059 - Celebrity Skin for Alexa: Novelty or More?

Amazon is charging users 99 cents to skin the standard parts of its voice experience with a celebrity voice. As we close out this decade, we can see a parallel between these early voice experiences and the beginning years of one of the most successful social media apps of all time: Instagram.

Filters—whether photo filters or voice skins—begin as a bolt-on and a novelty. But imagine where they’re headed.

Think rich, contextual voice experiences.

Hear this podcast in your favorite app:

Similar to what Google Assistant has done, Amazon is now giving customers the option to hear some familiar voices in addition to Alexa’s default voice. Today the company kicked off its celebrity voice program, and it’s starting with Samuel L. Jackson. - The Verge

Enjoy this mini episode! Our regular interview format will resume in January 2020. Find out when:

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Voice Marketing with Emily Binder

Finalist for Flash Briefing of the Year Award

035 - Micro Moment Marketing - Melanie Touchstone

The key feature of micro moment marketing is to embrace the idea that you have but a few seconds to capture the attention of your target consumer. In those brief seconds, brands are challenged to convey a concise message that is relevant to the consumer. Otherwise, they're on to the next article, tweet, or email and you've lost their attention.

On average, 150 times a day consumers experience purchase moments, research moments, and discovery moments, just to name a few. How can marketers be sensitive to these moments in the buyer journey to make our messaging more effective and less interruptive? How are brands from tires to cookies taking advantage of micro moments?

Melanie Touchstone discusses micro moment marketing

Micro-moments are small occurrences throughout the shopper journey during which consumers are ready to act. Google narrows these moments down to four key categories:

1. want-to-know moments

2. want-to-go moments

3. want-to-do moments

4. want-to-buy moments

How do you market to consumers in a way that takes advantage of these moments in the buyer journey?

Timestamps:

2:00 It’s the small occurrences in the consumer journey when they’re ready to act - get into your customer’s mindset

2:15 The four types of micro moments, according to Google 

5.23 Incorporate into your strategy: the micro moment

5:30 80% of mobile use in evening

6:00 Content shock: consumers are bombarded by information (we spend 4.7 hours per day on smartphones)

6:40 Seasonality - tire brand example and micro moment search terms

8:05 Serve the need the consumer has based on search and context - even with PPC basics

8:38 The want-to-know moment

8:55 Oreo marketing with Game of Thrones: embossed cookies for each GoT house, and on Twitter: #GameOfCookies #ForTheThrone

10:15 Game of Thrones Oreos

10:30 Sunday Scaries - Instagram phenomenon #SundayScaries

11:30 Production value is less important than quality and sensitivity to the moment in the buyer's journey

12:20 Guardian looked at shiny high production value videos on IG stories and return on effort wasn’t as high, so went for a lo-fi approach which worked better. "Lean into the culture of the internet." Source: The Guardian finds less polished video works better on Instagram Stories

13:15 Why lo-fi posts were more popular - on Instagram, people are looking for their friends, so brands who look that way blend in more and seem more natural

About Melanie Touchstone:

Digital Marketing Strategist Melanie Touchstone helps fast-growth businesses develop and expand their brand presence through strategic, inbound marketing. Having spent over a decade working closely with the innovation ecosystem, Melanie has unique insight into the needs of early and middle-market companies. She specializes in brand and channel marketing.

Connect with Melanie:

melanietouchstone.com

Twitter: @MelTouchstone

Instagram: @TouchstoneMarketing

Previous episodes:

Enjoy this? Hear Melanie and Emily discuss email marketing in Episode 31: Simplify Your Marketing

Pippa:

Check out our sponsor, Pippa.io and get a $25 Amazon Gift Card when you sign up for a year of hosting at beetlemoment.com/pippa

033 - Top Five Tips for a Great Alexa Flash Briefing - Daniel Hill

What makes a great Flash Briefing? Daniel Hill, creator and host of The Instagram Stories Flash Briefing is our guest. Daniel and Emily Binder, creator and host of Voice Marketing - Daily Beetle Moment Flash Briefing discuss the top five tips for creating a popular Flash Briefing.

