How to Tap Into Emotions and Boost Your Content Marketing

Scared.

Afraid.

Anxious.

Excited.

Inspired…

We all experience emotions every day. From our daily struggles to our biggest dreams.

It’s your job as a content marketer to discover these emotions, and uncover their raw ingredients.

Embrace them, dig deeper and offer a way out the other side.

We are always trying to understand why some content goes viral and rises to the top – and some flops. Up until now we have focused on the content itself – optimizing it for search and sharing, then desperately hoping it will get some attention.

But what about your readers’ emotional needs? The sense of belonging, ego, self-expression and obligation.

There are ways to “tap” into these emotions and they should be a part of every content marketing strategy.

You have about 2 seconds to get people’s attention – that’s your first couple of sentences. My hope, for example, is that you were drawn in by my first sentence and lured down the page. Now, the rest of my job is to engage you, to continue to feed your emotions, and move you along in two ways:

1. If the goal is increased brand awareness, relationship building, and sharing of valuable and practical information, then I am looking to compel and engage the emotions of my readers to the extent that they will want to share.
2. If the goal is moving the visitor into the next phase toward a purchase, I will be using sales psychology and neuroscience to stimulate the emotional responses necessary to achieve certain actions (solving his/her problem or relieving the pain through purchasing the product or service I am selling).

The whole 2-second thing and beyond – Creating engagement

Once you have a potential customer’s attention, the next step is to engage that customer with the content you provide. At this point that customer is still in an emotional stage, so continuing to appeal to their emotions will achieve that engagement.

At this point you can use humor, fun, arousal of curiosity – address pain, fear, and/or anxiety over their problem – engage in story-telling.

This idea of engagement through emotion is embedded in our make-up. A few years ago, two researchers at Wharton studied content that went viral, in an attempt to determine commonalities, and, indeed, they found them. They discovered that very early on in that content, the following appeared:

1. Positivity – when people feel good or entertained by what they read, they are far more likely to share what they have read and/or viewed.
2. Shock and awe – facts or data that shock people are more likely to be shared
3. Anger, fear, anxiety – there is something in human nature that wants to share what they are angry about and to comment on it when they share it. This in turn stimulates more commenting and sharing. The same goes for things that instill fear.

Practical aspect of content – After the engagement

By the time the reader has experienced the initial emotional attraction, and logic is “kicking in” a bit, it is time to present the useful and practical aspects of your content.

You can address the “pain” or problem that the visitor has and demonstrate that you, as an authority, have a solution to that problem. If you do your job well, with clear, simple language and engaging media, your reader will see inherent value and move into the purchase phase.

If you goal for this piece of content is not to sell but to increase awareness and brand recognition, then you want that reader to share the content. Again, if the piece is done well, and the reader sees value, it will be shared.

Certain emotions trigger the most intense sharing responses.

How to do it

You cannot appeal to the specific emotions of your target audience unless you are absolutely certain you know who that audience is. As a content marketer, that is a critical piece of your responsibility.

To do this, you have to “hang out” with them:

1. Create a demographic from your current customer base, and use that demographic to develop a profile. Use the profile and good analytics tools to determine the sites, social media, etc. where your typical customer hangs out. If you want to get even more precise with your profile, survey and interview your existing customers. Visit the websites they visit; see what they share and post on Facebook.
2. Begin to develop a psychological profile. For example, what type of humor do they appreciate? How sophisticated or simple is their language? What frustrates them, angers them, pleases them, and what problems do they speak to? Psychologists have quite a list that includes such things as control, superiority, family values, belonging, fun, self-achievement, helping others, and so forth. If, for example, you discover that your demographic seems to be very strong on family values, then sharing stories of you and your team with their families on your blog will be perfect.
3. Focus on your audience in the beginning of whatever you write. If that audience is correctly identified, you can then address its “pain” points and problems and how your product or service resolves those. Once they accept that you are an empathetic expert, and feel a relationship with you, you can move to the next phase of the conversion process – perhaps getting email addresses through special offers, such as a short e-book for free, or offering a subscription to your newsletter. If you have developed the emotions of trust and security, you will be successful. Even if the follower is not yet ready to buy, when they do need your product or service, they will buy from you!

A short case study in the appeal to humor

Because the research from Wharton showed that most people want some fun and that humor and jokes were consistently shared, using humor in content marketing is extremely effective. Large companies do it all the time, in order to keep their brand name “out there”.

