Tapping into your customer base not only opens the doors to fresh ideas, but reporting on the issues, topics and questions they have about your product or service shows you care about their needs and situates your brand in a customer-centric light.

Use these tips for crowdsourcing your customer base to outfit your editorial calendar with killer content that resonates and captivates your readers: 

Case Studies

A case study is essentially an in-depth review of a customer’s experience with your brand, product or service, so choosing your subject is important! Ask your sales or customer support team to put you in touch with a customer that is not only happy with your business, but who has also experienced great success because of your business! To write a compelling case study, be sure to tell a story, give the details and solve a problem.

Testimonials

Do you have self-proclaimed brand ambassadors or customers who just can’t stop raving about your business in your blog comments or on your social media sites? Has a user written an unsolicited beaming review on your product or service? Highlight their feedback in a blog post or ask them write a testimonial sharing their positive experience with your brand. Don’t let those brand champions go unnoticed!

Videos 

Ask your users to send in videos highlighting why they love your product or service. Request that videos answer a specific question, like “How did we help you ___?” — direct response requires a direct request! Depending on the feedback, pick a few of your favorites or share them all. Your customers will be excited to see themselves published on your blog (and social sites!) and adding new media to your content marketing plan not only attracts new readers, it also helps keep current audiences engaged. You might also want to add an incentive, such as a $5-10 gift card or store credit.

User-Generated Content

Do you have fan art on your brand’s Facebook page? Use it as the focus of your next article. Do your customers tag your brand in Instagram photos? Assemble them into an image-based article. Is your brand’s Twitter stream flooded with positive tweets? Compile a list of tweets that highlight your brand’s positive impact on it’s consumers for a blog post. Social is a top trend in content marketing this year and customers expect you to engage on these networks — don’t be afraid to utilize all your resources!

Surveys, Polls and Questionnaires 

Ever wonder what your customers think about your business or a specific industry-related topic? Well, why don’t you ask them! Surveys, polls and questionnaires are a great way to get your questions answered, as well as a direct way to learn more about your customers’ needs and wants. Next time you post an article, incorporate a poll, survey or questionnaire to get an inside view on what your customers are thinking.

Creating engaging content doesn’t have to be hard, especially when take advantage of one of your most valuable assets — your customer base! Plus, as an added bonus to your crowdsourcing efforts, once you have user feedback you can repurpose it into original branded content like blog posts, digital newsletters, videos, images and slideshares. The content ideas are endless!

Have more ideas on how to crowdsource for content ideas? Post your thoughts in the comments below or share on your favorite social media site – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+.

In an attempt to truly connect with their customer base, Southwest Airlines decided it needed to get off the runway and onto the blogosphere. So what did they do? They took a chance and launched a humor-centric blog, “Nuts About Southwest“.

From the airline peanuts scattered across the webpage to the hilarious content, Southwest took nutty to a whole new altitude and it has resonated with their audience. As we see here, when executed properly, humor can instantly connect your brand with your readers and keep them coming back for more!

In addition to the funny videos, beloved columns like “Flashback Friday” and employee spotlights like “Star of the Month”, “Nuts About Southwest” also provides interesting articles on travel, sustainability and corporate community outreach (all with a playful spin, of course!).

Image Source: blogsouthwest.com 

7. Red Bull

Probably one of the most cited content marketing success stories, Red Bull is a shining example of a brand-turned-publisher and has mastered the art of storytelling.

If you’ve ever seen their commercials, marketing stunts (like the Red Bull Stratos Jump) or tried their energy-pumping liquid, it would be no surprise that their blog is designed to entertain and motivate readers. Extreme-sports related content and a diverse group of contributors make this blog a playground for their target audience — thrill-seekers and extreme sports junkies.

Red Bull has created a lifestyle around their brand by effectively implementing the “4 I’s” of storytelling – immersion, interactivity, integration and impact. With all this goodness wrapped in one powerful content marketing package, it makes you wonder which came first… the content or the beverage?!

Image Source: redbull.com/en

Ever wonder how a product ends up on a store’s shelf or how the designer behind your new favorite tee might dress it up for a night on the town? Well, Target’s blog “A Bull’s Eye View” does just that.

