Can the weather heat up your content marketing?

Can the weather heat up your content marketing?

Can The Weather Heat Up Your Content Marketing?

how does the weather effect your content and social media marketing?

“You can plan a pretty picnic, but you can’t predict the weather.” – so said Outkast, one of the greatest one hit wonders of our generation.

 

Now, the lyrical wordsmiths André 3000 and Big Boi may not have been thinking about digital marketing when they wrote their hit song Ms Jackson, but that is exactly the connection we are making today.

This week the UK experienced a heatwave. By that we mean temperatures hit a sweet 20+ (sometimes even 30+!) Celsius, leading to every balding 40 something-year-old in the country whipping off their shirt and heading to the closest body of water.

Because of this uncharacteristically hot weather, a large sum of unusual search queries on Google began to appear – and rise in popularity.

How hot does it need to be to leave work?

Some of the top “hot weather” queries this week included how to keep a baby cool in hot weather at night? Can petrol tanks explode in hot weather? And how hot does it have to be to leave work?

When it comes to content marketing, it’s all about being where your customers are. By that, we don’t mean getting out of the office and running to the beach. Unfortunately, there are no laws around a maximum temperature in the workplace, so we all have to keep calm and carry on.

Finding out what people are searching for, saying and doing online is half the game when it comes to digital marketing, and this week it has been all about surviving the heat. What this means for the online world is that if you can make content that answers these questions, then you stand a better chance of getting in front of people.

 

But I work as a secretary for Boris Johnson. What does that have to do with hot air?

Now, our advice above doesn’t mean that every website on the internet needs to start answering questions about whether hot drinks can cool you down without any original insight. What it really means is that you should be thinking of your users when it comes to your content. If there are timely factors which will be affecting their day to day life that you can talk about naturally, that is what you should do.

Additionally, if you have content that you have previously written that becomes relevant again, re-work it and reshare it. If you wrote a blog about England’s World Cup history four years ago, it is absolutely time to dust it off, update the information and reshare it. Much less time is needed, and you continue to provide quality information in the articles or blogs you share.

Planning for the weather

Having a long-term strategy for content is vital to ensuring your efforts match the goals and ambitions of the business as a whole, but allowing for impromptu blogs or social posts means you are able to react to the weather – even if you can’t predict it.

This leaves you in a stronger position to reach your customers, and provide information they actually use.

In case you were wondering about the answers to the above search queries; give your baby a cool bath before bed, get a fan and wear less nightwear, and no, petrol tanks won’t explode in the heat.

Now get out there, write blogs that hit those topical search queries, and shake it like a polaroid picture.

Ben Hawkes

Ben Hawkes

Digital Creative

Follow us on social media for blog updates and more kick-ass learning content to grow your digital skills!
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Discoveries that shaped the digital world

Discoveries that shaped the digital world

Discoveries That Shaped The Digital World

we’ve got a lot to thank this guy for…

Today is Loomis Day, a day that celebrates the life of a humble American dentist, who set in motion ideas that would eventually pave the way for everything from radio to wireless internet.

Unfortunately, as so often happens during the passage of time, Mahlon Loomis’ name has faded into relative obscurity – despite how significant his findings were in the world around us today.

Today, with this in mind, we will take a look back at some of the key discoveries that were instrumental in creating our digital world.

The computer

At this exact moment I am writing a blog on a MacBook, and though it would be all too easy to sing praise about Steve Jobs and Apple, the real success is found further back in the early 19th century. Mechanical engineer Charles Babbage has long been considered to be the ‘father of the computer’ after he invented the first ever mechanical computer.

Thank goodness for Babbage, and computers, for creating a platform for people around the world to catch up on the latest news about the Kardashians.

The smartphone

Though the Android V.s. iPhone battle may continue to rage (at least it does in our office) the title of the first smartphone is held by IBM – Simon Personal Communicator. Simon was the first phone to blend the functions of a mobile phone and PDA and had a number of features, including the ability to send emails and faxes. It could also run third-party applications, which marked it as far beyond its time.

It may not have been as user-friendly or widely-loved as this generation’s iPhones (though it carried a similar if not greater price tag!), but we think it still deserves a place in our nerdy hearts.

