A phygital world: Our digital and physical experiences are becoming seamless

4m to read / 

There’s that joke about non-stop flights. How can you get off, ever, if the flight actually doesn’t stop? When I hear about ‘digital’ I am equally confused. How can you experience anything that’s digital without being in the physical realm? You see what’s on screen, you listen to podcasts, you touch that smartphone, don’t you? So, actually, it’s really an online – offline world at any given time.

AR, VR and physical

AR and VR are both manifestations of this. The unprecedented success of Pokémon Go is the first example that comes to mind. The mobile app uses GPS and augmented reality technology to lead users on a hunt for the digital pets – who are scattered around across the physical world. In restaurants, bars, offices, shops, parks, stadiums, and mall parking lots. The point of Pokémon Go is to travel around – in the physical world – with a data connected mobile, exploring different geographic areas to find appropriate Pokémon.

The most compelling digitally delivered content is still created in the physical. The magic of Snapchat is the capture of the instant in physical. As is Instagram. And, on the flipside, QR codes on ads, on concert tickets, on boarding passes enable the physical to lead to the digital. And often, back to physical. The QR code on a boarding pass takes the physical-to-digital-to physical route to enable a physical experience – flying somewhere.

Google's micromoments

Google’s ‘micro-moments’ is all about mobile powered solution of intent with information that is of course accessed via digital for action that is often in the physical. The “I want to go” to a dim sum place now is guided by information from Search via mobile, but it does end up with a lunch. Real dim sum, served at a physical place in those real steamer baskets.

Google says “Of leisure travelers who are smartphone users, 69% search for travel ideas during spare moments, like when they're standing in line or waiting for the subway.” That’s not for virtual travel. It’s for the real go.

Then there’s So-Lo-Mo. Social media activated and conversations activated on Mobile but in physical Local context. It’s essentially location based marketing, on social, using a device. “Your friend Bob just dropped into your local Starbucks for a latte, would you like to meet up now? And, here’s a map on your mobile.”

Google also provides some neat stats on smartphones and physical action: “Of smartphone users, 91% look up information on their smartphones while in the middle of a task – a real task. And, 82% consult their phones while they're standing in a store deciding which product to buy.” That’s a brick and mortar store. And people also view merchandize or comparison shop in a physical store before buying it later online. Showrooming.

Experience – the buzzword of the year

Honestly, the big word this year is going to be ‘experience’ – and we’re no longer thinking online or offline for experience. The internet shapes and delivers physical experiences – and the virtual is increasingly showing up in physical. The better experiences, which every brand wants to deliver, happen when online and offline work in symbiosis to provide multidimensional engagement. The truth lies bare in the term ‘augmented reality’ itself. It’s about using digital to augment – to add value, to dynamically build on reality.


Nike (via Weiden) unleashed somewhat of a backlash at online, showing how online foils us from living the fuller life. The “Are We Running Today” campaign tells us that while online can be great, it draws us away from what we really ought to be doing. Ironically, these digital-delivered ads urged viewers not to get caught in the online-only way of life. To go out and run. And experience the real world. The on YouTube ‘Time is Precious’ campaign is stark. True. And scary actually.

Adidas have also upped their online – offline game. The Glitch app (invitation only) delivers an interchangeable boot concept allowing players to change their game whenever they want. It targets serious players, the hardcore customers, and yes it is a sales pitch, but it uses the power of an app to deliver customizable cleats, and scores.

Power of mobility

The power of mobility and the accessibility of social is what’s encouraging today’s hyper connected consumers to wipe out the on-off boundaries. First of all, it’s almost always, always-on. Then there’s empowerment of voice. Whether they buy from them or not, consumers are quick to let businesses know just what they want and need. Even when the products or services and the last mile of engagement is physical. Like, say, in home appliances, or organic food products. Business channels and customer relationships are being recontextualized because people today have a digital say on everything.

