The Found Gen

Marketing That Works.

blog

by

How to Maximize Your Content Marketing Campaign

In the realm of getting your organization’s name out there, content is king. Content marketing has myriad functionality, letting you advertise your business’s expertise, fitting easily through multiple distribution channels including blogging, social media, email and so much more.

However, some businesses struggle when it comes to maximizing their content marketing campaign, stonewalling progress instead of connecting them like a superconductor to their target market. Whether you are in charge of producing your own content or you trust it in the hands of others, here are a few key steps you can take to help ensure you get the most out of your content marketing campaign.

Use What You Already Have

Quality content is not a perishable item. It does not have an expiration date or go sour after a certain period of time. To the contrary quality content is malleable. Creating several different pieces out of one is an easy way to stretch out your resources. Let’s say the original work is an article. It is not asking too much to transform it into a video, slideshow or podcast. Or why not reduce the content down to its most salient points and produce an infographic or post about it on social media? Even ephemeral content such as topical blogs can become valuable points of reference and comparison down the road.

I am not suggesting that all content translates seamlessly into every available format; but all content can, and should be repurposed to great effect.

Sharing is Caring

Now that you have the various forms your content has taken, it is time to get it out there to your target audience. The more exposure you give your content, the more traffic it is likely to generate. Keeping in mind the various preferences people will have in engaging your content, there really is no such thing as oversharing. expired domain list . What I mean by this is that some people will prefer to read about the “5 Leadership Lessons from True Detective” while others will be more interested in watching a video dedicated to deciphering Rust Cohle’s nihilistic ramblings. Therefore it is totally okay to post links in your blog to your Twitter account, from your Twitter to your YouTube channel, from YouTube to your Facebook page and everywhere in between.

As an added bonus, simply being active on these various distribution channels allows you to maximize every slice of content you publish. The more you share the more likely someone else is to share your content. After all, putting your information out there is really the heart of marketing. The more seeds you scatter, the greater the chance some will find results in social and online soil.

Stick With It

Perhaps most important of all is maintaining consistency with your content. Like with any well-intentioned decision, your content marketing campaign requires both time and attention to reach its goals. Do not fall into the trap of letting your content die a predictable, New Year’s resolution-like death. Set a realistic publishing frequency and stick with it. Whether it’s once a day, once a week, or even once a month, the number does not matter as much as the consistency does. You can always produce more content later when you have more time, but if you halt production, it can take a serious toll on your traffic. Staying active by regularly publishing quality content is a tried and true way to build a following. Then once people start to expect and look forward to your content, you can initiate and participate in conversations with other leaders that benefit your business. And the positive feedback loop just keeps circling.

If the content is good, accessible and consistent, they will come.

by

How to End Your LTR with Facebook

You check in with her as soon as you wake up. She dominates the conversation over your morning cup of coffee, and you’re busy with her on and off throughout the workday. Bored? Why not check out what’s happening with her, it’ll only take a second…

We get it— on a personal level, your relationship with Facebook can be pretty hot and heavy. As business user, your Facebook presence and relationships likely take up more time than you realize…or more time than what benefits your business.

The truth is, a long-term committed relationship with Facebook won’t necessarily have the long-term payoff that your business is looking for.

Recent articles have surfaced predicting the death of Facebook—one such study says the social network will lose 80% of its peak user base between 2015 and 2017. If you’re a business owner, the predicted drop off isn’t too far away.

While it’s important to grow your social media presence, be it the allegedly doomed Facebook, the short and sweet Twitter or the rampant Pinterest, you need to take a big(ger) picture approach to your online marketing strategy. Doing so will ensure you’ll be thriving regardless of the social media flavor of the week (or decade).

Here’s what we recommend:

1. Be active on more than one platform. The standbys are great—Facebook and Twitter—but have you considered making short how-to videos for YouTube or Vimeo? Could your business benefit from Tumblr, the blogging platform that allows you to quickly repost and follow sites or brands you love? Invest in multiple sites where you can post rich, dynamic and engaging content.

2. …and blogging is a simple, straightforward means to doing that. Investing in well-crafted, creative and intelligent content is, bottom line, the bare minimum for ending your long-term relationships with Facebook. Start with blogging to ease the transition into or out of any social media “relationship.” Blogging gives you immediate access to content that represents your brand, company and style. And did we mention it can be a crucial component to supporting and driving great SEO?

