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Module 8: Content Marketing & Curation

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Content Marketing Glossary. Key Elements for Building A Content Strategy. If You’re Saying “Content Marketing is Dead” — You’ve Missed the Whole Point. If You’re Saying “Content Marketing is Dead” — You’ve Missed the Whole Point I’m blessed to speak all over the world on a subject many folks refer to as “content marketing.” Of course, that’s what marketing folks call it. A huge portion of CEOs and business owners still haven’t even heard the phrase, much less understand what it is. Heck, I wonder if most marketers really understand what it is. I say this because, when it comes to all things digital, we love to throw stuff in a grave, claim it’s dead, and then watch our social media vanity metrics explode simply because we decided to ride the “it’s dead” train.

Sure. But, fundamentally, what is content marketing? Although it makes many “marketers” cringe, when I speak to CEOs I always define content marketing as: “Your company’s ability to be the best and most helpful teachers in the world.” Some folks in the industry have mocked this definition. I get buy-in. But I do it well because I don’t see it as complex. Yep. Marketers, Creating More Content, Say Time Is Now Their Biggest Challenge. Almost three-quarters (73%) of marketers surveyed in late 2015 reported creating more content than in the previous year, reports Contently [download page] in a new study.

With most content appearing to be created in-house, and with only a minority of respondents having multiple full-time employees committed to content marketing, time is now perceived to be the major barrier to creating effective content. Indeed, 37% of the marketers surveyed – 31% of whom identified as B2B marketers, 18% as B2B, and the rest working across both industries – said that time is the biggest of 6 challenges listed to creating effective content. That’s up from 11% identifying content as their biggest challenge in last year’s survey, and is almost double the share (19%) who this year identified content strategy as their biggest challenge.

That’s an interesting result given research showing that few B2C or B2B content marketers have a documented content strategy. In other results from the report: Content Marketing is so last year. How To Get 10,000 Unique Visitors In 5 Days With One Post. How To Get 10,000 Unique Visitors In 5 Days With One Post A woodsman was once asked, “What would you do if you had just five minutes to chop down a tree?”

He answered, “I would spend the first two and a half minutes sharpening my axe.” We will help you sharpen the axe. However, we don’t want to post tips “do this, write that.” This is a case study of how to get 10,000 Unique Visitors in 5 days with one blog post. We needed time and inspiration, and we are giving you the latter. Read this — you can do exactly as we did — it is bound to work. How we began preparations It all started with the e-book by Sujan Patel and Rob Wormley 100 Days of Growth, which covers a variety of tactics and tips that you can use in order to grow your business.

The tip that made the wheels turn was the Tip Number 19: The Industry Influencer Blog Post. That’s a sound tip — it’s better to use the authority of a person who is experienced in a given field and rely on their audience and expertise. The post was ready. 1. Marketing In 2016–And Beyond–Will Be All About Value. 16 Irreplaceable Tools For Content Marketers To Make Your Content Unique. Unique content gets you found. It places your brand at the top of the pops as a thought leader – someone people trust and admire.

Unique content helps you push the boundaries. It challenges the status quo and inspires your team to innovate. But it’s not easy. Always delivering a unique style, unique feel and unique substance to your content is hard. That’s why most of us don’t. We are happy to write a link bait headline or create a viral cat video – because it’s easier. It makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside when we get a bunch of likes and re-shares. But it doesn’t work. Our businesses don’t grow, our customers don’t care and our marketing department loses credibility. Forget about creating content for the sake of it, and start worrying about creating unique content.

Unique, unique, unique… can’t be said enough. To help you get started here are 16 tools for content marketers that will help you create unique content more often. 1. 2. 3. What’s hot? Use trends to generate new and unique ideas. 10 guidelines for your content marketing in 2016 – 2017. Inbound Marketing | Kuno Creative. 10 Free eBooks Every Content Marketer Has to Read. How often do you hear that content marketing is the sure fire way to success?

That it will bring you followers, traffic, leads and sales? Quite a lot I bet. But then how often does your content actually bring in followers, traffic, leads and sales? If it’s not working out like you’ve been promised then it’ll have something to do with your approach. Whether it’s a lack of copywriting or design skills, you don’t understand how to target your audience, or you don’t apply SEO techniques – there’s a lot that can impact the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns. So that’s why I’ve compiled a list of the top 10 FREE ebooks that you need to read today if you want to succeed at content marketing. 1. It’s easy to create content that you think will work, but if it doesn’t resonate with the needs of your audience then you may as well throw in the towel right now. And that’s why a buyer persona can help you!

