I’m a visual content creationist. If somebody didn’t create it, then it’s probably not worth looking at. Take Pinterest as an example. Companies can choose to post all sorts of great visual material that they like, but if they don’t have a backbone full of unique content, then how will they stand out as unique? Nobody is interested in seeing the same old stock photos or generic infographics. If you make something new and innovative, then people will start paying attention.

So, how can you begin creating unique content?

My answer: Look to the world of art. In visual medium art classes nowadays, professors often teach Internet storytelling, YouTube optimization, and the way film and photography often borrow from the past to present something completely new. Many artists are acutely aware of how the Internet has changed their medium, and they’ve found new artistic outlets within that change. Marketers can learn a lot from their philosophy. Too often, we just think of visual content marketing as visual branding. We want everything to look the same, so that people know who we are. However, if your branding gets in the way of producing marketing content that portrays the value of your unique service or product, that’s a problem.

Using artistic philosophies doesn’t mean that you have to build everything from scratch. Since the 1970s, the world has fallen in love with found footage, and now, more than ever, it’s a highly acceptable way to create something new. For instance, check out this video ad from Wonderful Pistachios. It utilizes a found concept from a YouTube viral video, The Honey Badger, then uses it for a totally different brand. Of course, this is an example of outright advertising.

There are dozens of ways to borrow old images for new purposes in more subtle ways: 

• Envision an infographic that makes use of a skyscraper in your city
• What if you created an eBook that explains your business as a meal?
• Try blogging about a new product as if it’s a prize on a game show

Of course, I realize that some of these ideas my not be appropriate for your industry or the customer base that you’re trying to approach. That’s why it’s your job to find out what is appropriate for who you’re selling to and how far you can stretch your brand.

Last month, Weidert Group produced a new content resource that explains how to navigate the new era of search engine optimization (SEO). What did we call it? Well, I’ll tell you what. It wasn’t Weidert’s Manual to SEO. That’s too boring and there’s nothing visually grabbing about it at all. Instead, we went with a theme that is loaded with visual appeal and reflects how we think we can help our clients.

To start, we looked at how our clients feel about SEO. Immediately, we realized that often, clients are so overwhelmed by SEO that they feel like they can’t keep their heads above the water. So, we turned their emotions into a concept — The SEO Survival Guide.

So, how did we create our SEO Survival Guide?

The Answer: By building original imagery that borrows from older themes.

Here’s a step-by-step process:

STEP 1: Do a Google search. By searching, you’re going to find all the borrowable imagery in the world. Strive to find as much variety as possible, so search for unique ideas, popular memes and great visuals. We searched for “survival guide.” Below, you can see one of the images we really liked.

STEP 2: Identify the images you’ll need to portray your message. Here’s where having a strong marketer on your side is really essential. You can have as much visual imagery as you want, but if you don’t know what you want to promote, it won’t do you any good. So, here’s what we found essential to tell our prospective clients:

1. Good keyword research
2. Consistent content creation
3. Organic link-building
4. A strong social media presence

Then for each of these four, we had to create good images that we could integrate into our overall “survival guide” theme. Of course, we could have used stock images like these:

But honestly, when are generic icons ever smart? If you’re trying to brand yourself as unique, make things that are unique without sacrificing symbolic integrity (i.e. what the icons are supposed to mean). So, here’s where the third step comes into play.

STEP 3: Build an overall visual appeal by creating small details that are visually meaningful and unique to your brand. It’s on this step where we unify our found graphic with images that have particular meaning to what our content piece is trying to say.

To do this, you want a graphic designer who is competent in Adobe Creative Suite or some other set of graphic design tools. We used Photoshop and Illustrator to create the visuals in our Survival Guide.

If you use existing imagery, then change them to your needs, you’ll probably end up with something like this: a branded version of an existing graphic that says “Yes, I’m a survival guide, but I’m created by Weidert Group, and I’m highly informational. Trust me.”

Included on the right is the final product.

If you’re interested in checking out the full visual content within the book and seeing how Weidert optimizes visual content to help your SEO, click here to download the full eBook. Our SEO Survival Guide isn’t just for reading, it’s for viewing too!

Image Credit

There’s an art to knowing how to blog—and like most business savvy, it’s an art of continuous improvement. You might get the blog writing down on day one—perhaps you’re the next Hemingway. But in the age of the Internet, there’s a lot more than the copy itself that needs attention. Once you’re done writing, you have to attend to the links, the imagery, the CTA, the title, and much more. Everything that can be searched needs to be optimized.

Today, the focus is blog titles. No great books would be sold if their authors couldn’t create strong titles. The same is true for blogs and bloggers. Knowing how to build strong, keyword-rich blog titles is key to being discovered and being noticed.

Tapping Into Search Habits

The best way to think about it on a holistic level is to begin thinking about the habits you know searchers have—habits that you yourself probably have. For me, I think of all the times that I type “_______ vs. _______” in the Google search bar. It’s certainly my tendency to immediately compare two choices with a quick Web search. When I hear about a new product, I compare it with one I know. When I learn about a new website, I compare it with a similar site.

Clearly, I am looking for information. Usually, when I use a “vs.” or a “versus” I want some site with an objective, informed comparison that clearly compares two options without overt bias. It’s this type of characterization that I think can inform any business of how to structure their blog titles.

If a searcher, like me, is looking for “aluminum tubing vs. copper tubing,” then why not capitalize on the opportunity. Try writing more blogs using “vs.” as a conjunction. The prospects you’ll attract will already be looking for information, and your blog will be right there to meet their needs.

Common Search Patterns

Incorporating searcher habits like this one can be done for blogging in almost industry, and it doesn’t always mean using small words like “vs.” In the following list, you’ll find three top habitual search patterns that anybody in business should pay attention to when thinking of blog topics and building headlines:

1. To start, let’s think about what search really is. When you get on Google and begin typing
in the empty search bar, what are you actually doing? You’re providing a query. In other words, you’re asking a question! Although asking questions to Google and search engines should never be seen as effective, long tail question searching is still a very popular way that people search the Web. So why not take advantage?

Questions like “how,” “when,” “should,” “could,” and “can” are all questions that tell you that the searcher is really looking for answers. He/she is interested, which means a prime target for an Inbound Marketing strategy. Take advantage of question words by writing them into the title (e.g. “How to Make Great B2B Sales: Charm”).

2. Another clever use of terms is to make titles that use “like” or “similar to,” especially when dealing with popular media. In a way comparable to “versus,” “like” and “similar to” involve drawing contrasts between two different choices, options, etc. When searchers are looking for that kind of information, you have the perfect opportunity to impress a potential lead with your valuable expertise.

3. Here’s another strategy that builds off searcher’s desire to compare information. Imagine that a business owner looking to expand her building’s size wants to know the best contractors in the area. More likely than not, she’ll start with a web search. If her web search is “Best commercial contractors in ________” then that contractor has a clear path toward taking advantage of the key phrase by writing great blogs that capitalize on key phrases that utilize worlds like “best” and “contractors” in the same title. Superlatives like “best” can be very helpful if utilized correctly.

If you’re interested in learning more about optimizing your content for search, dig into our full eBook, The SEO Survival Guide. It’s packed with great content sure to keep you afloat in your swim through optimizing your company for search.

Image Credit

If you don’t – well, there’s my first tip for this blog post.

Research your blogging content, and research it well. There are far too many blogs out there with pieces of misinformation or data from three years ago. If you want to make your blog effective for marketing what you do, you want to have good, reliable information.

Of course, you have more reasons to stay up-to-date with industry trends than just blogging. Good research helps to produce quality marketing materials, strong landing page content, and valuable nurturing packets.

Well, something new is ready to provide the marketing world with whole reports worth of information on the latest trends in digital marketing. Think With Google, a Google-run online marketing magazine, was quietly launched last year, and it now seems to be the best kept secret in digital marketing.

For Digital Marketing

If you explore the site, you can find data on a whole range of topics, from the latest insights to cutting-edge research in marketing. The purpose seems to be to wholly embrace the world of SEO, Inbound Marketing, and social media marketing – and to provide fuel for the fire.

Think With Google features consumer survey results, a library full of research, and even tools for companies to complete their own research initiatives using Google infrastructure.

Although the ‘About’ page is pretty spotty, it seems that Think With Google started recently as the company grew the initiative out of Think Quarterly, Google’s digital marketing research magazine that began to be published in 2011. By offering a whole site, Google is really upping its ante in the game of digital marketing poker.

For Advertising

As you might imagine, Google is using Think With Google not just to promote the use of Google resources for the sake of marketing. It’s also growing its advertiser base by practicing a little bit of inbound marketing itself. You start to see this by looking at the blog. Great content, CTAs – the works. Then if you look through the site, you begin to see that everything really does lead back to the theme, Advertise with Google. It’s a simple, elegant example of what companies everywhere should be doing: trying new endeavors as opportunities to employ new marketing techniques.

Advertising resources are abundant on Think With Google, from information and tools for the creative aspects of advertising creation to results-based information on Google-based advertising opportunities like YouTube and Google Adsense. If you’re looking for information or just a few tips, this is definitely the place to go.

