lunes, 27 de junio de 2011
domingo, 26 de junio de 2011
Why You Can’t Make Money Blogging
“Guess I’ll give it all back, then,” was my off-the-cuff answer.
But out of curiosity, I picked the mag up on the way back to my room. If you haven’t seen it, Daniel Lyons, a talented blogger known for two years as “Fake Steve Jobs,” has an editorial that explains why none of us can make money blogging.
Big traffic, no money
Fake Steve Jobs’ best month came with a traffic spike. His actual identity was revealed in the New York Times, sending more than a half-million people to his site in a single day.
His payout? For that half-million-visitor day, about a hundred dollars in AdSense earnings. For the entire month, he made $1,039.81.
Not quite what he was hoping for when he became a celebrity blogger and earned an impressive amount of attention and notoriety.
So if Fake Steve Jobs can’t monetize a blog, the rest of us are doomed, right? He worked hard, he created quality content, he had a terrific angle that went nicely viral. He was at the pinnacle, and he’s broke. So we will be too.
It must be true, he said it in Newsweek.
I learned the hard way: while blogs can do many wonderful things, making huge amounts of money isn’t one of them.The expert weighs in
The article then tapped another source for a little expert credibility, Paul Verna, an analyst with eMarketer.
Verna’s take was that the real issue was “the lack of a clear business model that can generate substantial revenues.”
Verna’s on the right track, but we’re still a long way from the core problem.
If your business model is “I want to make money on the Internet,” you’re not going to get very far. The Internet is profoundly indifferent to your desire to make money with it.
Please notice that this does not mean that “there is no possible viable business model for any blog, other than a few fortunate exceptions that prove the rule,” which was the conclusion Lyons reached.
It just means that Fake Steve Jobs didn’t come up with a working business model, so he didn’t make any money.
Blogs are not television
I’ll confess, I have no idea how to monetize Fake Steve Jobs. His readers aren’t coming to his site to solve any kind of real-world problem, other than “how can I kill 10 minutes before my boss gets back from lunch?”
Television networks produce entertainment. They either make money from advertising or, for premium cable channels, from subscriptions.
If you want to watch Lost, you have to watch ads. Tivo dented that model considerably, but it still works well enough for now.
Advertising can work on some content web sites, but it usually works best when the reader is coming to the site to figure out a solution to a problem. If an ad presents a relevant solution to that problem, the ad can be effective.
For a complex bunch of reasons, advertising isn’t especially effective on most blogs. Unless there’s a terrific message-to-market match, ads on blogs tend to underperform wildly.
If you want to make money in the real world, solve real problems
Too bad Lyons wasn’t a Copyblogger reader. He might have seen Brian’s post about the smartest monetization strategies for blogs and content sites, and why advertising is no longer on that list.
It’s not about trends in advertising or trends in the blogosphere. It’s about returning to a fundamental marketing truth.
If you don’t offer customers something they dearly want, whether it’s to gain some great pleasure or escape some great pain, you’re not going to make any money.
People do want entertainment and relief from boredom, but selling pure entertainment online is tricky. Right now the expectation on the web is that entertainment is free. You’ll have to get creative to escape that context, the same way musicians had to get creative to make a living when free music sharing became the norm.
It’s time for online business to grow up
For a long time, we believed that “online was different,” and that we didn’t need to accept any of the normal rules of business. We’d put something on the web and Magic Internet Dust would come along and make up for our total absence of business knowledge.“Leap, and the net will appear,” was the mantra.
That sort of worked for awhile, but it doesn’t work now. If you don’t have a solid understanding of who your market is, how they’ll find you, and what problems you solve for them, it’s now “Leap, and the floor will appear.”
So focus on what does work now, and has always worked.
Provide value. Solve actual problems. Uncover what’s bugging people and fix it for them.
The real Steve Jobs sells beautiful, easy-to-use, loveable tools that make his customers’ lives better. If Fake Steve Jobs wanted to make money, he would have had to do some work to figure out how he could do the same.
About the Author: Sonia Simone is Senior Editor of Copyblogger and the founder of Remarkable Communication.
Content Marketing Tools Are Not Enough [Video]
I have lots of tools at home. Hammers, screwdrivers, drills (oh my!). Heck, I even have a toolbox.
That doesn't mean I know how to use them to, say, to build a house (or hang a picture).
It's Not the Tools
I ran into a marketing executive from a Fortune 1000 company a few weeks ago. We started into a conversation about content marketing. When I asked him what his content marketing strategy was, he went into how they leverage social media and enewsletters and even a company magazine. The big focus was the tools they used.
After a 20 minute conversation, it was clear that they were using most of these tools because they felt they should (or could), and it wasn't apart of any particular strategy. For example, Twitter was primarily being used to send out press releases and retweet favorable press. Enewsletters...that's for special offers. The company magazine works to promote their products and distribution partners (sounded like a catalog to me).
Quite a content marketing strategy, huh?
This kind of example is exactly the reason we created our first video explaining why people should attend Content Marketing World 2011 (pricing goes up next week). The idea is this: all marketers have the tools today to connect with customers to attract and retain customers. This is without question. The challenge is knowing the kind of story to create that will generate action, the best tools to use to tell your story, and how to integrate that story throughout all of your marketing.
Here you go! Hope you like it.
Thanks to our friends from Hyndsight productions for helping us put this together.
Oh, and by the way, below was the first video we shot. Probably a good idea that we took another stab at it, don't you think? Note the Orange Martini!
That doesn't mean I know how to use them to, say, to build a house (or hang a picture).
It's Not the Tools
I ran into a marketing executive from a Fortune 1000 company a few weeks ago. We started into a conversation about content marketing. When I asked him what his content marketing strategy was, he went into how they leverage social media and enewsletters and even a company magazine. The big focus was the tools they used.
After a 20 minute conversation, it was clear that they were using most of these tools because they felt they should (or could), and it wasn't apart of any particular strategy. For example, Twitter was primarily being used to send out press releases and retweet favorable press. Enewsletters...that's for special offers. The company magazine works to promote their products and distribution partners (sounded like a catalog to me).
Quite a content marketing strategy, huh?
This kind of example is exactly the reason we created our first video explaining why people should attend Content Marketing World 2011 (pricing goes up next week). The idea is this: all marketers have the tools today to connect with customers to attract and retain customers. This is without question. The challenge is knowing the kind of story to create that will generate action, the best tools to use to tell your story, and how to integrate that story throughout all of your marketing.
Here you go! Hope you like it.
Thanks to our friends from Hyndsight productions for helping us put this together.
Oh, and by the way, below was the first video we shot. Probably a good idea that we took another stab at it, don't you think? Note the Orange Martini!
