Blog Posts Are So 2014 – 11 Cutting Edge Alternatives

Small businesses can win big when they explore beyond the basic blog post for a more diverse content marketing strategy. Why not take a page from the playbooks of the biggest and most successful media and consumer brands? Keep ahead of the competitive curve by tapping into these 11 new technologies and marketing strategies.

1. WhatsApp

WhatsApp is a internet-based text messaging service with a large international presence, and every reason to become popular in the US as well. Users can add a brand on WhatsApp to send and receive messages from them. You can send video and images as well as text, and encourage your fans to send you multimedia as well (think contest entries or customer service). Use this channel in a similar manner to your social media accounts; encourage engagement, share info and sales, funny content, holiday wishes, and useful information.

2. SnapChat

According to comScore, SnapChat is the 3rd most popular social app amongst the 18-34 year-old set (more popular than Twitter, Pinterest, and Vine!). SnapChat is a picture-focused texting service where messages “disappear” after a few seconds. Brands can connect with users directly (by being “added’) or they can choose to appear within SnapChat’s new Discover section for a fee. Tell short, funny stories with photo and video, and be sure to annotate the images too—that’s all the rage! Use hashtags and stay up to date with the most hip topics to succeed on in this channel.

3. Interactive Graphics

Many of the most popular media and news brands in the world have already stumbled onto the goldmine that is interactive pictorial graphs. Infographics had their moment, but interactive infographics are proving to be even more shareable and popular. Whether your timeline grows in chronological order or your cross-country journey is drawn out onto a map, internet users are fascinated by interactive graphics. To be interactive, the graphic must respond to the viewer’s hovering mouse, scroll, or click. Tell your brand’s story in graphic form, or highlight a recent achievement. Not only will this captivate your audience more than a text-heavy blog post, but it will lead to more social shares as well.

4. Video

This trend has been heating up for a while, but still hasn’t become widely used amongst small businesses. The consumer trends are clear- mobile viewers prefer to be entertained by video! Video can be a highly emotional medium and one of your video marketing strategies should definitely be to explain your brand’s mission or origin story with video. Video content strategy goes beyond YouTube to include Vine, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. It’s well worth it to invest in a professional video that includes different camera angles and music.

5. The New Social Presence

The edgiest brands are expanding their social media presences to fascinating new levels. Much has already been written about the customer service opportunities of social media, but your tweets and Facebook posts can also be used as testing grounds. Try out a campaign idea or a new voice to see how it’s received. Survey your followers to see what they want more of, or what they like best about you. Use your picture-focused accounts to see how your customers interact with your goods or services and look for new marketing concepts that might not have occurred to your team. Your followers will be excited to be on the forefront of the newest branding or product initiatives, and your loyal long time customers will be delighted to have their feedback taken into account. Think of your social accounts as a marketing strategies laboratory, not merely a broadcasting means to more sales.

6. Podcasts & Audio

NPR recently did a study about how audio content can achieve viral status too, if you share the right kind of audio content. “Audio Explainers” did best, especially interesting and entertaining pieces like “How to talk like a Pacific Northwesterner” which got nearly 90,000 plays. “Woah sounds” were second most popular. These included surprising sounds (the strange sounds that make up a hummingbird’s call). This category may be hard for brands to replicate, but the third most popular type of audio, “First Person Storytellers” is not. People love to hear about someone’s else’s special experience or story in their own words. The audio that had the highest number of social shares and listen featured young children explaining things or emotional stories. Creating good quality audio is much less expensive than creating professional-looking video, so this is an easy point of entry for any brand looking to diversify their content marketing strategy. Another great idea? Short, snappy, and sassy “audio explainers”!

7. Alternative Content-Sharing Sites

The concept here is simple, share small micro blogs on some of these alternative content sites, because they have high traffic numbers. So why not? Check out these monthly visitor numbers from some of the most popular sites:

• HubPages.com: 6 million + monthly unique views

• Medium.com: 7.6 million + monthly unique views

• Scoop.it: Nearly 1 million monthly unique views (editors note: I find this audience to be highly engaged, though it’s smaller than the others).

• Slideshare: 8.1 million + monthly unique views

8. Niche Groups on LinkedIn and G+

The highly specific and niche “groups” on LinkedIn and Google+ present an incredibly unique opportunity beyond just posting to the networks overall. You can personalize your messages and content to the specific audiences of these groups- a classic tactic for more successful marketing but rarely possible with most content channels. To succeed with this method, craft small guides or how to’s that are incredibly specific to each group, such as “10 best resources for truck mechanics.” As with your more general postings on the social networks, be informative and entertaining, just as specific and niche as possible.

9. DIY Communities

DIY content is really having a marketing moment, and there’s no better way to dispense your expertise than through the many DIY Communities that act as micro blogs. Try DoItYourself.com, Instructables.com or HowStuffWorks.com. Your DIY posts don’t need to be about a craft or home improvement project, you can write a “how to” for anything that relates to your industry! These communities are highly engaged and consume a great deal of content per viewing session- this translates to more eyeballs for your brand!

10. #TweetChats

According to SimilarWeb, TweetChat.com (one of the primary sites used to easily participate in TweetChats) gets over 280,000 visits a month! It’s safe to assume all those people are there to participate in a TweetChat, and that tally doesn’t include the people using other softwares (like Nurph) that direct traffic to their own websites, or visitors who are viewing hashtag-related tweets on Twitter. The best part about this content strategy is that you’ll enjoy participating! Take the hour to learn something new and make new friends! There won’t always be an opportunity to show off your expertise, or share your blog, but you’ll quickly make friends who will share your content and tweets when you do- and that’s powerful. When you get really good at this strategy, consider hosting your own TweetChat to get even more niche with your followers. The easiest way to follow a TweetChat is to use a site like TweetChat.com or Nurph.com that turns the tweets into a chatroom-like stream.

Here’s a great resource for seeing what TweetChats are out there!

11. Website Resources

The blog posts that tend to succeed most dramatically (and beneficially to your actual business) are ones that are useful. Replicate and amplify this concept by offering some free resources on your website. Figure out what would be of use to your customer base, and make that resource available on your website. People are very nearly over inundated with “ebooks” and “white papers,” so go for something a little more straightforward like an template, printable forms or calendars, or even a calculator! This will boost your business site’s SEO and appeal to customers: classic principle of good will and reciprocity.

Full Article: http://experts.allbusiness.com/11-cutting-edge-marketing-strategies/20989/#.VSlLeVxWiyM