Turning Likes Into Leads: Converting Your Social Community
2014 was somewhat of a breakthrough year for B2B social media marketing. Despite toiling away at what we were certain could be a great business asset since long before, efforts to generate tangible business returns from social media platforms and likes, paid or otherwise, had been largely unsuccessful.
So what changed?
Hubspot
Hubspot came to the forefront in 2014 and gave marketers a whole new level of real-time insight into all of their online activity, including social media. Detailed feedback on the effectiveness of individual tweets and paid social ads allowed marketers to take a more informed and strategic approach to the communications they were putting out through social channels.
Recommended for YouWebcast: Why, What, and How to Do Social Selling
Landing Pages
Although dedicated landing pages have been around for donkey’s years, 2014 seemed to be the year that the penny finally dropped for B2B companies. User-friendly platforms like Unbounce, Hubspot and Optimizely have given marketers the ability to create and test landing pages for their paid ads, emails and social activity without the need for a web developer, thereby increasing adoption.
Paid Social
The acceptance of paid social, combined with the above factors, has played a significant part in the success of B2B social media marketing over the past 12 months. The targeting options available through advertising platforms such as Facebook and Linkedin allow business to hone in on their audiences with accuracy, and although these options have been around since before 2014, this was the year that paid social came into its own.
So now that we know social can deliver tangible returns for B2B companies, here are some key tips to maximise lead generation from social media marketing.
Gate valuable content
By now everyone has heard of content marketing (probably more times than you want) and most businesses understand its importance to SEO, social media and establishing authority. However, just because content serves as SEO fodder, doesn’t mean we should give it ALL away.
Useful, industry-specific content such as white papers, surveys, informative videos and presentations can be effective lead generation tools. By gating these assets (only allowing members of your audience to access the content if they provide contact details via a web form), you can capture valuable data from potential customers who have already hinted at an interest in your area of business.
Promoting these gated assets via social channels, email marketing and paid advertising will maximize your data capture opportunities.
2. Use Webinars
Webinars can be a lead generation gold mine. Not only do they allow you to capture data from those signalling an interest in your products or services by signing up to attend, they also give you an environment free from competitor noise, to talk exclusively about your offering to a captive audience.
Dedicated platforms like GoToWebinar provide data around how many people sat through the webinar and the stage at which others dropped out. It also gives attendees the opportunity to raise their hand to ask the host a question, and chat with fellow hosts throughout.
One of the most valuable tools allows the webinar host to include an interactive poll which can provide valuable data about the attendee’s reason for considering your product, thereby further qualifying the lead.
You could gain more social media exposure by promoting a hashtag at the start of the webinar and encouraging attendees to use it to submit their questions via Twitter.
Pro tip: Sync your activity with your CMS.
Syncing your social activity with your CRM tool allows you to track which social platforms your leads have come from, which tweets, posts or adverts your leads have responded to and ultimately, how much revenue each social platform is contributing.
Both Hubspot and Salesforce, the two most popular CRM tools, sync seamlessly with the major social platforms and provide free guidance on how to nurture your social leads.
Quantifying the financial contribution of social media marketing has long been a problem for marketers and many have abandoned activity altogether after seeing limited returns. However, this approach should ensure that your social activity’s contribution is accurately recognised and easy to report.
3. Use dedicated landing pages
Directing your social traffic to dedicated landing pages, created specifically to capture their details, rather than including a link to your key benefits page or similar, is far more likely to generate leads.
What’s even more likely to generate leads is continually testing and refining your landing pages to optimize their effectiveness.
As alluded to at the start of this post, there are a number of dedicated, user-friendly tools that allow you to create and edit slick looking landing pages with minimal effort. Even better, sync your landing pages with your CMS so your newly acquired leads are fed directly into your sales funnel to be nurtured by your Business Development team. Again, Hubspot contains all of this functionality out of the box. Salesforce doesn’t but it does integrate perfectly with Unbounce, one of the most user-friendly landing pages platforms.
What works for one business won’t necessarily work for all but having seen these tips work well for a number of clients, I’m confident that you will experience similar levels of success by implementing them.
