Hero. Hub. Hygiene: How To Boost SEO with HHH
Ever heard of Triple H? Not the wrestler.
We are talking about:
Hero. Hub. Hygiene.
Sounds strange to those unfamiliar, but recently - these three words have been the strategic framework that gets results. Thank YouTube and Google for this strategy: it’s been used by many top brands and household names worldwide. Many marketers today are creating whole Youtube channels around this strategy.
What is Hero Hub Hygiene (HHH)?
It’s a guide for growing an audience on YouTube and its proven so effective that businesses are now applying it across all parts of their marketing strategy. It helps marketers close any gaps when planning current and future content.
Credit: Destination Think
With the rise of video marketing, it is said that online video will account for 74% of all internet traffic. Dear awesome marketer, you have to give an audience reasons to keep coming back. Create a strong connection with them by continuously dropping fresh + coherent content that covers every area of your sales funnel.
This is what the HHH framework does.
What is Hero Content?
Brand focused promotional content. It’s driven by high emotion and high quality production. Depending on the size of your company and budget, this is content typically created 1 - 2 times year. Small companies will probably publish less often, whereas large companies will publish more frequently. Think: Super Bowl Commercials.
Here’s one of the best examples of Hero content:
Nike ensured their hero video achieved its aim by hiring Academy Award-nominated director Guy Ritchie to take control of this this stunning short about a young professional footballer taken from his POV. Bravo, Nike. Gien Nike’s highly competitive market, it was very important for them to go big with their Hero content. And it paid off, attracting them 4+ million viewers on YouTube as it currently stands!
It’s probably unlikely you can afford and award-winning director to produce a short movie for your business. However, there’s clever ways to create Hero content with smaller budgets. Take this CarMax ad for instance:
This simple clip is Hero content genius because it is a direct response to another viral used car video – this one, a beautifully shot spoof made because the filmmaker wanted to help his girlfriend sell her 1996 Honda Accord.
CarMax’s response? Make her a one week only offer of $20,000 for her car, her cat, her coffee machine, her Mexico mug, and her fiancé’s sweatshirt (all featured in the video). In just one year, it gained almost half a million views on YouTube!
So, if you don’t have the budget for that Super Bowl ad, don’t sweat. Keep an eye out for any big opportunities that pop up. When done correctly, and in good taste, connecting yourself to someone else’s viral success will mean an enormous boost in profile.
Some tips to help you avoid any flops with your Hero content:
What is it that makes you stand out? Focus on your hook.
If you can’t afford stunning visuals, focus on storytelling that is hilarious or shocking in some way. Be compelling and creative.
Know what your current customer base wants to see. It will take some additional market research, but it will ensure that you are targeting an audience that will translate into conversions.
Invest time in making sure your videos are as visible as possible, covering all of your bases. Take advantage of high-profile events both online and offline as well as the many video and social media platforms available to you. A good promotional strategy should always be a top priority.
What is Hub Content?
Hub videos are produced much more frequently than Hero videos.
It increases brand awareness, trust and engagement with your website and/or social media channels. It should encourage your visitors on to the next stage of your sales funnel while keeping them wanting to come back for more.
Some good examples:
Daily / Weekly vlogs explore more specific themes that engage your and entertain your audience, such as the latest item that can blend:
Customer testimonials share interesting stories about how a product or service improves people’s lives, like boosting collaboration that is effective using the right tools:
Interviews solidify you as a thought leader in your industry. Toss in diversity and cultural influencers and you have a winning formula for engagement and trust. Forbes and Jack Harlow, not a bad mix:
Product Demos not only help your customers, but they also reassure your visitors by showing them how your product is beneficial and simple to use in real world applications:
Some tips for creating Hub content that works:
Tell inspiring stories that stick with viewers
Address your audience’s needs. They’ll grow to trust your business more.
Be entertaining and informative. Discuss the latest tech or trends and tell them how they can improve their experiences in your industry
Publish them in predictable and consistent intervals and make them cohesive and in the right tone of your brand. Build strong brand identity.
What is Hygiene Content?
