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The Right Social Media Channel for your Brand

When deciding on how best to promote your brand on social media, it’s essential to understand who your intended audience is. A social media presence is essential for all new and established brands, especially if your intended is under the age of 35, which is the primary demographic of social media users. We discuss why Twitter can be the right social media channel for your brand.

Although Facebook dwarfs other social media channels in terms of usage (nearly 1.6 billion users per month), Twitter remains a key tool for businesses as it allows a level of interaction with potential customers that other social media channels can’t offer. Brands can not only promote their products and services on Twitter, they can also create a rapport with their target audience if they are successful in their engagement efforts.

Twitter can often be the best tool for brand’s to present their ethos and tone to its target audience, but this does not mean that you should neglect other social media channels, as a presence across the board is sometimes necessary. Building customer relations and managing your online reputation are essential for any business, and Twitter can help with both if used correctly. It’s also essential to have an idea of what your competitors are up to, which can usually be easily done through checking their social media handles.

If you are creating content that has potential to go viral, then Twitter may be the best platform for you. We are constantly seeing viral tweets, indeed, even on other social media channels it seems impossible to avoid screenshots. Branded content is not the only thing that can go viral, as we have seen many instances of interactions between Twitter users and brands go viral over the years.

Bigger brands are constantly latching onto popular culture and replying to tweets in a quirky fashion with the hope of going viral, especially to attract a more youthful audience.

Customer service interactions on Twitter are often public, so brands are increasingly using humour to their advantage, especially when dealing with negative interactions or complaints. Tesco Mobile’s Twitter account has grown quite the reputation for their responses to negative comments aimed towards their brand. Twitter users tend to respond well to what is perceived to be natural and on trend, which is why it’s important to have an understanding of your target audience, as well as what’s popular in internet culture at that moment in time.

Twitter is not just about viral or funny tweets, as most small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) who actively use the platform do so in a way that allows them to interact with their target audience. It is also a great platform to both learn about and latch on to trends, as well use it as a useful customer service tool. Having a presence on Twitter is important for most businesses, so if you aren’t already doing so it should definitely be something to consider in the near future.

Interested in learning more about the services Zest provide? Click here to speak one of our digital experts.

The team from Zest Media’s parenting title Absolutely Mama have been promoting the brand far and wide and were delighted to attend the Kind + Jugend show in Cologne in Germany last week. This show is the leading international trade fair for children, toddler and baby equipment in Europe, possibly the world. With the motto “Learn from children and stay curious” the fair takes place once a year at the fair grounds of Messe Köln, a vast space equivalent to 10 x the size of (for the benefit of UK readers) Alexandra Palace – so that is big! Since being founded in1960,  the show is famous for offering a wide range of child-centric products across the board in categories such as toys, clothing, car seats, strollers, toiletries and children’s furniture. As the fair is show-casing the world’s broadest range of baby and children equipment it really is the essential event to see the latest innovations, pioneering trends and revenue-generating opportunities.

The great thing about Kind + Jugend is that International market leaders exhibit here as well as promising newcomers. In the forums and break out areas the latest trends and innovations are discussed and debated giving those in the industry knowledge, research findings and intelligence to help with their business plans and strategies. The awards for young designers, the most outstanding innovation and top consumer product of the year are all hotly contested and one of the highlights of the show. Many of these innovative new products will appear in the ‘Absolutely Loves’ section of Absolutely Mama as the magazine and its sister website Absolutely.Mama-co.uk cover new products launches every month. This and the ‘Absolutely Essentials’ section of the magazine are the ‘go to’ pages of the title for Mums and prospective Mums keen to see the latest products and recommendations from the knowledgeable Mama team.  If you would like to subscribe to the magazine simply email [email protected] or for advertising opportunities contact [email protected]

To find out more about Zest Media‘s range of ‘life stage’ magazines and web sites contact us here.

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The Kind + Jugend  show next year will take place from the 20th -23rd September 2018 in Cologne.

The Specialist Magazine For Investors in the London, UK & International Property Markets

Developers and estate agents looking to market their properties to Ultra High-Net-Worth investors from the Middle Eastern and International markets now have an exciting new publication to help showcase their forthcoming launches.

Absolutely London & UK Property (Global Edition) comes from Zest Media’s stable of beautifully produced and content-rich publications, with the added bonus of unique and strategic distribution to ensure that the magazines are reaching this exclusive target audience, who are notoriously difficult to reach.

Zest Media launched Absolutely London Property Magazine at Dubai’s Cityscape Global show in September 2016 and and captured on video the excitement of the occasion. 