With article contributions from the stores’ home and clothing designers, top celebrities and thought leaders across all departments, including food, entertainment, home, and garden, no subject goes untouched.

By offering up unexpected content to their readers, like behind-the-scenes with their newest CD release artists and a glimpse into the inspiration of “The Shops at Target”, a line of specialty boutique brands now sold at the superstore, they keep readers interested in not only their blog, but also in what’s new in their favorite Target stores. Producing something completely out of the ordinary isn’t simple, but spicing it up every once in a while will keep your content fun and your customers engaged.

Image Source: abullseyeview.com

Whitening, extra-whitening, gum defense, tartar control… the world of toothpaste has gotten a lot more complicated in the past few years, but Colgate is keeping it simple online. Their company blog “Oral and Dental Health Resource Center” isn’t fancy, but it reports on a topic their brand is built upon — oral health and hygiene!

With industry thought leaders like dentists, health experts and university reviews as the sources behind their straightforward and informative articles, Colgate’s blog is a great resource for readers looking to learn a thing or two about oral care.

A strong content marketing strategy built upon thought leadership helps Colgate to differentiate itself from the other “toothpaste” brands. So the next time you’re debating which tube to toss in your cart, what brand will you choose?Image Source: colgate.com

To be successful in content marketing, you must get to know your consumers and their needs, as well as the most effective and authentic way to address them. What works for one brand or industry may not work for another, so don’t settle for average results — be open to new possibilities and try your hand at a few of this year’s top trends!

If you found useful content marketing strategies, tips and ideas in this list, you won’t want to miss part 1 of the series “How Big Brands Are Using 2013’s Top Content Marketing Strategies”. Plus, be sure to share your favorite content marketing examples with us in the comments below or connect on our social networks –  Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+.

The list below tells you why these brands stand out and which content marketing tactic or trend they excel at. With a little guidance from them (and us!) you can incorporate any of these techniques into your own content marketing plan, too.

Here’s the first part of a two-part series highlighting how some of today’s top brands are effectively using 2013′s top content marketing strategies…

Natural food store giant Whole Foods doesn’t stop at providing its shoppers with a wealth of natural, organic and health food options — their content marketing strategy is bigger and juicier than any other grocers we’ve seen! Their company blog, “Whole Story“, covers recipes, health news, social responsibility, sustainability tips and everything else you can imagine their community may be interested in.

With contributors varying between staffers, health experts, suppliers, producers and marketplace employees, they’re champions of employee branding — putting their employees at the front lines, allowing them to share their unique knowledge and showcase their passion for what they do inside and outside of the marketplace. 

2.Intuit

When you think Intuit, a few things probably come to mind: finances, taxes, money, bills… But don’t stress — Intuit really puts the fun in small business finance with their blog, “Small Business Blog“.

What makes their blog stand out from other SMB blogs? Community driven content! They answer the questions their users and readers need to know — adding value to their content and keeping their readers coming back for more.

Directed towards small and medium-sized business owners, entrepreneurs and anyone else who may need some guidance when it comes to handling their money, they cover everything a business owner may need, including tax tips, environmental responsibility, the hiring process, marketing and small business management.

 

Image Source: Intuit25.com

3. Verizon

With a number of big name and smaller pop-up cellular service providers out there, it can be difficult for brands to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Besides sales, promotions and carrying the latest gadgets, how can these providers attract and retain customers? With content marketing, of course!

Verizon is taking their business’ content marketing strategy past their products and carrier services and providing their customers with a resource they can use regardless of device or service plan:  their app review blog “The Recapp“. Rather than touting their own products and services, Verizon employs a mix of original and curated content from third-party app review sites to make “The Recapp” an informative and subjective source for finding new and exciting apps.

What’s the takeaway here? Curated content. Pulling content from other sources adds depth to your content marketing strategy and allows readers to get a fresh perspective.

 

Image Source: therecapp.com

4. Birchbox 

Social interaction is one of the hottest (and most important!) trends in content marketing right now — and smart brands can’t help but embrace the opportunity to connect with their customers in real-time.

