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Persuasive Picks – Week of July 20, 2015

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Business2Community author, Susan Gilbert discusses how positive vision in marketing will protect you from failure. “Positive Focus Creates Better Marketing Results” provides 4 easy steps for positive focus, including how to monitor your time on social media and being open to new marketing strategies.

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“7 of the Best Tools to Aid Your Content Marketing”, an insightful piece by Julia McCoy, covers some of the latest content marketing tools out there that can help you be smarter and more accurate in your content marketing strategy.

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Mike Templeman contributes an article called “How Facebook And Twitter Fit Into B2B Marketing”  which discusses two lesser-used social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter and how they can be a real value in B2B marketing.

Persuasive Picks For Week Of 9/23/13

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Social-Media-DoodlesNewsmakers in social marketing tend to be large companies, with big ad spends. Small and midsize companies can sometimes feel as though they’re at a relative disadvantage. MarketingProfs‘ Kerry O’Shea Gorgone speaks with IBM’s Ed Abrams on SMB Social Strategy and Content Marketing who explains the changing landscape, and offers tips for SMBs on social strategy, content marketing, and running a social business.

You have a great product, idea or service. You’ve invested in putting together a solid website. Social media marketing is important, so you have Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts – maybe even a Tumblr account too. You know social sharing is a key element of success online, but you want the results of your efforts to improve. Luke Chitwood of TheNextWeb says just follow The 10 commandments of social sharing and driving traffic to your website and you’ll engage with customers and draw traffic like never before.

alltwitter-klout-logoEveryone has influence, and Klout has made it their mission to tell each of us what that is. They accomplish this by using data from your social networks to gauge your Klout Score. And as your score increases, it becomes exponentially harder to increase your Klout. But there are things you can do to proactively boost your score and, more importantly, keep it as high as possible. AllTwitter Co-editor Shea Bennett posts a visual guide to help boost your score – 4 Tips To Increase Your Klout Score [INFOGRAPHIC].

As a small business, you may think it’s impossible to get the word out about what you do. Marketing doesn’t have to be hard or expensive. Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most effective. Eric V. Holtzclaw, author and founder and CEO of Laddering Works, pens 10 Simple Marketing Tips for Small Businesses on Inc. to help get the word out about your business and watch it grow.

Persuasive Picks For Week Of 8/5/13

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google_prGoogle updated its webmaster guidelines that target core PR practices around press releases. Silicon Valley journalist blogger and ZDNET contributor Tom Foremski weighs in on the negative impact this will have for the press release. Check out his take Did Google just kill PR agencies? to find out more on the updated rules on links and keywords in press releases and how they may affect your future release plans.

Facebook Changes News Feed To Bump Up More Relevant Content – Called “Story Bumping,” the changes move up older stories to the top of a user’s News Feed if they missed them during a previous visit to Facebook. Forbes writer Tomio Geron clarifies the changes and shares some initial reactions and results.

29_29NOV_010.jpgAll marketing practitioners are seeking ways to save money and get a bigger bang for their budget buck. How to do that isn’t at all obvious. MarketingProfs‘ Ardi Kolah explains that sometimes the answer can be staring you in the face and offers 10 Ways to Stretch Your Marketing Budget

Social has become a critical component of the overall digital advertising market. As Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others have emerged as social network leaders, they have created powerful new ways for advertising to reach consumers. In fact, some $11 billion will be taken in advertising revenue in social media in the year 2017 – that’s according to this incredible infographic that looks at the rise and rise of ad sales on social sites. A Brief History of Social Advertising via The Next Web.

Summer Fun at IMS13 With PerkettPR – Get Your Schwag With Bite

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ActualSharksIf you’re attending IMS in San Francisco today, please be sure to find our own Jennifer Hellickson, who will be giving away these cool shark bottle openers to the first 100 folks to connect with her. We’re having some fun at the show by combining our love of summer, Shark Week and our intent on delivering killer marketing. Find Jennifer at the show (hint: follow her or us on Twitter to help you do so) and you will also get directions on how to enter a chance to win our $100 gift card drawing, which will be announced on Friday, August 2 at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST on Google+, so join us there, too.

If you’re not at IMS this week, take heart! We also thought it would be fun to share some shark trivia, so follow along today and tomorrow on Twitter or Facebook and test your shark knowledge. We’ll be randomly choosing five online folks to receive a complimentary bottle opener as well. (Hint, you could increase your chances by tweeting with @PerkettPR and #killermarketing in your tweets!)

Enjoy learning at IMS, San Francisco, and contact us if you need help taking a bigger bite out of the industry with #killermarketing strategies.

