Tweeting through a Content Management System?

September 4, 2011 By

Some publishing systems or CMSes allow users to designate a snippet of text as a tweet. The feature is touted as a way to automate content publishing, but can be dangerous.

A publishing system or CMS is optimized for automating the publishing process across output media. Until a decade ago the output media would have been print and the web. Then came mobile, eReaders and now some publishing systems also regard Twitter, Facebook, and other social media as output channels.

By chopping up the written content into small chunks of data, usually using XML, the system can offer the user a quick and dirty way of publishing a tweet or a Facebook update. In many cases, such an automated tweet will consist of a title and headline, which is perfectly fine for magazine or newspaper stories.

However, in corporate content a title and the headline of a report or even a draft marketing text may already hold trade secrets. Unless the system has a built-in mechanism that makes accidental release of confidential information impossible, such advanced automation may be dangerous, and should be avoided.

There is another reason why it should be avoided as well: it won’t do your social presence any good.

Filed Under: Publishing

Why customer stories don’t engage

July 4, 2011 By

The customer story is by far the most popular “story” you’ll see on business sites. Textual or video, the happy customer comes and tells his story. But most customer stories are boring at best.

For most customer stories, a company attracts happy customers; those people who are content enough with the product or service to leave out the bad things. The moderator or journalist who reports on these stories — if there is one to begin with — usually doesn’t ask questions that would put the customer or the product in an awkward position.

This is what makes customer stories so boring: you only hear the good stuff. But hey, you can’t expect a company to have a discontented customer tell his story, now can you?

To be honest, you actually can. There are three factors you need to consider when creating a customer story:

  • Will the subject grab prospects’ interest?
  • Was the customer treated well, did we listen to his criticism, did we take appropriate action (and did we go the extra mile) to turn him into a happy customer?
  • Can we shed light on all aspects of the story, so it really becomes an objective report of facts?

If these three requirements have been met, you can create a very compelling customer story.

To be compelling, the story should also be entertaining but business-like. If it’s a video story, it should be made without “special effects” but with scenes that go beyond the obvious, which is the customer in his chair, telling his story. In other words, it’s harder to do than the traditional customer story, and it entails an attitude of spontaneity on the part of the marketer.

Remember: in the social media age, you don’t control the story. You can’t hide bad support, or a badly handled complaint. You can, however, tell your side of the story too. That’s the power of social media, and of storytelling.

Filed Under: Main

Pulling in prospects and customers

July 2, 2011 By

Marketers should really use content to engage prospects and customers. Pushing a product into the market no longer works. It’s the product that has to pull the market in, through channels such as social media. And that is much more complicated than it sounds.

A relatively small group of marketers are using part of their media budgets to commission and create engaging programs and stories through YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter and Facebook. However, marketing content must serve a purpose. And as content creation takes up a greater part of the marketer’s role, they will need to understand its applications.

For example, ads that create a narrative will have viewers follow. Polling viewers to know what direction they want the narrative to take will give the audience a certain level of control over what happens next. Suggestions can come in through Facebook, Twitter, and even old e-mail. Opening up a story to the public to develop its next stage is a calculated risk, given that people could suggest any outcome imaginable, but case stories suggest most ideas will be in tune with the brand message.

Of course, content needs to be good. There is very little point making content if it is not very good or engaging, or if it does not deliver on communication objectives. Good content will generate a deep commitment, and this in turn can increase prospects’ as well as customers’ depth of engagement.

By turning a brand into a valued source of information (or entertainment), consumers are more likely to visit by their own desire, and each time they do, be reminded of that brand’s values and characteristics.

Filed Under: Main

User Guides and Documentation are marketing content too

June 21, 2011 By

Documentation can be made engaging too. Especially if you product appeals to consumers, we can help you with well-designed and effective user documentation.

User guides are often downloaded by people to get acquainted with your product or service, so it is essential they get the best possible impression. Documentation has also become a tool to get people to buy your products or know more about them.

We have written user guides and admin guides for enterprise level and desktop level applications. We can take care of both a highly effective design and instructional content, but we can also write to template (which is when you provide a template we must “fill up” with instructions).

Do you need your user documentation to be on the web, or published to an iPad? We can create that content too, as well as weblog content, and more. We can advise you with respect to brochure content and design. You will get copy in cleanly written English or Dutch. Our copy will fit your needs and requirements perfectly.

Filed Under: Publishing

Our experience with content creation

June 21, 2011 By

Why not benefit from our experience? We have a proven track record of over 18 years of delivering high-quality textual and visual content that helps our clients attain their targets.

With our over 18 years of experience in journalism, we know how to engage your audience. Some of our clients:

  • Ricoh Europe
  • Hewlett-Packard
  • CSC
  • DMPartners
  • EFI VUtek
  • Quark
  • WoodWing Software
  • Vjoon
  • Digieffects

In the sidebar you will find examples of our work for several of these companies. Feel free to download and browse or peruse. Then e-mail us for a quote.

Filed Under: Publishing

Content marketing in 2011

June 9, 2011 By

Only good, engaging content sells. Good content optimized for each of the dozen social media channels sells more. We can help you with the creation, optimization, and media distribution of good content. That is what we do and have been doing for the past 11 years.

Content marketing encompasses all marketing formats that involve the creation and/or sharing of content for the purpose of engaging prospects and customers. High-quality, relevant, engaging, and valuable information drives profitable customer action. Good content is only the first step. Your content should be all over the place in different formats and with different angles.

We help in both areas.

Social media turn your prospects and customers into active participants of your message. Benefits include:

  1. Engages your audience instead of boring them
  2. Succeeds in retaining your prospects’ and customers’ attention
  3. Creates goodwill and thus stimulates profitable customer action
  4. Improves brand loyalty.

With over 18 years of experience producing content, we have been delivering high-quality content to over a dozen companies around the world, and helping them to get their content noticed by millions of people. We can deliver the best results possible:

  • Exposure — through over a dozen channels your message will be seen by those who matter to you
  • Clarity — we analyze large texts and extract the essence, which we serve condensed and chilled
  • Best format for the job — We create an optimal mix of different media
  • With many of our clients in the Fortune 500 list, you’re in excellent company.

Our services include:

  1. The creation of marketing content
  2. and / or
  3. Sharing and helping you maximize ROI via multiple media.

Don’t hesitate to e-mail me at esq@scribent.com or Skype me at erikvlie.

Filed Under: Publishing

Video Stories

May 1, 2011 By

One of the most powerful content types today is a movie or a video clip, but not all video clips are created equal. A video story can be a customer story or a movie covering at least partly a topic that — although related to the product or service you sell — it tells a story that people find interesting and can relate to. The crucial feature of a video story is user engagement.

Another type of video marketing is the video tutorial, in which you show the public how easy it is to use your product or service.

Video stories engage your prospects and customers more than any other type of media. We propose you a story line, which can be as simple as a customer interview or a story that focuses on your product as part of the bigger picture. We draft the storyboard, so you will get an idea of what the end-result will look like, and we take care of video production and post-production.

We create video tutorials for software — both desktop and enterprise applications — and deliver results that are clear and concise, easy on the eyes and with clear audio, so your audience has no trouble taking it all in.

When you are happy with the result, we will publish your video story on YouTube, on Vimeo when it’s relevant, and broadcast it on Justin.tv, uStream, etc. if these are relevant to your marketing strategy.

Filed Under: Video Production
Newer Posts »