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Is Content Still King?

The saying has remained the same, the more content on your website the better. While this is still true the way we interpret this comment is changing. Gone are the days of pushing as much content to your website to ensure a higher ranking than your competitor. The focus is shifting to quality and not quantity. So what does this mean?

Content for SEO

Google likes authority websites when it is indexing accurate, up to date and credible content for the end user. Google has changed its algorithms in a way that it is smarter in the search results it delivers. It used to be true that the more content we dropped into our websites on a daily basis we would outrank our competitors based on the amount of content that is new.

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#HeyCompanyStopSpammingMe

Imagine you’re sitting in a café with your friend in a catch-up session after not seeing each other for a while. You want them to be interested in what you have to say – your new job, relationship and more – but you can’t help but feel like you’re talking at them, rather than with them.

Yawning and eye-wandering ensues, and the discussion takes a turn for the worst.

Have you ever had the same reaction when a business tries to promote its brand to you? It’s yelling, “LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT THIS! LOOK WHAT’S NEW!” but quite frankly, you’re not interested, because it doesn’t apply to you. This is how you can quickly go from marketing to “noise.”

Worried your customers are doing a bit of eye-rolling themselves? Then start keeping your brand messages personalized, fresh and intimate. After all, when a customer feels like you’re talking with them, trust and brand loyalty inevitably develops.

Let’s take a look at some out-of-the box examples of how companies directly engaged their customers, and as a result, created an unbeatable brand strategy:

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Marketing during Human Tragedy = Unthinkable Insensitivity

To say it’s been a tragic week for U.S. citizens, and even the billions around the world, is a gross understatement. The unfathomable events that transpired this week—from the very first explosion during the Boston Marathon, to the Texas fertilizer plant blast, to the still ongoing hunt for Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev—have left us all without words.

Disbelief, Distraught, Empathy, Anger and Confusion have entered our world—from our local delis to our workplace to our neighborhoods. And all we can do is ask: “Why?”

Why does such evil exist in this world? Why has our universe become so recently shattered—not to forget the Batman movie shooting to the Sandy Hook massacre—making us afraid of even our own shadow? Why does it seem that acts of cruelty occur more frequently than acts of benevolence?

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How Do I Know Which Social Media Platforms are Right for Me?

So you’ve decided to get started on building your company’s social media presence – congrats! With new social media networks popping up all the time, it can be hard to determine which you want to be part of. By knowing what the major platforms are best utilized for, you can help make the most of your resources and take a giant step forward towards reaching your customers.

social

Twitter tends to resonate best with a B2C audience, but it also works quite well with the B2B world. Because posts are limited to 140 characters, it lends itself well to quick bursts of thought, starting conversations, and sharing links. If you are willing to put the time into posting on Twitter daily you will likely find an audience here.

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Feeling Hungry? The Importance of Visual Stimulation

Driving to work last Friday, I noticed I received an e-mail on my cell. So I waited until I got to a stop light and checked it (yes, safety is important!). It was an e-mail from our office manager telling us that breakfast was coming soon. Yup, we get breakfast on Friday’s. I completely had forgotten it was Friday!

My Jeep suddenly drove a bit faster to work than normal. All sorts of physiological things started happening. My pupils dilated, my tummy growled, and the grip on my steering wheel tightened. My mind played tricks on me as I started to smell the combination of the sizzling bacon, blanketed by a yummy egg and topped off with melted cheese. I could taste the cool rainbow of fresh fruit salad, and felt all warm inside as I envisioned the smiles and brief morning cheer of my coworkers in the common area.

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Power Up that Laptop; You’ve Got a Story to Tell

While this may come as no surprise, especially as someone who has made a career out of writing, I love everything related to the English language. I love the fact that a single word can inspire, energize, upset, anger and intrigue—sometimes all at once. I love that for every 10 people who read a book, you get 10 different opinions about the true themes and symbolism. I love how we share our stories about ourselves, our companies, and our passions through our writing—oftentimes meticulously massaging each word, caressing tone and losing ourselves in the process of wordsmithing.

So you can imagine how important I think it is for each company to have a section of their website dedicated to storytelling. The part of their website that gives customers, channel partners, stakeholders, investors and potential partners the first few chapters of a company’s novel.

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Are Your Customers Just Not That Into You?

Let’s be honest for a second; it’s really hard to stomach the fact that your hard-earned customers may stray from you one day. While the reason can sometimes be completely unclear, the truth is screaming out to you in a whinny voice: your once loyal customers are now cheating on you with a company who is younger, more attractive and has a better physique (ahem, we mean a superior brand strategy). This other option looks better and piques their interest more. I know it’s hard pill to swallow, but some tough love might be just what you need to shape up and win them back.

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You Looking at Me?

I am 100 percent a student at heart. I long for the days of hour-long college lectures spent dissecting nuances and gender deconstruction in Charlotte Bronte’s “Jane Eyre.” I still experience brief moments of frustration when I try to recall the difference between igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic geology rocks (as a marketer, science was certainly not my strong suit).

And I still wish I could find the time during a busy work week to meet a professor for “office hours” and sip coffee while I pick his/her brain about some esoteric psychology theory.

So making the recent decision to complete my Social Media Marketing professional degree at Purchase College was one of the easiest choices I made.

I love learning. I love social media. And I love following the social media strategies of my favorite brands. No brainer.

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