The world of advertising and marketing is constantly evolving, with new tech, trends and best practices popping up nearly every day. We’ve rounded up this week’s most compelling facts and insights so that you can stay in the know and ahead of the game.
How To Leverage Parasocial Interaction to Create a Loyal Following
Summary: The term “parasocial interaction” refers to the closeness that people feel with a celebrity or fictitious figure. In today’s culture of mass media, it can be a very powerful tool, and brands that talk to customers like a friend can create an unparalleled connection with their audience.
Key Takeaway: In today’s anti-advertising world, a sense of authenticity and intimacy is more valuable than ever. Parasocial interaction can be used to effectively create exactly that.
How To Improve Your Social Engagement Without Ads [Infographic]
Summary: We all know that the most effective way to increase your social engagement is through paid advertising, but this can be a costly, short-term solution to a long-term need. Sustainably improve your engagement by including images in your posts, paying attention to your metrics and maintaining engagement on social media.
Key Takeaway: You can improve your social engagement by utilizing social media tools, including videos or images, and adjusting your strategy based on your metrics’ results.
Summary: Reality check: while many companies claim to have customer-centric marketing campaigns, they rarely practice what they preach. Why? The marketing landscape is changing, and marketers must be exceptionally agile if they truly hope to understand their customers and put them first.
Key Takeaway: Creating a customer-centric marketing strategy is easier said than done, and most marketers have a long way to go before they can make this goal a reality.
Dads Play Barbie With Their Daughter’s In the Doll’s Latest Charming Effort to Modernize
Summary: If Barbie wants to survive, she has to stay with the times – and Mattel’s latest ad shows her effectively doing just that. By showing dads play Barbie with their daughters, the “Dads Who Play Barbie” campaign gently subverts gender roles and creates authentic, honest connections with loyal customers.
Key Takeaway: Mattel’s “Dads Who Play Barbie” campaign is a great example of authentic, effective, forward-thinking marketing efforts.
9 Social Media Goals You Can Set For Your Business (And How To Track Them)
Summary: Social media can be one of the most powerful tools for your business – if you use it correctly. Some standouts in this list of actionable, trackable social media goals? Increase brand awareness, nail effective customer service and generate new leads for your company.
Key Takeaway: Marketers have to set defined social media goals – and continuously track their effectiveness –if they want to make the most out of these powerful marketing tools.
What Marketing Channel Should You Start With First If You’re A Brand New Business?
Summary: Not all businesses are created equal, which means that the same marketing channel won’t be effective for all of them. To know which one will work for your new business, begin by evaluating who your audience is and where they hang out online. Once you have this information, you’ll know where to effectively direct your marketing efforts.
Key Takeaway: Before you can determine where to market, you have to understand who you’re marketing to and where they go online. From there, the answer will be pretty intuitive.
The 7 Traits of Successful Content Marketers
Summary: While it’s true that no two content marketing campaigns are created equal – and that each company’s strategy will invariably be different – there are certain traits that all successful content marketers have in common. Some big ones? Desire, persistence, and lots of organization.
Key Takeaway: Take after the pros! Check out these key traits that all successful content marketers share to better understand what you should be focusing on.