There are numerous examples of digital meeting physical. We know about offline media monitoring using mobile. About digital OOH. Robots. Interactive airport directionals. Smart homes. Personal assistants (digital, of course, not man fridays). Cross continental remote surgery. Remote 3D printing. Amazon (or any online retail). AR and VR assisted experiences at resorts and even sporting events. And there’s always data lurking behind it all.

Data, digitally, is helping transform physical retail experiences – predicting emotions and need states when people are ready to buy. They’re calling it ‘mood retail’ – a mind boggling mix of data, physical shopping, retail therapy and psychology.

The online – offline experience. It’s not even hyphenated anymore. It’s intuitive, immersive, and intensive. It’s phygital.

This post was published in Campaign Middle East, Feb 19, 2017.

Please share this article with your friends and colleagues.

Now read these posts:

• Top Technology Trends in Marketing for 2017

• How Successful Brands will Connect with Consumers in 2017: A new game

Read more

7 Winning Content Ideas for your Social Media Posts

3m to read / 

It's not easy to come up fresh ideas for your social media posts every day. Here are seven easy to follow tips on types of winning content you can create easily.

1. Questions and Answers

Questions and Answers make up great stories. One easy way to create interesting posts is to pose interesting questions. Remember, your audience loves sharing experiences and opinions on social media – so provide a platform for their expression. Having a relevant and interesting image to go along with your question will get immediate attention, and more people will engage. You can ask your audience which of your products, for example, they really like. But don't always post questions just about your brand. They should involve the audience's genuine interest and passion. You can also get a lot of interest by asking them to predict something. For some questions, you can provide two options as answers, rather than leaving them open ended.

Another way is to provide answers – again with relevant and useful visuals. These resolve the audience's problems, or answer queries. Many brands use this content bucket to respond to Frequently Asked Questions about their products. 'Answer' posts can be useful 'how-do' demos, instructional videos, simple solutions explained visually and more.

2. Fill in the Blanks and Poll Posts

Asking your audience to fill in the blanks actually engages them and gives them a sense of direction on how to express themselves. "My favorite player in Superbowl LI was ___________". Or get a sense of which social platform they are most engaged on "The social media platform I use most every day is __________". You get the drift.

3. Create a theme for days of the week

If you create bucket themes for days of the week, you can come up with content for those days easily. As well, people will know what to expect – it gives them a feel of consistency about your posts. Movie Mondays, Tuesday Tip of the Day, Wednesday Windows, Thursday Thanks, Friday Fun, Saturday Showtime etc. Often you can actually find day themes that are common hashtags, and you can get more mileage by using those hashtags.

4. Special Holidays, Unusual and Funny Name Days

There are names for almost every day of the year – and a lot of them have hashtags attached to them. You can create pretty cool content by building your posts around these day themes. You can ask them questions around the days theme – and perhaps have a quirky call to action. Be sure to use appropriately relevant visuals to make these posts interesting. Check out this site to get a list of days in the year you can build your posts on. Remember, it can be days, or weeks, or even occasions that you create.

5. Jump on the Local Events Bandwagon

There's usually a lot of interest on events around town – a concert, a special occasion, a gala or a big sporting event. You can use the buzz around these events to generate interesting content. Use hashtags when possible. Actually, these can be global events as well where a hashtag will get you a whole lot more interest than a normal post. You can plug the local event, provide tips, may be even a couple of free tickets...

6. Feature your customers

This works like magic. People want to be heard and seen on social media. You can feature customer testimonials, demos, unboxings or even a simple 'how-to' tip that they provided. Use their photos or videos – this adds visual value and authenticates the post as well.

7. Share resources

You really need to come across as their friend, as someone who provides useful content. Don't hesitate to provide information, tips and resources from third parties that will be of relevance to your audience.

These are simple tips to follow. And they make for interesting content buckets that go beyond the usual types you do on a regular basis. Create useful, interesting content and you'll engage your audience better. And that's That's Digital Marketing Strategies 101.

