by Fronetics | Feb 20, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Current Events, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Supply Chain
One of 2018’s fastest growing marketing trends is influencer marketing. Companies will increase their influencer marketing budget to keep up with the competition.
You’ve probably heard the buzzword by now: Influencer marketing seems to be on the tip of every marketer’s tongue these days. Linqia’s latest report, The State of Influencer Marketing 2018, shows that B2C companies are already taking full advantage of this marketing trend. Their report shows that 86% of B2C marketers used influencer marketing in 2017, and 92% of marketers that tried it found it to be effective.
B2B marketers, on the other hand, have been slower to adopt this new marketing trend. Influence 2.0 – The Future of Influencer Marketing Research Report 2017 showed that only 11% of B2B marketers have an ongoing influencer program.
To understand why influencer marketing is becoming so popular and why B2B companies need to jump on the trend, let’s start with the basics.
What is influencer marketing?
Influencer marketing is a form of marketing in which focus is placed on influential people, rather than the target market as a whole. Marketers identify individuals that have influence over potential buyers and create marketing campaigns and activities around these influencers.
For example, Microsoft teamed up with National Geographic last year to launch an influencer marketing campaign, called “Make What’s Next.” The technology giant leveraged some of the most famous adventure photographer influencers on Nat Geo’s Instagram for the campaign. The objective was to bring awareness to young women with interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). By utilizing Nat Geo’s most heavily followed female photographers, Microsoft was able to access a built-in following.
Why influencer marketing works.
Influencer marketing is extremely effective because of three key components:
- Social reach: Influencers can reach millions of followers (and consumers) through their social media channels, websites, and blogs.
- Original content: Influencers work with marketers to produce original content for your brand.
- Consumer trust: Through their existing, strong relationships with their audiences, influencers have a built-in level of trust and can influence consumer opinions.
Content marketers are working overtime to update their content marketing strategies to include influencer marketing campaigns. Consumers no longer want to hear from brands about their products; they want someone they trust to recommend products and services. This is where influencer marketing comes in to play.
Marketers across industries found influencer marketing to be so effective in 2017, that 52% of are planning programs that leverage multiple types of influencers (celebrities, top-tier bloggers, micro-influencers) in 2018.
Where do you begin?
Instagram should be your starting point. According to new research, influencer marketing on Instagram will have generated over $1 billion by the end of 2017, with significant annual growth going forward. With more than 700 million users, Instagram’s platform allows influencers to easily share photos and videos with their followers. Product promotion has never been easier.
Boxed Water turned to Instagram influencer marketing to market its philanthropic campaign, The ReTree Project. The company paired with social influencers, like actors Aidan Alexander and Jaime King, and YouTube star Megan De Angelis, to spread the word about their new campaign. These popular Instagram users asked consumers to post a photo with the hashtag #ReTree and, in turn, Boxed Water would plant two trees for every photo posted. Just one month after launching the campaign, Boxed Water generated more than 2,600 posts with the hashtag.
With 39% of marketers planning to increase influencer marketing budget this year, B2B companies are quickly seeing the leverage that influencers can have over their target audiences. By pairing your products or services with the right influencer, marketers can easily tap into thousands of potential consumers, increasing website traffic and leads.
Have you tried influencer marketing? How was your experience?
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by Fronetics | Feb 19, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Supply Chain
Search engines are evolving, and these changes will have big impacts on how searchers find your content. Here are 7 changes that will affect your SEO.
Internet users are changing how they search, and in response, search engines are changing how they rank content. Newer, more sophisticated algorithms have had big impacts on SEO rankings and the changes haven’t stopped there. Search engines are working around the clock to improve how content ranks for their users. Google and Bing want to ensure its readers are getting the quality content they deserve.
What does this mean for your SEO? It can be very challenging to understand all of the factors that go into a search engine’s algorithm for rankings. Google has over 205 factors that play a part in determining where you content lands in a search and they’re always changing. Instead of worrying about all of those components, here are 7 changes that have big impacts and are easy to integrate into your content.