Of course, the planning of Think With Google is pretty much perfect for its audience. This isn’t some superficial site designed to purely draw in advertisers. It reads like blog material, and it’s made to be translatable. In particular, I noticed that throughout the site, Google is using a lot of collaboration with cross-industry leaders. As guest bloggers and writers, you see a number of CEO contributors from a diverse range of fields, so you really get a sense that this is a site for anybody.

Think With Google Blog

Google stayed loyal to itself and used blogspot to make the Think With Google Blog. And as I mentioned earlier, it’s a great example of strong content marketing. They really demonstrate why this new Google venture is a top-notch expert in the field of marketing trends analysis.

They keep things relaxed, mixing media as well as topical focus. Mining these blogs for information could be key to anybody trying to keep up with what is hot in online marketing. It is definitely something to add to your RSS reader list.

Using Think With Google as a resource for Content Creation

I would argue that Think With Google has enough of an information output that any marketing agency could really do itself some good by just focusing some of their blogging on new information that Think With Google produces. It’s that remarkable. If you follow Think With Google’s blogs and search for information when you need to, you will see just how much data, media, and explanation is available.

By integrating Think With Google information with your own blogging and downloadable content pieces, you will find that your content is actually strengthened over time. Think With Google can provide you with the data to make your approach to content marketing highly data-driven.

Overall, the site is a great development and an awesome resource for online marketers everywhere. If you’re interested in getting more tips on where to find other great marketing resources, you can also read one of our latest eBooks: The SEO Survival Survival Guide.

With the rise of social media, blogs are being shared in newer ways, and aggregators and blog search engines like Technorati are changing their strategies to optimize social sharing. The new report focuses on how these new trends in blogging and social media are changing consumer expectations and transforming business strategies today.

To gather data, Technorati conducted surveys late in 2012 on consumer behavior, branding and online influences. They sent surveys to the top digital account supervisors and planners in the world, people Technorati call “Influencers.” Then, they engaged 2.5 million email subscribers to gather feedback about the state of digital influence on the Web today. The result is an incredibly powerful breakdown of what is current in the world of digital marketing.

So, what are the discoveries outlined in this most up-to-date nugget of marketing gold? Well, I think there are two ways to looking at it. First, what can Inbound Marketers take away from Technorati’s consumer behavior research. And second, what can we learn from the “Top Influencers” in digital marketing today.

What this report means for Inbound Marketers:

First, if your focus is Inbound Marketing, then you should be very happy. Everything that this report details proves why Inbound is working so well. Here’s a quote from Section IV: Consumer Behavior.

“When it comes to community size, 54 percent of consumers agree that the smaller the community the greater the influence … The survey findings also indicate that many of those consumers are turning to blogs when looking to make a purchase. Blogs were found to be the third-most influential digital resource (31%) when making overall purchases, only behind retail sites (56%) and brand sites (34%). In fact, blogs were found to be the fifth-most trustworthy source overall for information on the Internet.”

You don’t get much more proof than that. Inbound Marketing strategy cultivates an immediate community of leads in which the relationship between business and prospective customer is very close. And where is the center of the strategic direction–your brand site? The reason Inbound Marketers focus so much on blogs and relevant calls-to-action is they want to deliver prospects to the home site to build that “trustworthiness” the report talks about. If you’re following this kind of Inbound Marketing strategy, then, according to Technorati, you’re in pretty good shape.

Of course, if you look at the graph above, you’ll see that retail sites beat brand sites by a long shot. If you’re in retail, then don’t back away from it. Build trust by bringing people to your brand, but show them the sales opportunities also. Another key point from the graph is that it combines social media with non-social results. This is where you really see the impact of Facebook. More and more small businesses are using Facebook as an upfront informational site. Depending on your industry, you definitely want to consider the value of this strategy.

What the top Digital Marketing Influencers are doing to enhance their efforts:

The second point Technorati really hits home is that the top Influencers in digital marketing are doing things differently, and they’re doing different things now. Apparently, 88% of the top Influencers blog for themselves, and 52% have more than one blog. This could be a key difference in 2013. Expect to see new blogs created that tailor to consumers specific interests.

Another key aspect is that top Influencers are diversifying the content that informs their blogging. Of course, other blogs still hit the top of the chart. But, notice that the spread is relatively even between the top six results. People are looking for many different sources of information to drive their blogging.

One aspect that might surprise some bloggers about the report are its findings on how Influencers generate revenue. 64% say they are doing it using blogs themselves. Whether it’s banner ads, brand-sponsored content, or affiliate programs, the top Influencers are not just converting prospects with great blogging efforts; they’re generating revenue too.

Finally, Influencers have a lot to say about using social media as well. The biggest takeaway is that Influencers are not just using Facebook to broadcast their brand, but are following brands most successfully through Facebook. 10% of Influencers use Facebook as a primary platform for their marketing efforts, and Facebook is the second-most cited platform for following other brands. While Twitter and YouTube are certainly important, it seems that Facebook is the winner with the top Influencers today.

Reports like the Digital Influence Report offer great stats to back-up your marketing strategy. Be sure to take a thorough look at the report to grasp the full dimensions of what Technorati predicts in 2013. However, the key with putting this information into action is to develop a strong Inbound Marketing strategy from the ground up. Download our Step-by-Step Guide to Inbound Marketing to begin the process of forming thoughts for your own strategy.

Today, blogging is the reality in which we live. It’s active. There’s participation, and a lot of people are putting full-force imagination into strong content creation efforts. Blogging that’s rich with content and full of visual appeal is what customers are hungry for, and that gives marketers a huge advantage.

But could something become better than blogging? Might there be a waiting consumer base that would be attracted by something else? Maybe they’re unwilling to read 800-word blogs or they think businesses’ information is unreliable. Perhaps they’re too focused on internal business operations to worry about marketing. How do we reach out to them?

Recently, I’ve seen several experiments in this area that I think are worth watching. The first was a piece of news I talked about late last year about Coca-Cola and their new attempt at building a news media site to boost content production. Now a second story has come to the forefront—and this one’s an Inbound Marketing art piece.

Earlier this week, Hilton, a leader in the hotel and leisure business, launched a new content unit that takes interactivity and sales funnel organization to a new level.

After several years of struggling to get the right visitors to the right places, Hilton is launching what it calls the Urgent Vacation Care Center—an online portal where prospects can interact with an application that makes recommendations about where they should vacation. At the same time, the Care Center is a site where Hilton can publish updates on great “leisure headline” stories, as well as post via Twitter. After customers go through the Care Center, they are urged to subscribe to the Vacation updates—an instant lead conversion tool.

To a basic user, the site looks pretty basic—a nice survey that gets you thinking about vacations, some great tools for solving “Vacationitis”—but Inbound Marketers should really take note. This isn’t just a content marketing page that offers some creative twists. This is a full-service lead conversion and nurturing machine.

Rather than having a blog, a social page, CTAs, and a landing page, Hilton’s Urgent Vacation Care Center takes a more integrated, content-oriented approach. They want you to see great vacation deals while taking the Vacationitis test. They want to offer legitimate content (i.e. actual studies on the importance of leisure) as you get updates from Twitter. The Care Center aims to tie the content draw and lead generation much more closely together.

At the end of your diagnostic test for Vacationitis, is an instant lead generation machine. The important thing here is that the entire test is full of great content, so you’re immediately reminded why you should click ‘yes’ to receiveing e-mail updates.

They don’t leave CTAs hanging out to dry either. Like other Inbound Marketing sites, Hilton has its main component plus complementary side avenues toward the sales funnel. By clicking on the clicker at the top, you’ll get high-quality, humorous illustrations of Hilton’s Vacationitis that are instantly shareable. While it doesn’t carry users straight to the landing page, they take a different approach by encouraging users to share online as much as possible—a kind of delayed benefit that I’m sure pays off later.

Obviously, not all companies can build a site that is as integrated and as well planned as Hilton’s, but for many, it’s not too far out either–a simple form, nice graphics, a twitter feed, etc. These are all things that you can emulate. If you have a web designer on your staff, try thinking outside the box about ways to bring in non-blog readers and how to add interactivity to your site.

Hilton has built a high-quality Inbound Marketing platform that I’m sure will bring in hundreds of leads. To get started with your sales funnel, educate yourself on the steps to implementing Inbound Marketing with our step-by-step guide.

But every once in a while things really do connect. Recently, I was sitting in on a linguistic anthropology class focused on new media when a student brought in a current topic article for the class to discuss. It was Monday’s New York Times, and the headline read: “Tweet This: ‘Hashtag’ Named Word of the Year.”

At first I thought this seemed like an odd announcement. After all, hashtags are more than a year old. But then as I read the article, I realized all of the ways companies can use hashtags as a marketing tool. Just recently, the Associated Press announced that they will start using its Twitter account (and its hashtags) as a sponsored advertising tool. Similarly, many companies use hashtags as a way of building a base or creating a temporary meme.

Once you really start looking at the ways companies are constantly reinventing hashtags for potential gain, you begin to see why it might just deserve the distinction of “Word of the Year.” Then, if you’re a smart marketer, you’ll take these new uses and put them to work for your own ventures.

So–here’s the breakdown. After doing a little bit of research, I’ve found 6 top ways to make hashtags work better for you and your business. Try using them to help optimize your greater social media strategy.