42+ Social Media Marketing Tools
Had a great time yesterday at the MagsU workshop on "Opening the Emedia Toolbox - Social Media Tools". In the session, we reviewed numerous online tools on how to develop social media strategies for personal branding, new revenue streams, search engine optimization, new content initiatives and more for content providers/publishers. Here's a taste. If you have some social media tools you'd like to add, post them in the comments. Special thanks to those who made recommendations.
The Basics
- LinkedIn - Start the practice of connecting with every business card you receive from contacts.
- Facebook - Consider a "Facebook Movement" - creating a topic or trend in Facebook outside of your personal or brand fan pages.
- Twitter - A staple for all of us. Here's a must read basics of Twitter article. (Courtesy of @mike_stelzner).
- Google Profile - This is a Gold rush here. Secure and verify your personal name (i.e., Joe Pulizzi - Content Marketing Expert), before someone else gets it.
- Plaxo - organizes business contacts via the web (courtesy Judith Berkowitz).
Conversations and Listening
- LinkedIn Answers - Listen and answer.
- LinkedIn Groups - Find groups that make sense for your business.
- Yahoo! Answers - Listen and answer questions. Position yourself as the expert.
- Google Alerts - Get updates on who's talking about you, your industry, your customers.
- Google Groups - Find the group relevant to your job and get active.
- Alltop - The digital magazine rack. Find the alltop for your industry - here's content marketing.
- Google Reader - Organize RSS feeds from media sites and blogs (courtesy Andrew Davies, Simon Henault).
- Backtype - Follow and share comments on the web (courtesy Andrew Davies).
- Ning - Create your own social networking site (courtesy of Kyra Reed).
Twitter Management
- Tweetdeck - The ultimate Twitter management system.
- Hootsuite - Manage multiple twitter accounts from one dashboard.
- Twitterfeed - Set your RSS feeds to post automatically on Twitter.
- Twitter Search - Find anything on Twitter real-time. For tagging, use the # (hash) tag (#magsu event)
- Tweetmeme - Find what's hot on Twitter.
- Twilert - Twitter search alerts via email.
- Yammer - It's Twitter for inside the company walls (courtesy of Paul Dunay)
- Tagalus - Directory of Twitter hash tags (courtesy of Kyra Reed)
- MyTweeple - Manage tweets and followers. Especially good for managing multiple profiles (courtesy of Laurie Dunlop).
- Twitter Facebook App - Updates Facebook via Twitter (courtesy of Greg Padley).
- Selective Twitter Facebook App - Updates Facebook only when you use #fb (courtesy of Greg Padley).
- Seesmic - Managing with multiple accounts (courtesy Brad Hays).
Content Sharing
- delicious - Share your content through bookmarking. Great way to share with teams (courtesy Michelle O'Hagan).
- Slideshare - Upload your PowerPoint presentations for all to see.
- YouTube - The #1 video sharing site.
- Vimeo - an alternative to YouTube
- Tubemogul - Distribute your video to them and they'll spread it to other video sharing sites for you.
- StumbleUpon - Randomly generates content for users by interest area.
- Digg.com - Content sharing site (great for tech and news).
- Marketwire/PRWeb - Distribute your content using social media online news releases.
- Google Custom Search - Set up your own niche search engine on your site or blog.
- Scribd - Share original writings with others (courtesy Andrew Davis).
- Squidoo - Set up your own targeted vertical content lens (courtesy Ambal Balakrishnan).
- Flickr - Share/upload/find photos (courtesy Wendy Boyce).
Blogging/CMS Tools
- WordPress - My recommendation for a blog CMS platform. Our custompublishers.com blog uses WordPress. I also recommend using this CMS for any small-business website (also courtesy Tina Bentley).
- TypePad - Set up and blog in just a few minutes. This blog uses TypePad (also courtesy of Britton Manasco).
- Joomla - Another option for blogging/CMS platform. Joomla users praise it.
- Drupal - Extremely versatile CMS platform (courtesy of Dan).
- Technorati - Blog directory. Find the blogs in your industry so that you know which ones to listen to.
- IceRocket - Search for blogs and blog posts by category. IceRocket's Trend Tool will tell you how "hot" your keyword is.
- Google Blog Search - First rate blog search tool.
- Tumblr - Post anything quickly and easily.
- Zemanta - Great for adding additional content and links (courtesy of Drew McLellan).
- Posterous - Post to a blog by sending an email (courtesy of Richard Shatto).
- Tipjoy - Simple social media payments (courtesy of Greg Padley).
Measurement
- Google Analytics - I recommend using Google Analytics even if you have a paid analytics service (courtesy Cim Buser).
- Hubspot - I'm a customer. I use Hubspot to track the performance of my keywords and competitors' keywords (courtesy Gretel Going).
- Website Grader - Hubspot product that will grade your website on a number of analytics and social media indicators. Great free tool!
- Alexa - Some high-level information on website traffic for any site.
- Compete.com - Excellent comparison tool for web analytics-type information.
- Quantcast - Provides good overview of analytics and site demographics (courtesy of Kyra Reed).
- Woopra - Analytics on steroids (courtesy of Kyra Reed).
Operations
- Google Apps - Runs all email and calendar functions through one place. We use it and love it. Basic option is free.
- Google Docs - Share Word documents, spreadsheets and presentations via secure invitations. Great for editing a document with multiple people involved.
- Microsoft Live Workspace - Like Google Docs but with Microsoft. 5GB free space (courtesy Kate H).
- Teamwork Project Manager - Easy-to-use project management tool.
- BaseCamp - An alternative to Teamwork Project Manager. Also very easy to use.
- aMember - Handles paid memberships for websites (courtesy Simon Payn).
- Junta42 Match - Finds expert providers for web content projects.
- Freemind - Open source mind-mapping software.
- Mindmanager - One of the best mapping software programs around (courtesy Kavita Jhunjhunwala).
- Mindmeister.com - It's like Google Docs for mindmapping (courtesy George Kao).
- Box.net - Save everyday work files...access from anywhere (courtesy Michelle O'Hagan).
- Xobni.com - Outlook plugin that helps track down files easier (courtesy Craig Hodges).
- ExpertMagnet.com - Free service to find professional service providers.
Other Cool Online Tools
- Blinkplan - Creating flatplans for magazines (courtesy Kevin Lund).
- Jing- To create screenshots for clients when something needs to be explained (courtesy Tom Deeter).
- Gimp - Quickly edit images from Flickr (courtesy Tom Deeter)
- VisualCV - Online social media resume (courtesy Michelle Corsano).
12 Reasons to Put Blogs at the Center of Your Content Marketing
Blogs are the optimal choice for your content marketing hub because they’re content chameleons combining the strength of social media with old-fashioned print-publishing functionality. The reality is that in today’s content-driven world, while you may view yourself as a marketer, you’re really a publisher. You must provide relevant content for your prospects, customers and the public who – according to Ipsos’ research – spend over 10 hours a day consuming media.
