Visual networks are a matter close to his heart: during a relaxed after-work chat at contentbird's Berlin headquarters, content manager Philipp Schütte and content marketing consultant Ulrich Löser discussed content seeding via:
- YouTube
A conversation that we naturally don't want to keep from you.
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In the beginning was the image?
Philipp:
Hello Uli, nice to have you here.
Uli:
Hello Philipp, thank you for the opportunity to participate in this format.
Philipp:
How did you get into online marketing? Please briefly outline your story for our readers.
Uli:
I actually came to online marketing via a roundabout route. My first priority at the time was to study German language and literature, followed by a degree in painting. However, I only completed the basic courses in both subjects because I changed my mind so often.
After my first few years at university, I began training as a graphic designer and gradually discovered photography. It was a passion that enabled me to finance my third and final degree in media communications in the years that followed.
As you can see, there have been a few detours along the way, but I wouldn't necessarily call them detours. You can see a common thread running through my development: from graphic layout and photography to communication in the media sector, which naturally led me to content marketing.
Philipp:
I see, that's interesting. This also applies to other speakers: Björn Tantau recently told me something similar. Different experiences allow you to think outside the box.
Uli:
Yes, I agree. I benefit from it every day.
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"Content seeding via LinkedIn has enormous potential."
Philipp:
You recently started selling a checklist for better LinkedIn marketing on your website. What is your opinion of LinkedIn as a seeding channel for content?
Uli:
LinkedIn is currently overtaking Xing, which I'm not particularly happy about, to be honest. Simply because Xing is finally a German company that has made it to the top.
However, it must be said that there is a reason for this. LinkedIn is an incredibly powerful channel for content seeding. And this is true in several respects, because you can not only share posts there, but also publish them directly.
In addition, functionality must also be taken into account. Everything works completely intuitively, and the fact that you have a higher organic reach on LinkedIn than on Facebook is also a plus point that should not be underestimated.
In my opinion, directly seeding content to promising contacts has a lot of potential. As a rule, your network includes like-minded colleagues whose interests are usually a perfect match for your content. LinkedIn is currently very popular. How long this will remain the case remains to be seen.
Philipp:
Social networks are always a bit of a back-and-forth affair. It's amazing which networks have come and gone in recent years. This topic alone could fill entire blog parades.
Uli:
We should start something like that!
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Instagram: "Use the link in the bio wisely!"
Philipp:
I'd be happy to... after the interview, haha. Visual networks such as Instagram and the like are currently experiencing enormous hype. The former in particular promises rapid growth for companies. How would you approach content marketing on Instagram? Could you briefly outline how you would go about it?
Uli:
If you're doing content marketing on Instagram, you should be aware of one thing: Instagram is not a high-conversion channel! At least not if your company has fewer than 10,000 followers. This magic number is the requirement for activating the swipe function, which allows you to include multiple links.
If you can't do that, the only option left is the link in your bio. Of course, there are also new features such as product tagging. But overall, I see Instagram as a branding channel rather than a channel for increasing conversions.
It's important to remember that Instagram was originally a network for sharing photos, and this fundamental idea is still deeply rooted in the platform despite its acquisition by Facebook. If your goal is to present your company or yourself as personal and approachable, Instagram is one of the most important channels.
Philipp:
Interesting, but is there really no way to use Instagram to increase conversions? I mean, without reaching the 10,000 follower mark?
Uli:
Well, as is often the case, that depends on various factors. Linktree is a good way to get more traffic to your own websites via the bio link.
Linktree allows you to create a kind of link directory. When a user clicks on your bio link, this tool displays a list of links for them to click on. This allows you to distribute traffic from Insta to multiple pages. It's an incredibly powerful tool, especially for publishers.
Philipp:
I'm glad you brought up branding. To be honest, I find it very difficult to see the value in today's influencers. Mainly because you can never say for sure whether influencer X has real followers or whether they are just fake followers in the form of bots or purchased profiles. Thomas Hertkorn from A&O Hostels takes a similarly critical view of the whole thing. What's your take on this?
Uli:
Influencer marketing always has a bit of a stigma attached to it. When we hear the word "influencer," we automatically have a certain image in our minds. But I'd rather not name names.
