Can you smell that smell?

No, we’re not talking about a Lynyrd Skynyrd song – but that smell of pumpkin spice that’s wafted in on the encroaching cool breeze.

We’re a couple days away from the official start of fall, and the rush of pumpkin-spiced products hasn’t even waited for the first leaf to hit the ground. Before it becomes the season of scarves, let’s enjoy the last bits of summer and unwind with some refreshing sips of content marketing insights.

3 Steps in Building a More Effective, Accountable Influencer Marketing Campaign

Influencer marketing is a hot trend in the industry and increasingly utilized by major brands. Want to get in on the action? Just be aware that you’ll have to scout for the right influencers and develop a partnership that is clear on objectives and policies. This is your brand after all.

To help with that, Shane Barker – a Brafton fave – outlined the steps you need to take to build an effective, accountable influencer marketing campaign for Social Media Today.

Step 1: Clearly define your goals. Success is measured by progress toward goals, so you better have those objectives set out well in advance of launch, whether raising brand awareness or driving conversions.

Step 2: Leverage influencers. Now comes the time when you’ll need to network with influencers and reach out to them. Keep in mind you’ll need an influencer who aligns with your goals and is aware of your policies.

Step 3: Profit?

Actually, you’ll have to read Shane’s full post at Social Media Today for the full run-down.

5 Ways to Use Psychology to Improve Your Content Marketing

To win the customer over, you have to become the customer – or so goes some sort of twist on the old axiom of “be the ball.”

That’s one little bit of psychology you can use to inform your content marketing, while Ron Lieback has five others you can put to use in improving your content efforts. As Lieback explains it in an article for Search Engine Journal, the art of persuasion – and thus marketing – is built on psychology. Content marketers need to harness the power of appeals to the psychology of the customer, and you definitely don’t need a PhD or a thorough understanding of Carl Jung’s work to leverage psychology in content marketing.

One of the tips Lieback recommends is admitting previous faults of the brand. While it might seem antithetical for a business to publicize its wrongs, when done in the right way it can lead a customer to think of you as accountable and responsible, all factors that build trustworthiness, earning you their respect.

Another strategy is to cut out the jargon. You need to be a Terminator focused on erasing buzzwords from your content. Every instance of “synergy”? ELIMINATE! Why? Because the goal of content is to engage the consumer on their level, not talk down to them or make them feel outside the conversation.

For more content marketing psychology hacks, read “5 Ways to Use Psychology to Improve Your Content Marketing” at Search Engine Journal here.

Gen Z Are the Most Likely to be Influenced Online

Surprise, surprise: Gen Z audiences are far more likely than older consumers to be online. But the degree to which younger generations are willing to share experiences online with brands is put into stark relief with a recent study from Adobe that surveyed the habits of U.K. residents.

The 1,200 participants were represented evenly across four generations: Gen Z, millennials, Gen X and baby boomers.

  • 43% of respondents believed Gen Z were the most likely to be influenced by online interactions.
  • Just 17% said the same for baby boomers.

The way these generations behave online is quite different, which is a key takeaway for content marketers looking to develop the right angle. For instance, Gen Z is more experiential:

  • 52% frequently engage with companies that advertise online.
  • 30% of respondents across the other age groups do the same.

These habits factor into approaches to data sharing:

  • 69% of Gen Z would share data with brands.
  • 28% would do so in exchange for an exclusive experience.

Baby boomers are more transactional:

  • 52% would share data with brands online.
  • 73% would share data if offered a discount or special deal – something Gen Z was least likely to do (47%).

“As ‘Digital Natives,’ Gen Z consumers have developed relationships with brands from a very early age, meaning they’re much more familiar with data/experience value exchange,” Gavin Mee, vice president of Northern Europe at Adobe, told Mobile Marketing Magazine.

Want to read about more stats and reactions to them? Head over to Mobile Marketing Magazine to read “Gen Z Are the Most Likely to be Influenced Online.”

Be sure to check back next Friday for the latest edition of Brafton’s Content Marketing Weekly.

Dom, an English major and journalism enthusiast, was just happy to get a job out of college writing and editing professionally. That it turned out to be in the burgeoning content marketing industry with Brafton was all the better.