There are quite a few factors that go into what makes a brand “followable” in social media. Think about it from the follower’s perspective: Why do you choose to ‘Like’ or follow certain brands on social networks like Facebook and Twitter?
It could be because they share valuable, educational content that appeals to your interests and needs.
One of the most frequent questions we get from aspiring and current inbound marketers is, “How do you manage all of that content?”
When we tell them we use an editorial calendar, the next question is often, “Oh, how much does that cost?”
It’s an exciting time to be a content marketer. But it’s also a challenging time.
As more companies continue to jump on the inbound marketing bandwagon, the influx of content seems to be turning into a bit of a traffic jam. And few things have the power to cut through this noise like data storytelling.
This post originally appeared on HubSpot’s Sales Blog. To read more content like this, subscribe to Sales.
Communication is the lifeblood of sales and marketing. Successfully closing deals, providing value, explaining complexities — they all rely on your ability to express yourself clearly and persuasively.
For a while now, it’s been clear that Instagram isn’t just a social network for selfies and brunch pics. In fact, Instagram sees a whopping 500 million users — a 25% increase in audience size over less than a year.
In a world where visual content remains a crucial part of any business’ marketing strategy, Instagram presents a unique opportunity to visually represent your brand, celebrate its personality, and keep it top-of-mind for all those users who scroll through their Instagram feeds every single day.
Over the past few years, we’ve seen content become more visual. Marketers have experimented with infographics, videos, and more — and they’ve made plans to keep it up this year.
In fact, 73% of content creators plan to prioritize creating more engaging content in 2016, and 55% plan to prioritize creating visual content.
It’s not enough just to write some content, publish it, and cross your fingers it does well. Most experts have found it takes a lot of thinking, strategizing, and optimizing to create content that your audience not only reads, but shares with their networks and links back to on their websites.
SEO Expert Steve Wiideman, for example, recommends starting with question-based keywords and prioritizing them by search volume.
As marketers, we are always looking for new ways to get more bang for our buck. Co-marketing allows two or more companies to work on a project together, doing less work for more reward. Who doesn’t want that?
So to help get you started, we’ve collected a ton of tips and tricks below for creating a successful co-marketing campaign and relationship, from start to finish.
If you’re anything like me, you’re consistently working out of at least 20 browser tabs, four journals, a yellow legal pad or two, and a myriad of Post-it notes stuck around your computer monitor.
To the average overseer, it’s nothing short of chaos. But for me, there’s a system … at least, that’s what I tell myself.
Serving as snackable — and often laughable — bits of visual content, GIFs help us accurately convey our thoughts and feelings when we’re limited to virtual communication.
The trouble is, finding the perfect GIF by hunting through Google Image Search or that desktop folder of your favorites can take way more time than it’s worth.
Do you compliment your friend on his new haircut, or complement him? Did that movie have an affect on you, or an effect? Did you walk fewer steps or less steps than you did yesterday?
The English language is full of confusing spelling and grammar rules. It doesn’t matter if you’re still a student or writing professionally for your job: From time to time, we all need a little reminder for how to spell a difficult word or whether it’s okay to start a sentence with “and.”
Even though we all are crunched for time, spouting off a mediocre blog post for the sake of hitting a deadline isn’t worth it. Considering our audiences have access to countless other articles, it’s unlikely that they’d settle for a half-baked attempt.
We get it, though: It can be difficult to keep track of all the right blog components when you’ve got a full plate of projects. There’s a lot to remember when crafting a solid blog post … which means there’s also a lot to forget.
B2B marketing survives and thrives on the steam engine of content. But it can be hard to fuel that engine with constant inspiration day after day, and week after week.
Nonetheless, you’ll still need to produce high-quality blog posts and articles on a regular basis to build credibility and visibility, with 91% of B2B marketers using content marketing and 84% using it to spread brand awareness.
How do you keep up? One good answer is crowdsourcing.
As a B2B marketer, you can leverage your online relationships to have content produced for you, whether it’s user-generated content (UGC) produced by customers, or commentary from industry thought leaders. In one study, 70% of U.S. consumers noted that they trust brand recommendations from friends, above and beyond a company’s own content marketing, which means, at least some of your content should come from people similar to your readers.
By crowdsourcing, you’ll get content that’s relevant, targeted, and full of new insights. What’s more, you’ll gain fodder for your own creativity, as well as more free time to put inspiration to work in your marketing endeavors. Here, we’ll share some best practices for crowdsourcing your next blog post.
