Thinks I find along the way
On Sundays, it’s all about Blogging and Content Marketing…
On Sunday, it’s all about blogging and content marketing strategy…
On Sunday, it’s all about blogging and content marketing strategy…
On Sunday, it’s all about blogging and content marketing strategy…
On Sunday, it’s all about blogging and content marketing strategy…
Looking to sink your teeth into some good strategic thoughts for a Saturday? Chris Brogan’s got you covered…
2012 is the year where social media oversaturation hits hard. We will scale back on our participation in social networks, and we will most certainly scale back who we choose to follow as sources. This won’t be because someone is bad or good. It will be based on whether the connection with that person adds value to the stream of information we’re cultivating or not.
In determining how to deliver value and stay relevant and visible in this new landscape, I’ve written down 97 ideas to help you build a valuable platform. Note: some of this thinking comes from writing a new book with Julien Smith that isn’t out until Fall 2012. Want some up front hints? Read this post.
Go to the source if you’d like to consider all 97 ideas. Me? I like #66: “The old “ABC” from Glengarry Glen Ross was “Always Be Closing.” The new ABC is “Always Be Connecting.” Networks are what make selling easier. Your platform is part of how you network.” This is the second time ABC has come up in a couple of days and I was surprised that the person I mentioned it to was not familiar with this scene. It won Alec Baldwin an Oscar… [Warning; Not safe for work!]
For me, ABC means “Always Be Content” marketing – the connecting comes later! Chris has the ideas. I have a repeatable workflow for implementing them. Comment, call or ‘connect’ so we can talk about how this applies to you and your organization…
I maintain that ‘how do I add content marketing to my plate and still get home for supper?’ is one of the most pressing issues in social media today. The pundits all say that this is the year for curation and content marketing but not a lot of experts are giving direction to thought leaders who hope to execute such a strategy effectively. In this 11 minute video I explore the use of David Allen’s ‘Getting Things Done‘ principles to content marketing…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-0UlkmVB0M&feature=youtu.be
Questions? Feedback? Please comment below…
HubSpot has some great thoughts on building online authority that I’d like to share with you…
When someone talks about achieving online authority, what do they mean? And why are so many marketers and business owners fighting to be the online authority in their industry?
Being an online authority essentially means you’re not only a thought leader on a specific topic, but that you’ve also taken the time to translate that knowledge in a meaningful way online. And if you’re a business owner, you’ve gone about it in such a way that search engines see it, your prospects and customers recognize it, and as a result, it helps you generate customers and revenue.
It makes sense: People do business with the people they trust. And putting yourself out there, giving your brand a personality, and taking the time to present research, updates, and opinions that help your prospects and customers is how trust is earned. People used to do it in person; they still do, but now their reach can be extended by thousands and even millions by doing it online, too.
As it turns out, one of the easiest methods of doing all this is through content creation. It’s how people and search engines find you and determine your relevance; over time, the cream rises to the top. If you’re trying to build your online authority — like most smart marketers are — these are the ways you can use content to get the job done.
My favorite is #11; ‘be a credible resource’. I’m not a great writer – in fact, I’d rather talk than write. I love SoundCloud and YouTube as a means of expressing myself. The problem is, Google doesn’t search for pretty or sounds good so I use curation as a means of drawing people into my site to view my original content. Go to the source if you’d like more of HubSpot’s perspective – comment or ‘connect’ to discuss how this applies to you and your organization…
Cute! Heidi Cohen has 13 ways social media scares marketers for Friday the 13th. The first one comes up in every social media class and preso her in Northeast Wisconsin…
Social media is scary for marketers. Used to controlling their brand and messages, they feel most comfortable using one-to-many media for distribution. By contrast, social media allows for multi-directional socializing and interaction.
As a result, marketers only control one aspect of the current communications ecosystem while consumers and the public have media platforms that provide low cost content creation and distribution.
Here are thirteen ways social media instills marketers with fear and actionable marketing tips to help your firm overcome it.
- People can say bad things about us. With social media, every consumer has a media platform, a built-in audience and a megaphone to amplify their message. A disgruntled customer can use his smartphone to capture an incident and quickly distribute it. Actionable Marketing Tactic. Use social media’s public forum to engage customers and determine how to improve your offering, gather insights for future improvements, and provide additional service where needed.
