Hey – Katherine Griwert here with this month’s content marketing recap from Brafton. With summer in full swing, some Americans may want to unplug and hit the beach, but June’s biggest content takeaways suggest brands can keep them tuned in to digital screens with videos… Click play to view the recap, or read our full post below.
Video marketing means summer engagement
Videos came to the forefront of last month’s content conversation when Instagram announced a new video service, giving users a new way to “share their stories.” Between Vine and now Instagram videos, it’s clear consumers want to watch and share videos on social – but businesses are also finding branded video content drives ROI through other marketing channels.
Fresh data from the Relevancy Group found 55 percent of marketers see higher clickthrough rates when they include videos in custom newsletters, and almost a quarter reported higher conversions for messages with videos.
55 percent of marketers see higher clickthrough rates when they include videos in custom newsletters, and almost a quarter reported higher conversions for messages with videos.
If you want more meaningful clicks and leads from your video content, share it around the web where your audiences are most active – but focus on a strategy that makes your website a hub for video interactions so users have clear next clicks that bring them closer to your core transactions, whether they’re coming in through email, social or search.
New SEO algorithms require renewed emphasis on content
Speaking of search, Google had a big update this month that WASN’T of the animal variety. In a Tweet, Cutts said Google is doing a deep dive on queries that are “traditionally a little more spammy” – like payday loans. This is a global rollout and while Cutts is tight lipped about the details, he hinted that it looks at very particular link schemes.
The update followed an earlier June message from Cutts reminding marketers to stop focusing so much on link building for SEO and instead spend more time thinking about users than search engines.
New-look local results: More reasons to use Google+?
One way Google is trying to put the user first is with its new local search carousel that offers an interactive results page for queries with a local intent – like restaurants, bars or other places, though some non-geo-specific queries like vegan also seem to produce carousel results.
Recent data suggests Google+ shares will overtake Facebook shares by 2016.
This could give businesses with storefronts more incentive to build up their Google+ pages – and if that’s not enough, recent data suggests Google+ shares will overtake Facebook shares by 2016.
Social marketing fuels discovery
Businesses won’t want to throw out Facebook marketing – the network still has the largest user base – and brand new features like Facebook hashtags could open new social outreach opportunities. More importantly, businesses should be tracking the networks that help them engage the most profitable audience. A new report shows 1 in 3 web users discover brands via social marketing, so knowing where your audiences are active is essential.
Time to beef up social analytics, and focus on the quality of incoming social traffic.
Those are June’s biggest updates – subscribe to Brafton for ongoing content marketing tips.