Basically, however, there is a great idea behind every influencer. Let's just swap the terms and turn the influencer into a multiplier. You always need them for seeding, although it's usually not about seeding content, but about spreading advertising messages.
There's nothing wrong with that in itself. It's a channel that has been proven to work, at least in certain age groups. What I find problematic in this business area are the black sheep among influencer agencies, who don't have a strong quality management system in place and simply hire any influencer they can find. Which brings us back to the example of A&O Hostels.
Philipp:
Thomas Hertkorn noted in his article that influencers in the DACH region were unwilling to accept commission-based payment. Influencers therefore received certain sums of money or free accommodation without having to deliver results.
To this day, I still don't understand why companies get involved in such models. Apart from the fact that commission-based payment has long since become the norm in the US. I am well aware that influencers have become enormously important in the fashion and lifestyle sector. However, I think that it must also be profitable and measurable.
Uli:
Yes, I absolutely agree.
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More video = more personality?
Philipp:
Your website also features your own video workshop on YouTube. What is your opinion on the statement that we should all rely more on video as a medium?
Uli:
A resounding yes! Similar to images on Instagram, videos on YouTube or other platforms are extremely important for branding. If you only use text, you come across as very one-dimensional and can only incorporate personal elements to a limited extent.
With a video, people immediately have a picture in their minds. You can work with your voice, you can gesticulate, use facial expressions and gestures, and of course you can also dress up. You simply communicate better, depending on the goal you want to achieve.
For course creators like me, the video format offers many opportunities for content recycling. I can easily provide excerpts from my courses as additional input in a blog post. These are all small synergy effects that don't require you to be a YouTube expert.
Philipp:
I completely agree that video gives a completely different impression. However, it should perhaps be added that there are certainly opportunities in the text section to showcase your personality appropriately.
Particularly good examples of a unique and reader-friendly writing style are the Affenblog and selbstständig-im-netz.de. Both blogs are incredibly successful and both use a similar style: short blocks of text that make it very easy for you as a reader to grasp the content. Nevertheless, I am of course also curious to see how visual the internet will become in the future.
Uli:
We can currently see on Pinterest how strong users' visual needs are. That's why I advise every company to visualize their products or services. But of course, only if they can be visualized. Trying to be visual at all costs doesn't work.
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Facebook groups as seeding boosters
Philipp:
Instead of creating their own Facebook fan pages, as was normally done in the past, content marketing club members such as Björn Tantau recommend setting up groups and using them to build a community. Do you think this strategy makes sense, or do you have a different opinion on this point?
Uli:
As far as organic reach is concerned, that's definitely true. It's not for nothing that groups are experiencing such hype. However, I suspect that this will decline significantly, at the latest when Facebook starts to monetize the whole thing.
Philipp:
So you think Facebook will monetize groups in the future?
Uli:
Yes, that's why I always recommend alternative platforms. If you don't think and act agilely, you'll lose your reach at a certain point.
A good example of the right approach is the guys at Social Media Examiner. They recently announced that they are turning their backs on Facebook and will be publishing livestreams and similar content on YouTube in future. And why are they doing that?
Philipp:
I assume it's because user engagement is much higher.
Uli:
Yes, exactly. Because people engage more deeply with YouTube content and are much more likely to click on it than on Facebook. On Facebook, you mostly just scroll through and rarely click on content, especially links. From an organic perspective, Facebook has therefore become an extremely difficult place to operate.
Philipp:Do publishers still need a Facebook account at all?
Uli:
Absolutely! The motto "If you're not on Facebook, you don't exist" still applies. If a potential customer is looking for you on Facebook, you need to at least have your own company page there.
However, I believe that you can still build up a certain reach with Facebook... if you involve your own profile more.
Philipp:
Which brings us to the next point. Because that's really the question we need to ask ourselves: What feature would Facebook be least able to commercialize? My own profile immediately comes to mind, because Facebook can't commercialize anything there. And if they did, they would be shooting themselves in the foot.
Uli:
Yes, although there are of course black sheep with this method too. Every day, I receive several friend requests from complete strangers who just want to flood my timeline with their advertising. People aren't stupid. They look for and find ways and means.
