Shaun Hill

Shaun Hill

Our Authors

Shaun Hill

Head of Content

About this Author

Shaun's skills span Digital Strategy, Copywriting, Content Marketing, Digital PR and Marketing.

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Content Marketing in 2019 and Beyond

A new year always sparks conversations about what’s next? What does the future look like? Here at iProspect we’re always looking at what is next for our specialisms. In terms of content, this year will not see any dramatic changes, but the channel will build on what has already happened. How are brands using content? Brands are currently using content to show expertise in areas relating to their business and they’re competing with publishers in producing high quality content. On the note of production, it is now not unusual for brands to produce content using things like drones or even creating white papers and magazines. How do content and SEO work together? The way in which SEO is going, content will be more important than ever before. Search intent and the way that the SERPs are constantly evolving means that content without search consideration isn’t worth producing. SEO can drive effective qualified traffic through content and the way that Google updates the SERPs throws up increased opportunity to rank in different ways, through things such as featured snippets and answer boxes. Optimising content Search can really reveal a customer’s intent and it can be used to develop smarter content strategy. This can be done through many ways but you should consider the following: Extensive keyword research Analysing terms to map them to the user journey Using micro-moments to understand if people are in pre- or post-purchase Look at emerging keyword trends to get ahead Is it query based? 51% of customers purchased based on an answer being solved for them Content placement Incredibly important is exactly where the content exists in your ever evolving, confusing website’s ecosystem. You’d want to make sure all the following is applied: Effective internal linking Make the content section is clearly visible Drive people to your content through CRM, social and give indicators to it on your website where it makes sense Keep people on your website by making the section appealing, for example giving customers related stories or “if you’d like this, read this...” Google’s most recent update As most of us know Google moved to a mobile first index last year which will mean those who adapt a mobile friendly experience and site will conquer. Mobile isn’t new, mobile is the norm so you’ll need to make sure your website loads quickly, it was reported recently that websites with a page load of speed of more than 3 seconds lose 40% of consumers. Along with speed, your content needs to look good so think about those who are tabbing content and dual screening, they want content quick, easy to digest and you can do this easily just through things like subheadings and reasonable size images that don’t take forever to load. The future… We sat down with the CMA at the end of 2018 to talk through the future of content and a podcast will be coming its way to you very soon. Until then, here are some areas to think about for 2019: Thin and churn content is dead and quality content will prevail over poor content With this, things like long-form content, reports, and studies will continue to rise Technology will continue to develop and change and, come back into fashion (investigative content, podcasts etc.) Customers’ expectations grow year on year so the stakes are higher than ever People want more than just a brand, they want a brand with morals and content relating to brand values will be incredibly powerful The better the content and the more targeted the audience strategy, the more qualified traffic you’ll receive Overview Devices – crucial this is factored into any content created Technology – adopting advances in technology will help you stay head Reactive – being able to adopt your website to the changes in SERPs and industry will help you win Audiences – you must understand who it is you’re targeting before anything is pushed out Formats – think about what your audience needs and what the content message requires 0 4 min read