Turning Likes Into Leads: Converting Your Social Community
5th Dimension Logistics Completes Integration with Multisoft
5th Dimension Logistics (5thDL) finds extraordinary value in a newly developed integration to Multisoft Software.
Scottsdale, AZ (PRWEB) January 31, 2015
Affiliate marketing, or multi-level marketing (MLM) is the process of making commissions by selling and promoting the products of another person’s company. Affiliate marketing companies often require a very intricate reporting, commission and inventory system. Multisoft is one of the most adaptable and easy to use, all-in-one solutions available for affiliate marketing business owners on the market currently. 5th DL’s integration to this software has given the company an opportunity to serve another complex business type, proving the true versatility of its software. Through completing integration to Multisoft, 5th Dimension Logistics has expanded its library of merchant types to include not only travel, airlines and ecommerce, but also high risk types such as affiliate marketing companies.
5th Dimension Logistics’ payment gateway was designed with the needs of high risk merchants in mind. Modules such as Fraud Based Intelligence (FBI) Tools, Customer Scoring, Automatic Recurring Billing and Interchange Optimization allow merchants in travel, e-commerce and air travel to run their businesses in a consolidated manner, while reducing interchange cost. The newly completed integration to Multisoft has created the opportunity for 5thDL to better cater to a complex vertical. 5thDL and Multisoft work together includes advanced reporting, inventory management, distribution (for thousands of affiliates) through 5thDL’s Echo Data Exchange, and commission pay outs; all of which help multi-level marketing merchants achieve a higher level of efficiency.
Multisoft has successfully provided MLM software to the affiliate marketing and direct sales industries for over two decades. Multisoft provides software systems, distributor training, MLM consulting and support to thousands of businesses globally. “This integration will expand 5th Dimension’s reach within the high risk sector, providing innovative software to an endless number of merchants who seek a payment processing solution,” stated CEO of 5th Dimension Logistics, Matanda Doss.
5th Dimension provides a Level 1 PCI Compliant system that is a secure, cost effective gateway service to Multisofts’ clients. By choosing to work with 5thDL and Multisoft, MLM merchants and partners will reduce the cost to process credit cards, gain access to advanced analytics and streamline business processes freeing up more time to focus on products, customers, and the distributors needed to ensure the success of their business.
5th Dimension Logistics
5th Dimension Logistics, a leader in the payments industry, is dedicated to developing innovative payment technology to simplify the payment process and empowering merchants. The ARB system is a vital portion of 5thDL’s all-in-one solution, especially for enterprise-level clients. In combination with the Titan Data Vault, Fraud Based Intelligence Tools and various other functionalities, merchants can decrease the size of their cost centers by allowing their individual customers access to the payment system.
For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/5thDimensionLogistics/Multisoft/prweb12486315.htm
5th Dimension Logistics Completes Integration with Multisoft
Inaugural Valley Hackathon highlights local techies
The nearby Bay Area may be the global epicenter of technological innovation, but the Central Valley is host to its own scene where tech-savvy individuals are gathering to not only work but play too, like at the first ever Valley Hackathon.
On Friday roughly 40 programmers gathered in downtown Turlock for the Hackathon where the task was to build the best software project possible in 24 hours. Equipped with energy drinks and snacks, six of the eight teams finished the competition with ideas that could revolutionize basic daily functions.
“It ran the gamut of a lot of different things and that’s the idea of a Hackathon,” explained Senior Project Manager Ben Hector of Geostrategies, a strategy development and market intelligence firm.
The Hackathon was precipitated by Geostrategies’ interest in hiring an individual for software development. Having trouble finding qualified candidates in the Central Valley but confident they existed, the company set out to host the Hackathon with the hopes of drawing on the subtle technology community in the area.
“We realize sometimes we get overshadowed by our Bay Area neighbor, but knew there must be some tech people here,” explained Hector.
Similar to many technology industry individuals use of MeetUp.com to find fellow techies, the Hackathon brought forth not only great ideas but served as a networking event for the participants as well. According to Josh Chamberlain of Geostrategies the Hackathon was meant to be the first step in fostering the programming community in the Valley, with a long-term goal of making Turlock a center of tech and innovation.
