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At TBI, we regularly attend events in marketing and publishing to keep up with the latest industry changes, developments, and technology.
The B2B Marketing Expo brings together industry experts, thought leaders, and professionals in marketing to discuss all things content, data privacy, social media, artificial intelligence (AI), and more. Here Amelia Jones, Senior Digital Marketing Executive shares her key takeaways from this year’s event which took place at the ExCel London, 29-30 November 2023.
Killer content tips
There were several sessions, including those led by Andy Johnson, Founder and Head of Client Strategy at HUT 3 and Brandon Baum, CEO at StudioB, that reinforced the power and importance of content marketing for increased engagement.
Align content to objectives
In your strategy, content should be clearly aligned to specific objectives, for example to raise awareness or drive consideration. Your messaging and call to action should differ by objective.
The research [first] phase
Speakers recommend taking a data-driven approach to content marketing: utilise your social management tools such as Hootsuite to look at historic data to answer the key questions, what content has worked well in the past and what hasn’t? You can also discover trending topics and keywords in your niche, for example using BuzzSumo, to inform your content strategy.
Repurpose for efficiency
Repurposing overarching content such as a white paper ensures you get more mileage from your content. Break it down into smaller assets such as an interactive infographic, banner ads, images for social etc., to save time and resources. Johnson referenced that an impressive 44 assets were created from a single piece of content.
AI tools
AI certainly has its place in the planning phase – tools such as ChatGPT and Mid-journey can provide inspiration and a starting point for content ideas and creation. We’ll be sharing more tips on using AI for content writers early next year.
Getting the most from video
Video remains a great format for increasing engagement. In a session with Darryl Praill, CMO at Agorapulse, we heard that 33% of marketers are incorporating short-form video content into their strategies, marking a significant trend. Andy Johnson and Brandon Baum had more excellent tips in their session, specifically for video creators.
Short-form videos
The first frame of your video is the new thumbnail. Be sure to include your hook, deliver a promise and set an expectation in the first frame so the user continues to watch.
Glued to your content
Focus on ever-engaging content – the longer you keep the user on your video on social, the more likely the algorithm will favour and serve your content again.
Dual focus – dual engagement
Multitasking can enhance user stimulation and in turn engagement, therefore test a dual focus approach, for example incorporate two focuses in one video.
The cookie crumbles
There was a fantastic and educational session on navigating a ‘cookieless’ future with Ben Wood, Director of Growth and Innovation at Hallam. Measurement of marketing performance continues to be the biggest challenge for marketers, and soon will be even more of a challenge as privacy legislation advances and third-party cookies are phased out in 2024. How we adapt to the ‘privacy first era’ is at the forefront of our minds.
Moving from an era of precision to prediction/projection
With a reduced percentage of traffic on site trackable, Google and Adobe will need to fill in the analytics gaps. Google will be using machine learning to predict data once third-party cookies are phased out.
Contextual targeting for online advertising
There will be a shift towards contextual targeting, which places ads on specific websites and digital platforms based on relevant topics and keywords, rather than targeting based on demographics and relying on personal data.
The importance of first-party data
First-party data, owned and collected through user consent when visiting your site, will be of the utmost importance. Businesses will need to invest in and incentivise the process of requesting consent.
Diversify your data sources
Don’t rely on one data source – instead use the data available on multiple platforms including social (Meta Insights), CRMs, and Mailchimp to build the bigger picture.
Social media
Darryl Praill’s session honed in on the prevalence of social media, identified as HubSpot’s #1 marketing channel.
The rise of social advertising
A Gartner report shows a 53% increase in investment in social advertising in 2023, the greatest increase compared to other channels.
Be sure to monitor changes in the social landscape, both organic and paid – paying specific attention to the uncertainty of X.
Prioritise and conquer with a social audit
Businesses who are active across multiple social channels and trying to keep up with emerging channels should consider a social audit to understand where their community is most active and inform a social strategy amidst the changing landscape.
We look forward to putting our key takeaways into action and monitoring the industry as no doubt more changes are on the horizon!
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