Branded content material has modified the way in which we strategy promoting. Not like typical promoting strategies, which primarily concentrate on showcasing a product and may be seen as invasive, branded content material is “non-salesy” and communicates your model’s values and imaginative and prescient. It’s immersive and leverages the facility of storytelling. It’s totally different from conventional product placement, which highlights a product by that includes it prominently in a TV present or film. It additionally differs from content material advertising and marketing, which primarily focuses on focusing on an viewers, selling calls to motion, and producing optimistic ROI.
What can branded content material do on your model? How do you craft highly effective and efficient branded content material? What are the perfect platforms you need to use for branded content material? Right here’s an in-depth take a look at branded content material platforms and why it’s price including branded content material to your advertising and marketing technique in 2023.
8 Finest Branded Content material Platforms & Finest Practices:
What Is Branded Content material?
Branded content material is a advertising and marketing approach that refers to creating content material that showcases your model’s message, values, and story. It’s extra accessible and designed for a variety of viewers segments. The aim of branded content material is to develop what you are promoting by means of consciousness and offering essential details about your model.
With branded content material, you’re basically creating memorable advertising and marketing experiences on your viewers. It takes audiences by means of an immersive expertise and lets you construct a reference to them whereas equipping your model to garner extra optimistic model perceptions.
Moreover, branded content material is used to start out a dialog round your model and create an affect in your viewers. Provided that it makes use of storytelling, branded content material can be utilized to faucet into your viewers’s feelings whereas providing them one thing of worth on the identical time within the type of leisure. It’s additionally not invasive, which implies it lets you entice prospects extra naturally.
Over time, branded content material has grown into a substantial promoting pressure. Throughout the latter a part of 2020, spending on branded content material grew by 32%, with 31% of advertisers utilizing it to extend product consideration. The identical report highlights extra makes use of of branded content material, which embrace driving gross sales (29%), reaching new goal prospects (29%), and constructing long-term model fairness (25%), together with conveying the model’s values or goal (24%).
Why Ought to You Use Branded Content material?
Branded content material may help gas your development. It’s a flexible approach that can be utilized throughout totally different channels and introduced in numerous codecs like video video games and podcasts. It additionally permits manufacturers to collaborate with different creators, resembling influencers, to generate content material. For instance, manufacturers can flip to user-generated content material and permit precise customers or content material creators to create movies or posts to share their story.
In comparison with conventional promoting strategies, resembling show advertisements, branded content material is 22x extra partaking. Furthermore, provided that at this time’s customers need manufacturers to pitch in with regards to tackling social and political points, branded content material has confirmed to be a helpful software in any advertiser’s arsenal. When utilizing branded content material to handle such points, it’s vital to do not forget that your message must be genuine and in step with your model’s values. In any other case, you might run the chance of launching a marketing campaign that comes off as faux.
Moreover, branded content material can drive as much as 59% extra model recognition in comparison with different digital promoting codecs. This advantages companies as a result of this implies prospects usually tend to bear in mind your model. It additionally generates an common of 86% for model recall and provides manufacturers the next raise with regards to model perceptions.
When executed nicely, branded content material has the facility to increase your attain, nurture buyer belief and loyalty, generate high-quality conversions, and construct model consciousness. It could possibly assist put your model on prime of shoppers’ minds once they’re searching for an answer for a specific ache level.
High 8 Branded Content material Platforms
Grin is an all-in-one branded content material platform that permits you to take your branded content material technique to the following stage. With Grin, you possibly can create and simplify content material rights agreements for brand new partnerships or campaigns, repurpose content material, promote and distribute branded content material throughout social media channels like TikTok and YouTube, and handle all of your model collaborations.
Moreover, the platform delivers complete reporting and analytics with customized tag monitoring. This lets you monitor and arrange a number of campaigns with out overlooking all of the little particulars. It helps you to effectively handle creator partnerships, so you possibly can rework your model right into a extra helpful one. Use Grin to find the appropriate creators and get them onboard on your future campaigns. Entry all of your content material (influencer advertising and marketing content material + user-generated content material) in a single platform and generate metrics for all of your campaigns. Grin additionally helps you handle creator funds, from fee monitoring to funds, in addition to commissions and tax compliance.
The platform integrates with social platforms, eCommerce software program, and different advertising and marketing options, together with Klaviyo, Slack, Magento, Instagram, WooCommerce, Shopify, and Gmail.
Key Options: Content material Amplification, Search/Discovery, Influencer Lifecycle Administration, Influencer Relationship Administration, Content material Assessment, Content material Library, Marketing campaign Administration, Marketing campaign Reporting, Influencer Evaluation, Viewers Evaluation, E-commerce Instruments, Product/Gifting Instruments, Types and Compliance,
Channels: Fb, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Twitch, YouTube
NapoleonCat is a social media advertising and marketing software program that goes past social media administration. It may also be used to publish content material and analyze your and your competitor’s efficiency. It helps an array of platforms, together with Fb Pages, Instagram enterprise accounts, Instagram Advertisements, and YouTube channels.
