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With the much-anticipated Royal Wedding having finally graced us all with its presence, we thought this quote uniquely apropos. So in the spirit of all-things-Royal, let’s break down this idea from social media guru-ess Mari Smith –

“Content is King but engagement is Queen, and the lady rules the house!”

Think about this: Engagement is Queen…

Honestly? This just could not ring truer. Because the truth is, you could post a blog every day, tweet multiple times a week, pin every gorgeous board you can imagine and Instagram the heck out of your insightful thoughts and nuggets of experienced, useful wisdom, but if your audience isn’t engaging with any of it…

...really, what is the point?

You can't just Ronco your content marketing - it simply isn't a set-it-and-forget it deal. You have to think about it, research it, plan it, craft it, edit it, revise it, post it...and that’s all just the background work.

THEN, you have to make sure it’s reaching your audience.

How? It’s exasperatingly very simple yet remarkably complicated, all at the same time.

The tricky part about engagement is it's about more than just what content you put out there…it’s also about how you put it out there.

Your goal is to give users what they want and need (even if they don't know it yet), which in turn fosters engagement. Your content marketing stategy should be developing content that's relatable, convenient and, ultimately, that solves a problem.

THIS is what nurtures engagement. And brands that engage, rule the house.

In this week's #TBT post, we take a look back at Digital Marketer's 2013 blog "They won't buy without these 3 elements (and they won't even know why)."

What are those three magical marketing strategies?

Have you been staying on top of the latest content marketing news updates? If not, the team here at Flair Interactive has you covered. Here are five of the latest content marketing news updates for this week:

Stay in the know about content marketing with these helpful infographics that have gone viral this month. 

1. How to choose a content marketing platform or marketplace (and what's the difference?) (MarketingProfs)

2. A brief history of content marketing (The Content Strategist)

After a hectic work week, it’s easy to feel a little loopy. But how about a little crazy, as coined by Jim Metcalf (see quote below)?

As marketers, we’re inherently split in multiple directions. We’re natural dichotomies. We work quickly but with precision. We work strategically and hands on. We work collaboratively and independently. But most importantly—we’re creative with an inherent drive for results.

This natural inclination to bend the rules just enough within structured environments, and think outside of unorthodox confines in order to get results is, in fact, what makes us marketers. So in this instance, “a little crazy”, , seems oddly appropriate.

In celebration of our sensible insanity, here are some viral marketing videos that truly accentuate our eccentricity.

According to the Radicati Group, email use worldwide will top 3 billion users by 2020. While some industry experts are convinced that social media’s convergence with the ever depleting millennial attention span is going to erode email just as email depleted print, that number certainly presents a very different picture.  

Back in November 2013, Flair Interactive provided tips on building a successful email campaign. While that post is still relevant and accurate, in 2017, there are some definite changes in what defines and drives a successful email campaign.

So, what has changed in the last three years to keep email relevant, effective, and aligned with the technological trends that are impacting marketing as a whole? Let’s take a look:

Everyone is creating some kind of content, so much so that that the online marketplace is saturated and has become a very crowded place. It's also an environment where old-school methods of marketing cease to be effective, so it's time to put marketing activities like cold calling behind you and tap into the power of content marketing.

Obviously, you have to create valuable content before you can promote it. But how do you create remarkable content to get their attention? Check out this awesome video from Hubspot, which gives you step-by-step instructions to make content the key to your success online.

Joe Chernov, VP of Marketing at InsightSquared tells us (through the adjacent quote) to make the customers feel smart. And it makes perfect sense.

Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality tells us that the human psyche is structured into three parts—id, ego, and superego. How we think, feel, and behave are all a by-product of these three forces working together.

Since our everyday lives are impacted by the inner-workings of this complicated ensemble, it only makes sense that really great marketing and advertising taps into this powerful trio. Appealing to customers' egos and ultimately making them feel good about themselves continues as a solid marketing strategy.

So let’s take a look at some examples of how companies succeeded by listening to Joe and Freud:

Clamoring for new ideas to apply to your content marketing strategy? Get helpful content marketing insights from February's top five infographics: