Stats (as per June 12th, 2020)

• Instagram Followers: 439,606
• Facebook Followers: 579,074
• Twitter Followers: 145,900
• YouTube Subscribers: 136,000
• LinkedIn Followers: 123,721
• Fan engagement increased by 367% from Q2 2019 to Q1 2020

The Ocean Cleanup has always wanted to take an active role in their community, answering all questions asked, and thanking supporters for their important role in its success. As the community grew, they needed to scale-up.

With the launch of The Ocean Cleanup’s river cleanup technology, the Interceptor, in October 2019, the organization experienced an increase in community engagement, and Coosto played a key role in the efficient and effective management of this engagement. With an international audience, the community engagement team were able to respond promptly despite any time differences.

The case organization on Coosto, with all engagement with an individual supporter in one location, also allowed for more empathetic, personalized communication. Coosto helped in getting a complete overview of all incoming questions and comments, and provided an overview that let The Ocean Cleanup highlight some truly kind messages of support, showing their own team how much their community stands behind our work.

As an organization developing advanced technology and conducting scientific research, it is crucial that The Ocean Cleanup’s community is accurately informed. Working with a team from RIFF Digital Engagement, the internal notes and pending features allow their team to escalate questions that require additional information. Being able to escalate specific cases on Coosto provides an organized way to answer these questions accurately, regardless of who is working.

With the growing influx of messages, The Ocean Cleanup wanted to be able to understand their growing community. Case labelling has been an asset, not only for understanding their community, but for providing them with data on what their community wants to see more of, and what their main questions are. The listening feature has also allowed them to have a wider perspective on who is sharing content related to their mission and given the ability to engage on that content.

Last but not least, The Ocean Cleanup has been able to streamline their content calendar and better understand post performance using the Publish tool. The flexibility of the publish tool makes scheduling posts a simple process, especially with a frequently changing content calendar.

It's completely understandable that we often get the question what makes us unique. We think the best way to show this, is by telling you why our most satisfied customers continue to opt for Coosto with great conviction.

1. Market-leading software

Over 1600 organizations in 15 countries are daily using Coosto to manage their social and online media. Our extensive experience with thousands of users means that we precisely know what works and what doesn't, and we use this knowledge to further develop our platform.

2. Quality assurance

Our platform sets the very highest of quality standards. Guaranteed 24/7, in writing.

3. Result driven

Our platform is carefully built for your marketing and communication goals. In practice, this means you will achieve better results in less time using Coosto. Whether you want increasing conversions from social media content, a higher customer satisfaction, a better brand reputation or higher reach: with Coosto, it's all within reach.

4. World-class assistance

A team of Customer Success Managers and analysts is always by your side to help you achieve your goals.

5. Dutch quality

Our customers appreciate the fact that they can rely on a solid product of Dutch origin.

6. Unique features

As a Coosto user, you have a whole range of unique features at your disposal. For one, Coosto is the only platform in the world that doesn't only monitor messages in which your brand name is mentioned, but also all comments on those messages. This gives you a 40% more comprehensive picture of the buzz surrounding your brand.

7. Multilingual support

No automated menus or hassle. By phone, chat or mail: our multilingual support team will answer any question you might have in no time.

8. Partnerships and integrations

Coosto can be seamlessly integrated with Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, CM.com, Belga.press and many more. Take a look at all of our integrations.

9. Feedback platform

We value your ideas, and use your feedback to further develop our platform. You can track our progress in the transparent Feedback platform.

10. Data protection and Privacy

Security and privacy officers guarantee the integrity of data. All Coosto data centers are based in the European Union, and all software is assessed based on applicable rules and standards. Coosto is ISO27001 certified.

The Best Way to Tell a Story

Storytelling has been a hot item in marketing and communication for at least a decade. Compared to standard posts, lists, or even blog posts like this one, stories are more entertaining, easier to remember, and stimulate deeper emotions. The problem is that few marketers and communication consultants really understand the technique of telling a good story,

which is why it’s a good idea to see how the professionals in the entertainment industry do it. Netflix is home to hundreds of documentaries that move us, make us laugh, or grasp our attention in some other way, and have little in common with monotonous videos crammed with information. Netflix teaches us that it’s often the story behind the news that attracts our attention, not the dry facts.

It’s a trick that lots of media companies have already copied. The greatest example of storytelling I ever came across was an article in Dutch newspaper Het Parool about a mysterious Japanese who wrote letters to a hotel in Volendam over a period of 40 years. The story was incredibly long: no less than 5,971 words, but apparently that’s not an obstacle if the content’s good enough. It was shared more than 500 times on Twitter.

It’s now time for social media marketers to follow in the footsteps of Hollywood and get their storytelling skills out there. So copy Netflix, and steal the show on social media by telling gripping stories.

The 80/20 Rule

Why has everyone, or almost everyone, heard of Netflix series such as Breaking Bad, La Casa de Papel and Narcos, but are much less aware of films such as Luka Chuppi, Les Goûts et Les Couleurs and Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Larga?

For every successful series on Netflix that goes viral, there are at least 4 much less popular ones. Your media content probably follows the same pattern, with 20% of your posts scoring around 80% of your views. However, as Netflix shows, this doesn't have to be a problem, and in fact the broad array of content with the occasional viral success is one of the reasons Netflix appeals to a wide audience and has been so successful. It’s something you should consider when analyzing your content. Posts with fewer likes, clicks or comments may not be irrelevant after all, but useful for the more discerning.

A Blend of Your Own and Curated Content

What hits you when you open the Netflix app is the pride with which the company presents its own work: the Netflix Originals. Netflix is not just a streaming service for series and films, it has also been operating as a production company in its own right for a number of years. Although Netflix exploits its own unique productions to distinguish itself from other providers of video content,

the brand could never have achieved so much success by being solely dependent on its own shows. A large part of its content is therefore curated, shared content, sourced from other production companies.

