{"id":30786,"date":"2015-10-13T14:06:51","date_gmt":"2015-10-13T14:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandignitybeta.com\/demo\/brandlatest\/2015\/10\/13\/5-subtle-and-immersive-ways-to-push-your-branded-content\/"},"modified":"2015-10-13T14:06:51","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T14:06:51","slug":"5-subtle-and-immersive-ways-to-push-your-branded-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/brandignitybeta.com\/demo\/brandlatest\/5-subtle-and-immersive-ways-to-push-your-branded-content\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Subtle and Immersive Ways to Push Your Branded Content"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Branded<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Branding and marketing gurus are constantly finding ways to lure customer segments with rising spending power \u2013 read millennials \u2013 who in turn seem unexcited and unresponsive<\/a> to television and display ads. You\u2019ve heard it a thousand times: Instead of rehashing the same old tactics, marketers need to give their audience something fresh and valuable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is where branded content comes in. Content marketing<\/a> is one of the most immersive methods to exchange conversation and thoughts with your audience. It gets people to \u201cfollow\u201d you and potentially get hooked to almost everything you say. When you combine branding and content marketing, you get tremendous results.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From traditional B2C companies like Red Bull<\/a> to modern product-based B2B companies like Zendesk<\/a>, almost every organization these days is finding ways to push content with subtle branding that is not too in-your-face and yet lingers on in the back of your mind.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In this article, let\u2019s explore a few channels that help us do the same.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Social Media<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

When LinkedIn announced their top 10 company<\/a> pages for 2014, it wasn\u2019t just the \u201cexpected\u201d faces (logos?) of social media masters like Hootsuite and L\u2019Or\u00e9al that made it to the summit \u2013 they had surprise entrants like Wells Fargo! (You can read about content marketing strategies of all the 10 winners here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The reason they made it to the top 10 was their informative content they created for diverse industries. For a finance company like Wells Fargo, it might not seem worth their while to discuss anything but loans, mortgage and finance on LinkedIn. However, their page<\/a> has content with actionable tips for all types of businesses. This, along with subtle branding through its humanitarian and philanthropic contests, helped Wells Fargo to endear themselves to their audience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While you\u2019re on social media, the challenge is to stay relevant; if you think too broad, you end up losing your core audience \u2013 people who follow you because they\u2019re only interested in your niche.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This segment can be targeted by building psychographic profiles of followers, in order to discover what makes them tick (and buy). A social media management tool such as Oktopost<\/a> can help you stay on top of customer\/industry conversations and gain real-time insights on what drives them. Oktopost also has a recommendation engine that can curate\/suggest content to share based on the engagement and conversion ratios of your previous posts. Along the way, you can figure out how to gracefully include your branded content in the mix.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Blogging<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

While it may be easy to discard blogs as a platform for companies to rant and rave about their own industries and successes, they are in fact the best places to push your branded content. Readers of your blog actually expect<\/em> you to talk about yourself too; so every now and then, you can throw in a post with brand messaging that talks about you, your product, your services or offers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Check out this clever design trick<\/a> Ikea used on their \u201cEveryday\u201d inspiration blog to highlight the value of a couple of their products. However, note that not all their posts mention their products and merely act as inspiration for a beautiful home. Even if you\u2019re a B2B business, it is suicidal to have content that talks about little else than your products. Zoho understands the need to create content that resonates well with today\u2019s audience. They manage to break through the clutter by turning the spotlight on their customers\u2019 needs and achievements.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n