1. Using hashtags can be like “Twitter SEO.” This is an idea taken from a blog by Jeff Bullas. Often hashtags are compared to keywords that you use for your website. If you take this view, the important thing to remember with hashtags is to use a few that help build an identity for your Twitter presence. Changing hashtags is fine–and even appropriate at different points, but good optimization means choosing a group of really effective hashtags.

2. As a corollary to point 1, when thinking about hashtags, you need to be cautious about using them the same way you do keywords. Keywords are aimed at search–but hashtags are self-defined categories themselves. That’s why I like to describe hashtags as ‘keywords with creativity.’ When you choose a group of hashtags that you want to use, don’t just use #b2b or #inboundmarketing. Those are general terms that everybody is using. Better terms emphasize your brand, speak to your company’s persona, and demonstrate your social savvy on social media.

3. After reading #1 and #2, it might seem like hashtag optimization is just more effort than it’s worth. Well, don’t worry because there are some cool online tools that can make a difference. Hashtagify.me is an awesome tool that many people are using to hone in on what kind of hashtags people are using, and what might be appropriate to keep their hashtags up to date. Think of Hashtagify.me as your Google Keyword Search Tool for Twitter. It has a nice visual interface that’s easy to use, and you really get a picture of just how much creativity Twitter users are putting into their hashtags.

4. Hashtags have become more than just categorizers on sites like Twitter and Pinterest. Today, companies are using them to draw in prospective leads in increasingly creative ways. For example, hashtags have become one inexpensive way of running contests, games, or cause-oriented campaigns. Build your growing user base by offering a hashtag that people can use to compete for prizes, free services, etc. On Pinterest, these sort of contests come in the form of photo contests, but there are plenty of creative options out there.

5. Another way of using hashtags is to encourage Twitter engagement during special campaigns. For instance, if you’re heading off to an exciting conference or business trip, why not create a fun hashtag that allows your fans to follow along. That’s the type of narrative-oriented technique that really draws people in.

6. Lastly, the thing that really separates hashtags from other kinds of search terms is that people don’t just use descriptors when they make hashtags. Often, creativity really does take over. While you need to reign in the number of hashtags your company uses, don’t be afraid to broaden your approach to branding. For instance, a small construction company can do better than making a hashtag like #buildinghomes. A better one might be #buildingbeauty. The more unique it is, the more your company will be able to brand itself–but it’s important to stay in the mainstream also.

So, you’ve probably had enough of hashtags for one day. But really, social media optimization is an on-going process that all of us must continue to work on. If you’re looking for a strategic way of staying on top of change, take a look at our Playbook for Social Media Optimization.

In most cases, companies that are using Twitter as a marketing or customer service channel use one of the many online software packages or platforms that are built to provide strong Twitter insights. Today, as you ease back into the post-Holiday workplace, I want to offer three awesome tools that will improve your professional Twitter experience.

Buffer

If you’re already using a full-service marketing plstform like HubSpot, a tool like Buffer might not always seem necessary. However, there are several important features that make Buffer a valuable tool. Buffer is a Tweet scheduler, but it provides awesome analytics too. You’ll receive information like:

• The number of clicks you receive
• How many people retweet your tweet
• How many people favorite your tweet
• A list of people who retweet and favorite your tweet with their username and the number of followers they have

In addition, Buffer beats out its other Twitter scheduling competitors in a number of ways. First, Buffer does not just post to Twitter in 5 min. intervals—you can schedule a post to any time. Although it might not seem like much, this has become increasingly important as most business Tweets currently fall on a 5 min. interval. Second, Buffer allows you to post images straight to Twitter. Similar services like HootSuite allow images, but they tend to post the files to a shortened URL on ow.ly rather than right on the site. This means that images will not appear right on the Twitter feed, limiting your visual reach.

Klout

Klout is cool because it really is aimed at improving the way you Tweet rather than just spitting out numbers that demonstrate your reach. Klout offers a calculation called the “measurement of influence.” Although it’s not perfect, it gives you an idea of how influential your Tweets are. You can also find ways to target other influential users because it gives you a list of your influential followers. If you want a simple index that combines multiple factors, Klout’s score can be really helpful. However, I wouldn’t rely solely on Klout—your options for further enhancement will be limited.

TwentyFeet

An alternative for Klout that you might want to try is TwentyFeet. It has an influence score along with other stats like amount of mentions you’ve received, follower growth, etc. Although TwentyFeet doesn’t offer the Top Influencers option from Klout, it does offer other statistics that might make it worth your while.

Obviously, these are just three of from a crowded field of Twitter management and analytics tools. While your choices are wide open, your strategy will be reliant on the strength of your analytics. We have a few tips on the subject in our Social Media Marketing guide. Take a look to get more advice on how to make a smart, comprehensive social strategy.

What started as a very personal choice to share one’s life on the Web is now a standardized format for regular publication in many industries. In under 15 years, blogging has gained a near ubiquitous status as a strong method for regular content production, making it a stalwart of today’s marketing strategies.

However, at times, its background in personal diaries and self-published storytelling is revealing. Often, blog content is underdeveloped, writing is poor, and narrative appeal is very weak. At times, various professionals in the fields of journalism, publishing, and PR have been frustrated with the blogosphere for its lack of intentionality about quality content production. While typos and eased style can be overlooked, poor content choice can quickly reduce a blog’s standing as a legitimate source of information.

Since blogs really did develop from a community of amateur writers on the Web, it’s reasonable to assume that blogging is not necessarily informed by the wealth of knowledge collected by journalists and traditional publishers over the years. For this reason, I think bloggers, especially marketing bloggers, have a lot to learn from basic principles in traditional journalism.

In 1973, Gatlung and Ruge published a list 10-point framework for understanding and evaluating what makes a strong story. They described the overall framework as a pursuit for “newsworthiness.” If used correctly, these 10 criteria can be extremely valuable when trying to find topics that will appeal to wide audiences.

From a marketing standpoint, these 10 points are the difference between a good blog and a blog that has the potential for a wide online following. These points will also help develop stronger keyword descriptions, a wider perspective of publishable material, and a way to raise the overall level of content quality.

• Relevance – To marketers, relevance may seem like an extremely obvious part of good blogging. After all, we’re all about identifying an audience’s needs. However, relevance is a factor that can always be improved. Blog analytics are a huge help with identifying what’s really reaching your audience and what’s not

• Timeliness – Unlike relevance, timeliness is something that is often de-emphasized in the world of business blogging. However, thinking like a journalist in regards to timeliness might just be the biggest factor for improving your blog’s reach. People like timely information because its relevance naturally goes up. If you run a daily blog, try making at least one topic per week about some sort of current event—public affairs, corporate news, and rumors all count!

• Simplification – Stories that can be easily simplified or summarized are likely to be featured more prominently than stories that are convoluted or difficult to understand. We try to do this a lot at Weidert Group. We make things into lists. We build step-by-step guides. We summarize complex processes into simple walkthroughs. Having a writer who is really attentive to keeping things simple and straightforward will be a huge help

• Predictability – Certain events, such as elections, major sporting events, astrological events, and legal decisions, happen on a predictable schedule. Why not capitalize on this? Plan ahead and make your blogs center on these events for a while. Some news outlets cover predictable events with a before, during, and after setup. Strong coverage builds a following and is easily promotable through social media

• Unexpectedness – On the other hand, unexpected events can also help bloggers out. Within the field of digital marketing, bloggers often hit it big when they cover something like a surprise announcement from Google or a new social media change. Being prepared to react to unexpected changes is critical to taking advantage of fast-moving events. For some companies, this means an organizational change. For others, this might mean shifting practices to follow more information sources more comprehensively

• Continuity – Some events, such as war, elections, protests, and strikes, require continuing coverage. While journalists practice continuing coverage all the time, it’s not something that business bloggers typically do. However, I don’t think anybody should rule it out. Continuous events can be used to build a following, offer a niche perspective, or even demonstrate in-depth expertise on an issue

• Composition – It’s key to keep in mind that a blog’s composition needs to be diverse. Journalists know that a newspaper can’t be full of hardline news stories through-and-through. Readers need a diverse set of content—including soft human-interest stories and special feature stories—to stay interested. The same goes for a blog. Keep things relevant, yes, but don’t shy away from having an intern writing about a topic he or she is passionate about. The mix is good!

• Elite Names – This category combines two of Gatlung and Ruge’s 10 factors for newsworthiness—Elite People and Elite Countries. For bloggers, the basic thing to remember is that name-dropping of any sort can be extremely helpful. Last month, I published a blog about Coca-Cola. Just having that name in the title, blew up the number of views and shares it got. Try following news about big companies or leaders in your industry to make sure your not missing out on a strong piece with a famous name as the leading keyword

• Negativity – This one is a no-brainer. Even more so than traditional journalism outlets, blogs have very little reason to be publishing negative pieces. While controversy and social critique have their value, be sure that negativity is monitored and controlled

Obviously, these 10 points are a lot to implement all at once. Try putting a few into use at a time and see how they work for you. Content creation is a constant process of improvement, so if you need more support, download our Blogging Content Ideas Tip Sheet. 

Utilizing these tools is not so simple. While great communication is possible, to really make your Page effective, you have to understand the ins and outs of Facebook EdgeRank.

