Markedsføringsdagen 2013 [The Marketing Day] - Copenhagen

This year's annual one-day conference in Copenhagen on June 12th, 2013 offers 20 inspiring speakers, 12 tracks and a network of more than 300 marketing professionals primarily from the Nordic countries. 

I will be speaking on a favorite topic of mine: psychological drivers behind building social currency via social media - this talk will be particularly focused on Twitter, which has not yet won over the Danish social media users as it has the rest of the world -  predictions are indicating an increased importance of Twitter in Denmark over the next years. So now is the time to get involved and build your Twitter presence. See you there!

11:40 - 12:10

– chose between 4 tracks

Track H: Twitter as social currency in a digital world

Sandja Brügmann, chief creative strategist, REFRESH agency

When a brand has high social currency on social media platforms they also have a higher success rate and likelihood in driving and inspiring behavioral change, engagement, peer recommendations and thus leads and sales. This talk will focus on the human psychological drivers behind building social currency with Twitter.

Full program
Link to digital program and registration here.

Are Marketers Underestimating Consumer Interest in Good Cause Business?

 New research released last week by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and Edelman shows global marketers overwhelmingly agree that "purpose" will be increasingly important to building brands in the future.

Putting Purpose Into Marketing also reveals that consumers and marketers are sometimes divided when it comes to their perceptions of "purpose" and how it acts as a driver of purchase decisions. While both tend to agree that "purpose" is defined as "protecting and improving the environment," "positively impacting local communities" and "having ethical business practices," marketers underplayed emerging consumer concerns and failed to identify the markets where consumers are most driven by brand purpose.

Presented as part of the Global Marketer Conference in Brussels last week, the study identifies the extent to which marketers believe that consumer decision-making is prompted by brand purpose, as well as gaps and business opportunities. The aim was to reveal the flip side of the coin explored by Edelman's goodpurpose survey, which explores consumer attitudes around social purpose, their commitment to specific societal issues and their expectations of brands.

Marketers strongly acknowledge the growing importance of purpose: 88% agreed or strongly agreed it would be "increasingly important to building brands," 83% that it is "important for a brand to have a sense of purpose" and 81% that it was "a business opportunity." However, when comparing their responses with Edelman's consumer data, marketers seem to underestimate the extent to which consumers said they supported good causes (46% of marketers said consumers support good causes vs. 60% consumers) and the proportion of global consumers who thought it was OK for brands to support good causes and make money at the same time (56% vs. 76%).

Significantly, the biggest gap between the two sets of responses was marketers' perceptions of which region's consumers are most motivated by purpose. When asked for the continent with the greatest proportion of consumers who say they make purchase decisions based on good causes, 58% of marketers chose Europe, 36% North America, 5% Asia and 1% South America.

Conversely, Edelman's research identifies consumers in China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, UAE and Brazil as being the most purpose-driven. These results show that consumers' passion and action on behalf of purpose in these emerging markets is much stronger than in developed markets. Consumers in these countries also say they are more willing to pay more and more often for purpose-infused brands.

Marketers agreed that purpose needs to be top down with 80% saying that the Chief Executive — and 74% the Chief Marketing Officer — should be involved in designing and shaping purpose. Only 53% of marketers thought all employees should be involved; but as many as 88% agreed or strongly agreed that "purpose needs to pervade the entire organisation and have buy-in from all business functions."

When asked if the brands they worked for generally had a sense of purpose, 49% marketers agreed or strongly agreed but only 38% felt they had been successful in effectively communicating the "purpose" of their own companies. Nevertheless, some 93% agreed that it is possible to measure the impact of purpose on positive PR and reputation, 91% on consumer engagement, 90% on employee satisfaction, 86% on brand equity and 71% on customer satisfaction. 54% agreed it was possible to measure the impact of purpose on sales but 74% disagreed or stronglydisagreed that it is easy to measure the the impact of purpose on the brand.

When asked to pick a purpose leader out of the Ad Age top 20 global marketers, 23% of respondents chose Unilever, Coca-Cola and P&G were tied second with 16% each of the votes, and McDonald's came in fourth with 11%. 

Putting Purpose Into Marketing is based on responses from 149 senior marketers representing 58 companies in more than 40 countries for companies representing over $US70 billion in advertising.

Full Article by @jenelks for Sustainable Brands

20 Ideas for Social Media Content That Engages

Written by Jeff Bullas 

The cry of “Content is King”  has been a rallying call for bloggers and on-line publishers for years.

Creating and marketing your content is now as easy as typing text and uploading images and videos and then hitting the publishing button.

This has been facilitated by the advent of social networks and blogging software that facilitate fast efficient multi-media publishing.

The reality is that everyone is now a publisher as social media has provided easy to use tools which has put a personal printing press in everyone’s hand.