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From a marketing perspective, you need content at every step of the purchase process that educates and entertains without overtly promoting your offering.
According to research from Blog2Print’s Corporate Blog Survey (see the chart), one out of two companies view blogs as a cost of doing business, which is a weak rationale for a marketing initiative. These respondents are overlooking a blog’s capability to act as control center for their content marketing.
Are you looking to justify blogging in your company? Here are twelve points to consider. (Need help deciding what to put on your corporate blog, see these nine must-have company blog elements.)
1. Blogs are an easy-to-use CMS (aka content management system).
Blogs require limited training and/or technical skill to use while providing flexibility to update or modify content quickly. As an added bonus, blogs are inexpensive.
2. Blogs are part of a company’s owned media.
Blog content is owned by your organization and can be integrated into your website. Unlike other third-party and social media outposts, you don’t need to worry about whether they’ll disappear or go out of business. A blog can serve in lieu of a website.
3. Blogs provide branded context for your content.
As part of your firm’s owned media, blogs offer a branded context for your communications through the use of blog design elements that can be exported with the content. You can extend your brand without paying for third party media.
4. Blogs integrate your brand into your content marketing.
Beyond the blog’s branded context, blogs create a blog personality with a unique voice. They offer communications transparency and the opportunity to write in a conversational tone that makes your brand feel “human”. Just be sure to avoid content that is clearly self-promotional, and ensure your blog personality is integrated with your brand personality across other social media platforms.
5. Blogs enhance search optimization.
Though their keyword-rich content, architecture and cross-linking to other content on the Web, blogs support search optimization efforts. (Note: This assumes you’re using your own domain not a free third party blogging platform.)
6. Blogs are a 24/7 communication platform.
With increased need for real-time communications, blogs are a great place to quickly publish favorable content about your brand or respond to evolving issues. Plug-in software can automate your editorial calendar.
7. Blogs support an array of media formats.For distributing branded content, blogs simplify the uploading and management of text, photographs, graphics, videos, audio, presentations and PDFs. When creating offline content and events, consider what kind of online content can go on your blog.
8. Blogs facilitate content distribution through multiple channels.
Blogs can expand your message delivery through email and RSS feeds at no additional cost. Blog posts can also be automatically collected into email digests.
9. Blogs supply content for social media interactions.
Blog content is currency for social media engagement on social sharing sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Make sure to include icons and tailored calls-to-action. (Remember, these shares translate to earned media impressions (aka free.))
10. Blogs provide a targeted location to direct prospects and customers.
With a URL or QR code you can direct prospects, customers and the public to your blog from other forms of content marketing. This gives you a way to connect the various components across platforms.
11. Blogs are flexible enough to support diverse initiatives.
Blogs can help companies achieve a variety of corporate goals, such as providing product-related content, answering customer questions, attracting new prospects and hosting an executive platform.
12. Blogs provide metrics that you can use to track content marketing to business goals.
As with any business strategy, it’s critical to monitor your progress. There are a variety of metrics to assess your blog’s effectiveness.
Putting a blog at the center of your content marketing strategy is a sound idea. It provides a branded environment that’s optimal for your content and aligned with your corporate goals. Even better is the flexibility that blogs provide and their ability to be integrated into your social media strategy.
How do you feel about using a blog as the center of your content marketing strategy? Are there any other points that you’d add to this list? If so, please include them in the comment section below along with your rationale.
From a marketing perspective, you need content at every step of the purchase process that educates and entertains without overtly promoting your offering.
According to research from Blog2Print’s Corporate Blog Survey (see the chart), one out of two companies view blogs as a cost of doing business, which is a weak rationale for a marketing initiative. These respondents are overlooking a blog’s capability to act as control center for their content marketing.
Are you looking to justify blogging in your company? Here are twelve points to consider. (Need help deciding what to put on your corporate blog, see these nine must-have company blog elements.)
1. Blogs are an easy-to-use CMS (aka content management system).
Blogs require limited training and/or technical skill to use while providing flexibility to update or modify content quickly. As an added bonus, blogs are inexpensive.
2. Blogs are part of a company’s owned media.
Blog content is owned by your organization and can be integrated into your website. Unlike other third-party and social media outposts, you don’t need to worry about whether they’ll disappear or go out of business. A blog can serve in lieu of a website.
3. Blogs provide branded context for your content.
As part of your firm’s owned media, blogs offer a branded context for your communications through the use of blog design elements that can be exported with the content. You can extend your brand without paying for third party media.
4. Blogs integrate your brand into your content marketing.
Beyond the blog’s branded context, blogs create a blog personality with a unique voice. They offer communications transparency and the opportunity to write in a conversational tone that makes your brand feel “human”. Just be sure to avoid content that is clearly self-promotional, and ensure your blog personality is integrated with your brand personality across other social media platforms.
5. Blogs enhance search optimization.
Though their keyword-rich content, architecture and cross-linking to other content on the Web, blogs support search optimization efforts. (Note: This assumes you’re using your own domain not a free third party blogging platform.)
6. Blogs are a 24/7 communication platform.
With increased need for real-time communications, blogs are a great place to quickly publish favorable content about your brand or respond to evolving issues. Plug-in software can automate your editorial calendar.
7. Blogs support an array of media formats.For distributing branded content, blogs simplify the uploading and management of text, photographs, graphics, videos, audio, presentations and PDFs. When creating offline content and events, consider what kind of online content can go on your blog.
8. Blogs facilitate content distribution through multiple channels.
Blogs can expand your message delivery through email and RSS feeds at no additional cost. Blog posts can also be automatically collected into email digests.
9. Blogs supply content for social media interactions.
Blog content is currency for social media engagement on social sharing sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Make sure to include icons and tailored calls-to-action. (Remember, these shares translate to earned media impressions (aka free.))
10. Blogs provide a targeted location to direct prospects and customers.
With a URL or QR code you can direct prospects, customers and the public to your blog from other forms of content marketing. This gives you a way to connect the various components across platforms.
11. Blogs are flexible enough to support diverse initiatives.
Blogs can help companies achieve a variety of corporate goals, such as providing product-related content, answering customer questions, attracting new prospects and hosting an executive platform.
12. Blogs provide metrics that you can use to track content marketing to business goals.
As with any business strategy, it’s critical to monitor your progress. There are a variety of metrics to assess your blog’s effectiveness.
Putting a blog at the center of your content marketing strategy is a sound idea. It provides a branded environment that’s optimal for your content and aligned with your corporate goals. Even better is the flexibility that blogs provide and their ability to be integrated into your social media strategy.
How do you feel about using a blog as the center of your content marketing strategy? Are there any other points that you’d add to this list? If so, please include them in the comment section below along with your rationale.
