I repurposed some of our popular content into a video using Lumen 5, a video automation tool.
Have you heard of Lumen 5? It’s a cool website that turns your blog posts into videos in a matter of minutes. You simply enter a URL of an existing post, and it automatically selects text and creates slides with relevant photos. You can edit the text as necessary and swap out photos from a vast library, then select music to go along with the slideshow. And you can even swap colors and add your logo for a little bit of branding.
Super user friendly. Really quick. Did I mention that the most basic functionalities are free?
Video and automation: Two of my favorite words!
I’m always looking for ways to repurpose some of our best content or just present it in a new way. So when my colleague came across Lumen 5 the other day (true story, they are not paying me for this plug), it seemed like an easy tool for doing so.
If you read this blog regularly, you know that I believe all businesses — even supply chain and logistics businesses — should be considering video as a part of their content marketing strategies. Most don’t have the time or budget to do something professional. So automation tools like Lumen 5 offer an interesting opportunity to delve into video without a big investment.
Something else we’re big on at Fronetics? Automation. It’s tricky with marketing because marketing requires a lot of strategic thinking, analysis, and creativity, which really can’t be automated. So any tools that do help automate any part of your creative or editorial processes are a good find.
All this being said, I did do quite a bit of editing and perfecting of the video below. But I was pretty impressed with the original video that Lumen 5 created from my post before I started working on it, too. Features like the text select and image suggestions speed up the editing process, so all in all, I probably spent 20-30 minutes making a video. Not bad!
Video: How Often to Post on Social Media
For our inaugural Lumen 5 video, I decided to use one of our most popular posts, This Is How Often B2B Companies Should Post on Social Media. It’s a question that we get all the time, and I felt the content worked in both the more robust blog post format and the hyper-shortened (about 1 minute) Lumen 5 video format.
Here it is:
What do you think? Do you use any video tools that are free/cheap and fast?
Use the first months to lay a solid foundation for your content marketing program so it can begin generating leads and sales.
So you decided it was time to jump into the content marketing game. You’ve been crafting the perfect content. You’re posting on a regular basis. You’ve identified your target audience and have been researching keywords. You’ve even learned a thing or two about SEO.
But you have no leads or sales to speak of. And your boss is breathing down your neck for results, FAST. Is it time to throw in the towel? Absolutely not!
Content marketing is a long-term solution that helps businesses build brand awareness, grow their audience, and generate new leads and sales. But, like any good relationship, it takes time and effort to achieve results. You shouldn’t give up before the seeds you sow have time to bear fruit.
To understand the time table for content marketing, let’s look at some markers for the first six months.
Month one
Learn about your target audience and understand their needs.
In order to get the ball rolling in content marketing, you have to understand who you are trying to reach. It’s important to think holistically when considering who you are trying to reach at a potential prospects’ company. Typically, your target audience falls into two categories: Primary (decision makers) and Secondary (influencers of the decision maker). Going one step further, you need to identify your target audience’s needs and pain points so that you can direct your content marketing strategy at creating awareness around those needs.
Document a content marketing strategy.
You would never operate your business without 1) creating a strategy, 2) documenting it, and 3) following the strategy. A content marketing strategy outlines the methods by which you will target, reach, and engage your audience. Research and execution of these tasks can be quite complex. Writing out a plan and assigning appropriate resources can offer clarity and guidance to your organization throughout the course of your program.
When you are creating and curating content for your business, focus on original content that stands out to current and prospective customers. Valuable and relevant content is not a sales pitch. Rather, it is content that communicates valuable information to customers and prospects so that they have the knowledge to make more informed decisions. Moreover, it is content that establishes your business as a reliable source of knowledge — as the thought leader within the industry.
Promote content on multiple channels.
Understanding your target audience and which social media platforms they’re using is invaluable information. If you want to reach potential and current customers, you need to be where they are. You need to make it easy for them to find you and to engage with your business. And if your competitors are already active on social media, start by finding out where. If these platforms align with your ideal customer, don’t be afraid to kick start your social media presence alongside them.
Month six
Analyze your performance.
Track and analyze your metrics on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis. Take a look at what is working and what is not. By tracking and analyzing your metrics you can see, for example, what type of content is most effective and which distribution channels are helping you achieve your goals. You’ll also be able to find opportunities for improvement. Look at the feedback you are getting through your engagement with customers and prospects, and make adjustments to your strategy as needed.