While the 24 hour event proved a test of the participants’ programming abilities under pressure, there was also a bigger challenge: staying awake.
“24 hours is not much time, especially when you’ve been up for 24 hours,” said Hector.
The majority of contestants fought the urge to sleep and stayed overnight to complete their projects, including the winning group who walked away with a $1,000 prize.
“I got about two and a half hours sleep total,” said James Moore of the winning group.
Moore and his team members created SendSmart, an email marketing tool that allows email senders, such as small business owners sending a newsletter, to tag links within the email. When recipients click on the links their browsers information is sent to the software in turn allowing the sender to track the recipients’ interests.
“With the internet everything seems to change all of the time, it’s constantly moving, but one of the things we noticed that has been there since the beginning and is still true today is email,” said Moore. “It may not be cool or sexy, but it’s something everyone does. Everyone checks their email.”
With SendSmart the sender can learn more about the recipient, or a subscriber, and in turn find out what they are more inclined to click on when browsing the web.
“You can learn about customers based on their behavior and can market to their specific interests,” said Moore.
Each project was evaluated by a panel of four judges including Geostrategies President and CEO Carl Schroeder, Vice President of Product Development for Front Porch internet service providers Scott Smith, Technical Instructor at Twitter Simeon Franklin, and Head of Digital Marketing Management and Strategy for E&J Gallo Winery Phillip Lan.
Other applications included one that creates music based on a person’s movement by tracking their basic spinal positioning; one to help with training that allows administrators to upload videos and create questionnaires with wrong answers requiring employees to re-watch the video; one that allows users to click on a United States map to see their state representatives with the aim of submitting comments or complaints that can be consolidated and sent to the representative’s office; one to track websites a user viewed to give the user a warning if the site was blacklisted in certain regions; and one to help track gifts that allows the user to take a photo of the gift, upload it and record who gave it so as to remember when it comes time to write thank you cards.
Inaugural Valley Hackathon highlights local techies
iBus Media Launches Revamped Affiliate One-Stop Shop 'Poker Affiliate World'
<!– (S) –> DOUGLAS, Isle of Man, Jan. 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — On January 19, 2015, the iBus Media Network formally announced the launch of an all-new version of its all-in-one portal for online affiliates, Poker Affiliate World.<!– –>Logo – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150123/170974LOGOPhoto – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150123/170978″We have been working on this for a very long time and we really have put our heart to it. We are extremely proud of the work we have done ’cause today we are able to bid a amazing platform to all the affiliate marketers out there,” a spokesperson of iBus Media told PokerNews.”We are very excited to introduce the next generation of our affiliation platform,” Poker Affiliate World Account Manager Karolis Dubauskas explained.”Our ultimate goal was to make this the most user friendly affiliate system in the market, and I am more than pleased to say in that we have reached our objective. Yet, this is only the beginning – as shortly we will bid even more new products and features.”Launched in 2005, Poker Affiliate World is one the top sources of poker, casino, online trading and sports betting affiliate programs available on the Internet.<!– –>The website guarantees its members with the best Cost-per-Acquisition (CPA) and Revenue Share (GR) cheap deals in the industry, and provides them with an easy-to-use online platform to monitor their performances and earnings.Once registered at Poker Affiliate World, bloggers, webmasters and online affiliate marketers can immediately request trackers, award codes and amazing cheap deals to promote poker, casino, betting and trading operators from their pages.To date, Poker Affiliate World features forty-four different affiliate programs, in addition to industry-leaders as 888poker, William Hill and Ladbrokes Poker.The offers available exclusively to Poker Affiliate World contain a $200 CPA deal with Ladbrokes Casino, a $150 CPA deal with Winner Casino, and a $150 CPA deal with Duck Poker.The new version of the website is moreover home to an easy-to-navigate division where members can find precious information about all the newest cheap deals and promotions, together with some useful tips to get better at affiliate marketing and increase their sites’ revenue.About the iBus MediaFounded in 2002 by the Lithuanian-Australian poker professional Antanas “Tony G” Guoga, the iBus Media is a global publishing company with websites in more than 26 different languages.iBus Media’s premier site, PokerNews.com, has fresh content daily from operations in almost 30 countries and