Everything You Need To Know About Online Marketing – Content Live, Your 2019 Sorted!

I help business owners build brands and grow their business. Yet when it comes to my own business marketing, I encounter what I call ‘Fairy Godmother’ syndrome – I can do it for everyone else but myself. The key barriers being;

• Lots of ideas, but no clear strategy.
• The fear of being ‘up front’.
• Enjoy engaging with others on social media platforms but no real consistency.
• Working in my business on client work instead of prioritising work on my business.

Having recently worked on my business strategy and development this year, I still needed help to get out of my own head, have a frank chat with experts to get my online marketing content for 2019 sorted!

Why Janet Murray and Content Live?

I really enjoy Janet Murray’s podcast and agree with a more holistic and integrated marketing approach.

I attended Janet’s Media Influencer Live event earlier this year which was BRILLIANT. Even seasoned professionals will value new tips and insights as the media landscape constantly changes. We had great media speakers who really made themselves available to answer questions, rotating around each table and chatting to us during the breaks.

However, the community itself is something to really appreciate. Janet Murray’s events are more intimate to better connect and engage with other like-minded business owners during the event. When the cart of the Content Live conference opened I jumped straight in and booked the two days, and boy was it worth every penny!

The Content Live Speakers

I always like to showcase people producing great content and from whom we can learn. I’ve outlined the ten brilliant speakers who know their stuff and who I really enjoyed meeting. I thoroughly recommend you follow them, and here’s an outline of key insights from the event that I found particularly useful.

VIDEO

Digital Marketers Dan and Lloyd Knowlton run KPS DigitalMarketing and have developed great video content providing tips and tutorials on their YouTube channel here.

“Video is the most powerful media to attract and engage.” – Dan Knowlton

Two key points were:

• Creating video content for awareness is not enough, it also needs to drive action or purchase.
• Perfectionism only delays us, Dan and Lloyd’s first 50 videos were filmed on smartphones.

Dan provided an effective breakdown of how to plan and shoot video content on our phones in 60 seconds. It was so easy even I could do it Was it perfect? No. Was it easy to do? Yes. Will I be incorporating this more in my 2019 content knowing video is considered preferred content on Facebook and Instagram? Hell yes!

PINTEREST

Brand Strategist and Social Media expert Phil Pallen discussed how Pinterest has become a serious re-purposing content platform.

“Whilst Instagram’s content lasts between 3-7 days, Pinterest’s content potentially lives forever.” – Phil Pallen

Pins can generate traffic for months, even years later. The best thing is that you don’t need to have a huge following for your pins to go viral. The platform’s SEO capabilities (Pinterest is a visual Google) means Pinterest is one the highest referral for sites and vastly under-rated.

I had already started to tidy up my own boards ready to promote 2019 content. Phil’s great practical tips convinced me even more as to why I should include this platform in my top three channels to focus on.

Finally, bravo Phil on keeping us alert let alone smile first thing in the morning during his Twitter breakfast session! I now have a clear strategy for who I’m following and interacting with on social media.

Visit Phil’s website here https://philpallen.co/ and enjoy his podcast here.

FACEBOOK

Facebook Marketing and Ad Strategist Liz Melville tells us Facebook is still the daddy when it comes to social media. It remains the most highly targeted advertising platform in the world.

Liz points out many of us are still working back to front on a platform built for community. Liz outlined the priority is to first attract the right people. Second, build a deep connection with provides value and resonance. Third, convert to customers.

“Facebook marketing is broken, emotionally based marketing is particularly important right now.” – Liz Melville

Liz renewed my enthusiasm for Facebook marketing. Despite its increasingly difficult algorithms, it’s certainly not a platform to be dismissed. A huge thank you Liz for letting me vent my Facebook frustrations around boosted posts vs Facebook Ads!  It seems to have been a popular topic during the event as she did the following podcast – listen here https://lizmelville.com/012-should-i-boost-a-post/ 

Visit https://lizmelville.com/ and join her Facebook community here. Also follow here on Instagram @the_lizmelville 

INSTAGRAM

Instagram Influencer Bronte Huskinson works hard on her feed (follow @BookishBronte) – stylish, elegant, a photographic delight! But why is the effort behind Instagram so important?

“Instagram is the best social media platform to build an engaged community” – Bronte Huskinson

I do find it easier to get engagement on Instagram and it is my preferred channel to grow my tribe. However, if you’re using this as a professional platform the quality of imagery and content.

I’ve certainly witnessed the skill involved with Instagram influencers, balancing off a bar at deathly heights to take shots of their food with their SLR cameras. I have respect for people who sacrifice a hot meal for the perfect shot to attain influencer status, greater reach and engagement.

We got some great tips on how to enhance the Instagram experience through tech and apps and more importantly, by providing more personality to ensure your followers get to know, like but also trust you. Sorry shy wallflowers, we need to get in front of the camera more!

REPURPOSING CONTENT

Repurposing expert Amy Woods (@Content10X on Twitter and Instagram) explained that our audiences have seven different learning styles. Better still she explained re-purposing with a comic book style guide. Genius for someone like me to prefers a visual learning style and is a Marvel nerd.

We experience overwhelm as business owners as it is. Instead of trying to create content to suit all seven styles, re-purposing is far simpler and more effective. Think about your core content and where your audience hangs out. Then decide how to take one piece of content and extend its reach.