Expand your content creation.
If you’re focused on growing your business or creating awareness through the creation of engaging content, then you need to be ready to try new things. Have you been successful with blogging and Facebook posts? Then it’s time to try making videos and joining Twitter. And don’t be afraid to pull from other worthy sources. Content curation will serve to establish your business as a trusted resource and increase your brand visibility, all without over-promoting yourself.
Remember that when it comes to content marketing, it is important to think: marathon not sprint. An effective content strategy requires patience and determination. Many companies make the mistake of giving up on a content strategy too early. Give your relationship with content marketing time to play out, and don’t be afraid to adjust your strategy along the way if you find some things are working better than others.
Our resources for supply chain marketers include step-by-step DIY guides, industry reports, marketing templates, and case studies.
Here at Fronetics, we specialize in digital and content marketing for supply chain and logistics businesses. We understand the unique needs and challenges facing these companies, particularly when it comes to the consistent, strategic creation of content.
I try to provide regular tips, updates, and how-tos on this blog for those of you hoping to improve your marketing efforts. But sometimes our readers need a little more in-depth guidance. That’s why we have created a number of different resources for supply chain marketers.
Below, you’ll find a list and a summary of our 10 most popular resources. Included are step-by-step guides, industry reports, templates, case studies and more. These resources offer information on subjects from building a content strategy to creating better content to social media use among supply chain businesses.
I hope you enjoy! And, as always, if you don’t see what you’re looking for, please email me and let me know. I’m always seeking new ideas for content that will be helpful for supply chain marketers.
10 resources for supply chain marketers
Use these 10 resources to create a multi-channel content strategy that maximizes your digital reach. After all, a well-developed content strategy and social media presence will help prospects to find you, buyers to know you, and customers to trust you.
1) How the Logistics and Supply Chain Industries are Using Social Media
Fronetics conducted a survey of individuals within the logistics and supply chain industries. The objective of the survey was to gain insight into the use of social media within these industries. Specifically, to learn more about why companies within the logistics and supply chain industries are using social media, the benefits they have realized, and challenges they have encountered.
2) Social Media and the Logistics and Supply Chain Industries 2016
Companies within the supply chain and logistics industries have begun to recognize the value of social media — and are starting to reap the benefits. Both large and small businesses alike can profit from the use of social technologies as part of their marketing strategy, and they can reduce their marketing costs by doing so. This white paper defines social media and social technologies, identifies users and usage patterns, and describes some of the benefits that companies within the logistics and supply chain industries can realize through participation.
3) 3PL Cerasis Acquires 98 New Customers through Content Marketing
This case study looks at Cerasis, a leading freight logistics company. Despite realizing positive growth for 15 years, Cerasis was not attracting larger and more sophisticated shippers, brand awareness was low, and most importantly, they were not perceived as a leader within the industry. A content marketing strategy — inclusive of participation in social media and content creation, curation, and distribution — led to 14% increased revenue, 14% increase in lead-to-customer conversion rate, and over a 1000% increase in web and social traffic.
4) Monthly Marketing Reporting Template
Tracking and monitoring certain marketing metrics helps you quantify the progress of your marketing program. But you can also measure the ROI and make changes to your strategy to make it more effective. Use this report template to optimize your strategy, produce monthly reports, and create presentations.
5) Content Use in the Logistics and Supply Chain Industries
Content marketing has transformed the way businesses connect and share relevant information with their audiences. The publication and distribution of content is a strategy now widely used by supply chain companies to build trust and influence among peers, prospects and customers. Through a survey conducted on the use of content within the logistics and supply chain industries, this report offers broad insight into the overall role and influence of content.
6) Content Marketing Guide for the Logistics and Supply Chain Industries
Despite all its benefits, content marketing isn’t so easy. In fact, supply chain and logistics companies report that creating and executing an effective content marketing strategy is a top challenge for their businesses. In response, we developed this guide. It will help you create a strategy that will attract your target audience and drive profitable customer action.
7) Content Strategy Template
An effective content marketing strategy is one that is aligned with your company’s business goals and objectives. Furthermore, an effective content marketing strategy focuses on attracting and engaging prospects. All created, curated, and distributed content should target your ideal customer. Use this template to help develop and drive your content strategy.