The strength of Netflix is a result of this blend of in-house and curated content, and you could also use it as a success formula for your own social media content. Sometimes marketers are simply too reluctant to borrow content from others, or create links to this content. However, the very fact that you’re willing to share the good work of others, even if they are competitors, teaches people that you’re the person to follow for high-quality content in your domain, regardless of who creates it.

Formulas and Categories

It would be very impractical if you had to scroll randomly through every movie and series on Netflix to find something that interests you. Fortunately, the categories (such as movies with good reviews, comedy, thrillers) mean you can quickly find what you’re looking for, and if you like one episode of a series, you immediately binge watch the whole season.

A lot of marketing content is less well organized. Have a look (we did, and know there is plenty of room for improvement): are you already using content categories, formats or series? Can customers or prospects rely on you posting content at fixed times on fixed days? Is there an easy way for your target group to only follow your content? If you organize all these aspects properly, your content will match the personal wishes of your followers.

Sit Back and Relax

Do you know how to make better content? By letting go from time to time. Creative minds benefit from some downtime, and there’s nothing like doing nothing to get the creative juices flowing. So, if you suffer a bout of writer's block, chill on the sofa with some soda and snacks, and lose yourself in Netflix. Even though your employer is unlikely to approve your evenings in front of the TV as working hours, you’ll still be an unstoppable content engine the next day. Enjoy it!

1.Know What You Want (And What You Don’t Want)

First of all, you have to make some decisions. What do you want to achieve and who do you want to reach with your content? First decide the big picture, then zoom in on the details. Where do you want to be in a year, for example, and what do you need to get there? Then define the marketing objectives of your content strategy. Are you trying to generate more leads, or increase the number of visitors to your website or blog? Are you aiming to improve customer satisfaction ratings? Whatever your objective, the first step is to make decisions when defining your strategy. These decisions will keep you focused. Prioritizing one aspect will automatically make another less relevant. If you find yourself spending a lot of time on the less important things, cut them out.

2. Decide What to Use in Your Content

What information does your target group need? Decide the kind of content your target group needs in each phase of the buyer's journey. Create an overview of your target group’s preferred content, and make decisions on aspects such as Evergeen or Ephemeral content. You also have to think ahead
about annual events, special days and special moments. For inspiration, take a look at a social media engagement calendar and select the relevant moments to engage that benefit your organization or brand. You’ll be surprised how much you can figure out in advance.

3. Be Consistent

Select those topics and themes you want to focus on with your brand, and convert them into recurring headings. For example, you could start the Monday with news, or end the week with a summary. If you’ve got a large group of followers who post ideas about your product, you could highlight these once a week.

Habits and recurring items appeal to people, because we like things to be predictable and structured. For example, every morning and afternoon I receive a news update from an online news channel, which I use to find out about the previous night’s news while I’m having breakfast. Come up with a content format, and think about how often you publish your posts.

4. Plan Your Content Ahead

It might sound dull, but make sure you plan ahead. Schedule editorial meetings, and think about what you want to say in the coming week, fortnight or month. Does it reflect your strategy? Think about what you want to say, and on which day. How do you make sure you interact enough with your target group? When are you going to publish your posts? You’ll actually find it a load off your mind if you think ahead and make sure there’s enough content. It will leave you with time and mental space for fun, creative and ad hoc ideas.

You can also use a content planner to help plan ahead. All kinds of hardcopy planners are available online that will help you get a clear overview of your posts. The advantage of digital planners and content calendars is that they can be linked to your social media accounts and automatically publish your posts, saving you a lot of manual work. Handy! Another advantage of an online content calendar is that you can measure the effect of your social media posts. This brings us to tip number 5.
 

5. Measure Your Results

Make sure you understand the results of all your efforts. The only surefire way to know if your content is effective is to measure it. Do you remember your objectives? Use UTM Tracking Codes in Google Analytics to identify the content that led your target group to your website, and how they behave on it. This can reveal which posts are most likely to lead to clicks and conversions, for example.

If you also use a publishing tool, you can measure the reach of your posts, how often a post has been clicked, what approach works best, and what posts have the highest interaction rate. Make sure you understand what you’re doing, and use the data you obtain to improve next time around by adjusting your objectives and strategy. If content is successful, continue with it, and if it’s not, try something different. This is the way to get an overview, clear your mind and achieve your objectives without wasting time.

Hopefully these tips will put you on course to take back control of your online communications. If you have some more ideas, please share them!

If you’d like to experience the benefits of using a content calendar, try out Coosto Publish for free.

Tell us a little more about your work as head of influencer marketing & brand advocacy strategy

"The title alone says a lot. Brand advocacy is a term we have been using in correlation with influence since day one. We aim to utilise and harness the power of influence across the entire spectrum. This means that we advise brands to part with the idea of controlling the entire narrative (this can be quite scary sometimes!) and provide influential people with a chance to tell their story as authentically as possible. Most of what I do revolves around developing and implementing long-term influencer marketing programmes.

Here at Come Round, we’ve worked with household brands across the UK since 2009. I've been here since 2013 and it’s been an interesting journey to say the least. From having to explain to everyone what influencer marketing is, what bloggers are - to the point where now even my parents understand what I do.

Back in the summer of 2016, we teamed up with Mazda and engaged influencers around their sponsorship activation of Tomorrowland, the immensely popular electronic dance music festival in Belgium. We utilised engaged-audience identification tools to make sure that each influencer had a relevant audience – and that their brand affinities and interests were aligned with the Mazda brand. We sent 15 influencers across Europe to Belgium and made sure they got VIP (or VII) treatment.