After the success of our Absolutely Property Abu Dhabi Edition, which was published in March 2017 the forthcoming Dubai 2017 edition is set to be one of our biggest and best yet as we have extended the advertising and editorial to cover the international property market due to demand from advertisers. With advice from both agents and developers on the best locations to invest in, plus market round ups from our renowned property writers, our titles are invaluable for overseas nationals and ex-pats actively interested in investing in the London, UK and international residential and new homes markets.

One of the most exciting distribution channels for the magazines are the  Cityscape Events, some of the largest and most influential property exhibitions around the globe, connecting international real estate companies, buyers and foreign investors. We are thrilled to have partnered with Cityscape and are planning the next next phase of launches. For more details on forthcoming titles and a full breakdown of media information and distribution, please see our dedicated media pack here.

Keywords and meta tags play a key role in inbound marketing strategies, and when they are done right, marketers can expect much more lead generation, conversions, and traffic in general. However the practice of using keywords and meta tags are also rife with pitfalls and mistakes are easily made; so here are some tips.

Key Word Research:

A fundamental in many processes is research, and the same applies here. Through research, marketers can find the best fitting keywords for their products. For example, if the product in question is a luxury item, avoid words such as “cheap” or “budget”. While some of those excluded keywords may generate more traffic, prospective customers will not find what they are looking for; potentially even viewing the brand as deceiving by using mismatched keywords.

Make a List

Simple but effective, by making a list of keywords generated through research, marketers can save a lot of time and energy. Create a list for each aspect or factor that can be associated with the product or the brand in general; compiling all of them into one master list for easy access and a time saver in future marketing campaigns.

The Buyer’s Mindset

Entering the buyer’s mindset, and thinking like a customer will allow marketers to see their brand from a different angle. Changing perspective can often reveal keywords that can be associated with the brand from a buyer’s point of view, for example with a luxury item, “expensive”, “high-end”, or “posh”.

Don’t Be Afraid of Long Keyword Chains

While they seem clunky and impractical, long chain of keywords (long tail keywords) are becoming more widely used in online searches. Buyers are coming more and more specific and precise in the product they are searching for, so specific and long chains of keywords are being used more frequently by buyers. Potential customers who use long tail keywords also have a higher conversion rate.

Understand and Use Meta Tags

Meta tags refers to text that would appear in various key locations of a website, all of them will help increase the site’s search engine rank. These can be things such as page titles, meta descriptions (text that accompanies the search result listing for the site, usually offering an insight into the contents), and meta keywords (hidden keywords that are embedded into the site’s code, invisible to the average visitor to the site). By ensuring that every page of the website has meta tags, search engines can offer potential visitors a transparent image of what the site, and by extension the brand, offers, increasing conversion rate.

Be Responsible, Don’t Abuse Keywords and Meta Tags

While keywords and meta tags are a great help, abusing them will ultimately reflect badly on the brand’s image. Using deceptive or un-associated keywords to trick visitors is a common form of keyword abuse, similarly with meta tags. Meta tags abuse can also include an overabundance of meta keywords hidden in the site’s code that has nothing to do with the site. If visitors are drawn to your site through dishonest means, brand reputation will suffer, through honest use of keywords and meta tags, the right audience will be attracted thus ensuring both revenue and a good brand reputation.

For more information or help regarding usage of keywords and meta tags, please contact us by clicking here.

Absolutely Mama fills the gap for a London centric parenting title

Looking at the plethora of pregnancy, parenting and baby magazines available, the team behind Absolutely Mama realised there was an editorial gap in the market for the young, busy and creative woman ready to approach motherhood in a non-traditional way. Absolutely Mama launched to cater for forward-thinking mums and mums-to-be, interested in modern content and design that focuses on the mother. Core themes include health, fashion, beauty, interiors and design.

Absolutely Mama is a parenting title with a real difference – something that’s reflected in its editorial content, design aesthetic and digital strategy.

The driving force behind the magazine is a new generation of enterprising modern mamas: women embracing motherhood as a creative opportunity. These pro-active, digitally savvy ‘Insta-mums’ won’t accept tired styling, bland features or cliched content. They insist upon the same diversity of ideas and quality of content they’re used to from wider women’s lifestyle media. They didn’t lose their sense of style when they had their babies, and they certainly don’t need a magazine to condescend to them when it could be talking to them as a friend and fellow mother.

