Watch your tone

Are you talking to me?

If you are, then I expect snarky attitude, quick quips, and concise information. If you're talking to my grandmother, then she'll expect a softer tone, and LOTS of detail. Then she'll call. (I'll email).

What I'm getting at is the all-important question of tone of voice. Something that not too many think about, or not in so specific a way, tone of voice in your messaging is critical to the success of your marketing efforts.

Whether it's your website, your company blog, or your display ad campaign, the way you write conveys more than you might realize about your business.

You've got to consider ALL the factors when setting out to write for your company. Who is your audience? Where are they located? What's their personality and style? What are their expectations for your business or your industry?

You're not going to resonate with senior citizens in Minnesota if your content is jazzy and quick-witted and sarcastic, just like you're not going win over 20-somethings in LA with long, droning, wall-of-text traditionalism.

But wait. Your grandma is hip and with-it and loves sarcasm? Cool. (And good for her!)

That's why you need to know your audience. There's no formula for nailing down how you should talk to your people, how you should convey your business' personality. As some of my favorite tone of voice junkies recently said, "Tone of voice is a process, not a hard and fast set of rules."

Who are you? Are you the funky digital company shaking up the industry? Awesome. Use language that says that. Are you a down-home, local company serving your more-traditional community? That's wonderful - use language that says that.

Tone of voice is all about making your company sound less like a company and more like a human -- and humans have personality. Let yours shine through and reach out to your people with confidence in who you are!

On measuring content

If your content falls in the digital forest, how do you know if it worked?

Content - and its effectiveness - can be extremely difficult to measure. Sure, there are metrics to follow, data to analyze, but how do you know if those stats are really measuring what you think they are?

Marketers argue that content can easily be tracked and measured through metrics like bounce rate, time on page, and page views. While this may be true on some level(s), there's so much more to content than the % Exit rate.

First, there's the confounding variables that abound in the various outlets where you may find your content. Your website? A high bounce rate could mean that your content was poorly received, but it could also mean that your site design is off-putting. Your page view count might be higher than ever, but people might click right off your site after they get there.

How do you extricate your content from its surrounding context?

Second, there's the idea that content (and content marketing) isn't really about the numbers. It's about reaching people and resonating with people. Quote a famous author or offer a cute picture and people will pause, they'll share, and they'll remember. You can't measure the conversation they have with a friend later, but you've made an impact. 

You could create really fun, engaging, original content that has nothing to do with your services, but hits home with people - a shareable piece of content can be hard to track by the numbers, but it'll pay you back in dividends as you build positive brand recognition.

When it comes to digital content, it can be tricky to measure your return on investment when you put hours and dollars in, and aren't sure if your metrics represent results. But combine quality content with analytics + engagement, and you've got a solid formula for success.

Content By Numbers

Just how long is too long when in comes to web writing?

It can be hard to tell when you've written just enough, or totally overshot the mark.

Social Media Today  posted an article about the ideal length of various forms of content marketing. From Tweets to presentations and everything in between, they covered - in detail - just how long (or short!) your verbiage should be.

And, get this, it's backed by data! Actual, scientifically proven data!

It's an April miracle.

The article was a long one, so here I've boiled down a bit of what they found:

1) Multiple sources (including Twitter itself) reports that tweets get the most retweets when they hit around the 100 character mark.
So don't go pushing the limits of your 140 character max, but don't sell yourself short either.

2) Facebook posts should be 80 characters or fewer for 66% higher engagement - around 40 characters if you're playing in Hard Mode (and want 86% higher engagement)!
It can be hard to keep posts concise yet still convey the full message you're trying to share, but even in the land of unlimited characters, shorter is definitely sweeter.

3) Email subject lines incur both the highest open rate AND the highest click-through at 28-39 characters, which amounts to just a few short words.
You only get a few words and precious little time to catch a recipient's attention as they sift through their email inbox. Use your subject line wisely!

4) Surprisingly, the ideal blog post length is a whopping 1,600 words, or 7 minutes of reading! According to Medium's own data, anyway.
This seems mighty long, but the trick is in the writing itself. Anyone can blather on for a few thousand words, but having enough real detail and keeping attention for 7 minutes requires skill and knowledge.

Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, but the key is in delivering quality content that people want. If you're providing something of value - and demonstrate it clearly (whether it's hard-hitting info or a funny gif of kittens), you're sure to score with your audience.

The balance between succinct, concise writing and delivering adequate detail and sentiment is a difficult one to strike. But when you find it, you've struck gold!



As Mark Twain once said,

“I didn't have time to write a short letter,
so I wrote a long one instead.”

Break it Down: Web Content Best Practices

When you're taking a stroll through the internet, the last thing you want is to be faced with the Mt. Everest of content, especially when all you wanted was a walk-in-the-park blog post.

With so much to do, and so little time, coming upon a wall of text is intimidating, if not just plain off-putting. How do you combat writing a mountain when you have so much to say? Break it down!

• Use headings to separate distinct ideas
• Try bullet lists instead of paragraphs (see what I did there?)

Breaking your content up helps readers decide how deep into the topic they want to go. Think of it as choose-your-own-adventure digital content. People can skim over the intro and subheadings to get a sense of what's being discussed, and read further into a given section if they feel so inclined. Headings and bullets both build in a hierarchy of information; this structure allows readers to decide for themselves how much detail is enough.

What else helps make your content less intimidating?

• Be concise
• Insert hyperlinks on complex topics

It can be far too easy to wax poetic on a subject that you find interesting or know a lot about, but too much is definitely a bad thing. I'm guilty of this myself, more often than not. It's important to know what's important, and what's just extra detail. Distill your discussion down to the key points - if it merits greater discussion, then there's your next blog post! Instead of over-analyzing a given subject, hyperlink off to good definitions or other posts on that specific topic. Again, you're letting the reader decide how much they want to learn.

In the age of short attention spans and rapid-fire consumption, turn your content mountain into a molehill by breaking it down into sections, identifying the main points in headers and bullets, and letting your reader decide just how much they need to know.

Quality, Not Quantity: Old Adage, New Tricks

It's hard to say exactly when people first started using the phrase "Quality, not quantity," but it has stood the test of time. And for good reason! There are few circumstances in which you want more of something shoddy in place of a couple really solid things.

This old standby holds up even in today's shiny, modern world of digital marketing. When it comes to content - be it images, copy, or anything else - it really is all about quality, not quantity.

No more jam-packing your copy with keywords til your sentences are incomprehensible, no more overloading your readers with irrelevant, nitpicking details, and no more blurry photo after blurry photo and widgets and sections and forms. It's time to think critically about what you're filling your pages with, and whether it's really driving the results you're looking for.

Content
Great content comes with great strategy. It's important to develop a plan first and foremost so you establish a guideline by which all your content is created. Once you know where you're headed, you can start to make your way there.

People are busier than ever, and have both short attention spans and a need for instant gratification. With precious little time to catch a visitor's eye, it's important to make every word count. Your strategy should start and end with a clear understanding of what people want when they get to your website. Chances are it's one of three things: 1) basic business information 2) yes or no answers to whether you do what they're looking for, or 3) requesting further details. Design your content to address these 3 needs right up front, with a hierarchical system to delve deeper as required.

Don't make visitors hunt for your phone number or how to get in touch, or dig through piles of irrelevant information just to find out if you offer something common. Keep it simple with the most important pieces first; don't get bogged down in technical specs up front - that's what your other pages are for!

Keywords
Gone are the days of keyword stuffing, jamming "car service in Boston, Mass, Boston Mass car service..." into as many lines, corners, and code of your website as possible to drive organic search traffic. That kind of SEO is bad for your visitors, bad for Google, and bad for you.

What are you supposed to do instead? Write like a human. Consider your audience, not only for what you write but how you write it. Ask yourself who your typical website visitor might be, what words and phrases they use to describe what you do, and what tone they're likely to respond well to. If you write it, they will come, so let your content do the legwork for you by naturally including key terms where they make sense. Google will reward you, and so will your customers.Write unique, informative, descriptive content and people will find you.

Photos
What's going to sell you on a business' merit: 30 low-quality, poorly lit photos of random work, or 3 high-resolution, professionally-lit and framed images of their top, representative projects?

It doesn't take a genius to recognize that it's more important for your images to accurately reflect the standards of your work than it is to have as many pictures as possible of everything you've ever done. When a picture is worth a thousand works, you need to make sure it's saying the right things.