A lot of my time is also spent on less glamorous tasks, such as research, data analysis and campaign reporting. However these aspects are becoming increasingly important within a market that is under increased scrutiny."

Influencer Marketing has picked up in popularity in the last two years - do you have an explanation as to why this is?

“Allow me to to provide you with a little backstory and explain to you firstly what I consider to be influencer advertising: utilising content creators with a lot of reach on social media to broadcast a (branded/sponsored) message. To most - this is the very essence of influencer marketing.

Influencer advertising has been going through the roof over the past few years. I personally believe this is due to a shift in media consumption – we are experiencing a significant shift from traditional TV & Radio to digital / social.

Social media are different from more traditional forms of media, where nowadays, we opt to tune in to people and the content they produce, whereas fifteen years ago, we didn’t really have any other option than to watch Big Brother on a Friday night. This is where influencer advertising has filled a void. A YouTuber with a reach of a million people being paid to create #sponsored content around a new make-up brush is rapidly turning into the modern day equivalent of an old-school TV ad. Both come with big budgets and the potential for a lot of eyeballs, and often do well well in terms of brand awareness."

So what's the benefit of using influencers to advertise your product when you can just purchase social media ads on Facebook and Instagram?

“Social media ads absolutely have their advantages over traditional TV-ads. I was visiting family in the Netherlands over the Christmas period and I noticed ads for a specific supermarket chain being shown daily on TV – however the nearest store is over 50 miles away from where my parents live This means that the ad was highly irrelevant to the 20,000 people that live in their town. Social media ads offer obvious advantages, specifically in the form of geo-targeting

But however specific your ad is, it doesn’t automatically mean it meets attention and relevancy criteria – and when done right, that is the big difference between social and influencer advertising.

People actively tune in to watch content created by internet celebrity X or Y – if your favourite celebrity uploads a new video, you’re much more likely to watch it, even when it's #sponsored.

An additional advantage of influencer advertising is the myriad of options that are available to brands. Back in the day, there were only a few TV-shows that would serve up enough eyeballs and offer relevancy to your brand. Influencers have much more to offer. If you’re trying to sell ski gear, you used to be limited to the handful of popular travel shows, nowadays you can identify and engage hundreds of popular snowboarders that create awesome content and have a direct relationship with their audience.

So what's the difference between Influencer Advertising and Influencer Marketing?

“I tend to differentiate between the two to emphasise the fact influencer adveritising is only a part of the influencer marketing package. Yes it plays a part – but it’s not the only way to utilise the power of influence. Influencer advertising is often a smash-and-grab approach, where brands nor agency even think about engaging content creators for more than a year, nor think about taking the relationship further than just content creation. In order for influencer marketing to develop, the industry needs more long-term strategic and integrated approaches to show that there's more to it than just content creation.

Real influencer marketing goes beyond a one-off payment with the goal to generate views & traffic. For me, it’s all about harnessing multiple layers of influence. Starting with that friend you have that loves to cook who always talks highly about the local butcher because he thinks the meat there is much better than what you always buy at the local supermarket. Or what about that colleague you have that keeps telling you to switch mobile phone provider because of the excellent customer service he's been experiencing. This type of influencer marketing requires a grassroots, integrated strategy that starts at customer service level.

But think about it, this is actually something that a brand can actually impact themselves (without having to pay to use influencers!). If we put the customer first and start making it a priority to to make sure that people fall in love with your brand. You don’t always have to pay people to say good things about your brand. Service with a smile and a free croissant to the guy that comes in for coffee every morning could be the catalyst to the entire office flocking to your coffee place, as well as UGC.

Influencer marketing is about more than just paid-for-content. Your customers have friends, family members & colleagues that talk about brands on a daily basis. Social media provides us with a platform to find and identify these people, to get them to create content and take a positive offline experience online (and vice versa!).

This is why technology plays such an important part within your long-term influencer marketing strategy. Tools such as Coosto are not just designed to identify trends, they also offer you the opportunity to identify existing and potential customers – and what’s even better, you can engage these people and apply community management to increase brand advocacy levels.

When it comes to influencer marketing, some B2B businesses are ahead of the game, some have been actively working with ambassadors, fans and experts since the 90s, running these programmes with the knowledge that social proof works ‘My friend John uses this software, and he loves it – so it must be good.’ Perhaps, those types of companies being ahead of the game has to do with the fact that they’ve always had to look beyond traditional advertising – it’s harder to flog a piece of software during Big Brother."

How do you feel about the explosive growth that Influencer Marketing has experienced since 2016?

“Honestly, I have mixed feelings about it. From a business perspective, it’s amazing that this is a hot topic. It has definitely created more business opportunities. But at the same time, influencer marketing is still in its infancy phase. There are a lot of bandwagon 'experts' out there - and there is a lot of misinformation out there. The flipside is that it is making brands lose confidence in how important influencer marketing can be for them. Which is why education is becoming increasingly important going into 2018.

In addition, many agencies still use reach as a benchmark of success, a lot of people have a tendency to use advertising and PR measurements and apply it to influencer marketing. Are we reaching the right people, is the audience legitimate? These are questions that most in the industry actively avoid.

The result is that many think that reach equals influence. Which is not per definition true. A book critic with 100,000 highly engaged followers can be much more relevant than a more generic lifestyle YouTuber with 500,000 followers who are less niche when it comes to interests in specific products. To me; reach is not the holy grail of influencer marketing."

So let's talk about goals and KPI's

I always try to find a balance between reach and engagement. Our focus is always on engaged audience data. We think it’s more important to analyse engaged data than historical data, but more importantly, it’s vital to dig deep and find out as much as possible about the audience. We want to avoid classic examples of being ''too influencer focused''. The brands that are being advised to work with models to sell bikini’s and make up products, without realising that the majority of their audience is actually male, and therefore irrelevant.

