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10 Tips and Tricks to Improve Your YouTube Content in 2019 http://bit.ly/2LEQ2Sl Traditional marketing is slowly becoming obsolete. Brands need to prioritize digital marketing strategies to stay relevant and successful in 2019. To approach this properly, you’ll need to start producing more video content. When it comes to video, YouTube is king. The platform has more than 1.9 billion monthly active users, and 180 million hours of video content is consumed there every day. Furthermore, 48% of people named YouTube as their favorite online video provider. It’s ranked first over Netflix, Facebook, and Hulu, which got 29%, 10%, and 7% of votes, respectively. YouTube isn’t just the favorite; it’s more popular than the other three networks combined. If you think that’s impressive, wait until you hear this: YouTube is the number two ranked website in the world, second only to Google, according to Alexa rankings. The reason why YouTube is great for marketers is because its content is easy to repurpose across multiple platforms. Once you add a video to your YouTube channel, it’s easy to share it on other social media sites, send it to your email subscribers, and add it to your website. I’ve identified the top ten tips to enhance your YouTube videos in 2019. Use this list as a reference to help you produce better content. 1. Share links that start playback at a specific timeOnce videos are uploaded to YouTube, you can share them on other platforms. But there are instances when you’ll want to share only a portion of your video. For example, maybe you’re discussing a specific topic in a social media post. You realize that you’ve already covered this in a YouTube video. However, the video is five minutes long. The content that’s relevant to your post doesn’t get addressed until the three-minute mark. No problem. Just click on the share link to get started. (This is how you would normally share any video on YouTube.) By default, the video will play from the beginning, as expected. You have the option to change this by using the options that pop up after you click on the share button. Here’s what it looks like: At the bottom of this menu, check the “Start at” box, and type the time mark at which you want the video to start playing. (Alternatively, you can pause the video before you click on the share button. The timer will automatically be set at that point. You still need to check the box for it to work.) Once this feature is enabled, the URL’s share link changes. As you can see, the link in the image above ends with “t=158.” This link will start playing the video 158 seconds in, which is the 2:38 mark. 2. Add a transcriptAdding a transcript will make it easier for users to find your videos and your channel through YouTube as well as Google searches. By default, YouTube will automatically generate a transcript for all your videos once they are uploaded. You just need to make sure you haven’t hidden this option from your audience. (You have the ability to edit your transcripts as well, so review them to catch any errors.) YouTube also provides a feature for you to manually type your own transcripts as you play the video. Here’s an example of what a final transcript looks like once a video is uploaded: In some instances, you may want a video or audio file transcribed for other purposes. For example, maybe you have a recording of a seminar you recently spoke at or of an important conference call. Now, you want to refer to the video to help you write a blog post. It’s much easier to use a transcript instead of constantly having to pause, fast forward, and rewind a video to catch your speech. Upload that content to YouTube, and get a free transcript of it. You don’t have to share or publish the video on your channel if you want to keep it private. You’ll still be able to get the content transcribed free. 3. Create a GIF with any YouTube URLGIFs are one of the top visual elements you can use to improve your marketing strategy. Rather than using GIFs from a library everyone has access to, you can create a GIF from a YouTube video. You have the option to use either your own videos or videos from other channels. This is very easy to do. First, find the YouTube video with the clip you want to use. Next, insert the word “gif” after the www. The URL will go from www.youtube.com/watch to http://www.gifyoutube.com/watch. After you change the URL, you’ll automatically get redirected to gifs.com. The video will be ready to edit and turn into a GIF. Here’s what the screen will look like:
Once you create your GIF, download it, and share it on your other marketing channels. 4. Organize your videos with playlistsIf you have lots of videos uploaded to your YouTube channel, playlists are the best way to keep them organized. When a user navigates to your channel, they will have the option to watch different playlists that have similar videos grouped together. Here’s an example from the Food Wishes page: As you can see, the videos are organized by different types of recipes based on holidays and other events, e.g.:
It will be much easier for viewers to find what they’re looking for here. YouTube also allows you to collaborate on your playlists with a friend. From your playlist settings, navigate to the “Collaborate” tab. Here’s what it looks like: Once you add a collaborator, this user will be able to add videos to the playlist. This can be a useful way to manage your relationships with social influencers—simply have an influencer upload content directly to your channel through a playlist. 5. Create a custom URLYou want to make sure your business has a custom URL on YouTube. You won’t get this by default. If you have a new YouTube channel, you won’t be able to create a custom URL right away. These are the requirements:
Once you hit these marks, you’ll be eligible to get a custom URL. You can find this option within your account settings. Just navigate to the Advanced menu: Before you claim your custom URL, make sure you think it through clearly: you won’t have the option to change it once it gets approved. 6. Add an actionable end screenWhat do you want a viewer to do when they finish watching one of your videos? If you want the user to keep watching more videos or visit your website, you can add these CTAs to an end screen. From your video manager page, click the “Edit” button for the video you want to change. Then find the “End screen & Annotations” link from the drop-down menu: A pop up will appear. Depending on your marketing goals, you can add one or more of these elements to your end page: 7. Use enhancements to edit videosYou might already be using some third-party software to edit videos before you upload them to your channel. (Editing is a great way to create killer video promotions to increase engagement.) But if you don’t need to do anything elaborate, you can take advantage of the YouTube enhancements feature. This allows you to edit directly on the platform. The enhancements feature lets you add or change music and audio, apply filters, trim sections out of your video, and blur portions of it. You can even edit content after a video has already been uploaded to your channel. However, unless you are part of the YouTube partner program, you might not be able to make all the changes to videos with more than 100,000 views. You’ll always have the option to blur faces, even if your video has more than 100,000 views and you’re not part of the partner program. YouTube allows this to help protect the identity of people in your video. 8. Broadcast live streamsHas your business jumped on the live video bandwagon? If not, it’s time for you to hop on board. That’s because 82% of people say they prefer live videos over social media posts from business profiles. Furthermore, 80% of people say they would rather watch live video content than read blog posts about a topic. Believe it or not, consumers actually prefer YouTube live streams over Facebook Live. YouTube allows you to go live from your desktop computer or mobile device. You can keep an archive of your live streams that were added to your YouTube channel so people can watch the content even after the stream is over. But you can disable this feature if you want. Want to grow your audience even more? Consider this: 87% of people said they would watch more live videos if they contained behind the scenes content. 8. Upload 360-degree videosWe now know that 360-degree videos increase engagement rates. These videos have a 14% higher ROI than regular videos. They also have a 46% higher completion rate than traditional videos. This is the type of content people want to see with 360-degree videos. When it comes to a 360-degree video, 98% of consumers living in the United States say they think it is more exciting than any other type of video. And 90% of people believe content will be improved if it can be viewed as a 360-degree video instead of a traditional format. Having a 360-degree video increases the chances that viewers will interact with it by 66%. What’s even more impressive is that 70% of marketers believe that adding 360-degree video content has helped improve their businesses. 9. Use Google Trends to find popular search termsHow do you know what type of content you should upload to YouTube? Try searching for keywords related to your company on Google Trends. This will show you the popularity of a search term over time and tell you whether you should be creating content on that subject. Here’s what “content marketing” looks like on Google Trends: As you can see, this is the interest in the term over time in web searches. You can’t assume it’s the same on YouTube. Click on the menu, and select “YouTube Search.” As you can see, the trends are different. This free Google tool will enhance your marketing strategy. You can also use it to help you create titles and descriptions that are search-friendly on YouTube. 10. Run ads on YouTubeYouTube is owned by Google. This means you can set up YouTube ads through your Google Ads account. You’ll have the option to do the following:
This is very easy to do, especially if you’re already using Google Ads for other purposes. Here are the different formats you can choose from to advertise on YouTube: The type of ad you select will impact the price you pay. It’s worth noting that 51% of marketers in the United States advertise on YouTube and 52% of brands plan to increase their advertising budgets on the platform. (There is a good chance that at least half of your competitors are already advertising on YouTube. Get on it!) ConclusionBy the year 2020, 80% of Internet traffic will come from videos. That means you need to keep up with the times and produce video content in 2019. YouTube is the best place to upload your videos. From there, you’ll be able to distribute the content on other channels as well. But you have to be doing more than simply uploading videos and leaving them there with no further action. You need your videos to have an edge to be successful. These tips and tricks will definitely bring your content to the next level. What type of video content is your brand adding to your YouTube channel? Social Media via Quick Sprout http://bit.ly/UU7LJr December 24, 2018 at 10:07AM
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How to Lower Your Facebook Ad Spend http://bit.ly/2EN1RoG Do you want to reduce your Facebook ad costs? Wondering how to spend less to convert cold audiences? In this article, you’ll find four tips for reducing the cost of acquiring and converting new customers with Facebook ads.
