Last week, a UK based travel company received an interesting Facebook post – a user posted a screenshot of a travel itinerary that listed a layover of 413,786 hours (or roughly 47 years). This, of course, was a technical glitch, as the itinerary did not show the traveler arriving at their destination 47 years later and I’m fairly certain the post was simply to inform the travel company about this technical glitch. The social media team – or one person on that team in particular – chose to acknowledge that post in a rather humorous way…

Of course, this quickly went viral and resulted in a HUGE amount of comments – all of which praised the social media rep for Skyscanner – Jen – for her humorous response. But it didn’t stop there. As the comments piled up from readers/fans, she continued to insert personality and fun into replies which, to any outside observer, certainly seemed to win over just about every commenter and reader. In addition, this witty back-and-forth resulted in wonderful news coverage by organizations such as Mashable and the Huffington Post.

But what made THIS particular technical glitch and social media response so fantastic that it connected with readers, made new fans, attracted potential new customers and also captured the attention of media?

The company showed personality.

As The Huffington Post reported in a statement from Skyscanner regarding the interactions between Jen and their Facebook fans they “never imagined the Facebook discussion between Jen and James would gain this much interest,” but “being able to deal with customers’ questions while building relations with them is key.”

Now, many corporate policies and supervisors may have frowned upon this sort of engagement. If you look at some of the comments, Jen was never rude or sarcastic, but she did step outside-the-box and her responses were humorous, on point and engaged each person. And that is exactly the point of social media… engagement.

Most companies would have responded to a report of a technical glitch in their system in a stoic manner, such as, “Thank you for reporting this technical glitch. We’re sorry if this inconvenienced you in any way. We’re having our technical team correct this issue now and we appreciate both your reporting this to us and your business.” This response would not have been improper, nor would it have been abnormal. In fact, the reason that “Jen” became a viral Internet sensation was exactly because her responses were abnormal. However, they were also spot on and resonated with and connected her company to its customers.

If you need proof, look no further than this one example of many…

There’s nothing wrong with what essentially boils down to making fun of yourself and entertaining your audience. Yes, the company had a technical glitch. Despite the obvious corporate “Thank you” this social media rep took it a whole skyscraper beyond that and engaged each and every one of the commenters. In the end, the company got a ton of exposure simply because Jen took a small technical glitch and used that to engage customers in personal ways that they found humorous. Take this example:

Jen interjects relevant and popular pop culture references into her humor (if you don’t know this is a Game of Thrones reference.)

Or this one:

I’m sure you see the picture.

The point is that consumers aren’t used to companies exhibiting personality and having fun on social media which is exactly why people get so excited when they actually do!

Taco Bell, Audi and other big brands do this regularly. And those results pay off in the form of customer engagement. The reason this was so engaging is that Jen was trusted, empowered and Skyscanner allowed her to express those attributes spontaneously and in a manner than entertained and engaged their audience. And, because of that, they won new fans and I am sure acquired some new customers… all resulting from a travel agency reporting a 47 year layover itinerary to a customer.

It is such a great example of how mistakes can turn into customer relations gold if handled correctly. They can be a great opportunity to show your true personality and just how great you really are at providing an exceptional customer experience.

All too often, a company gets intrigued with content marketing and decides to give it a try. But then, after just a couple of blogs, executives decide that there just isn’t any tangible return on their investment, or that it’s not measurable, and so lessen their content output, or abandon the initiative altogether.

In most cases this is due to poor planning and a failure to ensure that the content produces the best impact possible. And, with so many options these days, businesses can get confused about what content marketing actually is. Content marketing includes video content, social media, blogs, articles, white papers, how-to articles and even press releases -- Any way you can get good information out in front of your audience and create an impact. The types of content and ways to distribute this content are increasing almost daily.

The key is to ensure you plan well in order to deliver the best message and ensure that it creates an impact. Have a strategy in place to coordinate your content so again, you create maximum impact. You could have written the best blog in the world, but if nobody reads it, it won’t matter. So coordinate your content strategy. If you post a blog on your site, post a link to Facebook and promote it. Tweet it out. Be sure to post it on your Linked In and to any Linked In groups that make sense. If you are a member of any relevant industry best practice social sites, consider posting it there too.

