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Less is more – a content marketing strategy that always works

Reading Time: 4 minutes

As the old saying goes, “Content is King” and the dynamic industry of digital marketing is not an exception to this universal notion. In today’s digital world, content marketing is the go-to marketing strategy to make your brand trend by targeting your audience and engaging them with your brand. However, it is a common theory to only associate blogs to content. Our minds have been tuned to the fact that good content can only be written in the form of chunks of text. But, in reality, there are many types of content, from catchy videos and hilarious gifs to stunning pictures and gripping podcasts. The plan is to engage your target audience through a means of information which they find interesting and which also promotes your brand in a subtle way.

Nevertheless, with the plethora of information available online at the mere click of a button, making your content rank in the first page of search engines with a strong SEO strategy is quite a herculean task. The key lies in creating content that your target group relates to and religiously promoting it in social media to reach out to your potential consumers. Good targeting will lead to higher engagement on the post, which will lead to a domino effect of it ultimately being flagged off as viral content.

less is more

That being said, brands have begun adding heaps and loads of content to their marketing plans. From expansive blogs to informative videos, they are leaving no stone unturned in making sure their brand is out there. But is that enough? Sure this will make the brand get out there but is it really “out there”?

How to make your content stand out?

The secret, to making content truly stand out of the oodles of information flooding the Internet, is to post limited information which is 10X better than what is already out there and is packed with the potential to go viral. However, the only way you can truly reach your audience is by vigorously promoting it. Splashing your content on various digital platforms through paid promotions and ads will boost your reach and also give it the push it needs to go viral. A viral post creates a lot of buzz in the target group and ultimately helps in generating leads for the business.

The “Less is More” content marketing strategy

At Social Beat, we religiously follow the “Less is more” content marketing strategy in which we focus on producing high-quality content to amplify on digital media rather than expansive quantities of average content. The idea is to create original and relatable content that also uplifts your brand name and gives it the recognition it deserves. The strategy involves the following approaches:

  • Creating content which can be used for research and reference
  • Gathering authentic information which is relatable and sharable
  • Long-form 10x content with focus on SEO
  • Vigorously promoting the content on social platforms

As per Buzzsumo, Brian Dean of Backlinko has executed this content strategy to great effect. Brian has published just 53 posts over the last five years, less than one a month. These posts have driven nearly 4m visitors to his site. The average shares and links per post are what most of us can only dream of: an average of 2,490 shares, and 275 links from unique domains, for each post.

The winning formula

One such post that went viral with a paid reach of 3,51,565 and an organic reach of 64,79,859 is an informative video for one of our clients from the finance sector. Since our client provides financial services, we engaged their target audience with an explanatory video on the money-saving lessons we can learn from an ant. With total ad spends of Rs. 5000, we reached a total of 68,31,424 people, with 21,65,549 video views and 93,241 shares on Facebook. Additionally, we also customized the ad by using a regional language to make it more relatable and simple for the target audience. This way, we struck gold by amplifying content through both content marketing and native advertising.

To sum it up, it is all about quality instead of quantity in the powerful world of content marketing. Creating engaging content and pushing it to go viral with vigorous promotions and effective ads can not only help in branding your company but also boosts your reputation and authority.

The old-school way of content marketing

Brands usually are under the misconception that the more content you create, the more visibility you’ll achieve. However, this is not true. Keeping the “Less is More” content strategy in mind, let’s take at a look at the current ad spends model of a company and the ways we can improvise on spending the same amount for a wider reach.

Current working model: 90% effort on Content Creation and 10% on Content Promotion

As per the current model, if Rs. 50,000 is allotted for content marketing, Rs. 40,000 of it is used for generating content, and Rs, 10,000 is used to promote posts on social media. Following is a rough estimate of the reach and total number of clicks tracked on a monthly basis:

 

Ad spends (FB Promotions) Rs 10,000
Content creation by Influencers Rs 40,000

Total

Rs 50000
Total no. of people reached 1,50,000
Total clicks 10,000

Suggested working model: 20% effort on Content creation and 80% effort on Content promotion

By applying the “Less is More” content marketing strategy, the brand will focus on reaching a wider set of audience and generating more leads with the same amount spent on promotions. The plan is to generate content of premium quality and authenticity and promote it on social media for a higher number of link clicks and prolonged engagement in the same budget.

Ad spends (FB Promotions) Rs 30,000
Content creation by Influencers Rs 20,000
Total Rs 50000
Total no. of people reached 4,50,000
Total clicks 30,000

With all the statistics mentioned above, it is safe to say that though creating gripping content will help you achieve your content marketing goals, the key lies in promoting it effectively. Creating a handful of relatable posts every month and promoting it vigorously on networking channels is the foolproof way of grabbing the attention of a visitor and converting them into a loyal customer.