continues to be the best and most trusted source of content in the gambling industry.The company has moreover branched out in to other verticals covering sports, online casinos with the launch of the international online portals BookieSmash and CasinoSmash.For further information, please contact:Karolis DubauskasEmail+37061482440To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ibus-media-launches-revamped-affiliate-one-stop-shop-poker-affiliate-world-300024839.html<![CDATA[span.p_spanfont-size:8pt !important;font-family:”Arial” !important;color:black !important; a.p_acolor:blue !important; li.p_lifont-size:8pt !important;font-family:”Arial” !important;color:black !important; p.p_pfont-size:0.62em !important;font-family:”Arial” !important;color:black !important;margin:0in !important; p.c1 font-weight: daring !important; ]]>Professional ServicesBudget, Tax & Economy<!– google_ad_section_end –>
Read the rest…iBus Media Launches Revamped Affiliate One-Stop Shop ‘Poker Affiliate World’
iBus Media Launches Revamped Affiliate One-Stop Shop "Poker Affiliate World"
Basic Information Regarding An Affiliate Program And All That It Is About
The Internet industry has had affiliate marketing or affiliate program for awhile now and it is a very popular business model for generating income online. It allows you to get products together quickly for your new online business quickly and cheaply.
Success with affiliate marketing is not easy and just does not happen overnight. It is like most online activities, it takes persistence and variety. You will need to develop and try different strategies to find those that work. It may take signing up for several different affiliate programs before finding one that performs well for you. Every one will take time and effort on your part.
Often expectations are high when starting out.
Most think to make more they need to place affiliate banners all over their site, but this usually does not work the way they think it will. Too many banners will make a website look like a link farm with little value to visitors. Most visitors will not be interested, will not click on your banners and will leave quickly. Mentors have been there and have the ability to guide you in order to increase your sales. Their experience and knowledge will help you generate more income.
To promote affiliate products on your website they need to match the theme of your website. You need products that match the niche of your website so your visitors will have interest in them. Banners that you do place on your website should blend in well with the design.
Experienced affiliate marketers understand how the business works and can speed up your path to success by passing on some hard learned truths of the business.
Affiliate marketing requires a proficiency in several things including link exchanging, developing newsletter marketing, forum advertising, search engine optimization and a mentor can ease the learning curve.
They can assist you in getting a clearer picture of what it takes.
Any affiliate marketing mentor should have already achieved success in the business and they can pass on their experiences to improve your chances for success.
To achieve success in affiliate marketing become effective, efficient and have a mentor there to help you along the way. Most that are new to affiliate marketing just assume that they are going create big bucks in just a short amount of time, but they are wrong. There are always new and very important things for you to learn when it comes to any affiliate program, so keep your eyes open for any new things surfacing that you should be aware of.
Anyone out there can achieve their dreams as long as they remain focused and in control at all times, knowing exactly what needs to be completed to reach all of the goals. Just go for it, stop letting time pass you by being unhappy with your career. Find out more about what an affiliate program can do for you.
Basic Information Regarding An Affiliate Program And All That It Is About
3 Affiliate Tools for Content Marketing
Banner ads are best used for branding, not to drive clicks. Affiliate marketers realize this. Increasingly, affiliate marketers are relying less on banner ads, and more on their affiliates’ content. For example, instead of giving a food blogger a banner ad featuring a retailer’s food products, that retailer could provide the blogger a recipe where each ingredient is pre-coded with links back to specific product pages.
Several affiliate networks have developed tools that provide affiliates with ad banner alternatives. In this article, I’ll review three of them.
AvantLink Affiliate Link Encoder
With AvantLink’s Affiliate Link Encoder, AvantLink affiliates can place a few lines of JavaScript on their site, and the script will automatically detect and change keywords and URLs into affiliate tracking links via the browser. This is useful for bloggers and online forums, because any time a specific word is mentioned, that word can be converted into an affiliate link.
For example, say someone mentions “North Face Denali jacket” in a blog comment. Affiliate Link Encoder can identify that phrase and convert it into an affiliate link. This is an easy way for bloggers and online forums to monetize user-generated content.