Some content, such as social media, is designed to deliver a relevant message in a fast, short format, similar to a sound bite. You don’t have much time, or many words, in which to craft a message and catch the person’s attention. So this type of content needs to be relevant, interesting and formatted properly for the platform. If your post drives them to a destination site, you better be sure that the promises you make in any social media content are delivered when they get to that site. Unless it is a targeted ad, if they click through and get a big product pitch and not the article, blog or piece of advice they were hoping for, the chances of them returning decrease with every occurrence.

Next, all your pieces of content should be designed to support each other. Perhaps your company is planning a sale or launching a product. A great strategy would be to start with some soft-sell, educational blogs and articles supporting the concept overall and the need for the product you are about to launch. Please don’t be promotional, just touch on the general subject with an opinion piece, or some industry best practices. For example, if your company is launching a mobile product, blogs and articles should be focused around mobile, and perhaps explain the importance of a mobile experience. Write articles on the subject and publish them in an industry publication. Create a social campaign around the subject. These blogs, articles and social postings can help to reinforce and keep the importance top of mind until... surprise… you publish a press release announcing a new mobile product.

Each piece of content should be tailored to guide your customers down the buying funnel. At the Top of the funnel your audience should receive messages and content that supports the overall concept and market need of the product and service you are about to offer. A soft sell, overall educational approach – not promotional. Each subsequent piece of content should then support that message.

Content marketing isn’t inexact. Each platform has a purpose and the lower you take someone down the buying funnel, the more promotional you can get. The end game is that your audience will start paying attention to your content when they are top funnel and follow you down the funnel as their need for your product or service (or your content convincing them of that need) progresses.

Only then will the audience think that your service is right for them. And when that happens, and they contact you, you no longer need to sell value, but only close the deal. Why? Because you’ve been selling value for months … and that’s why they contacted you in the first place.

Take advantage of content marketing. But be sure to do so in a way that is less about aggressively pushing your product, and is more of a coordinated strategic path. You will see your efforts pay off much faster and your executives will start buying into your strategy and be a heck of a lot happier about it!

Today, it’s a content-drive world. There is so much content in existence there’s simply no way any person could ever truly absorb all of the messages being thrown their way. Consumers have to get picky about what messages they choose to pay attention to and which to ignore. Frequently, that decision is made in seconds. So you don’t have a lot of time to grab the reader’s attention. And, it’s not enough to simply have the reader’s attention -- nowadays you must be able to keep it.

Blogs are a great way to stay in touch with your audience and remain top-of-mind. But, just as quickly as you have attracted their attention, it only takes one or two false moves for the reader to decide to stop paying attention to you.

I therefore thought I would share 5 common blogging mistakes which can turn off readers. I hope you find them helpful!

1. Being Promotional – Don’t make the mistake of using your blog as just another channel to market your products. Sure, there is a time and place for blogs targeted to customers about such topics as how to better use your products, new features they should know about, etc. But don’t do it so much that you scare off your readers. People pay attention to blogs because they find them interesting and valuable. That value could lie in the fact that they are educational, funny, or relevant to your industry. If you choose to push promotional content through your blog – or outside industry blogs – you may find that your blog gets ignored very quickly. There’s nothing wrong with an occasional piece discussing a new feature, product or service, if it’s limited to the company blog. However, in general find topics that your audience will find interesting and valuable. Use your blog to capture and keep their attention by creating unique content that is relevant.
    
2. Too Long – While there is no real rule these days about length, and I have found that, in some cases, longer blog content can be quite successful, in general blogs that are short and to the point will get read by more people. In most cases, there’s no reason to write blogs that are excessively long. Readers simply don’t have time to consume all of that content at once. People have limited attention spans. While they may start reading your blog, if it’s too long you may lose them.
    
3. Talking to A Wall – A great strategy when writing blogs is to write them in a conversational tone. Readers are much more engaged when the content seems as if it is speaking to them. Don’t be too detached in your writing style. Write as if the reader is sitting in front of you and you are verbally relaying the content in a conversation. You’ll find that people are more receptive and will relate to the content much better.
    
4. Lack of Engagement – One of the best things about blogs is that, for the most part, your customers or audience can engage with you should they find a blog article particularly interesting, or have additional questions. However, all too often, comments are left to sit without any response. This is detrimental for a couple reasons. First, it makes the commenter feel as if you don’t value them, or that you’re ignoring them, which will discourage any future engagement from that person. Secondly, future visitors to the blog will see that, while someone attempted to engage with you, there was no reciprocal engagement. This could also discourage that future visitor from leaving a comment or question.
   
