sxsw interactive 2015 highlights

SXSW INTERACTIVE 2015Highlights Relevant to Our Communications

CONTENT MARKETING

HIGH EFFORT CONTENT

• Costs the most.

• Moves “visit” traffic to “lead”

• Examples: Blog, paid content, video

MEDIUM EFFORT CONTENT

• Performs best for search engine optimization

• Higher “visit” to “lead” conversion

• Example: Q & A

LOW EFFORT CONTENT

• 9.1% conversion from “visit” to “lead”

• 13.5% conversion rate from “lead” to “customer”

• Best for cross-channel distribution

• Examples: user-generated content, curated content

HOW MUCH CONTENT DO YOU NEED?

Content Categories

Audience Personas

X Stages in Sale Funnel

# of Content Pieces

WHERE DO YOU FOCUS?

• Have communications managers & content creators focused on what type of stuff works best for your goals.

• Aggregate content. It’s not possible to create it all yourself.

• Leverage internal resources.

CONTENT CODE STRATEGY

Three Steps

1. Find an un-saturated niche.

2. Conduct an aggressive strategy based on key words.

3. Nurture an audience to ignite by paying attention. Image credit: amazon.com

Six Elements of the Content Code

1. Brand Development (Build trust by being true to self, consistent and serving the audience.)

2. Audience & Influencers (Identify your top 2% who will share your content.)

3. Distribution, Advertising, Promotion & SEO

4. Authority

5. Social Proof & Social Signals

6. Shareability of the Content

AUDIENCE

MILLENNIALS• Want more transparency,

attribution, community

• Want a craft, not a job - A job pays the rent. A craft leaves you feeling fulfilled. (See next slide.)

• 50% of buyers by 2020

• Trust friends, not brands

• More likely to get news from multiple resources

Image credit: Flickr User Ted Eytan

ZEN DIAGRAM

Image credit: zendiagram.co

BE YOUR AUDIENCE

• Would you re-share it? If you won’t, they won’t either.

• Your voice = the sum of all parts (all platforms, all shared content - even if it’s curated from external sources)

• Always be on the lookout for potential brand ambassadors

Image credit: Flickr User Marco Gomes

MESSAGE TIMING

• Don’t worry about saturation. Twitter traffic is very episodic.

• Test, test, test.

Image credit: Flickr User Janos Balazs

ANALYTICS

USING ANALYTICS

• Evergreen content - if it’s trending we can repackage.

• Look at trendline data and theme/vertical performance to guide future content.

• When testing, have a written hypothesis. Reiterate tests.

• Manual analytics are fine. If it works for PBS, it should work for us. It just takes more elbow grease.

TOOLS TO CHECK OUT• Google Ripples

• Chart Beat

• Twitter Search w/ Geolocation

• Tabula

• Crowd Tangle

• Simple ChartsImage credit: Flickr User j

MANAGEMENT

MANAGING YOURCONTENT PRODUCTION

• Have a schedule, but be flexible.

• Have guidelines and/or an ethics contract.

• Provide best practice guidelines to staff.

Image credit: Flickr User VFS Digital Design

HOW TO BE AN INNOVATOR• Associational Thinking

• Add two things together.

• Catalytic Questioning

• Choose one challenge.

• Brainstorm questions only.

• Prioritize questions.

• Take action. Image credit: Flickr User James Bowe

CONTENT CREATION TIPS

GENERAL CONTENT TIPS• Don’t try to shoehorn

content into a format in which it doesn’t belong. Not everything should be a video.

• Have a standard brand design. Design serves as a proxy for the organization. Sloppy brand = sloppy organization. Image credit: Flickr User Anonymous Collective

FACEBOOK TIPS

• Decline in organic reach from brand pages.

• Fallen from 26% in 2011 to 6% in 2014.

• Could hit 0% by end of this calendar year.

• We can’t rely on Facebook unless we look at paid ads. Image credit: Flickr User Maria Elena

TWITTER TIPSCHECK LIST FOR WRITING TWEETS

• Does the tweet have a singular goal?

• Does the tweet have a clear call-to-action?

• Did you include relevant hashtags?

• Have you leverage text over image?

• Does your copy say something different from your rich media?

• Did you include relevant @mentions?

• Will this tweet stand out from the crowd?

• Why would someone engage with us on this tweet?

VIDEO TIPS• Upload videos to YouTube

and Facebook natively. Don’t just link on Facebook.

• Use Adobe Audition to edit out white noise from sound tracks.

• Launch day: YouTube & Facebook; blog post w/ embed; teasers on Vine & Instagram Image credit: Flickr User See-ming Lee

TOOLS TO CHECK OUT

• Canva - Add text to images for blogs, Pinterest, etc.

• Social Flow - Used by large brands to distribute content

• Medium - Alternative blog platform (long-form text driven)

• Tumblr - Alternative blog platform (image / meme drive)

• Storehouse - Described as “Medium for photography”

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

FOR MORE DETAILS ON SELECT SESSIONS I ATTENDED:• Blog post noting key takeaways per session

• Storify Recaps & Sketchnotes:

• Simple Ways to Massively Increase Content (featuring CBS Sports)

• New Media Ethics: Journalism in the Age of GIFS

• Failure as a Creative Catalyst

• Behind the Social at PBS’ Largest Content Provider (featuring Masterpiece Theater, Antiques Roadshow, PRI’s The World, and American Experience)

• The Art of Social Media (featuring Guy Kawasaki)

• Social Media: Breaking News or Fixing News? (featuring Marketplace Radio, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Associated Press.)

• Data-Driven Newsrooms That Don’t Drive Off Writers (featuring Refinery29 & National Public Radio)

• Making Social Media POP! with Video (featuring Okay Samurai)

• Big Picture Testing: Beyond the One-Off Result

• Captivology: The Science of Capturing Attention

• Fear and Creativity: Finding Your Craft

• Slacktivism: Monster or Myth?

• NPR and PBS: Public Media, Reaching New Publics (featuring PBS Digital Studios & NPR’s Code Switch)

• The Case for Design Thinking in Communications

• Telling Stories with Visualization and Interactivity(featuring The New York Times)

• Beyond 140 Characters: How to Stretch Your Limits (featuring Twitter, RGA and Big Fuel)

• Content is the Starting Line, Not the Finish Line

• Where’s Waldo’s Voice: Social Media for Mascots(featuring AFLAC and Chick-fil-A)

• The Innovator’s DNA: The Five Innovation Skills (featuring Hal Gregersen of the MIT Leadership Center)

• Breaking the News in the Age of Snapchat(featuring Dan Rather, Andrew Bleeker, & Former White House Sr. Advisor Dan Pfeiffer)

• Infinity and Beyond: Pixar 20 Years Since Toy Story (featuring Pixar executives)