3. Most importantly, stay faithful to creating, connecting with and supporting great content. It will, for the foreseeable future, outlast many short-lived themes and trends in social media and online marketing. With content that’s true to your business, you’ll serve not only your clients and potential clients, but search engines as well.

So don’t be dismayed by the passing of Facebook, or get overly invested in any one particular social network. Use the ones that work best for your business, diversify, and focus on creating solid on-site content. Don’t worry—you’ll rebound.

by

Tips for Creating Mobile-Friendly Content

Trendsetting (adj): doing it before it’s cool.

Trendsetters are always thinking ahead and pondering what’s coming next (if you hear someone say, ‘That’s so 2014,’ you can safely assume they think of themselves as one). These are the folks in online marketing that have been heralding the onslaught of the mobile web for the last couple of years.

Thanks to these forward thinkers, we now have responsive design that formats our websites and emails to the device people are using. And while mobile-friendly design is great and all, there have been a dearth of posts about making mobile-friendly content that fits in the palm of your reader’s hand.

Where do you start? Well, I’m glad you asked.

Focus on Your Audience

The first question to ask is why are people browsing the web on their phones. Is it to pass the time because they’re bored? When they’re waiting in line/for the elevator/at the doctor’s office?

More often than not, people are passing the time. So help them.

Entertaining and engaging mobile-friendly content drives traffic. Now, this isn’t saying you need to try and be Buzzfeed or UpWorthy, just realize this is why those sites do so well.

Once you figure out what your audience wants, create that content.

Content on the Go

As we’ve talked about before, few things get people to stop reading more quickly than long blocks of text. So shorten up those paragraphs.

Next, make sure your content is engaging. I would say to make it entertaining, but that’s probably not the best move if you own a funeral home.

Then, once you’ve gotten your post (or email) perfect, Strunk & White it. For those of you that don’t regularly nerd out on grammar, edit it down so you are omitting needless words. Don’t overcomplicate things.

Finally, give it one last read-through to ensure you’re sending the right message. You won’t seal any deal unless you actually propose one.

From your email marketing platform to your website, everything should format itself automatically, save the content. But if you keep your audience in mind and engage them, you’re well on your way.

by

10 Common Myths About Social Media

It seems like everyone today has got an opinion about how you should use social media to find success online. And like most topics where opinions are shared readily, most of these points will lead you astray.

The fact of the matter is social media is a lively, vivacious entity where you are allowed to connect, build relationships and engage with your audience while simultaneously establishing your brand’s overall tone, personality and message.

The key is, don’t get weighed down by the onslaught of ridiculous advice that many charlatans are trying to spew in attempts to label themselves as “social media experts.” No one is an expert in social media—we’re all learning, playing, engaging. Social media, like most marketing and tech-based tools and tactics today, is ever-changing—and the one guaranteed true piece of advice for any brand is to stay true to yourself.

In the meantime, I’ve broken down the top 10 most ludicrous myths about social media. These are stories we’ve heard and things that you should be weary of when launching your own social strategy:

10 Big Social Media Myths:

  1. The More Followers, The Merrier: This is probably the most common thing we hear day-in, day-out. Businesses are constantly in search of garnering thousands of new followers, instantly. Brands typically go to the point of buying followers from fake accounts to give the impression that they’re popular on a given social platform. This is absurd. While we’re all big fans of the “fake it til you make it” mantra—this takes it just a step too far. One hundred loyal fans, who interact with your brand regularly and who buy your product, are 100x more valuable than a list of a thousand subscribers who either don’t know you exist or worse, don’t exist themselves.
  2. Social Media Is Your Own Personal Broadcast Channel: As much as any given person may be the biggest fan of your brand—they do not want to hear all about you, all the time. Just like in any relationship—social media is a give and take. It’s something we say to all our clients—with social media you have to earn the right to bring the conversation back to you. You cannot start off just talking about you, your product, your service. People tune it out. Rather, start a dialogue with your audience about them. Get to know them, their interests and then find a way, once you’ve established a connection, to bring it back to your goals.
  3. Social Media Can Replace Your Website: While Facebook, Twitter, and even Google+ are great platforms to showcase your brand and your services—these are just platforms. They’re compliments to your overall online identity. A website is your first and last line of defense online. When a potential customer searches for you—they immediately check for your site. After that, they go to your Facebook or Twitter profiles—which should inevitably send them back to your site. Social media provides a fun foray into the mind of your brand—but your site will always serve as the main place for converting a lead to a client.
  4. You Can’t Track Success or ROI: Fiddlesticks. There are plenty of cool assessment and analysis tools out there today. Good content marketing experts will provide you with monthly, bimonthly or quarterly assessments—where you can track where users are coming from, demographics, psychographics, and even identify actions taken on your site (purchases, article devouring, listening to a podcast or watching a slide-show). From there you should be able to leverage all your known data and apply it to create a more streamlined and targeted approach to your marketing.
  5. Blogging Is a Waste of Time: No matter what anyone tells you—blogging is never a waste of time. It’s the most essential part to any social & online strategy. We’ve talked about it before—keeping a regular blog schedule helps raise your rankings on Google, establishes you as a thought leader, and generates a loyal following of readers. If time is really an issue, you can hire a content marketing team (ahem, cough, cough—like us), to handle all the writing, management and strategizing behind your blog.
  6. You Have to Be Everywhere! The only person who has to be everywhere at once is Santa Claus. And even that’s only one night a year. Beyond that, no one has to be everywhere and certainly not at once. Certain platforms are better suited for certain businesses. Some platforms shouldn’t even be considered for certain brands, as it’s a drain of energy and resources. It’s best to create a social strategy that focuses on your brand’s strengths and target audience. It’s better to be strongly situated and active on 2 platforms, than spread out across 6 or more where you rarely, if ever, post or interact.
  7. There’s No Point to Google+: Oh, silly you. Did you fall for that line? It’s okay, that’s a pretty common occurrence. Google+ (now Google My Business) is either being heralded or slammed—it seems like it just depends on the day. In fact, Google+ is a great platform for multiple reasons, the main being it’s relationship to SEO rankings. Posts from Google+ are being indexed in the SERPs, and authors’ profile pages show up next to results, improving click-through rates on any given search. But again, like I mentioned in #6 above, this isn’t a site to just set-up and leave. Make sure that if you pursue G+, that you understand your audience, community and how to leverage the SEO benefits.
  8. Respond Immediately, Or Else: Despite popular belief, social media will survive—and people will be able to handle it—if you don’t respond to a tweet or Facebook post instantaneously. Like email, the invention of smart phones has destroyed us a bit on what we deem an acceptable lead-time with response rates. But social media, in essence, is managed by real people. We all have a myriad of things going on at any given moment. The world will continue to revolve, and your brand will survive, if you wait an hour or ten. Promise.
  9. The More Hashtags, The Merrier: Oh dear lord. When was the last time you searched for something solely by looking up the hashtag? #justinbiebergotarrested. Well, this may come as a shock, but social platforms are getting better at search. You can find a subject matter without the cute little pound sign. And hashtagging up a tweet just distracts people from your message. Granted, who doesn’t love a good hashtag? Just, use them wisely. #no #sense #going #overboard.
  10. Social Media Gives People a Space to Bash My Brand: I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if someone wants to say something negative about your brand, they already have a venue. And it’s a big one: the internet. Not having an active Facebook, Twitter, or Yelp page doesn’t protect you from angst-ridden wrath. In fact, social profiles have proven to be more beneficial in helping brands get through a negative moment. Skype grew their following by being aware of issues, talking directly with customers during a service blackout and more. Surprisingly enough, you can build more credibility for your brand by using social media than by avoiding it all together.

So there you have it. Ten myths that you can now set free as you embark on your social strategy for the year. The bigger message is: jump on in, the water’s great!

 

 

by

SEO vs. Content Marketing: We’re All In This Together

You’ve read the articles, clicked on the links about Top 10 this or that lists detailing why you need to invest NOW in SEO. You may have already read the big, flashy articles screaming about how content marketing is the wave of the future. Or how social media strategies are currently the most (or least) important.

I’ve got great news: instead of pitting SEO vs Content Marketing, you’ll be pleased to know that SEO, content marketing and social media utilization all go hand-in-hand. They go together like peanut butter and jelly. Cheese and pepperoni. These pieces of the pie are in fact the trifecta of informing and influencing customers with media!