If you haven’t heard about it yet, EdgeRank is the algorithm that controls the Facebook newsfeed—i.e. the mechanism that controls how well you voice is heard on Facebook. To many marketers, algorithm is a word that comes up a lot, but they never bother to understand every aspect of it. EdgeRank is different—understanding is key to taking an advantage.

Essentially, EdgeRank has three components:

1. Affinity – score between viewing user and edge creator
2. Weight – weight for this edge type
3. Time Decay Factor – how long ago the edge was created

Of course, at this point, you might be wondering, “what the heck is an edge?” To be honest, I don’t understand the name either. But for Facebook, an edge is all of those actions that people use to express themselves publicly—a status update, a comment, a like, tag, etc.

Weight & Time Decay Factor are pretty much intuitive. Every social media marketer knows that choosing the right messaging medium and timing it right have a huge impact on the reach.

In contrast, affinity is the mystery ingredient for Facebook’s EdgeRank. Kelvin Newman of Econsultancy shed some light on this topic by explaining affinity as “how ‘friendly’ you are with someone. You’ve probably seen this in action. Spy on an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend, snoop on their profile and suddenly they’re in your news feed all the time.”

The problem for companies is that it only works one way. Companies can’t visit their favorite fans, and hope that they’ll start showing up on the fans’ newsfeeds. The fans have to come to you! The key is to attract by building on what EdgeRank you already have going for you.

So, we have some tips for you. How to build your EdgeRank strategy, one step at a time.

1. Prioritize photo-sharing to get started. Sometimes we forget that Facebook really started as its generation’s Pinterest—an innovative, photo-friendly interface that drew people in through sprawling albums and picture tagging. Today, Facebook photos easily are the most viral aspect of Facebook content. The reason their helpful with EdgeRank is that your core Page fans will be much more likely to add edges (i.e. shares, comments, likes) to a photo than a status.

2. Make yourself “Facebook Stalk-able.” This is the content creation component of EdgeRank building. You want to produce a high level of quality content through daily Facebook posts, full photo albums, a well-stocked timeline, and a great “about” page. If your page is “stalk-able,” you simply will have more edges for users to grab onto—raising your potential for affinity points.

3. Push your available network toward new content by using other Social Media. Have you ever thought about promoting one social network over the other. Well, if you’re trying to build EdgeRank affinity, promoting Facebook content (including photos) with Twitter, LinkedIn or Pinterest could be really helpful. This can help your time decay also, by accelerating how fast your followers see content.

4. Engage, engage, engage! Last but not least, with any social media (especially Facebook), make sure you’re dedicating time to engage with your followers! This is the hardest part for many B2B marketers who are still acclimating to devoting time to social media and who think they can do the bare minimum and still see results. Show your paying attention by responding to comments and questions promptly, ask your followers engaging questions, or create a contest. All are ways to engage with your followers, which increases their activity on your page and with your content.

Hopefully this post inspires you to take your EdgeRank to the next level. If you’re still looking to master some of the basics of your company Facebook page, grab a copy of our free Facebook for Business Tip Sheet.

Image Credit

LinkedIn notes in their announcement that, “The list of winners is comprised of member favorites from such categories as Enterprise, Small Business and International.” This means that the list is a showcase—an opportunity for businesses to see that, no matter their size or scope, they can have a great LinkedIn company page that strengthens their B2B interactions.

Since there is so much variety, it can be hard to get a good picture of the pages’ best practices. But I did a little deciphering, and here are four factors that I see are in play for this list and for company page-building in general.

1. Number of followers
2. Aesthetic appeal
3. Branding strategy
4. Level of follower interaction

To me, it’s not super important to dive into each of the 12 companies, but by drawing on what got them selected, you can begin to strategize about how to optimize your LinkedIn company page.

So, here we go.

1. Number of Followers

The variety within the chosen 12 companies shows that LinkedIn understands that a “good” number of followers is always relative. Similarly, you should aim for a realistic goal on LinkedIn also. For instance, HireVue, one of LinkedIn’ top 12, has only 632 followers. That pales in comparison to Adobe’s 100,000+.

The key thing to remember is that HireVue’s scale is much different, and its appeal is much more targeted. A great page means building a strong following through some of the other three aspects outlined below.

2. Level of Follower Interaction

Speaking of building a strong following, one of the best things that a page can do is to cultivate a dynamic, interactive audience. While HireVue is obviously trying to build interaction by posting interesting content, Tata Consultancy Services is leading the way among the 12 page in terms of on-page commentary and “liking.” Creating a community on the company page is vital to utilizing LinkedIn’s potential for B2B interactions.

3. Aesthetic Appeal

For any of the twelve pages, you can bet that aesthetic appeal was a huge factor—LinkedIn provides a number of controlled opportunities for companies to brand themselves through imagery and design, and there are far too many companies that don’t take advantage of it. Every single one of the 12 companies listed by LinkedIn has excellent aesthetic appeal. The one that stuck out to me was Adobe. Rather than filling the main imagery area with a large picture of typical company slogans, Adobe chose to use creative messaging (see below). Their picture, of course is their logo, but they enhanced their page further by buying ad space to position a bright and welcoming call-to-action: “Join the Adobe Team—Learn More.” This ad space is present on very few LinkedIn company pages, and I think it’s a shrewd (albeit pricy) move to optimize the company’s LinkedIn presence.

4. Branding Strategy

Going along with aesthetics, there are several different strategies that can be adopted for a company page on LinkedIn. Some pages, such as Aurecon choose a completely professional and almost ad-like image strategy, using color, logo, slogans, and numbers to tell people who they are.

Other companies try to present more of a personality and less of a company. HubSpot does this really well. Both within and beyond LinkedIn, HubSpot tends to use large high-quality pictures of their customers, their employees, and their partners to serve as the faces of their company. On the LinkedIn page, you see that HubSpot presents itself as open and ready for conversation. “Say Hello to HubSpot 3” is an excellent message that says B2B is just like P2P.

With twelve great companies on the list, it’s likely that there are a whole bunch more lessons to be learned from these folks. They’re all great examples of strategy executed well. To begin formulating a stronger strategy with your LinkedIn activity check out our Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn.

As social media has grown over the past ten years, so have business’s desires to achieve virality on the Web. While making content viral is not easy and certainly not predictable, there are techniques that might help marketers get somewhere close. Two that have become extremely popular are memes and storytelling.

An Overview of Memes & Stories

Both storytelling and meme production have applications in many aspects of the Web, but for the purposes of marketing, I like to think of them as gifts that keep on giving. For memes, this is certainly true. Memes are elements of culture that pass on because of their own inherent value. When a meme catches on, it can last for years, and not just for you, but for other groups too. Here’s one really old example. In 1939, the British government produced a propaganda poster to encourage British citizens in the wake of Nazi air strikes on London. The poster proudly displayed the British crown with the words, “Keep Calm and Carry On.” Now well known as a meme for t-shirts, beer producers, and various blogs, the meme carries on two and three generations later because it is constantly being reproduced.

Storytelling is similar in that strong storytelling can be retold and reproduced with increasing levels of creativity. One of the most famous marketing examples of this, of course, occurred during the 1984 Super Bowl. Apple’s immediately famous “1984” TV ad aired only once, but the story told in the commercial was reproduced over and over by word-of-mouth, which propelled the expectation surrounding Apple’s release of the first Macintosh computer. It was a bold story that captivated the audience with seriousness rather than good humor, and it proved how effectively a good narrative can captivate an entire market. (Macintosh’s release completely reset the computer world at that time, limiting IBM’s grip on the market and opening an opportunity for Apple.)

In the preceding paragraphs, I’ve essentially provided “old media” archetypes of what memes and stories can do in a marketing context. However, neither example is from today’s fast-paced marketplace, driven by the Internet, mobile devices, and growing social media. Today, meme usage and new media storytelling are becoming near-standards of marketing content creation—and it’s clear that being innovative with old techniques is becoming increasingly difficult.

If obtaining viral appeal is your goal, coming up with new presentations of strong content is key. To help get started, here are three tips for making your memes and storytelling standout as different!

Tips for Giving Memes & Stories Viral Appeal

1. Take a tip from Apple’s 1984 ad for how to make storytelling catch a wide audience. 1984 had absolutely nothing to do with the Macintosh. Computers had very little to do with the Super Bowl. The lesson is that not all social media marketing has to directly connect with your brand. Here at Weidert Group, we publish a lot of information on marketing, but every now and again we venture into a completely random field. Sometimes these creative excursions are exactly what draws in a wider audience of users. While Apple took an extreme creative excursion, it worked beautifully because they stuck to strong storytelling. By balancing good technique with a strong context, you can build similar appeal in a variety of online situations.

2. With memes, it’s important to keep in mind that nobody really owns them. Even if you stumble into creating one (e.g. the Dos Equis spokesman), the thing that makes something a meme is its shared adaptability across situations. This means that drawing on current memes while creating new concepts is perfectly acceptable. Furthermore, I’d argue that it will help build your creative appeal. In a recent online contest between non-profits called the American Giving Awards, memes were thrown about incessantly. Every organization was trying to appeal to a wide range of people. In doing so, they didn’t just join in meme culture—many organizations became increasingly more creative.