Why Daniel has the #1 Alexa Skill for search term “Instagram”:

“Others were doing similar things [marketing tips for small businesses] on Instagram, but no one was doing it on Alexa.” -Daniel Hill

1. Length - 10 seconds, 90 seconds, or 3 minutes? Daniel suggests a longer briefing than Emily. It depends on your content.

   1. Don’t waste time on your intro and outro. Use markers. (Emily uses Pippa - click here for a $25 Amazon Gift Card when you sign up for a year of audio hosting). Include sonic branding - be consistent.

2. Schedule / cadence - how often to publish your Flash Briefing?

   1. Make a commitment.

   2. How many days per week? 5 weekdays, or all 7 days? Should you publish on weekends? Whatever you do, be consistent and let listeners know what to expect. Listenership for Flash Briefings diminishes on weekends but you may want to post at least one or two weekend posts for the ones who stay engaged (Daniel). Consider a weekend edition (something short and simple).

   3. Survey your listeners: Daniel used a Google Form, created a bit.ly link to it, and announced it on his briefing - and he gave away an Echo to incentivize listeners to take the survey. Batch record - don’t leave this until the night before (Emily). Daniel: Fresh news briefings require recording daily most of the time. Consider recording early after the gym or whenever you feel most energized. Listeners can hear fatigue in your voice.

3. Content: what to talk about?

   1. Daniel: It has to be newsworthy.

   2. Emily: Don’t be obvious and basic. Don’t make a briefing about something basic.

   3. Add value: “What do I know that other people don’t?” And add your take on the news you share. Example briefing (share news, give take) below or click here.

4. What to name your Flash Briefing:

   1. Daniel: Look for a name or word people are talking about. Capitalize on popular search terms because this platform is so uncrowded.

   2. Emily: Look at Google Search Trends or Amazon’s list of top product searches. https://twitter.com/emilybinder/status/1117167808851382274.

5. What’s the point of your briefing?

   1. Emily: Public speaking should make your audience feel something, remember something, and do something. Look at your briefing as a body of work over time. You need a central theme or idea that is the backbone of all your content.

   2. Daniel: Make a Flash Briefing that is niche: example: not just fishing, not just deep sea fishing, but Sustainable Deep Sea Fishing!

About Daniel:

Daniel Hill is obsessed with figuring what grabs people's attention and holds it. What makes someone tap the "like" button or double tap on a picture? What makes someone post the crying emoji or share a post with their private text message group?  Daniel currently works at Columbia University Medical Center and runs DanielHillMedia, where he teaches small business owners how to use Instagram. He hosts an Instagram podcast, called "The Instagram Stories", and launched the first Instagram Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing Skill where he gives daily news updates and answers questions. You can find him on Instagram @danielhillmedia. 

Connect with Daniel:

The Instagram Stories Flash Briefing

Twitter and Instagram: @DanielHillMedia

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024 - Instagram Influencer Marketing and Authenticity

I spoke with Jamie Stuckert, Marketing Manager at Wild Foods, an Austin-based natural ingredients company. We talked about influencer marketing, focusing on what works and doesn't work on Instagram for building an authentic brand and educating people about health. Jamie shares her experiences running social media for the brand account for Wild Foods and her own personal brand, Keto Like Jamie.

Jamie has stories about followers seeking medical advice through DMs, inspiring people to lose 100 pounds on keto, and toxic energy drinks using models to promote their products.

The bottom line is that being real - flaws and all - works.

Hear bonus content - part 2

Timestamps:

3:18 We don’t throw just any picture up for the sake of having content

3:40 Goal on IG is to educate

4:20 KetoLikeJamie - personal brand

6:00 Overcoming self-consciousness and being really honest - imperfection is okay

6:26 How do I market my brand with influencers?

6:52 What works when it comes to influencers?

7:32 We want to pay for someone who stands by our brand, uses our product daily, is into the natural lifestyle

Follow Wild Foods and Jamie on Instagram:

@WildFoods

@KetoLikeJamie

Jamie's YouTube channel

Learn more about Wild Foods: https://www.wildfoods.co/