We are not only creating but sharing this content on desktops, laptops, ipads and smart phones to our Facebook and Twitter streams. The mobility of the smart phones has accelerated this publishing revolution that allows us to share anytime and anywhere as the impulse takes us.

The more engaging the content whether it be video or text the more likely it is to be shared.

The “Content” Explosion

To put some perspective on the scale of this on-line publishing phenomenon here are some facts and figures

• In 2010 on Facebook alone there were 30 billion images published by millions of “authors”
• 5 Billion Photos published on Flickr by 2010
• YouTube figures reveal that 48 hours of YouTube videos are uploaded every minute as of May, 2011
• It is estimated that over 330 million blog posts are published every year

Content is what drives people to subscribe to blogs, search on YouTube and play on Facebook. Internet users are looking for information and content that

• Informs
• Educates
• Solves problems
• Entertains

The Thirst for Knowledge

In a knowledge economy the thirst for information and meaningful content is never ending.

If you dig deeper into the term “social media” you will be reminded that content can be any type of media and format. Media in all its formats that was previously hidden on personal computers or buried in files offline can be published to a variety of  social media platforms that host and make public your previously unpublished media. These include social media platforms such as Flickr for photos and images as well as Slideshare for presentations such as your last Powerpoint workshop.

I often hear questions from new and aspiring bloggers about what should you publish and how do you find the inspiration for the content. It isn’t difficult if you start to let the imagination run free.

20 Types of Content Types and Formats that Engage

1.Videos

The development of inexpensive video cameras with high definition and now included in smart phones as a standard feature allow you to record impromptu interviews or capture presentations and keynote speakers. The mantra to keep top of mind is to “think like a publisher”

What can you video and publish?

1. Formal interviews which are arranged in advance with prepared questions and answers
2. Casual impromptu video interviews at a conference
3. Presentations either in part or full and full edited or unedited
4. Video products such as clothes or items that you can publish to your on line store that show the product and how it can be adjusted or worn
5. “How To” videos that instruct and teach
6. Grab your smart phone and obtain people’s feedback or comments as they happen about your product, service or store. This will provide authentic and real testimonials that money cannot buy

2. Presentations

Slideshare is the primary site to upload your presentations and with over 50 million monthly visitors and 90 million pageviews it now ranks as one of the top 250 websites in the world. It also supports document sharing.

1. Share PowerPoint and open office presentations privately with colleagues and clients
2. Share publicly with the world
3. Publish documents from MSOffice, OpenOffice and iWorks
4. Upload PDF’s that educate and inform

Also make sure that the presentations and PDF’s are well structured for scanning and skimming with good headings and subtitles.

3. Images

King of image uploading is Flickr but other platforms to consider is Google’s Picasa (now included in Google+)  and of course Facebook. High definition images that are well produced can provide high engagement.

1. Images that should be publicly shared do not just have to be photos but can be creative designs in high definition that visually present a concept
2. Photos at events demonstrates active participation in your industry and can provide high credibility through association
3. Product images that display your products in all their high definition glorious detail
4. Appropriate photos of staff at work and at play can provide a personal insight to a company that humanizes companies which is vital on a social web

4. Text Content

Text content is one of the oldest of formats since the pen and pencil was invented but still maintains its importance as a primary publishing medium.

What are some highly engaging text formats that help you sell your products and services?

1. White papers – these are typically topical reports that demonstrate thought leadership vital for prospects and buyers and are generally 8-12 pages in length
2. eBooks – Sometimes called a whitepaper on steroids can be 20-100 pages in length and can be free (in the short form) and maybe sold in the longer format. Presents complex information that is visually attractive
3. Case Studies – Customer and readers love case studies that validate strategies and tactics. They are typically 1-2 pages long and with the narrative structure of the a story and are based upon real life events.
4. Enewsletter – Email is a very powerful form of marketing with a list that you own and people have opted into a subscription. It can be purely text based or you can create HTML formats that includes images, links and optimized for a social web making it easy for people to share with their friends

5. Audio

Audio and radio has not died but evolved and podcasts and audio are still widely used. Podcasts can also be very effective when packaged together with a Slideshare presentation and a PDF

1. Podcasts: Pre-recorded presentations either by one person or a goup that dicuss a topic that educates and solves problems for your listeners
2. Live on-line radio shows with interviews of experts

This list is not exhaustive but will provide you with some tips that will maybe inspire you to engage in many media types that communicate with your readers , prospects and customers.

Sometimes bundling a range of formats for the same information will allow you to reach a broader audience that a singular media type cannot.

What media and formats do you use for your  content marketing and what is most effective for you?

Source of Facts and Figures: Royal Pingdom

Image by dirkshaw 

Article from Jeff Bullas' blog