#1: Use Relevance Score to Optimize for Message MatchAdWords has a quality score to control ad performance. A higher-quality score results in a better ad position with a lower CPC (cost per click). As far back as 2016, analysis from Jacob Baadsgaard showed that a 1-point quality score increase can drop your cost per conversion by 13%. Similarly, Facebook has a relevance score that performs largely the same function. And, in 2017, AdEspresso found strikingly similar results, where a higher relevance score meant a lower CPC. So how do you work toward a good relevance score? First, create a Facebook sales funnel with top-of-funnel (TOFU), middle-of-funnel (MOFU), and bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) campaigns. It’s the same inbound marketing playbook but applied to ad campaigns. Second, build audiences around each of these three goals. We’ll dive deep into audiences in the next section, but suffice it to say that retargeting campaigns will make up your MOFU and BOFU campaigns, while lookalikes should make up your TOFU campaigns. Third, organize individual Facebook campaigns around message match so that the audience, creative, and offer align perfectly. Pulling these three items together can drastically reduce your content promotion costs. The image below shows the difference between targeting a generic, saved, cold audience (on the right), and a lookalike audience created specifically for the campaign (on the left). The CPC for the cold audience was $0.477 (which actually isn’t terrible) but it dropped to only $0.125 for the lookalike. That’s a 74% cost decrease! If your budget is $1,000, that means you’re getting almost 4X as many visits. Learn how to improve your Facebook ads relevance score. Choose Ad Content CarefullyBetter content will perform better—it’s as simple as that. Content engagement will be better on-site, and promotional costs will be less off-site. As evidence, below are the results from three Facebook TOFU content campaigns targeted to similar audiences, with similar ad creatives and placements, yet CPC differs significantly among the three campaigns. It’s $0.17 per click on the low end and $0.82 on the high end. So yes, you should follow the suggestions above but don’t lose sight of the fact that better content will be the underlying force that drives results, more than split testing a few creatives or placements. The three campaigns above consisted of a long-tail keyword post (B2B Marketing Ideas), an in-depth case study (Content Writing Services), and a first-person contrarian post. Guess which campaign won? The first-person one that recounted painful lessons with a contrarian angle. The other two are good for different things. They can help you drive search traffic over the long-term and emphasize your value to new leads who are on the fence. #2: Base Top-of-Funnel Cold Audience Outreach on Current Customer DetailsBig brands or high-volume sites can easily create lookalikes from past visitors or customers. Smaller, boutique sites don’t have the same luxury. So instead, grab an email list of all of your decent leads and clients, and upload it to Facebook. Then create a lookalike of 1% based on this list, plus a few more lookalikes for site visits and Facebook post engagements. That will give you a good-sized TOFU audience. To take this a step further, run Facebook video ads and then build a video view audience for a few cents per view. Experience 3 days with the best social marketers. Discover the latest tactics and improve your marketing know-how! Now reaching enough leads isn’t the problem; qualifying them is. You’re trying to reach a bunch of targeted yet random people in hopes of sparking interest. In short, you’ll spend a lot on TOFU content distribution but it’ll pay off in the next section. Learn four ways to build Facebook lookalike audiences to expand your targeting. #3: Split Test Ad Creative to Reduce CPCFacebook ad campaign performance will likely start sliding after a few weeks due to simple ad fatigue. Frequency begins creeping up so your ads stop cutting through the noise. This is especially true if you’re running evergreen content campaigns over and over again. Fortunately, the fix is pretty easy: You have to spend time creating images. I’ve found that when you’re promoting stuff on social media, simple images get higher click-through rates (CTRs). Two years ago, I would have put text and a CTA on the image, but now I tend to do the opposite. The simpler the image, the better it performs. And there’s no single winner for ad creative, either. So instead of chasing some mythical best practice, get in the habit of routinely split testing many variations. No, not A/B tests. Those often don’t work. Test big changes. For example, we tested a custom image, regular featured image, and a video commercial for the same post. The results varied widely. The custom image performed best with a $0.571 CPC, while the featured blog post image (which almost everyone uses as their default social image) performed worst at over $1.00 per click. We repeated the test with another campaign, and this time, the video outperformed the custom image by about $0.30. What’s the point? Big changes lead to big improvements in performance or decreases in cost. Learn how to use Facebook’s Dynamic Creative feature to reveal the optimal ad for your audience. #4: Split Test Ad Placements to Optimize for CPCThe news feed and right column ad placements on desktop devices are prime real estate for us. They convert well, which makes them great for our MOFU and BOFU campaigns and terrible for TOFU ones. But you’ll need to test Facebook ad placements for yourself to see what works best for your business. I know these placements work for us because I have the data. I ran the same content ad creative on mobile vs. desktop, and got about a $1 per click difference, which is massive. And these results were basically repeated in every test we ran. Mobile-based placements all generated low CPC. The best part is that mobile placements work perfectly for TOFU content-based promotion. Remember, the goal here is to build retargeting audiences of people who engage with your ads and click over to your website. You don’t necessarily care about exit or opt-in rates at this point. That will come later. For now, you’re just trying to maximize results for ad spend with real prospects. Learn how to run Facebook split tests that identify which ad placements give you the best results. ConclusionA Facebook sales funnel means you’re using multiple campaigns to drive those first few initial micro-conversions (e.g., opt-ins and form fills). Unbounce recently tweeted a Facebook CPC benchmark stat from Veronica Romney: With a $1.72 average CPC, your ability to consistently drive new leads will eventually hit a budget cap. Fortunately, you don’t have to be stuck with those CPCs. If you use the tips above to build real, engaged audiences, it will pay dividends lower in the funnel. This is also where you can get more aggressive, focusing on mobile lead ads, or news feed and right column placements. In general, these will cost you more but better audience targeting throughout this entire process means your CPCs shouldn’t increase too drastically. What do you think? Which of these tactics for lowering Facebook ad spend will you try first? Do you have any tips to add? Please share your thoughts in the comments below. More articles on Facebook advertising:There are 17 tracks of content available to you at Social Media Marketing World. Don't miss this event! Social Media via Social Media Marketing | Social Media Examiner http://bit.ly/1LtH18p December 24, 2018 at 05:05AM
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Twitter’s newest feature is reigniting the ‘iPhone vs Android’ war https://tcrn.ch/2EKEGLN Twitter’s newest feature is reigniting the flame war between iOS and Android owners. The U.S. social media company’s latest addition is a subtle piece of information that shows the client that each tweet is sent from. In doing so, the company now displays whether a user tweets from the web or mobile and, if they are on a phone, whether they used Twitter’s iOS or Android apps, or a third-party service. The feature — which was quietly enabled on Twitter’s mobile clients earlier this month; it has long been part of the TweetDeck app — has received a mixed response from users since CEO Jack Dorsey spotlighted it. Some are happy to have additional details to dig into for context, for example, whether a person is on mobile or using third-party apps, but others believe it is an unnecessary addition that is stoking the rivalry between iOS and Android fans.