However, perhaps even more interesting for retailers is the search engine benefit. Since the redirect is created via the browser, retailers could gain direct links from affiliates, as those links would be in the source code, for maximum SEO gains. When a consumer clicks on the link, the browser would convert it into an affiliate tracking link, and the affiliate would earn commission on any resulting purchases.
Additionally, the tool provides affiliates with control over what keywords and keyword phrases are converted, and what landing pages each goes to. Retailers can help their affiliates by teaching them how to use this tool.
AvantLink Affiliate Link Encoder will automatically detect and change keywords and URLs into affiliate tracking links via the browser.
SnapLinker
Another tool developed by AvantLink is SnapLinker. It is a bookmarklet that enables AvantLink affiliates to generate a custom link to any page on the retailer’s site, right from the browser. If an affiliate is writing a review on different fleece jackets from different retailers, for example, it could easily generate tracking links by going to the relevant product page and clicking the bookmarklet.
SnapLinker also enables affiliates to share the link not just in their posts, but also in social media channels, such as Facebook and Twitter. Moreover, this tool is accessible via the AvantLink App Market, which enables third-party developers to create tools using the AvantLink API. Apps such as SnapLinker are available to affiliates, and the developers earn commission on any sales resulting from that tool.
Take the “North Face Denali jacket” example. If the affiliate were to drive a sale from a blog post related to that product, the affiliate would earn commission, as would SnapLinker’s developer, Justin Hall. There is no additional cost to the retailer, however. The retailer pays the affiliate commission as with a standard transaction; AvantLink pays the developer’s commission.
Thus, the tool enables retailers to insert links to their products into the content portion of an affiliate’s website, — at no additional cost. To make the most out of this tool, affiliate managers need to educate their affiliates on how to use it. Wade Tonkin, of Fanatics.com, does an excellent job in this YouTube tutorial that he created for his affiliates.
Note that the concept of a bookmarklet to generate deep links is not unique to AvantLink, though it was one of the first use it. Similar solutions are available at ShareASale and CJ by Conversant.
CJ by Conversant Widget
Another tool for retailers to be familiar with is the CJ by Conversant Widget. This is a simple drag-and-drop interface that enables the affiliate to search for any keyword, and then drag and drop images into a simple grid storefront.
For example, the affiliate could search for “cable knit sweater,” and the Widget tool would search all product data feeds within the CJ network for that keyword phrase. The affiliate could browse the results, and select which products to include in a storefront. Once the storefront is complete, the affiliate clicks a button, and the tool provides a quick line of JavaScript to copy and paste onto the affiliate’s site.
Site visitors clicking on the product images would be taken to the product page via an affiliate link, and the affiliate would earn a commission on any resulting purchases. This is a useful tool, especially for fashion, beauty, and style bloggers. However, for products to appear in the results, retailers need to have a data feed that is accurate, complete, and that contains relevant keywords in the product title and product description.
CJ by Conversant Widget is a drag-and-drop interface that enables the affiliate to search for any keyword, and then drag and drop images into a storefront.
Remember, for an affiliate program to thrive, affiliates need guidance on how to use these tools. An affiliate manger should educate and support their affiliates accordingly — as she would any sales team.
3 Affiliate Tools for Content Marketing
3 hot email companies you should follow
It’s a brand new year. And it’s a new opportunity for you to take your email marketing to another level of sophistication and effectiveness. With that in mind, it’s important to remember that great email marketing doesn’t begin and end with your email service provider (ESP). No doubt about it, having the wrong ESP is like that hangover you woke up with on New Year’s day — it’s hard to get rid of, and it makes everything else hurt. But even if you’ve got the right partner, you still need to pay attention to other companies in the email marketing ecosystem. This is where a lot of the innovation is happening today — innovation in testing, in content, and in measurement.
You owe it to your email marketing program to pay attention to what’s happening in the competitive space, if only because many of these innovations will eventually work their way into the platforms of the major ESPs. So to start your email year off on the right foot, here are three companies that I am paying close attention to in 2015.