   It’s also very important HOW you engage with your readers. Tone of voice, sarcasm or dismissal of different opinions can easily turn a great piece of content into one which simply showcases that your businesses may not be willing to look at things from another perspective. Just remember that not everyone is going to agree with your advice -- and that’s alright. Keep producing content that brings value to your audience, pay attention and engage them when they engage you, and you’ll begin the process of building a loyal audience.
    
5. Grammar and Spelling Mistakes – Think of blogs like clothes: How you look to your audience makes a difference. Have you ever come across a poorly written piece of content riddled with spelling or grammar errors? Did it distract you and put you off the content? You always want to ensure that each piece of content you produce looks and reads well and is a professional representation of your business. Grammar and spelling errors could make your readers feel that your business is not very good at paying attention to detail – and that is NOT good for business. The more attention you pay to detail with your blogs – in both content and form – the more likely your content will be syndicated.

Simply creating content isn’t enough. It needs to be content that your audience cares about if you want to attract and keep their attention. I hope these tips help you avoid the 5 common mistakes that many people make when blogging. You should then be less likely to be on the receiving end of a press of the “delete” button.

Regardless of what industry you are in, your audience is seeking information and it’s in your best interest to be the place that provides it for them. High-quality educational content has many great benefits.

However, is it better to keep the content on your site, or push the content to other sites in an effort to get the most bang for your buck? The best strategy is a mixture of both.

I’ll explain the benefits of each.

The benefits of keeping the content exclusively on your website include:

1. If the content is placed solely on your site, this can help attract new site visitors. If you push your content to multiple sites, you are essentially competing with yourself in terms of search results. Unless you have a very authoritative site in the eyes of the search engines, you may find your site ranking below others.
2. If your website consistently has fresh content, search engines will crawl your site on a more regular basis. Failing to add fresh content to your site regularly, the amount of time between visits by a search engine increases. Keep them coming to your site.
3. Fresh content also encourages your current customers to return to your site. A regular content schedule promotes return visits. Think of it like a television series. You know your favorite show airs on a certain date and can make plans to watch it. Make sure that your audience gets used to seeing your content on a regular day so that they can anticipate and look for it.
4. Prospects most likely visit your site on a regular basis. These prospects could be potential customers, or future employees. Good educational resources and fresh content can help to show these visitors that you care. This can provide a sense of who you are as a company beyond just the information about your products and services.

The benefits of publishing your content off-site include:

1. The ability to reach new people. By regularly publishing that content on community sites within your industry, or in trade magazines, you’ll stay top-of-mind with potential future customers. This can help build familiarity and brand you as an expert in the industry – someone who knows what they are talking about and is worth listening to. While readers may not be in market for your service now, they certainly may be in the future – or know someone who is. If you’ve been visible to them on a regular basis, the chances increase that, at the very least, they consider you.
2. It is in the best interest of these sites to promote their content by syndicating it to members. Oftentimes, these communities or trade magazine’s websites are ad supported. That being said, they cannot simply e-mail ads to their members or subscribers. They need content as well. In most cases, they also need the help of industry experts to provide it. They appreciate your content and provide you with an opportunity to reach a huge database of people in your industry.
3. In most cases, these sites allow the author to include a bio in the content as well as a link to the company website. This can increase your website’s authority in the eyes of search engines.

The solution that seems to work well is to keep long form content exclusive (white papers, case studies, etc.) on your website. Many companies require an e-mail address to access the content. This can help increase any database for future marketing.

Short content, such as blogs, seem to perform well when shared within communities and/or with trade magazine’s or news sites. Keep a good mix of both and you’ll be on your way to a rewarding content marketing strategy.

Regardless of what industry you are in, your audience is seeking information and it’s in your best interest to be the place that provides it for them. High-quality educational content has many great benefits.

However, is it better to keep the content on your site, or push the content to other sites in an effort to get the most bang for your buck? The best strategy is a mixture of both.

I’ll explain the benefits of each.