Please share this post with your friends, and please comment on this if you want to add something...

Now read more on social media and content:

• 6 Critical Steps to a Winning Social Media Strategy

• Winning Content Strategy: Always share something valuable and useful

• Content Marketing Strategy: What kind of content should you create?

Read more

How to and What to Track on Social Media: Facebook, Instagram & Twitter

4m to read / 

How to and what to track on Social Media – on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter is really about reaching the right people at the right time – and engage them successfully. Many social media marketers are confused about what to track – and why, and how. Follower counts really do not matter. They're good for the ego, but they really mean very little.

In a report done by Forrester, we learn that businesses have an engagement rate of less than 0.2%. Instagram was the only exception to that statistic. Imagine, if you have 100,000 followers. This means, that actually only 200 people have some sort of interaction with your post. I would rather have just 10,000 followers and 2%. Same 200!

Your first step is to do a complete audit of your social media. What works? Which posts deliver better engagement? Which ones fall flat? Are you talking to the right people? Do you know your target audience? Your customers? Your social media is really about delivering to them, engaging them.
Customer Insights is your First Step in Digital Marketing.

Facebook Metrics that matter

Facebook offers some really useful insights on performance. Log in as a manager of the page and look for the Insights tab.

Facebook provides a very useful dashboard of the key metrics you need to track. The two critical ones are Post Engagements – the number of times people have liked, commented on, and shared your posts; and Actions on Page – how many times have people clicked on your Call toAction. Of course, you can check out Page Views, Page Likes and Reach,  but if you've got no engagement, these mean nothing.

Your most important KPI (Key Performance Indicator) is to push towards increasing post engagement. A quick way is to go through all your posts and identify the ones that did well on Engagement. Try and replicate what you did there. Facebook actually shows engagement metrics by category – Video, Photo, Status or Link posts. Here, it also tells you, that may be your video posts are doing really well, and your Link posts are not.

It's also important to have benchmarks. Check out how your competitors are doing. Facebook provides engagement performance for any other pages you choose to watch. This should also help you set some goals. You'll also see which posts perform for them – giving you ideas for your content and format.

A way to track conversion from Facebook is to track Actions on Page. The report shows you who clicked on links on your page – to your website, for example. You can track by device, location, gender and age. If you look at Page Views and then hold that against Actions, you'll get a conversion rate.

Track what's key on Instagram

Previously, we depended on third party analytics platforms to track Instagram performance. For deep dives, we still do. But Instagram now have some built in analytics available. First off, Instagram will always have better engagement rates than your other social platforms. But it's important to engage on a continuum – meaning you need people to come back to you, regularly. You need to have a Business Profile on Instagram to gain access to Instagram Insights. (Here's How to convert to Business Profile)

Engagement on Instagram is measured in Likes and Comments. Links within posts are not allowed. Actually, you can have a link, say to your website, but it has to be in the bio. A neat way to track 'Instagram conversions' is to have a custom landing page on your website – only for Instagram traffic. As well, it's best to use a custom trackable link like Bit.ly (I swear by this), or Google's Campaign URL Builder.

So, what do you track on Instagram? 

1. A simple one is average Engagement Per Post. Add up your Likes and Comments and divide the sum by the number of posts. Track this over short periods – like a week or month to keep this metric current.

2. Track Engagement as a percentage of your total population of followers. Take your total engagement (Likes + Comments) and divide by your total followers. Does your growth rate reflect how often you post? What about the types of photos you posted over the last period you measure?

3. Some people are keen on follower growth. It is important to track Follower Growth rate only to see if you doing things right on the platform

4. Track traffic from the URL in your bio. This literally tracks conversion.

Follower locations is important – it tells you where your key markets are, and helps you time your posts. You should also see when your followers are active and which posts are working with your audience. This way you can optimize what and when you do on Instagram.