The digital camera

Where would our Facebook and Instagram feeds be without the advent of the digital camera? Whilst scanning in polaroids does have some sort of hipster appeal to it, it certainly isn’t as convenient.

The first digital camera was created back in December 1975 by an engineer named Steve Sasson who worked at Kodak. The blocky device was able to record 0.01-megapixel photos and could only capture in black and white. Photos were saved to a cassette tape which could then be displayed on a television. All kinds of retro.

The internet and the World Wide Web

The internet has no single creator and was instead started in the US in the 1950s – rapidly evolved by contributors around the world over time. For many people, the internet and world wide web are synonymous, but this is not the case.

The difference is that internet is a networking infrastructure, whereas the World Wide Web refers to the platform used to access information over the internet. This was invented by British scientist Tim Berners-Lee, who introduced it to the public in 1991. The interconnectivity and ability to share information kick-started the mass popularity of the internet, and lead to the interconnected world we live in today. All hail the World Wide Web!

Radio signals

This brings us right back to Loomis himself, whose discovery of radio signals was actually somewhat of an accident. All the best discoveries are though, it would seem.

Loomis believed that the Earth’s upper atmosphere was separated into discrete concentric layers and that you could transport electrical current through the air. Though many of his original theories ended up being wrong, the results he achieved through his tests lead to the creation of the ‘wireless telegraph’ – and countless digital innovations since.

In summary…

These are just a few of the stories behind some of the beloved tech tools we take for granted today. Hopefully, you learnt something new, and if you know an interesting origin for a digital tool that we didn’t feature, make sure to share them with us by messaging us on Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #LoomisDay.

Ben Hawkes

Ben Hawkes

Digital Creative

Follow us on social media for blog updates and more kick-ass learning content to grow your digital skills!

How To Add Pixels To Your Website (Facebook, LinkedIn & Google)

How To Add Pixels To Your Website (Facebook, LinkedIn & Google)

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Brand ambassadors: your new best friends

Brand ambassadors: your new best friends

Brand Ambassadors: Your New Best Friends

forming awesome relationships with brand ambassadors to further your reach

There is a reason why marketers spend so much time trying to find out the right way to promote businesses online. Due to rising generations of more tech-savvy internet users, digital marketers have had to be even more careful – and find more inventive marketing methods that are both successful and natural.

One of the most popular ways of achieving PR success, according to a recent study, is through ongoing ambassadorships. When we mention ongoing ambassadorships, we mean the process of creating a long-term relationship with an influencer of your business.

This relationship can be especially rewarding, because not only does it offer you the opportunity to reach your influencer’s personal audience, but it also opens up a wealth of marketing opportunities – including content marketing, social campaigns, competitions, etc. The list goes on and on.

70.6% of marketers said that they believed that ongoing ambassadorships were an effective form of digital marketing, ranking this in front of product reviews (66.7%) and brand mentions (53.9%). Despite this popularity, marketers also confessed that whilst over 80% of them used sponsored coverage (which only 50% rated as effective), only 52.5% had pursued brand ambassadors.

Case study – Runway Training

Last year we announced our ongoing partnership with Runway Training, in order to deliver apprenticeship programmes. This connection, and the way that we are using our partnership to create something which ties the two of us organically together, demonstrates some of the great value that brand partnerships can have.

From an external perspective of someone who maybe new to both brands, it is easy to see the potential. Not only is the move making use of both followings, but the connection between the two is natural – and therein lies its main value. Companies can still raise awareness, create back links and produce influencer content, but through the ongoing relationship, this comes across as much more real.

Why can’t we be friends?

One of the major problems for digital marketers is having to create elaborate marketing plans which offer a good ROI, as well as continuing to push their referrals and sales and social followings, whilst also seeming human. It’s a lot to ask, and for many, this just does not compute.

Instead of reaching out to brands and influencers as a way to achieve a quick link, marketers should instead be looking to make relationships with the people in their field as friends and colleagues.

Instead of starting a conversation with an influencer with a link in mind, try a more open, friendly approach. If you keep that communication going long enough, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to work out a way of working together which offers you so much more than a single link ever would.