Philipp:
If it's just pure advertising with no real added value, it is indeed quite annoying. After all, I don't want to be spammed from all sides, especially since it's my private profile. However, if I'm connected to people who really interest me and offer me useful content with added value, then it's a legitimate publishing channel.
Uli:
I don't really see it as critical either. Precisely because it's the personal aspect that resonates here. You can approach people openly and say, "Hey, I have a solution to your problem." That's the big advantage of this method.
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Email marketing: Dead or alive?
Philipp:
What has been the most exciting, but perhaps also the most challenging, content distribution campaign you have been able to implement with a client so far?
Uli:
All of the projects I have been able to realize so far have been exciting. This is precisely because I draw a lot of energy from conversations with customers. It is therefore very difficult for me to commit to a specific project.
However, some projects were challenging. Especially those in which the KPIs to be achieved were set extremely high. At the start of the project, you sometimes get a rush of adrenaline.
Philipp:
It's great that you're so passionate about this area and so enthusiastic about it. Content seeding in particular is still an underestimated area in content marketing. In my last conversation with Klaus Eck, he told me that most of the money still goes into content creation and only to a limited extent in the other areas of the content marketing workflow.
Unfortunately, this lack of knowledge leads to many channels being underestimated. Or what is your opinion on the statement that email marketing is dead?
Uli:
Who says that!?
Philipp:
I'm just sticking to various news items from my bubble here, haha.
Uli:
Anyone who says that is definitely trying to sell you a course on Facebook Messenger marketing. But there's virtually no substance behind it. In my opinion, emails are still a powerful channel because they are a very personal medium.
Of course, open rates are no longer as high as they were in the late 1990s. Nevertheless, it remains an excellent channel because you can communicate very directly with people and reach them that way. If you do it wisely, you can achieve great success with coordinated email sequences.
However, like any campaign, these must have a specific purpose and goal. Do you want to build trust among your target group? Do you want to retain customers? And so on and so forth.
That's why I'd like to emphasize once again: Email marketing is not dead! Not by a long shot!
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The content format with the widest reach and final tips
Philipp:
There's nothing more to add to that. Let's move on to the penultimate question: In your opinion, what would be the formats with the greatest reach in content marketing?
Uli:
I would turn the question around and ask what characteristics a content format must have in order to achieve a wide reach. Whether it's a photo, video, text, or all of the above, if there's an emotional trigger that encourages people to click, you've done something right.
And this trigger can refer to hundreds of characteristics. A good example of this is the question you just asked: Email marketing is dead. If I came across an article like this while scrolling through Facebook, I would probably click on it out of interest.
However, emotionality is only one aspect that needs to be considered. Overall, it is very difficult to make a clear statement here because, theoretically, you could simply tweet a short sentence. If it is controversial enough, it could also go viral. Without any special format such as an image or video. I hope this answer is not too unsatisfactory.
Philipp:
Well, maybe that was exactly the answer I wanted to hear, haha.
Uli:
Haha, you're keeping us in suspense. I like that.
Philipp:
Okay, last question: What final tips would you give our users in the area of content distribution?
Uli:
Back then, the Affenblog defined a great rule that I would like to quote here. Simply because it has lost none of its relevance: 80/20.
Simply put, this means: don't just sit back and relax once the blog article has been written. If you do, it will gather dust. Invest time in distribution and ask yourself the following questions beforehand:
- What is your goal in seeding your posts?
- Who is eligible for seeding as a multiplier?
- How can you best address these multipliers?
I consider the third question to be particularly important. Once you have approached a multiplier, you need to connect with them on a personal level in order to even start a conversation.
As soon as you contact him with a standardized request that you have also sent to 20 other potential candidates, he will only respond to you in the rarest of cases.
Philipp:
Thanks for talking to us, Uli.
Uli:
Not for that.
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Quote of the day from online marketing expert Ulrich Löser
LinkedIn is an incredibly powerful channel for content seeding. And that's true in more ways than one, because you can not only share posts there, but also publish them directly on the platform.
Exactly, Uli! And because LinkedIn is such a powerful channel, we've integrated it into our platform. Automate your content seeding and save valuable resources with our software. You can test it here for free.
