Archive for May, 2010
Does Your Audience Love Your Content Marketing?
Every business should take a step back and really analyze the content that they’re dishing out to people. Does it inspire brand loyalty or is it giving people that cold, corporate shoulder pad? How much do people really love what you’re doing and saying?
I honestly can’t think of many brands or businesses that I check in on regularly due to content marketing whether that’s a blog, Facebook updates, etc. Naturally, from working within the web of communications and marketing I have a circuit of content that I run through on various sites from time to time when the mood hits me.
What brings my interest together for these various sites is that they are creating information that I want to make us of and learn from. When I’m searching for something specific they tend to provide solutions. I can typically find information that inspires me.
Is that the kind of presence you’ve established for delivering that kind of quality? Are you inspiring loyalty?
Writing Powerful Titles For Your Content Marketing
A big part of any content marketing strategy – whether you’re talking about articles, blogs, press releases, site content – is the headline. With all social media sharing services, as well as the search engines, the first thing that people see when they’re looking for solution material or something interesting is the title and often a small blurb or description. Having the right headline and strategy around that headline is vital to any content marketing campaign. That’s especially true if you plan on using any kind of a content syndication network.
There are three title forms that you can use in your content marketing that are extremely effective, and all can incorporate the right keywords you need for success.
Carol Bartz, CEO of Yahoo, Drops Social Media F-Bomb
When it comes to social media, I’m always amused at how it can profoundly impact people after little slip ups are made. The whole “foot in mouth” usually ends up being a great case study on how not to act.
You really can’t get away with anything anymore thanks to the number of eyes on the web and how quickly information can be shared. With that said, I’m surprised that someone in such a major position within the .com industry would be so willing to drop an F-bomb.
Shocked? I was a little, as well. But apparently at TechCrunch Disrupt, Carol Bartz (CEO of Yahoo!) felt the need to tell Mike Arrington (Techcrunch) to F*%K off.
How To Write An Effective Call To Action
Call To Action:
Part of every marketing effort is the Call to Action. As visitors travel through your sales process, you want to be able to guide them in specific directions where little decisions need to be made. This is where the Call to Action comes into play.
Marketing In Social Media With Free Swag
There are a number of ways that a business operating within social media can market themselves to build a brand. There are enough people with their ear to the ground that what you say is more than likely going to get heard and carried some distance. The problem is, there are a hundreds and thousands of other businesses joining the mosh pit of social media with the same moves you’ve got.
Posers, all of them.
The hardest part about marketing yourself in social media is sticking out from the mass of other businesses and their smelly, musty bodies trying to pawn themselves all over your customers. It’s enough to drive anyone insane that’s trying to make a dent in the sales barrier online.
Running giveaways and promotions are one of the ways a lot of businesses are having success through social media channels. They’re finding effective means within this array of tactics to differentiate themselves from other businesses.
Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook allow you to target your desired customer base, since they’re following you anyway, and sound the trumpet (when appropriate to do so…) about various promotions, giveaways and special offers relating to your products and services.
Don’t be stingy, that’s a terrible way to do business. You’d be amazed how many people love swag just for the sake of swag. Do we really need a hat that says “They lost a comb in my fuzzy bun-hole” from a hair salon? Hell no, but it’s funny and someone, somewhere will get a kick out of it. If they wear it, you just created a walking billboard. If you have a product, give some away. If you provide a service, offer a discount.
If you have a Facebook page, then figure out how to make custom pages using standard HTML and that FBML Facebook application. Make special landing pages that offer service discounts or coupons. Couple it with a lead generation form so you can market to those people in the future.
Yes, for those of you horrified customers that stumble upon this: Welcome to the dark side. We’re not collecting emails because we love you. It’s not because we want to keep in touch. We love your money and we want it.
Furthermore, let people know via Twitter about specials or contests that you’re going to run in the near future. Let them know they get exclusive offers just for following you on Twitter. Offer them extra incentives if they utilize your special offer – basically giving them a chain of special offers.
Whatever you decide to do… don’t be creepy. Don’t spam, don’t stalk, don’t stare, don’t beg. Keep your dignity, retain your integrity and remember that no matter what you do – you’re branding yourself.
Also, when you’re giving away swag – keep me in mind. I never get anything good, Tom is always claiming the freebies.
Why Bother With Social Media Marketing?
“William “Willie” Sutton (June 30, 1901 – November 2, 1980) was a prolific U.S. bank robber. During his forty year criminal career he stole an estimated $2 million” to quote Wikipedia, the most prominent source of correct information on the web *cough*
When questioned by a reporter as to why he robbed banks, his reply was simple: “because that’s where the money is”
Makes sense when you think about, and it doesn’t even require much thought to do that. It’s similar with people. People buy stuff. An intelligent marketer participates in social media because that’s where the people are. If that’s where the people are, then that’s where you engage them and introduce them to your content.
How To Optimize Your Content Marketing Strategy
Content marketing, regardless of the media used, can be a significant undertaking for any business large or small and often requires an organization to change their approach in marketing and sales conversion. While it may work better for some companies than others, there’s a little something in it for everyone.
With that said, getting into a content marketing and sticking to it isn’t for the faint of heart and it’s not something you can just do on a whim. A lot of people have made that mistake and they end up churning out spam that no one is interested in, wasting time on content that doesn’t sell anything but a negative view of their brand.
Leadership In Social Media – Should Brands Entertain Or Educate
We often talk about the need to have the right kind of content on your site and spread throughout your marketing campaign. We talk about the need for content to be valuable, relevant, informative, entertaining, etc. So which is it? Which should you file your content under?
Should your content have a focus in being informative, so that it educates the average user on your products and service?
Leveraging The Social Media Crowd Surf
Social Media is one hell of a rock concert.
I absolutely refuse to put a band name to that concert as any kind of reference because I know without a doubt that I’ll be showing my age. (ignore the fact that I have a picture on my own blog, I stopped aging at 25 and there I shall stay). We’ll just say that it’s a concert for your favorite rock group so I can save a little face.
Do you remember the last time you went to one? What about the FIRST time you went to one? There’s a lot of mystique around concerts for someone who has never been because you have a vague perception of what goes on there based on what other people exaggerate. You rarely get accurate stories, and they end up being something that you just have to see for yourself.
Humanity Vs. Automation – The Social Media Debate
There have been some common discussions regarding the role that people play online compared to technology. Some of the focus has been on the use of automated systems that have caused debates in whether or not the web is being driven by people or being driven by machines.
The rise of these discussions doesn’t really surprise me, and in fact speaks positively towards how the social media industry is developing, maturing, growing, etc. As the whole of social media becomes a lot more widespread, I expect that there are going to be a lot more discussions about who is behind the names, the “what” and the “why”, and will foster further “man vs. machine” debates.