Twitter Analytics that count

Twitter provides some interesting metrics in the Analytics dashboard. On the Home tab, you can track performance numbers for the last 28 days, as well as your top tweets. You can track how well you are able to engage your audience with your tweets –  there's a list of your recent tweets with numbers on impressions, engagements, and engagement rates.

Impressions – really don't matter, because it counts the number of people who have seen your tweet – but that doesn't mean they haven't just scrolled past them.

Enagement is the key metric. Engagement is when when people actually click on, favorite, retweet, or reply to your tweets. A 28-day average compared to the best performers help you find out what went right. You need to try and increase your engagement rates. That's a great KPI for twitter. Check which tweets did well, and replicate what went right. Also check engagement against time of day or day of week. Build a post schedule based on this insight.

Audiences matter. You can go to the Audiences tab to know more about your followers. You can see a breakdown by interests, buying style, household income, and net worth. The interest data, for example, helps you define where you should focus on for your topics. Afterall, reaching the right people is key.

Many marketers track a lot more information using tools and dashboards, and then combine them to track overall social performance. The above are the absolutely critical ones you track – without having to spend a lot of money on paid-for analytics. By the way, I also recommend tweetreach which is pretty cool  for analyzing twitter performance.

Please share this post with your friends...

Now read these related posts on Social Media:

6 Critical Steps to a Winning Social Media Strategy

8 Ways to boost customer loyalty using Social Media

6 Types of Social Media Posts to Engage your Audience

7 ways your brand can increase Facebook organic reach

Read more

Top Technology Trends in Marketing for 2017

3m to read / 

2017 will see advances in tech we’ve seen in 2016 go on overdrive. A lot of these revolve around developments in AI and machine learning. They’re all in some ways connected. To each other. And to us as people.

Cognitive Devices

This is a step beyond ‘smart’ devices. Products that have self learning built in to become aware of context – and that are capable of complex thinking that mimic human capabilities. See Sentient IOT below. Cognitive devices will allow for predictive marketing and product delivery – taking loyalty based decisions to levels of automation which are actually quite scary.

AI and Personal Assistants

Technologies around Artificial Intelligence such as natural-language processing and deep learning, will naturally evolve in to systems that understand, learn, predict, adapt – and are able to almost clone human behavior. Rather than simply execute predefined code, these systems will be able to ‘think’ on the fly and react. Every day tasks are going to be easier, with Personal Assistants becoming better twins of human behavior and logical progression of thought will be built into apps. In marketing, this means brands will be able to learn from past market data, immediate context, individual customer behavior pattern and predict an experience and create an offer – in the moment. Autonomously. Intelligently.

Smart Homes and Connected Lives

The smart home will be an ecosystem rather than just a bunch of connected devices. This is where we should see brand collaboration and the dissolution of competition – particularly in different verticals. We’ll see connected lives of consumers demand collaboration between brands and products they use – freely, and geared towards their experience and convenience rather than company bottom line. Expect a sushi delivery via a drone taxi company, and a fridge collaborating with a grocery chain.

IOT but Sentient

Almost in the same genre as AI equipped apps and tools, and homes – the Internet of Things will see adoption of sentient tools. ‘Sentient’ tools are aware of their context and social interactions – they can feel and perceive – and reason. Cloud-based AI, centrally connected robots, and advanced machine-learning algorithms will converge, and we’ll start to see the true benefits of IOT in manufacturing, marketing and just every day living. Every day things around will us will provide solutions rather than pose problems.

More AR, better AR and with VR

Expect AR and VR to expand beyond visual immersion to include all human senses. Like Pokemon GO for Business. By late 2017 we expect that AR layered VR will transform the way individuals interact with each other and with software/hardware to create immersive, interactive environments. Better AR and VR will be used for training scenarios and remote experiences. The blending of real world with projected images might just change our experiences at resorts, movies, sports events and classrooms.