The benefits of keeping the content exclusively on your website include:

1. If the content is placed solely on your site, this can help attract new site visitors. If you push your content to multiple sites, you are essentially competing with yourself in terms of search results. Unless you have a very authoritative site in the eyes of the search engines, you may find your site ranking below others.
2. If your website consistently has fresh content, search engines will crawl your site on a more regular basis. Failing to add fresh content to your site regularly, the amount of time between visits by a search engine increases. Keep them coming to your site.
3. Fresh content also encourages your current customers to return to your site. A regular content schedule promotes return visits. Think of it like a television series. You know your favorite show airs on a certain date and can make plans to watch it. Make sure that your audience gets used to seeing your content on a regular day so that they can anticipate and look for it.
4. Prospects most likely visit your site on a regular basis. These prospects could be potential customers, or future employees. Good educational resources and fresh content can help to show these visitors that you care. This can provide a sense of who you are as a company beyond just the information about your products and services.

The benefits of publishing your content off-site include:

1. The ability to reach new people. By regularly publishing that content on community sites within your industry, or in trade magazines, you’ll stay top-of-mind with potential future customers. This can help build familiarity and brand you as an expert in the industry – someone who knows what they are talking about and is worth listening to. While readers may not be in market for your service now, they certainly may be in the future – or know someone who is. If you’ve been visible to them on a regular basis, the chances increase that, at the very least, they consider you.
2. It is in the best interest of these sites to promote their content by syndicating it to members. Oftentimes, these communities or trade magazine’s websites are ad supported. That being said, they cannot simply e-mail ads to their members or subscribers. They need content as well. In most cases, they also need the help of industry experts to provide it. They appreciate your content and provide you with an opportunity to reach a huge database of people in your industry.
3. In most cases, these sites allow the author to include a bio in the content as well as a link to the company website. This can increase your website’s authority in the eyes of search engines.

The solution that seems to work well is to keep long form content exclusive (white papers, case studies, etc.) on your website. Many companies require an e-mail address to access the content. This can help increase any database for future marketing.

Short content, such as blogs, seem to perform well when shared within communities and/or with trade magazine’s or news sites. Keep a good mix of both and you’ll be on your way to a rewarding content marketing strategy.

The web provides a plethora of content including articles, editorials, infographics, images, videos, and photographs.  While this content creates a great visual experience for web browsing and researching, it’s important to keep in mind copyright and intellectual property right laws if you wish to utilize any content on a website, blog or online channel.

Many people still believe they can just “right click” and copy whatever they want and use it on a blog, website, presentation, or podcast. That is certainly not the case.

If it is not originally produced in-house, images and videos must be licensed from the image owner or a stock photo source. There are numerous providers that offer photos, images and videos. However, be careful, as there are often limitations to how, when, and where these images may be used.

Currently there are two types of licenses available for images:  Royalty-Free and Rights Managed. 

Royalty-Free images are low in price and can, in most cases, be used for digital and print projects without any further expense. Print projects do require a higher resolution image and, depending upon the purchase source, are more expensive than a small lower-resolution image for a website. 

Some popular sites for these images are Bigstock Photo, iStockPhoto, Fotolia, and Shutterstock.  These offer either monthly or annual subscriptions, or a pay-as-you-go model. The images in these collections change based on seasonal themes. Their low price means the image may pop up on a large number of projects, advertisements, eBooks, etc. 

There is also the risk that a competitor will use the same image in their ad campaigns. In 2004 Dell and Gateway used the same image in their back-to-school ad campaigns.  

Rights Managed (RM) images are utilized when companies don’t have a budget for a photographer to shoot photos for their projects, but would prefer something more exclusive than the Royalty-Free option. The license is worded in such a way that it protects the buyer for a set period of time, in select media channels, so as to avoid brand confusion.

For example, if a company were to run a Spring Cleaning event, it could license the image for a 60 day period, during the promotional campaign. After that time period it no longer has use of the image without renewing the license. These licenses can run over $1,000 or more, but can be less expensive than custom photography.

Popular RM sources include Corbis Images, Getty Images, and SuperStock, which all also offer royalty-free images. The quality, selection, and price of images varies widely based on the company utilized and the use of the image.  It is important to read the license agreement to know the terms of usage and what is legally allowed. 

Earlier this year an associate built a website and just “grabbed a photo” off the Internet and posted it on their website.  A few months later they were contacted by the legal department of Getty Images. Getty is very proactive in protecting their image library and the client was sent an invoice for un-authorized use of the image.  The penalty was $1,200, as the image was from a Rights Managed photo collection. Pleading ignorance, or that “someone else did it,” is not a legal excuse for copyright violations.