2010 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends
Have you ever wondered:
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With help from American Business Media and the Business Marketing Association, Junta42 and MarketingProfs surveyed over 1,100 North American B2B marketers from diverse industries and a wide range of company sizes. B2B Content Marketing: 2010 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends represents the largest, most comprehensive survey about content marketing in the business-to-business (B2B) space to date.
A few of the key findings:
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If you are in B2B marketing, there are many other things you will find out by downloading this report, such as how content marketers measure success, what distinguishes self-described best-in-class marketers and much more. Want to learn more?
Get the free report:
- How many tactics B2B marketers use in their content marketing efforts?
- Which tactics are most popular?
- What percentage of the marketing budget do marketers spend on content marketing?
- Which industry has the highest level of content marketing adoption?
- What are effective content marketers doing that less effective marketers are not?
A few of the key findings:
The use of content marketing is widespread
Nine in 10 organizations market with content, with marketers using eight content tactics on average. The most popular tactics are social media (excluding blogs) (79%), articles (78%), in-person events (62%) and eNewsletters (61%).
Marketers are committing budget to content marketing
B2B marketers allocate approximately 26% of their total marketing budgets to content marketing initiatives. 51% of B2B marketers plan to increase their spend in content marketing over the next 12 months.Much education is needed in the area of content marketing
While content marketing is mainstream, marketers are unsure of how effective various tactics are. For many tactics, there is a large “confidence gap” in which marketers use tactics but are unsure of how effective they are. For instance, of the 79% of B2B marketers who use social media, only 31% of users think they use this tactic effectively.
Marketers need additional help with content marketing
While marketers certainly need education around content marketing, this isn’t the only thing needed for content marketing success. As shown in the chart below, the biggest challenges for marketers are producing engaging content (36%), producing enough content (21%) and finding budget to produce content (20%). (This isn’t only something that this research confirms – we hear this from the marketers we talk to every day. Stay tuned Friday when we’ll talk more about how the Content Marketing Institute is changing to help marketers with these challenges.)
If you are in B2B marketing, there are many other things you will find out by downloading this report, such as how content marketers measure success, what distinguishes self-described best-in-class marketers and much more. Want to learn more?
Get the free report:
The How-to of Content Marketing: 10 Posts to Get You Started
One of the things I love about my job as the editor of this blog is that I get to work with – and read – thoughts from my favorite content marketers. I learn something new every day.
We’re in the process of updating our website (lots more content coming your way in 2011!), and I re-visited all of the posts recently. So many great gems in here, and in the spirit of an end-of-the-year wrap up, I wanted to share some of my favorite how-to posts that walk you through various aspects of content marketing.
3 Strategies for Changing Your Company Culture to Support Content Marketing
Do you embrace the concept of content marketing but don’t know how to get buy-in from your organization? Follow these tips from Nate Riggs.
How to Start Content Strategy: The Discovery Phase
It’s natural to want to jump right into content creation, but it’s best to start with your content strategy. Chris Moritz lays out the steps to do this (and he takes it a step further when he shows you how to develop your strategic pillars).
10 Ways to Make Content More Engaging
We did a series of posts on making content more engaging, which was the top challenge identified by B2B marketers in the Junta42/MarketingProfs study. Here’s one post from the series that talks about how to make content more engaging.
20 Clues to Find the B2B Content Your Audience Really Wants
One of the themes running through a number of ours posts is how to get ideas on content to create. You can check out a number of posts on this topic, but here are 20 ideas from Elizabeth Sosnow.
How To Reformat, Repurpose and Resurrect the Existing Content In Your Organization
Once you know what you want to write about, you want to get the most “bang for your buck.” Our contributors have often written about repurposing content, but here’s one to get your started from Russ Henneberry.
We’re in the process of updating our website (lots more content coming your way in 2011!), and I re-visited all of the posts recently. So many great gems in here, and in the spirit of an end-of-the-year wrap up, I wanted to share some of my favorite how-to posts that walk you through various aspects of content marketing.
3 Strategies for Changing Your Company Culture to Support Content Marketing
Do you embrace the concept of content marketing but don’t know how to get buy-in from your organization? Follow these tips from Nate Riggs.
How to Start Content Strategy: The Discovery Phase
It’s natural to want to jump right into content creation, but it’s best to start with your content strategy. Chris Moritz lays out the steps to do this (and he takes it a step further when he shows you how to develop your strategic pillars).
10 Ways to Make Content More Engaging
We did a series of posts on making content more engaging, which was the top challenge identified by B2B marketers in the Junta42/MarketingProfs study. Here’s one post from the series that talks about how to make content more engaging.
20 Clues to Find the B2B Content Your Audience Really Wants
One of the themes running through a number of ours posts is how to get ideas on content to create. You can check out a number of posts on this topic, but here are 20 ideas from Elizabeth Sosnow.
How To Reformat, Repurpose and Resurrect the Existing Content In Your Organization
Once you know what you want to write about, you want to get the most “bang for your buck.” Our contributors have often written about repurposing content, but here’s one to get your started from Russ Henneberry.
50 Questions Answered About Content Marketing
Whether you are a content marketing newbie or someone with more experience, you’re bound to have questions. Here are the answers to 50 common ones.
Do you have other questions? Share in the comments, and we’ll point you to an answer or ask one of our contributors to write a future post on the topic.
Want to learn what content marketing is or explain this to your peers? This is the post for you.
How should I get started with content marketing?
Twelve CMI contributors give you essential getting started tips (check out the end of the post for a summary of ideas).
How can I change the culture in my organization to support content marketing?
One of the biggest challenges with content marketing is getting buy-in from management. Nate Riggs gives tips on how to do this.
I’m new to content marketing and don’t have a lot of time to spend. What would you suggest?
Mark Schaefer shares how any company – large or small – can use micro-content.
How to I monitor my brand online?
You know you should be monitoring your brand online, but how exactly do you do this? CB Whittemore walks you through the steps (and check out the comments for an additional video from Brody Dorland).
Here’s an essential post from Kathy Hanbury that explains content strategy in a very easy-to-understand way.
I want to create a content strategy. Where do I start?
A great post from Chris Moritz that breaks down the first steps in a content strategy, from creating a content inventory to developing personas.
How many tactics should I use? How do I decide which tactics are best for my audience?
In a follow up post, Chris Moritz shares how to develop strategic pillars for your content marketing.
How do I create an effective content mix?
Kathy Hanbury walks you through a series of exercises to help define the right content mix for your business.
What process and templates should I use to map by B2B content to the buying cycle?
If you are a B2B marketer who has a long or complex buying process, this is a must-read post from Barbra Gago complete with templates.
A lot of contributors have touched on buyer personas as they are at the heart of what we do. Barbra Gago touches on the highlights and provides a solid template for you to use.