If you record podcasts for example, film at the same time to post onto YouTube and convert the show notes into a blog. Three hits for the price of one.

Check out Amy’s site and read her blog and listen to her podcast https://www.content10x.com/

PODCASTS

Podcaster and Broadcaster Ant McGinley is the co-creator of the award-winning podcast show On The Left Side. He explains audio is a growing platform as 5,000 podcasts are being uploaded every month.

Like video, we need to get over our fear, stop overcomplicating and just DO! We all loved Ant’s 30-minute workshop to demystify podcast creation by remembering five key elements ENACT:

Equipment (your phone or tablet will do)
Name (simple and self-explanatory)
Artwork (graphics can easily be done on Canva)
Content (what are you going to say)
Topic (what’s your subject/business)

We recorded our own Content Live podcast “Hair Removal Disasters” in 30 minutes. Take a listen here and great sign off by Rosie Khandwala from Sugar Striptease!

Ant also co-hosts PodTips offering podcasting tips and support https://podnews.net/podcast/1250083261

BLOGS

Social media and Content Marketer Amanda Webb helps business owners fight the content gremlins. She provided insightful tips on how to approach blogging to ensure it provides value and gets noticed.

Blogs will be my core content in 2019, so I valued Amanda’s advice and have a solid checklist to review. It’s important to write content that’s relevant and useful. It takes Amanda four hours to write her blog, and she’s the professional!

My biggest takeaway was that the blog headline needed just as much consideration as the blog content itself. I’ve been having fun with the recommended Emotional Value Headline Generator since.

If blogging is your core content visit the SpiderWorking blog or listen to the Blog Centric podcast

CONTENT AUTOMATION

The creative content dynamic duo Andrew And Pete spoke to us about how to achieve content consistency without being online 24/7.

Entertaining, creative and practical I was so pleased to catch this talk. Clients often don’t realise how long content creation and distribution takes or costs. Andrew and Pete spend a full day to produce their weekly video and their three key points were as follows:

1. Set a publishing schedule – produce one piece of rich content with a set frequency i.e. weekly
2. Create a content task sheet – write down everything that needs to be done and break it down in minutes
3. Define production schedule – when are you going to do it, what do you need to help you and who do you need to help you?

Once you have this up and running and it has proven effective, look straight away at where you can outsource. We mistakenly focus on ‘outsource = costs’. Outsource is simply delegating to someone who can do the job faster and better and leave you more time to get other important tasks done.

Visit https://www.andrewandpete.com/ and join their Facebook group here.

Discovering My Entrepreneurial SuperPower!

It’s only by understanding your strengths and weaknesses can you build the right team around you. I’ve taken numerous corporate personality tests over the years from Myers Briggs, Gallup Strengths, discovered my Love Language (yes even that for business) and my Fascinator Profile.

I really, really didn’t want to do another personality test. However Rapid Transformation coach Osmaan Sharif wasn’t like the others in the personal development space (naming no names!). Mainly, he didn’t make us stand up clapping, whooping and dancing to loud pumping tunes as he took the floor – I liked this guy already. I took his test.

Among the numerous ‘a-ha’s’ of this event, this was a definite ‘click’ moment for me. The results from Osmaan’s preferred Wealth Dynamic testing was not too dissimilar from what I already knew. However, I had never linked my profile to my marketing approach and this was an interesting shift.

I learnt I’m a ‘supporter’ profile so I find it more natural supporting my clients than putting myself in the spotlight. Remember my aforementioned Fairy Godmother syndrome?! I’m also an introvert so not comfortable doing anything public unless there is a clear purpose.

This session addressed the key barriers I faced for my own business marketing. I can now re-align my activity and communication to best suit my own personality for more natural, authentic and regular engagement.

Interestingly I could see my typical clients’ personalities and which communication styles appeal to them most. It was indeed a fascinating exercise and insights not only for ourselves but also the ‘A’ team dynamic we need to support us.

Check out Osmaan’s Get Out Of Your Way podcast here and join his Facebook group.

Taking Action with Janet Murray

As part of the conference, we received our 2019 media diaries. I’m a stationery geek so this was a highlight for me. Sorry Asana and Excel – my creativity works best when I  can play with paper, pencils and coloured markers!

Janet wanted us to leave that event having at least planned out our content for the year! The media diary breaks down your content planning over manageable quarters, months and weeks. There are even helpful topical events to piggyback on which I’ve used myself for client social media content planning.

A very interesting point came up for those who couldn’t plan further than six months and shows how we need to view our business and marketing with a long-term view to ensure strategy and consistency to get the results we need.

“If you’re struggling with your content strategy it’s probably nothing to do with your content, and everything to do with your business” – Janet Murray

I enjoyed two excellent days meeting and engaging with brilliant speakers, inspiring business owners and taking action. I feel I can now confidently create and distribute authentic content best suited to me and aligned with my business strategy and goals.

Take a listen to Janet’s podcast on the event here https://www.janetmurray.co.uk/how-to-ace-your-content-strategy-content-live/

Join her Love Marketing community on Facebook where she shares her own content and news of masterclass openings and events throughout the year. If you can tell by my longest blog to date, you’ll certainly come away with lots of value.