It helps that the Absolutely Mama team is largely made up of mothers working flexibly while balancing the demands of career, creative interests and child-raising. The magazine is made by the same women it seeks to engage and represent. As a result, the publication resists lecturing to, patronising or making assumptions about its audience and focuses instead on real mothers’ ways of answering the many challenges and opportunities presented to them.

Absolutely Mama is a magazine designed by and for women determined to forge their own distinctive path through motherhood. And while the big brands and major products are represented, Absolutely Mama makes a point of foregrounding independent, design-led and often mama-run boutiques and brands so as to serve and support the revolutionary – and, once again, enterprising – new mothering community in all its forms.

In step with its audience at a critical point in their evolution as a community; leading the charge for the women it seeks to represent; embodying the values and vitality of its community in its forward-thinking design and open-minded, agenda-setting content: Absolutely Mama is the only parenting title with its finger firmly on the pulse of the new mothering culture.

After the success of the first issues, the Absolutely Mama team received encouraging positive comments about the quality and design of the magazine as well as its feel, look and vibe. Being a forward thinking, design-led, mother-focused publication shouldn’t be restricted only to Londoners. Readers from all around the UK contacted us, asking us for the magazine to be available outside London as well. And this is how the team went national. Our subsequent issues has moved its focus from the London mother to modern mothers all around the UK.

For more information on advertising in Absolutely Mama contact us here

 

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One in Three Millennials Buy Products Featured in Sponsored and Influencer Content

Results from a survey conducted by Collective Bias has shown that one third of millennials would purchase a product following exposure to a sponsored post or influencer marketing.

This is great news for advertisers that are investing in native advertising formats, validating both the value of these channels and the investments many are making in them.

Sponsored content containing useful and relevant information will not only be more successful in terms of sales, but will allow more meaningful interactions and connections to be made with customers. Unlike materials that are generic or purely promotional, 34% of the participants in the survey reported that they do not mind if a post is sponsored as long as it contains key and useful information. If the posts are of a high quality 37% felt less likely that they are being ‘sold to’.

Another finding from this survey shows that sponsored content does not elicit an adverse response, with only 9% of the participants saying they would immediately ignore content if sponsored. Additionally, approximately a mere 2% have said that they feel annoyed or irritated by sponsored content.

As a platform, native advertising also helps to deter one of the threats to advertising; ad-blocking. Native adverts utilise the look and tone of content around them, bypasses ad-blockers and allows targeting of millennials, the generation that are most likely to use them, in unobtrusive and interesting ways.

It is predicted that by 2021, native advertising will make up 74% of the total advertising revenue in the USA, significantly more than the 56% seen in 2016. This predicted increase in native advertising’s share in the total revenue can be attributed to social media services such as Facebook and Twitter; both pioneers of native advertising and sponsored content. The advent of new technologies such as artificial intelligence and programmatic processes also makes native advertising campaigns much more accessible for advertisers. Read more about the importance of clearly defined content strategy from Zest Media here.

If you need further help or information regarding sponsored content and native advertising, please do get in touch.

As content marketing specialists and publishers of the Absolutely stable of magazines (17 luxury London publications) and our brand extensions Absolutely Mama (absolutely-mama.co.uk) and Absolutely Weddings (absolutely-weddings.co.uk), we know the challenges of being in control of the customer experience and keeping up with the competition.  We were delighted to attend a recent briefing from the PPA on their recent research (commissioned by Abacus e-Media) to smaller, independent publishers on the transition of content from print to digital. Although there are pressures for SME publishers the advantages of being smaller mean businesses such as Zest can compete competitively and innovatively in an increasingly sophisticated digital space.

To find out how we can help you with your content marketing contact us using this magic form.

 

How To Make Your Content Work

To ensure your content is reaching the right people on the best forums, you’ll need to strategise effectively. From the awareness to the decision stage, people will be digesting content in a variety of ways. We take you through the key stages your potential customer will traverse on their way from stranger to active business promoter.

Attract

At the attraction stage, a customer may not yet be aware of your brand. Your job now is to alert them to what you offer. Below are some of the best types of content to utilise at the attraction stages:

• Blogs

Blogs are a great way to attract new customers. By creating informative content you’ll be providing your potential customers with guidance and answers to their questions, and, at the same time will build your brand awareness.

• SEO
By ensuring you are using focus keywords, meta descriptions and so forth effectively, you’ll be building your SEO levels and climbing up the Google search pages.

Convert

By the time you’ve reached the convert stage, the potential customer will be aware of your brand. The job here is to collect information about your potential customer in order to build your database and convert them into leads. Below are some of the best types of content to utilise at the convert stages:

• Whitepapers
Offer educational, consultative, downloadable content such as whitepapers to your client that requires them to enter information before the content is released. You get contact details; they receive the information they need.

