Voice Search, Storytelling and Gen Z Are The 3 Missing Pieces in Your SEO Strategy

The future of digital marketing and SEO is based on voice search optimization, storytelling, and Generation Z engagement. If you solely focus on these 3 items, you will cover the most ground. Let’s learn what’s new for each of these tactics.

1- Use Question Keywords to Perfect Voice Search and Smart Devices Optimization

With word accuracy rates improving rapidly (over 90% accuracy has been achieved. Refer to the below graph), voice search is set to make a greater impact in the coming months.

In order to make the most of voice search, you need to concentrate on the following:

• Plan a strategy for question keywords optimization. Create specific pages on your website that caters to the needs of your audience. These should be based on long tail question keywords that are a part of the semantic search. Make sure to add schema markups to these pages as this will increase the chances of your website getting ranked under featured snippets. Besides, content from your site can be returned as an answer.
• Voice searches can be done on Google or on smart devices like Alexa or Google Home. These searches are conversational in nature when the searcher is looking for an immediate answer.

• Use the Speakable data type in your content so Google can properly identify sections within the content that can be returned as a text-to-speech technology as a direct answer.

• Identify the intent of the user and create 3 major content types based on informational, navigational and transactional queries. Create FAQ pages for every piece of the navigational menu as suggested in the image below:

Site speed is crucial when it comes to voice search. The ideal site speed should be around 3 seconds. The faster, the better. Make use of tools like PageSpeed Insights and Pingdom to check your website and implement the suggestions offered.

 

2- Revamp Existing Strategy to Market to Gen Z

Around 40% of the population will be Generation Z by 2020. People who are born on or after 1995 are classified as Gen Z. Besides, the buying power of Gen Z will be between $29B to $143B. Hence, it makes sense to start thinking of millennials and concentrate both on Gen Z and Millennials.

It will take both time and effort. Here are some ways to market to Gen Z audiences:

• Gen Z is the most active on social media. Hence, marketing to Gen Z requires your brand to remain hyperactive on social media. Connect with them by using innovation and social cause. Gen Z love brands that are associated with one or more social causes. Besides, they like the attention and to remain on top of trends.
• Generation Z hates brands who don’t share the truth and are not authentic. Be true to your brand values, share the same passion as your audience and remain authentic.
• Deliver value and remain present on channels where your audience is present, because if you miss, you will lose. Omni-channel marketing is a must for Gen Z. You need to grow your website as your own business and remain present on each and every channel where your target audiences are present.

The #PraiseUp campaign by Axe is a great example of Gen Z marketing in action. The campaign was focused on the fact that Gen Z audiences (those with an age range between 15 to 25) are more comfortable saying things that were considered taboo in the past. You can have a look at the campaign video here.

• Gen Z audiences are open-minded, changemakers, dreamers and diverse. It is important to convey the message to them in their own language.

 

3- Pump Up Your Content Marketing with Effective Storytelling 

Storytelling is certainly the future of content marketing but effective storytelling is not easy. It takes a lot of dedication and practice to craft an extraordinary story.

People don’t like content that is boring and uninteresting. Your content needs to be:

• Interesting
• Shocking
• Positive
• Emotional
• Actionable

Have a look at this National Geographic Instagram post and how they uses super stunning images, a great story, and intertwines it into their social content strategy in order to hook their audiences:

Your stories must compel people to make change because change initiates an action and action leads to conversion. If people view your video and forget it, then you are not succeeding with storytelling.

Videos are going to play a decisive role in storytelling because the shift is changing from text-based content to video-based content. Keep in mind that there are 300 hours of video content being uploaded every minute. So, how do you drive the attention of your customers with this content overload? The answer lies in telling a good story. Keep the following points in mind for effective video storytelling:

• You can never go wrong with your video storytelling strategy if you follow the 4 P’s of storytelling — plot, purpose, people, and place. You should have a great story with a unique purpose, using the best characters and it must be shot in a place that makes a visual impact.
• Length of the video plays an important role. The ideal length of your video should be between 1-2 minutes because beyond that, the attention span of people will continue to decrease.
• As you are creating a video for Gen Z or millennial audiences, focus your video on a behavioral change. The end goal of your video should be to persuade people to take action. It should be done by using motivation, passion, awareness or emotion. Have a look at this video from GoPro that shows how a fireman saved a Kitten from the smoke. This is a great story that shows something amazing and motivates people for a behavioral change for doing good.
• Pick the best channels to upload your video. For example, if you are targeting B2B audiences then LinkedIn is the best platform to upload videos, or if you are a fashion brand, then Instagram can be your preferred channel.

 

Final Thoughts

Marketing to Gen Z audiences, optimizing for smart devices using voice search and leveraging the power of storytelling is crucial to pump up your SEO strategy in 2019 and beyond. Use the strategies discussed in this article and always think about your customer. Businesses who prioritize the needs of their customers are surely going to succeed in the long run.