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California Dreamin’: State Tourism Board Takes Over YouTube

If you’re like me, then you are probably looking out the window wishing it were 70 degrees. Like the majority of the U.S. population struggling to get through February, I’ve had enough. I’m ready for spring.

Big_Sur_Coast_CaliforniaAnd if you’re like me, you probably can’t just get up and go to California on whim, where it actually is 70 degrees and sunny. But you can check out the state tourism board’s new Dream 365 project, where you can salivate over documentaries depicting people bicycling across the Golden Gate bridge, surfing through tidal waves, playing music on mountainsides and skateboarding on a half pipe in the middle of the ocean. And while you’re at it, if you aren’t already packing your bags, you can learn about a great new content marketing strategy that your business can use to spread brand awareness and get people excited about what you are doing: a YouTube takeover. Continue reading “California Dreamin’: State Tourism Board Takes Over YouTube”

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Why Discomfort in Marketing is a Good Thing

shutterstock_98210273Ironically enough, I have written about virtual events and conferences for years. Yet up until yesterday, I had never actually participated in such a gathering—a poorly cut corner by me as a marketer—because, let’s face it, demoing the products you will be writing about before putting pen to paper is critical. But, hey… the day slips away from all of us from time to time, right?

So you can imagine how incredibly excited I was to attend my very first virtual conference yesterday, ContentTECH, which was sponsored by the Content Marketing Institute. So excited in fact that I ran a test on my computer two hours in advance to make sure everything would run flawlessly, created a schedule of every session I wanted to attend, and had a little too much fun—OK a lot of fun—letting my coworkers know that I was “heading into a session” and “making my way to the keynote room.”

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Quick Social Media Reminders for the Small Business

social mediaBy now, everyone is aware of the crucial role that social media plays in content marketing. From Twitter to Facebook to Instrgram, placing social media front and center has proven to be a golden content marketing strategy, not to mention it holds the power to significantly increase return on investment. In fact, a new HootSuite infographic displaying the results of a recent LinkedIn study shows that 89 percent of small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) find social media to be effective for their content marketing strategy.

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True or False? Dispelling the Top Three Content Marketing Myths

ttrue or falseThere are a lot of misconceptions out there. For example, that all Australians drink Fosters beer and that you can die from consuming Coca-Cola and Pop Rocks at the same time. There’s even a myth that the famous candy bar, Baby Ruth, wasn’t actually named after the “The Great Bambino.” We know, shocker. Content marketing has its fair share of misconceptions as well. Below we uncover the truth behind the top three content marketing myths. Continue reading “True or False? Dispelling the Top Three Content Marketing Myths”

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Looking to Increase Your Brand Exposure on Facebook?

Current Status

Facebook is an ever-evolving network, as are all other widely adopted social media channels. Enhancements to appearance, navigation and, most importantly, presentation of content, are constantly being evaluated and tweaked. Within the past six months, Facebook has focused on delivering what it considers high-quality content to the end users. Meanwhile, organizations with Facebook pages have seen a decrease in the number of impressions per post. By changing the newsfeed algorithm, Facebook is providing organizations with few choices (one of which is to pay) to have their content be seen, even by their “fan” base.

It’s not that the quality of your content has gone down, or that your users aren’t interested in what you have to say. As marketers we need to guarantee that our content is seen and shared by our audience.

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What We Can Learn from Netflix’s Missed Opportunity

Like most self-respecting single people in America, I spent Valentine’s Day devouring the second season of House of Cards via Netflix streaming whilst refreshing my OkCupid smartphone app every few minutes. The possibility of such instant-gratification event television was unheard of until recently. In the course of one year, Netflix has changed the media landscape, turning the release of each new batch of episodes (whether it be House of Cards, Orange is the New Black or even Ricky Gervais’ Derek) into a streaming event. Rather than unspooling 13 episodes over the course of three months, the company drops entire seasons in one fell swoop, inciting editorial assessments on the nature of binge-watching and even a tweet from President Barack Obama himself, asking for ‘no spoilers’ after the release of House of Cards season 2.

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What Marketers Can Learn from Derek Jeter’s Retirement

Derek Jeter’s Feb. 12 announcement—that after spending 19 years in the Bronx, he plans on retiring after the 2014 season—wasn’t a huge shock to me. It’s likely Yankee management knew the news prior to the public, but how far in advance remains a mystery.

ImageThat said, the legendary shortstop will turn 40 in June and is only under contract through the end of this season. Whether he planned on playing after this year might have been unclear, but the fact that one day a man not named Jeter would patrol the shortstop dirt at Yankee Stadium sometime in the future was guaranteed (every athlete has a professional expiration date). Continue reading “What Marketers Can Learn from Derek Jeter’s Retirement”

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Facebook Takes One Giant Leap for Content

Up until recently, things were getting a little weird on the Facebook News Feed. Where else could you find cutting-edge industry stories mixed in with cat memes from your aunt? The News Feed was failing to deliver relevant information, and it was frustrating both businesses and end users.

492730401_fa847f3771_oIn response, the company has made some recent changes that are sure to clean up the News Feed and keep users on the site. In December, as the company celebrated its 10th birthday, it rolled out a new application designed to streamline the news delivery system. The update is called Paper, and it allows users to browse Facebook on their own terms by categorizing content according to subject matter. Now there are about 20 total categories that users can receive content in including Sports, Tech and Headlines. Users can individually customize their news options and get exactly what they want out of the Facebook experience.

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#Undefeated: What Marketers Can Learn from Cuse’s Incredible Win over Pitt

Wow… I don’t even know where to begin. Did you watch last night as Pitt came within 4.4 seconds of stealing my alma matter’s undefeated record? Am I rubbing salt in the wound? Should I stop now?

As a former Cuse grad who truly bleeds orange, last night was literally awe-inspiring. If you missed the game, the undefeated Orange went head-to-head with the incredible Pitt team to hold on to their winning record. It was nothing short of nail-biting and heart-pumping as Pitt looked as though they would finally be the team to steal our record-breaking run. And with 4.4 seconds to go in the game, Cuse down by one, freshman Tyler Ennis nailed a 35-footer to protect our record. Take a look right here if you missed it:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAOIdhEJ1Hg]

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