• Landing pages
Ensure you’re sending potential customers to the correct landing page through calls to action.

Close

Once you’ve got your potential customer’s attention and contact details, it’s time to close the deal. Below are some of the best devices to utilise at the close stages:

•Email
One of the best ways to keep in contact with your new client is by sending them informative emails. By regularly staying in touch with relevant content, you’ll be able to close the deal when they are ready to make the purchase.

• CRM
Use your CRM system to monitor the customer information you have, and make sure you are tailoring the content to the right client. 

Delight

After you’ve won their business, your next goal is customer retention. If you provide your client with top-level service, you’ll ensure repeat business and turn them into business promoters as they recommend you to friends and colleagues. Try sending them surveys and calls to action, to ensure you’re getting feedback and keeping in touch.

Get in touch to learn more about Zest’s content services.

To ensure your content is reaching the right people on the best forums, you’ll need to strategise effectively. From the awareness to the decision stage, people will be digesting content in a variety of ways. We take you through the key stages your potential customer will traverse on their way from stranger to active business promoter.

Attract

At the attraction stage, a customer may not yet be aware of your brand. Your job now is to alert them to what you offer. Below are some of the best types of content to utilise at the attraction stages:

• Blogs

Blogs are a great way to attract new customers. By creating informative content you’ll be providing your potential customers with guidance and answers to their questions, and, at the same time will build your brand awareness.

• SEO
By ensuring you are using focus keywords, meta descriptions and so forth effectively, you’ll be building your SEO levels and climbing up the Google search pages.

Convert

By the time you’ve reached the convert stage, the potential customer will be aware of your brand. The job here is to collect information about your potential customer in order to build your database and convert them into leads. Below are some of the best types of content to utilise at the convert stages:

• Whitepapers
Offer educational, consultative, downloadable content such as whitepapers to your client that requires them to enter information before the content is released. You get contact details; they receive the information they need.

• Landing pages
Ensure you’re sending potential customers to the correct landing page through calls to action.

Close

Once you’ve got your potential customer’s attention and contact details, it’s time to close the deal. Below are some of the best devices to utilise at the close stages:

•Email
One of the best ways to keep in contact with your new client is by sending them informative emails. By regularly staying in touch with relevant content, you’ll be able to close the deal when they are ready to make the purchase.

• CRM
Use your CRM system to monitor the customer information you have, and make sure you are tailoring the content to the right client.

Delight

After you’ve won their business, your next goal is customer retention. If you provide your client with top-level service, you’ll ensure repeat business and turn them into business promoters as they recommend you to friends and colleagues. Try sending them surveys and calls to action, to ensure you’re getting feedback and keeping in touch.

Get in touch to learn more about Zest’s content services.

By strategizing a bespoke content strategy, you are pinpointing exactly whom you are targeting, at what stage in the buyer journey you’re targeting them, and the method you’re utilising to successfully reach them.

Below are some key steps you must incorporate when strategizing your content plan in order to make sure that your marketing output is working.

First up, define your goals. These may be the following:

Marketing goals

You may be looking to increase your website traffic, or the number of leads coming in, or you may be seeking less tangible goals such as building your brand awareness or establishing yourself as a thought leader within your market.

Business goals

You may have clear cut business goals, where you’re looking to grow your revenue or client retention levels.

Other goals

It may be something else entirely, like strengthening your output by increasing the quality and volume of your content marketing.

Secondly, identify your personas (the semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer). Do this by researching the following:

Who they are

This will be their demographics, including their gender, age, location and ambitions.

What they want

These will be their goals – what they want to achieve – and their challenges – the obstacles in their way.

Why they want the product

This will be their objectives – how they make buying decisions and their requirements – and their conflicts, what their frustrations with providers are.

How best to appeal to them

You’ll be working out the marketing message they respond to and the best way to pitch to them buy thinking about where they go for information, what type of content they read and what platforms they engage with.

At this stage, you should be ready to start mapping out your content. Using your knowledge of where your personas digest their content, utilize paid for, owned and earned for online and offline channels to push out your content.

At Zest Media, we brainstorm highly targeted content ideas that incorporate personas and life cycle stages, so the content is reaching your ideal audience on the channels they use, at the times they use them.

Remember, if you don’t strategize, you aren’t sending the right content to the correct customer, meaning your content is failing.

To find out more about honing your strategy skills or to say hello, get in touch.