Go to the source if you want the other 12. Comment, call or ‘connect’ so we can talk about how this applies to you and your organization…
All the best from the past 24 hours…
All the best from the past 24 hours…
All the best from the past 24 hours…
All the best from the past 24 hours…
http://storify.com/e1evation/curation-and-content-marketing-for-1-12-2012
More good thoughts from Heidi Cohen…
Social media is like a hungry teenage boy. As any parent will tell you, when it comes to food, they’re never satisfied. Similarly, social media has a voracious appetite requiring continual feeding in the form of content and communications in a variety of formats.
What’s a marketer to do keep your social media initiatives sated? Here are seven tips to develop appropriate content and engagement to nourish the social media beast, regardless of which platforms you use.
Go to the source if you want to learn more about how Heidi feeds the beast. Me? I use Google Reader to search for content that is in alignment with my brand and my blog so that I curate or create content that is in alignment with my customer value demands. Comment, call or ‘connect’ so we can talk about how this applies to you and your organization…
Here’s some important data on consumption, curation and creation from Brian Solis…
According to Forrester Research, overall adoption of social technologies has effectively reached saturation. 80% of people in the US engage with social media, which is equal to the number of people who text via SMS or equivalent to the ubiquity of those who own DVD players.
While it’s new, its value is not to be minimized. Social media users already number in the hundreds of millions, providing the reach of traditional media but also the precision of one-to-one service and attention. Forrester notes that just a handful of “Mass Connectors” will create 256 billion influence impressions in the US this year.
As our social graphs propagate, the information that passes within it also multiplies. Individuals are not only socializing, they are sharing information and creating content. In doing so, updates serve as social objects, becoming catalysts for increased interaction and overall reach. As a result, participants and their social presences are amplified within existing social graphs and now also extend across a rising category of nicheworks or interest graphs – social graphs united around common interests and themes.
We are the architects of our own experiences and we are also the hubs of relevant content, resembling production foremen as we develop workflows and processes for consuming, curating, and creating content.
Source: The Three C’s of Information Commerce: Consumption, Curation, Creation – Brian Solis
I have been using the first three words in the ‘e1evation workflow’ for almost two years. To these I add ‘connect and converse’ as you see below…
The ‘e1evation workflow’ is a ‘lather, rinse, repeat’ process for content marketing that can help you establish a dominant thought leadership position. If you’re intrigued by Brian’s work and are looking for a ‘practical, tactical way’ to become one of Forrester’s 23% in the creator space, comment or ‘connect’ to discuss how this applies to you and your organization…
Click to enlarge. You can follow the ‘via’ link above if you want to know the rest of the story…
Do you want to attract more readers?
Do you want to grab the attention of the big players in your industry and leverage their star power?
Silly questions, right?
In this article I’ll share how you can grow a loyal and sustained fan base by working with the top experts in your niche.
They’re out there, and it’s not nearly as hard as you think to get them on your team.
Why do I need an expert?
Everyone wants entertaining, useful content. That’s what content marketing is all about.
But they also want access to great people. When you present a new idea or a new voice to your audience, your blog becomes a valuable source people will want to visit again and again. Bringing in expert voices rounds out your site and adds dimension.
Getting outside experts involved also validates your own expertise. When you can attract the best, people will see you as an expert in your own right.
Finally, there’s an often-overlooked benefit of working with experts. If you work well together, some may turn out to be strategic partners who can take your business places you never dreamed.
Experts can include:
- Authors, particularly those who have new books out
- People who frequently speak on relevant topics
- Bloggers who are creating exceptional content
- Practitioners working inside companies
Great advice from Wisconsin business blogger Donna Denil. I’m available if you were asking…
:-)
All the topics that interest US in the past 24 hours…
We preach it every week.
Attract the right kind of traffic by creating exceptional content.
Engage your audience so they know, like, and trust you. Let them know you’re the likable expert who’s going to give them the information (and eventually the products and services) that won’t let them down.
Then use smart copywriting and conversion techniques to turn those raving fans into customers.
No, it’s not paint-by-numbers, but it is a proven, systematic way to build your business.
But sometimes I hear people say, “Geez, that sounds like a lot of work.”
Well, ok, I’m going to give it to you straight. It’s work.
But a lot of work compared to what? Digging latrines? Losing your mind in a cubicle farm? Spouting half-baked opinions on a reality TV show?
So let’s break it down … building a business our way versus building a business by other people’s methods.
Want more? Follow the ‘via’ link…
In the past few weeks, I’ve had numerous conversations with colleagues, partners and in some cases, clients, about blogging and the challenges of keeping a blog up and running.