The age-old idiom of quality over quantity has plenty of worthy applications these days, and it's never been more true than in this era of digital marketing. It's all too easy to get overwhelmed and overloaded with unnecessary information, when all you really need is short, sweet, and too-the-point content that tells people who you are.

Content's Not King: The Customer Is

Content is king of the castle no more.

In this social media world we live in, the lines become blurred as to who is running the show. Are you in charge of your business' social pages, or are your customers? You may be the one plugging in fun facts and scheduling witty posts, but it all comes back to the end user. The customer's in charge on social networks.

As Barry Feldman over at Social Media Today so eloquently put it, "The customer is the king. The customer has needs. You serve them with content."

Does this mean your content is no longer important? Absolutely not! If anything, your words - from Facebook to Twitter to your website - are more important than ever! It's also more important than ever to use them wisely, speaking to your audience with the information they want, the way they want it.

How do you write content that serves your customers?

• Determine who your audience truly is
• Are you marketing directly to your end user? A higher level decision maker? The language, tone, and strategy you use could be drastically different for one group than for another.
• Establish your value proposition
• What makes your product/service/brand worthwhile to that audience? What problem are you solving for them?
• Keep it simple
• No matter who you're speaking to, they're busy and their time is precious. Recognize the value of their time and get to the point quickly, making your message succinct and clear.
• Be relevant and informative
• What do people really need to know about your business? Don't waste time with extraneous information - keep it relevant to what your customers are interested in and give just enough detail for them to make their decision without overloading them.
• Keep in mind - on Social Media, Facebook in particular, the 80/20 rule still applies! Only 20% sales or promotion, 80% other content - somehow related to your business, of course.

Content is meant to resonate with people, not just talk at them. Your customer is king - be sure your content serves them well, and they will reward you!

Tis the season... for oversharing

This time of year, it's easy to go overboard with social media and newsletters and email campaigns. Tis the season for sales, after all. But it's important to remember not to overdo it.

Sending constant promotional emails about next week's big sale, tomorrow's preview days, and the next day's pre-sale sale can get a little annoying. As a consumer, it can get exhausting going through (and deleting) that endless flood of emails and social posts. Remember, you're not the only company your customers are following.

So how do you keep your brand top of mind during the holiday rush without going too far?

The #1 Tip? Keep a healthy mix of engagement and promotions. Don't bombard your followers with exclusively sales-focused messaging. It's the holidays! There are tons of festive things to post, questions to ask, and photos to share to keep your brand interesting, engaging, and personal.

A good rule of thumb is to maintain an 80-20 ration: 80% engagement-focused content, and only 20% promotional. This might sound extreme, but it's an ideal way to keep people interested in your brand. When you share fun and interesting content, customers remember you and look forward to your posts. They might even re-share your content to their own followers. Building brand awareness is a big win any time of year.

Tip #2: Consider your audience. More specifically, consider their personal preferences when it comes to holiday-themed messaging. Granted, Christmas cheer is everywhere, but it's wise to be cautious when posting content that is overtly religious. Be sure your posts appeal to a wide audience.

Obviously, Christmas is a religious holiday at its heart, but you don't want to alienate those followers who are not so into it. Keep it fun and casual. Focus more on the festive season and things we can all appreciate, like twinkling lights and hot chocolate on a snowy day. Unless your business is Christian in nature, save baby Jesus and the wise men for your personal social accounts.

Tip #3: Be thankful. A great way to engage with your customers without being overly promotional is to say thank you! Sending an email to all your customers or sharing a blog post with your social media followers is a thoughtful and authentic way to remind your audience of your brand, and your human side.

Write up a couple of paragraphs reflecting on the past year. You can marvel at how far your business has come, laugh at silly things that happened, and make predictions for what you hope will come next year. But most importantly, make it clear that you appreciate the support of each and every customer that has walked through your door, made a phone call, or clicked the "follow" button. Your customers are the reason your doors are still open. Let them know how grateful you are!

At the end of the day, the best strategy for your business this holiday season (and throughout the year) is to be genuine! Show your personal side, and remind customers of the people behind the brand. And don't forget to have a happy new year!