WKLY by NXTLI - Week 31
Every week Jeroen tracks the news and developments within Content Marketing. In the Netherlands and abroad. Full of tips, trends and innovations. Critical and open, with an eye to the future within a fascinating world in which digital content has become indispensable.
This week: Birthday mail, free content via WaterBear and the rise of BeReal.
Insight of the Week
This week was my birthday. Great for me, but also for brands, which thus have THE opportunity to capitalize on this! I am subscribed to many newsletters and several brands have my date of birth in their database. My thanks therefore go to Bol.com, Praxis, HypotheekVisie, De Wijnbeurs, Wijnvoordeel, Independer and the Australian Webjet for their congratulations and offers. All brands not yet doing anything with a birthday of their customers: start doing it! It is the most positive, friendly and relevant way to put every customer in the spotlight once a year.
Innovation of the week
This week I came in contact with WaterBear through an ad on Facebook. With the slogan "The first free video on demand platform dedicated to the future of our planet" combined with a beautiful trailer of a film about child soldiers who had traded in their guns for surfboards, my interest was piqued.
Content as vehicle, not end product
Immediately, though, my question was: how does WaterBear manage to provide this high-quality content for free? Simple: by working with partners and sharing their sustainable story through content, projects and initiatives. With this great content, WaterBear reaches new audiences and global reach. Through the website and app, users can then donate, sign petitions and download information about projects.
So the content acts as a vehicle, a starting point and to generate interest. The content is not the end product. This is a great example for other organizations. Look at how content can be used to tell your story, rather than using content to focus directly on conversion.
Trend of the week
I'm cheating a bit, because this week's trend has been going on for a bit longer than a week. The new social media network BeReal has been downloaded nearly 1 million times in the past few months.
How BeReal works. Every day, users are given two minutes at the same time to publish a photo. Without filters, with little time for edits or adjustments. Pure and real. In other words, "It's time to be real."
The new generation wants no trappings
And that fits exactly with the new generation. They know better than any other generation what it is like to be online all the time. And it is precisely this generation that teaches us something very important: be yourself, unfiltered and develop your own unique identity. Offline and online. Authenticity and purity; an angle many brands can capitalize on.
Digital content strategy with the NXTLI Dashboard
Jeroen Westermann is Content Strategist at NXTLI. With the NXTLI Dashboard, developed by NXTLI, we provide insight into the results of a brand, club, person or organization on its digital channels. We connect this with value and with commercial results. Based on this we create content strategies and develop digital campaigns that accelerate and optimize growth. Interested in how this can work for your organization? Contact me via email.
