“Find interesting ways to say boring stuff!” said Ann Handley.
One of the top quotes from The Content Marketing Academy Conference 2016 in Edinburgh.
I’ve done marketing for 25 years but I never call myself an expert. Like you, and everyone in the ever-changing digital world I’m learning all the time.
Were inspired by countless new ideas. Were motivated to be bigger, bolder and braver. And we were reminded of the basics of content marketing that we should never forget.
“Finding interesting ways to…” became the theme for my lessons and thoughts from the conference.
How many conferences have you been to in dull featureless hotel function suites?
With low ceilings, no air conditioning and no character. TCMA mastermind Chris Marr chose The Hub in Edinburgh as the stage for his content marketing extravaganza.
A converted church, it gave us high vaulted ceilings, space to mingle, clear acoustics and an immediate feeling of being somewhere special.
Wander up to the balcony for a birds eye view of the setting and great photo opportunities.
How many conferences have you been to where the speakers appear to be aloof, almost “above the audience”.
They hide in the green room and bugger off as soon as they finish their speech. Chris Marr chooses speakers who want to hang out with the delegates. To mingle, laugh, joke and debate. To answer questions the audience may not want to shout out for everyone to hear.
Just two examples of Chris Marr finding interesting ways to do stuff differently.
Great venue. Tick. Great speakers who hang out with you. Tick.
And great delegates as well.
Everyone at TCMA, at whatever stage of their business journey, were sucking in knowledge. Motivating each other. Networking. Sharing ideas. Making friends. Arranging mutually beneficial business connections.
Speaking to many of the people there, they agreed that the delegates were just as important a part of the experience as the speakers.
So here are 20 plus marketing lessons and thoughts from this must attend event.
If you were at TCMA please feel free to add your thoughts in the comments section below.
Okay I added in the word “bloody” when I wrote my notes. Accomplished speaker and video producer Amy Schmittaur is American and wouldn’t use that word. But she’s right about using your phone. It’s a TV studio in your pocket. Start shooting.
Amy’s Authority Video Formula is a powerful template (see picture above). Use it to create engaging videos. And never forget that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world. Use it to find questions people are asking and then answer them with your videos.
I’ve been dabbling with video and intend to do more. Here’s my latest effort. How close does this fit to Amy’s formula?
Amy encouraged everyone to overcome their fears.
Fear of gear – use your phone!
Fear of personality – Practice. Starting now. And don’t stop learning.
Fear of ROI – always ask for your call to action. Clearly. And audibly.
And in a genius piece of audience participation, Amy got us to record a video whilst she dictated the words, and told us to post it on Twitter! Great interaction. And idea to steal with glee.
I could have said your “brand is bloody important” but I won’t over use Brit speak here!
Chris Marr came up with the inspired idea of peppering the international keynotes with shorter “Lightning Talks” featuring local business people. Col took his 10 minutes to remind us and teach us about the importance of brand.
Kate runs a pet sitting franchise in Ireland. She’s built her successful business by blogging. In classic content marketing style she listens to the questions people ask about their pets. And answers them in blogs. It works for people selling swimming pools. It works for pet sitting. It can work for you.
Kate gave us a check list for stand out blog posts.
Commitment – blog regularly
Have a great title
Use subtitles
Have a strong call to action
Use images
Have good SEO
Share it – and pay for boosts on Facebook at £3 a pop. I actually boosted one of my own posts on Facebook during her talk, for £3, just to remind myself that “this shit works”.
Analyse the results
“Great presentation from someone who can legitimately use cats all over her marketing.”
Richard is a Doctor Who fan. We’d been tweeting each other in the run up to TCMA. Does anyone else other than Richard and I know who Frobisher the Penguin is?
His presentation was about work life balance. About planning and how to be more efficient. And to make time to do stuff for you.
Some great take always.
“Do you own a business or does a business own you?”
You need to take control back.
He uses the Pomodoro Technique to get work done. Chunk your work into 25 minute bursts. Set your timer. Start working. No email or social media interruptions.
Reward yourself with a coffee or a walk before the next chunk.
“Email is someone else’s way of dictating how you’ll spend your day.”
Don’t let it. Get a virtual assistant. Build a virtual team.
Richard also encouraged us all to Tweet at a couple of his friends and his PA. Imagine their surprise as their phones went into “alert meltdown”. I’m going to nick that idea for the Protection Review Conference in the summer.
In the third Lightning Talk – photographer Julie Christie shared her successful formula for automated webinars. Money whilst you sleep. Another inspiring presentation from a local business superstar.
I’ve known Pete for a few years now. We both come from a financial services background. But he’s ahead of me in the content production stakes by about 60 podcast episodes and over 400 videos.
Amy said earlier we should never bin our old content. Even though our first video will undoubtedly suck. Pete shared his first video with us.
