Manchester HUG Round-Up - August 2018

The Manchester HUG event in August boasted two guest speakers this month. HubSpot’s Implementation Specialist, Stephen Fuery, explained how leveraging bots into your business can boost your marketing efforts, while Digital 22’s Content Manager, Paul Mortimer, discussed how you can plan the best blog titles imaginable. Check out their talks in the videos below, or scroll down for a handy read-friendly version to soak up some quick takeaways from both sessions.

Why Bots Are Needed

You should know what bots are by now. It’s simply a computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users over the internet. It doesn’t matter if you have the best sales team or the most helpful support team around, bots can still be a significant boost to your marketing efforts.

These bots can help automate customer-facing conversation for businesses which not only improves the overall efficiency, but it also maximises user satisfaction. This is because you’re able to build and implement an experience which is entirely conversational inside of apps your qualified leads or visitors are already using.

 I don’t know about you, but when I need assistance at 10 PM when there’s nobody in the office to help me out, I’m not going to be that patient to wait until the next day to get the help or answers I need.

What Else Was Discussed?

During the talk, Stephen went into great detail regarding bots and just how beneficial they can be, how HubSpot fits in as well as many other great bits.

Along with explaining why businesses need bots, the talk also featured some common reasons for why some companies aren’t using bots - as well as some brilliant solutions to combat the misconceptions about diving into an ‘always online’ world.

Stephen also went on to talk about the best way to implement bots - think of them as essential tips to consider when you decide to implement your own bots, such as being able to solve real problems, for example.

That’s not all, we also received some excellent insight into conversational marketing, how it’s vital to the implementation of bots as well as how it can supplement your ROI in the long run, especially when it’s tough for marketers to get through to people. So, it’s worth checking out.

Then, there’s the Inbound Messaging Framework which is an additional element on top of the current inbound framework. There’s also some insight on how you can get started on creating your own bots - with no coding required - and a look at Junior, a bot Stephen himself created and what it’s capable of.

Evidently, there’s too much to cram in here. So, if you want to find out more about all of the above, click here to read the full blog post on Stephen’s talk on bots at the Manchester HUG event.

How to Plan Blog Titles

Planning the title of a blog can often be the biggest headache your content team faces when it’s time to write up a blog. You need to think about so many different factors for the sake of one good title, but it’s totally worth it.

Here at Digital 22, that’s where our own content manager, Paul, comes in. He gave some handy tips on how to create killer blog titles.

Paul highlighted during his talk at the Manchester HUG that five things always need to be taken into consideration when you’re planning your blog titles. These are:

1. Showing you have knowledge about the blog topic in your title.
2. Meeting SEO needs by tying the title and your content together.
3. Using the best contextual language for a precise scenario so that it can entice the persona to click.
4. Optimising your titles, so it meets the technical SEO requirements.
5. Use emotive language which your persona understands.

What Else Was Discussed?

Paul took a more in-depth look at each of the sections mentioned above, highlighting just how important each one is and how all of them play an integral role in making sure you have the best blog title possible - and the content to match it.

In the first stage, the knowledge aspect was discussed and how it’s crucial for you to show plenty of authority in your titles to show that knowledge. However, never fall into the clickbait trap or trying to add too much mystique. Readers want something straight to the point, so give it to them.

During the blog title talk, it was also highlighted just how important the titles can be, especially as Google can either make it appear higher up so that you get more clicks, or mark it down if it’s not something readers want to check out.

Paul also discussed how you can entice readers with your blog titles. This is a biggie, as this is where your persona research comes into play ranging from the language they use - so you know the terminology and phrases you should use - as well as the length of the blogs depending on their reading time habits.

For a more detailed look at the valuable points Paul mentioned during his talk at the Manchester HUG - including the optimisation ‘rules’ - check out the full post about how to create killer blog titles by clicking here.

What is the Manchester HUG?

The Manchester HubSpot User Group is an event hosted by Digital 22 for like-minded people to share their inbound tactics and experience so that it helps everyone to improve their results.

The event takes place four times every year - February, May, August and October - and each session focuses on a particular aspect of inbound marketing. So, every event will cover a different topic each time with expert input.

At the HUG, you’ll learn what works for other companies that attend. You’ll get the chance to network with other people that use HubSpot while asking any questions weighing on your mind to the experts in attendance.

The end goal of each HUG event is that everyone that attends leaves a better marketer.

Join us at the Next Manchester HUG where HubSpot’s Very Own Dan Tyre Will be Doing a post-INBOUND 18 Product Talk

Stephen and Paul were the two guest speakers we had this month, but now the focus turns to the next HubSpot User Group in October. So, if both of the talks above have interested you and you like the sound of the Manchester HUG, join us at the next one.

At the October 2018 event, HubSpot Sales Director Dan Tyre will be giving a full product rundown following INBOUND 2018 as they launch their newest features, so book your tickets today.