Interestingly, the app detail isn’t actually new. Way back in 2012 — some six years ago — Twitter stripped out the information as part of a series of changes to unify users across devices, focus on service’s reading experience and push people to its official apps where it could maximize advertising reach. That was a long time ago — so long that TechCrunch editor-in-chief Matthew Panzarino was still a reporter when he wrote about it; he and I were at another publication altogether — and much has changed at Twitter, which has grown massively in popularity to reach 330 million users. Back in 2012, Twitter was trying to reign in the mass of third-party apps that were popular with users in order to centralize its advertising to get itself, and its finances, together before going public. Twitter’s IPO happened in 2013 and it did migrate most users to its own apps, but it did a terrible job handling developers and thus, today, there are precious few third-party apps. That’s still a sore point with many users, since the independent apps were traditionally superior with better design and more functions. Most are dead now and Twitter’s official apps reign supreme. Many Twitter users may not be aware of the back story, so it is pretty fascinating to see some express uncertainty at displaying details of their phone. Indeed, a number of Android users lamented that the new detail is ‘exposing’ their devices. Here’s a selection of tweets:
I could go on — you can see more here — but it seems like, for many, iPhone is still the ultimate status symbol over Android despite the progress made by the likes of Samsung, Huawei and newer Android players Xiaomi and Oppo. While it may increase arguments between mobile’s two tribes, the feature has already called out brands and ambassadors using the ‘wrong’ device. Notable examples including a Korean boyband sponsored by LG using iPhones or the Apple Music team sending a tweet via an Android device. Suddenly spotting these mismatches is a whole lot easier. Social Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com December 22, 2018 at 12:44PM
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Instagram and LinkedIn Rising: How Social Media Marketing Changed in 2018 http://bit.ly/2EDkWJ6 Welcome to this week’s edition of the Social Media Marketing Talk Show, a news show for marketers who want to stay on the leading edge of social media. Join us for this special “year in review” episode of the Social Media Marketing Talk Show, where we explore the major Instagram and LinkedIn marketing news of 2018. Our special guests this week include Tyler J. McCall discussing IGTV, Instagram shopping tools, and new Stories features. Viveka von Rosen and AJ Wilcox examine this year’s updates from LinkedIn. Watch the Social Media Marketing Talk ShowIf you’re new to the show, click on the green “Watch replay” button below and sign in or register to watch our latest episode from Friday, December 21, 2018. You can also listen to the show as an audio podcast, found on iTunes/Apple Podcast, Android, Google Play, Stitcher, and RSS.
For this week’s top stories, you’ll find timestamps below that allow you to fast-forward in the replay above. Instagram Introduced IGTV: On the June 22 and September 7 broadcasts of the show, we discussed the rollout and expansion of IGTV, a new Instagram app designed for watching long-form, full-screen vertical videos from your favorite creators. (4:30)
Two months later, TechCrunch reported that the long-form video hub experienced a slow start and was difficult to adopt when compared to other features like Stories. According to TechCrunch, six of the feature’s launch partner creators’ “recent feed videos are getting roughly 6.8X as many views as their IGTV posts.”