3. Often we think of memes and storytelling as pieces of content. In practice, they are more akin to social media interactions. As I said before, they don’t need to relate directly to a brand or a company’s mission. Instead, connect them to your social media strategy. If your using Pinterest, try throwing in some memes that show your business’ personality. On Twitter, tell a hashtag story that draws people in to your regular flow of content updates. The best way to use memes is to tie them directly to your online social presence.

The Wrap-Up

These three tips are aimed to provide some basic parameters for how to use memes and storytelling effectively. They overall takeaway: memes and storytelling are just two ways to add a viral component to your social media marketing strategy. They don’t have to connect directly to your content because creativity is key for gaining a larger audience. Memes and stories are meant to be shared, so be sure to participate actively and with personality.

Of course, maybe you just want a firm foundation for your social media. In that case, a key tool is our guide to social media optimization. Make your social media presence bloom by utilizing our top-notch tips for building a strong social media base.

Listening to techy talk like this got me thinking—is there a marketing advantage to using one of the Internet’s two main video hosting options? Loyalists to either will say yes, but let’s evaluate the pros and cons.

From a content marketing standpoint, the variables to consider are pretty simple. More often than not, you want to optimize view count, simplify accessibility, retain strong aesthetics, and utilize a player that can handle videos of multiple types.

Taking a look at YouTube:

When it comes to online video, a good standard to examine first is YouTube because it has the most content and the most viewers of any video host on the Web. 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute and over 4 billion hours of video are watched every month. Wow, right?!

However, as a tool, you have to ask: How does YouTube’s functionality meet your needs? For instance, does YouTube’s massive on-page community matter when you just want to have viewers watch the video while its embedded on your blog or website? Conversely, are you trying to attract a larger audience to a social YouTube account with specialized playlists and interactive content? Let’s assume that the ultimate goal is to get people to your website.

With these considerations in mind, here are the Pros and Cons of using YouTube to host your videos.

#1: YouTube has an 800 million-person per month audience, which means that you might be able to draw a higher number of people to your videos. However, with more audience, there’s also a huge pile of content (both good and bad) being uploaded to YouTube at a constant rate. One video can easily become a needle in a haystack. However, such a big audience is hard to ignore, and if you make a strong promotional attack, you can really take advantage. Overall, YouTube’s audience is a definite Pro.

#2: Like most Google services, YouTube is 100% free to use, with unlimited uploads and full customization. There’s plenty of options as far as organization goes; users can create channels and playlists while sharing videos effortlessly. However, YouTube does limit all videos at 15 minutes, and there is a tendency for YouTube to lose aesthetic appeal with a cluttered interface and high number of advertisements. These downsides are definite cons for YouTube.

#3: Of course, if you have the money, the advertising options on YouTube are endless. Rather than using YouTube as a content marketing option, you can easily make it into a tool for strong advertising if you want to pay to make it happen. Businesses, nonprofits, and public campaigns are using YouTube as a proxy for television advertising, so if that’s what you’re looking for, YouTube’s huge audience, is yet again a big Pro.

#4: Since 2005, YouTube’s videos have been embedded across the web. Now, the overall aesthetic of YouTube’s player is familiar across the Web. Although the jury is out on whether the YouTube player affects view count, designers might have something to say about how the ever-present YouTube logo affects your branding. I don’t think this is a pro or con—just something to consider.

Why Vimeo?

If you’re looking for an up-and-coming service—and something that all the college students are using—check out Vimeo. As one blogger put it, as YouTube is to New York, Vimeo is to Portland—and Portland is a hipster’s paradise. The point here is that Vimeo has a niche audience and by some, it’s deemed as the counter-cultural option to YouTube.

#1: Vimeo is still up-and-coming, and although it’s taken a bite out of YouTube’s market dominance, Vimeo currently has only 60 million visitors per month. This makes the viral-potential of any video much lower. It’s safe to say that this is a con for Vimeo.

#2: Vimeo has a much cleaner aesthetic appeal in almost every aspect of its interface. The user experience of Vimeo is at a complete different level from YouTube—everything is organized, easily searched, and it all feels like an artistic portfolio. In addition, the quality of video productions on Vimeo tends to be higher and there’s absolutely no limit on the length of videos being uploaded. This is all part of Vimeo’s appeal as an artistic community versus the anything-goes approach of YouTube. These qualitative points make Vimeo a pro on aesthetics.

#3: With all its artistic emphasis, Vimeo fits into a much more niche audience, centered on good film making and inspiring videos. Removed is all the commercial, gaming, and non-user-generated content. The community tends to be a more professional crowd, made up of filmmakers and film enthusiasts. Some compare YouTube to Facebook and Vimeo to LinkedIn, giving Vimeo a more refined vibe that gets filtered throughout its approach to video hosting. Again, this is a Pro for businesses focusing on B2B outreach.

#4: Vimeo’s embedded player stands in stark contrast to YouTube. The argument for Vimeo is that they’ve designed their player to seem more like third party or native media players than an embedded player. The design is made to highlight content, rather than any sort of Vimeo branding, so you can expect to see it used more and more in the future. Although YouTube’s isn’t bad, I’d say that Vimeo has the advantage here.

Which is right for you?

It’s clear that neither Vimeo or YouTube offer a huge differential in services to marketers. The choice between the two will likely not be detrimental to your content marketing strategy. However, as you look to make nuanced choices about drawing the right audience, you might find one that works better than the other. If you’re using YouTube just as an embedded player, try using Vimeo for a change. Or if you’re looking to create viral videos, maybe you should seek out help from a YouTube account.

The key with all video content is to make it popular by integrating in with a strong social media presence. Learn more about optimizing your social media with our Social Media Optimization Playbook.

Follow @Cart_writing

Follow @WeidertGroup

Recent trends in online marketing show that grassroots organizations and charities are becoming increasingly integrated with corporate and SMB marketing efforts, especially in interactive, creative marketing. Today, online contests, social networks, and alternative-reality gaming have become three popular ways that companies grow support for their services by capitalizing on the causes of not-for-profit ventures.

In this post, I want to highlight how SMBs can grow leads by tying their content to the work of non-profit organizations with emotion-driven causes.

Let’s start with online contests.

Quickly becoming a stalwart of cause-oriented social media, contests—especially contests with large cash prizes—have become an exciting way companies can draw massive cause-oriented audiences to their name. At the corporate level, JPMorgan Chase is known among non-profit supporters for their Chase Community Giving contest (3.8 million Facebook likes), in which large sums of money are given out to non-profits that rally their supporters to vote online through Facebook. Through an arrangement with NBC, the top twenty-five organizations are even featured on an award show called the American Giving Awards.

Chase maximizes the return on this interactive marketing technique by constructing landing pages for every non-profit and multiple CTAs that connect voters directly with Chase’s banking opportunities. Although Chase’s model is grandiose and difficult to replicate for a smaller business, the components of what Chase does are great for any company’s Inbound Marketing strategies.

For instance, a contest on social media is now a relatively simple task to manage. Some companies have simple competitions using Facebook “likes” or hashtags on Twitter and Instagram. Others promote the competition on social media but hold the competition on their own website. YouTube and Vimeo have become popular arenas for contest marketing because the sponsoring company benefits by encouraging non-profits and charities to produce high quality content that drives their supporters directly toward the sponsoring company’s site. At the same time, a contest helps out community organizations, which can grow the sponsor’s reputation.

Niche-specific social networking

Another way companies are utilizing non-profit bases of support is by offering social networking opportunities for causes that the company positions as their social responsibility. Most often, I’ve seen these efforts targeting students, but there a many examples that are more inclusive. One of the more popular, the Dell Social Innovation Challenge, is actually a contest and a social forum combined. Dell, the sponsor, offers groups with great ideas to put forward their cause-oriented concepts in its online social network. There, groups have an opportunity to interact and learn about each other’s work. In the end, there’s a competition among those groups who perform well in the social arena.

Other companies have created social networks as marketing tools much more easily by using pre-made tools. Ning, SocialGo, and Grou.ps are just a few of the many online tools that companies can use to enable social networking beyond social media. Several years ago the outdoor gear company Mountain Hardware had a social network specifically designed for fans to interact and learn about their products. Mountain Hardware used Ning’s services, but they focused their network to provide interactive content that tied to many outdoor interests, which helped to grow their base of support.

Gaming for a cause

While social networking and contests are solid strategies today, some businesses are pushing the envelope by developing tomorrow’s strategies by tapping the online gaming culture. In the last ten years, alternative reality gaming has become a potential way for companies to grow their base by connecting with a broad base of not-for-profit organizations, niche groups, and special interest populations.

Essentially, alternative-reality gaming (ARG) strategies that have been implemented have supplemented online and social media marketing by giving the targeted audience a goal—win the game. The potential of alternative reality gaming is huge because it maximizes interactivity, which seems to be one element that draws people in. A simple example of an ARG is a scavenger hunt. Companies like SCVNGR.com make it easy for even small companies to set up an online hunt that users all over the world can participate in. Often these types of games utilize teamwork, which draws them back to the cause-oriented contests mentioned earlier.

Contests, social networks, and ARGs are not yet part of your standard Inbound Marketing strategy, but they offer an exciting enhancement that can really get people talking about your brand. Whether you’re focusing specifically on a cause-oriented approach, or just looking for a way to connect with a broader audience, all three involve the interactivity that people look for in web activity today.