What is a web persona, and how is it different from a buyer persona?
Brian Massey discusses a web persona, which is a useful tool to help you figure out how to present information on your website.
How can I learn more about my audience via analytics?
In this five-minute video, Andrew Davis shares two tools you can use to figure out what you audience is doing online.
How can I research my buyer?
Many marketers talk about knowing your buyer, but how exactly do you do this? Barbra Gago explains.
I want to create the type of content my audience wants. How do I know how they are consuming content?
Not only do you need to know what kind of info your audience wants, but you also need to know how to present it. Here, Barbra Gago poses 20 questions to help you get the answers you need.
Where can I find demographic data?
Manya Chylinski provides a really useful list of sources to get demographic data.
A definitive post from Joe Pulizzi on the basic steps for managing content marketing.
I often hear the mantra that content marketers should think like publishers. What does that mean?
Jeremy Victor provides easy-to-follow ideas on what marketers can take from publishers.
What is an editorial calendar, and how do I create one?
An editorial calendar is a must-have tool for content marketers. Here is a template I use to help you get you started.
I am creating content for multiple geographies. How do I manage this?
Does your content marketing span countries? Sarah Mitchell shares tested tips for making this ever-challenging process run more smoothly.
If you are thinking about hiring a content marketing consultant, check out this post from Robert Rose where he shares some common objections – and responses.
I want to get help with my content marketing. How can I prepare?
Russell Sparkman outlines some ways that you can get more “bang for your buck” when working with a content marketing consultant.
A straightforward post from Angela Vanucci on the key players in any content marketing team.
Are there certain personalities that should be on my team?
Not only are the right skills needed, but you also need the right personality mix. Ahava Leibtag shares a fun list of five kinds of people every content marketing team needs.
How can I make my team better writers for content marketing?
Looking to use internal resources for content marketing? Elizabeth Sosnow’s step-by-step bootcamp will help!
My content marketing team sometimes gets “stuck.” What can we do?
Most content marketers struggle with coordination at some point. Ahava Leibtag provides some tips on how to get out of the rut.
An essential checklist by Ahava Leibtag on how to create and distribute your content.
How do I repurpose content?
One of the best ways to gain efficiencies in content marketing is to repurpose content. Here Manya Chylinski provides an A – Z list of what you can repurpose.
How do I find the right keywords from my content?
This classic post from Elise Redlin-Cook shows you how to find the right keywords for your content.
How do I curate content?
Amanda Maksymiw shares her tips for curating content for an aggregated content site.
How do I ask the right questions to get the best content?
To get to the “so what” that your readers care about, you need to ask the right questions. Dianna Huffs shows you how.
My brand isn’t very exciting (Ok, it’s boring!). What can I do?
Let’s face it: some brands just aren’t that exciting. Patricia Redsicker shares some tips and examples that are sure to inspire.
How do I make my content more engaging?
In this five-part series, our CMI contributors share ideas on how to define, create and measure engaging content.
What are some examples of great content marketing?
Sometimes the best way to get inspired is to see what others are doing. Check out these examples from our contributors.
Content marketing takes a lot of time! Any ideas on what I can do?
Here are seven things you can do to streamline your content marketing efforts.
How can I create an effective call to action?
Brian Massey tackles the call the action. Seems simple, but many marketers don’t get it right.
While it’s relatively easy to translate content with tools like Google Translate, this often isn’t the best approach. Christian Arno walks you through what you need to know if you have a multilingual audience.
If I am localizing my content, what should I do beyond translation?
Ann-Christin Lindstedt share the six things you need to “switch” when localizing your content.
What are the basics of localization?
Sarah Mitchell presents this handy checklist of things you need to consider when localizing your content.
In our most popular post to date, Brody Dorland shares a useful checklist on how to distribute your blog posts, but this can be used for most content. This is one to hang at your desk!
What are QR codes and how do I use them?
QR codes are an increasingly popular way to promote content. Katie McCaskey shows you how to get started.
I have so much content. How do I organize it?
Doug Kessler shares the basics of Library Marketing, which is the art of science of presenting your content so users can find it.
If you haven’t searched for your company name on LinkedIn, do it. Now. As Constance Semler explains, you may be surprised at what you find!
How can I use Facebook for content marketing?
There are definitely better ways to use Facebook for content marketing. Katie McCaskey walks you through the basics.
How do I plan what my social media conversations?
Do you want to participate in social media but aren’t sure what to say. Here’s a handy template.
Heidi Cohen presents a handy checklist of metrics to track for content marketing.
How do I measure the impact of my social media marketing?
Tom Pisello walks you through how to calculate the ROI of your social media program.
How do I know if my audience is engaging on Facebook?
Nate Riggs walks you through a series of exercises to help you understand how you are really engaging with your Facebook fans.
What kind of tests can I use to see how my website is performing?
Yeah, you know you should be testing, but where do you start? Scott Frangos outlines useful tests for all content marketers.
How can I use my web analytics to track my content marketing progress?
Are you like a lot of marketers who know you should use your analytics but get easily overwhelmed by all of the data? Scott Frangos walks you through a process to help you pull out the key things to measure.
What other questions do you have? Let us know in the comments below!
Do you have other questions? Share in the comments, and we’ll point you to an answer or ask one of our contributors to write a future post on the topic.
Getting started
What is content marketing, and how is it different from traditional marketing?Want to learn what content marketing is or explain this to your peers? This is the post for you.
How should I get started with content marketing?
Twelve CMI contributors give you essential getting started tips (check out the end of the post for a summary of ideas).
How can I change the culture in my organization to support content marketing?
One of the biggest challenges with content marketing is getting buy-in from management. Nate Riggs gives tips on how to do this.
I’m new to content marketing and don’t have a lot of time to spend. What would you suggest?
Mark Schaefer shares how any company – large or small – can use micro-content.
How to I monitor my brand online?
You know you should be monitoring your brand online, but how exactly do you do this? CB Whittemore walks you through the steps (and check out the comments for an additional video from Brody Dorland).
Developing a strategy
What is content strategy?Here’s an essential post from Kathy Hanbury that explains content strategy in a very easy-to-understand way.
I want to create a content strategy. Where do I start?
A great post from Chris Moritz that breaks down the first steps in a content strategy, from creating a content inventory to developing personas.
How many tactics should I use? How do I decide which tactics are best for my audience?
In a follow up post, Chris Moritz shares how to develop strategic pillars for your content marketing.
How do I create an effective content mix?
Kathy Hanbury walks you through a series of exercises to help define the right content mix for your business.
What process and templates should I use to map by B2B content to the buying cycle?
If you are a B2B marketer who has a long or complex buying process, this is a must-read post from Barbra Gago complete with templates.
