Content Marketing World Event Q&A with R. Wilson
Our Art Director, Rachel Wilson, had the opportunity to attend Content Marketing World last week in Cleveland. The event showcased knowledgeable experts across a range of content marketing topics from SEO to UX to blogging and more. Luckily for us, Rachel came back to tell us all about it!
What kind of event did you attend, and what sorts of things did it feature?
Content Marketing World 2022 was a 4-day event with different sessions, workshops and forums with presentations from content marketing leaders and experts from around the globe.
The convention center in downtown Cleveland had over 25 breakout rooms, three large presentation halls and an expo floor featuring the event’s sponsors. There was even a chill indoor “backyard” area with hammocks and live jazz music playing on the expo floor.
With a steady supply of meals, snacks, coffee and tea, there were all kinds of opportunities to network and chat with people. The whole week had over 100+ sessions to choose from on a range of topics at different levels like beginner, intermediate and advanced.
What was your biggest takeaway from the event?
I think they really did a great job emphasizing the importance of finding the purpose of your marketing. Something that goes deeper than simply trying to sell. Speakers stressed that knowing your audience isn’t enough and to fulfill your audience your content must address their needs.
What were your favorite highlights from the event?
There were loads of highlights!
There were lots of interesting speakers. I got a chance to meet Jonathan Kranz, owner of Kranz Communications after his “Success through Simplicity: Content Strategy for the Real World” session.
Another interesting session was about understanding the Gen Z audience and how the social landscape is already shifting as they age.
A cool added bonus was the afterparty at the Cleveland Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame! It was a very cool opportunity to hang out and meet others.
Overall, it was inspiring to see the amount of experts who want to make a difference by sharing their content marketing advice while getting to know other like-minded makers.
You mentioned you met Jonathan Kranz and heard his session on content strategy, “Success through Simplicity: Content Strategy for the Real World”, what insights can you provide from that session?
He mostly talked about what a successful content strategy looks like by covering his three steps to a successful strategy.
First is knowledge of your buyer, not demographics but understanding how and why they buy.
Second is hitting the sweet spot of relevance which means content creation must fall under your experience & expertise and also what a potential buyer wants to learn about your brand.
And third is learning & adjusting throughout the process. This step is all about execution and strategy, but your time and effort mostly needs to be spent on execution. Then, you adjust how you’re using your content to solve business problems.
So failure looks like over-planning and chasing shadows with the strategy rooted in “dreams,” while success looks like organic growth, and maintaining focus with the strategy rooted in insights. Additionally, a successful strategy achieves business goals effectively & repeatedly.
Kranz also had some suggestions for content creators like building a community through an online forum, leveraging unique research, annexing an expert’s authority over subject matter expertise and playing the contrarian by challenging conventional wisdom.
You hinted that you gained a better understanding of advertising for Gen Z. What were some important pointers from that session?
Yes! I liked this session a lot. It was called “Content for Gen Z” presented by Lenox Powell, Content Director at SEMrush. She stressed that this generation wants advertising that is authentic, pragmatic, visual-first and even utilizes virtual technology experiences.
In addition, there are bigger shifts happening on social media where platforms focused on short-form videos are key to engaging the Gen Z audience.
Powell positioned these changes as a new opportunity, allowing marketers to think differently in their approach and get as creative as necessary to attract the next loyal base.
I think what really struck me was the advice to consider TikTok research over Google’s because in many cases this generation prefers a TikTok search over a Google search. That's a big shift in behavior. On top of that, since Google began indexing Instagram and TikTok videos, long tail keywords, especially ones using terms like “best”, “cheap” & “how-to,” are becoming essential for search appearances.
Powell also mentioned how this generation prefers an informal, friendly tone of voice in their advertising. Of the Gen-Z’s polled, 52% say they want to be informed, 35% say media talks down to them and 37% hate clickbait.
Which session did you learn the most from?
One of the topics I had really been looking forward to was learning more about blogs. Notably, the session called “The Blogger Mindset — Make 10X the Content, 10X Faster” with Mike Allton, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Agorapulse, had great insights.
Allton suggests choosing an idea tracking tool like Google Notes or Evernote that has real-time syncing collaboration to make content creation smoother.
He also stressed the importance of a concept called “News-Jacking” where you use current news, events and trends to promote and drive awareness. But before you decide to News-Jack you must be able to say yes to most if not all of these questions: Is my audience interested? Am I interested? Can I add value to the conversation? Do I have the time? Is now a good time?
Additionally, Allton discussed how to make content spark, meaning it should support each stage of the buyer’s journey, which in this case he framed with the acronym AIDA: Awareness, Interest, Decision, Action.
Content that sparks should choose a featured image that is connected to the content with an image URL. These images can be GIFs, charts, graphs or infographics. Once you’ve chosen your media, strategically place it within your content, breaking it up visually. If you use a video, make sure to embed the video.
Once you’re ready to publish, you may need to do some keyword research on your content for optimization. Other ways to optimize your content could include making the content shareable across multiple platforms or making the content discoverable by linking relevant articles together.
If possible, would you attend this event next year and what advice would you give for a newcomer?
If possible, I’d definitely come back next year.
Even if it’s your first time, the main thing I would do differently is try to network more beforehand. I missed the opportunity to get more involved through CMW’s channels like their website and social properties. If you follow their channels and start engaging with their content, you can stay-in-the-know, begin networking online and even arrange to meet in person at the event.
I’d also recommend tag teaming because even though there were a lot of sessions sometimes there is overlap in two or more areas, so you can cover more ground and share what you learned from the sessions with others.
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