7 search engine changes you need to know: infographic
Changes to the way search engines work do present a challenge for content creators writing for SEO. But keeping pace with the ever-changing technology is key to keeping your content relevant. Keeping these 7 key changes in mind, content writers can work to integrate these changes into their new content, as well as update older content.
Ultimately, the best way to improve your SEO is through your content. Quality content that is valuable to your target audience should be your biggest priority. With good content and keeping these 7 changes at the forefront, you will be able to optimize your posts and increase the likelihood internet searchers will find them.
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by Fronetics | Feb 14, 2018 | Blog, Logistics, Supply Chain, Talent
Google’s management study shows that supply chain students who learn soft skills will be more innovative and successful.
A recent Google study of its top employees is shaking up the way we think about how we should be educating students. We’ve all heard about the importance of focusing on a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) curriculum to give students the skills they need to compete in the workforce. But Google’s study, dubbed Project Oxygen, suggests that the conventional wisdom about “hard skills” might be counterproductive.
Google’s findings have broad implications for the way supply chain companies think about training and recruitment. While an understanding of the industry and relevant technologies is, of course, important, it turns out that “soft skills” are often a more accurate predictor of innovation and success.
STEM expertise is not a priority
Project Oxygen ranked the seven most important qualities of Google’s top employees. STEM expertise ranked seventh. The shock waves of this finding are still resounding through the tech sector, as Google and other companies are rethinking the way they recruit talent.
Rather than searching only for top STEM students, Google has changed its hiring practices to include humanities majors, artists, and MBAs.
For Google’s top employees, these six “soft skills” all ranked higher than STEM expertise:
- Being a good coach;
- Communicating and listening well;
- Possessing insights into others (including differing values and points of view);
- Having empathy toward and being supportive of colleagues;
- Being an effective critical thinker and problem solver; and
- Being able to make connections across complex ideas.
What to look for when recruiting supply chain students
For training and recruitment of supply chain students, what’s emerging is a picture of a team player who is creative, empathetic, communicative, and caring. As a recent guest post on Fronetics’ blog points out, “soft skills are taking on more relevance as automation begins to handle the nuts and bolts of how products come to market, and how companies work with suppliers.”
This means that the function of the human component is to do what only humans can: be flexible, strategic, creative, understanding, and empathetic.
According to Cathy Davidson, founding director of the Futures Initiative and a professor in the doctoral program in English at the Graduate Center, CUNY, “We desperately need the expertise of those who are educated to the human, cultural, and social as well as the computational.”
Davidson goes on to point out that “what helps you thrive in a changing world isn’t rocket science. Broad learning skills are the key to long-term, satisfying, productive careers.”
What do you look for when interviewing supply chain students?
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by Fronetics | Feb 13, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Supply Chain
Here are three tips for writing pillar content that will help structure your posts, attract leads and gain better page rankings.
In case you missed our series on writing for SEO, pillar content is a highly effective way to define your brand, drive traffic, and convert website visitors to leads. But in order to be effective, these pages should be strategically designed to do their proper job in telling search engines what your site is all about.
Before we go further, let’s take a step back and talk about exactly what pillar content is. As search engines adjust their algorithms to favor topic-based content, savvy marketers are turning to topic clusters to structure their content.
“This method uses a single pillar page as the main hub of content for a given topic. All of your content assets related to that topic link back to the pillar page,” explains HubSpot blogger Amanda Zantal-Wiener.
Need some ideas for writing and structuring effective pillar content? Here are three tips to get you started.
3 tips for writing pillar content
1) Start thinking about your site differently.
Not so long ago, SEO optimization was all about keywords. But search engines are changing. As their algorithms get more sophisticated, they look for websites that can provide depth and breadth on a particular topic. That means topic-based content wins you better page rank. It’s time to start thinking about your site as a collection of topics rather than a collection of keywords.