Think of it like comparing a one night stand and a relationship. A one night stand offers you very short term pleasure with (potentially) lots of people, but a relationship means that you can get more long term affection, ask for favours and sometimes go out in public together holding hands. If you’re into that sort of thing.

With Valentine’s Day just behind us, why not use this year to focus on making reaching out to your investors and enjoying the joyful ups and downs that comes with a brand ambassador opportunity?

Be our friend? Please.

We would love to know your thoughts about this article, so why not drop us a comment or leave a message on our Facebook or Twitter. Want to talk to us about being our friend, or working with us? Drop us an email at hello@giantcampus.co.uk.

Ben Hawkes

Ben Hawkes

Digital Creative Lead

Follow us on social media for blog updates and more kick-ass learning content to grow your digital skills!
How To Add Pixels To Your Website (Facebook, LinkedIn & Google)

How To Add Pixels To Your Website (Facebook, LinkedIn & Google)

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How to spell gud: The importance of good spelling online

How to spell gud: The importance of good spelling online

How To Spell Gud: The Importance of Good Spelling Online

how to spell GUD

Who ever you are, if you are a regular social media user, chances are you have seen some pretty terrible spelling on social media or online content – maybe event daily!

When it comes to your close friends, relatives or younger adults, this is excusable – but when the spelling error comes from a larger business, we can often come away with negative perceptions of a company. As Forbes put it, “while typos are common and generally forgiven on personal social media accounts, emails, or blogs, brands and corporate or professional accounts are generally held to a higher standard.”

spelling

Just a small mistake can make all the difference to your customers, and the more public and the bigger your audience, the more potentially damaging the effects can be.

According to a study in the UK by Global Lingo, it was found that 74% of consumers pay close attention to the spelling and grammar of company websites. Also, 59% said that if they noticed any spelling mistakes, this would cause them to avoid doing business with the company.

Charles Duncolm, internet entrepreneur measured the revenue per visitor to the website, tightsplease.co.uk in order to calculate the economic effect of spelling errors. He found that revenue was twice as high after an error was corrected.

blunders

In defence of typos

Not everyone agrees that you have to be flawless in your spelling practices, in fact some people argue it makes the company seem more human. Author John Higgs wrote an article defending written mistakes in 2014 saying, “there are limits to the amount of mistakes we can handle, of course, and obviously mistakes which alter the meaning of the work need to be fixed. But that does not mean we should aim for the extreme of a zero-tolerance policy to mistakes.”

The implication of this is that if you can fix a mistake, or if it isn’t altering the message of your company, post or values then it can be okay.

Another important consideration is speaking your customer’s language, regardless of grammar and spelling. If your audience mostly speak in text speak then feel free to imitate that in your social media and content writing.

How to sort out your spelling

If you are worried about spelling and grammar mistakes slipping through the nets and accidentally publishing something which may cause negative reactions from your customers there are a couple of things you can do.

  1. Check thoroughly- a cop out answer sure but checking everything multiple times will often help to get rid of any massive mistakes.
  1. Get another opinion- Create a process of getting someone else to check your posts. This is not always convenient if you want to post on the go, but if you are really worried then this may be the best course of actions.
  1. Cheat and use Grammarly– Grammarly is a great tool which allows you to install an online tool which will check your messages on the go. It is by no means perfect, but it is a great way of getting rid of a large majority of obvious errors with ease.

How important do you think spelling and grammar is online? Have you ever seen an unforgivable error which has put you off a purchase? We want to know. Message us in the comments or Tweet us at @Giant_Campus.

Additional note: If you find a mistake in this blog then we are sorry. We are just trying to be more “human.”

Ben Hawkes

Ben Hawkes

Digital Creative Lead

Follow us on social media for blog updates and more kick-ass learning content to grow your digital skills!
How To Add Pixels To Your Website (Facebook, LinkedIn & Google)

How To Add Pixels To Your Website (Facebook, LinkedIn & Google)

How To Add Pixels To Your Website From Facebook, Google & LinkedIn making what seems crazy complicated, nice and easy!How To Add Pixels To Your Website From Facebook, Google & LinkedIn making what seems crazy complicated, nice and easy!Adding tracking pixels...