This ebook includes: You can download the ebook here. 2. The ebook includes: 3. 4. 5. 7. 8. 9. 10. Eclectic Antiquing: How A Content Marketing Strategy Impacts Your Bottom Line [Infographic] The Mixology of Content Marketing [Infographic] Did you know that 69% of digital marketers creating more content now than they did one year ago? And that 62% of business want to create more engaging, higher quality content? Delivering pitch perfect content to a receptive audience means serving up ice-cool information in a way that makes it easy to swallow - get your measures wrong and the mix is a disaster.

Take a look at below infographic, browse through the content cocktail menu and get creating the sort of content guaranteed to shake audiences up. Graphic courtesy of JBH. This post originally appeared on Irfan Ahmad's blog. 9 great examples of content from online retailers. This examines content marketing strategies of nine e-commerce retailers that effectively promote their brands and assist customers via videos, quizzes, social communities, and buyers' guides. Content is vitally important in e-commerce and more and more retailers are building a serious content strategy around their sites.

In this article, I'll look at examples from sites using content effectively for a number of reasons. The use of content by online retailers has a number of potential benefits: Branding. The following examples showcase these benefits: 1. Bonobos' "Chino Fit Quiz" is a fun way to help customers find the right fit: 2. "Buyer's Guides" and "How-To Guides" are great content for shoppers. This one from Home Depot helps visitors to make more informed decisions about ranges, talking customers through the pros and cons of the different types on offer. This kind of content has several benefits: It helps to keep customers on the site longer during their product research. 3. 4. 5. 6.

J. Content Marketing & SEO. What Every Managing Partner Needs to Know About Content Marketing. Share 99 8 168Share35 0 1 Content marketing is an effective way to build your firm’s brand, demonstrate expertise and give prospects a taste of how your firm can help them. Since professional services firms are driven by expertise and relationships, content marketing is a natural fit! In fact, a 2015 survey reported that 86% of B2B respondents said they use content marketing. What is it? Here’s what you need to know about content marketing. Content Marketing Defined Content marketing uses relevant, educational, engaging information (not marketing materials) to attract prospects, build trust and lasting brand visibility. 1. Content marketing is not new. What has given it so much momentum over the last decade? 2. Got a question? Amazon. But searching online is not limited to consumers. Buyers of professional services expect honesty, a free flow of information and to be able to find specialists that offer five-star solutions. 3.

Your prospects can find you via web searches and social media. Scoop.it Content Director - The Lean Content Marketing Solution for SMBs. Marketing Has A Marketing Problem. Michael Brenner, NewsCred’s newly appointed Head of Strategy, spoke on the company’s behalf for the first time last week at the New York City meeting of the Argyle Summit. "One common theme of this event has been change,” said Brenner. “We all know the world has changed due to digital, mobile and cloud technologies. Our customers are tuning out ineffective marketing content. Content marketing is an imperative because it represents the biggest gap between what brands produce and the content our customer actually want.

" Below are some ideas and highlights from his presentation, “The Content Marketing Imperative.” "Ask most people what they think Marketing is and they will tell you it is an ad, a banner or some form of promotion,” said Brenner. It’s true. Digital media offered the promise of reaching consumers with what they wanted, when they wanted it. That’s right. Think that hurts? So what will save marketing? Think of it this way. Today your customers expect you to care. 6 Companies That Are Dominating Content Marketing. Educating others through content has a profound emotional effect on readers. And in the business world--where trust is currency--brands can harness their content as a powerful sales force.

This is exactly what's pushed more companies to let their guard down and start educating and engaging readers through the power of content marketing. But in the race to ramp up content production, many companies have found that they lack the resources or talent necessary to capture their story. To fill this void, new content marketing companies have sprouted up to help brands educate their audiences and earn their trust. HubSpot and Marketo are two obvious behemoths that have been around for a while. 1. Influence & Co. specializes in knowledge extraction and knowledge management to fuel content marketing and executive branding objectives. The company's vision to empower brands and thought leaders to control their own message is a futuristic and refreshing twist on PR. 2. 3. 5. 6. Content Marketing Tools Missing from the Ultimate List 2015. 2015 brought a crop of new lists of Best Content Marketing Tools.