We focus primarily on data, finding out the actual reach (i.e. engagement rate based on reach, not on follower count) and looking at audience data to determine relevancy. We also focus on softer metrics such as sentiment, consumer insight and social media monitoring to provide our clients with data that will allow them to combine influencer marketing with their day-to-day marketing activities.

Using newly available data, we have realised that even some of the content creators we have worked with in the past are too expensive based on their audience and deliverables. The industry has been too happy to throw money at influencers based on hype - and content creators have gotten away with accepting work without showing any real value. There is a real shake up taking place, and content creators who are unable to prove audience relevancy will be in for a real shock. There is no doubt that content creators require payment, but too often brands are paying too much for content that isn’t reaching a relevant audience.

So can brands enjoy Influencer Marketing on a shoe-string budget?

“Absolutely! You don’t need to spend a lot of money in order to set up an effective influencer marketing programme. Even for start-ups, I would suggest looking at all the entire spectrum of influence. Let’s take as an example a new local bakery.

Firstly, you could identify and engage a local celeb take a picture (IGC) inside / in front of your bakery and share it on social media (against payment, of course). In addition, make sure to give those who come in on a daily basis a little something extra, in order to encourage recommendations. And then you need consumers to start creating UGC, give people that have purchased something from your bakery an incentive to share pictures of your bakery online.

This is a mini-version of a more complete, all-round influencer campaign. Imagine you’re prepping for a winter-break full of ski-action; you’re looking at your friends’ social pages to see how they’re prepping. You spot that one of them received a free pair of gloves from a big brand - and then a little while later, you see one of the big snow-boarders that you follow wearing the exact same ones. And to top it off, one of your other friends talks about the brand because they bought gloves from the same brand last year, and when they ripped, the brand was friendly enough to provide him with new ones, no questions asked.

There are few to no brands / agencies currently utilising this level of in-depth influencer marketing strategies. The interest is there (for some) but the knowledge is lacking. As an industry, we are still too focused on big numbers and big talent. If we want influencer marketing to mature, and become more effective, we should be focusing on powerful, long-term programmes that cover the entire spectrum of influence - online and offline."

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Online reputation management is an instrument you can use to affect your audience's opinion about your organisation. But what is the added value of this? What do you have to do to take control of your organisation's reputation? In this blog we will outline reputation-related concepts and we will explain the various stages of online reputation management.

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Reputation' is a term similar to trust, respect or responsibility: everyone knows these concepts to some extent, but very few people can quite put their finger on it. Still, with regards to workability, it's important to provide a uniform definition. This way you can create realistic expectations of all (im)possibilities regarding corporate reputation management.  

Identity vs. Image vs. Reputation

Reputation is a term that is often linked to concepts like identity and image. What are the differences? There are no universal definitions, but we apply these:

can be described as the personality of your organisation. It includes everything your organisation is, does and appears to be. What do you stand for? What is your vision? Which standards and values does your organisation find important? What does your company culture look like? Corporate identity manifests itself in three ways:

1. • Behaviour (every behaviour of your organisation and its employees)
   • Communication (everything your organisation tells about itself)
   • Symbolism (the visual appearance of your organisation)

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Corporate image is the way your stakeholders perceive your organisation's identity. It's the result of your behaviour, communication and symbolism, or everything your stakeholders hear/read about your organisation. Does your audience think of you as a forward-thinking organisation? Formal? Are you perceived as a luxury brand? Feminine? The sum of these brand associations form your corporate image.

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Corporate reputation is similar to corporate image, but there is one important difference. Reputation isn't so much the perception of your audience, as it is their opinion on your organisation. Does your audience think you manufacture awesome products? Or do they think your organisation takes bad care of its employees? Or does your shipping leave something to be desired? The way people assess your organisation isn't necessarily based on personal experiences. Often, it's a result of what people have heard or read about your organisation (online).

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Example

Identity: clothing brand x is a brand that presents itself as a brand for young males.

Image: clothing brand x is perceived as a brand for the elderly.

Reputatie: people are very positive about brand X. They have read that the product quality is amazing.

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Online reputation management

In practice, your reputation is never an exact reflection of who you are or how you like to be seen. The way stakeholders assess your organisation is subjective to experiences and varies between groups or even individuals. Nevertheless, you still have a big influence on your own reputation. Reputation management means putting that influence to good use; reputation management includes all activities you undertake as an organisation to improve your stakeholders' opnion on your organisation. This is how you make sure they view your organisation the way you see fit.

Online reputation management is the most important form of reputation management, because reputations nowadays are mainly formed and affected online. Through social media, a single complaint or compliment can be widely discussed and therefore almost immediately affect your reputation. This effect can be noticeable for a long time, because online messages - different from conversations people have at the baker around the corner - are in writing and retrievable through search engines. Reputations therefore have become way more changeable.

The stages of online reputation management

Online reputation management is the most effective way to improve your reputation. But how do you intend to begin? Good reputation management goes through these three stages:

1. Social listening and monitoring

Online reputation management starts with a good understanding of what's going on inside and outside your organisation. This can be something immediate as a negative FAcebook post which demands direct attention. But it can also be a market trend your organisation can anticipate to. The first concern is to be aware of these messages, trends, threats and opportunities no matter what. Only then will you be able to take control of the situation and deliberately decide to act upon it. Social listening  and these situations won't be so far advanced you can no longer affect them. Social listening makes sure these messages will no longer surprise you or take too much of your time.

Coosto is active in a constantly changing world. Various stakeholders (customers, interest groups, social media partners, governments etc.), with often conflicting interests, play an important role in this. As Coosto, we pursue a policy based on ethical considerations, against a background of greatly increased attention to privacy.