Understanding your buyers
How do I develop a buyer persona?A lot of contributors have touched on buyer personas as they are at the heart of what we do. Barbra Gago touches on the highlights and provides a solid template for you to use.
What is a web persona, and how is it different from a buyer persona?
Brian Massey discusses a web persona, which is a useful tool to help you figure out how to present information on your website.
How can I learn more about my audience via analytics?
In this five-minute video, Andrew Davis shares two tools you can use to figure out what you audience is doing online.
How can I research my buyer?
Many marketers talk about knowing your buyer, but how exactly do you do this? Barbra Gago explains.
I want to create the type of content my audience wants. How do I know how they are consuming content?
Not only do you need to know what kind of info your audience wants, but you also need to know how to present it. Here, Barbra Gago poses 20 questions to help you get the answers you need.
Where can I find demographic data?
Manya Chylinski provides a really useful list of sources to get demographic data.
Managing the process
What process should I use for content marketing?A definitive post from Joe Pulizzi on the basic steps for managing content marketing.
I often hear the mantra that content marketers should think like publishers. What does that mean?
Jeremy Victor provides easy-to-follow ideas on what marketers can take from publishers.
What is an editorial calendar, and how do I create one?
An editorial calendar is a must-have tool for content marketers. Here is a template I use to help you get you started.
I am creating content for multiple geographies. How do I manage this?
Does your content marketing span countries? Sarah Mitchell shares tested tips for making this ever-challenging process run more smoothly.
Getting help
I need help with content marketing. Is a consultant right for me?If you are thinking about hiring a content marketing consultant, check out this post from Robert Rose where he shares some common objections – and responses.
I want to get help with my content marketing. How can I prepare?
Russell Sparkman outlines some ways that you can get more “bang for your buck” when working with a content marketing consultant.
Coordinating the right team
Who should be on my content marketing team?A straightforward post from Angela Vanucci on the key players in any content marketing team.
Are there certain personalities that should be on my team?
Not only are the right skills needed, but you also need the right personality mix. Ahava Leibtag shares a fun list of five kinds of people every content marketing team needs.
How can I make my team better writers for content marketing?
Looking to use internal resources for content marketing? Elizabeth Sosnow’s step-by-step bootcamp will help!
My content marketing team sometimes gets “stuck.” What can we do?
Most content marketers struggle with coordination at some point. Ahava Leibtag provides some tips on how to get out of the rut.
Creating content
What are the basic things I need to keep in mind to create valuable content?An essential checklist by Ahava Leibtag on how to create and distribute your content.
How do I repurpose content?
One of the best ways to gain efficiencies in content marketing is to repurpose content. Here Manya Chylinski provides an A – Z list of what you can repurpose.
How do I find the right keywords from my content?
This classic post from Elise Redlin-Cook shows you how to find the right keywords for your content.
How do I curate content?
Amanda Maksymiw shares her tips for curating content for an aggregated content site.
How do I ask the right questions to get the best content?
To get to the “so what” that your readers care about, you need to ask the right questions. Dianna Huffs shows you how.
My brand isn’t very exciting (Ok, it’s boring!). What can I do?
Let’s face it: some brands just aren’t that exciting. Patricia Redsicker shares some tips and examples that are sure to inspire.
How do I make my content more engaging?
In this five-part series, our CMI contributors share ideas on how to define, create and measure engaging content.
What are some examples of great content marketing?
Sometimes the best way to get inspired is to see what others are doing. Check out these examples from our contributors.
Content marketing takes a lot of time! Any ideas on what I can do?
Here are seven things you can do to streamline your content marketing efforts.
How can I create an effective call to action?
Brian Massey tackles the call the action. Seems simple, but many marketers don’t get it right.
Localizing content
What are some best practices for translating content?While it’s relatively easy to translate content with tools like Google Translate, this often isn’t the best approach. Christian Arno walks you through what you need to know if you have a multilingual audience.
If I am localizing my content, what should I do beyond translation?
Ann-Christin Lindstedt share the six things you need to “switch” when localizing your content.
What are the basics of localization?
Sarah Mitchell presents this handy checklist of things you need to consider when localizing your content.
Distributing content
Once I publish some new content, how can I distribute it?In our most popular post to date, Brody Dorland shares a useful checklist on how to distribute your blog posts, but this can be used for most content. This is one to hang at your desk!
What are QR codes and how do I use them?
QR codes are an increasingly popular way to promote content. Katie McCaskey shows you how to get started.
I have so much content. How do I organize it?
Doug Kessler shares the basics of Library Marketing, which is the art of science of presenting your content so users can find it.
Using social media for content marketing
How can I use LinkedIn for content marketing?If you haven’t searched for your company name on LinkedIn, do it. Now. As Constance Semler explains, you may be surprised at what you find!
How can I use Facebook for content marketing?
There are definitely better ways to use Facebook for content marketing. Katie McCaskey walks you through the basics.
How do I plan what my social media conversations?
Do you want to participate in social media but aren’t sure what to say. Here’s a handy template.
Measuring success
I’m new to measurement? What are the most important things to track?Heidi Cohen presents a handy checklist of metrics to track for content marketing.
How do I measure the impact of my social media marketing?
Tom Pisello walks you through how to calculate the ROI of your social media program.
How do I know if my audience is engaging on Facebook?
Nate Riggs walks you through a series of exercises to help you understand how you are really engaging with your Facebook fans.
What kind of tests can I use to see how my website is performing?
Yeah, you know you should be testing, but where do you start? Scott Frangos outlines useful tests for all content marketers.
How can I use my web analytics to track my content marketing progress?
Are you like a lot of marketers who know you should use your analytics but get easily overwhelmed by all of the data? Scott Frangos walks you through a process to help you pull out the key things to measure.
What other questions do you have? Let us know in the comments below!
5 Steps to Using Data to Maximize Content Marketing ROI
One of the biggest challenges for content marketers is tying their activities to return on investment (ROI). Numerous case studies show that content developed using insights from customers, also known as data-driven customer insights, produce increased customer engagement and generate significantly higher return on investment. Properly leveraging data analytics to deliver data-driven communications is the key to successful content marketing development.
For instance, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power recently used data analytics to help reduce their overall IT costs. The company evaluated its call center volume and found that 25 to 35% of the four million calls received a year were from customers who did not understand their monthly bills. Using the rule of thumb that a call center inquiry costs $5 to $50 per call, you can easily calculate the costs associated with this issue. Using enhanced data analytics, LADWP reorganized and revitalized their monthly statement to help decrease this percentage and drive down costs. To follow their lead, here are five steps to achieving better ROI using data analytics and content marketing practices.
Top Ten Reasons Why Your Content Marketing Strategy Fails
The definition - content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience - with the objective of driving profitable customer action.
