIY or hire a lawyer?

• Part 2: Filing the necessary paperwork

• Part 3: Dividing assets

• Part 4: Supporting your children

5. Make tutorials. Your product or service solves a problem, so how can you showcase this to your clients? Educate your viewers with a short explanation around how your product or service will improve their lives, using real-world examples.

6. Think outside the box. Now, we don't all have the budget outdoor company Patagonia does; however, look at how they've integrated amazing footage into their email campaigns. It doesn't focus on their surfing gear, but it's relevant to their customers.

Whether you're a life coach shooting some footage while you're on vacation or a wellness provider offering viewers a glimpse of your dinner prep process, get creative and get shooting!

Email marketing with video can be incredibly powerful, increasing your open rates, engagement, leads and sales substantially.

However, not every email should contain one. If you start using this marketing tactic every time you send out an eNewsletter to your subscribers, they'll stop paying attention. Think of it as one way to stand out from the crowd, but don't neglect your other tactics.

Crafting an eNewsletter campaign with video (or without), choosing the right email provider, testing and monitoring open rates and engagement is a tough job. And, it needs to be done well or else you'll end up alienating and losing subscribers.

Susan Friesen, founder of the award-winning web development and digital marketing firm eVision Media, is a Web Specialist, Business & Marketing Consultant, and Social Media Advisor. She works with entrepreneurs who struggle with having the lack of knowledge, skill and support needed to create their online business presence.

As a result of working with Susan and her team, clients feel confident and relieved knowing their online marketing is in trustworthy and caring hands so they can focus on building their business with peace of mind at having a perfect support system in place to guide them every step of the way.

Visit http://www.ultimatewebsiteguide.ca and download your FREE "Ultimate Guide to Improving Your Website's Profitability - 10 Critical Questions You Must Ask to Get Maximum Results".

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Susan_Friesen/260293

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10132581
https://ezinearticles.com/?Your-2019-Guide-on-How-to-Use-Video-in-Email-Marketing&id=10132581