Looking for totally free images?   Yes there are a few sources offering unrestricted use. However, as you can imagine, they are somewhat limited in selection and might come with strings attached.

• Free images are available through WikiMedia Commons but the selection is limited and a credit line is required. 
• Unsplash.com posts 10 new photos every 10 days, but most are landscapes or other topics and may not be appropriate for business topics.  
• Gratisogrpahy.com also offers images of an eclectic nature with no strings attached.  The photographer, Ryan McGuire does invite users to “buy him a coffee” via Paypal 
• Free techy photos are available from Startup Stock Photos, and again selection is geared to startups, bloggers and other web developers.  

When creating websites, print projects and trade show materials, be sure to check that your images are legally obtained.  Ask the designer to provide validation of licenses. Or, have a contract in place that holds the agency, designer, or developer responsible for any copyright violations. 
 
Great images add power to great content and there are many images out there. Just be sure to play by the rules to avoid problems down the road.

The web provides a plethora of content including articles, editorials, infographics, images, videos, and photographs.  While this content creates a great visual experience for web browsing and researching, it’s important to keep in mind copyright and intellectual property right laws if you wish to utilize any content on a website, blog or online channel.

Many people still believe they can just “right click” and copy whatever they want and use it on a blog, website, presentation, or podcast. That is certainly not the case.

If it is not originally produced in-house, images and videos must be licensed from the image owner or a stock photo source. There are numerous providers that offer photos, images and videos. However, be careful, as there are often limitations to how, when, and where these images may be used.

Currently there are two types of licenses available for images:  Royalty-Free and Rights Managed. 

Royalty-Free images are low in price and can, in most cases, be used for digital and print projects without any further expense. Print projects do require a higher resolution image and, depending upon the purchase source, are more expensive than a small lower-resolution image for a website. 

Some popular sites for these images are Bigstock Photo, iStockPhoto, Fotolia, and Shutterstock.  These offer either monthly or annual subscriptions, or a pay-as-you-go model. The images in these collections change based on seasonal themes. Their low price means the image may pop up on a large number of projects, advertisements, eBooks, etc. 

There is also the risk that a competitor will use the same image in their ad campaigns. In 2004 Dell and Gateway used the same image in their back-to-school ad campaigns.  

Rights Managed (RM) images are utilized when companies don’t have a budget for a photographer to shoot photos for their projects, but would prefer something more exclusive than the Royalty-Free option. The license is worded in such a way that it protects the buyer for a set period of time, in select media channels, so as to avoid brand confusion.

For example, if a company were to run a Spring Cleaning event, it could license the image for a 60 day period, during the promotional campaign. After that time period it no longer has use of the image without renewing the license. These licenses can run over $1,000 or more, but can be less expensive than custom photography.

Popular RM sources include Corbis Images, Getty Images, and SuperStock, which all also offer royalty-free images. The quality, selection, and price of images varies widely based on the company utilized and the use of the image.  It is important to read the license agreement to know the terms of usage and what is legally allowed. 

Earlier this year an associate built a website and just “grabbed a photo” off the Internet and posted it on their website.  A few months later they were contacted by the legal department of Getty Images. Getty is very proactive in protecting their image library and the client was sent an invoice for un-authorized use of the image.  The penalty was $1,200, as the image was from a Rights Managed photo collection. Pleading ignorance, or that “someone else did it,” is not a legal excuse for copyright violations.

Looking for totally free images?   Yes there are a few sources offering unrestricted use. However, as you can imagine, they are somewhat limited in selection and might come with strings attached.

• Free images are available through WikiMedia Commons but the selection is limited and a credit line is required. 
• Unsplash.com posts 10 new photos every 10 days, but most are landscapes or other topics and may not be appropriate for business topics.  
• Gratisogrpahy.com also offers images of an eclectic nature with no strings attached.  The photographer, Ryan McGuire does invite users to “buy him a coffee” via Paypal 
• Free techy photos are available from Startup Stock Photos, and again selection is geared to startups, bloggers and other web developers.  

When creating websites, print projects and trade show materials, be sure to check that your images are legally obtained.  Ask the designer to provide validation of licenses. Or, have a contract in place that holds the agency, designer, or developer responsible for any copyright violations. 
 