It affords the next options:
- Social inbox, which helps you to monitor and reply to engagements (feedback, opinions, and messages) in a single dashboard
- Automation for essential processes, resembling social customer support, social gross sales, scheduling and publishing, and advertisements moderation
- Publishing options, which embrace approval automation and cross-platform scheduling and publishing
- Analytics that allow you to observe your cross-channel efficiency, key metrics, and your competitor’s social media efficiency
- Reporting, which helps you to schedule automated studies and switch knowledge into Excel or PDF codecs
It additionally helps you to concern and handle customer support tickets, monitor and reply to Google opinions, and improve collaboration by means of options, resembling a shared content material calendar, aggressive benchmarks, and customer support workflows.
NapoleonCat integrates with a number of main social media channels, together with Fb, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
Affect.co is a branded content material platform designed to assist companies, creators, and influencers develop. With Affect.co, creators can develop their skilled community and monetize their affect. For companies, you need to use Affect.co to attach with the appropriate influencers and creators on your model. Use the platform to achieve new audiences, drive model consciousness, generate curiosity, interact folks, and encourage them to take motion.
Affect.co helps you to uncover new influencers with its superior search software. It’s also possible to use the platform to let influencers discover your model by creating marketing campaign briefs. Use Affect.co to handle your partnerships, monitor your campaigns, and create long-term relationships together with your companions.
Key Options: Search/Discovery, Automated Recruiting, Influencer Relationship Administration, Influencer Market, Content material Library, Marketing campaign Administration, Marketing campaign Reporting, Influencer Evaluation, Viewers Evaluation,
Channels: Instagram, YouTube, Fb, Pinterest, Twitter, Patreon, Snapchat, Tiktok, Amazon
Fanbytes helps manufacturers leverage branded content material by means of influencer advertising and marketing, content material creation, and natural and paid social campaigns. It connects manufacturers with main Gen Z creators by means of its in depth award-winning influencer community and makes it extra handy for manufacturers to approve influencers and their content material.
Fanbytes offers you entry to a artistic technique crew that may enable you formulate progressive marketing campaign methods for influencer-led branded content material. Moreover, the platform can bolster your branded content material technique, develop your attain, and generate genuine engagement by means of influencer-led campaigns.
It has labored with among the world’s main manufacturers, together with Ubisoft, Common Music Group, Sony Music, Profit Cosmetics, and Burger King.
Key Options: Influencer Market, Marketing campaign Administration,
Channels: Snapchat, Instagram Tales, TikTok
Seeking to create highly effective and efficient branded content material? Rock Content material may help you construct content material experiences that can win over your viewers, construct model consciousness, and generate income. To this point, it has labored with greater than 2,000 manufacturers, entrepreneurs, and companies to create and ship out-of-the-box and compelling content material experiences.
Ion, its interactive content material platform, makes it simpler for manufacturers to craft extra memorable interactive experiences whereas permitting them to gather related knowledge on the identical time. Questioning how one can hold your viewers engaged? Rock Content material has an answer for that, too, with its Stage, a service that can be utilized to combine the experiences you’ve constructed into your web site.
A number of the corporations which have used Rock Content material to construct premium content material experiences embrace IBM, Microsoft, Yahoo, Cisco, Marvel, and Oracle.
Should you’re in want of 1 platform for search engine optimisation, content material advertising and marketing, social media advertising and marketing, and extra, then you might need to think about SEMrush. By its Content material Advertising Platform, you possibly can create efficient branded content material that resonates together with your viewers. Use knowledge to uncover important insights about your viewers and their wants, discover matters you need to use to create branded content material, optimize your content material to enchantment to new prospects, and begin automating routine duties. The software additionally helps you create complete content material plans, leverage search engine optimisation, monitor model mentions, monitor efficiency, and run content material audits.
Pressboard, which was acquired by affect.com, offers you entry to award-winning instruments for branded content material and extra. It’s an all-in-one platform that permits you to handle, measure, and monitor campaigns for sponsored content material, native promoting, eCommerce, and social media. With it, you possibly can make the most of complete knowledge to create higher campaigns and enhance efficiency, generate actionable and shareable studies, and handle a number of campaigns all of sudden due to options like intuitive workflows and multi-user entry.
Take pleasure in entry to in-depth benchmarks that you need to use to trace your efficiency and see how the competitors is doing. Better of all, Pressboard helps future-proof your branded content material by means of progressive cookie-less know-how that’s compliant with GDPR, CCPA, and IAB TCF pointers. Pressboard has labored with prime publishers, resembling The New York Instances, Bustle, and USA Immediately and collaborates with business consultants to handle points in granular efficiency monitoring for branded content material.
