How has 2018 changed things for you? Have the trends so boldly proclaimed in last year’s forecast articles come to fruition? Have you decided to take a new direction for any reason? (Please tell us in the comments section!)
For us, the year was over far too quickly – like a blur. We cut back to 3 articles a week as we became busier elsewhere. That has led to us stopping republishing articles by our friends, and seeing our hopper full to bursting point.
One thing that will never change is our gratitude.
We want to thank all of our readers, all of our writers and everyone who got us to this point. We’re now in our 6th year, so the list is lengthy!
As always, we are republishing a snippet from one article by each author who contributed at least 2 unique articles.
In purely alphabetical order, the first 10 articles are by:
If you wish, you may click on any name to go directly to their content.
Asad Ali
The Second Screen Viewing Trend That’s Reshaping Marketing
TV is becoming social and interactive. How? Let’s delve deeper.
In the world of tough competition, survival is possible only for the fittest. In the entertainment industry, the popularity graph of any program is dependent on the best possible ways the audience is kept engaged while using multiple media platforms. Social media, apps, polls, and opinionated statuses make a single event, program, or just a promotional ad, a big trend. The reason behind this is the growing second screen trends amongst viewers.
What is second screen? It is the use of any electric device that viewers use while watching TV. It could be a smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop, etc. The purpose of using a companion device is to connect to the program people are watching. Second screens also shape the ways businesses connect with the customers. The companion second screens help by creating a social buzz around certain programs.
Multi-screen, multi-tasking is sometimes criticized as the inability of the young generation to stay focused. However, for some, second screens are helpful in optimizing the TV experience of the viewers.
If you click here, this Infographic will explain everything.
Shane Barker
3 Reasons Your Influencer Marketing Is Not Performing Well
The global influencer marketing value for Instagram has gone up from US$1.07 billion in 2017 to $1.6 billion in 2018. It is expected to increase further to $2.38 in 2019.
Influencer marketing is one of the best ways to bridge the gap between your brand and your target customers. But like any other marketing method, it can fail to produce the desired results for your brand if not done effectively.
The key to a successful influencer marketing campaign is in its diligent planning and implementation.
There can be many reasons for the poor performance of your influencer marketing efforts. Listed below are the causes, and how to avoid them to ensure a successful influencer campaign.
To build an ideal influencer marketing plan we should consider the following steps by clicking here.
Andy Capaloff
7 Services, Tools and Plugins We Couldn’t Live Without
When we launched Curatti 2.0 in October 2016, I posted this article on the making of a website. It seems like a good time to revisit some of the tools, services and plugins we use. It’s barely possible to imagine Curatti without them!
I have no doubt that we could upgrade on some of these, and equally little doubt that some of them could improve YOUR site and workday. Please be sure to share your thoughts on any of what we have shared here, and don’t be shy about suggesting what you consider to be upgrades. I hope you include your reasons!
You’ll have to click here to get your services, tools, and plugins.
Paolo Fabrizio
Stop Wasting Your Customer’s Time If You Want To Keep Them
Putting ourselves in our customer’s shoes is the best approach to serve them best.
“Imagine that you need some information. You ask for it, but nobody answers. Also consider that you had paid that brand to get such information, but they just did not do it. So, how would you feel about that?”
I guess your face is showing the same negative expression as the audience of the Customer Service Conference in MiIan, where I asked the same question a few days ago…
Learn how to make your time more efficient with your customers by clicking here.
Anna Fox
How To Create Visual Content That Builds Empathy With Your Brand
“Good politics starts with empathy, proceeds to analysis, then sets out values and establishes the vision, before getting to the nitty-gritty of policy solutions.”
~David Miliband via bqotd.com
It’s the same for business… It all starts with building empathy, or in other words, understanding and compassion. And that, in turn, starts with building common ties between your customers and your brand which will later become the foundation of your further relationship.
Empathy is feeling with people, Dr. Brené Brown says in her YouTube video on Empathy. Empathy fuels connection… Empathy is the first step to drawing people to your brand, getting them relate to its message, understanding it and wanting to get involved.
