The Best In Content Thinking
Every week a bevy of resources are written and recorded on the content marketing circuit. Delve here for the best of the bunch.
Every week a bevy of resources are written and recorded on the content marketing circuit, some good, some great and some just plain indifferent. Delve in here for the best of the bunch.
Your Blog is Boring – Upgrade To A Hub
Roll up content strategist Chris Lakin who says the same old, same old just won’t do. The usual layout in the world of blogs just became boring, and now what you need is a hub. He has a point. Short but sweet, this post argues that redesigning your blog’s structure to allow readers to find content that’s most relevant to them is a surefire way to engage. Particularly when visitors come to your site looking for answers to questions. “A content hub isn’t about replacing your blog with a glorified search bar. It is about creating the best possible user-experience, specific to your audience”. Jump in to find out how. Includes some good examples on optimum layout from Home Depot, Porch and my travel site-favourite REI.
Irish Marketers Trailing International Peers in Content Marketing
Next to local news, straight from the jaws of the Marketing Institute of Ireland in conjunction with 256 Media. Results of Ireland’s first content marketing survey reveal that more than a quarter of respondents spend an excess of 25% of marketing budget on content marketing. But the overwhelming feedback is that while content marketing is becoming an increasingly entrenched discipline here in Ireland, local organisations are still lagging behind international counterparts when it comes to strategy, implementation and the use of appropriate technology. Download the ebook directly.
How to Win Friends and Influence People with User-Centered Copywriting
No this isn’t from Dale Carnegie risen from the grave, but a simple ode to the power of empathy in writing. As Hannah Alvarez points out “people don’t want to like you” so unless you’re handing out free puppies your biggest challenge is to gain the trust of your readers. Including examples of who has managed to do this well, Alvarez also throws in some exercises to help you unleash your own streak of inner empathy. Definitely worth a glance.
Why Influencers are creating content on Snapchat – Podcast from Convince and Convert
More on influencers now, but this time they’re on Snapchat, where ‘snaps’ (read ‘content’) are transitory (for those unfamiliar with the social media platform, material only lasts for a short period before disappearing into the content void). If you’re a fan of podcasts, Nick Cicero will tell you how to reach massive audiences via Snapchat. Incidentally, Cicero also believes that Snapchat is like a Burrito – you can take it wherever you want, put anything in it, it’s easily consumed and it disappears when you’re done. He didn’t get such a noble name for nothing.
August’s Best Branded Videos on Vine and Instagram
Now for some light relief. A Vine from Marmite Walkers Crisps (yes, there is such a flavour) has generated 191k+ views so far.
On Instagram, GoPro strikes again with its brilliant user-generated content pieces. Didga the Australian skateboarding cat, posted on International Cat day, attracted an estimated 759K views and 227K likes. What else would you want to watch?
How to Choose Content Topics That Get C-Suite Attention
Back to the serious stuff, and from the masters of content marketing (aka The Content Marketing Institute) this post from Sept 2nd already has 138k shares on Twitter and 80k on Facebook so far. Find out how to choose “content that taps directly into the C-suite’s most pressing priorities” by focusing on the three core ingredients of
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client relevance
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credibility
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innovative value.
How Google Defines Quality Content
From another giant in the research field, the London-based Econsultancy blog is always a great source of insight into the digital world. Based on a recent report from Searchmetrics, this post gives a straightforward rundown of how content affects search rankings and the factors to consider when producing the best possible material for your audience.
10 Easy-to-Use Tools for Creating Animated Images and Videos
What’s in a GIF? With the growing popularity of animated images and visuals, Hubspot, the diva of inbound marketing, provides a practical round-up of freemium and low-cost tools to make their creation easier.
6 Types of Content To Boost Traffic and Engagement
More practical stuff straight from The Buffer Blog. This comprehensive piece includes a neat graphic on ‘The Content Matrix’ showing where different content formats (from blogs to webinars) sit in the customer’s journey. Includes some top tips on
The 13 Tools You Need to Build a Content-Marketing Machine
One of the big boys of business publications, Entreprenuer.com rolls in with a list of tools to ramp up your content marketing capabilities in 2016. While many of these are aimed at medium to large organisations, some are suitable for SMEs. The list also includes a few new-to-market offers out there.
Original Article
Find out more on the future of Content Marketing at our DLUK - Trends briefing on the 24th September 2015