It's the opposite of interruption marketing. You create great content that attracts customers and prospects, educates them, and potentially engages them in a conversation with you.
With that in mind, here are Top Ten reasons why your content marketing strategy fails:
(1) You don't have one - you think fulfillment just means you stick all you've got on that landing page, mini site, or newsletter, and pray something will stick.
(2) You don't understand the difference between interruption and content marketing - you think that because you have something to sell, you can push it out there and get people to but it because you say so.
(3) Your content does not provide value - the worst offenders will ask for information on customers and prospects to give them something that doesn't really tell them anything new - just to get people in a contact database.
(4) Your in-house experts think it's marketing's job to write it - while we agree that in this day and age marketing professionals need to be in the content business, it's a very bad idea to assume that they need to be proficient in having every kind of conversation, even those where they'd be clearly not the experts.
(5) You think that changing the title to last month's paper will work - this is akin to starting a brand new relationship on the wrong foot. Will your customers believe you next time, after experiencing this kind of stunt?
(6) You invite people in for one topic, then you give them something else entirely - another dangerous assumption is that people don't pay attention. They won't if this is the kind of treatment you reserve for them. It's like starting a conversation with a great opening, and then putting absolutely no substance behind it.
(7) Your call to action is not clear, or you have multiple ones - the main reason why you don't want to do this, of course, is that you won't know what works among the many messages you put out there. When you're focused, things have a way of working out much better for all involved.
(8) You want too much, too soon - there's no relationship and you're already asking your customers and prospects to give you something substantial.
(9) You don't get the whole anticipated and relevant part of it - you think integrated and all matching means you're not interrupting. In other words you missed the whole idea of custom content written specifically to address the needs of the audience you are hoping to engage.
(10) Your content is all about you, not your customer - the surest way to bore someone or to become irrelevant quickly is by not even trying to relate to them.
At the end of the day, you want to reach the people who will buy your products and services. Whether your content marketing strategy is fulfilled through marketing or public relations activities, you should think about providing value and worry less about measuring clicks and hits.
Will your customers and prospects find you on the Web when they're looking for the resources you provide? Will your articles, bylines, white papers, eBooks, blog posts convey that you understand the issues - their issues - at play in the marketplace?
Does your newsletter provide timely, relevant tips, commentary, and information that reveals industry or industry vertical knowledge? Do analysts and third parties crowd around your thought leadership to help amplify what you know?
If the answer is no, those are great places for you to start.
What’s the Return on Investment (ROI) of Content Marketing?
There is evidence revealing that shortsighted interests— just like with social media—are driving marketers to dive into content marketing with a tool first mindset. Cool tools are fun, sexy, and popular. Who wouldn’t want to be seen as all of that? There is just one little thing to consider, tools are worthless without objectives and strategies dictating which tools are required to meet a set goal.
What is the answer? Can content marketing able to deliver a return on investment? Of course, it can. However, the investment will not show a return if marketers do not figure out first what problem they are solving. Once that is settled, then careful planning, creating, and tracking must happen. That sounds like a lot of hard work that takes time to pay off, doesn’t it? What is a marketer short on time and a lead generation beast to feed to do?
That might just be a bigger challenge than figuring out Return on Investment.
It’s the opposite of interruption marketing. You create great content that attracts customers and prospects, educates them, and potentially engages them in a conversation with you.
(8) You want too much, too soon – there’s no relationship and you’re already asking your customers and prospects to give you something substantial.”
- Higher sales-conversion rates indicate those more likely to buy.
- Higher customer value indicates those more likely to upgrade to higher-tier products/services; buy more, and more often (greater share of customer); and engage in more profitable and loyal relationships.
- Faster conversion velocity indicates shorter sales cycles, which tend to both increase conversion rates and decrease the resource cost of internal sales staff.
Without insight into these profit-driver metrics, marketers tend to rely on quantities of short-term behaviors: counting engagement, views, or leads. That is a big disconnect between content strengths and measured impact.”
ROI: How to Measure Return on Investment in Social Media
Over the years, Social Media experts attempted to redefine ROI for a new era of influence. While some introduced alternative philosophies for measuring the nuances tied to social media, others wondered aloud whether ROI simply wasn't necessary as the tools and methodologies for analyzing yields didn't yet exist.
And furthermore, by focusing on justification and metrics, we were distracted from the primary objective of building relationships and cultivating dialogue.
The debate over ROI inspired certain brands to cannonball into popular social networks to join the proverbial conversation without a plan or strategic objectives defined. At the same time, the lack of ROI standards and established authorities, unnerved many executives, preventing any form of experimentation until their questions and concerns were addressed.
But that was then and this is now.
In 2010, we enter in to a new era of social media marketing, one based on information, rationalization, and resolve.
Business leaders simply need clarity in a time of abundant options and scarcity of experience and answers. As many of us can attest, we report to executives who have no desire to measure intangible credos rooted in transparency and authenticity. In the end, they simply want to calculate the return on investment and associate Social Media programs with real world business performance metrics.
Over the years, we explored ideas, driven by a passionate desire to find new meaning and vindication in uncharted domains. These discussions and the innovation they sparked, redefined the framework for traditional metrics, creating hybrids that would and will prove critical to modernize business practices, improve products and services, and effectively compete for the future.
ROI: The Return on Ignorance
Where the “I” in ROI represents return on investment, marketers have also explored ancillary elements to address the socialization of media, marketing, and the resulting dynamics of engagement.
Adaptations included:
Return on engagement — the duration of time spent either in conversation or interacting with social objects, and in turn, what transpired that's worthy of measurement.
Return on participation — the metric tied to measuring and valuing the time spent participating in social media through conversations or the creation of, social objects.
Return on involvement — similar to participation, marketers explored touchpoints for documenting states of interaction and tying metrics and potential return of each.
Return on attention — In the attention economy, we assess the means to seize attention, hold it and as such measure the responses activities that we engender.
Return on trust — A variant on measuring customer loyalty and the likelihood for referrals, a trust barometer establishes the state of trust earned in social media engagement and the prospect of generating advocacy and how it impacts future business.
But as we learn through experience, our views and techniques mature into more sophisticated strategies as we progress through the Ten Stages of Social Media Evolution.
For many businesses, the case for new metrics cannot arise until we have an intrinsic understanding of how social media engagement affects us at every level. To be quite honest, it is not as simple as counting an increase of subscribers, followers, fans, conversation volume, reach, and traffic. While the size of the corporate social graph is a reflection of our participation behavior, it is not symbolic of brand stature, resonance, loyalty, advocacy, nor is it an indicator for business performance.
ROI: Return on Investment
Sometimes we simply need ROI to signify a meaningful return on investment.
