Verónica Maria Jarski says, “You put so much work into your awesome content that you expect it to go viral as soon as it hits the Internet. But after you publish it, no one seems to care… So, why isn’t your brilliant content catching fire? For five likely reasons, according to an infographic by WhoIsHostingThis. One reason is the lack of emotional appeal. Content that arouses curiosity, amazement, astonishment, uncertainty, humor, and admiration has a greater chance of going viral. Negative emotions do not inspire sharing, however. Bad timing can also affect whether your content... [...]

Graham Charlton says, “Content marketing and SEO go hand in hand. Great content attracts links and can rank highly, while good SEO means the content you produce brings searchers to your site.  SEO should be a major part of your content strategy, and the best way to rank well and to survive algorithm changes, is to produce unique and valuable content. In this post I’ll look at how we approach content and SEO at Econsultancy”. SEO for content marketing: seven success factors ‘Econsultancy’ Blog  [...]

Seth Rand says, “The consumer-marketing model has transitioned from a passive, zero-gain model to one in which consumers are only willing to pay attention and consume a marketing message if there is some intrinsic value to them. In the modern world, there are too many channels on television, radio and especially the Internet for a consumer to sit still for a promotion that is of no interest to them. In order to obtain the interest of the consumer, a content marketing message should be informational, engaging and educational. This is why content marketing is extremely important, but this... [...]

Trevor Klein says, “Let’s face it: Measuring, analyzing, and reporting the success of content marketing is hard. Not only that, but we’re all busy. In its latest report on B2B trends, the Content Marketing Institute quantified some of the greatest challenges faced by today’s content marketers, and a whopping 69% of companies cited a lack of time. We spend enough of our time sourcing, editing, and publishing the content, and anyone who has ever managed an editorial calendar knows that fires are constantly in need of dousing. With so little extra time on our hands, the... [...]

Arnie Kuenn says, “Content marketing as a strategy has gained lots of steam over the past few years, though it isn’t exactly a new concept. But long before content marketing became an everyday term among marketers, Joe Pulizzi knew its importance. Seven years ago, he founded what is now Content Marketing Institute, a website dedicated to all things content marketing, including practical how-tos and insight from industry leaders. Recently, I had the pleasure of discussing all things content marketing with Joe, including the challenges marketers face, the future of content marketing and... [...]

Paul Gustafson says, “Dan Miller, a professor of material culture at University College London, caused quite a stir at the end of 2013 when he said Facebook was “basically dead and buried” for 16-18-year-olds in the UK. So when we recently facilitated a series of focus groups in the US with 16-30-year-old males on the topic of their social media habits, we were interested to see how they would respond to “Is Facebook still cool?” Almost universally, participants responded with a “No.” But does Facebook need to be cool to be valuable to marketers? And if... [...]

Danny Wong says, “It’s a free-for-all out there. These days, competition for audience attention is intense — and in some cases, cutthroat. Some of the world’s most respected brands have decided, instead of noisily shouting their marketing message at the top of their lungs, to pursue more subtle campaigns that drawn in consumers. Indeed, what you’re about to read is a non-exhaustive list of brands that are killing it at content marketing. Turn away if the thought of another cliche listicle makes you wonder why the internet ever allowed bloggers to gain power. Otherwise, read on... [...]

Simon Penson says, “The way we consume content is changing at a faster pace than at any time in history. While the shift from print to digital was seismic from a structural perspective, things have not stopped moving ever since. The growth of mobile, and now tablet use, is altering the landscape once again and adding a layer of complexity that businesses have never had to deal with before. Marketers have been talking about a “mobile-first” future for some time now and while I believe that is the wrong way to look at it, there is little arguing against the stats”. Screen Size... [...]

Aaron Orendorff says, “That’s what Leonardo da Vinci said anyway. And four centuries later, Steve Jobs agreed. Actually, Jobs more than agreed. He flat-out stole it. So here’s the question: What does plagiarized advice from the 16th century have to do with marketing copy in the 21st? The simple answer (pun intended) is everything“. 6 Steps for Writing Simple Copy That Sells ‘Copyblogger’ Blog  [...]

Christopher Ratcliff says, “Forget the hard sell and the dry press release. Audiences have wised up, so give them high-quality content that they can really engage with. For anyone who’s experienced the following phrase bellowed at them across the boardroom by a senior executive “we should get into content marketing, everyone’s doing it, Coca-Cola’s doing it, BMW is doing it, Red Bull is doing it, we should be doing it too” then this is for you… Content marketing is everyone’s favourite hot new digital marketing phrase right now, yet the truth is that while the label has... [...]