Insights from below deck: March 2023

Study finds that Storyblok’s CMS boosts productivity

This month, a Forrester Total Economic Impact™ study was commissioned by Storyblok to evaluate the cost savings and business benefits enabled by its CMS. The methodology was to design a composite organisation based on characteristics of the interviewees’ organisations, and construct a financial framework around that.

One quantified benefit we found particularly interesting was the single-source management of content. Storyblok’s CMS includes an asset manager and a central repository for all content assets. Thanks to these features, one interviewee reported a 32% increase in Sprint points and a reduction in their organisation’s front-end developer count, while another remarked that content was much more up to date, with access to the asset library empowering their content creators. For the composite organisation, Forrester applied a 50% productivity capture rate (with the assumption that half the time savings went back into productive work) – an impressive stat not to be overlooked. Learn more about Storyblok’s CMS.

Building online communities is more important than ever

A survey by Content Marketing Institute, entitled ‘Technology Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends: Insights for 2023’ has found that building online communities is more important than ever, according to tech marketers.

More than half (54%) of respondents said they’d be investing in social media and community building this year – over 46% more than the previous year. The rationale behind this is that building a community means creating a space where your audience feels heard, valued, and understood. In turn, engagement is boosted and your audience is inspired to come back for more. 

Our advice is to research your audience to understand the culture behind it, then find ways to engage and incorporate them into your content plan. From Facebook groups to forums, club mailing lists and networking events, there are plenty of ways to build a sense of community around your brand.

Has social media killed the famous advert?

Sir John Hegarty shared his thoughts on advertising this month, namely how creative spark has been zapped from the art form – replaced with digital marketing that reduces advertising to a science. 

As creative founder at Saatchi & Saatchi & BBH, Sir John is a revered figure in advertising, responsible for the most iconic Levi’s Jeans ads of the 80s and 90s. His simple, visual storytelling and wry sense of humour captured a national mood – but is this level of brand fame still possible in an age where algorithms and short attention spans seemingly rule all? 

Hegarty thinks so, but states the importance of understanding the principles that grow brands first. “When TV came along, it didn’t kill radio, radio didn’t kill the theatre, flatscreen TVs didn’t kill cinema – the brilliant thing today is you’ve got options,” Sir John told the BBC. “Principles remain, practices change.”

Without prioritising meaning management, I don’t believe brands can leave a thumbprint on the world. Get that right first, with human creativity and the truth of the brand, then bring in the science of social media advertising. And on that note – what was the last advert you remember the brand for? 

Twitter to remove blue check marks for those who don’t pay

As of 1st April, Twitter will phase out its legacy check mark programme (the blue tick for people or brands deemed notable). To keep the blue tick, users must sign up to Twitter Blue, costing £84 per year. Small businesses or brands will need to sign up to Verified for Organisations which costs £950 per month. This provides all the benefits of Twitter Blue plus a gold tick, a square avatar, and the ability to add affiliate accounts at around £50 each. It’s not exactly cheap, so you’ll need to weigh up whether the benefits are worth the cost for your business.