Content personalization can be tricky. We want to tailor messages to a certain audience and make them feel seen as an individual. However, we can’t cross over into the creepy area of personalizing it too much. This is known as the personalization paradox. Instead, we need to find the right balance of how and when to use content marketing personalization.
What is Content Marketing Personalization?
Personalization can be anything from your name on a Coke bottle to an airline company knowing exactly where you’re flying from. As technology gathers more and more data from users, it’s becoming easier to target your message to a specific audience. This is especially true on a digital platform.
Personalizing messages can make an advertisement go from feeling like an annoying pop-up to someone speaking directly to you. 80% of consumers stated that they are more likely to buy into a brand when they are offered a personalized experience. This means it’s critical for your brand to utilize this tactic in order to find success.
How to Use Personalize in Marketing
This is where you get to be creative and specific to your brand. Personalization for some could be as subtle as sending out ads to an audience within a specific geofence. While the ad may look the same for everyone within the fence, it will automatically feel more personal because it’s specific to that group’s location.
On a website, personalization could look like greeting returning visitors by name or having a different opening page for those who have never looked at the site before. Many emails are personalized by greeting a specific person, so it doesn’t feel like a mass email.
Many entertainment and retail platforms use personalization to recommend items based on what a user has looked at in the past. This can be key in keeping purchases coming from returning customers and make them loyal fans of your brand.
In order to narrow down a consumer’s search options, your brand might offer a survey to better understand exactly what the user is looking for. This can help your audience feel like your brand is working for and with them.
There are many ways you could personalize your content marketing. The key is to make every consumer’s journey feel personal to them. For more ideas, check out these examples of what personalization could look like.
When to Use Personalization
To some extent, you should always offer some level of personalization. The real question is how much to use. One way to manage this is to ask your consumers what they are comfortable with. This can be done in surveys of interests as mentioned before. A consumer could offer as much or as little information as they wish in order to have a more tailored experience. Additionally, offering the opportunity to create an account or log in to your brand’s content could allow some consumers to give you every detail of who they are and others to feel more anonymous.
Another way to personalize without coming off as creepy is using a persona rather than an actual person. Having strategic messaging for a type of person rather than a specific person can allow you to narrow down who you are talking to without seeming intrusive.
The longer a customer works with your brand, the more personal you can make their experience. Just like any other relationship, take time to get to know your customers at their comfort level. Data can give a lot of information about a person, however many do not realize the extent of what companies can see.
At the end of the day, if you would feel creeped out for someone you just met to know something about you, your customers will probably feel the same way.
If you want to learn more about how your brand can personalize its content marketing, contact us. We’d love to get to know you.