Despite all the measures we have taken – and will continue to implement - as part of our policy, we have apparently failed to convey our position on this issue sufficiently. We find this regrettable.  We want to state clearly and transparently what Coosto stands for, and show that we do take privacy seriously.

For instance, the article of Bits of Freedom states that Coosto would allow social media surveillance. This information is outdated, and goes back to the time when social media data was a relatively unexplored territory. At the time, the market was mainly exploring the possibilities and limits of social media, and privacy was not given enough attention.

However, Coosto is constantly evolving, as is the world of social media. We have prohibited any form of surveillance through Coosto, which our contracts and general conditions state as well. Coosto is a tool for marketing and communication, and can only be used for goals such as customer satisfaction and brand awareness. We enforce this with the help of technical and legal measures.

Along with these measures, we have parted ways with several governmental customers that were unwilling to accept our changed vision and conditions, against our commercial interests. The article mentions how the police and NCTV would use Coosto. However, these organizations have not been a customer of Coosto for a long time now, partly because of above developments.

We do not make these decisions just because it is what can be expected from us, but because we value privacy. We constantly evaluate our services for their possible impact on social interests, including privacy. When necessary, we draw lines and change our product. Even when that means we leave commercial potential unused. This is part of who we are, what we stand for and what we are our proud of as a company.     

Bits of Freedom does very important work for our society, but it is a shame that in this case they do not have a clear overview of the current state of affairs. Nonetheless, this nomination has encouraged us in our commitment to communicate better about the balance between privacy and technical developments from our point of view.

Meaningful interactions

Facebook's algorithm prioritizes messages posted by Facebook friends over published content from Facebook pages (commercial content). The reason for this is to encourage meaningful or valuable interaction.

As a brand, the only part of the ranking process that we can control are the signals generated by our content. These signals can be divided into two categories: passive and active:

• Passive signals include display time, story type, posted time, and other inactive statistics.
• Active signals include likes, shares and comments.

If you want to promote positive involvement, you must therefore create relevant and valuable content. If your target group responds positively to your content, Facebook defines it as 'meaningful interaction'.

1. Provide discussion material

You want your content to encourage (positive) interactions, so make sure your content stimulates a discussion between your followers and other people. Don’t just focus on what you want to say or convey, your content should prompt people to stop scrolling through their timelines, and get them to interact and share your post with one another.

2. Know your audience

It might sound obvious, but your content has to be relevant. Make sure you create stories that your target audience wants to view, read, or share. Whether it’s a product or knowledge sharing, it must reflect the interests of your audience.

3. Track how your content is performing

Analyze the social media messages you’ve posted so you can improve them next time around. You can find out various things about Facebook via Facebook insights, but you should use a social media tool such as Coosto if you want to carry out a comprehensive analysis. In Coosto Publish, you can post messages on all your social media channels, and immediately see how they’re performing. See how your posts are performing in terms of interaction, learn from the insights of your posts, and use this to improve them.

4. Promote high-performing posts

The Facebook algorithm assigns value to content that performs well organically, which benefits you if you want to advertise. Content that already has strong organic traction means lower CPCs (cost per click), which combined with a boost-post from Facebook, can create a snowball effect for your content. Conversely, don’t waste money on poor-performing organic content, as this will result in higher CPCs. If a message performs well in terms of involvement, likes and shares, you can boost a post to scale up this performance.

Conclusion

The new Facebook algorithm is complex and depends on a whole range of factors, not all of which are easy to understand. Use the information that is nevertheless available to sharpen your content tactics and increase your visibility in the news feed: Create discussion material, write valuable stories for your target group, and challenge them to share these stories for organically strong content.

The Difference between a Social Media Strategy and a Social Media Plan

A social media strategy looks at the long term. It’s usually applicable for at least a year and defines the general direction of everything you do related to social media. What it doesn’t do, however, is cover aspects such as campaigns, important changes to your products or service, projects you want to divulge online, or ongoing events affecting your business. Here, a strategy is not specific enough, and this is where a social media plan can come to your rescue. A social media plan has a clear-cut beginning and end, and specifically deals with a single campaign or event. Think of it as the specific detailing of your wider social media strategy. You have to consider the two as intertwined: your mission, vision and core values must be reflected in everything. Getting a social media plan down on paper only needs a few short steps.

1. Start Your Social Media Plan with an Objective
A social media plan is subject to the same rule as a strategy: it must contain a clear objective. The difference with the objectives in your social media strategy is that the objectives of your plan concentrate on the short term. Consider the following objective, for example:

‘Website traffic to product page X must increase by 30% during the duration of the campaign from January 1 to January 31, 2019, compared to the same period last year.’

The SMART objective has been well formulated: specific, measurable, acceptable, realistic and time-bound. The rest of your social media plan must therefore help you achieve this objective. Once you’ve established your objective, don't forget to define some social media KPIs which will help measure the extent of your success.

2. Decide the Message of Your Story
It’s important that the message of your social media plan hits the sweet spot between what your target audience wants to hear and what you as an organization have to say. Bear in mind the challenges and needs of your target group, and look for openings which allow you to get a toehold with your social media plan. Try to summarize the story of your campaign/event/plan in a single sentence.

3. Define a Clear Target Group
Hopefully you’ve already defined a target group in your social media strategy. This target audience can often be divided into various buyer personas. A health insurer, for example, distinguishes between age categories or where people live, while a bank can target either the consumer market or the business market. It’s unlikely that your social media plan is designed to appeal to your entire target audience, as your specific message won’t be relevant to everybody in it. The best approach is to select a specific subsection of your target group, and concentrate your efforts there.

4. Make a Schedule for Your Social Media Plan

A social media plan is called a plan for good reason: its implementation has to be planned carefully. Sketch a timeline for yourself as a guide, with the beginning and end of your plan and a schedule of what exactly you will do and when. Make sure it’s really useful by defining who’s going to do what. Before you know it, you’ll have a proper action list.

