The Surprising and Not-So Surprising Demographics of Social Networks

social mediaSome things in life just go better together – for instance, peanut butter and jelly, milk and cookies, Barbie and Ken, Batman and Robin. The same could be said about content marketing and social media. Social media has become an integral part of businesses’ content marketing strategies, helping to amplify customer engagement, boost lead generation and spread brand awareness.

B2B marketers are using a number of social media platforms to distribute content more frequently than they did last year, according to Content Marketing Institute’s “B2B Content Marketing 2014 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends –North America” study. In fact, marketers are now using an average of six social platforms, compared to just five last year. Continue reading “The Surprising and Not-So Surprising Demographics of Social Networks”

From the Prehistoric Age to the Social Media Craze: Marketing Comparisons and Similarities

Imagine for a moment being a caveman in the prehistoric times. You’re creating cave paintings and sending out drum and smoke signals to effectively communicate or relay messages to your community or those around you. It could take days or weeks for your message to be properly relayed – if it gets relayed at all.

It’s almost unfathomable to think that at the time, these were the most sophisticated methods of communication available. Believe it or not, but today’s modern marketing methods still cling close to these prehistoric roots in some pretty notable ways. Of course, they can differ just the same, as depicted by an infographic from Optimal Targeting released today.

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Are the Right People in the Room for Your Content Marketing Pitch?

blog picIt might have just been minutes before Content Marketing World keynoter William Shatner took the stage to round out the three-day event, but one overarching message that Cisco’s Senior Marketing Manager Tim Washer shared with a packed room during his breakout really stuck. He advised marketers to make sure you have the right people in the room during creative meetings—and to keep naysayers out of initial brainstorming sessions. Continue reading “Are the Right People in the Room for Your Content Marketing Pitch?”

LinkedIn: A Goldmine Filled with Quality Leads

Linkedin_ChocolatesWhen LinkedIn first launched in 2002, it was a small but mighty social media platform used by eager job seekers to connect with other like-minded professionals. Fast forward to today, however, and LinkedIn is the go-to social media vehicle for marketing and sales professionals. LinkedIn is no longer seen as Facebook’s “ugly step sister” but as a valuable tool for gathering quality leads and developing strong client relationships.  Continue reading “LinkedIn: A Goldmine Filled with Quality Leads”

Facebook’s New Search Tools could be the Extra Layer Content Marketers Need

I don’t know about you, but I’m enjoying the cooler weather this year. As a lover of the summer, I’m all about the warmth, and so I was shocked when I happily threw on a couple of extra layers this morning before running out the door. As any New Englander knows, when the weather begins to change, so must our lifestyles; the clothes we wear, the things we do and when we do them.

This got me thinking; the same principle can be applied to content marketers. When something begins to change, evolve or sophisticate, a marketer’s approach must change as well. Take, for example, Facebook’s two new search tools being released today.

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Do Your Customers Have Abandonment Issues?

abdandonI once followed a blog religiously, checking it every day for fresh content. At first it was great; every afternoon I would check the blog for my daily dose of content, but then something awful happened. It was a typical day around noon when I normally checked by beloved blog, but this time there wasn’t a new post. I chocked it up to a one-time thing, but when I checked the next day and the next day—nothing new. I suddenly felt abandoned.  Did this person forget about me, why weren’t they posting? Continue reading “Do Your Customers Have Abandonment Issues?”

A Picture Says a Thousand Words

photography-beginnerI myself am a visual learner, who would rather look at pretty pictures than read a 1,000-plus word article—and I’m not alone. In fact, 65 percent of the population is comprised of visual learners and 40 percent of people respond better to visual information than plain text. For content marketers, this means marrying compelling content with eye-catching visuals.

Visual content garners big results as it not only helps catch the reader’s attention, but it also increases engagement and drives website traffic. Put yourself in your readers’ shoes and consider the following: would you rather read a press release full of text or a post with one or two eye-popping images?

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Key Takeaways from Latest B2B Content Marketing Survey Results

B2BBusiness-to-business (B2B) buyer behavior has fundamentally changed and, as a result, the concept of content marketing has gone mainstream. This has led B2B marketers to do either one of two things: fist pump like a champ or pull their hair out while battling intense anxiety. Regardless of which side you’re on, the fact remains that content marketing is a force to be reckoned with – and more specifically, capitalized on.

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When it Comes to Posting, Timing is Everything

time You’ve spent all afternoon hunched over your laptop creating “the greatest blog ever written,” but suddenly you realize that it’s 5 pm. Your eager to post your blog, but you’re not sure whether or not it’s the right time. Will it get lost in the cyber shuffle overnight? Can it wait till morning?

Maintaining an accurate posting schedule and learning when your audience is tuned in is the key to engagement success. After all, what good does it do if your audience never reads your emails, tweets, posts, or blogs?

With 347 new blogs posts, 684,478 Facebook shares, 100,000 tweets, 204,166,667 emails and 3,600 Instagram photos posted every minute, it’s not easy to get noticed. However, research shows that there is a right time and a wrong time to post.

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