DAAS and DoD

Data as a Service (DaaS) and Data on Demand. Businesses will no longer need to work through the 4Vs of Big Data (Volume, Variety, Velocity, Veracity) at huge costs of time and money. A new breed of data brokers will emerge to provide DaaS and let brands access data when they need it, and simply have that analysed based on immediate need. We’ll see advancements to humanize big data, making it more qualitative and useful and add layers of empathy –projecting it in a more visualized, accessible way.

Improved CRO technologies

Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) will creep into a lot more than just websites or landing pages. CRO will be the new UX. Conversion rate optimization helps you track user behavior on your site and identify elements that produce the highest number of conversions. Marketers will find new ways of to use CRO to channel their existing traffic into sales. And CRO will be used in apps, on payment interfaces, last miles of interactions, and retail – actually anywhere where a yes no decision is involved.

Noise, filters and clutter-cutting content

Content that cuts through the immense white noise out there will have to be precise and dense. Every word in a post will have to be ‘optimized’ to resonate. Every frame in a video meaningful. Every sound a vibe. Content will become a highly specialized skill, with highly informed and inspired writers and creators who will understand and develop clutter-cutting content. Also, expect apps and assistants that will filter content you don’t want, even before you didn’t want it!

Video gone mad

Yes, video is going to go mad in 2017. Social media? Video. Ads on mobile? Video. Most consumed content platforms? Video. Surgery via video. Wedding invits via video. Resumé on video. College lectures on video. Everything and everybody will see some sort of use for video. And of course good quality, unforeseen, high resolution video. AR/VR and video. Guidance systems, SatNav and maps will use video. Live video. Facebook and video. Search and video. Chatbots and video. Oh, and maybe even, Vodka and Video. And, on that high note. Here’s to 2017…

Now read these posts around this topic...

• How Successful Brands will Connect with Consumers in 2017: A new game

• 7 Important Questions to Ask when planning a digital campaign in 2017

• How Data will really drive Marketing in 2017

• 6 Must Know tips to Succeed with Content Marketing in 2017

Read more

6 Must Know tips to Succeed with Content Marketing in 2017

4m to read /

2017 will see content marketing to grow – nothing out of the ordinary, but grow in ways that will deliver more results, better ROI, and get better consumer attention. Here are a few tips for content marketers for 2017...

1. More Content Marketing from More Brands. Fight the clutter.

There's going to be an abundance of content. Content from more brands, ore influencers, more media companies and publishers, and more just plain folks. Users will generate more content. Which all adds up to a whole lot of content clutter. Point being, that the brand content you generate will really need to fight the clutter. The content you generate will need to be above and beyond the ordinary, and one that will in several unique ways stand out from the rest.

Brands will actually pump in more budgets into content, you'll see better teams, bigger teams producing content. In all aspects of marketing, where, over the last couple of years, content kind of had it's own ground, now content, going mainstream almost, there'll be territory issues. So, again, content will have to be stand out, not just to win the overall marketing game, but eyeballs and attention.

2. Deliver excellent Visual Content

Web 3.0, Web whatever.0, visual content will really rule the roost. Look at Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Facebook... content that works immediately and with gusto seems to be visual content. So get set with your teams and be ready to have your content go ape on visual.

Visual content isn't easy. You need beautiful, smart, well crafted, well photographed, and well titled images to make them work. You'll need a library of images for your brand or product. Live, on-going, casual images are fine on iPhone or other smartphone shot ways, but it's best to hire a professional to develop a nice little library of your products, people, company, products in use etc. You'll also need some design work on a online platform like Canva or Stencil, or for basic design help, like a Design Pickle.

3. Move it with Video

Video content is images. Images that move. And speak. And sing. And dance to the tune of your audience. So make 2017 the year of video content as much as possible. Explore Live Video (see post: How to use Facebook Live video like a pro. The essentials of getting it right.). YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook are all going to amplify video in 2017 like never before. And, we do know, that most consumer internet traffic is video, anyways.