So which brand has done social best? It might just be beauty-focused start-up Birchbox! As a relatively new brand, Birchbox is making big waves on social media. With engaged profiles on all the big name networks like Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and uber-sharable content on their blog “The Haute Box“, Birchbox is a social media powerhouse. 

With various topics and columns, including letters from the editor, interviews, product reviews, how-to’s and style guides, creating the bulk of their blog’s content, readers are never bombarded with the same boring stories. Mollie Chen, Director of Content for Birchbox, says of the brand’s content marketing strategy in an interview with Contently.com, “We give our customers useful articles, videos, and blogs in order to gain their trust, communicate with them, and keep them coming back to our site.”

Image Source: birchbox.com

5. Anthropologie

Unlike other clothing lines like Tory Birch or Kate Spade who use their blogs as a platform to provide fashion advice and editorial pieces, trendy clothing store Anthropologie has opted for a more image-based blog — and we know how important images are in content marketing thanks to our Zemanta guest post “Images — 10 Reasons Why You Need Them In Your Content“.  

Far beyond the typical trends to watch, must-haves and fashion-forward spotlights, “The Anthropologist” is dedicated to sharing artist stories and uses images to promote a lifestyle, offering a stunning visual experience and telling a story all their own!

Still not sold on their unique take on imagery?  Despite the surge in brands using social photo sharing apps like Instagram, “The Anthropologist” uses only professional writers, photographers and filmmakers to fill their pages.

Image Source: anthropologie.iancoyle.com

Regardless of industry, content marketing is all about relating to your customers and finding the basis of conversation. Creating and curating content that makes consumers come back again and again can be a challenge, but getting to know your audience, developing your voice and using the strategies that work best for your brand is a recipe for content marketing success. 

Like what you see here? Join us again next time for “How Big Brands Are Using 2013′s Top Content Marketing Strategies: Part 2″! Be sure to share your favorite content marketing examples with us in the comments below or connect on our social networks –  Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+.

Check out this month’s featured infographic “Struggling to Create Content?” from the experts at RedRocketMedia.com for more content ideas and inspiration…

Will customer stories and employee posts be making an appearance in your businesses’ article roll this month? We sure hope so! Be sure to share your tips on how you engage your audience through unexpected and unique content below or find us on our social channels — Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+.

What exactly is employee branding? There are many definitions floating around the interwebs, but we like to think of employee branding as using the positive connection between a company and their employees to extend a favorable brand image and experience to customers and users. In short, employee branding is all about your employees being your best brand champions. After all, who better to promote your company, product or service online than those who know it best – your employees!

As a brand’s image is no longer reliant on or about marketing messages and taglines, but rather the genuine experience they deliver, it is important to put employee experience in the spotlight. In fact, a January study by LinkedIn and TNS Employee Insights reports that enthusiastic and engaged employees are potentially a brand’s best asset — hidden gems waiting to be discovered! The study also shows employees have a direct impact on customer perception of a brand’s image as well as customer experience, advocacy and retention. For this reason alone, smart brands are taking advantage of their internal spokespersons by building engaged communities from inside out.

With so many different initiatives on your brand’s content marketing to-do list — content production, social outreach, content optimization, voice and audience development, etc. – it can be difficult to prioritize, but employee branding should not be put on the back burner. Businesses that aim to increase corporate transparency and their commitment to real-time communications through fostering an engaged company culture field a competitive edge that resonates with customers – an advantage that only employee branding can bring to the table.

While incorporating employee branding into your content marketing strategy is a must, it’s also important to keep your company out of the tabloids by first establishing guidelines highlighting a few simple do’s and don’ts for social sharing. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Do:

• Ask your employees to share and re-Tweet anything that’s posted by admins of your company’s social media profiles (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) as well as comment / interact with your content.
• Encourage employees to share positive experiences with your products, company culture, and other aspects of your brand.
• Ask employees to comment on whatever is posted on the official brand page profiles.
• Encourage shout-outs to teammates (“Loving the energy in the @inboundwriter office space today!”).

Don’t:

• Have employees publicly discuss confidential company information or “pre-announce” what the company is working on that hasn’t been cleared by your PR department.
• Let employees talk negatively about competitors on behalf of your company.
• Avoid structure when it comes to responding to questions about your brand or business — if asking employees to participate make sure that they know the company’s stance and are not stepping on each other’s toes.