5. Evaluate the Interim and Final Results
Obviously, your social media plan has to include an evaluation at some point. The implementation period is relatively short, which makes it all the more important to measure interim results. Take a close look at all your social media interventions: has content design X delivered the desired result? What do those results mean in terms of the objective formulated in step 1? Do you have to go an extra mile? Is your target group engaging with your message? Constantly ask yourself these questions so you can change course and make rapid changes where necessary. Make sure you remain flexible, and don't spend too much time making plans. After all, a social media plan is a good start, but the real key to success is putting it into practice properly.

1. The lack of content strategy remains concerning

Content is king. The world of marketing increasingly shows it understands that traditional advertising is devaluating. Content that matches an audience’s perception is the only response to this issue. This realization has led to increased content marketing budgets, highly trained professionals and lots – we mean LOTS - of content.

The problem? Content often lacks a thorough plan behind it. And if the content strategy does in fact exist, it’s only rarely documented.

The CMI research shows that 71% of the content strategist use a strategy to create content, compared to 74% last year. Only 33% has actually documented this content strategy, same as in 2019. This is worrying, in a field where professionals want to move forward, want to take accountability for their contribution to organizational goals and want to share knowledge internally. How can you share knowledge at scale when you don’t have anything in writing?

2. Social media content is as popular as ever

Content is produced in all shapes and sizes, but it’s almost always associated with social media. Social media posts and stories still are the most popular type of content, followed by blog posts and emails.

Types of content that B2C brands have used in the past year

3. Paying for content distribution is on the rise

Social media algorithms have made it nearly inevitable: pay for views. If you want to be sure your post will be shown to a large audience, you will have to dig in your pockets. It’s something we tend to do more and more.

Last year 68% of the respondents paid for content distribution at least once. This year the share of B2C content marketers that has used paid methods has risen to 85%. Of this group, 89% used social media advertising, the most popular type of paid content distribution.

4. Facebook continues to be the biggest, by far

Ask a 1000 consumers what their favourite social media platform is, and you probably won’t be hearing ‘Facebook’ a lot. Instagram, TikTok and YouTube have momentum, right? That’s what the annual consumer social media statistics tell us, anyway.

A different reality arises when we’re looking at the business side of social media. Although Instagram and YouTube have also come to be important social media for content marketers, Facebook is still the uncontested number one. 96% of B2C brands use the platform for organic content distribution.

Even though consumers aren’t really posting on Facebook as much as they once did, the platform still attracts users and content marketers are making good use of that fact.

Social media platforms B2C brands have used for organic content distribution in the past year

Facebook is ruling in paid methods of content distribution as well. Out of the respondents who advertised on social media in the past year, no less than 95% used Facebook to do so. Instagram tries to keep up; 53% of respondents said they have paid for the distribution of content on the platform at least once. That’s quite a contrast with Twitter for instance.

71% of B2C organizations use Twitter for the organic distribution of content, but only 16% of has used the platform to advertise in the past year.

Social media platforms B2C brands have used for paid content distribution in the past year

Facebook isn’t just the most popular, it is the platform where content marketers are most successful as well. Respondents selected Facebook as the platform that generated most content marketing results, both paid and organic.

5. Analytics tools are becoming increasingly popular

Social media publishing and planning tools are crucial to content marketers. No wonder this type of software is the most popular in the content marketing field by far. The growth of (web) analytics tools is remarkable, though. In 2019, these tools were used by 71% of content marketers, being 83% this year.

This trend underlines the growing importance of analysis and accountability. You simply can’t just create content and hope it will set off the desired effect. You have to be able to prove results, show the value of your work.

What’s more, you should actually be able to predict the success of your content beforehand. You have to account for your work, explain why your content is worth your time. Therefore, you need insights into your target audience and industry. This explains perfectly why last year, the same CMI research showed that social media listening was the most popular research technology last year. At the time, 70% of content marketers made use of it. 

6. The creation of content is most often outsourced

Organizations are heavily divided when it comes to the question whether it’s a smart decision to outsource content marketing. 55% opts for outsourcing (parts of) their content marketing, the other 45% doesn’t. No clear preference can be found there.

Of the brands not having everything in-house, there’s one discipline that is most common to be outsourced: 80% chooses to (partially) outsource content creation. Second is content distribution (37%), follwed by content technology (27%).

7. Content is mainly created for the awareness stage

Content can add value to every stage of the customer journey. In practice however, B2C organizations mainly create content for top funnel goals: content is used to attract attention and spark interest. A mere 12% of content is meant for the retention of existing customers.

Content created per stage of the customer journey

Contentmarketing is alive and kicking

The research of CMI once again emphasizes that content marketing is a mature marketing discipline, that shows no sign of weakening. On the other hand, the report also shows possible improvements. By using a combination of a documented strategy that is in line with your organizational goals and the right analytics, our industry can still improve the process of proving the infinite value of content.

1. Contentstrategie blijft zorgenkindje

Content is king. De marketingwereld lijkt steeds beter te begrijpen dat traditionele reclame aan kracht verliest. Content die aansluit op de beleving van het publiek is het enige antwoord daarop. Vanuit dat besef zijn contentmarketingbudgetten gegroeid, professionals opgeleid en massa’s content uit de pen gevloeid.

Het probleem? Het ontbreekt nog te vaak aan een gedegen plan achter al die content. En als de contentstrategie er wel is, dan is die meestal niet zwart-op-wit te vinden.