They know that humor does the following things:

1. It grabs and holds attention
2. It results in an emotional response – not just positivity but a connection to you and your brand
3. It shows you are just “one of them” after all
4. You are remembered and shared. And if you use humor on all of your social media pages, you will continue to increase your number of followers.

Here are some examples of the “big boys” using humor on social media. You can easily and cheaply do the same.

• Newcastle Beer tweeted: “It’s National Beer Day. Have an ice-cold Newcastle and pretend you care.”
• Virgin Airlines posted a picture to wish its audience a Happy Thanksgiving. An employee, dressed in flight clothing was in a stance as if he was guiding a plane in on the runway with his arms raised. Instead of the normal lights, he held two giant turkey drumsticks.

• Charmin Bath Tissue issued a Tweet on Father’s Day: “To all you dads doing your morning routine, we wish you a Happy Father’s Day.”

One last comment on this one: You have to know your audience and your humor must be appropriate for them. Don’t offend.

Don’t neglect the emotions of your audience

Sometimes content marketers get so caught up in the latest technology and SEO techniques, analyzing traffic and the content itself – they forget that buying is about 85% emotional and only 15% logical.

Guest Author: John Unger is a passionate writer and contributor from Manchester, UK. Currently, he works as an editor at AssignmentMountain. He writes about things that matter and tries to consider the issue from a different angle. His main topics of interest are self-improvement and marketing.

The post How to Tap Into Emotions and Boost Your Content Marketing appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

How to Optimize Your Tweets for Search

Do you want more exposure for your Twitter account? Have you thought about applying SEO tactics to your Twitter marketing? With a few simple techniques, you can increase the chances that your Twitter account shows up in both Twitter and Google search. In this article you’ll discover how to improve the visibility of your Twitter […]

This post How to Optimize Your Tweets for Search first appeared on Social Media Examiner.
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Video Marketing for Everyone: No Video Recorder Required

Back in 1995, Steve Jobs was interviewed by a popular news reporter on the topic of the future of technology. He was asked where he thought technology would be 10-20 years from then.

Among other observations, Jobs replied that everyone would be online that was a real world business (or at least most would) and that small businesses would compete with big businesses on an even playing field.

Well, his prognostications have turned out to be quite accurate.

Many real world businesses have a website and social media accounts to put them on the same platform as big brands. Now that the internet is an overcrowded marketplace, how can brands continue to leverage the power of digital to stay competitive?

Enter video marketing.

Many brands have yet to capitalize on this option. Most have put it off for the fear of cost. Or those that do venture into video marketing end up with a mediocre asset.

Another reason they put it off? Fear of the camera.

No one wants to be the “voice” of the brand. Who can blame them? We’ve all seen that corporate video that puts everyone to sleep, and no one wants to be the star of that video. Not everyone can look as savvy as vlogger Amy Schmittauer when they’re on the recording end.

So, why don’t need you need a video camera to begin a video marketing campaign?

Because there are alternatives. Lots of them. Get ready to even the playing field with your competition by starting your video marketing campaign with one, or all, of these alternatives:

Tutorial Videos

Do you sell a product or service that helps people or businesses? If so, what type of questions do prospects ask?

Do a little research, and find out the top questions that your prospects ask prior to making a purchase. Answer these questions with a tutorial video. This is an easy asset to make if your products or services are available online, like ScreenMailr.

If you sell actual products, a compilation of screen shots with text slides can serve as a tutorial video and eliminate the need for filming real people.  

Think about your target audience, what are they searching for? In order to gain leverage from your video, you’ll need to provide valuable information that your audience is interested in watching.

Tutorials can be short and simple, or an in-depth session with a voiceover, and boom, you have a video! Use iMovie or something more sophisticated like SoundSlides.

If you would like to add some character to your tutorial, create a powerful, memorable message, create a story that serves as a tutorial. Make up a character that resonates with your audience, and tell the story about them, and how they use your product or service. Even better?

Identify one of your raving fans, and see permission to use their story or experience as part of your tutorial video. #Winning!

Create a Series

If you find that your customer base has questions that follow a common sequence, you can hit the jackpot by creating a series. Don’t give everything away in one video.

You’ll lose viewers if a video goes past the one-minute mark, as a study from Wistia found that shorter videos are better for getting people to watch the entire presentation.

The great thing about video marketing is that you can create a series that people will come back to week after week, month after month. Like the TV series, serial videos bring visitors back, much like the blog brings back traffic to see what you will do next. Take advantage of this scenario by creating videos on a regular basis.