For more tips on how to include employees in your content marketing strategy and create an engaged internal community check out our blog post “Community Driven Content 101” and be sure to share your employee branding tips with us on our social networks – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+.

Image Source: ceprn.com

Good thing our prank reeled you in, because writing content optimized for your readers and search engines actually requires short, direct language, valuable, well-written information and a few other best practices such as using effective keywords to set your content apart from the rest. 

You may have noticed that I used the term “April Fools’ Day” above rather than “April Fool’s Day.” That’s because according to InboundWriter’s keyword research, “April Fools’ Day” (as plural possessive) is a 5-star key phrase; however, when written as a singular possessive, the rating drops down to 1.5 to 2.5 stars, depending on your search strategy setting. Check out these other top keywords and phrases to include in your holiday post:

April Fools’ Day: 5 Stars
Office Pranks: 5 Stars
April Fool Day Pranks: 4.5 Stars
Gags: 5 Stars
Practical Jokes: 4.5 Stars
Fun Jokes: 3.5 Stars

As you edit and finalize your April Fools’ Day posts this week, keep this phrasing in mind and make sure you’re optimizing your content to get the most out of your content marketing strategy. Or you can always run your piece through InboundWriter — it’s free to sign up.

Good luck with your holiday posts and we wish you all an April Fools’ Day filled with practical jokes and fun! Do you have office pranks planned for April 1st? Share them with us in the comments below or on our Facebook page.

Image Source: Flickr user Jake Sutton

Content marketing is so new that it’s hardly being taught in colleges, yet according to Content Marketing Institute’s research, 9 out of 10 marketers are using content marketing.

Marketers adopt and continue with strategies that work so if almost all of them are incorporating content marketing into their programs, we can assume that it’s working and it’s working well. With that in mind, it’s good to periodically check in with your content marketing strategy and make sure it’s fresh, inspired and innovative. Here are 8 ways to ensure that you are utilizing content marketing for your brand in the most effective way:

1. Create evergreen content

Don’t get me wrong, referencing buzz topics and the holidays get a lot of initial clicks. Just make sure that you are not posting a lot of content that expires quickly. Evergreen content stays relevant through the months and even years so that in the long run, you get a lot of hits and, when optimized, it will continue to rank well on search engines.

2. Don’t post “filler content”

Filler content is the result of feeling pressured to not let your blog look sparse. However, the goal is to create engaging and shareable content. It’s better to have four awesome posts per month than four mediocre pieces per week.

3. Experiment with style and format

Experiment with alternative story forms and visually appealing content. Remember, the goal here is to create something that others want to share. For example, infographics have proven to be one of the most sharable pieces of content a marketer can create. If your budget has room, contract out to a firm who specializes in infographics. If not, there are plenty of sites where you can create an infographic yourself for free:

- Visual.ly
- Piktochart
- Easel.ly

4. Write for the people and the search engines

You don’t want your content to ever appear to be search engine optimized. Your first draft should be written for your audience. But, because you want the content to reach your audience, it definitely should also be optimized so that they can find it. In the second draft, go back and see where you can use keyword without ruining your piece of content. InboundWriter is a great resource for creating content that reads well to both humans and search engines.

5. Guest post on quality blogs

Guest posting has been getting some bad publicity after people started doing it for link juice and not for spreading quality content. It doesn’t help that Google has been cracking down on the low quality guest posts. But, as long as you are posting good content and you’re writing for reputable blogs, it’s very unlikely that guest posting will blow up in your face. In fact, it’s a great way to expose new eyeballs to your words and give them the opportunity to go check out your site.

6. Collaborate with bloggers

If you’re not reaching out to bloggers, stop everything and start now. Research has been pouring out telling us that bloggers are the most influential voices. You can use tools and services such as GroupHigh for finding bloggers in your niche and tracking your outreach. When you find relevant influencers, suggest some ideas for collaboration, such as a contributed blog post.