Create rich content. Make quality count.

Make sure you create great engaging video content for your audience. Make sure that the video content actually resonates. As in any social media, Customer or Consumer Insights is your First Step in Digital Marketing with any content you create for your audience on Facebook. You can have the best video content, but is it relevant to your audience?

Focus on quality from the first frame – Since videos auto-play silently in Feed, you should lead with imagery that will catch a person’s eye from the very beginning.

Premiere exclusive video content – Post exclusive video content to your Page to reward them with something that they can’t get anywhere else,

Provide context – Set context by pulling out a key quote or moment from the video as the text component of your post. This will help set expectations for the experience ahead.

4. Mobile will drive content. Are you there?

2017 isn't the year of mobile. 2016 was. 2015 was. as was 2014. 2017 will be mobile, period. So get your content mobile ready, not just mobile friendly. Get ready for vertical videos. Get ready for Live video shot on mobile, consumed on mobile. Only.

Audit your current content. Does it work on mobile? Or does your customer need high powered reading glasses to view your content. Speaking of which, is your website (your main content, actually), at least responsive?

And be prepared for the explosion in app delivered content. Increasingly, brands are taking to apps to contextually deliver meaningful, in the moment content. Get working on apps.

5. User generated content. Use it.

Because content marketing is essentially based on trust and meaningfulness, and usefulness, UGC or User Generated Content will be another key element in 2017. We know that 85% of people trust content made by others more than they trust brand content. So, you really have to grab this opportunity this year. You user is your every day influencer. UGC comes in all shapes and sizes – reviews, unboxings, comments, shares, YouTube videos. Develop a unique platform for your users to contribute to your content efforts.

Read this: 5 ways to get fans to create social media content for brands

6. Personalized and custom content

2017 will be the year of custom content. The time has come for not all-for-one content, but for one-to-one content.

Read this tip:  • Customer Insights is your First Step in Digital Marketing

We know a lot more about our customers and our target audiences than before. How come were not using it to  create micro-buckets of content that resonates with them on a personal level? You will need to look at perosnalized content – where the user can view and consumer based on their specific need, their specific thrill.

Data, Customer insight and content

Last year, we talked a lot about influencers – this year, I didn't mention it as a key tip, because we all know that influencers do wield a lot of power.

Just in case, you were hiding under a rock...
10 Essential Steps to Influencer Marketing Success for your Brand

Overall, be prepared for how technologies, new platforms, advancements in VR and AI, consumer habit shifts are going to influence content marketing. Remember, content is king. And context is God.

Now read these posts on content to help you...

Content Marketing Strategy: What kind of content should you create?

8 Must Have Steps to Unleash the Power of Content Marketing for your Brand

Plan your Distribution Strategy to succeed with Content Marketing

11 Amazingly Easy Ways to Skyrocket your Content Marketing Results

Win with Content for your Brand: Give away value and usefulness

Please share this post with your friends and your community...

Read more

How Successful Brands will Connect with Consumers in 2017: A new game

3m to read / 

2017 is ushering in a new game, a new era for brands who want to truly connect with their audiences – their customers and consumers. Increasingly, brands have to do a lot more than just sell. They have to build on-going relationships and as a fantastic study published by Wunderman called "wantedness" – they'll have to continually prove that they want you as a customer. The study was conducted in the US and UK markets, but I think it has significance that resonates for marketers globally.

Consumers want brands that adapt to their needs 

– not the other way around. Around 75% of consumers will only consider brands that understand and care for their needs. "Traditionally, advertising has been about changing perceptions and behaviors in order to make people want to buy a product or service." That is now upside down. "Today, consumers expect businesses to adapt to their needs and our findings are consistent across all generations, geographies and genders,".

Consumers are empowered to choose

and around 90% of them believe that mobile enables them to make better purchasing decisions. Which means, that today, Intent is the new black in digital marketing. In-the-moment marketing is what's hot. Today, we are empowered in the moment, and regardless of age, gender or geography, we, not brands have control. And brands ned to deliver on what we want, as and when we want it. So, as one of the most important tips for brand marketers: Get your mobile game right.