Great images add power to great content and there are many images out there. Just be sure to play by the rules to avoid problems down the road.

At the recent Content Marketing World 2015 event, many of the speakers highlighted the evolution of content marketing and how new interactive technologies create new engagement opportunities.

As more content is posted online, in emails, and presented in webinars to clients every day, it is becoming quite a challenge to reach and create an impact on any target audience.  Companies need to work closely with their communications teams and agencies to make sure the solutions they implement are right for their particular needs. 

We would like to share with our readers some of the new functionalities that are emerging in the market.

In this issue we highlight five interactive content components:

* Surveys

* Interactive White Papers

* Configurators

* Quizzes

* Lookbooks 

Surveys

Surveys are showing up more on websites, Facebook, and in webinars. Market changes, media reports and a customer’s past experiences can all influence your audience’s perception of the industry. There may be an opinion that is widely held that could either prevent or drive involvement with retail automotive industry brands. Knowing these views can be vital to your marketing strategy when creating new content for your site.

Through surveys, you can gain insight into the choices people make when using services such as yours and what they may like/dislike concerning how the industry functions. Or gather information as to how they view different vendors or brands.  Responses gained from surveys can influence website copy, help determine blog post content and flesh out your FAQ page. Making simple content changes to important pages on your website could help increase sales and leads.  We have also had great success pulling trends from surveys and using them for press releases that help to create a lot of attention and further drive traffic to the company’s website. Surveys do not have to be expensive. A service like SurveyMonkey makes the process quite simple, at very little cost.

Interactive White Papers

White papers are a great way to convey detailed information. However, the standard format is a static PDF file.  An interactive white paper can be web based using tab navigation, animated graphics, infographics, and possibly a quiz or two.  This makes the experience both informative and enjoyable.  Offering a PDF version that incorporates some of the visual graphics of the online version is a good idea. This allows engaged readers to share or save the information presented.

Configurators

Configurators are popular as consumers enter the buying funnel.  Think about the “Build Your Vehicle” configurators on every vehicle manufacturer’s website.  They help an auto shopper view a virtual vehicle in a selected color and with all their preferred options.  Then the shopper can search to see if the “configured vehicle” is available in a local auto dealer’s inventory.  If a product or service can be customized, consider using a configurator.

Quizzes

An organization can take a small set of stats or facts and turn them into an online quiz to test the knowledge of their visitors.  These quizzes can utilize multimedia content and be embedded on most websites and blogs. Qzzr offers both a free and paid solutions for developing interactive quizzes.

Lookbooks

While Lookbooks originated in the fashion industry to highlight new collections, the concept has morphed into and been adopted in other verticals. Think of a Lookbook as a PDF on steroids that incorporates visual elements not unlike Pinterest. A company presentation or product demonstration created in a PDF file can be uploaded to a Lookbook publisher. This then converts it into a page-turning version that can be embedded on a website or newsletter.  It can be a powerful tool for a company launching a new product or service as it allows text and visual elements to be multi-device friendly.  Publitas.com is one provider which offers a free branded solution or a version without branding at a nominal price.  

It’s important to remember that using interactive content is not a gimmick. It must be part of the content that is shared with the reader. Keep it relevant, informative and compelling.

At the recent Content Marketing World 2015 event, many of the speakers highlighted the evolution of content marketing and how new interactive technologies create new engagement opportunities.

As more content is posted online, in emails, and presented in webinars to clients every day, it is becoming quite a challenge to reach and create an impact on any target audience.  Companies need to work closely with their communications teams and agencies to make sure the solutions they implement are right for their particular needs. 

We would like to share with our readers some of the new functionalities that are emerging in the market.

In this issue we highlight five interactive content components:

* Surveys

* Interactive White Papers

* Configurators

* Quizzes

* Lookbooks 

Surveys

Surveys are showing up more on websites, Facebook, and in webinars. Market changes, media reports and a customer’s past experiences can all influence your audience’s perception of the industry. There may be an opinion that is widely held that could either prevent or drive involvement with retail automotive industry brands. Knowing these views can be vital to your marketing strategy when creating new content for your site.