If you’re interested in learning more about the possibilities for interactive marketing techniques, it’s best to read up on the fundamentals. a good place to start is our FREE resource How to Enhance Your Internet Presence with Social Media.

Don’t forget to get your accounts tuned up for optimal social media performance!

Since the announcements, bloggers everywhere have proclaimed these changes as not unexpected, but strong next steps for both Pinterest and Instagram. In contrast, I’d argue that both moves represent something more–a developing shift in social media. Visual media platforms, like Pinterest and Instagram, are relatively new, and they’re growing fast. As they adapt to find their niche in the ever-crowded social media market, both companies will strive to attract marketers’ attention–good news for us!

Pinterest Updates

If you analyze the announcement from Pinterest, you’ll see that not much is really changing about the platform as they integrate business accounts. Pins are the same; boards are the same. The overall user experience still feels like Pinterest. The difference comes in for the businesses. Now, everything from Piggly Wiggly to Prada can have a Pinterest account with tools to boost their marketing efforts’ effectiveness. For instance, business Pinterest accounts offer widgets and buttons that can be added to your website to help bring clients to your Pinterest page. In addition, there are case studies and best practices guides that enable businesses to improve over time and try new techniques.

Instagram Updates

The changes at Instagram are a different ball game. By adding web profiles to their already enormous mobile presence, Instagram (and Facebook, its owner) is making a huge move to swing users toward the Instagram way-of-life. The profiles don’t necessarily change what Instagram is about–phone pics with retro filters that make even your parents look cool–but it opens up a huge, new portal of accessibility. A key takeaway from the announcement is that although Instagram is entering a wider world of online social media, users can still only add content that’s original. There’s no “pinning” content from other sites.

Pinterest vs. Instagram

That last point is the key factor that will continue to distinguish Pinterest and Instagram as time goes on. Already, Pinterest has been recognized as having a huge marketing potential because of how naturally sharable its graphical content is. Pinning is as easy as tweeting, and yet the bounds of a picture are not nearly as restricting as a character limit. For this reason, I think Instagram continues to be a limited tool for most businesses. Yes, companies can certainly upload content, but by opting to limit sharing across websites, Instragram limits companies to content production–that can be a critical limitation for smaller businesses, especially.

Of course, Instagram is only in its first step of web integration. Already, Instagram profiles look like a clever cross between Facebook and Pinterest. In the future, I have no doubt that Instagram will be moving rapidly to take hold of the visual social media market. Whether Instagram and Pinterest fall into a high stakes rivalry over the control of visual social media is still unclear. The only thing clear is that marketers have huge things to gain from using these new platforms.

Helpful Tips For Both Platforms

To begin formulating your strategy, here are three tips for making Pinterest and Instagram work to your advantage:

1. Use Instagram to demonstrate your business’ creativity, lifestyle, and social flair. Right now, Weidert Group has a board on Pinterest dedicated to “Weidert Group Culture.” As good as that board is, Instagram is a whole social network built on marketing lifestyle. We might stand to benefit to orient more of that content toward Instagram.
2. For Pinterest, demonstrate your interests and expertise. Although Pinterest has plenty of room for your business’ personality, its wide-open sharability allows you to show the world what your company is like by the kinds of intereractions you have. Pinterest enables you to describe your niche, your community, and your values, so fill your boards with that kind of content.
3. On either platform, it’s key to engage potential clients interactively. Don’t just become a content machine. It’s important to repin and share content amongst your online community. Interactivity can also serve as social forms of calls-to-action–for example, photo contexts can be run using hashtags on either platform, or users can create a live visual narrative of an event or campaign using Instagram.

Whether it’s visual platforms or your entire social media presence, companies can really benefit from getting up-to-date on how to make social media build leads and eventual customers. Check out our free Pinterest For Business Tip Sheet to learn more about this growing social tool and how to get started.

In a piece last Sunday, the New York Times told the world that Coca-Cola is “telling its story” after years of sliding toward marketing irrelevancy. But marketers know that the story is really just the hook. The best new websites have great narratives supported by a host of content marketing & Inbound Marketing tools like landing pages, CTAs, interactive content, and opportunities to connect with a company in social media. So far, Coke’s strategy looks really strong, and there’s a lot that other marketers can learn from taking a look at the new site.

To give you a run-down of what Coca-Cola has going for it, here are five key ways that marketer’s can milk the new site for its content marketing mastery.

1) The NYTimes article wasn’t lying about Coke’s new commitment to online storytelling. Rather than going with conventional approaches to web design, Coca-Colacompany.com has become a creative, soda-themed news outlet. As you venture on to the page, it’s obvious that this is not your average corporate site. There are no “About Us,” “Investors,” or “Media” links. Instead, users are encouraged to think of the Coca-Cola Company as a community and a forum for content activity. As the New York Times explains, the site’s management has reoriented its staff to work less like webmasters and more like publishers. The goal is to create good content that people will actually enjoy reading.

The neat thing that marketers can really draw from this approach is that Coca-Cola isn’t just doing content creation on its blog or through media updates. They are taking a holistic approach. The site has multiple channels of content, including entertainment news, video, audio, op-eds, and interviews. Coca-Cola is doing what any good sector leader should: using its expertise and know-how to make their site a hub of information. Just take a look at their investor page (arguably the most boring section of most corporate sites – but not this site!).

2) Let’s take a critical approach at what Coca-Cola is doing. By taking on the role of a media website, the Coca-Cola company stands a much better chance of building links across the web through the variety of articles that Coke is offering to the world for citation, in social linking, and on blogs. Coca-Cola realized that by adopting a media outlet’s format and approach to online content creation, they could grow their base of links and visitors much more broadly. This will help boost their SEO in a number of categories because they are connecting their well-established brand to any of the articles they produce.

3) A jump from 2005 to 2012 is certainly not all about content. Coca-Cola seems to have brought its company up to speed in terms of design also. I would liken the site’s format to a large, multifaceted infographic that explains Coke with a many smaller information components–there’s something for everybody. By holding to a recognizable yet well-branded design approach, Coca-Cola is doing itself a huge favor in terms of page view retention. In more ways than one, Coca-Cola is capitalizing on good design by providing users with multiple, well-placed CTAs.

4) An armchair critic might suggest that Coke will experience a weakness in its news-style website because it could be hard to connect content to a strong sales funnel. However, for this site, the goal seems to be to connect everything back to social media. As with many consumer products, the sales goal is not to make the initial sale online. Instead, the sale comes as a longterm investment with the brand. Coca-Cola draws users to longterm interaction by utilizing social media as its main funneling objective. On Coca-Colacompany.com, almost every article, video, or blog leads to a Facebook integrated section, a recent update on Tweets, or other sites like LinkedIn or Pinterest. Coke takes a step past your basic list of social buttons, and emphasizes close integration with social media.

5) Coke is careful not to orient users just toward social media, however. They still want viewers to actively browse, comment, and interact on the company site itself. One of the most unique ways the designers at Coke did this was by integrating social media using self-designed social plugins, rather than using the default options from Facebook, Twitter, etc. This helps integrate social content onto the page, while keeping viewers on-page. The various Coca-Cola brands even have their own on-page Facebook feeds. Social integration is key, but Coke is making strides toward a more carefully controlled social participation among its website viewers.

Conclusion

The overall takeaway of Coke’s big changes is not that every company needs to reshape their website in the direction that Coke is taking things. The importance of Coca-Cola’s company page is all in its approach. They’re using content to drive their marketing, when their marketing efforts were already very strong–that is corporate-level proof that content marketing and Inbound Marketing is on the up swing.

Whether overhauling your website or starting up a blog, every company needs to make content the priority in their marketing strategy. Check out our blog content tip sheet for ways to get started.

Here are 5 lessons to be learned for content marketing from the 2012 presidential campaign.

1) Branding is very effective for defining competitors

Both campaigns worked hard to define the other candidate as incompetent and irresponsible, and part of the way they did this was not just by branding their own campaign, but by defining the other campaign as the wrong choice. After Obama’s widely successful 2008 brand, “Change,” this election was about making the Romney-Ryan ticket look like “the Go-Back Team.”

2) Social media can spread your content more effectively

Obama and Romney spread their content widely on social media, and people definitely responded. At various points, social media helped each candidate to characterize the other as incompetent. For instance, election memes went viral on Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, and Facebook, whether it was Romney’s “binder full of women” comment or Obama’s now-infamous, unenthusiastic demeanor during the first campaign. Although memes like these are generated much more quickly in presidential elections, marketers can easily find ways to draw on social media for content trends.

3) Using characterizations to package a message without details

The candidates’ efforts to characterize each other built as the campaign went on. By the end, both candidates were throwing around titles to see which ones would stick. Many times, characterizations, such as Obama’s depiction of Romney with “horses and bayonets,” allow a packaged message without weighing readers down with the details. Infographics have become a really common strategy for implementing this idea—but Obama and Romney did a lot of that with good PR.

4) Content doesn’t need a lot of weight for it to be interesting

One of the criticisms of both campaigns was that neither offered a lot of real solutions. Although this might be a frustrating idea to the average voter, marketers might view this as a point for creative content creation. The candidates didn’t spend a lot of time talking about their field of expertise—policy. Instead, their content is based on other more lateral topics like learning about the candidates’ “values,” “vision,” and “personal strengths.” For marketers, this can be key. Many times, expert advice is not always as valuable to prospective leads as what your company is all about.

