ContentDay 2021 – it’s a wrap!
The latest trends at a glance
How to captivate and inspire people in the digital age
This year’s keynote speaker may have looked familiar to many. And that’s no surprise, considering that just a few days earlier he had made his debut as an investor on Austrian TV show “2 Minuten 2 Millionen”.
At the ContentDay, he talked about captivating people in the digital age. His key message: You can’t buy enthusiasm. That’s why it takes real emotions and authenticity to reach your target group. What counts are your users and their needs. To address those, Maderthaner outlined three important principles:
- We love ourselves.
- We love emotions more than anything else.
- We love authenticity.
In Maderthaner’s opinion, people don’t buy products – they buy opinions, values and beliefs. That’s why you should move from “creating” content for your users to letting your users “partake” in your content. Ideally, this content should address one of the following six basic emotional needs: variety, certainty, love & connection, significance, growth and contribution.
Technological, digital and social trends … What’s next? A look into the crystal ball
In his talk, Daniel Rehn ventured a look into the future of digital marketing. He, too, underlined the importance of a user-centred perspective and presented some current society trends. He said that the Coronavirus pandemic acted as both a brake and an accelerator for digital user behaviour. Due to people’s increased need for escapism during the pandemic, the online world became more important than ever – followed by a kind of digital fatigue.
According to Rehn, the big winner of the pandemic is TikTok, as opposed to Facebook and especially Instagram, who is currently alienating users with their shift from image to video platform. What’s more, the popularity of podcasts and audiobooks is still unbroken.
Expert tip: According to Rehn, content marketers should keep an eye on the following topics:
- Twitch & Discord
- YouTube Shorts
- TikTok
- blending of the analogue world with digital events (Fortnite, Animal Crossing)
- newsletters as Slow Media
- effects of the cookiecalypse
Content Marketing – quo vadis?
Based on a comprehensive study, Regina Karnapp of Content Marketing Forum presented fascinating facts from today’s content marketing world. For instance, she pointed out that in Austria, the willingness to invest in content marketing measures is extremely high. The same is true for the target group relevancy of the surveyed media.
For Karnapp, one of the key issues is process quality, which (as opposed to outcome quality) could still be improved in Austria. She, too, stated the importance of target group focus.
Content audit: What’s it all about?
The “Marie Kondo for websites” explained how “tidying up” your website works. To start off, she suggested the following content audit steps:
- do a website inventory
- define your objectives
- define your audit criteria
- define the scope and duration
- carry out a quantitative & qualitative audit
- define the resulting actions
- be deliberate when you create new content
- repeat
Our tip: If you would like to know more about how to do a content audit, check out our Content Audit FAQ!
WTF is IoT? Magenta’s strategy for complex B2B content
Based on Magenta‘s IoT campaign, Katharina Novi and Lena Wostal explained how to create user-friendly content for complex B2B topics. In the case of telecommunications provider Magenta, their content was specifically tailored to the two target groups of “tech noobs” and “tech experts”. They also stressed the importance of answering the user’s questions with your content. After all, not every product is as self-explanatory as baby diapers.
And action! How to achieve a positive ROI with videos on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram
96 per cent of consumers watch product videos before the actual purchase. This makes video content a vital tool in the awareness phase of the purchase process. Reason enough for Paul Lanzerstorfer to take a closer look at the topic of videos in his talk!
In his opinion, videos have a number of benefits:
- reach
- attention
- emotion
- explanation
- user behaviour
- video ads
- retargeting
Lanzerstorfer also talked about video costs, efficiency and different formats. Would you like to know more about videos? Have a look at our blog article “How to use short videos in your marketing”!
OK Zoomer! Marketing for Gen Z
In his presentation, Manfred Rump of House of Yas talked about a very special target group: Gen Z. Based on the results of a representative study, he answered some interesting questions about this generation that is often difficult to grasp for content marketers ...
Who is Gen Z?
- the generations born between 1995 and 2010 (1/3 of the world’s population)
- shaped by the digital ecosystem and the enormous social changes of the 21st century
- They have more options than ever but feel aimless
Where can you find Gen Z?
- Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok
- They define themselves by interests rather than by sociodemographics.
- They are community-driven (growth of “digital campfires” and micro-communities)
What does Gen Z expect from brands?
- They want brands to take a clear stand on socio-political topics such as racism, animal welfare, climate change, etc.
How should brands communicate with Gen Z?
- quickly react to negative feedback
- take communities seriously and treat them as equals
User Experience = Customer Experience. Why content and UX are important for the customer experience
Christoph Schwaiger, designer and user-experience expert at elements, let the audience in on some interesting UX facts. As users are 100 times more impatient online than they are in real life, Schwaiger said it was key to offer them websites that not only run smoothly but at the same time entertain and inspire them.
What’s more, he said that it’s no longer “Mobile first” but rather “User first” – tailoring the design and content of a website to the needs of the user, with a clear focus on emotion and functionality. After all: Customer experience is your brand!
Content Marketing Q&A
The fact that two speakers cancelled at short notice was no reason to be sad. The program was swiftly changed to accommodate a spontaneous Content Marketing Q&A Session.
The three content marketing experts Ines Eschbacher, Paul Lanzerstorfer and Daniel Rehn took the time to answer all sorts of questions from the audience. Are moving images relevant for every company? What makes a great social media post? In a relaxed atmosphere, the content marketing trio provided answers to these and other questions.