Instagram Rolled Out More Robust Shopping Features: On the September 21 broadcast of the show, we explored two new ways Instagram is making it easier to shop directly from the app. These include expanding Shopping in Stories and testing a new shopping channel in Explore. Instagram began testing Shopping in Stories in June 2018 and began rolling it out globally to 46 countries earlier this year. (10:39) The new Shopping channel in Explore features content that’s specifically tailored to a user’s style, tastes, and interests. It will feature brands users already follow and brands they might like. At the time, Instagram announced that the Shopping channel in Explore was being tested and expected to roll out globally over the “coming weeks.” Instagram Shared Algorithm: In June 2018, Instagram shared which factors are weighed by its algorithm to decide which posts appear in a user’s personal feed. On the June 8 broadcast of the show, we examined the three main considerations used by the platform for determining what to surface in the Instagram feed. These include interest, recency, and relationship. Instagram also addressed several “myths” about how it ranks content. (14:27)
Instagram Tests Exclusive Creator Accounts: Instagram is testing exclusive creator accounts with a “small group” of high-profile influencers. The tools are tailored just for influencers and include growth insights such as data around follows and unfollows, direct messaging tools that allow users to filter notes from brand partners and friends, and flexible labels that allow users to designate how they want to be contacted. (17:56)
Instagram Rolls Out Interactive Countdown Clock Sticker for Stories: Instagram introduced a new interactive countdown clock sticker for Stories. Users have the option to select the date and time for their countdown clock and the ability to customize the message and color of the sticker. Their followers can then opt to receive reminders about the countdown or share it with their own audience on Instagram Stories. (22:08)
Instagram Expands Question Stickers: Instagram added more versatility to its question stickers for Stories. Instagram Stories users can now respond to questions with music. Question stickers are also coming to Instagram Live videos to help better organize Q&As and streamline the conversation on-screen. (23:58)
LinkedIn Updated Personal Profiles and Company Pages: On the April 13 broadcast of the show, we reviewed LinkedIn’s new look for personal profiles with our guest, Viveka von Rosen. LinkedIn added more details and connection information to the headers of members’ personal profiles. Some of the updates included a shift in the profile image placement that may affect the background image, a new Contact menu to the right, an extended Summary section, and more. (39:55) Experience 3 days with the best social marketers. Discover the latest tactics and improve your marketing know-how! In November, LinkedIn announced it rebuilt company pages “from the ground up” and began rolling out the new experience in the U.S., with plans to expand globally in the following weeks. On the November 16 broadcast of the show, we explored each of the new tools and features now available on LinkedIn’s company pages. These include the Content Suggestions tool for page admins, a suite of tools that help businesses better engage employees on the platform, and more advanced analytics. VIDEO LinkedIn Relaunched Groups: On the August 24 and September 28 broadcasts of the show, we discussed the newly rebuilt LinkedIn Groups, which now offers more dynamic conversations with embeddable videos; multiple images; and other rich media in posts, alerts, and much more. The new LinkedIn Groups experience was released across mobile and desktop in September. LinkedIn stated that all groups should have been migrated to the new experience. (42:44) LinkedIn Introduces Video Captions, Articles Quotes, Translations, and More: On the July 20 broadcast of the show, we broke down each of the several new improvements LinkedIn rolled out to help members start conversations on the platform. These new features included the option to add closed captioning to videos posted from the desktop, as well as the ability to easily highlight and share quotes from LinkedIn articles and save drafts of posts to edit and complete later on mobile. (48:01) LinkedIn also rolled out a new Me tab, which offers a “quick and easy” shortcut to all of the content members have shared, written, or recorded for the site. On the November 30 broadcast, we noted that LinkedIn is currently in the process of rolling out a revamped Share box, with completion expected in the coming weeks. The new Share box makes it easier for users to select the audience for each of their posts: public, connections only, or to specific groups. LinkedIn Rolled Out Several New Updates to LinkedIn Messaging: In addition to improvements to LinkedIn’s news feed posts, the company also debuted several new features to LinkedIn Messaging on mobile. On the July 20 broadcast of the show, we also covered the platform’s new expandable message Compose box, and the ability to send attachments and start a group chat on LinkedIn Messaging. (48:16) LinkedIn also added the option to include emojis in messages sent from the desktop, @mention people, and seamlessly copy and paste images from screenshots or the web into your LinkedIn messages. This past April, LinkedIn partnered with Google-owned Tenor to integrate GIFs directly into LinkedIn’s Messaging platform. On the April 13 broadcast, we discussed how members can quickly and easily search for GIFs within the messaging text field and send them on the spot. The GIFs feature in LinkedIn Messaging began rolling out to all users several months ago and should now be available globally. LinkedIn added the ability to share a location to meet up with 1st-degree connections directly in LinkedIn Messaging. This new feature began rolling out to all mobile users on both the iOS or Android at the end of November 2018. LinkedIn Began Testing Events Tool for Offline Meetups: On the November 16 broadcast of the show, we shared that LinkedIn is experimenting with a new Events feature that works very similarly to Facebook Events. With LinkedIn Events, members will be able to seamlessly create and join professional events, invite their connections, have conversations with other attendees, and stay in touch online after the event ends. LinkedIn is currently testing this new feature as part of a pilot program with 500 event organizers in New York and San Francisco. (51:29) LinkedIn Overhauls Campaign Manager and Introduced Several New Ad Products: In July 2018, LinkedIn released a newly redesigned Campaign Manager interface and reporting experience that makes it “easier to understand how your campaigns are performing and quickly optimize for better results.” On the August 3rd broadcast of the show, we explored the major enhancements to this update, which include new fresh navigation tools, faster-loading data, improved search capabilities, and much more. (53:30)
On the September 28th broadcast, we explored two new ad products for the platform, LinkedIn dynamic ads and automated bidding for Sponsored Content. Earlier in the year, LinkedIn also introduced native video ads, carousel ads, and lead gen forms for Sponsored Content. In early November, the company announced the beta release of objective-based advertising optimization and pricing in the Campaign Manager. According to LinkedIn, this new campaign creation experience will “make it easier to create campaigns and measure their impact” and expected to be available to all LinkedIn advertisers sometime in mid-2019. VIDEO Other News Mentioned
There are 17 tracks of content available to you at Social Media Marketing World. Don't miss this event! Social Media via Social Media Marketing | Social Media Examiner http://bit.ly/1LtH18p December 22, 2018 at 05:03AM
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How to Write Blog Posts Faster Without Sacrificing Quality http://bit.ly/2CsVDb2 I write a ton of blog posts. By the end of 2018, I’ll have published over 150 posts on Quick Sprout alone. Once you factor in the posts on my other websites and my guest posts, that number roughly doubles. People ask me all the time how I manage to produce such a large amount of quality content. With all my in-depth and informative guides backed up with good research, people assume it takes me 10 hours to write one post. That’s not the case. It takes me significantly less than half of that time to do so. Blogging is like anything else. The more you do something, the better you get at it. That said, there is definitely a formula behind producing effective blog content. As a business owner, you recognize the benefits of blogging in terms of SEO, driving traffic to your website, and increasing conversions. This graph clearly shows there is a direct correlation between publishing frequency and website traffic. That’s why you can scale lead generation through blogging. You know you want to publish more content. But there are only so many hours in the day, and you have a business to run. It’s a common problem I see in my consulting work. As a result, businesses usually resort to one of two solutions. They either don’t blog as often as they should be, or they rush through writing to meet a certain benchmark. But neither of these approaches are effective. You need to learn how to write more posts faster without sacrificing the quality of your work. Use this guide as a blueprint for producing quality content for your blogs. Here’s what you need to do. Have your blog topics readyWhen you sit down to write a post, you shouldn’t be asking yourself what you’ll be writing about that day. This is not an efficient use of your time. I like to have lists of topics ready for me to choose from. Spend 30 minutes to an hour once a month coming up with a long list of titles, depending on your publishing frequency. I usually have lists with 20 or 30 topics at a minimum. Once I start running low, I go through this process again. Coming up with this many subjects is easier than you think. I recommend looking at some of your competitors’ sites to see what they’re blogging about. You can use their posts as an inspiration for your own. You’ll have a big advantage here. Since their content is already published, you can make your posts even better and more informative than theirs. Take advantage of online tools that will help you come up with new titles to write about, such as the blog ideas generator from HubSpot: Write posts that tell a story about a personal experience. Look through comments on social media and your previously published posts for inspiration for new ones. Turn other content you’ve already created into a post. Here are some examples of content you can repurpose:
There are tons of opportunities here. If you’re having trouble coming up with a list of blog topics, refer to my guide on the best ways to come up with new content ideas. When you do this work ahead of time, you’ll make your writing process much easier. Rather than wasting 15 minutes on brainstorming, you can pull a topic from your list and get straight to work. Always start with an outlineStarting to write with a blank page, trying to go from beginning to end without a plan, will hurt your quality and productivity. All too often I see new writers skip the outline process because they think it’s extra work. But the outline will save you time in the long run. Your outline will give you an idea of the flow of your post. At a minimum, you should have all your subheaders determined with some notes for each section. But you don’t have to stop there. The more detailed your outline is, the faster you’ll be able to write. I like to jot down my thoughts in short bullet points for each section. I can expand on those notes when I’m writing the final copy. Outlining will also make it easier for you to reach your desired word count. Here’s a look at the average content length for the top results of a Google search: As you can see from this graph, longer posts have higher rankings. On average, all the top ten posts are over 2,000 words. You should have a word length range for each post you write. Obviously, this won’t be exact every time. By nature, some posts will be longer than others, depending on the subject matter. But let’s say you want all your posts to be a minimum of 2,000 words. If you’ve got eight subheadings in your outline, you know that each section needs to be roughly 250 words to meet that 2,000-word minimum. This is a highly effective way to write quality content. It will prevent you from rambling, repeating yourself, and filling the post with useless information. If you’re starting with a blank page and no outline, you’ll have no sense of how long each section should be or how many sections you should have in the first place. Using an outline will help you not only write faster but also produce better quality and longer blog posts, which will be great for SEO purposes. Finish writing in one sittingBlogging effectively is all about time management. I do not recommend multi-tasking when writing. Writing posts will require your complete focus and attention. Put your phone on silent. Don’t check your emails. Stop taking breaks for snacks or lunch in the middle of your post. Just sit down and write. It might be taking some of you longer than necessary to write posts because you’re getting distracted by other things. Here’s a look at the average time people take to write a blog post to give you a better idea of how long it should take you: In just four years, it’s taking bloggers roughly an hour longer to write each post. You can aim to spend 3.5 hours writing a post, but you can write even faster than that. However, I don’t want you to over-focus on the time right now. When you start looking at the clock instead of focusing on your work, the quality of your work begins to suffer. Here’s why. When you hit the three-hour mark with only 70% of the post done, you might start thinking the post needs to be finished within the next 30 minutes. Under such pressure, the quality of your content might start to go down. So what if some posts take you a little bit longer? It’s not the end of the world. I write very efficiently, but every once in a while, it takes me upward of four or more hours to write a post. Am I happy when this happens? I can’t say I’m thrilled. But I refuse to let my quality suffer. Other times, I’ll knock out a post in 2.5 hours, so it balances out. You also need to make sure you’re in the mood to write. Find a time of day that works best for you. People differ in their preferences for writing. I know bloggers who write first thing in the morning while they’re still in bed, others who write at their offices, and still others who write late at night. No matter when you write, make sure you’re in the right mindset. If your mind is elsewhere and you can’t focus, pick another time to write. Put it off until you’re mentally able to concentrate to complete the post in one sitting. Writing a post over the course of several days typically adds at least 20 minutes to each sitting. Write while everything is fresh in your mind. The words will flow better, and it will be easier for you to work faster. Conduct relevant researchAdding statistics and relevant data to your content will drastically improve its quality. It gives your audience proof you know what you are talking about. Plus, citing and linking to authority websites is great for SEO purposes. However, I see many bloggers shy away from this tactic because they think research is too time-consuming. That’s not the right way to think. Sure, it may require a little extra work, but it’s not that difficult to conduct a quick Google search. Including research in your blog gives you something to talk about. You’d be surprised how much easier it is to write about a subject when you have something to reference. Let me give you an example. Here’s an excerpt from a recent blog post I wrote about how blockchain is changing the digital marketing industry: By taking the time to conduct some research, I was able to find an image and statistic, which are both highlighted above. These two pieces of information allowed me to write an entire section. When you have a reference to help you make a point, you’ll find the words to describe it. A statistic from a recent study may just be one sentence, but you can write paragraphs before and after that one piece of information explaining it and talking about its application. If you’re familiar with my content, you know I use research and images in all my posts. Even if this is the first time you’re reading one of my blogs, you can see I’ve used research throughout this post to illustrate my points. Edit your own workYou don’t need an editor to review your posts. You can do it on your own. In fact, studies show that the majority of bloggers don’t use editors for content published on their websites. Using editors is another example of something I see people do because they think it will save them time. But ultimately, it ends up being inefficient. If you send your work to an editor, you need to rely on their schedule to get the post finished. When I write something, I want to make sure it’s done. You don’t want your posts sitting in limbo waiting to be edited and then sent back for feedback and other revisions. By the time you get those notes back, the topic is no longer fresh in your mind. Instead of using an editor, put your posts through editing software, such as Grammarly. You don’t need to make all the recommended changes. Just see whether there are any glaring errors that need to be fixed. After that, read your post out loud to yourself. This is the best way to catch any other mistakes before you publish your content. You’ll be able to tell whether something sounds funny and needs to be rewritten. Depending on the length of your content, editing should take no longer than 10 or 20 minutes. If you’re using an editor or spending much longer than this, you need to look at how you can improve the efficiency of your editing process. ConclusionIt shouldn’t be taking you all day to write a blog post. At the same time, you don’t want to write so fast that the quality of your content suffers. Fortunately, there are ways for you to write quality content at a reasonable speed. Make sure you have a list of blog topics to choose from so you’re not wasting time figuring out what to talk about when you sit down to write. Outline your posts before you start writing. Blogging requires your full attention. Try to write when you can complete a post in one sitting. Add research, statistics, and images to your posts. This will improve the quality and give you something to talk about. Don’t use an editor. This will prolong the process. You can do this yourself. If you follow the tips I’ve covered in this guide, you’ll be able to write high quality blog posts faster than ever before. By the way, for those of you who are curious, I finished writing this post in less than three hours. How long does it typically take you to write a high quality blog post? Social Media via Quick Sprout http://bit.ly/UU7LJr December 21, 2018 at 10:13AM Navigating the New Opportunities and Challenges of Multi-regional Digital Marketing http://bit.ly/2EAp4cW As the e-commerce market in the United States becomes more saturated, online entrepreneurs are looking to penetrate new markets abroad. A quick SWOT analysis will reveal that there are numerous opportunities for e-commerce brands in other parts of the world. Online retailers are encouraged by the new opportunities available. However, they must also be aware of the challenges they face catering to these markets. Here are some factors that e-commerce companies need to consider while they pursue markets in other regions. There is an untapped market in many developing economiesThe global online retail market is growing much faster in developing economies than the United States, Canada, Europe or Australia. Market growth is especially strong in southeast Asia. The number of e-commerce customers in Indonesia