Uit het onderzoek blijkt dat 71% een strategie hanteert bij het creëren van content, waar dat vorig jaar nog 74% was. Slechts 33% van de ondervraagden heeft die contentstrategie ook daadwerkelijk gedocumenteerd, evenveel als vorig jaar. Dat is problematisch in een vakgebied waar professionals vooruit willen, aantoonbaar willen bijdragen aan organisatiedoelen en kennis intern willen delen. Hoe kun je immers schaalbaar kennis delen als je niets gedocumenteerd hebt?

2. Social media content onverminderd populair

Content is er in alle vormen en maten, maar wie contentmarketing zegt, zegt toch vooral social media. Dat is in 2020 niet anders. Social media posts en stories zijn nog altijd de populairste contentvorm (94%), gevolgd door blogposts (80%) en e-mails (74%). 

Contentvormen die B2C-organisaties in het afgelopen jaar hebben gebruikt

3. We betalen vaker voor contentverspreiding

Door social media algoritmes ontkom je er bijna niet meer aan: betalen voor vertoningen. Als je er zeker van wilt zijn dat een bepaalde post aan een groot publiek wordt voorgeschoteld, moet je nu eenmaal in de buidel tasten. Dat doen we in ons vak steeds vaker.

Vorig jaar had nog 68% minstens één keer voor contentdistributie betaald, dit jaar is dat al 85%. Binnen deze groep werd social media advertising het meest gebruikt: 89% zette dat kanaal betaald in.

4. Facebook met afstand grootste social platform

Als je 1000 consumenten vraagt naar het populairste social media platform op dit moment, zal je niet vaak ‘Facebook’ te horen krijgen. Het is toch juist de tijd van Instagram, TikTok en YouTube? Dat zien we althans in de jaarlijkse gebruikscijfers van social media.

Zakelijk ontstaat echter een heel ander beeld. Hoewel ook Instagram en YouTube voor B2C-contentmarketeers belangrijke social media geworden zijn, is Facebook nog steeds de absolute nummer één. 96% van de organisaties gebruikt het platform voor organische (gratis) contentverspreiding. Hoewel consumenten er niet meer heel actief op posten, blijft het platform bezoekers trekken en daar maken contentmarketeers dus dankbaar gebruik van.

Social media platformen die B2C-organisaties in het afgelopen jaar hebben gebruikt voor organische contentverspreiding

Ook in betaalde contentverspreiding is Facebook alleenheerser. Van de respondenten die in het afgelopen jaar adverteerden op social media, gebruikte maar liefst 95% daarvoor Facebook. Instagram kan enigszins aanhaken; 53% van de respondenten gaf aan weleens te betalen om content te tonen op het platform. Dat is een flink contrast met bijvoorbeeld Twitter. Hoewel 71% van de organisaties Twitter gebruikt voor de gratis verspreiding van content, kiest slechts 16% van de adverteerders voor dat medium.

Social media platformen die B2C-organisaties in het afgelopen jaar hebben gebruikt voor betaalde contentverspreiding

Facebook is niet alleen het meest gekozen platform, maar contentmarketeers zijn er ook het meest succesvol. De respondenten selecteerden Facebook als het platform dat voor hen het meeste contentmarketing-resultaat opleverde, zowel betaald als organisch.

5. Analysetools steeds populairder

Social media publishing- en planningtools zijn voor contentmarketeers natuurlijk onmisbaar. Geen wonder dat dit soort software ook in 2020 verreweg de meest gebruikte in het vak is. Opvallend is echter vooral de opmars van (website-)analysetools. Die werden begin 2019 nog door 71% van de contentmarketeers gebruikt, inmiddels is dat al 83%.

De ontwikkeling onderstreept het groeiende belang van analyse en verantwoording. Je kunt niet meer zomaar content creëren en hopen dat die het gewenste effect heeft behaald. Je moet resultaten kunnen aantonen, laten zien wat je werkzaamheden waard zijn.

Sterker nog, je zou eigenlijk van tevoren al moeten kunnen voorspellen dat je content succesvol gaat zijn. Je moet je kunnen verantwoorden, uitleggen waarom jouw content de te investeren tijd waard is. Daarvoor is onderzoek naar je doelgroep en markt nodig. Het is daarom perfect te verklaren dat vorig jaar uit hetzelfde onderzoek al bleek dat social media listening de populairste onderzoekstechnologie is. 70% van de content marketeers maakte er toen gebruik van.

6. Vooral creatie van content wordt uitbesteed

Organisaties zijn flink verdeeld over de vraag of het slim is om van contentmarketing uit te besteden of niet. 55% kiest ervoor om (delen) van contentmarketing uit te besteden, de overige 45% doet het niet. Daar is dus geen duidelijke voorkeur in te bekennen.

Van de organisaties die niet alles in-house doen, is er één onderdeel dat verreweg het vaakst wordt uitbesteed: 80% kiest ervoor om contentcreatie (deels) bij anderen te beleggen. Op plek twee staat de verspreiding van content (37%), gevolgd door de technologie achter content (27%). 

7. Content ondersteunt vooral awareness-fase

Content kan in elke fase van de klantreis waarde toevoegen. In de praktijk blijkt dat B2C-organisaties content vooral inzetten voor top-funnel doelen: aandacht trekken en interesse opwekken. Slechts 12% van de content is bedoeld om bestaande klanten te laten terugkeren of als klant te behouden.

Contentmarketing is springlevend

Het onderzoek van CMI onderstreept maar weer eens dat contentmarketing een volwassen discipline is die niet zomaar meer van het strijdtoneel gaat verdwijnen. Het rapport laat echter ook zien dat er nog verbeterkansen zijn. Door het gebruik van een gedocumenteerde strategie die aansluit op je organisatiedoelen, in combinatie met de juiste analysetools, kun je de waarde van content intern nog beter gaan aantonen.

Why do I need a content strategy?