How to transform your lead generation via a landing page?

Reading Time: 6 minutes

If you are running a business online, you should know by now that generating leads is everything. Lead generation is the single most important aspect of digital marketing that helps your business grow.

If you are looking to capture more targeted leads through digital media, one of the main things that you would need is a well optimised, highly targeted landing page. Still not convinced? Here’s an example!

Conversion Rate Experts, world’s leading agency for conversion rate optimisation (CRO), helped Moz, then SEOmoz, generate $1,000,000 million with just one landing page that had an alluring call to action. What’s more? This revenue was generated by the fantastic landing page and few emails within four months.

You can read the complete case study here.

One of the takeaways from the above case study is that improved user experience helps in lead generation.

So, are you looking to improve the user experience of your landing pages and, in turn, increase your lead generation? Read on!

Designing and managing the perfect landing page

Consider your landing page as a system that will convince your page visitors to become your customers. A well-designed landing page, by itself, can help increase lead generation and conversion. Here are some tips to create an appealing landing page.

Use a captivating headline which increases the curiosity of the visitors

Instead of a typical headline, which screams “buy me,” use an enchanting headline that would garner your visitors’ attention.

For example, a landing page headline like this – Your One Stop for a Beautiful Kitchen – would interest the visitors a lot more than headlines that talk only about selling.do my home landing page

Understand your audience

This is easier said than done. How can you possibly understand someone whom you hardly know? However, understanding your prospective audience and designing the page keeping them in mind is absolutely necessary.

In terms of design, a good idea would be to have a quick A/B testing done and experiment with heat maps on your site. Analyse the results and rework on the design perspective if necessary.Understand the audience before creating a landing page

If you are creating a landing page to get your visitors to download your content,  one way to do that is to research on what people are searching for in your domain and offer them that. Keeping the target audience in mind, we built a landing page for one of our esteemed clients, Casagrand. Casagrand is one of Chennai’s leading real estate developers with premium projects completed in and around the city. Since their target audience mainly consisted of potential home buyers, we created a handy e-book titled, “Chennai Home Buyers Guide” which consisted of useful tips and suggestions to make the process of buying a home easy and hassle-free. We created a landing page in which visitors had to fill in their details for a free copy of the e-book. This strategy was a win-win for both the customers and our client as the customers walked away with a detailed e-book on buying a home and Casagrand just got a lead of a potential home buyer who is looking for projects to invest in.ebook landing page

Be precise in your stand

You might be tempted to put all the information you have on the landing page. However, you must understand that the landing page design has only one purpose to serve – to get users to click on your call-to-action (CTA).

When you overload the page with too much information, it might have an adverse effect as it might become daunting to someone reading it for the first time. Understand that most users are going to read your landing page content and see the design for the first time. They must be able to grab the information they are looking for from the website. That’s when they will become potential customers for your business.

Furthermore, highlight the major benefits of your service or product on the landing page in a significant and striking manner. This will appeal to visitors and persuade them to become your customers.

Here’s an example of a landing page that is to the point.a precise landing page

This landing page scrolls through six sections with each section describing information that users would like to know. In the image shown above, the section project info has listed all the efficient and important project information in the form of bullets; this would be easy for people to read and understand quickly.

Opt for the right tools

To accomplish a task efficiently, you must use the right tool. As the good old saying goes, “You can use a screwdriver to pound in nails, but it’s a lot harder.” You don’t have to do it the hard way always. Understand that sometimes the right way can be easy too.

There are lots of simple landing page creation tools out there, and each one is unique. You must analyse and pick the right tools for you. Some of the tools that we recommend are:

Instapage – it’s a simple, hassle-free landing page tool. It’s a drag-and-drop software tool that has a lot of professional web design templates.

Unbounce – This is another drag-and-drop software tool. It’s quite simple and recommended for beginners.

LeadPages – One of the most well-known landing page creator tools available online is LeadPages. Most top bloggers and businesses use this tool.

Use relevant and alluring visuals

“A picture is worth a thousand words” – This good old saying holds good, especially while creating high-converting landing pages.

Imagine reading the below-mentioned blog page with zero visuals! Tough, isn’t it? Even a blog needs images and other forms of visual support, so landing pages must definitely be visually intense.

visual intense landing page

It is always a good idea to use images, videos, 360-degree photos/videos, infographics, maps, etc. Visuals help users to understand your page quicker. Additionally, having an image or video on your landing page leaves a more enduring impression on users’ minds than written content. Check out our blog on the type of content your target audience will find engaging for a detailed understanding of how content marketing can make your brand trend.