Operate in the culture – not the category.

Today, consumers are measuring brands not just against their competitors, but against the best in the world. The yardsticks are global bests – brands like Amazon, Starbucks and Netflix. So, don't just set your goals based on your category or industry. You need to go above and beyond and set new standards. To demonstrate a brand wanting to connect with the consumer , it needs to go beyond the basic expected every day. The concept of "Wantedness" tells us "Be the best at that one thing and bend over backwards to demonstrate that you truly want a consumer’s business."

The Consumer is Always Right.

Brands need to honestly, wholeheartedly treat consumers better – and work hard at it. Not just as one offs but every single time. Setting a higher level of customer service, connecting with consumers with true insight is key. Customer Insights is your First Step in Digital Marketing.

Marketing today is not about your brand or product – it's about the customer. Digital marketing is built around the customer, the audience you want to talk to, and getting proper insights about your customer, the consumer, their needs is what should be your first and fundamental step.

Unlike advertising as we know it, today's digital marketing is way beyond the sell-sell. It's about engaging the consumer, and moving them down the funnel from awareness to action with meaningful, relevant interactions. The first thing you need is a Customer Insight Strategy. Listening is key.

Demonstrate true understanding of the customer at every step of the journey

Brands need to demonstrate that they have a deep understanding of the customer's needs, their priorities and preferences. This understanding, derived out of data, needs to be then put into every day context. And, naturally, the creative message needs to reflect this. What needs to be shared with the consumer is a message that is crafted towards and delivers on experiences they need, right when they need them.

It's all about individuality.

The true death of mass marketing. The end of one to many. Purchases reflect what the individual stands for, not their demographic or their category. So, it's really about sharing individual values, and building towards endearing the consumer one at a time. Not easy.

Convenience becomes critical

More than 60% of consumers polled agree that the best brands make their lives easier. Sometimes, this can be about the power of the here and now, and not just with mobile, but increasingly with wearables, convenience marketing in 2017 will be key. Transform your digital marketing by Being 'Right There, Right Then'

 Use the Power of Here and Now: Convenience Marketing with Wearables. Today consumers want simplicity and convenience, and wearable devices give them what they might want with fewer obstacles to disrupt their journeys.

Brands need to make things easier for the consumer at each point in the purchase process. Sixty-two percent of U.S. respondents noted that the best brands out there, the ones that they are most dedicated to, are ones that make life easier for them.

Exceed expectations

Brands need to exceed expectations across the customer journey. Th best brands don't just make great products. They provide a deeper understanding of the consumer and connects with that understanding. Brands need to push boundaries and do something new.

The three takeaways

The "wantedness" study says it's anew concept for marketers – in an era of increasing transparency and decreasing trust. Yet, it is in many ways, a great curation of great marketing simplicities. It's an underlining of the fundamentals – made fresh for 2017. And the three big takeways?

1. Get to know me
2. Deliver for me
3. Keep winning me


Now read these posts on digital marketing strategy:

• How Data will really drive Marketing in 2017

• 7 Essential Pillars for your Digital Marketing Strategy

•  10 Critical Elements you must get right for Mobile Marketing Success

Please share this post with your friends and your community...

Read more

6 Critical Steps to a Winning Social Media Strategy

4m to read / 

Here are the six steps towards building a robust Social Media strategy for your brand. Whether you are embarking on a new direction and adopting social for the first time, or already are on social, these are the points you need to consider.

1. Know your business goals and set clear Marketing Objectives

Before you can think of your brand's social media strategy, you need to address two points. First, what are you really doing this for? What are the end goals for your business? Are you a new brand and need to establish credentials? Are you expanding territories? Launching new lines? You eant o increase brand awareness? You want to use social for customer service which wil improve the perception of your rand?