Some content marketing experts recommend starting with a content planning. A content planning is the little brother of a content strategy and deals with practical matters: what content is created by whom, when is it published, and where is it distributed?

The risk of this practical approach is that content may miss the bigger goal. Does your content actually contribute to organizational goals? Does the content contain a consistent message and appeal to a desired audience? A content planning is simply not designed to answer these essential questions.

That's why a content strategy is fundamental to successful (content) marketing. Most organizations have such a content strategy (73% in both B2C and B2B), but in about half of the cases, it is not documented on paper or shared with colleagues. The result? Less consistent content, less structured content, and less goal-oriented content. A refreshed, widely embraced content strategy is therefore not a luxury. It’s a must!

Here's how to start with your content strategy:

The steps for your content strategy 

A strategy should move from paper to practice as quickly as possible. In our view, a content strategy is not a pile of endless paperwork, but a summary of the choices you make in 4 short steps. You can be as ambitious with it as you want:
 

1. Set objectives

The first step in creating your content strategy is setting objectives. It’s essential: only when you know what you want to achieve with content you can evaluate whether you have achieved those results.

Goals also provide focus and give direction to the content you will ultimately create. The most achieved objectives with content marketing are increased brand awareness (80% of organizations achieve this goal with content marketing), trust (72%), customer loyalty (59%), and stimulating demand for products or services (47%).

2. Know your audience

In this phase, you describe your audience. You have set a goal to achieve something with a group of people, so you need to know who these people are, what drives them, and through which media you can reach them.

A handy tool for this is creating a persona, in this case, your ideal content consumer. Who would you most like to reach with your content? Social listening is a great way to get to know your audience.

When you start creating content with this perfect audience in mind, you will see that the audience you address increasingly resembles the ideal picture.
 

3. Key message

The key message is the essence that should be the common thread running through all of your content. From blog posts to videos and from whitepapers to podcast episodes. The best content crosses the intersection of what you can tell, what your audience wants to hear, and what your competition is not telling yet. In other words:  the 'sweet spot.'

Tip: the 'message house' model can help load and give substance to your core message.
 

4. Pick the right channels

If you have finished the previous steps, choosing the right channels is nothing more than a logical next step. Through your audience description, you know where to find your ideal audience and what their media usage is. Make sure which social media channels match your audience, for example. Also think of channels such as email, advertising, etc.

You publish content in one place by default - usually your website - where you direct your audience through various channels. For optimal distribution of your content, consider SEO, email, and social media.

Also, check out our webinar where we explain how to create a successful content strategy in 4 steps.

Implementation of your content strategy

If you look at a content strategy as a plotted route, the execution phase is the actual journey. Do you also need structure in this phase? Use the following 4 steps in a content plan to structurize the execution part of your strategy. 
 

1. Content inspiration

With a well-filled backpack of inspiration and ideas, you can move on to the next step: creating and publishing content. Most organizations choose to use a healthy mix of different types of content, depending on their goal in the content strategy and the preferences of their audience.

2. Content creation

Met een goed gevulde rugzak aan inspiratie en ideeën kun je naar de volgende stap: het daadwerkelijk creëren en publiceren van content. De meeste organisaties kiezen ervoor om een gezonde mix van de 6 verschillende contentsoorten te gebruiken, afhankelijk van hun de doelstelling in de contentstrategie en de wensen van hun publiek.

3. Content distribution

The third phase of the implementation is about distributing and making your content findable, through the channels determined in the content strategy phase. In general, social media are part of your channels because they are particularly suitable for increasing reach, interaction, and website traffic. Optimize your content strategically to get the best possible results through these channels.

To keep this distribution time-efficient and organized, almost every content marketer uses a social media planner, such as Publish in Coosto.

4. Community management

The fourth and final step of the execution phase is often forgotten or skipped: engaging with your audience. And that is quite strange, given that we have all learned that good communication is never one-way traffic. This also applies to content marketing.

Moreover, the major goals set in your content strategy (more customer loyalty, more interest in your product, more authority, etc.) can never be achieved after reading or watching a single blog or video. Repeated contact is needed for that, and you will have to involve your audience more explicitly in your content. In other words: community management.

Need help organizing and managing all interactions via social media, messengers, and live chat? Engage in Coosto provides the solution!

Evaluation of your content strategy

A brief evaluation of the content strategy and execution phase is a must in every content marketing process. Now is the time to sharpen your route so that you can achieve your goal more effectively and efficiently next time.

1. Measure the impact

Does a certain channel consistently reach more people than the other? Does one format significantly resonate better than another? Measure your impact, draw conclusions at least monthly, and possibly adjust your strategy accordingly.
Start this evaluation with your owned media. These are the channels where you are in control, such as your social media business accounts. Be result-driven and focus on the KPIs that tell you whether you are on the right track to achieve your goals. Data can be abundant, and the trick is to focus on relevant metrics for your goals and objectives.

Earned media is attention that external sources, authors, and channels generate for your content. Think of news media taking over your content, social media accounts sharing or linking to your content spontaneously, or people writing a positive review about your latest podcast.

Measure the complete impact (owned and earned) of your content strategy with our media monitor: Listen in Coosto.

2. Reporting

It is good to know the impact of your content; it is even better to share it. By involving colleagues, management, and other stakeholders in the results you achieve with your content, you create support. You show what concrete results content marketing produces, and you can demonstrate the ROI. Reports also help to keep an overview, and they give you opportunities to find concrete improvement points for your content strategy to work on immediately.

Tip: use Report in Coosto to bring together figures from different platforms, such as Google Analytics 4 and social media, and sources in clear reports and dashboards.

Next steps 

Successfully completed all 10 steps? Well done! You have systematically approached your new content strategy, execution, and evaluation of content marketing. This way, you have ensured yourself of content success, starting today.