Often overlooked, this is arguably the most important content type.
Hygiene content is designed drive traffic to your business by ranking high for all the popular keywords in your industry niche. Google and YouTube controls the flow of traffic to your website and video content and as a result, you want to invest a lot of effort in trying to leverage SEO in your favor.
In order to leverage Hygiene content, find out the most commonly searched questions / phrases in your specific niche and answer them thoroughly with these videos.
You can use keyword search engine tools like Google Keyword Planner. Over time, watch you site move up the rankings and see how many new visitors are generated.
There’s no specifics as to the perfect guidelines for creating Hygiene content, but videos should be adapted to fit your audience’s searches and habits. A good place to start are How-To videos. For example, check Trek’s brand video “How To: Shift a Road Bike”:
The video has earned them close to 700,000 views. Among those people watching, how many people are better cyclists now? At the least, it has widened their brand awareness and solidified them as an authority on cycling.
Hygiene content is more insightful and a steady means of pulling viewer attention your way as opposed to Hero content. Remember that both are equally necessary for creating a sustainable videdo marketing strategy.
Some tips to further boost SEO and improve your chances for ranking on the first page of Google:
Focus on the most searched phrase of your niche
Match your video titles with the keywords or phrases
Create content that’s actionable and reveals tactics to solve specific problems that people are having with your niche
Encourage comments, likes, discussions and interact with your audience by replaying and answering back
Split test (or A/B test) all aspects of your Hygiene videos, titles, thumbnails, content design, layout, etc. Over time, you’ll find a formula that works best for you.
Budgeting for Your Hero Hub Hygiene Campaign
No matter how big or small your company or brand is in your industry, having a sound business and marketing plan is key. Equally important is a realistic budget , but where to start? With the help of the CMO survey 2022, hopefully these insights will give you an idea:
1. What % of revenue should I spend on a marketing budget?
B2B Product 9.4%
B2B Services 10.0%
B2C Product 14.2%
B2C Services 8.7%
Looks like here at HADJI Studios we need to apply about 10%. What about you?
2. What % of the marketing budget should be dedicated to a Hero Hub Hygiene campaign?
It depends, but knowing how to allocate those dollars will depend on the scope of you HHH campaign, what strategies get you results, and the interest and habits of your customers. This is usually through trial and error, but start out with understanding your customer:
Where do they hang out the most? Social media, TV, YouTube, TikTok?
What content do they respond and relate to the most?
What interests them? What holds their attention?
Knowing these answers will give you better insight on your HHH campaign investments.
3. Where should spend the most on? Hero, Hub, or Hygiene?
Hero content will almost always be the most expensive while Hygiene will be the cheapest, but Hygiene will be the most common you will produce, while Hero will be the least. Perhaps Hub content has had more impact on your sales, so next year, allocate more towards Hub. Testing and patience is key. One video alone will not dictate the direction of your marketing spend. Approach your strategy holistically.
HHH vs Traditional Sales Funnel
They actually play nicely together. When planning your HHH strategy, consider the different stages of the sales funnel and how it applies to you:
Awareness: People won’t buy from you if they’ve never heard of you, so make yourself be known. Your Hero content sits here, but Hygiene content can also be effective in building awareness when used to leverage SEO.
Capture: Present yourself as industry thought leader and build trust with your prospects with engaging Hub content. Answer important questions and any objections about your business .
Nurture: When your customers here, that means they have strong intent in doing business with you and are ready to make a decision. Create quality Hygiene content here, such as product demos and How-To’s.
Convert: Congratulations, you have new business and a new channel (word-of-mouth) but don’t stop there. Continue to keep your new customer engaged with your brand with consistent Hygiene content. It’s the quickest way to building a raving fan.
Conclusion
When starting out with your own HHH campaign, first know your target audience, experiment with content and take advantage of big promo opportunities. Creating a strategy that helps you streamline your messaging and plan for the bigger picture is essential. Investing time in a well thought out HHH strategy will reward your business with an audience that not only wants to buy from you but also comes back for more.
If you would like help with your Hero Hub Hygiene videos, give us a shout here!
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