Practice makes perfect! The more videos that are created, the better the end result will be.

Webinars

If your company does not currently offer live webinars, it doesn’t mean you can’t start now! They don’t have to be live; you can add a support email address to the bottom of the screen for pre-recorded webinars.

Unlike the tutorial videos, you may run a little longer, as people expect a webinar to run 15-30 minutes. You can combine your webinars with the series idea, and gain subscribers and email addresses by promoting your webinars as ongoing assets for your audience.

Need more options? John Follis published a helpful post back in February called “You Need Video, But What Kind of Video do You Need?”

He identifies a few more options for those who lack a brand spokesperson to get behind the camera.

Finally, if you aren’t sure of the messaging for your video, hire a professional script copywriter to help you perfect the message. Even if the threat of a live person mixing up their words or using too many awkward pauses is eliminated, creating a clear, concise message that speaks to your target audience is critical to your video success.

Image: YouTube Savvy Sexy Social Channel

This article, "Video Marketing for Everyone: No Video Recorder Required" was first published on Small Business Trends

20 Amazing Writing Tools That Will Rock Your Content Marketing

 

If you’re a blogger, writer or content marketer…

You need to adapt.

New technology and on-the-go expectations from your audience have led to a growing need to ‘systemize’ your life and increase your efficiency.

The field of personal effectiveness and productivity is fueled by an increasing number of low cost (or free) software tools, available all over the world.

If you don’t adapt, you will fall behind.

The following list of writing tools dig deep into your writing habits. They will show you what resonates with your audience and help you create better, more consistent content.

Optimization

Having well written content, can only get you so far as an author. By understanding how to optimize your content for yourself or a client, ensures that your work will continuously create awareness in whatever medium you choose. From back-end data to front-end visuals, optimization tools give your content a boost.

1. AtomicWriter

This easy-to-use tool is the first in it’s class to accurately tell you who your reading audience is, the audience’s reading level, and which content they relate to the most. AtomicWriter adapts your writing to your target audience.

By hooking up your Google analytics and social media accounts, this tool analyzes your content to tell you where and how you can improve your writing based on historical data and engagement data. It also provides you with an Atomic Score that acts as a benchmark for writers to know what they have to achieve in order to produce the most effective content that will resonate with their target audience.

2. Skyword

With a community of influential writers, designers, and videographers, your story will turn into scalable and sustainable content for your content marketing efforts. In this instance, great storytellers don’t necessarily just have to show their work in writing.

3. Draft

Putting the edits you made to the forefront of its interface, Draft shows you where and what you’ve changed, giving you the option of accepting it or reverting it back to what it was originally. What’s even more useful is the Mark Draft feature that saves that version of your work as you go.

With many other options that make iCloud and Google Docs seem dated, this tool can help you write and share your writing for other presentations not limited to blogging.

Ideation & prompts

To generate great ideas and write about them from a fresh perspective, is one of the most difficult aspects to being a writer. With the following tools, you will be able to think up new ideas fasters, sift through information overload, and improve your writing efficiency. Writer’s block will become a long lost myth.

4. Content Ideator

Just enter a keyword and you’ll get a list of existing titles to inspire your own content piece.

5. Daily Page

Get emailed a writing prompt every morning. This tool is great for jumpstarting your brain or to complete by the end of the day.

You can also share your response or choose to be private.

6. WritePls

A list of curated articles to help you to write and publish online.

Get inspired by topics that range from non-fiction, fiction, e-mails, and growth hacking.

7. Twords

The perfect motivator to nudge you towards your writing finish line. Track your writing to see which days were your best.

With writing prompts, you can refine your style, technique, and tone.

8. BlankPage

Putting the routine practices of writing into a great tool. With the goal to write for at least 20 minutes a day, you’ll definitely be improving as a writer.

By creating an outline that doubles as your motivation, you will stay on-track to finish your story.

9. 750 Words

Tracking your word count along the way to your goal of 750 words or 3 pages of writing per day, will help you clear your mind of idea clutter, and get your ideas flowing for the rest of the day.

Inspired by The Artist’s Way – Morning Pages exercise.

Removing distractions

Visually minimalistic and open spaces increases creativity. Just as artists work in their own studios, starting on a blank canvas, writers also require a space of their own.

Omitting distractions will encourage flow of thought, and tone consistency while writing. Readers are keen on content that is able to deliver on expected quality, style, and publication time. The key here is focused writing.