is expected to rise 75% by 2025. Market growth is also expected to exceed 50% in India, Thailand and Vietnam. The e-commerce market in Africa and the Middle East is also remarkably strong. Although the market is rising rapidly in these parts of the world, competition is still scare there. This gives e-commerce marketers an excellent opportunity to grow cost-effectively. advertising costs are cheaper in most countries outside the United StatesOne of the key benefits of advertising outside the United States is that the ROI is usually higher. Although the customer base tends to be smaller, e-commerce companies with smaller budgets can have a higher chance of success by choosing to market to many countries outside the United States. One of the biggest reasons for this is that advertising costs tend to be lower. However, there are some exceptions that marketers need to be aware of. According to an analysis from Adspresso, The United States had the 10th highest Facebook advertising costs in the world last year. Surprisingly, advertising costs were higher in all three Scandinavian countries, as well as many Eastern European countries such as the Russian federation, Georgia and the Czech Republic. Of course, advertising costs on other platforms vary for different countries. Advertisers that are promoting offers with Google AdWords will find that the CPC is lower in Sweden and Russia than the United States, even though it is higher for marketers using Facebook. On the other hand, the cost is higher for AdWords marketers in Switzerland, although the costs of advertising on Facebook are cheaper there. Marketers need to understand the costs associated with different platforms. If advertising costs for a specific country on their chosen platform are too high, they may need to either choose different countries to target or a new advertising platform. Privacy concerns are differentAmericans have expressed greater concerns about privacy than ever before. However, they aren’t as militant about their privacy rights as people in many other parts of the world. Europe recently passed the Global Data Protective Requirement to safeguard consumer privacy. Australia has recently started going after Google and Facebook for privacy violations. Growing privacy concerns have increased the demand for VPNs. Privacy Australia founder and CEO, Lucas Johnson, who reviews the best VPNs in Australia, talked about the growing use of this type of service. “If you’re not using a VPN, expect that you’ll soon be in the minority. Though it’s difficult to put hard numbers on it because, well, these are security companies and they don’t like to share, an article in Slate estimated about twenty-five percent of people online already use a VPN. This technology is on the way to becoming standard for internet browsing,” Johnson said. E-commerce companies that intend to expand into these countries need to understand the privacy laws. The consequences can be severe for those that violate them. If you don’t follow the GDPR, you could be fined up to €20 million or 4% of global revenue. Meeting various compliance standards in different jurisdictionsOnline commerce is still sparsely regulated in many developing parts of the world. However, existing laws are still applicable. Online retailers must familiarize themselves with different regulations in every market they intend to serve. Even small, developing countries can have a complex array of policies governing e-commerce practices. Entrepreneurs must decide whether it is worth the intense learning curve to operate in these regions without violating any of their policies. Being realistic about technological limitations of target customersE-commerce companies must also recognize that Internet access is more limited in some parts of the world. Customers also have less sophisticated devices, which can make it difficult to use intricate websites and marketing funnels. You might be surprised to find out that some other countries with the most limited Internet access are those with more developed economies. Australia actually has a less dependable Internet infrastructure and than most of Africa. This is a hurdle that you must be aware of if you intend to operate in these countries. International Markets Are a Great Opportunity for E-commerce Marketers – But They Have their ChallengesThe global e-commerce industry is growing at a remarkable pace. Many entrepreneurs realized that they can grow significantly by reaching people abroad. However, they are also going to have to overcome a number of difficulties, including learning new sets of regulations. They must do a cost-benefit analysis and decide whether it is worth the extra investment. The post Navigating the New Opportunities and Challenges of Multi-regional Digital Marketing appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer https://ift.tt/2onGYog December 21, 2018 at 09:00AM
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How much does page speed matter as an SEO factor in 2019? http://bit.ly/2rNvCgN We all know that having a fast website is something important for any online business. For every extra second, you’re estimated to lose 11% traffic and 7% conversion rates. This translates into quite significant profit losses on the long term. But, from my experience as a manager of a top WordPress speed optimization service, I know that most people who are trying to increase their page speed, are doing this because of SEO reasons. This shows a lack of public awareness about conversion rate, bounce rate, traffic, etc. statistics. Over the years, big companies such as Google, Yahoo or Amazon have conducted countless studies regarding the impact of page speed on profitability. Big businesses are treating these numbers very seriously: It’s clear from our test that the speed of our website affects both of these revenue streams, over the short term, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds, and in the long-term millions. The speed of the site negatively impacts a user’s session depth, no matter how small the delay. Slow sites also have a detrimental effect on the number of articles people read. Largely, the slower the site, the greater the effect. The data suggests, both in terms of user experience and financial impact, that there are clear and highly valued benefits in making the site even faster. From this research we’ve chosen to invest even more time in making every aspect of the new FT.com website even faster over the coming months. — Financial Times manager Statistics about the importance of page speed are nothing new under the sun. They have been around and have been saying the same thing since as far as 2008. Still, they have yet to reach the ears of the regular webmaster. The average netpreneur or SEOer is highly sensitive to any information relating to SEO but is turned off by boring bounce rate statistics. This is probably the reason why most people who end up searching for a speed optimization service are doing it because of SEO reasons. But, how much does page speed really matter in SEO? To answer this question, let’s take a look at this graph from a SemRush study performed in June 2017 As we can see, three of the top four factors that show the strongest correlation with top placement in Google Rankings are factors dependent on page speed. These are also called “UX (user experience) signals.” Lately, Google has begun giving more and more importance to user experience signals as opposed to backlinks and other traditional ranking factors. Of course, backlinks and traditional factors will always remain important, but user experience signals have been gaining more and more importance over the years. Remember that Google can see these bounce rate, time on site, pages per session, etc. statistics through Google Analytics. If Google notices that visitors are not engaging with the website, it will lower it down in the results. When does this hurt the most? From my personal experience and from what I’ve read online regarding this problem, the SEO effects of page speed are more pronounced on the first page of results. It’s like Google starts giving a little more importance to user experience factors when deciding how to arrange websites on the first page of results. Though I am not aware of any serious studies regarding this effect, so it’s hard to estimate too accurately how big it is. Is it worth to optimize your website speed purely for SEO benefits? Like everything in the field of SEO, it depends on the size of the project and the importance of that website. It is up to every individual webmaster to do the math and decide how much they should invest in improving their website performance. Generally, the conversion rate, traffic and bounce rate statistics alone make it worth it for any website producing over 500$ a month. If one were to do it purely for the SEO benefits, that would require a bigger threshold. But why are we doing SEO to begin with if we are not interested in CONVERTING that traffic brought on our website through SEO? Consider a website making 1000$+ a month. If the website is decently optimized for speed, but not optimized to absolute perfection, it will be losing at least 10% profits due to standing a 3-5s instead of 1-2s. In a year, that adds up to 1200$. Who cares about SEO anymore when you have this bunch of money standing on the table? Conclusion: After the August Google update, there has been a noticeable increase in speed optimization demand. Even though they should have started long ago and for different reasons, at least people are doing it now. Leaving aside monetary concerns, the internet is getting faster, and this is a good thing. A lot of progress has been made over the years in the field of internet services. Internet speed is getting better by the day. Still, most of this responsibility lays on the shoulders of webmasters and SEO experts. An incalculable amount of efficiency is lost due to slow, unoptimized websites. The fact that Google has started pressing the big SEO boot on regular webmasters necks is a positive development in my opinion.
