Content Marketing Tips from the Director of Marketing APAC, SurveyMonkey

The realm of content marketing is one shrouded in mystery, we know that content is king, but how do we get to that point? And how do we leverage it to its full potential?

We managed to catch up with Eli Schwartz, Director of Marketing for Asia Pacific at SurveyMonkey, who offered us some content marketing tips.

How Did Your Passion for Content Marketing Come About?

I would say that I came into content marketing totally by accident. I have been a digital marketer for over a decade, and I have witnessed much change in the way marketing needs to be done online. Whereas SEO used to just mean acquiring lots of links to a piece of content, now you can’t do SEO without a piece of content that someone would link to organically.

What in Your Opinion Makes Good Content?

Good content is something that people are going to engage with in any format whether with a share, like, comment or just finishing it to read all the way to the end. If people are starting to read your content and aren’t even finishing it, there’s something that needs to be improved.

Are There Any Particular Companies or Individuals That You Draw Inspiration From?

I think Buzzfeed does a great job of figuring what kind of content people are going to want to read and share. The content they create is specifically made to spin page views and grow traffic.

What Is the Biggest Challenge Companies Face When It Comes to Content Marketing? What Strategies Do You Think They Can Employ to Overcome Them?

Thinking that content can just be created by someone who can put words into coherent sentences. Content marketing needs to be conducted by people who can be creative, quantitative and qualitative all at the same time.

If you aren’t going to have the right people drafting your content, you are better off hiring an external agency to create good content for you.

What Is SurveyMonkey Doing Differently When It Comes to Content?

We create content that educates people about the use of data. Our content is meant to drive very top of funnel thought leadership around research vs just driving people directly to a call to action.

Should Content Be Short and Concise or Should It Take It’s Time and to Deliver Solid Points?

It depends! A description on an image should be short and to the point while an argument or opinion needs to be as long as necessary to deliver the ideas to the reader.

Should Content Be Short and Concise or Should It Take It’s Time and to Deliver Solid Points?

Share your content with your friends on social media. If your content isn’t good enough for your good friends to give it a like/comment/share why would complete strangers even bother?

What Kind of Testing Do You Perform to Ensure the Content Reaches Their Objectives?

I usually rely on the content hitting the necessary objectives based on research. If my content does not hit the objectives, I just move on to something new unless I think a different spin might give it a better shot.

Any Last Content Marketing Tips for Budding Strategists?

Brainstorm content ideas that have never been seen before. Don’t just copy and regurgitate other’s ideas.

What Are Some Strategies Companies in the West Employ That You Think Could Translate over Here as Well?

Many Western publishers and media companies expend a lot of effort in creating content from their own unique ideas. Have a look at the homepage of CNN and you will see them linking to surveys they have created on their own and listicles they have compiled alongside a fair share of original reporting. I find that many companies in Asia focus a lot of their content efforts on putting a unique spin on existing content rather than just creating something completely new.

Here are the slides from our event with Eli:

THE SECRET TO CREATING VIRAL CONTENT OUT OF THIN AIR BY ELI SCHWARTZ