How, you say? Let me break it down.

Like Peas & Carrots: How Content Connects

It should never be looked at as SEO vs Content Marketing: SEO and content marketing work together to drive better results. As we’ve said before, SEO is not a magic bullet to ranking for important keywords. While SEO is an important piece of the puzzle, it shouldn’t necessarily dictate the messages you want to get across.

When creating any content for your site, blog or social media account, you should consider your audience. What do they need to know about your product, service or brand? By keeping all content focused on your main product messages, you ideally encounter important keywords naturally. Good SEO, then, can amplify these keywords as well as provide feedback for how your keywords rank or how they could be better positioned and used throughout your content strategy for higher ranking. In other words, SEO can provide a road map or gauge for positioning great content.

Social media works to further promote your great content. It also establishes your business or brand among your audience or potential customers. Social media helps establish relationships—yes, relationships. Which means, there needs to be a give and take, not just a one-way communication (or take take take). Think of everything you post through social media as “content.” Even if it’s not necessarily your content (and you’ve given the right attributes), it represents your brand, company and presence.

Also, through social media you can expand your online authorship with search engine giant Google. The more quality content you author and promote, the more likely you’ll rank for keywords embedded within that great content.

Each piece, then, fuels the other pieces—and the bigger picture—of your strategy. Keep the diverse, quality content flowing, promote it and connect through social media—then let SEO guide and analyze your efforts along the way.

by

Picture This: How Images Can Boost Reader Retention

Let’s face it: in the age of Reddit, Pinterest and Tumblr what you have to say may not be all that interesting. Don’t get me wrong, you may be an extremely capable writer, effortlessly throwing lightning bolts of connection into complex ideas to distill the cold and technical into something more accessible and potable. But how can you compete with pictures of puppies getting their heads stuck in peanut butter jars?

Your business is more than just the simplification and transmission of ideas. And at its core, your responsibility to your brand’s online identity consists of grabbing and then holding onto your reader’s attention…then transmitting your message.

But what is the best way to do that? In an age when anyone can literally search more than 58 million hits in less than half a second to important questions such as “What is a Belieber?” getting your content to stand out among all the indirect competition is a tall order.

So, what tools do you have at your disposal that can possibly attract and transfix a reader to your message right away?

Enter images. If pictures are worth a thousand words, which is the ballpark, you should let them do the work and trim your content so it’s all killer and no filler.

How does it work? I’m glad you asked.

Pictures Slow the Internet Down

Just because your most recent piece regarding Deep-rooted Agricultural Practices is getting less traffic than you hoped it would doesn’t mean it is poorly written or fruitless. It probably means you need a better understanding of how people browse the Internet.

When readers come to your site, you often only have a few seconds to make your content stand out and effectively convey your message. If they skim your content and all they see is an ominous wall of text, a strange buzzing starts behind their eyes and guides them over to I Can Haz Cheezburger, relegating your work to the too-long-didn’t-read history.

Images, on the other hand, can carry most of that first-impression weight for you. By adding visual interest to your online content, the images you choose become a kind of story in themselves, illustrating concepts and highlighting key points.

Images have the power to transform potential skimmers and scanners into readers suddenly interested in engaging with the content surrounding the images that attracted them in the first place.

Pictures Cut to the Heart of the Matter

Your manifest function as a blogger is to teach people about your subject. Whether you review books, blog the latest tech-news or report on a different industry, your audience size increases or decreases proportionally with its level of comprehension with regards to your subject. And what is one of the surest ways to increase reading comprehension? By making your audience care.

Pictures have a unique ability to instantly register intense emotions in people. They have the power to provoke a wide range of feelings: love, fear, thanks, misfortune, etc. And since memory is inextricably linked to emotion, to make sense of what they see, people automatically compare images to similar memories they have. For example, try to recall the most significant event that happened to you over the past 12 months. Chances are the moment you thought about was also the most emotional to you.

When you use pictures to urge your audience to feel a certain way, they begin to care about your content. Once they care, they become engaged. Then, when they are engaged, they have a higher chance of learning, or retaining, the information you are presenting.

The moral of the story: retention is the ultimate goal. It’s the most powerful way to connect with people, which should be your main focus with content marketing.