Persuasive Picks For Week Of 7/1/13

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uncovering-true-insightsIt’s undeniable that social networks are embedded in our daily lives. Business2Community contributor Jeff Bullas thinks is worthwhile to put that in some perspective and see what the social media landscape looks like from time to time. In review, he posts 5 Insights Into The Latest Social Media Facts, Figures and Statistics to ponder.

If there’s a bible for the new media world, it’s likely The New Rules of Marketing and PR. MarketingProfs‘ Ann Handley sits down with author David Meerman Scott to talk about the revised and updated edition, What’s New With the New Rules of Marketing and PR, and whether the new rules are still… well, new.

status-update-tipsDo you want to know how to dramatically improve your social media response rates? Write better tweets and status updates. Shea Bennett AllTwitter co-editor explains  more in his post 10 Quick Tips For Better Status Updates On Twitter And Facebook [INFOGRAPHIC], courtesy of The Social Skinny.

Just writing your message online is not enough. In order to effectively persuade your readers, it is essential to understand how people consume content online. Austin-based writer and editor, Laura Hale Brockway summarizes a recent Nielsen Norman Group report, and subsequent Jakob Neilsen Alertbox Post:  “Website Reading: It (Sometimes) Does Happen.” The report details how effective page layout and good information architecture can guide users to your content. Laura offers her take on some practical advice from the report in 13 writing tips for the Web via PRDaily.

Persuasive Picks For Week Of 6/17/13

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hashtag1The popularity of the hashtag (#) has just received another boost with the recent news that Facebook will now be rolling them out to users. While most of us are familiar with hastags and their rise to fame on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, their background and meaning remains shrouded in internet lore. Who created the hashtag? Why is it called a pound sign, number sign, and a host of other names? And when we use them, are they actually helpful? EContent‘s Jose Castillo explains The Humble History of the Hashtag #And #Why #It #Matters.

Social media can level the playing field between industry leaders and upstarts, between multinational corporation executives and small-business owners, making peers of all participants. So what makes the difference between a following of 500 and a following of 500,000? Brian Patrick Eha, Assistant Editor at Entrepreneur.com, provides 5 Social Media Rules Every Entrepreneur Should Know culled from darlings of the current social media landscape. Use these tips to increase your influence and make a direct impact on your business strategy.

types-of-social-media-followers-peekTake a look at how many fans your company has on its social platforms. Now, look at how many of those fans are active and how they interact with your brand. There are all types of fans to consider; the casual liker, the deal seeker, and of course the ranters. So what other types of social media fans exist? MarketingProfs‘ Verónica Maria Jarski posts an infographic that provides profiles and suggestions for reaching various fan types in Seven Types of Social Media Fans and How to Engage With Them [INFOGRAPHIC].

Relatively recently, YouTube made a change to their ranking algorithm to favor watch time, which means the longer you can keep viewers tuned in to your videos, the higher they will rank in search. This doesn’t mean, however that you should make lots of long-form videos of 15 minutes or more. Watch time simply means the length of time your videos keep a viewer on the site. In ReelSEO‘s latest “Creator’s Tip #96” How to Increase YouTube Watch Time by Linking to Playlists, host Tim Schmoyer offers this subtle method to get viewers watching more videos per session.

Persuasive Picks For Week Of 6/10/13

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SOCIAL-MEDIA1-300x3001Every marketer expects a return on their social media efforts, but many still struggle with prioritizing which social networks to use – and how to allocate resources. In Social Media ROI for Business: Facebook Versus LinkedIn, business strategist and Business2Community contributor, Daniel Burrus explains that when you understand the psychology of social media and the various types of networking that fall under each umbrella, you can make smarter social media decisions for your business.

Many see content marketing as just that—marketing. But smart marketers know content simply provides the avenue for storytelling. MarketingProfs‘ Jay Pinkert provides some advice on how to grab attention and connect with potential customers, through those stories, and to do it authentically in his post Make Content Marketing Authentic: The Case of Customer Stories.

influencersEveryone preaches about building relationships with online influencers, but no one ever shares tips for how to do that. So, How Do You Find Influencers in Your Area to Help Grow Your Business?  SocialMediaToday contributor, Jennifer MacDonald, explains how to identify and build relationships with influencers in four simple steps.

It’s an age old question that nags all marketers at one time or another:  “How can I get more followers on Twitter?” While quantity shouldn’t trump quality, like it or not, people can and will judge you on the size of your Twitter network. If you want to know how to make your Twitter content more attractive to potential subscribers check out Shea Bennett’s post on AllTwitter: 7 Tips To Get More Followers On Twitter [INFOGRAPHIC].