The post How much does page speed matter as an SEO factor in 2019? appeared first on Social Media Explorer. Social Media via Social Media Explorer https://ift.tt/2onGYog December 21, 2018 at 06:33AM
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How to Make Better Marketing Decisions: Unthinkable Wisdom http://bit.ly/2QKkwYL Do you need to make better strategic decisions? Wondering how to change your decision-making process? To explore how to make better marketing decisions, I interview Jay Acunzo. More About This ShowThe Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It’s designed to help busy marketers, business owners, and creators discover what works with social media marketing. In this episode, I interview Jay Acunzo. Jay is the founder of Unthinkable Media and an expert on the production of docuseries and video marketing for B2B businesses. He’s also a keynote speaker and the author of Break the Wheel: Question Best Practices, Hone Your Intuition, and Do Your Best Work. You’ll discover common causes for bad decisions and learn four questions that can result in better decisions. Jay also explains why relying on best practices for guidance might not be in your best interest. Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below. Listen NowListen now: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS Here are some of the things you’ll discover in this show: Making Better DecisionsJay’s StoryJay says that even though he’s always wanted to tell stories, he started out as a sports journalist for print publications in Connecticut. In 2008, he joined the in-house PR and communications department at ESPN. Working at ESPN showed him he could use his writing skills and creativity in a business context. His next career move would’ve been to become a print columnist but he didn’t think building a career in print was the safest move. So he left ESPN and moved to a digital media strategist position at Google. He enjoyed the customer interactions and the culture at Google but still wasn’t entirely happy there. Jay recalls the moment when he realized he wanted to do something different. He had hyped a particular video to a group of friends and was trying to show them the video, but first he had to get through a particularly frustrating pre-roll ad. The experience annoyed him quite a bit. Jay then realized that he was part of the machine perpetuating that same experience for other viewers. He knew he didn’t want to “be the ad,” he wanted to be the content behind the ad. So he left Google and led content teams for several startups including HubSpot and Venture Capital. During that time, he launched a podcast for the firm and the power of serialized content made a deep impression on him. After 3 years, Jay branched out as a full-time speaker and maker of shows. Now, 2 1/2 years later, he spends half of his time on the road speaking, and the other half creating podcasts and video documentaries with B2B clients. Listen to the show to find out who one of Jay’s first customers was. When Should You Stay the Course or Try Something New?Often, people look to the best practices of others in their industry to guide their own efforts. Unfortunately, finding best practices shouldn’t be your goal. Your goal should be to find the best approach for you and your business—a path and a strategy that works well for you. To expand on this, Jay shares a recent psychological study from New York University. The study revealed that in stressful situations, people will often continue on with what they know has worked for others (purported best practices) instead of branching out on a unique path. Unfortunately, what worked for someone else might not work for you. Jay says that to make better decisions, it’s imperative to understand the context of your unique situation. Once you’ve outlined the context of your situation, you begin to view ideas, precedents, or best practices as possibilities rather than absolute answers or blueprints. You can then vet those possibilities against what you know to be true about your situation. Jay wrote his book, Break the Wheel, to help people navigate this process by answering six questions. Listen to the show to hear why Jay thinks it’s more important to be an investigator rather than an expert. The Three Ways Marketers Make Bad DecisionsOnce you’ve done some research and found that something definitely needs to be changed with your marketing strategies, the first step is to identify what’s been driving you to make poor marketing choices. This could be anything from a lack of data to being intimidated by new platforms or strategies. There are three main ways marketers make bad decisions, or danger routes as Jay calls them. Relying on Conventional Wisdom (a.k.a. Best Practices): It’s common for people to make decisions based on conventional wisdom. In the same way, marketers often trust tried-and-true strategies that have been proven to work for others, hoping for similar results in their own marketing. Making decisions based on these best practices can be dangerous because it focuses on what’s worked for others in a general sense. Each business and audience is different, and general best practices don’t take the unique variables of your own situation into account. Relying on New Trends: These decisions still focus on adopting a touted best practice. Instead of choosing a tried-and-true practice, though, you adopt the latest marketing trend or hack that others say will change the world of marketing. Sometimes the newest trend isn’t nearly as effective as it may have seemed at first. The new tactic might work in general, but you don’t operate in generalities. New doesn’t always mean right, and right doesn’t always mean right for you. Relying on Reactions: Marketers most often make this type of reactionary decision when they’re stressed and tackling a lot. For example, a marketing blog you read says Facebook is dead so you decide to stop all of your Facebook marketing. As Jay explains, it’s a decision-making process based on tactic over strategy, and it rarely yields good results. You bounce from action to action. As you continue to see repeated failures, you’re more likely to feel powerless and continue to make reactive decisions. This behavior is known as pike syndrome. Jay goes on to explain how cultural fluency can also contribute to making poor decisions. Cultural fluency refers to behavior in which we go with the flow, we fall back on the way things have always been done. Cultural fluency comes into play when you’re in a routine that makes it easy to make mindless decisions because things unfold as you’ve come to expect. Things are comfortable, so you take the easy route rather than taking new context or information into account. But if even one detail changes—say a deadline shifts or a new goal is introduced—your brain snaps out of that mindless rut. Suddenly, you’re presented with an opportunity to make a critically informed decision. To assess whether cultural fluency is adversely affecting your decisions, ask yourself these questions: Experience 3 days with the best social marketers. Discover the latest tactics and improve your marketing know-how!