3 hot email companies you should follow
Basic Information Covering What An Affiliate Program Can Help You To Achieve
Then you can add your new domain name to the article resource box and when the reader clicks on it they will go directly to the affiliate program product page. You can buy domain names for just a few dollars and if you go to the right site you can get them hosted for free. If you intend to have lots of websites and redirected domains a company like hostgator will host unlimited domains for a low fixed monthly price.
Once you have registered you can start shopping, just go to the marketplace section of the Clickbank site and type in a subject you are interested selling a product related to. There are many categories so you should find a product you like. You can list the products by popularity, commission earned per sale, commission percentage etc. Affiliate programs are very respectable, well atleast the ones that are operating properly each day.
You can promote as many Clickbank products as you like and in any way you like, if you take some time selecting the right products and promote them well you can make a tidy income. There are also programs available to buy where many Clickbank products have been grouped together in a mall and you just send visitors to your mall and you get commissions on anything that is purchased.
When you find a product you like the sound of, check the sales pitch page, if you still like it and think you can promote and sell it just click the ‘create a top hop link’ button and you will be presented with a hyperlink to that product with your nickname contained within it. Keep the hyperlink safe and print a copy to use in you promotion. Promoting items is the main ingredient to its success and it means all the difference in the world when it comes to your financial future.
Gaining all the information necessary for you to make this work is the key to your future business successes. It is very important to understand all aspects of an affiliate program before ever getting involved with one but trust me, there is really no way that you can be disappointed once you begin figuring out how all aspects of an affiliate program works.
Finding a career path that you could actually end up enjoying is so very important and unfortunately so many people just do not end up doing that. You can be happy with your career choice. Get involved with an affiliate program and start making all of your dreams come true right now.
Basic Information Covering What An Affiliate Program Can Help You To Achieve
New social media marketing for business series coming to WC
Social Media Strategist Lisa Graves is contracted by companies to develop and advise on social media strategies and execution of brand presence on social platforms. She will be instructing the seven workshops in the series. Lisa is also a 21 year Air Force veteran and East Parker County Chamber Business Woman of the Year 2013. “We couldn’t have a better leader for this series” says Julie Lundy, Workforce & Continuing Education Coordinator at Weatherford College. “We have put together a series on how to use social media for marketing according to each platform’s unique environment.”
Social Media Marketing 101: A basic overview on how to use social media for marketing. Create a strategy, determine where your target market is and start connecting and building relationships. Jan. 30. Facebook® Marketing topics include business pages, groups, events, promotions, applications, targeted advertising and insights. (Feb. 27)
LinkedIn is fast becoming the online networking application of choice. Topics include your profile, recommendations, contacts, groups and company pages. (March 27)
Getting Started Marketing with email, a tool that nearly everyone uses every day. Discussion will include list segmentation, graphics, branding. Colors, adding links and the importance of tracking. (April 24)
Pinterest, Google & More: Learn how to pin, what to pin and how pinning can play a major role in social media marketing for a business. May 28.
Twitter for Small Business: What is a tweet and why should your customers care? Best practices for small and growing businesses. (June 25)
Instagram to promote your products. More than half of the world’s top 100 companies are on Instagram. Your customers are probably there as well. (July 30)
Classes will be held at the Weatherford College main campus from 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon on dates listed above. The cost is $29 for each of the individual workshops. Prerequisites: basic computer skills. Bring a fully charged laptop (required for hands-on training). Advance registration is required. Attendees will receive Continuing Education Units (CEU’s) and a certificate of completion. For more information, the Workforce & Continuing Education schedule of classes is available at wc.edu/ce. You may contact Julie Lundy at 817-598-6387 or jlundy@wc.edu for registration information.
New social media marketing for business series coming to WC
Content Marketing Killers Are Everywhere
Beating blank page syndrome can be worse than your first date — content creation is fraught with peril for many small businesses.
Great Content Marketing Starts Here
Give up on the introduction and start at the middle or the end.
Even a crude outline can get you started: napkin, match book covers, menus — wherever inspiration hits.
Write a story: setting, players, tone, conflict, “Romeo and Juliet” elements.
Whip out your phone and start talking for playback in front of the page.
Read more: it’s going to inspire you to be a better writer.
