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iphone showing social media

Our New Whistler Curated Social Media Content Package

Struggling to find the time to manage your social media platforms on top of your business demands? We have the perfect solution with our Whistler Curated Social Media Content Package!

Did you know that poorly managed social media can actually be more damaging to your brand then having no social media presence at all? Social networks are one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. With a projected 25% annual growth in the next 5 years, proper management of your social media channels is essential.

Stimulating Content

Social media algorithms mirror that of Google. This means that content that is stimulating and gets lots of engagement will show up higher on a News Feed. We want to help you to reach your customers by producing high quality, Whistler relevant content that stands out and looks professional.

Timing is everything

Social Media gives you the opportunity to engage with customers on a new level. We understand that you may not have the time to post regular updates to reach customers at the right moments.

Here at Cloud9, we not only produce high-quality content but also feature events, and weather updates, engaging with a community who ‘wants to know.’ We post as things are happening- keeping your feed relevant so you don’t have to!

Your Competition Is Already Doing It

Today’s generation expects companies to be involved in social media. From ‘Checking In’ on Facebook to Geo Tags on Instagram, you need to show your customers that you are on top of your social media game. If your brand is not appearing in the feed of your customers on a regular basis you’re really missing a massive branding opportunity.

Posting sporadically or seemingly random content can disengage users and even cause them to believe your business has been shut down!

Don’t Have The Time To Manage This Yourself?

We know that devising an effective social media strategy may not be at the forefront of your mind. That’s why our Whistler Curated Social Media package offers you an affordable solution, ensuring your channels appear well managed, professional and timely. Curating content is the process of sharing interesting and relevant content, created by other people. It is a great time saver and really helps to diversify your content.

What It Involves:

We share Whistler photography, engaging videos, professionally designed graphics, event coverage, real time weather updates and more. This allows you to continue to post to your channel brand specific content occasionally without having to worry about it being inconsistent or irregular.

All our content is Whistler focused, sharing a joint goal of promoting all that Whistler has to offer. It is not brand specific, enabling development costs to be split between clients. You will receive the same high quality, professional content as a client who was paying several times this – but for a fraction of the cost!

Anything Else?

But that’s not all.. you also receive a monthly newsletter with photos and blogs that you can post to your website!

What’s Included:

-Regular High-Quality Whistler Content

-Facebook, Twitter & Instagram

-Blog Content & Photos

-Automated Monthly Report

What’s Not Included:

-Brand Specific Content

-Social Media Advertising

-Message or Comment Monitoring

-Strategy or Results Meetings

*Additional Services are always available for a fee.

$250 p/m + GST

Contact us today at: clientcare@cloud9marketing.ca or call: 604-398-4016

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video-marketing
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Why All Businesses Should Be Using Video Content

The online content world is changing and video is now surpassing text as the best medium to engage with your target audience online. YouTube is the internet’s second biggest search engine with over three billion searches a month, over one billion unique monthly visitors, and bigger than Yahoo, Bing, AOL and Ask.com combined. Even though video is such a powerful medium when you ask the average business they are not leveraging this format yet. Time constraints, difficulty level and unfamiliarity with video are key reasons why businesses are not jumping on this internet trend. Here we explain why it’s absolutely paramount that businesses use video marketing and why it’s not as difficult as most people think.

Engagement

Think of your own experience when engaging with content online. Are you more likely to read through a 1000-word Blog post or watch a two-minute video? Internet data proves that video engagement is higher than written engagement. According to the Content Marketing Institute users are 10 times more likely to engage, share, and comment on a video than they are a regular Blog post. Videos command more attention and therefor viewers are more inclined to interact with the video in some way. Videos also evoke emotion more quickly than the written word due to the varied signals (voice, expression, music, body language) compared to written posts. If you are looking to increase interaction for your business or brand, video is the way to do it.

Reporting

Reporting metrics for written Blogs posts are limited. You may be able to tell how many people clicked on a particular post, and the bounce rate (percentage of users that abandoned the site after viewing only one page) but that’s the extent of it. It is hard to know with Blog posts how many people read the first sentence only, who read half the article and who devoured every single last word. With video you can tell the duration of the video watched through a feedback loop that measures click-thru-rate, number of times watched and drop off points. These stats can be examined at a granular level so you can monitor behaviour on an individual basis. Recent stats show that 64% of viewers watch on average ¾ of a video (Brainshark); it is safe to say written content does not get digested as fully as video.

Search Engine Optimization

Adding video to your website can increased the likelihood of ranking on the first page of Google according to Comscore. Video not only enriches the content on your site which is positive for SEO it also provides additional opportunities to insert keyword labels, expand your site-map and back-links from YouTube will certainly help with your website’s SEO performance. With the increased usage of videos online the user experience on your site will increase. A video rich website will positively affect your site’s bounce rate, engagement and average page duration which will in turn help your website rank better in search engines.

Conversions

The most important reason to use video on your website is that it converts users better than any other medium. According to Search Engine Land, videos on retail sites kept visitors an average of two minutes longer and converted 30% more people. A recent study shows that 71% of marketing professionals believe that video converts better than any other medium. In a world where the average web-user is drowning in written content, video is the way to get ahead.

The good news is thousands of dollars of equipment and production software is not needed to create a powerful marketing video for your website. There is inexpensive online software that is easy, intuitive and effective if businesses want to have a stab at creating their own online videos. Here at Cloud9 marketing we create impactful and conversion-driven videos for our clients. If you see the importance of adding video as a component to your online marketing strategy but would rather leave it to the pros, contact Cloud9 today.