Tribe is an influencer advertising and marketing platform that helps companies develop higher branded content material utilizing know-how and professional groups. It’s an end-to-end platform for constructing, managing, and measuring your individual creator neighborhood. Use the platform to find new creators from its pool of over 70,000 content material creators and influencers. Should you’re already working with content material creators, Tribe helps you to import them into customized teams, so you possibly can rapidly begin operating branded content material campaigns.
Tribe helps you to handle your campaigns extra conveniently. Merely launch a marketing campaign and watch tailor-made pitches roll in from the appropriate creators. Plus, the platform helps you to automate duties, resembling content material approvals and funds. It helps you to make the most of knowledge, so you can also make higher selections. Get to know your viewers and collaborators higher by means of viewers demographics and estimated efficiency knowledge for channels like Instagram and TikTok.
Better of all, Tribe has a Model Security characteristic in place. Its proprietary AVS system ensures that manufacturers work solely with genuine creators who’ve an actual following. Lastly, the platform permits manufacturers to license high quality branded content material.
Branded Content material Finest Practices
1. Create significant, distinctive content material
Branded content material shouldn’t simply be significant. It also needs to be distinctive in order that it stands out from the content material generated by your rivals. Spotlight your model, its identification, story, and values. When creating branded content material, hold your viewers in thoughts and just be sure you give you one thing that they’ll join with on an emotional stage. And don’t skip on analysis; attempt to discover out what your rivals are doing. What methods are they using? What channels or codecs are they utilizing?
2. Select your platforms and channels fastidiously
Be strategic in selecting the channels the place you publish your branded content material. Moreover, think about the sorts of platforms you’re going to make use of. This may also affect the kind of format that you simply’ll be utilizing. For instance, in the event you’re planning to make use of YouTube, you possibly can create longer movies. However in the event you’re considering of utilizing the identical content material for platforms like TikTok or Instagram, then you might need to edit the clip and make it shorter to suit such platforms. One solution to discover out which channels and platforms work finest is to find out what kind of content material your viewers usually consumes and the place they spend most of their time.
3. Discover out who your audiences are
By figuring out who your audiences are, you possibly can create simpler campaigns. Use knowledge to your benefit and discover out what resonates with them or what their pursuits are. This may help you create branded content material that resonates with their values or appeals to their feelings.
When you’re at it, don’t neglect to personalize your branded content material. Discover out what your viewers’s ache factors are and use that to create campaigns that handle their particular wants.
4. Be sure that your branded content material is accessible
Work towards making your branded content material relatable and simply accessible. This implies crafting branded content material that makes use of a voice and tone that match your model values. Just be sure you are constant with regards to the tone and voice and that you simply’re publishing content material on channels that your viewers frequents.
5. Be open to collaborations
We’ve already established that branded content material is flexible and opens up alternatives for collaborations. To increase your attain and develop your viewers, you might need to work with content material creators, influencers, or creatives who can promote your content material on their channels and, consequently, to their followers.
6. Monitor your efficiency
Often monitor and assess your marketing campaign efficiency to see in the event you’re assembly your targets. Learn how your viewers is reacting to your content material or what they should say about your model. This helps you see whether or not or not your branded marketing campaign is succeeding or if it wants a bit extra work.
Often Requested Questions
How can branded content material assist companies?
Branded content material that’s executed nicely has the facility to rework your model right into a extra helpful one. It could possibly assist enhance model recall and model perceptions, in addition to generate conversations round your model. It drums up curiosity and generates model consciousness, all whereas permitting you to increase your attain and develop into extra accessible to a wider viewers section.
Branded content material lets your viewers know the place you stand on vital social and political points, in addition to offers them a extra in-depth look into your model, together with your story and values.
What are some examples of branded content material?
A number of the finest examples embrace:
- Toyota’s Again to the Future marketing campaign
- The Lego Film
- Dove’s Actual Magnificence marketing campaign
- The GQ and Goldman Sachs’ YouTube collection, My First Million
- Apple TV+’s The Morning Present
What are the perfect branded content material platforms?
Under are just some of the perfect branded content material platforms you need to use:
- Grin
- NapoleonCat
- Affect.co
- Fanbytes by Brainlabs
How do I create highly effective branded content material?
- Have a branded content material technique and prioritize figuring out who your prospects are and what their pursuits are
- Create compelling tales which might be partaking, inspiring, memorable, and able to reflecting your model values
- Create branded content material that gives worth to your viewers
- Crew up with content material creators, manufacturers, and different professionals to create high-quality content material
- Don’t be afraid to discover totally different codecs and look into publishing your branded content material on totally different platforms (cross-channel distribution)