Another visual element that matters a lot is the font that you use; use fonts that are catchy and don’t come across as too overpowering.

Optimize your call-to-action/sign-up section for conversions

If you think that you can simply use some opt-in or CTA form and gain leads, you are absolutely wrong. The type of information you put in your CTA form and the way you design it play a major role in increasing conversions. For example, instead of simply asking someone to sign up to your page, you can ask them to sign up to get newsletters or sign up to get daily tips. Also, captions like “connect with us for…” may work well in increasing sign-ups and conversions.a strong call to action

Use customer testimonials

Using real-time customer testimonials is a great way to increase the credibility of your business. Reviews by customers will definitely create a positive image about your business to first-time visitors of your page, and this might, in turn, help in converting them into your customers. It’s a proven fact that customer testimonials improve sales. This option could be left out, for the time being, if you are a new business.

Follow-up emails

Last but not the least, following up with your leads or subscribers is important. Once you have designed a landing page by keeping all these aspects in your mind, you can definitely expect quite a significant number of leads generated from the landing page. Once that happens, the next step is to convert your subscribers into customers. One way of doing that is to call them up on the numbers provided and talk to them about your business. A subtle way is to send them emails.

However, while sending emails, you must not restrict to sending promotional emails or regular newsletters. Alternatively, it is advisable to send your subscribers a series of crafted emails that will appeal to them. At times, include details about deals and offers, but don’t make this a practice. For more insights, check out our blog on the different ways email marketing can work for you.

Never be afraid of sending more emails. However, refrain yourself from sending emails that follow a standard template. The more you send personalised or crafty emails, the more are the chances of converting your subscribers into customers.

Managing your business and marketing it digitally consumes equal, or at times, even more, time, money, and energy when compared to its traditional counterpart. By creating an influential and captivating landing page, you are investing in a driving force to convert your visitors to potential clients.

Social Beat heads out for Diwali lunch

Reading Time: < 1 minute

With Diwali around the corner, it was time for some festive celebrations at Social Beat. On a Friday morning, the office was lit up with people dressed in their ethnic attire be it Anarkalis, saris or the traditional kurtas and dhotis. Getting our work done for the day and shooting photos with our mates, we didn’t know how time flew.

No festivities are ever complete without some great food, right? To enjoy a delicious meal, we headed to Bombay Brasserie in Nungambakkam for a team lunch. It is one of the finest restaurants in the city, known for its authentic North Indian food and its ambience. From Dal Makhni to Garlic Naan and Punjabi lassis, we relished it all. After a hearty meal, we gathered as a team to take a happy team picture.

It was indeed a memorable day for all of us at Social Beat, as it was not just fun-filled but also improved the team’s bonding.

On behalf of the entire team from Social Beat, we wish you a Happy Diwali!

Social Beat & Notion Press featured in Social Samosa Year book 2017

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Social Beat is proud to be featured in the Social Samosa Yearbook 2017 for our spectacular campaign executed for our client, Notion Press. Our featured campaign is listed under the Media and Entertainment category. The objective of the campaign was to create a buzz about the launch of the book, The Great Indian Obsession by Adhitya Iyer. The book is an interesting read on how Indians are obsessed with Engineering with a twist of humour. The campaign too, was a reflection of the book, with a funny hand-drawn cartoon sketch. Titled as Bizzare Engineering Facts, it took a light-hearted approach in showcasing quotes from the book, throwing light on hypocrisy in education. The campaign was exclusively posted on Facebook and Twitter and clocked a reach of half a million, with 21k likes and 986 shares. Its relatable context made it an instant hit amongst the target audience and eventually landed us with a feature in the much-awaited Yearbook of Social Media Campaigns 2017.

Our client Notion Press featured in the Social Samosa Yearbook 2017

The updated 2017 version of the book is packed from cover to cover with over 60 eye-catching social media campaigns which are guaranteed to inspire you. These campaigns have created a stir in the digital space and are the best performing campaigns of the year.

Apart from mind-blowing campaigns, the yearbook also features a foreword by Kunal Jeswani – CEO, Ogilvy India – and expert insights from social media biggies like Umang Bedi , Managing Director, Facebook India and South Asia, Taranjeet Singh, Country Director, Twitter India and Rajesh Ghatge, CEO, Indigo Consulting. Grab your copy today for an awe-inspiring read.

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