7. Collaborate with other marketers

Collaboration with other marketers will refresh your content ideas as well as expose someone else’s audience to your site. Reach out to marketers in your field and propose to swap guest posts; write a post together where you share different views on the same topics; or simply bounce ideas off each other. It all helps.

8. Actively engage on successful social media channels and track activity

Using tools like Bitly to track click backs and your Google Analytics account to check traffic to your site, you will be able to see which social media channels are bringing your site the most traffic. Try, at least for one month, giving the top three social media channels that work for you a lot of attention and see what happens.

Which tactics are you going to implement in to your content marketing strategy? We’d love some feedback on what works and doesn’t work for your company or brand. Post in the comments below or connect with us on social media –  Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+.

So how can you create community-driven content? Here are a few tips:

Sit down with your sales team.

Who better to know the pain points of your customers than your sales staff? They’re the ones who know your business inside and out. Sales staffers are asked all the tough questions. They have to pitch a product knowing that an issue might arise and sometimes they may even get turned down because of it. Set up a time to speak with each and every one of your sales team members and ask them what their customers’ biggest pain points are. Use this information to create a series of relevant articles, how-to’s and FAQs.

Quiz your customer support lead.

Customer service is a major part of any business. It’s the first line of defense in safeguarding your brand’s integrity and can make or break consumer relationships. Ask your customer service or support team lead what their top 10 complaints have been in the past 6 months. Answer these pain points in the form of blog or Facebook posts, Tweets, articles, videos, infographics, images, etc. and be sure to share the results with your team.

Compile a list of common questions.

A majority of your business’ customer complaints can mostly likely be traced back to a handful of common problems and your support team can probably answer 99% of inquiries in their sleep. Stop the cycle and take a cue from your customers. Look to your social media pages, blog comments, forums, knowledge base and internal teams to compile a list of the top 100 most frequently asked questions and develop a way to creatively resolve, answer or recognize each one.

Next time you’re stuck for content ideas, take a break from the traditional approaches and include community-driven content. No matter what the pain point, your audience will appreciate the honesty and you might even find yourself receiving useful customer feedback — take advantage of this marketing opportunity and re-purpose feedback into case studies and customer stories!

Have any other ideas on how to develop community-driven content? Share them with us in the comments below or on our social networks –  Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+.

Image Source: Flickr user: Dell’s Official Flickr Page

From insights into how B2B marketers are successfully using content marketing techniques, to the toughest challenges they face in the industry today, this infographic offers real, useful information for B2B content marketers looking to learn the latest and most effective trends. As you read, be sure to compare your own successes and challenges to see how your business’ content marketing strategy stacks up!

Do you share any common content marketing pain points or have you found success with any of the tactics listed above? Comment your thoughts and questions below or find us on our social channels — Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+.

One-way storytelling is easy. All we have to do is push content. But to create dynamic content, which is defined by Coca-Cola’s marketing arm as, “the development of incremental elements of a brand idea that get dispersed systematically across multiple channels of conversation for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated brand experience,” we need to share engaging ideas that inspire and connect with our audience on a personal level. Just as we don’t respond well to bad storytellers, audiences do not respond well to dull content.

Furthermore, storytelling is more than just audience entertainment, it’s a way to build brand image and foster an engaged community. Audiences today expect curated, created and aggregated sources from third-parties, fellow consumers and the brand itself. So how can you make this happen? According to “The Future of Storytelling,” a recent study conducted by research consultancy Latitude, which highlights audience attitudes towards branded content, here’s what consumers expect in the future of brand storytelling:

Immersion: Multi-media and multi-sensory content that creates an immersive experience.

Interactivity: Consumers want to be involved — allow them to become a character in the story!

Integration: Coherence across platforms. Be consistent and employ ideas that can interface with the real world.

Impact: Initiate a call to action. Whether it’s a purchase, “Like” or supporting a good cause, get your audience moving!

As content marketers, we need to embrace these strategies and techniques or we will see our audiences begin to look elsewhere for brands, products and services that interact with them more effectively.

Do you have more tips on how to create dynamic content or a great example of how your brand’s storytelling has evolved since the introduction of new multi-media outlets and social networks? Share your stories with us in the comments below or connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+.

Image Source: Flickr user SamuelJohn.de