8) On Writing Good Content: A Guide for the Logistics and Supply Chain
27 million pieces of content are shared every day. And most if it isn’t worth reading. To attract readers, your content must stand out. You must be strategic about how often you publish, where you distribute, and, most importantly, the quality of the content your produce. This guide will help you learn the basic principles of good content. It will also help identify content creators within your organization and brainstorm ideas for original and effective content.
9) Blog Editorial Calendar Template
This template is designed to keep you on track as you develop content that will attract and engage your prospects and customers. It will help you map out your content in a strategic manner, maximize productivity, and keep you organized. It includes weekly and monthly worksheets, as well as an ideas worksheet for tracking blog post ideas.
10) 12 Elements of an Effective Content Marketing Strategy
Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. Interest in content marketing has climbed steadily since 2011, but a 2017 survey of 6,000+ global marketers found that 71% considered it their primary approach to marketing (76% in North America). This slideshow walks you through 12 elements of an effective strategy to achieve the best results for your business.
When it comes to social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, post once a day to improve engagement and visibility.
There has been endless research about the sweet spot for posting frequency to social media sites. The results all point to the same conclusion: there is no one-size-fits-all answer. You have to distribute content consistently over time, at the right time and in the right place for your business.
That being said, we at Fronetics do have some informed, data-based opinions about posting frequency for certain social media platforms. For example, we’ve written extensively about our Twitter experiment, in which we found that tweeting 40 times per day works best for us and most of our clients.
But for other platforms, we find that more doesn’t equal better. In fact, it can often equal worse. Let me explain why.
Why you should be posting less on Facebook and LinkedIn
We strongly believe that most B2B companies should post no more than one time per day on Facebook and LinkedIn. We also suggest that businesses only post during the workweek on LinkedIn. That is because of the way people use these networks — and because of how the platforms’ algorithms value content.
Firstly, though we’d like for prospects to be thinking of our brands constantly, they don’t. And they don’t want to. Think of that one family member that inundates your newsfeeds with posts. Though you might have liked to see a photo from that person now and again, the inappropriate posting frequency causes you to think negatively about each post you see.
And you are a business, not a family member. When you post too frequently, your business loses credibility, and followers view your posts as spam. Even on LinkedIn, which is a network for professional content, over-posting leads to disengagement.
Remember that the lifespan of a Facebook post is about 5 hours, and with LinkedIn, it’s even longer. (One of the first posts on my feed right now is from 5 days ago.) So you don’t need to provide a constant stream of content to get your audience’s attention. Your focus should be distributing the most relevant, interesting content you can. Which is related to the second reason we recommend posting only once a day on these networks: algorithms.
Facebook estimates that each user’s newsfeed must filter 1,500 possible stories from friends and pages every day. Ain’t nobody got time for that! So Facebook, like LinkedIn and other networks, uses an algorithm to determine the content you’d like to see most, based on feedback you provide. That feedback comes from actions you take: hiding posts, liking and sharing posts, and commenting, for example. It even considers how often your friends and the world at large engage with a post. This helps the algorithm filter down to the approximately 300 stories per day on your newsfeed.
All this means that the more engagement you can get on your posts, the more likely they are to be one of the 300 (in other words, appear in the newsfeeds of your followers). The more often you post, the less likely you are to foster engagement, diluting your chances of success and visibility.
So how can you increase likes and comments on your Facebook and LinkedIn posts?
Here are 3 tips for improving your posts to foster engagement.
1) Be strategic.
Instead of sharing content or publishing on an ad hoc basis, create a strategy and schedule to manage posting on social media. Work ahead of time so that you can evaluate what you’re posting from a 10,000-foot perspective. But be flexible enough so that you can always sub out scheduled content for breaking news or content related to current events when it makes sense.
2) Craft better posts.
Spend less time crafting a lot of posts, and more time producing quality content your audience will value. I recently talked about the 10x content rule. If your content is better than everything else that’s out there, people will gravitate to it.
3) Be smart about when.
When you’re only posting once a day, it’s important to make every post count. Use built-in and third-party analytics tools to determine when your followers are using these platforms. Schedule your posts to publish just before the greatest time of active use.
At the end of the day, there’s a fine line between annoying your social followers and remaining top of mind. Maintaining a dynamic and fluid posting strategy will ensure that your social efforts drive followers to action, rather than drive them away.
This post comes to us from Adam Robinson of Cerasis, a top freight logistics company and truckload freight broker.