Write in increments: give yourself a timed period to create content and review the results later. But, this may crank up the anxiety and limit the content. Test it.
Use a different medium: pen, paper, video or audio.
Forget writing content – visual may be the best way to tell your brand story.
- Your building authenticity with your community: visual’s impact drives relevance.
- As technology “takes over our lives” visual strikes a chord within others. Sensory currency is “real” to the visitor.
- Visuals drive cultural relevancy that engages the visitor in ways that text cannot equate with.
- “Archetypes” have been around since the days of ancient cave man paintings and visuals are a powerful storytelling tools that feature “heroines” and “heroes” embedded in brand storytelling.
- Visuals cut through the clutter and chatter that’s “smartphone” driven for many consumers and professionals.
Content Pain Points Every Business has to Come to Grips with
What in God’s name is your budget? It’s a moving target; start small, test the content ROI (is is getting read?), talk to your customers, monitor your conversion metrics, start with 20-30% of your overall budget.
How do you make content that the visitor wants to share? Key attributes: useful, emotion laden, factual, practical, newsjacks (events, moments in time, stuff that relates to your biz).
Is your content distributed and published? A blog is not enough: you gotta do more.
In-house or outsourcing; or some combination of the two. Your probably better off with the latter.
Where do you find visuals to insert with your content? They are on your web site, embedded in your social channels and/or part of the visual story every employee tells with their profiles across the web.
What is SEO and how do we optimize our content. Use a keyword in your title and repeat it maybe once or twice on page of 300-700 words. Google understands more than you will ever know BTW.
Stellar Content Has these Hallmarks
A great blog post is between 700-1,500 words, has three images, with a conclusion section, integrates calls to action to drive a desired action leading, uses lots of “white space” and font size is from 10-12 points.
Mobile usage is driving 30-50% of content “consumption” (be mobile savvy) but “brand stories” may drive significantly more engagement: mix and match the size of your content (long or short form).
Content syndication is critical in today’s “technology drenched’ world: use rinse and repeat cycles to reach today’s distracted consumer and professional. (Note: embedded link will take you to a post with a list of the top 25 platforms & more).
Personalty still drives content engagement for both B2B and B2C brands and it’s becoming increasingly more important to use imagery that gets attention in the marketplace.
Content Measurement is Critical: have a finite grasp of these ROI drivers: Unique Visitors, Page Views, Return Visits, Time on Site, Bounce Rate, Engagement, Virality: (ReTweets, Shares, Likes, Comments, Revenue or Lead Generation.
Mix and match “snackable” short form content (images, video, infographics) with “evergreen” high value content to drive brand engagement, incremental traffic and revenue.
Build in cross platform marketing on all top tier platforms: Tumblr, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook using plugin like Snap to automatically “push” content to other platforms or pure play content syndication cloud based services.
Great content is a mythic beast embedded within your business DNA
It “lives” within each of you and in the DNA of your company. Dig deep and look for it.
Just remember, great content requires creativity and lots of trial and error, coupled with “listening” to your conversion metrics (newsletter sign ups, lead inquiries and/or revenue metrics).
Iterate your way to success: look for patterns of engagement using analytics and social engagement and adjust your content marketing initiatives accordingly.
Be patient, content marketing is a marathon, not a sprint.
Content Marketing Killers Are Everywhere
Mays Business School professors, professionals take to new frontiers of marketing at brainstorming ...
It may have taken more than a year to coordinate a gathering of the top educators and practitioners in mobile marketing from around the world at Texas A&M University, but the impact it will have on students in the Mays School of Business will be immediate and far-reaching.
Eight marketing directors from brands such as JCPenny, GameStop, Macy’s and several professors from Texas A&M and around the world held a private three-day brainstorming session Wednesday through Friday on how to navigate the uncharted territory of mobile marketing at the third Thought Leadership Conference. The private seminar served as a launching pad for academic research in areas of mobile advertising, supply chain, mobile shopper marketing, mobile promotions and gaming that will culminate in a special issue of the Journal of Interactive Marketing next year to be the premier resource on how to reach customers through mobile devices.
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Mays Business School professors, professionals take to new frontiers of marketing at brainstorming ...
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