Jay cautions that you don’t need to automatically throw out the playbook of best practices. You can use them as a starting guide if you think certain strategies could work for your audience, but the key is to make adjustments as needed until you discover how to make those practices work best for you and your audience. Listen to the show to learn more about pike syndrome and cultural fluency. How to Make Better DecisionsJay says the secret to making better decisions is to ask better questions. Understanding how to ask the right questions of yourself and your teams means you won’t make a decision based on what someone else is recommending or doing. You’ll make a decision based on the evidence gleaned from your own situation. Jay shares two questions that will help you recover from or avoid pike syndrome. What is the principal insight about my customer? Imagine you’re a marketer and your job is to sell pillows. Most marketers will build the following messaging: “We sell pillows. We sell a better pillow than anyone else. Here are the features of that pillow.” But when a customer buys a pillow, what they really want is a better night’s sleep. That’s your principal insight. To find what your customer wants, talk to them directly. Who are my true believers? All too often, marketers get caught up in chasing big reach numbers. The trick to modern marketing, Jay says, is to focus on resonance first. Create resonance and reach will follow. When you test new marketing tactics or strategies, you shouldn’t measure performance against what you’ve done in the past. Instead, look to see if what you’re doing is producing passionate responses from excited audience members. If you can’t identify true believers, you likely aren’t on the right path and should consider new approaches. Listen to the show to hear Jay share a study done by a psychologist at DePaul University illustrating cultural fluency. Putting It All Together With Aspirational AnchorsAt this point, you’ve asked the right questions to clearly understand yourself and your team, your customer and your audience, your resources and constraints. You can use this as a decision-making filter to discern whether any idea, best practice, or new trend is right for you. But no one incorporates change without a reason. Change is introduced to help you reach a goal or aspirational anchor. Most marketers focus on setting specific, measurable SMART goals. These might include goals like “Increase Facebook followers by 15% within the next 3 months.” While goals can be helpful to assess progress, they can be limiting if they intimidate you into staying the course and shying away from change. It’s important to combine your goals with aspirational anchors. Aspirational anchors outline the goal you want to accomplish and the behavior that needs to change to accomplish it. You can’t expect new results with the same strategies, after all, and aspirational anchors will help you focus on the how. When Lisa Schneider joined Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary as the chief digital officer, the company was automating their Twitter account with two tweets a day. In the morning, a tweet would share the word of the day, and in the evening, a quiz would be tweeted but no one knew why the team was relying on this process. Hello, cultural fluency. Even though the internal team was funny and witty, the tweets were bland and predictable. This realization provided context that urged Lisa to try something new. Rather than setting a traditional goal to grow followers or engagement by a certain date, she decided to launch a new campaign to show the world how fun and engaging the people at the company were. They famously created content around topics the staff was passionate about; for instance, a Memorial Day post that asked (and answered) whether hotdogs can be classified as sandwiches. The content was entertaining, relevant to the audience, and played to her team’s strengths.
When Schneider first came to the team, they were relying on a best practice to regularly post on social media. By taking advantage of the fact that the team was hilarious and witty, and focusing on the aspiration of sharing that wit, the team grew their following by 6,000% and their press mentions by around 7,000%. Listen to the show to hear more about aspirational anchors. Discovery of the WeekThis week’s discovery is an emoji builder by @phlntn. You can customize everything from the face to the accessories to create a distinct emoji you can use for your marketing campaigns. This tool creates a PNG file of your design so it’s not a true graphic emoji, but it can still be used in your marketing messages. For example, the image can be overlaid onto other images with tools like Photoshop. The emoji builder is a free, web-based tool. Listen to the show to learn more and let us know how emoji builder by @phlntn works for you. Key takeaways mentioned in this episode:What do you think? What are your thoughts on making decisions? Please share your comments below. There are 17 tracks of content available to you at Social Media Marketing World. Don't miss this event! Social Media via Social Media Marketing | Social Media Examiner http://bit.ly/1LtH18p December 21, 2018 at 05:08AM How to Make Better Marketing Decisions: Unthinkable Wisdom http://bit.ly/2QKkwYL Do you need to make better strategic decisions? Wondering how to change your decision-making process? To explore how to make better marketing decisions, I interview Jay Acunzo. More About This Show The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers, business owners, and creators discover what works with social media marketing. In this episode, I interview Jay Acunzo. Jay is the founder of Unthinkable Media and an expert on the production of docuseries and video marketing for B2B businesses. He’s also a keynote speaker and the author of Break the Wheel: Question Best Practices, Hone Your Intuition, and Do Your Best Work. You’ll discover common causes for bad decisions and learn four questions that can result in better decisions. Jay also explains why relying on best practices for guidance might not be in your best interest. Share your feedback, read the show notes, and get the links mentioned in this episode below. Listen Now Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show: Making Better Decisions Jay’s Story Jay says that even though he’s always wanted to tell stories, he started out as a sports journalist for print publications in Connecticut. In 2008, he joined the in-house PR and communications department at ESPN. Working at ESPN showed him he could use his writing skills and creativity in a business context. His next career move would’ve been to become a print columnist but he didn’t think building a career in print was the safest move. So he left ESPN and moved to a digital media strategist position at Google. He enjoyed the customer interactions and the culture at Google but still wasn’t entirely happy there. Jay recalls the moment when he realized he wanted to do something different. He had hyped a particular video to a group of friends and was trying to show them the video, but first he had to get through a particularly frustrating pre-roll ad. The experience annoyed him quite a bit. Jay then realized that he was part of the machine perpetuating that same experience for other viewers. He knew he didn’t want to “be the ad,” he wanted to be the content behind the ad. So he left Google and led content teams for several startups including HubSpot and Venture Capital. During that time, he launched a podcast for the firm and the power of serialized content made a deep impression on him. After 3 years, Jay branched out as a full-time speaker and maker of shows. Now, 2 1/2 years later, he spends half of his time on the road speaking, and the other half creating podcasts and video documentaries with B2B clients. Listen to the show to find out who one of Jay’s first customers was. When Should You Stay the Course or Try Something New? Often, people look to the best practices of others in their industry to guide their own efforts. Unfortunately, finding best practices shouldn’t be your goal. Your goal should be to find the best approach for you and your business—a path and a strategy that works well for you. To expand on this, Jay shares a recent psychological study from New York University. The study revealed that in stressful situations, people will often continue on with what they know has worked for others (purported best practices) instead of branching out on a unique path. Unfortunately, what worked for someone else might not work for you. Jay says that to make better decisions, it’s imperative to understand the context of your unique situation. Once you’ve outlined the context of your situation, you begin to view ideas, precedents, or best practices as possibilities rather than absolute answers or blueprints. You can then vet those possibilities against what you know to be true about your situation. Jay wrote his book, Break the Wheel, to help people navigate this process by answering six questions. Listen to the show to hear why Jay thinks it’s more impor... Social Media via Social Media Marketing Podcast helps your business thrive with social media http://bit.ly/1LtH18p December 21, 2018 at 05:04AM Twitter stock down after analyst calls it “Harvey Weinstein of Social Media” https://ift.tt/2CqRXH6 Twitter was down 11 percent today after a Citron Research report called the platform, the “Harvey Weinstein of social media” and set a low target price of $20. As of publishing today, the stock was down over 11 percent at $29.29 a share. In their report Citron did not mince words, basing their conclusions on an Amnesty International Report on abuse on the Twitter platform. “Citron has been following Twitter for years and when we read the just published piece from Amnesty International, we immediately knew the stock had become uninvestable and advertisers will soon be forced to take a hard look at all sponsorships with Twitter,” Citron wrote. Citron was reacting to an Amnesty International report which took Twitter to task for not doing more to curb abusive behavior. “We have built the world’s largest crowdsourced data set about online abuse against women… Twitter is a place where racism, misogyny and homophobia are allowed to flourish basically unchecked,” the Amnesty report stated. The report went on to call out Twitter for not doing more. “To be clear: it is NOT our job as a human rights organization to be analyzing abusive tweets on this platform – it’s Twitter’s. “But [the company’s] refusal to make public this information, while allowing abuse to flourish basically unchecked, meant we had to do this study for them,” the report said. Social Media via Twitter – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com December 20, 2018 at 04:42PM |
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