Next identify and set clear marketing objectives. These need to be specific, measurable metric driven KPI's. If you want to increase sales using social, how will you measure that? Once you know your business goals overall, you'll need specific objectives in order to attain those goals. These should be achievable, relevant to the success of your brand, and ideally, be time bound. Aiming too high is not what you want, because you want to achieve your objectives – within the time frame you set. Keep them simple and attainable.

2. Know your audience. Who do you really want to connect with?

As in any aspect of marketing, and specifically digital marketing, knowing every nuace about your target audience and your customer is key.

Read this tip:  • Customer Insights is your First Step in Digital Marketing

Marketing today is not about your brand or product – it's about the customer. Digital marketing is built around the customer, the audience you want to talk to, and getting proper insights about your customer, the consumer, their needs is what should be your first and fundamental step.

Unlike advertising as we know it, today's digital marketing is way beyond the sell-sell. It's about engaging the consumer, and moving them down the funnel from awareness to action with meaningful, relevant interactions. The first thing you need is a Customer Insight Strategy.

Listening is key.

What you want here is to identify your key audience. Who do you most or really want to talk to? Do you have a grasp of their persona? What are their interests? Their problems (which you want to resolve), their motivations, their habits? List these. This will help you define your key target audience.

3. Find out what's going on around you – the competition, the industry, the best practices

Research what brands are doing around you? Take a deep look at your immediate competition? Look at what the industry is doing on social. You'll need to find out which social platforms are being used, and which ones are working for them. What is their content strategy? 

Use tools to look at how much engagement they are getting on which channels – and how and why. You really can't get deep metrics of other brands, but you'll have a fair idea on which posts work, which don't. Look at overall engagement (likes, comments, shares, retweets, etc). Also look at social media best practices – not just in your market, but across industries and geographies. Learn from these. Note down what you think will work you.

4. Identify your channels and your channel objectives

Who makes the decision on which social media channel your brand or business should be on? Should you just jump on every new platform that comes your way? Is your brand really relevant across all the channels you are on?

It's not just about resources, it is about how your brand aligns with each channel. It is about how your brand fits in to the ecosystem of the channel or platform, and then ensuring that your content resonates well within those parameters. You cannot be everything for everybody. You'll need some kind of audience segmentation strategy in place.

What are specific objectives per channel. You can't do on Facebook what you can, say, on Twitter. You'll need to identify these ahead of time.

Read more: Choosing the right social media channels for your brand

5. Develop a Content strategy

It's not advertising, social media is about having a conversation and engaging the audience consistently. Instead of using social as a one-way platform, the best way forward is to create content that encourages conversation, while maintaining its brand values and personality.

Your content strategy should be beyond just topic. Depending on channel, your context will differ. And so will type of content – text, images, video, links, live content etc.

A consistent posting schedule and consistent social-friendly tone of voice is crucial when it comes to keeping an audience engaged. Remember, it's all about relevant, value adding content.
Read this useful post:  Win with Content for your Brand: Give away value and usefulness

6. Identify and allocate Budgets, Tools and Resources

A lot of brands jump on to social media without considering budgets, tools and resources. This is a list but not least important step. Once you know your channels, your objectives, you should identify what tools you will need to keep at the game – not just for your social posting, but consider community management, monitoring, reporting etc.

Finally, you just can't do everything yourself. Even with a smaller, first time effort, you need to allocate roles. Identifying who will do what, and who's ultimately responsible increases how effective and efficient you can be –  and avoids confusion and overlaps.

Once you've gone through these critical steps, you'll need to address the on-going strategy. This is now about execution.

Read this: •  6 Key Essential Focus Areas in Social Media Strategy (your on-going What To Do's)


Now read these posts on Social Media strategy:

•  Setting Social Media Goals and Tracking Success Made Simple

•  3 Simple ways to measure Social Media marketing success

Please share this post with your friends and your community...

Read more