This includes Curata’s Ultimate list which was updated with 50 new tools. As for myself, I prefer lists that are shorter and include tools truly used and recommended by the author. So, in the spirit of practicing what I preach: Here are 6 content marketing tools that I use and recommend. And guess what, you won’t find any of them on the Ultimate list. Oktopost What it does: It’s a tool for distributing, managing and tracking your content on social media channels: Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.

It’s great because: Simple UI, frictionless UX and phenomenal customer support. Costs as much as: 14.2 Old fashion chocolate milkshakes at Haut’s Austin Texas; basic plan starts at $50. A Collaboration Tool for Content Teams. 30 day free trial. SharedCount What it does: Instantly tracks Shares, Likes, Retweets and more for any URL. It’s great because: It’s straight-forward and easy to use. Help A Reporter Out Quora Sniply dapulse. Catastrophic Social Media Content. I have been described many different ways in my life: loud, opinionated and over-caffeinated are just of the few apt descriptors for yours truly. However when it comes to the world of marketing, advertising, social media, branding and all that good stuff, I don't think many would refer to me as being hyperbolic.

I am not one prone to exaggerate; use hyperbole but I can see some people thinking that based solely on my use of the word "catastrophic" in the title of this article. However, after what I just read that is absolutely the correct adjective to use to describe what marketers are doing when it comes to social media content marketing. The headline and chart via MarketingCharts.com says it all: Global Marketers Say Lead Gen A Bigger Social Ad Objective Than Branding So why is this most recent finding so catastrophic? Simple. Look, I get it re: the last bullet. Consumers know that. Don't underestimate them by any means.

It cannot be sell, sell, sell at every single turn. Put a Content Curation System to Work for Your Brand. By Karen Geier If you’re building your content mix correctly, you won’t always have original content to share every single day. It’s not just OK to post content from other sources, but it actually humanizes your brand, allows you to spark conversations with your fans, and lets fans and followers see that your views as a company are influenced by outside sources. So, how do you make sure you’re discovering good quality content that will perform well? There are millions of blog posts, Facebook statuses, tweets, Vines, and videos made every day. Two Kinds of Curators There are as many styles of curation as there are people who curate, but the major distinction of curators is whether they are human curators or algorithmic curators. Content Curation Sites Your basic starting point for curated content can simply be Google. There are sites and services that can actually eliminate the hunt-and-sift steps altogether: content curation sites.

How to Set Up a Curation System Related posts: Demystifying Epic Content: How to Actually Create It (Not Just Jabber About How Important It Is) • Boost Blog Traffic. You’ve heard it many times before. The key to getting tons of attention, a boatload of subscribers, and a massive audience of raving fans is to write epic content. Create content that rocks your readers’ worlds and you’ll live happily ever after. It’s almost a blogging mantra, but you might just strangle the next person who says it. Because while everybody tells you how great your content must be, almost nobody tells you how to do it. Which makes the advice next to useless. The “how” of epic content stays a secret known only to a few popular bloggers.

That’s about to change… Why Epic Content Is Like Pornography In 1964, the U.S. In his commentary on the ruling, Justice Potter Stewart famously said: I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that. Likewise, you may not be able to describe epic content, but you’ll know it when you see it. For some, it’s long. But at its core, what makes content epic is the impact it has on the reader. Epic Content Gets Attention. How does Curated Content differ from Duplicate Content? Even though it’s been addressed by a lot of professional SEO experts, including Google’s Matt Cutts, this is still a question we get a lot. So let’s review it in detail. Content is duplicated when similar content exists on 2 or more different URLs. This can happen on your own site with only original content if your Content Management System (CMS) isn’t configured in the right way and creates artificially new URLs for existing content.

For instance if a blog post can be found through 2 different URL paths – something that can be addressed by using canonical URLS as explained by Google. Another example – this time across domains – is when you syndicate content as Google will see 2 or more exact same posts at different locations. Note that in both cases, we’re talking about duplicating a significant part or the entire content to another web page or to another site. Not necessarily, says Google. Spam. So Google recommends to syndicate carefully. Content Strategy 2015: Marketing, Mobile, and the Enterprise. Five things great brands will do differently on social media in 2015 | Media Network.

Breaking The McKinsey Loop: A Better Way To Influence Purchases. A solid content strategy is crucial in the converging media world | Media Network. The Content Strategist, by Contently. 11 Types of Content you should be creating for SEO. 26 Ideas for Your Travel Blog | Copywriting for Hotels & Travel. This Year, Forget Links and Build Connections via Content Marketing. 50 Stats You Need to Know About Content Marketing. Content Marketing Strategy Stats: 2015 [Infographic]