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Video Mistakes You Might Be Making
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Key Considerations For Video Marketing

It’s no secret that videos are trendier than ever. From hilarious cat videos, to live news on your smart phone, our society is in love with videos. Embracing film as part of your marketing strategy can drastically improve your reach. We are all for video content because we know how powerful it is, when it’s done right that is. Whether you are gearing up to incorporate video into your marketing strategy or already have it implemented, these considerations for a successful video are key.

Concept

Whatever your concept is, make it clear in the first 8 seconds. The first couple of seconds are when the viewer decides if it is appealing or not. This is your do or die window for their attention. Reflect on what audience you are trying to reach and what you are trying to say about your brand, this is your time to shine.

Overselling

Finding the balance between being clear about your product or idea and drowning people in it can be tricky. The goal with any video is to make a lasting impression and call the viewer to action. You want them to remember your brand, and dig a little deeper on their own free will. It’s about creating engagement from the viewer. Rather than spill all the beans, lead them on with excitement and have all the info they’ll be craving ready in another video, or written on your website and point them in that direction.

Feedback

Everyone needs more feedback. Ask strangers in your target audience what they think about your video. Outside sources are best for feedback as your team, family and friends will have a bias.

Call to Action

As mentioned in overselling, each video needs to call the viewer to some kind of action. The call can be just to create curiosity, generate a referral, get a free quote, how to use your product and so on. Maybe all you are trying to do is get them to like your Facebook page, whatever it is, make sure it is clear in your objectives before and after the video is created.

Boring

A few things can make a video boring. If it is too long, it’s boring. If the concept isn’t portrayed in an engaging way, it is boring. If the people in the video are, well boring, it is of course going to be a boring film. Spending a couple of extra bucks to hire someone to film and act in your video could make all the difference. This is something you’ll need to weigh out for yourself, but if you were planning on using Larry, the monotone receptionist as your lead star, maybe rethink that one.

Placement

Now that you’ve created your perfect video, don’t let it go to waste! Placement on your website should be front and center. On YouTube it should be on your own channel which will eventually have more videos to fill the auto play, this will keep your target audience much more excited about your company as there is even more material for them to view. Be sure to cross post on other outlets like Vimeo and Facebook. If you choose to do paid advertisement with your video choose the sites that will appeal to the right demographic, and again watch placement of where your video will be on each page that you are paying for.

We can’t say this will make video-making fool proof, but it is a step in the right direction. When creating or perfecting your video content keep these helpful hints in mind. If you are interested in video marketing but don’t know where to start, check out Cloud9’s video production & marketing services.

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create and curate quality content on your website
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Creating Content vs. Curating Content

When it comes to your company’s online presence, content really is king.

But there’s a caveat—not all content is created equal. You can bombard your fans, followers, and customers with useless content that they will, at best, ignore—or you can share meaningful, insightful, and entertaining content that will keep them coming back for more.

To ensure that you fall into the latter category, you need focus on providing quality content. You can do that in two ways: by creating content and by curating content.

 

Creating Content

Creating content means building original content from the ground up. This is your company’s chance to share its knowledge, use its own voice, and develop useful and captivating content that will wow your customer base.

When you create original content, you own it because you made it. As the primary source of the content, you become the expert. People viewing your content are sticking to your website (or blog, or Facebook page, or… you get the drift)—they aren’t clicking away to read more. In fact, other people might share your insightful content, bringing even more viewers straight to the source: you!

The beauty of creating content is that you control what is being said. That means that you can share what you think is important and you can talk about pretty much anything you want. Just remember: all content, including created content, should focus on quality first. Put thought into what it is you’re producing—and check your spelling and grammar!

Of course, creating content requires a little effort on your part. After all, researching, writing, and revising won’t happen by itself.

As the primary source, readers are counting on you to be the expert. If you’re caught writing inaccurate, misleading, or just plain wrong information, then you’ll need to bear the brunt of the blame.

PROS: Customize content. Draw people to you. Be the expert.

CONS: Time consuming. Tough work. Big responsibility.

 

Curating Content

Curating content means sharing content that was created by other people and companies, like reviews, news articles, or pretty much anything that you find interesting and relevant.

Curating content is not about plagiarizing: it’s about connecting people with content from other sources and giving those sources credit for their hard work.

Sharing, re-tweeting, and otherwise passing along external sources of content is a great way to show your fan base that you’re in tune with what’s going on in your industry. It’s a good way of diversifying the content you provide and of steering clear of self-promoting post after self-promoting post.

When you share content, it’s like high fiving the person who created it, whether it’s a publication, a partner, a passionate customer, or anyone else in your industry. Building a relationship with industry influencers is always a good thing.

Curating content is also a time saver—it’s usually much faster (and cheaper) to find something share-worthy than it is to create it from scratch.

On the downside, when someone clicks on an external link, they’re floating away from your site. Make sure that you give them incentive to come back!

PROS: Quick and easy. Mix it up. Making friends.

CONS: Can’t edit. Leads people away. Lacks originality.

 

The Bottom Line: The best content strategies include a mix of both created and curated content. That perfect balancing point depends on your product, your company, and your industry—talk to us and we’ll help you determine the optimal ratio. Ultimately, no matter the type, always make sure that you’re providing quality content.

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