Persuasive Picks For Week Of 6/3/13

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many-suited-businessmen-300x168Knowing how to convey tone in your online writing – including blogs, Tweets, Facebook posts, pins, etc. – is to know your business inside and out. SocialMediaToday’s Kylie Robertson asks readers “If your business were a person, what would it look like?”- stressing the importance of personality, because that’s what your company will be perceived as online: a person. Read more about writing with the right tone in mind in Who Does Your Company Sound Like? Finding Your Tone in Social Media Writing

Social media and blogging has gone from being an activity we started just for  fun and pleasure, to a more serious business. If you need to market and monetize your business, personal brand, website or blog to take advantage of the opportunities, then you need the right tools, resources and advice to guide you. But the explosion of websites, apps, tools and resources online is often confusing. Business2Community contributor Jeff Bullas narrows it down to 39 Awesome Tools and Resources for Blogging and Social Media Marketing.

emailA recent survey of more than 1,000 mobile device users found that for the first time ever, email is the primary reason people are using smartphones. What’s more, emails from brands are second only to personal recommendations when it comes to influencing purchasing decisions on mobile devices. What does that mean for marketers? Michael Truby at PRDaily explains Why Email Is A Key Element Of Mobile Marketing and notes a few key factors to keep in mind.

When marketers list the types of content they’re producing, many put a check next to the box titled “webinars.” These online presentations have been used effectively for many years, and the webinar’s popularity has surged with the decline of tradeshows during the recent recession. But Marketing Automation Evangelist Mathew Sweezey points out that Only 16 Percent of B2B Consumers Prefer Live Webinars, and suggests that implementing three essential techniques will help you earn more ROI out of each webinar and increase lead generation significantly. – via ClickZ

Persuasive Picks For Week Of 5/27/13

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Screen shot 2013-05-31 at 11.10.35 AMA recent survey indicates that more than 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies use some form of social media marketing, but most companies still don’t fully understand the benefits of social media. So Marketing Consultant, and Business2Community contributor Phil Lauterjung takes a closer look at how Social Media Marketing Is Changing The Way We Do Business.

One of the most common issues plaguing social networks is that anyone can create an account and use whatever name they wish. In fact it’s common to recommend that a business owner stake their claim on their profile on every possible social network just to ensure that someone else doesn’t take your “name” first. That’s why networks like Twitter and Pinterest and Google+ have put verification measures in place to help users know that they’re engaging the person or company that they think they are. This week Facebook threw its hat in the ring and Mike Allton at SocialMediaToday ponders whether verification really matters on social media in his piece; Facebook Verification: Why Do We Need It?

social-media-chalkboardWant more retweets on Twitter? Sure, who doesn’t, right? So… have you tried asking for them? The truth is, calls to action may not be sexy, and they may not be good social etiquette, but they work, and they work on Twitter. And Facebook. And blogs. Find out Which Social Calls To Action Really Work on Facebook, Twitter And Blogs in this informative infographic posted by Shea Bennett on AllTwitter.

The rapid growth of social media platforms sometimes outpaces the ability of businesses to get their arms around how best to use it. Before you can use a new channel, you must create a strategy around it. But many marketers struggle with how to create strategies. MarketingProfs‘ Rachel DiCaro Metscher reminds readers to Ensure That Strategy, not Tactics, Drives Your Social Media and gives some helpful tips to help you begin to chart a successful social media route.

“Influencers Who Inspire” Our Latest Interview with Rebecca Lieb of the Altimeter Group

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Rebecca’s experiences as an editor, marketer and analyst with the Altimeter Group, make her a perfect expert resource for our Influencers Who Inspire series.  She is also the author of The Truth About Search Engine Optimization and most recently, Content Marketing.

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What is your favorite outdoor activity in the summer and where do you recommend going to do it?

Hot weather and I are not the best of friends. Aquatic is my way to deal. Swimming laps, bodysurfing in the ocean, or scuba diving (a longtime passion) – if it’s summer, look for me near the water!

You have spent parts of your career as an analyst, an editor and an author; which of these positions is/was the most rewarding? If you can’t pick one, what are/were the highlights of all three?

I really view all these positions as a continuum. I’ve spent my career exclusively in media, first film, then television, then digital – with a bunch of print experience sprinkled throughout (periodical and book publishing). My job has always been to scrutinize the media landscape, chart its growth, and how to connect with consumers. I also have substantial experience as a marketer (I don’t just tell them what to do – I’ve done it, too!). Admittedly, my marketing experience is confined to media as well: film and television. So basically, it’s been all media, all the time.

The most rewarding part is easy. It’s been being there as one of the most important developments in the history of media and communications has taken place and taken shape. Undoubtedly, the most exhilarating part of my career has been experiencing and watching the rise of digital channels: the opportunities, the pitfalls, the disruption and the possibilities are endlessly fascinating. Sometimes you’re just in the right place at the right time, right?