2) Consider your core audience.
“Think about the top interests and challenges of your core audience personas to give you ideas for pillar page content,” says HubSpot blogger Sophia Bernazzani.
Good content marketing is all about cultivating your reputation as a trusted resource for your audience, and pillar pages are no exception. Chose topics that answer the needs of your target audience. Topics should be broad enough to be able to generate multiple related blog posts, but narrow enough that you can cover all related content on a single pillar page.
3) Your content is about answering questions.
“Pillar pages should answer any question or query a searcher might have about a topic — which will make them want to click on your pillar page when they enter a Google search term that your page ranks for,” writes Bernazzani. The goal is to draw site visitors with savvy pillar content, and let them explore all content in your topic cluster.
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by Fronetics | Feb 12, 2018 | Blog, Current Events, Logistics, Manufacturing & Distribution, Supply Chain
As Cupid spreads his wings, gifts of experience and romantic, at-home options will take over the market for Valentine’s Day 2018.
Consumers will spend a near-record $19.2 billion on Valentine’s Day 2018, up from $18.2 billion in 2017. According to NRF’s annual survey, over half of the country will participate (55%) in the romantic holiday, spending just over $140 on average.
Gifts of experience
A new Valentine’s trend is giving gifts of experience, such as a spa treatment, concert tickets, or a cooking class. Almost half of celebrants said they would prefer a gift of experience, and 23% said they plan on giving a gift of experience. Blue Apron’s Love at First Bite targets couples looking for gifts of experience with a foolproof, stay-at-home option for Valentine’s Day 2018. And they’re not the only ones! Hello Fresh, Plated and even Whole Foods are publishing blog articles and offering meal options for creating the perfect Valentine’s dinner from the comfort of your own kitchen.
Out on the town
The NRF’s survey also found that younger people (ages 18-34) are more likely to take their Valentine out for the evening than older generations. So it’s no surprise that 6 out of 10 younger celebrants (ages 18-34) would also prefer a gift of experience over candy and flowers.
Mobile trend
95% of Americans own a cell phone. The growing connection between smartphones and digital information is starting to take over Valentine’s Day, as well. Over half of participants plan to use their smartphones to assist with Valentine’s Day purchase decisions. Nearly 40% said they plan to use their cell phone to research products and compare prices.
Tradition prevails
Not to worry, though: Celebrants will still purchase plenty of flowers, jewelry and candy to mark the holiday. Celebrants are most likely to give candy as a gift, followed by greeting cards, flowers, and an evening out.
Here’s a look at how U.S. consumers will be celebrating Valentine’s Day 2018.
Valentine’s Day 2018 Supply Chain Infographic
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by Fronetics | Feb 8, 2018 | Blog, Content Marketing, Logistics, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy, Supply Chain
These social media statistics are important to keep in mind when planning out your content marketing strategy.
A strong social media presence is key to successful marketing in 2018. Social media is simply unavoidable these days.
So, you jumped on board and you’re posting and tweeting. You’re creating content. You’re learning about search engine optimization and how to improve your rankings. But you’re still not reaching the audiences you were hoping to attract. What’s going wrong?
When you are posting on social media could be as important as what you’re posting.
Timing is everything, and that statement especially holds true when it comes to posting content to social media. If you are sending out your message and nobody is there to see it, you are that proverbial tree falling in the forest; you did not make a sound. Your post had little to no impact.
So, even if you are putting in the time and effort to craft informative blog posts, tweets with just the right message, or Facebook posts that inspire more than just page likes, you still are not getting the most exposure you can out of social media.
We have done our homework when it comes to the best times to post on social media. And the truth is there is no “one size fits all” answer to when you should post. There are general guidelines that differ for each site. But in general, it’s important to keep your target audience in mind when deciding where and when to post.
Here are some social media statistics that you need to consider when deciding when to post your content.
Social media statistics your business needs to consider when publishing content
(Made with Canva)
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