Most of those conversations come down to one thing: Content.
Do you have enough to say to sustain a blog? Do you have strong enough opinions and takes to cut through the massive sea of clutter that is the open Web these days? And, maybe most importantly, do you know what to look for when it comes to content your customers or audience might be interested in?
That last one is the key point I want to focus on today. So many brands, when they start blogging, think too myopically about blogging. I need to talk about my product or service. I need to talk about my company. I need to talk about what my product or service can do for my customers.
Sure, that’s part of the mix, but in my view, it’s actually a pretty small part.
The much larger portion of your blog’s content should focus on everything AROUND your product or service.
It never ceases to amaze me that many of my client buys the logic of purchasing a blog enabled website but falter when it comes to actually producing content. After all, what is a blog post but an email to the world about who we are, what we do, why we do it and the ‘world’ in which we do it? You can follow the ‘via’ link above to get ideas for thinking like a blogger. Comment or ‘connect’ to discuss how this applies to you and your organization…
Valuable to me, not to you. It has to be valuable to your consumers (not to you). All too often content produced at the corporate level is self-serving at best and thinly veiled advertising at worse. Unique perspective. While there is a ton of content that is based on similar content that already exists, no one can bring your perspective to it. It’s your perspective that makes the content unique, and it is your challenge to nurture your content and discover your unique voice, so that more and more people find the value in those unique perspectives. As Oscar Wilde once said, “be you because others are already taken.” Shareable. Value content gets shared. It not only has to impresses the consumer, but it must be of such quality that the person consuming it feels like they should share it with the people they know because it will also be valuable to them. Great content gets shared not because you have a widget that makes it easy to share, but because it’s truly valuable. Findable. Value-based content gets found. In search engines, online social networks and offline. The audience dictates the true value, and the content that is valuable gets linked to, talked about and shared. All of these little actions make the content you are producing that much more findable to those who are looking for it – and for those who will just stumble across it. Curate the content. Because there is so much content being created, another way to create value-based content is to curate what already exists and focus (like a laser) on what is important to your audience. Nobody will have the ability to read everything that is being published, so any organization that can make sense of the mess is one that is adding tremendous value. I’ve seen great curation happen on Blogs, in Podcasts and in email newsletters. Becoming a respected curator adds value. Value that I can count on. In a world where any one individual can publish their thoughts in text, images, audio and video instantly (and for free) to the world, it’s hard to tell what is the truth, what is opinion and, ultimately, what has value. Any organization that is creating content must be trustworthy, non-partisan and credible. It’s that last word (“credible”) where your time and energy should be spent. Before publishing any piece of content, ask yourself: “how credible will my organization be perceived once we hit the publish button?” The organizations that produce credible content are the organizations that are creating value-based content.
I tell my ‘students’ that the difference between a thinker and a thought leader is that while they both have a point of view, the thought leader publishes content that is ‘searchable, findable, knowable, usable, shareable’ and through that process they may become ‘credible’ — the six ‘ibbles’ of content marketing! You can follow the ‘via’ link above to go to the source if you’re interested in Mitch Joel’s perspective. You can also follow @danavan on Twitter for lots of great ideas on the topic…
For small businesses, looking “big” online isn’t so much about appearing as a large company when they’re not. Its about being a big resource for prospects and customers. As the popularity of content marketing and brands as publishers heats up with large companies, many small businesses still have the advantage of being nimble and adaptive to new ways of engaging customers. That ability to experiment and implement quickly as well as creatively can be a big advantage.
Here are a few ways small businesses can use content marketing in combination with some SEO and Social Media Smarts to be a “bigger” resource for their online customers.
You can follow the ‘via’ link above to go to the source if you’re looking for good ideas that will help a small business establish a thought leadership position. Comment below or ‘connect’ above so we can talk about how this applies to your business…
Change … and it’s not the kind rattling around in your pocket.
We’re talking about the kind of change that keeps you up at night. The kind that makes you wonder why, for all your marketing efforts, not enough folks are finding and doing business with you.
What can you, the small business owner, do about it?
For starters, start thinking like a media company, because that’s the first step to reaping the huge rewards that come from content marketing. And it can work for any small business.
Yes, even yours.
Follow the ‘via’ link to go to the source and listen to the podcast…
You can follow the ‘via’ link above to go to the source and read the rest of the article…
Bright, shiny objects! 
You must be logged in to post a comment.