As an editor and analyst you regularly hear from PR representatives pitching you for meetings. What makes a pitch or briefing request stand out to you and /or prompts you to respond quickly?

Easy – the ones that indicate the person pitching has done their job. They know who I am, what I cover, and they tailor the pitch accordingly. You would not believe how many pitches I get about a new hotel opening in Tulsa, or executive hires in the meatpacking industry. My contact information is ‘out there’ in lists sold to the types of spray-and-pray PR firms that give the industry a bad name. The concept of “know your audience” isn’t a new one, but it’s what matters most. It’s also critical to differentiate “pitch” from “press release.” Digital changed the press release. Once the news in on the wire, it’s out there. Don’t ask me [journalist hat on now] to cover it. You broke your own story.

Digital marketers want to know — with the masses of new social marketing tools, platforms, buzzwords and best practices — how do you manage to stay current?

All research, all the time. Really. I subscribe to over 200 RSS feeds and scour them all day long. I stay in the traffic. Every week I have dozens of meetings and briefings with people and companies in the industry. It’s a full time job, and then some, and it requires a lot of focus. In other words, you have to concentrate on what matters to your area of coverage. I don’t look at ALL of social media, for example. My arena is the marketing and media aspect of those channels. I leave deep dives on other aspects to my very capable colleagues.

How do you filter the news? What news sites or influencers do you visit/follow as your go to resources for news content to share each morning? (Do you have a news outlet as your homepage or do you search Twitter for keywords that are meaningful to you?)

As I mentioned above, my RSS feeds are my homepage. When Google folds Reader, it will feel as if the internet is broken for a while. I’m currently experimenting with replacements such as Reeder and Feedly. There are also people I follow very closely on Twitter and Facebook to stay abreast.

In your upcoming keynote at the Banff Media Festival you will talk about Content Marketing in the form of the Paid+Owned+Earned Media Ecosystem. With content lines blurring more and more, who do you see as the ultimate keeper of the content within an organization?

Funny you should ask, because after I completed a research report (co-authored with my colleague Jeremiah Owyang) on the convergence of paid, owned and earned media, I worked on a just-published piece of research entitled “Organizing for Content.” This research deals exactly with the question, “where should content live in the org chart?” Precious few companies have a an actual content division, yet marketing, PR, communications, community, social media and a myriad of other company components are invested in finding, creating and disseminating content. I invite your readers to download the report, which outlines six frameworks for enterprise content orchestration.

In your opinion, what has been the most important change in SEO tactics over the last few years? How do those changes impact the way we should think about content marketing today?

When it comes to SEO, the fundamental things apply. Good content, well-written, keyword-conscious, and don’t spam or be blackhat.  I was fascinated last year when I conducted research into WHY major brands engage in content marketing. In 57 interviews with really major companies (e.g. Coke, IBM, ToysRUs, Adobe, etc.) only one single brand (Nestlé) mentioned SEO as a reason behind content marketing. My instinct is this isn’t because SEO is unimportant – au contraire – but because it’s no longer channel du jour. Like email (which, by the way, not one single brand mentioned – and what’s in an email if not content?), SEO is becoming a background channel. Like wallpaper – there, but no one’s really talking about it anymore. They’re looking at mobile, social, video. That’s fine – but beware Bright Shiny Object Syndrome, which can cause you to ignore basics and fundamentals.

What one piece of advice (perhaps from your most recent book on the topic) would you offer to a marketer starting a content marketing campaign today?

Strategy before tactics! We’ve seen this occur again and again. A new technology or channel is launched and someone says, “Hey! We need a [Facebook page, YouTube channel, Twitter presence, etc.]. A smart marketer counters with “Why?” What’s the goal? What are the required resources? The budget? How will we achieve it? Produce it? Measure it? Who’s the audience?

On a lighter note, we noticed that you tweeted the tongue and cheek Onion post, the other day, about how much people “love” being sold by sponsored content like videos on publications’ websites. Just for fun, can you share with us your favorite example of sponsored content gone wrong?

Wow – you just reminded me of something that goes way back in my career, back in the 90s when I ran global marketing for a major cable TV network. I came into the office on a Monday morning following the weekend when Princess Diana was killed in a car crash. A rival network was sponsoring a touring exhibit of her gowns. Across the back cover of a major magazine was splashed their ad, with the banner headline: A Dress to Di For!

Lastly, when you venture out of NYC for business travel what is the one thing you take with you, the one thing you can’t wait to leave behind and the one thing you can’t wait to come home to?

1. Laptop

2. Hmmm…maybe my MTA Metrocard?

3. It’s a tie: the cats and the boyfriend

Interested in learning more? Please leave any questions or comments for Rebecca below.  You can also catch up with her at the Altimeter Group website or follow her on Twitter.