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Martha Stewart Joins Match.com – And How It Can Help Your Business

After plugging her new book, Living the Good Long Life last week, Martha Stewart revealed to NBC’s Matt Lauer that she was looking for love on Match.com.  “I’ve always been a big believer that technology, if used well, can enhance one’s life. So here I am, looking to enhance my dating life,” she writes in her online profile.

MarthaStewart

Rumors have swirled that the domestic diva is not actually looking to find her match, but rather seeking publicity to sell more copies of her newly penned book. After all, her Match.com username also happens to also be “thegoodlonglife.” Whether or not the rumors are true, she has been successful in creating a buzz.

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What Happens When Marketers Rebuff Social Media…

I love when I am in the presence of a business executive who scoffs at the notion of incorporating social media into his/her corporate strategy.

“Social media is for teenagers,” they often say, convinced that the social networking world is full of narcissistic Generation Y-ers and Z-ers tweeting, Facebooking, pinning and Instagramming every inane sentiment, picture and fad.

You can imagine how their jaws drop when we at Content Boost inform these social media naysayers that in 2012, the average Facebook user was 41 years old, up from 38 years old in 2010. Moreover, in 2012, more than 65 percent of Facebook users were 35 plus years old.

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Don’t be Afraid of the Digital Marketing Monster

I’ve never known a child who did not have at least one kind of irrational fear, perhaps one of the biggest being nighttime monsters in the closet.  This very common fear has cracked open the bedroom door for many children, but as adults, we know these once terrifying tales are just age-old myths.  So…why do we have similar content marketing fears?

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Perhaps the biggest reason seems to be from marketers’ collective fear – or general uncertainty – of taking their campaigns to the digital realm. A quick scan on the Web reveals that many individuals are searching for countless articles ranging from “fears that keep digital marketers up at night” to “why marketers should fear digital marketing.” It cannot be disputed that we are indeed amidst a great marketing revolution. In fact, 22 percent of online adults in the U.S. are connecting everywhere, and frequently, according to Research Director and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, Melissa Parrish. This is a huge need that marketers should be aiming to meet, yet some are not.

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Pack a Harder Punch with an Infographic

I usually take a trip up to Fairfield to see my mother at least once every week. It is not on a particular day. It is usually spontaneous and it can very well be a Monday night or Sunday all day. The one thing that stays constant is her favorite TV station ‘Caracol TV.  It is full of news, soap operas, comedies, reality TV, singing competitions and the Colombian version of “Judge Judy.”  It is an all encompassing station covering everything under the sun including politics, religion and, of course, sports.

Saying that she loves her Colombian TV station is definitely an understatement. It’s on when she cooks, cleans, and even sleeps. It’s even on when she isn’t home!  So when I go to her house I dare not turn the thing off; there is a chance I could miss a monumental occurrence in our native country. I do, however, turn the volume down a bit as I decompress in her soft leather recliner.

I don’t particularly pay attention to the programs that run during my visit but having a background in TV post production I do pay attention to the commercials, of all things. In former roles, I wrote hundreds of on-air promos and even hired voice-over actors depending on the company’s production schedule. So for me it is something that I naturally have a pretty good ear for.  I have noticed that during the commercial breaks her station uses the same voice-over actor. It doesn’t matter what the commercial is about. It’s always the same guy. His voice is smooth, monotonous and deep. It’s not a quick sell, and it isn’t overly “car salesman” hyped up nonsense. It’s instead like an older uncle talking through the television set. These types of commercials are significantly different from American television commercials, where there are way more graphics, color, volume, hype and a call to action in every other breath. So which is more effective?

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Everyone is a Journalist with Social Media

The recent tragedy in Boston has stirred up a lot of conversation over the past few weeks. As I was driving home last week, NPR brought up an interesting topic on its radio show, “All Things Considered.” The discussion was based around the fact that we now use Twitter as a breaking news source, which got me thinking…

Twitter was jammed with minute to minute updates, from snippets of conversation about the driving reasons for the unthinkable attack to information that Bob heard from Mary in the office. Twitter users were certainly staying informed, but were they receiving accurate information?

That part is debatable. If I was a betting kind of gal, I’d say that most tweets that went out that day and in the days following weren’t fact checked or confirmed; they were sent out as quickly as the information was received, leading to a lot of misinformation.

More and more users are turning to social media as a breaking news source. How do we know that the information we receive through Twitter or Facebook is correct? We don’t. How do we know that information received through traditional media is correct? We don’t. However, we can safely assume they will try to be as accurate as possible to maintain their credibility. Social media has, in the past few years, allowed everyone to act as a journalist to report on the latest breaking news. As for me, I think I’ll leave it to the professionals.

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Debunking Content Marketing Falsehoods – Part Two

Don’t you love when someone is positive about a fact and you prove them wrong? Like when someone swears that the capital of North Carolina is Charlotte when you know it is Raleigh. Or when your friend is confident that Tobey Maguire played Kevin in “Sin City.” He didn’t. It was Elijah Wood.

Well, we at Content Boost love dispelling content marketing myths– including two of the most egregious ones: that if you haven’t started content marketing yet it is too late to get in the game and that social media is not for your business. Don’t believe us? Have a look at part one of this series.

Today, we debunk two more misconceptions.

Fallacy: If you flood your blog or newsfeed with content, the search engine spiders will come for you and rank you.

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Are you a Bird Brain?

Some birds are so hard headed that when they spot a window and see their reflection, they keep ramming into the window over and over again. They will only stop to land on their feet or their back, fly back around to the starting point, flap their wings, gain speed and ‘thwap’ smash full speed into the same window all over again. They continue this from dusk when light first finds its way until dawn when the light slowly fades the mirrored image from the same window.

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Three Things You Need to Stop Doing When Sending E-mails

spamWe are all inundated with e-mail; we’re sending it, receiving it and saving it. In fact, as of November 2012, 144 billion e-mails were being sent every day. But in an age of social media, it seems like e-mails are a marketing campaign of yesteryear. Not so fast, though. Just because 65 percent of all e-mails are spam doesn’t mean that your company’s targeted e-mail campaign has to get dragged to that daunting folder in customers’ inboxes.

Today, the delete button is heavier than the sword. Here are three things you could be doing wrong with your e-mail marketing campaign.

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Debunking Content Marketing Falsehoods – Part One

Some of my favorite articles are those that expose commonly circulated fallacies and pull back the curtain to reveal the truth. For example…

The lie: Artificial sweeteners are safe sugar replacements. The truth: Studies have actually found that those who use artificial sweeteners are more likely to gain weight then those who consumer caloric sweeteners.

The lie: You should stretch before you exercise to avoid injury. The truth: Conversely, researchers have found that stretching before exercising can actually slow your body down, resulting in a five percent reduction of efficiency.

When ubiquitous “truths” are circulated and then subsequently debunked,  you are oftentimes left flabbergasted and befuddled—but then you realize that a world of possibilities opens up. After all, maybe you can start traipsing around in the cold with a wet head and not get sick. Perhaps your dog is not really as old as you think he is, as dogs do not age at seven years per one human year. And, maybe, just maybe,you can in fact have that ice cream sundae minutes before jumping into the pool.

content marketing strategyPerhaps no space has more misconceptions flying, however, than the content marketing one.  Marketers claim to know all the statistics and best practices for crafting a competitive content marketing strategy—numbers that often belie the potential of this new-age marketing technique and preconceived notions that often hamper success. Below, we unveil some of the biggest content marketing falsehoods. Continue reading “Debunking Content Marketing Falsehoods – Part One”