5) Choosing how and when to use content is key

This one may have really made a difference in the campaign. Obama really understood how to use e-mail to his advantage. Nearly everyday in October, OFA leads would get a short email written by a different leader or political surrogate in Obama’s campaign, and at the end there would be a CTA for fundraising—nothing else. The Obama campaign used this letter-based e-mailed content only for fundraising, which made it much more effective. Many marketers still don’t devote the right kind of content to the right component of their overall effort. By strategically identifying which message goes with which pieces of content, you can really raise the overall effectiveness of a marketing campaign.

Presidential politics aside, a strong content strategy is key to a successful content marketing campaign. Take a peek at our free content tip sheet to discover top-notch ways to keep your blog stocked with lead-attracting content.

Over the past year, Weidert Group has found that blogs are not only essential to producing basic content; they are also vital for creating strong, usable resources for successful lead conversion and nurturing.

Recently, we compiled 8-10 of our most relevant blogs on using LinkedIn as a B2B marketing tool and produced our own eBook called “The Ultimate LinkedIn Guidebook.” By recycling and repurposing good content, we were able to effectively maximize the reach of every word we wrote.

There are two main reasons to plan for reutilizing content for Inbound Marketing: 1) It makes content creation more worthwhile, and 2) it enhances your Inbound Marketing strategy by providing more content in different ways.

Making content creation more worthwhile

At times, we’ve encountered businesses that struggle to make blogging part of their regular marketing routine. They tend to get discouraged and doubt the impact that blogging can have on growing their business. They sometimes have a point: It can be difficult to write something “original” every day of the week. But by repurposing content for larger, long-term projects, such as eBooks, videos, or new web material, your perspective on blogging and the role it plays in Inbound Marketing strategies will probably change.

After repurposing content, it’s harder to think of blogging as just a regularized form of content creation. Instead there are long-term goals associated with it, and it’s much easier to conceptualize the thematic patterns that characterize blogging.

This approach can be a huge relief to blog writers and other content creators on your team. It provides long-term goal development to blogging, which is often thought of as periodical and continuous. Although we don’t typically plan our blogs in series or themes, we’ve had luck simply thinking thematically. Our goal is to always create content that is fresh and original. However, by purposefully thinking about the range of topics we want to discuss over a period of weeks and months, we begin to shape a picture of what long term goals might be.

Enhancing Inbound Marketing

The variety of our landing pages has risen immensely as we’ve repurposed blog content for new, more advanced content offers. eBooks are very popular right now, as they are more substantive and elaborate than short blog posts. However, never disregard other options for reconstructing content. Tip sheets, videos, infographics, and slide decks are all great options for shaping content into more accessible forms that customers will appreciate.

By creating a variety of strong downloadable content offers using repurposed blog content, you can easily create natural connections between future blog posts and article ending calls-to-action (CTAs). If CTAs feel organic and integrated, they will draw in customers more efficiently.

Need help getting your content organized? Download our FREE Inbound Marketing Content Creation Templates to help you determine what you have and what you need.

Image Credit

Although infographics are great tools for communicating complex information, they’ve quite literally saturated the Internet. Pinterest users probably know what I’m talking about. Over the last few years, sites like Pinterest have become dominated by fields of infographics as companies and organizations try to push their content initiatives into social media. The question is: Do infographics on Pinterest, Facebook, and other sites really transmit the kind of information they mean to? Something we’ve observed from our own experience is the fact infographics are sometimes shared simply based on their beautiful and flashy design rather than the quality of the content. We’re easily distracted with pretty pictures and bright colors!

A recent blog post by infographic expert Ross Crooks says that as the web becomes more saturated with infographics, their novelty and overall efficacy will gradually decrease. But Crooks also argues that just because traditional infographics are losing novelty doesn’t mean that they are completely dead — innovation and changing trends will be produce new uses for traditional infographics.

Crook’s key point is that companies need to innovate their graphical messaging strategies to stay ahead. But so far, marketers don’t seem to know how to reinvent infographics to make them relevant again.

Potential Innovations in Infographic Design

One answer that’s been proposed by Crooks and others is to add a new dimension to existing infographics. Recently, VISA took a straightforward approach by making a video infographic using animation and music. It seems like common sense. After all, Internet videos have been praised for their capacity to draw in massive audiences. But personally, I think video presents a number of challenges for presenting information effectively. For instance, video removes much of the viewer’s ability to peruse at will. It is constrained by time in a way that still images simply are not.

If businesses are really going to put time into producing high quality video media, why not skip the infographic concept altogether by making something more interactive? Infographics, in any form, should be easily navigable and relatively easy to produce. One potential concept is to use motion technologies that allow the viewer to control how the information is displayed.

Some standout companies are already beginning to do this with interactive functions of Flash or HTML5. In these web infographics, viewers get to control some aspect of the graphic like navigating the interface, accessing specific information points, or moving through meaningful imagery. Recently, Heineken produced an interactive example called The Club that demonstrates just how elaborate interactive infographics can be.

Although Flash and HTML5 may be the way forward for companies with strong web design capabilities there may be simpler options that can incorporate interactivity in a more straightforward way. One option that came to my mind is a presentation tool called Prezi. If you’re not familiar with it, Prezi is a presentation software set up for motion-based navigation with numerous capabilities including:

• Easily arranged pan-and-zoom navigation
• Viewer-controlled speed and navigation
• The option to embed images as well as video
• Simple user interface–an ideal aspect for small businesses
• The ability to embed Prezis into any blog or website

While Prezi itself has some design constraints, the best Prezi users know that creative use of images and embedded video can make Prezi a powerful tool. Check out this example from Prezi demonstrating how it can be a powerful infographic tool.

Infographics in Content Strategy

Maybe solutions like HTML5 and Prezi are the answer, maybe not. Testing multiple media types and creative techniques are the most likely ways that businesses will set the next trend in infographic effectiveness. The key is to not rely on infographics or any other type of content by itself.

A range of content from a variety of sources is your best bet for a strong marketing strategy. To brush up on what content can turn your blog into a lead generating machine, check out our tip sheet that includes advice on everything from graphics to keywords.

Marketing isn’t about explaining why something is great. It’s about showing why you believe in it. The panel presented this idea using one of the greatest examples in marketing history: Apple, Inc.

Since its return to success in the 2000s, Apple has become known for its marketing prowess. However, for marketers, the story of Apple is a bit overused, and it is probably overwhelming. The fact is that few businesses have the ambition or creative fortitude that embodies Apple. Nonetheless, Apple’s technique for marketing and its consistent message is a practice that connects directly with the principles of Inbound Marketing.

The core of Inbound Marketing is capitalizing on the role Internet search plays when a prospect is considering a purchase. At the forefront of this strategy is producing content that will attract prospects to your company by addressing how a product satisfies their needs or wants.

Sometimes, the central marketing message gets lost in the processes that makes Inbound Marketing work (content creation, strong calls-to-action, smart lead nurturing, etc.). It’s always important to circle back to that original message: Why do you believe in your product? How does it benefit your prospect?

If Apple’s marketing strategy is to portray why they believe in their products, what is your strategy? What do you believe in?

Here at Weidert, we have it a little easy. We use Inbound Marketing to promote Inbound Marketing. It’s not hard to guess what we’re passionate about. In each downloadable resource or blog post we create, we provide tips and hints on marketing strategy that reflect our belief that our prospects will benefit from using Inbound Marketing for their business.

We try to always remind ourselves of this, and it should be a point of emphasis to guide Inbound Marketing regardless of your industry. If you own a construction company for example, the process of blogging, creating landing pages, and offering great calls-to-action should not be based off how great your building processes are. Instead, your content should focus on why you believe in your buildings and how they benefit people – best value, energy efficiency, safety features, etc.

Inbound Marketing is often said to be an organic strategy within marketing. In addition to relevant content, it builds on social media’s emphasis on connectability in order to market and promote ideas and content.

More so than in the past, companies need to focus on communicating their passion in their marketing strategy. If they don’t, the audience will find passion elsewhere. Reflect on how many YouTube videos or Facebook memes go viral. Often, the cause of something going viral is because its underlying idea relates to people from all walks of life.

When you really believe in your product, you are willing to listen to what people have to say about it, both good and bad, and make changes accordingly. That highlights another important component of Inbound Marketing – your analytics. Analytics tell you what your prospects are interested in – or not – by looking at their behavior. Are they downloading a particular type of content? This is an indicator of interest and provides a signal that you’ve struck a cord with their needs or a specific pain point.

Now, Inbound Marketing won’t necessarily make you as successful as Apple. But it can certainly help you better communicate your belief and your passion in your product or service to the right prospects. To learn more about how you can use Inbound Marketing, check out our FREE guide: Turn Your Website Into a Sales Magnet.

Two programmers from Toronto, Rick Kats and Vlad Barshai, seem to think Pinterest will be the next powerhouse, and they’ve identified a way to jump on board. Kats and Barshai realized that although Pinterest is gaining a huge level of popularity, it has yet to release user-friendly analytics that marketers can use to shape a strong strategy. Currently, businesses who want to market themselves by participating on Pinterest don’t have the capacity to gauge their own effectiveness or to create better pins. So, Kats and Barshai started Pinerly.