Through surveys, you can gain insight into the choices people make when using services such as yours and what they may like/dislike concerning how the industry functions. Or gather information as to how they view different vendors or brands.  Responses gained from surveys can influence website copy, help determine blog post content and flesh out your FAQ page. Making simple content changes to important pages on your website could help increase sales and leads.  We have also had great success pulling trends from surveys and using them for press releases that help to create a lot of attention and further drive traffic to the company’s website. Surveys do not have to be expensive. A service like SurveyMonkey makes the process quite simple, at very little cost.

Interactive White Papers

White papers are a great way to convey detailed information. However, the standard format is a static PDF file.  An interactive white paper can be web based using tab navigation, animated graphics, infographics, and possibly a quiz or two.  This makes the experience both informative and enjoyable.  Offering a PDF version that incorporates some of the visual graphics of the online version is a good idea. This allows engaged readers to share or save the information presented.

Configurators

Configurators are popular as consumers enter the buying funnel.  Think about the “Build Your Vehicle” configurators on every vehicle manufacturer’s website.  They help an auto shopper view a virtual vehicle in a selected color and with all their preferred options.  Then the shopper can search to see if the “configured vehicle” is available in a local auto dealer’s inventory.  If a product or service can be customized, consider using a configurator.

Quizzes

An organization can take a small set of stats or facts and turn them into an online quiz to test the knowledge of their visitors.  These quizzes can utilize multimedia content and be embedded on most websites and blogs. Qzzr offers both a free and paid solutions for developing interactive quizzes.

Lookbooks

While Lookbooks originated in the fashion industry to highlight new collections, the concept has morphed into and been adopted in other verticals. Think of a Lookbook as a PDF on steroids that incorporates visual elements not unlike Pinterest. A company presentation or product demonstration created in a PDF file can be uploaded to a Lookbook publisher. This then converts it into a page-turning version that can be embedded on a website or newsletter.  It can be a powerful tool for a company launching a new product or service as it allows text and visual elements to be multi-device friendly.  Publitas.com is one provider which offers a free branded solution or a version without branding at a nominal price.  

It’s important to remember that using interactive content is not a gimmick. It must be part of the content that is shared with the reader. Keep it relevant, informative and compelling.

Today’s consumers look to social media as a prime way to reach out to businesses for customer service needs. From requesting help with a problem, to simple answers to product questions, many consumers take to platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

Recently, Facebook upped the ante for businesses with a new way to communicate with customers that post to their Facebook wall. It comes with public accountability ratings to motivate businesses to pay attention to those customers and respond quickly.

In the past, when a business encountered a complaint on its Facebook page, it had to reply publicly and ask the customer to message the business to take the conversation into a more private setting. Of course, it was always the customer’s choice whether to comply, or continue to air their frustrations publicly on the company’s Facebook page.  The company could not initiate the private conversation – only the consumer could.

On August 5, Facebook began rolling out a new, more business-friendly way for companies to reply to customers. Now, when a consumer posts to a company’s Facebook page, the company can chose to either message the customer privately, or respond publicly. Presumably, this new feature is an effort by Facebook to allow businesses to communicate with unhappy customers without having to do so in a public setting. The trade-off is that Facebook will also hold businesses accountable for their non-responsiveness and make the results public.

Consumers visiting business Facebook pages will now know immediately if the company is paying attention and how responsive it is. Perhaps the page visitor is simply visiting to decide if they wish to do business with the company. It certainly won’t impress them if the business is labeled as unresponsive. To qualify for the “very responsive to messages” label, companies must respond to “90 percent of messages and have a median response time of less than five minutes.” That’s a pretty tall order for most companies. But, through the various notification tools and apps, isn’t impossible.

If a company chooses to message privately, rather than reply publicly, the customer’s post indicates to other visitors that “the business responded privately.”  In this way, other Page visitors can know that the business handled the request. There are certainly occasions when a company may find it more appropriate to respond privately, such as customer complaints, grievances or concerns. Facebook seems to recognize that some situations are more delicate than others and does not differentiate between public versus private replies when calculating a company’s responsiveness rating.

It is imperative to be responsive to your customer’s concerns. Not just because it’s one of the most basic good business practices, but also because it is one of the first steps in building brand loyalty. If customers see that a business is responsive to their (or others) needs, they can then gain the impression that the business cares about its customers. Being labeled as unresponsive to customers could make a potential customer think twice about doing business with you. It could also show your current customers that you aren’t paying attention and leave the impression that you don’t care.

If your company hasn’t been paying attention to customers who post on your Facebook page, now would be a good time to start.