Over three quarters of brand marketers say they plan to increase their content marketing efforts this year. With this onslaught of new content, the competition for audience attention will be even more fierce, which is why Marketing and Pressboard will be hosting Marketing Live: The Story Begins on Oct 20 in Toronto. The stories that break through will be the ones that provide new angles on old topics, give information to audiences that are craving answers and dig deeper than the common listicle.
Not every story will succeed — for every campaign that raises the bar, like Cocainenomics by Netflix and The Wall Street Journal’s Custom Studios, there will be a thousand 10 Ways to Adult fluff pieces that maintain the status quo.
So how do you create compelling, engaging and shareable brand content? Pressboard asked some of the greatest content minds in branded publishing today to share their tricks of the trade.
Wall Street Journal’s award-winning branded content campaign for Netflix’s Narcos
“Find the right partner.” – Laura Henderson, Global Head of Content at Mondelēz
Brands are beginning to see themselves as media outlets, but they also value the expertise of publishers that have spent years mastering the craft. Great partnerships are a blend of the two entities. In the best cases, this blend creates something new and exciting that is more interesting, powerful and valuable than the sum of its parts.
Mondelez, for example, is working with publishers to create content that seamlessly integrates with their native editorial. The content is performing exceptionally well – this how-to video about turning Triscuits into Cheddar and Sour Cream Cheese Bites on Buzzfeed-owned Tasty has already garnered over 23 million views.
“We are partnering with the best in the industry,” says Laura Henderson, global head of content at Mondelēz. “We think that the content game is a really hard one and so we’re focused on partnering with those who are best equipped to understand their audience (and) communicate in a compelling way.”
“Start with a great story idea.” – Anita Kapadia, Director of Partnerships at Pressboard
Coming up with compelling, engaging stories on a consistent basis is no easy task. By leveraging data on what has worked before, brands can inform their content strategy moving forward.
“We analyze millions of data points across hundreds of thousands of stories to see what people are most interested in,” says Anita Kapadia, director of partnerships at Pressboard. “By identifying trends in reading behavior and surfacing topics that are resonating with specific audiences, brands can be develop a content strategy that aligns with their customers’ needs.”
“Start by being helpful,” continues Kapadia. “Branded content should help to inform, educate and entertain.”
“Don’t scrimp on the visuals.” – Anna Plaks, VP of Brand Experiences at Refinery29
Humans are visual creatures; the human brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text. Countless studies have shown that including images in your content and your social posts generates significantly more views and shares.
When it comes to finding the right images, Refinery29 doesn’t believe in just grabbing any old stock photo. Anna Plaks, VP of brand experiences, recommends creating custom imagery for your content: “Visuals absolutely have to be original and authentic to the story, the publisher, and the brand. We never use commercial or stock images in our branded content — we create visuals ourselves to cater to our visually-driven audience.
“Having a strong visual identity, and retaining this aesthetic throughout content helps maintain an authenticity that is important to your audience.”
“Leave the sell out of it.” – Matt Stevenson, Director of WIRED Brand Content Labs
The difference between content and content marketing is that the latter has the ultimate goal of driving profitable customer action. But just because marketers are leveraging content to drive adoption of products and services, doesn’t mean that the content itself needs to be a hard sell. Pressboard’s own data shows that editorial-style content, which doesn’t overtly sell the brand, attracts three times the audience as advertorial-style content.
Matt Stevenson, Director of Wired Brand Content Labs, believes that there is a spectrum of brand integration that is appropriate for each story, form and audience. “In order for a branded content program to be successful, it must be structured in a way that allows the content creators to experiment and take advantage of the whole spectrum,” he says.
WIRED’s 10-month long #maketechhuman campaign with NOKIA. Only 30% of all pieces mentioned the brand.
“Make it shareable.” – Eric Korsh, Director of Mashable Studios
Without a proper distribution plan, even the greatest content can languish unseen. It’s essential to understand the distribution options available and select what’s right for your content. Social traffic, and more specifically Facebook, is the most prominent driver of both editorial and brand content. Making brand content shareable, however, isn’t just about making it interesting.
Eric Korsh, director of Mashable Studios, recommends marketers take their work hat off and put their consumer hat on to simply evaluate the content or message as any consumer might. Ask yourself the question, “Would I share this?” “That’s different from asking would I read or watch this,” says Korsch. “The difference is that this question forces you to dig into the mechanics of sharing — ‘Am I willing for people to know that I connected with this content?’ — which helps govern the content itself.”
“Get cozy with the right analytics.” – Shawn Ragell, Marketing Strategist at Pressboard
If content is King and distribution is Queen, then measurement is the throne they sit on, the table that they eat at and the bed they sleep in. Without the support of measurement, content and distribution would eventually fall flat.
Shawn Ragell, marketing strategist at Pressboard, recommends using active time on your content as a signal for how engaged your audience is. “While impressions and clicks may be ubiquitous advertising metrics, content success is better measured by the actual attention your audience is committing to you,” he says.
Remember, your brand is a media organization now, so you’re competing with established publications, bloggers and consumers for attention, not just the direct competitors in your space. As the sheer quantity of brand content explodes, it’s the quality stories that will break through.
Hear from some of the world’s greatest brand storytellers and learn more about creating compelling branded content on October 20 at Marketing Live, an inaugural conference that brings brands, agencies and publishers together for an interactive storytelling experience. Join speakers from the Wall Street Journal, Mashable, Pressboard, Mondelez and more as we explore how brands can tell powerful stories that attract attention, instead of simply interrupting it.