Pinerly is one of the latest attempts at making Pinterest analytics easy and accessible. Founded last March, Pinerly says that it aims to become “the first social ad network that makes it easy for anyone to market their visual content across visually centered sites, such as Pinterest, Tumblr, Facebook, etc.” From everything it’s doing right now, it’s safe to say that Pinerly isn’t expanding past Pinterest anytime soon.

Recently, we were given the chance to explore Pinerly’s services ourselves, which are currently in beta. Having realized the limitations of Pinterest marketing already, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get a grasp on our Pinterest strategy. Here’s what we noticed right away:

The Good

Pinerly has an easy-to-use and intuitive setup. They’ve done a great job integrating their branding with Pinterest’s, and there are no hidden corners of Pinerly features.

They offer useful analytics like an instant overview of your best pinboards, how much a pin is clicked, and how much activity a pin experiences over time. You also get information on number of likes, repins, general reach, and views. Simple numbers, but good tools to have.

The Bad

Pinerly offers no special analytics. It tabulates relatively simple numbers, that could be gathered manually without much trouble. Various other tool sites for Pinterest offer similar services (with a less likeable interface). Other, well-established companies like Buddy Media also offer Pinterest analytics in their treasure chests of services.

Pinerly also requires an extra step that’s not nearly as clean as most other third-party channels. For every pin you post on Pinterest using Pinerly, you have to provide the regular Pin information, confirm the pin through Pinterest , then notify Pinerly that the pinning occurred. Granted, Pinerly makes this 3-step process, easy, but it’s nowhere near as clean as HootSuite’s options for Facebook and Twitter posting.

Pinerly is Not Alone Either

Pinreach tracks performance levels using basic Pinterest data. They offer less analytics than Pinerly, but not by much.

Curalate, which just raised $750,000 in seed funding, allows users to moderate their Pinterest accounts better.

If any of these companies (including Pinerly) are going to make a real difference, they need to make their analytics useful and relevant. Pinerly has a great start by offering an intuitive user experience, but it won’t make waves for marketers without creating better tools and a simple process.

It’s important to remember that Pinerly is a new platform, and its developing an external process from Pinterest. The strongest analytics may just have to come from Pinterest itself. But if you want quick, simple analytics immediately, Pinerly might just have what you’re looking for. It has a great interface and it’s just over six months old. With a number of large companies already using its services, it’s definitely a company to watch out for.

If you’re looking to take your social media presence to the next level, take advantage of our latest content download, The Playbook For Social Media Optimization.

Twitter and other social media platforms such as Facebook and Pinterest loves this kind of behavior. These sites’ addictiveness and constant flow of creativity is what has made them grow into what they are. It’s exactly the kind of thing that job supervisors hate. Nobody wants their employed staff tweeting about Saturday Night Live’s latest prank when they should be managing the company’s social media presence. And yet, roaming Internet behavior like the kind that happens on Twitter is exactly what businesses have been battling since the mid-1990s.

What Is Flow Experience?

Employees call it “multi-tasking.” Bosses call it “being distracted.” Psychologists call it “flow experience.” In the early 1980s, a psychologist named Csikszentmihalyi, proposed the idea of flow experience as what happens when you’re doing an intrinsically enjoyable task that causes you to lose some level of self-consciousness and to repeat the task almost continuously (Novak & Hoffman, 2000). In essence, you fall into a flow that you don’t easily leave.

Now, I am no psychology major, but recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time imitating how psychologists think. Outside of my internship at Weidert, I’m working on a college research project about human-computer interaction and how flow experience works on the Web. It turns out that Twitter isn’t the only thing that brings people to the state of flow experience. In fact, any attractive website, game, novel, or activity can lead someone to experience flow. You’ve probably even felt flow experience doing menial activities like mowing the lawn—there’s something about continuously making paths of mowed grass that feels almost meditative and enjoyable—that’s a form of flow experience.

How Flow Experience Relates to Inbound Marketing

Like many psychologists and market researchers, I think that this theory of flow has huge applications for Inbound Marketing. Numerous studies have already suggested that websites optimized for flow have a better chance of getting users to return to their sites, and websites that consumers rate as boring or unusable often lose following. Flow experience is the part of Inbound Marketing focused on drawing people in. All the content creation, media production, and calls-to-action that marketers employ are really based on helping people experience flow. If you learn more about flow experience, you might just make your marketing strategies work better.

It’s clear from psychological research that cultivating flow is not always easy. In fact, nobody knows for sure what makes one activity more or less likely to cause a person to feel flow experience than another. However, without even knowing what flow experience is, more and more companies are producing websites that maximize flow experience through the techniques of Inbound Marketing. Here’s a few key points to pay attention to.

1. Aesthetic appeal. This might seem like a no brainer. Of course, a website should look good in order for people to reach flow. However, it’s not always clear what aesthetics work best. For example, which is more likely to produce flow for people: pictures or text? Even more specifically, text or icons? These are questions for psychological studies with large human samples. However, there are ways for you to find out what works for yourself. One way is to look at websites that cause you to feel flow. Check out the blogs where you’re willing to read past the typical entry length. Find the websites where you can easily view pages upon pages of products. Even try looking at corporate websites that set the trends in website design (i.e. Apple, Google, Facebook, etc.).

2. Simple interactivity. One of the hallmarks of the Internet is that it made reading a much more interactive task than ever before. Wikipedia is a great example of this. Overall, the site uses very few pictures. Instead, there are long articles filled with an almost-excessive number of hyperlinks. It’s a simple way of connecting knowledge that works. In all its simplicity, many Wikipedia users have become accustomed to the addictive nature of the website. There are not only articles on just about everything, but all that knowledge is easily accessible and connected. Blogs and websites that allow such interactivity can harness a similar type of flow experience for people.

3. Connected content. This piece of flow experience fits well into most models of Inbound Marketing. When a company posts a blog or creates a new page, it should not stand on its own. That can immediately cut off flow experience. Instead, everything should connect together. That’s where calls-to-action come into play. The function of flow experience in terms of marketing is essentially the same as drawing leads into a sales funnel. If calls-to-action connect content pieces together, people are going to feel more flow experience and their overall impression of your site is going to be positive. That makes it more likely that they will come back and you can potentially make a sale.

Conclusion

Flow experience is one of the psychological concepts that Inbound Marketing really draws on. It’s not about manipulating people’s psychology or changing their behavior. It’s about shaping your strategy to fit people’s natural online inclinations. All the Inbound Marketing catchphrases like sales funnel, branding, and content marketing refer to a very similar process for human beings–getting people to enjoy content so that marketing feels like a natural online interaction. If you maximize your Inbound Marketing strategy to fit human’s psychology of flow experience, you might just start producing content a little better and converting leads a little faster.

On the flip side, colleges of all types are in a mad rush to secure their quota of applicants. Over the last few years, colleges have seen an impressive level of instability in the college admissions process, and given the U.S.’s challenges with financing higher education, the future does not look much brighter. More and more, admissions departments are seeking out new strategies to attract prospective students, borrowing ideas from for-profit industries.

Here’s a prediction for the next five years: Universities that understand the phrase, “Inbound Marketing,” will be the institutions that most effectively attract prospective students. In 2009, social media blogger Paul Gillin reported a UMass study that found that “educational institutions are leveraging social media far more effectively than businesses in finding and recruiting their key constituents: students.” The study contains impressive data on how colleges and universities have readily adopted social media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogging, and a variety of other platforms.

Any Inbound Marketing strategist would tell you that universities’ swift adoption of social media and unique content creation is a great first step. However, I’m unconvinced that colleges are making the most of their content. Too many institutions offer great content, but they don’t capitalize on it by channeling prospects toward a sale.

When we break down the problems that college admissions offices face, there are three major issues:

1. Inaccessible content: The college has a blog, but it’s not outwardly displayed on the website, or tags are not maintained for optimized search.

2. No call-to-action: Think back to the good-old college viewbook. Students still get dozens of them in the mail. But as pretty as they are, you can’t do much more with a viewbook than read it. The Internet removes this problem. If colleges produce great content online, then they lead students to actionable features like an e-mail sign-up, visit opportunities, or interactive features like virtual tours or student chats. Many of these features are already available on college websites, but they aren’t arranged to provide students with opportunities for action.

3. An unusable sales funnel: Kyle James, a former HubSpot employee and college admissions web manager, argues that admissions offices start at the wrong end of the marketing funnel: the application. “Instead, they should plan marketing by starting at the top of the marketing funnel, the stage where prospective students are just starting out their school selection process.” I couldn’t agree more.

In many instances, colleges 1) provide students with great information and 2) follow up by offering an application. It’s a two-step process with no sales funnel. Instead, colleges should go after an Inbound approach that channels students toward the application with middle-funnel content like great downloads, webcasts, application previews, financial aid estimates, etc.

By taking a look at college admissions, I’m trying to drive home the point that Inbound Marketing is not just a for-profit strategy. It’s an proven strategy that has become a critical tool for almost any organization, whether it is for-profit, non-profit, or completely volunteer. If you’re interested in learning more about the components of Inbound Marketing, check out this free Inbound guide: Turn Your Website Into A Sales Magnet.