Where he stood on a beach, in a gale, and talked financial services. He’s never looked back.
Pete again reminded us of one of the key principles of content marketing. You know this. I know it. But it’s good to be nudged.
Opening day two, Ann Handley was funny with great comic timing.
I loved how she used the often confusing differences in American and English phrases to great effect. I challenge you to get the word “Poop” into your next piece of content. Littering her presentation with real examples she reminded us that:
“The biggest missed opportunity in marketing is playing it too safe.”
How true is this? How many companies are happy to be the same as everyone else? Or to follow rather than lead?
And remember:
“Engaging content is more about brains than about budget.”
Be mindful of that when you see big brands spending multi-millions on rubbish TV adverts. Or campaigns designed to win agency awards rather than engage customers.
Spend your time on quality rather than wave your cheque book around.
Ann reminded us we must be Bigger, Bolder and Braver.
Having a great chat with Ann during one of the networking breaks, I asked her about those companies who fear this.
That their efforts might be too big. Too brave. Or too bold.
Her answer. Simple. Big, brave and bold have degrees.
You only have to push a little to stand out from the followers. But imagine what would happen if you pushed hard!
Kev stole the show with his 10 minute Lightning Talk. Heart felt. Engaging. True.
We might all be content creators. Writing. Making videos. Recording podcasts. But sometimes it’s therapeutic to just write stuff down. Your thoughts. Fears. Aspirations.
Kev received a well deserved standing ovation. I had tears in my eyes as I clapped.
He also gave us a competition to write a 6 word story inspired by a photo. What a fabulous way to exercise the mind. Here’s mine.
As a podcaster approaching episode 100 could I learn anything from The Podcast Host?
Of course.
The concept of the “season” made my imagination cart wheel. My podcasts are random interviews around a general framework. Seasons allow you to focus, plan, batch and take breaks.
More high energy engagement from Lightning Talker Laura. Remember your content has a call to action. Create the trust so that eventually people will do business with you.
The last Lightning Talk for the irrepressible Ali McGill.
There’s so much rubbish service around from companies who claim to be passionate about customer experience. Are you reading this BT, Virgin Trains, most Financial Services companies (yes – even my old one)?
Ali set out a great blue print for building an awesome customer experience.
A stonking keynote, 90 minutes long, to finish an incredible two days.
We’d learned so much already. Been reminded of things we should do. Was there anything left to be said?
Tons.
A huge presence, Mark dominated the high vaulted hall as well as the stage.
Lots of value bombs on how to stand out in a world of content shock.
When the starting cost of creating content is near ZERO you have to work hard to stand out. You need shock and awe.
Why Mirabeau had 13 million hits on a video showing how to open a bottle of wine with a shoe? Others had done it before but after 222 videos Mirabeau had the audience.
Other gems:
“You can trick people into clicking. You can’t trick them into sharing.”
“Trust not Traffic.”
Look after your alpha audience. That’s maybe 2% of the people who consume your content. Turn that 2% into 3% and then 4%. Wow!
Mark talked so much sense on ROI. Bean counters want to see profit immediately. Mark urge us to measure qualitative results at first not quants. And look at each stage of the game. It’s not just what we measure but when. Have different measure for each phase.
And the final nugget, apart from making Taco Content?
“Be more human.”
A rousing, entertaining, engaging, motivating and funny speech climaxing in a standing ovation.
Don’t forget the delegates!
In this very long blog post I’ve only just scratched the surface of the lessons, thoughts, inspirations and motivations from TCMA2016. And I said that the delegates were just as important as the speakers.
Yva Yorston – taking business support to the next level.
Stefan Thomas – Networking might be not working for some but he’ll help you make it work.
Pascal Fintoni – another video producer extraordinaire to whom I grateful for his encouragement of my own video endeavours.
Andrew and Pete – a remarkable couple of marketers from Newcastle who have a great online conference called Rule Breakers.
Janet Murray – a journalist and entrepreneur with an awesome podcast.
Chloe Forbes-Kindlen – one of the nicest and most passionate social media marketers I have met.
Vicky Gunn – fun and engaging beach hut entrepreneur.
During the conference Chris Marr asked the audience what a content marketing. Across the interwebs there are many technical ways of describing it.
Embracing “Know Like Trust” and taking in “Educate Entertain Inspire” and finding interesting ways to say things differently – my working definition is now:
“Making stuff that teaches, entertains and inspires people to know like and trust you, so they’ll love to do business with you.”
Are you on Snapchat? Are you using it to create relationships and engage with potential customers?
What was that you thought in reply to my question?
“Snapchat is for teenagers who want to send mucky pictures to one another safe on the knowledge that the photo disappears after 10 seconds? ”
or
“I’ve just got my head round Twitter and I’m not convinced about that yet. Snapchat is for kids and is irrelevant for older people, and especially for businesses and entrepreneurs.”