10. ZenPen

A clean and minimalist approach to where you write. Blocking out visual distractions, with features to stylize the text, add hyperlinks, and block quotes.

11. Typed

An app that let’s you focus primarily on your work, and writing experience. Features include, ridding your view of window buttons, a word counter, saving your work on the cloud, soundtracks that help you focus, a distraction-free Zen mode, and other modes to choose from.

12. Calmly Writer

As you start writing on this interface, all the distracting options disappear. With a different kind of focus mode that highlights only the paragraph you are currently editing. Like many other tools, it offers cloud saving, and a beautifully responsive design.

13. OmmWriter

As your “own private writing room” everywhere you go, you are able to concentrate on the single task of writing. It features backgrounds, audio tracks, and keystroke sounds to help keep your writing momentum going.

14. Squirt

Letting you read an article one word at a time, Squirt enhances your reading speed. You can also use this tool to improve your grammar and spelling errors, and improve your brain’s transition between flow of thought and writing output.

Documentation

A big leap from desktop-based software, writing on-the-go is now a common practice. Writing programs are expected to have cloud compatibility, with website plug-in options, group accessibility, and the standard features we grew up with using Microsoft Word.

As many have the same features, the tool you use is based on your personal preference and needs.

15. Write

For your tablet and smartphone, Write’s clean and intuitive UI creates a seamless writing experience that could be as good as if you were writing from your desktop. There is no missing cursor like every other app out there. Their cursor trackpad is able to ensure you are accurately correcting the right text. No hide-and-seek behind the finger here!

Additional features include passcode app activation, tagging options for organizations, night and day themes, custom URL actions, a shortcut toolbar, ability to edit on dropbox, a preview mode, and stylization.

16. Typewrite

Your alternative to Google Docs, with a much friendly layout. Options like markdown format, real-time collaborative and historical editing, and dropbox sync, and compatible with all your devices.

17. Ulysses

On Mac, it’s interface was made for any writing project, and is clutter-free. On iPad, it transitions the Mac experience to an on-the-go experience, with the same capabilities as the desktop version. This text-editor allows you to change the visual style you are writing on created by their community.

Collaboration

Diving further into group accessibility features, it continues to be important that you stay connected with your team and build your network. We are no longer restricted to meeting in the same room and hashing out the details under time constraints. Being able to collaborate with your team and a community that can critique your work, increases workflow, output, and personal knowledge.

18. Poetica

Exclusively for WordPress, Poetica allows you to see people editing in real-time, what was previously there, straight publication to wordpress, and Slack notifications. This tools encourages a collaborative form of editing.

19. Help Me Write

If you can’t decide what you want to write, let the community make that decision for you. Simply, add your ideas, share them, ask your friends what they’d like to read about, and write and publish! By knowing what your audience wants to read before you even start writing,ensures you’ll have readers as soon as you hit publish and will save you time.

20. Reedsy

As a community where authors meet the best editors, designers, and marketers, Reedsy will help you stay connected to experts and freelancers to create a beautiful product. To enhance workflow – writing and project management tools are also included.

These 20 amazing writing tools will help shift your focus and improve your productivity. We’ve already seen how tablets have improved the speed a child’s brain can process words, and with technology evolving so quickly, a writer needs to be able to adapt to this digital environment too. How else can you expect to keep up with the demand for quality content online?

Please feel free to mention any other tools we might have missed, or you think are worth noting in the comments!

Guest Author: Initially a self-taught social media enthusiast, turned Social Media Marketer, Amanda Chiu writes posts, shares news, seeks industry knowledge, and engages with online communities daily. Her attempts at clearing her ever-growing reading list continues to be unsuccessful, and she really does believe that sharing is caring.

The post 20 Amazing Writing Tools That Will Rock Your Content Marketing appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

14 Social Media Marketing Tools Recommended by the Pros

Are you looking for ways to enhance your social media marketing? Do you want new tools to simplify your job? Using the right tools can help you manage your time effectively and get better results from your social media marketing. In this article you’ll find fourteen of the hottest social media tools recommended by the pros. […]

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Twitter Removes 140-Character Limit for Direct Messages: This Week in Social Media

Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention. What’s New This Week Twitter Removes 140-Character Limit in Direct Messages: This change is a “big step towards making the private side […]

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Online Security for Business: What Marketers Need to Know

Is your online identity secure? Are you concerned about hackers? To discover how to secure your social profiles, your online accounts and your identity from hackers, I interview Chalene Johnson and Darren Natoni. More About This Show The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It’s designed to […]

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