The digital supply chain is basically a term that defines a supply chain whose foundation is built on web-enabled capabilities. At the moment, many systems are hybrid, meaning that supply chains normally use a mix of paper-based and IT-enabled processes. In its definition, real or true digital supply chain management goes beyond the conventional hybrid system and makes use of connectivity, system integration, and the information-producing capabilities of its key components.
In essence, digital supply chains aim to minimize waste and bring greater profits, whilst being a truly efficient system. Just remember, like asking for writers’ help to minimize the waste of your time, such a system will bring about benefits — like savings in basically every area, meaning better utilization of time and money, not forgetting a drastically reduced environmental impact. Unrivaled efficiency and better client connection will be realized by the employment of technology to aid the functionality of such a system. Examples of such technologies are GPS tracking, barcodes, radio frequency identification (RFlD), smart labels and wireless sensor networks. In such a setup, performance and data security are key, and, as such, cloud technologies working with web services to provide efficient collaboration and trade partner visibility.
In the course of operation, the business is exposed at multiple points across its stages of supply chain. Complexities are evident even in highly integrated organizations, which can have thousands of suppliers, with the range of transactions making it really difficult to track what is being supplied and when, making supplier risk management limited. With such a situation, there is poor visibility of risk areas, and the impact of such if not properly handled poses a threat.
Below are the easy steps that will help one take a relatively easy and flexible approach in making your digital supply chain management balanced and resilient. The result will enable companies to have a fully modeled network that helps you deal with disruptions in the supply chain, even anticipate them. It will enable adjustment of the system as conditions change, making it flexible and adaptable.
For a truly successful transformation of the existing system into a digital one, development of an orderly process to implement and integrate the necessary technologies is key. This is to avoid unnecessary delays and interruption in the delicate process of upgrading an existing, operational system.
Follow these steps for digital supply chain management
1) Understand your starting position and the risk involved.
This is the very first step. It is important to realize the current situation of the supply chain, what risk each supplier brings, and assess feasibility. The significance of each potential risk is weighed, and you have to formulate solutions on how such possible complications can be offset. Once you properly understand the risk involved, it becomes much easier to take proactive steps and set up preventive frameworks in a timely manner.
At this stage, you will assess the maturity of your suppliers and the overall risk posed.
2) Define your strategy and be open from the outset.
At this point, you will have known about the effects of potential changes, and you then encourage dialogue with the business entities involved and create a comfort zone where they can be honest with the common goal that you want a system that will benefit both sides. The use of dialogue will show inclusiveness and build the existing trust and confidence between you and your business partners. This exchange will also shed some light on what is likely to work for both sides and provides the basis for how the foundation should be set.
These early discussions will also ensure that the digital management system will suit your needs and the needs of the suppliers and other business partners. At its core, it is a system that will not be a square peg in a round hole. Understandably, suppliers will be concerned about the risk of losing you as a client if they voice concerns and potential risks. Therefore these initial discussions are critical, as they put everyone at ease and are all-inclusive. The suppliers will also broaden your idea on what the system needs and what components need to be in place for it to be a resounding success.
3) Have a sustainable, long-term approach.
Have measures in place that will aid your system in the long term. Take proactive steps to ensure system stability over time and in varying business and financial conditions. A reactive approach is susceptible to interruptions, delays, and, at times, system shut down. This cautious and forward-thinking procedure safeguards your business from such unnecessary unpleasantness.
It is important to realize that the incentive to save money can prompt individuals and organizations to introduce measures that pose significant risks whilst focusing on the short-term benefits. It is, therefore, very important to cover all bases and see the bigger picture, as sustainability is a core value of all good business entities.
4) Conduct proper research and analysis.
A good supply chain is resilient and delivers the desired and expected returns. It is therefore of vital importance that you invest time in supplier analysis. Set up a contract with proper knowledge of just how aware your suppliers are of the potential risks involved. As much as suppliers are expected to do their own risk analysis, it doesn’t mean that they necessarily are.
All questions about expectations and mutual obligations should be answered by this point.
5) Segmented roll out and capability development
After the digital supply chain management system has been formulated, it is brought into action in phases, employing all the various insights acquired. A pilot project is set up and its success reviewed. After a successful pilot, the roll out should start with those supply chains where expected returns are the highest to ensure maximum returns right from the start. It is important to note that system capabilities will be expected to evolve over the course of the roll out due to the dynamic nature of today’s business environment.