I have to admit up until two months ago I thought the same. Why would businesses be interested in a platform kids use to send pictures of their naked bodies? Why would anyone want to send content that disappears after only 10 seconds.
But as a marketer I feel it’s my duty to my customers to keep up with social media trends and platforms. To try them out. See if there are opportunities. I’ve looked at Periscope, Blab and the recent audio platform Anchor. All of those are worth a look but Snapchat is exciting.
Overcome Perceptions
You need to keep an open mind. That means rising above the perceptions that people have of social media. It’s often the perceptions that prevent people from given something the chance it deserves.
Yes kids might be posting dirty pictures on Snapchat. But some older people, businesses and entrepreneurs are finding it a great engagement platform.
So I tried Snapchat two months ago and do you know what?
I’ve been amazed by the engagement. And the interaction. And the networking.
I’ve had fun. Met new people from around the world. Arranged Skype meetings to follow-up with mutually beneficial discussions. And I’ve found some new paying customers too.
So my message to you is to give Snapchat a chance. Have a look at what entrepreneurs like Gary Vaynerchuck, Chris Ducker and Dan Norris are up to on the platform. Make some connections. Engage people in conversations and offer your support and help.
One of the best things about Snapchat is that the marketers (and I include me in this criticism) haven’t ruined the platform yet.
No one is in your face, “sell sell sell”. You’ll see no adverts.
No interruptions. Just engagement.
Here are a few tips on how to start your Snapchat experience.
The Story
Use the “Story” function as the hub your Snapchat interactions.
Your story is an album of photos and videos (each of which can last for up to 10 seconds) which mesh together to tell a story. Think of it as a video picture blog.
People can watch your story as many times as they want. Each element only stays in your story timeline for 24 hours though. It’s short-lived and that encourages people to watch your story before it vanishes forever (but you can save it to your phone for prosperity or re-purposing).
Make your story engaging in three ways:
Create suspense: You could say, “In the next few snaps I’ll tell you a few business secrets.” Or, “Come back at 5pm for a huge piece of news.” When you think about it this is a technique used by film and TV producers and it works.
Take people behind the scenes: Use your story to show people behind the scenes of your business. Give them a look at your podcast equipment or your offices. Show them what you’re working on. Have fun. Show them the human side of your business as well.
Involve people in your story: Ask questions? Invite opinions. If you’ve just snapped your latest camera invite people to “snap you back” with a picture or video of their own camera. Run a quiz. I do a “track of the day” each morning asking people to snap me back if they recognise the music.
Build these three techniques into your story and you can start to engage and interact and build relationships.
Engagement and Interaction.
You’ll need to follow some people.
Check out your Twitter or Instagram friends and look for anyone sporting a Snapchat “Yellow” snapcode picture and follow them.
Even check out those entrepreneurs I mentioned earlier and other influencers. Follow and interact with them. They are sure to reply to you. Snapchat is a friendly place.
If someone follows you, send them a message (it’s just like a text but inside the Snapchat app). Or even better send them a quick video to say hello. People love it when you acknowledge them in this way.
Start watching other people’s stories
Other Snapchatters are already using the Story function as their engagement hub.
Reply to their questions. Comment on what they’re up to. If you are following each other you’ll see a “chat” icon at the bottom of the screen. You can type them a message straight away. Or send them a quick video. Remember video is so engaging.
When you take a video or a picture you can add text to the snap. You can use this to share other people’s snapcode usernames. And if you see someone else giving a shout out in this way, follow their recommendation to build your network.
Build your network and relationships
One of the best things about Snapchat is there are no follower counts.
On Twitter and other social networks egos often rule and some people set store by how many followers they have. With Snapchat you don’t know. They could have 10 followers or a million.
It doesn’t matter. It means you can focus on building relationships. They could lead to friendships, business relationships or both.
Let people find you
Add your Yellow Snapcode to your other social networks so people can find and follow you. Unlike Twitter and Facebook you can’t do a general search for people on Snapchat. You have to know their Snapchat code before you can follow them.
Follow me on Snapchat
I’d love to help you get to know Snapchat and for you to start using it to create business relationships.
My Snapchat name is: RogerAEdwards. Or you can just scan my Yellow Snapcode below.
You’re all set
I hope you enjoyed these tips and tricks for getting started on Snapchat. Give it a chance. Set aside those perceptions you may have that it’s just for kids.
Snapchat can work for older people, businesses and entrepreneurs. Like anything you have to put in some time and effort. It’s fun though and there’s a pioneering feeling about it.
Give it a shot. And I look forward to watching, engaging and interacting with your story.
Now it’s you turn:
Let me know what you think? Is Snapchat for older people, businesses and entrepreneurs?
Am I talking a load of rubbish here? Leave a comment below or share your thoughts on social. Ideally of course, send me a video reply on Snapchat.