Q1 Content Marketing Wrap Up

We’ve had a busy first quarter at iProspect UK. This has resulted in multiple brainstorms and, you guessed it, lots of content being created. I'm going to talk through some of the key content formats we’ve worked on over the past three months with some exciting examples. Map based content By utilising maps iProspect UK have brought to life some of our most compelling stories. Traditionally map based content has been synonymous with travel brands, but it lends itself well when comparing locations or areas, therefore maps can be applied to a number of verticals. Using store, social and search data, iProspect UK plotted the rise of veganism in the UK for The Body Shop. The data revealed that Sheffield is the fastest growing city for vegans. Staying in the UK, we produced a tool for Fragrance Direct which would give you data on what water type is in your area and how it effects your hair. Further afield, we mapped the origins of music genres all over the world and revealed the USA to be the home of most music genres. Lastly, for Canvas Holidays we uncovered the safest places to drive in Europe. Denmark came out as the winner with the UK appearing in a mid-table at position (18). Pop Culture Producing content that taps into the cultural interests of consumers is a great way to keep your brand both topical and relevant. Additionally, if brands can tie the content into something reactive happening then you’re able to pitch that content into key media outlets to gain coverage in an area you’d be otherwise unknown for. As things such as music, TV, film and books take up a large portion of our everyday conversations it feels natural to fit those topics into content. Brands such as Innocent, KFC and supermarkets like Aldi or Lidl are often using huge cultural moments to elevate their brand and content. With the upcoming release of both Aladdin and Lion King, Music Magpie delved into the phenomenon of the remake. Analysing 100 years’ worth of film releases, the could reveal Scrooge has been remade more than any other. Staying with Music Magpie, did you ever wonder which TV game show was the most profitable for you? Well, it turns out Deal or No Deal has the highest chance of success but Who Wants to Be a Millionaire delivers the highest pay out. So, the next time you’re considering applying to a TV game show think strategically about where to apply. TV shows often turn out to be the starting place for Hollywood actors. Sir Ben Kingsley appeared in Coronation Street before going on to have an illustrious career but it is Neighbours which has generated the most movie stars from a single TV show. The Soap Star to Superstar piece by Kaleidoscope has Emmerdale as being the most unlikely place to start a Hollywood career. The bathroom is said to be one of the best places for creative thinking and Mira Showers revealed in their article on bathroom brainwaves many incredible statistics. To date, 25 UK Number One hits have been because of a brainwave in the bathroom. Four of the last ten Pulitzer Prize-winning novels have been conjured up whilst in the bath or shower. Fictional Content Hypothetical scenarios are a great way to generate fun and engaging content. For EON we took 10 kids ideas of the future house and reimagined them into real life homes. Again for EON, we wondered what would happen if some of the most incredible landmarks from history were built using today’s modern technology. Well, Stonehenge, which allegedly took 1,500 years to build, could be built in just one year using today’s technological advancements. Imagine booking a trip Arendelle Castle or Pride Rock? What would the posters look like for those places if they were real life tourist attractions? Well, Accor Hotels have designed them as if they were real life destinations to visit. Taking fictional places one step further, My Home Move Conveyancing put some of the most famous homes from Film and TV up for sale to see how much they would fetch in today’s market. Data Visualisation Last, but certainly not least. Data visualisation is one of our favourite ways to capture large datasets and turn them into engaging content. It always starts with a brainstorm and once we’ve agreed on a concept we look to see what publicly available datasets are available in which we could create a powerful story for. These next three examples use some very different datasets but all have helped us produce engaging content for the brands we work with. Starting with social data, which is always a great way to source what people are saying about a subject. Using tools such Brandwatch or Crimson Hexagon you’re able to drill down information about topics and in some cases the sentiment. For BetVictor, the idea was to discover which football managers generated the most discussion on Twitter and rank them. Unsurprisingly, Jose Mourinho had the most discussion of any other manager and most of it was classified as angry tweets. No wonder he lost his job... UK service stations, it’s a hot topic, in our offices and across the web. If you’re a Brit you will have your favourite service station, mine? Without a doubt, Beaconsfield. However, it turns out the number one service station based on food outlets, facilities available, parking spaces, hotel rating and more is Cobham off the M25. Want to find out where your favourite ranks? Check out the Northgate website for more. Buying your first home is apparently one of the most stressful things you can do. So pat yourself on the back if you’ve managed to do it. If you’ve not done it yet then Together Money have put together the best and worst places to be a first-time buyer. Unsurprisingly London does appear in the worst list, albeit not at the top, that position is occupied by Moscow in Russia. The best? That’s Brussels in Belgium. This was worked out taking into consideration transport costs, bills, price per square metre to buy, average salary and many other factors. So there you have it, this was our first ever content marketing round-up, so see you in three months for Q2s instalment. Until then make sure you’re following us on @iProspectUK where we’ll share more about our brands content. 0 6 min read

Shaun's skills span Digital Strategy, Copywriting, Content Marketing, Digital PR and Marketing.