What makes something better is connection,
~Dr. Brené Brown
So, when trying to build empathy with your brand, you must put yourself in your audience’s shoes to feel and understand their struggles, in order to be able to come up with the best solutions.
To learn how to amplify your content with visual marketing, click here.
Susan Gilbert
How to Effectively Use Storytelling to Attract a Larger Following Online
In order to be successful with your website and on social media your business needs to offer great storytelling content that connects with your audience in order to establish a trusted and authoritative brand online.
This is the key to selling your product or service. If that isn’t happening then the missing link is inside the message to your target audience. When writing fresh copy ask yourself these key questions first:
- What is the most pressing need for my potential customers?
- How can my business best answer their questions and meet their needs?
- Am I appealing to the right demographic?
- Is what I am offering authentic with the backup of testimonials and influencer recommendations?
People want to know more about the human side of your brand. The power of stories certainly provides more insight into a product or service. But it also increases the chances that your buyers will want to make a purchase.
Click here to find out how to make storytelling work for your content marketing strategy.
Jan Gordon
5 Ways to Measure Your Content Marketing Success
A little back-to-basics piece around Content Marketing.
You create content to support your business objectives. These typically involve:
- Increasing brand awareness
- Generating and nurturing leads
- Increasing subscribers
- Improving customer retention
- Boosting engagement
Whatever your goals are, content creation is just the first step in your content marketing strategy. Once your content has been created and published, seeing how it performs is the crucial next step.
Without insight into the performance of your content, you would be flying blind and cannot identify your next moves.
If your content does poorly, then you should know why. If it didn’t receive enough views, perhaps it wasn’t promoted well.
If it performs well, find out what made it such a hit with your audience so that you continue creating content similar to it.
To build a successful content marketing plan we should consider the following steps by clicking here.
Victoria Greene
Why Personalization Is Something You Need To Be Hyped About
What do you see when you look at a mirror? If you’re a business leader, entrepreneur, or marketer, you should see an opportunity staring right back at you.
Why?
Because personalization offers you the opportunity to make your products and services super valuable to your customer community and create brand loyalty that goes above and beyond anything you’ve had before. By getting personal with people, you will be able to get closer to their actual needs, wants, and desires.
Below I have outlined why personalization isn’t just a fad you can dismiss, but how it’s something you need to be hyped about all year round. Make it part of your marketing strategy in order to be at the top of your content and sales game.
Get the facts on how personalization make your sales grow by clicking here.
David Gutierrez
How To Improve Your Lead Generation With Video Marketing
The goal of any marketing campaign is, in the long run, to generate more leads and drive new sales. Practice shows that video content is far more engaging in these respects than typical text ads. However, even if you actively use video as a part of your marketing toolset, chances are you don’t squeeze everything you can out of them. In this article, we will show a few video marketing techniques and approaches that will help you use your content to its full potential.
1. Gated Videos
Videos are much more likely to be perceived as valuable content than articles – no matter how well-written it is. Therefore, gating videos is a viable way of collecting contact the information of your potential clients.
After you’ve piqued their interest in content that leads up to this video (e.g., a detailed explainer video or a product demo), you gate the access to it. It will both create leads and let you check how many viewers will give you their contacts. It is a helpful way of evaluating the quality of your top-of-funnel content.
The simplest way to gate a video is to include a subscription form offering to send a link to it. The advantage of this approach is that you don’t just know how many people are watching your content and how many times. You get access to individual watching history which helps personalization. It also helps you draw conclusions from large-scale customer behavior.
To learn how to give your video marketing a boost click here.
Sahil Kakkar
The Future of Augmented Reality With Search Engine Optimization
Augmented Reality (AR) is not new. It has actually been around for years. But it’s true potential wasn’t fully utilized until relatively recently, with Pokemon GO.
Although the game was a victim of momentary success, it showed us what AR can do.
Pokemon GO helped businesses envision their future with AR, compelling them to use it for digital marketing and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
But before we begin talking about the future of AR with SEO…
Click here to find out more about Augmented Reality.
Curatti Best Articles of 2018 – Part Two” will be published January 3rd. Happy Holidays!
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Jan Gordon
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