In 2010, Social Media endeavors are still funded as pilot programs to steer the brand towards perceived relevance in the hopes that they demonstrate momentum and as such, rewards materialize. Budgets are for the most part, borrowed from other divisions to fund the teams and programs lead by the internal champions who effectively make the case for experimentation. Where that money goes and from where it's borrowed varies by department and by company usually tied to where champions reside internally today.
In many cases however, new programs are introduced without an integrated strategy. Money is allocated from existing programs, and if we're going to take away from something, we should therefore determine whether or not we're justified in doing so.
According to a 2009 study performed by Mzinga and Babson Executive Education, 84 percent of professionals representing a variety of industries reported that they do not measure ROI.
In 2010, executives are demanding scrutiny, evaluation, and interpretation. Even though new media is transforming organizations from the inside out, what is constant nevertheless, is the need to apply performance indicators to our work.
The Business of Social Media
The CFO, CEO, and CMO of any organization would be remiss if they did not account for spending and resource allocation, regardless of the allure and seduction of social media.
MarketingProfs recently published a study performed by Bazaarvoice and the CMO Club that revealed the true expectation of chief marketing officers. Bottom line, they want measurable results from social media.
- 53% are unsure about their return on Twitter
- 50% are unable to assess the value of LinkedIn or industry blogs
More specifically however, roughly 15% believe there is no ROI associated with Twitter and just over 10% cannot glean ROI from LinkedIn or Facebook.
I believe this is the direct result of not tying activity to an end game, the ability to know what it is we want to measure before we engage. Doing so, allows us to define a strategy and a tactical plan to support activity that helps us reach our goals and objectives.
We first answer,
What is it we want to change, improve, accomplish, incite, etc.?
Doing so will allow us to establish goals and objectives that specifically tie activity to:
- Sales
- Registrations
- Referrals
- Links (the currency of the social web)
- Votes
- Reduction in costs and processes
- Decrease in customer issues
- Lead generation
- Conversion
- Reduced sale cycles
- Inbound activity
Customer Insight
Among the responses received from CMOs, customer ratings and reviews rose to the top of marketing activities that deliver tangible ROI insight. In 2009, 80% of respondents reported that customer stories and product suggestions shape products and services. As a result, brands earn the trust and loyalty of their customers for listening and responding — as long as they are made aware of their role and rewarded for it.
In 2010, CMOs will review opportunities for user-generated content sources to involve customers and advocates with many reporting…
- a 400% increase in use of Twitter comments to inform decisions about products and services
- a 59% increase in the use of customer ratings and reviews
- A 24% increase in use of social media for pre-sales Q&A
The Socialization of Monetization
Social media metrics will increasingly tie to revenue in 2010. To what extent seems to vary according to CMOs.
- 80% predict upwards of 5%
- 15% optimistically hope for 5-10%
- 5% or less revenue tied to social in 2009 foresee an increase of an additional 5% in 2010
- 6-10% of revenue stemming from social is expected to increase more than 10%
- Those with greater revenues resulting from social engagement expect an escalation of revenue derived from social at 20%
The Forecast for Metrics in 2010
Earlier we mentioned generic forms of Social Media metrics. The survey revealed that indeed, many CMOs, 89%, tracked the impact of social media by traffic, pageviews, and the size of their social graph or communities. However, 2010 is the year that social media graduates from experimentation to strategic implementation with direct ties to specific measurable performance indicators.
In 2010, CMOs will seek to establish a connection between social media and P&L business goals. The study documents the adoption of three metrics:
- 333% surge in tracking revenue
- 174% escalation in monitoring conversion
- 150% increase in measuring average order value
A Call To Action
Among the most effective forms of any marketing initiative is the integration of a call to action. It is how I define influence as it gives us the ability to inspire activity and measure it — as designed. As stated earlier, revenue is only one form of metrics we can introduce, but defining the “R” in ROI is where we need to focus as it relates to our business goals and performance indicators specifically. Even though much of social media is free, we do know the cost of engagement as it relates to employees, time, equipment, and opportunity cost (what they're not focusing on or accomplishing while engaging in social media). Tying those costs to the results will reveal a formula for assessing the “I” as investment.
When we truly grasp the ability to define action and measure it, we can expand the impact of new media beyond the P&L. We can adapt business processes, inspire ingenuity, and more effectively compete for the future.
12 Methods To Improve Website Return On Investment (Roi) Using Seo And Other Strategies
Return On Investment (ROI) is the attribute between the complete amount you outlay and the complete amount you consequence from a established internet selling campaign.
If you are carrying out any online selling campaign, then Return On Investment (ROI) is the many critical dimensions to guess your success and the a metric that you must work hard on to upgrade over time.
Generally speaking, Return On Investment (ROI) is a opening dimensions used to weigh the effectiveness of an investment and to compare the effectiveness of a investment to the other or over a established time of time.
Return on investment is a really renouned metric due to its flexibility and simplicity. That is, if an investment does not have a in accord with positive ROI, or if there are other opportunities with a aloft ROI, then this investment should not be done. Return On Investment (ROI) is the last dimensions of success for any promotion campaign.
How To Calculate your Return On Investment (ROI) ?
Return On Investment (ROI) for any promotion campaign is really elementary to calculate. There are usually two variations in the computation formula:
- ” Total cost of promotion campaign inclusive all expenditure connected to this definite campaign
- ” Net Profit of this definite promotion campaign.
Why should you all the time guard your Return On Investment (ROI) ?
Constant monitoring of your Return On Investment (ROI) possibly daily, weekly or both will pledge 5 key goals
- To make sure that you are not losing allowance on any promotion campaign on a every day or weekly basis.
- To discover any unexpected lessen in the opening of any campaign and to take necessary activities to put it back on track.
- To discover any unexpected alleviation in the opening of any campaign and to take necessary stairs to take advantage of the incident for your advantage.
- To assess the effect of varying not similar elements of the campaign to keep the most appropriate elements as in broken up contrast and other contrast methods.
- To discover if the campaign is achieving its goals or descending short.
The two many critical factors to upgrade your Return On Investment (ROI) are:
- Professional Search Engine Optimization.
- Website Conversion Rate Optimization.
Search Engine Optimization is a of the most appropriate internet selling strategies to upgrade your Return On Investment. SEO if completed accurately will bring your pages to the 1st pages of Google, Yahoo, Bing and other leading looking engines. This will simply give you ample more bearing for a long time of time.
Once the primary cost of Search Engine Optimization is paid, you do not must be pay ample allowance to keep your publicity or bearing on the internet.
Other normal online and off line advertisements require successive remuneration to keep your ads running. These payments acquire to a outrageous amount of allowance over time that will far surpass the complete cost of Search Engine Optimization.
Proper Search Engine Optimization may be in the form of a multiple of any number of the subsequent to factors:
- Meticulous keyword research, review and preference to find and use the many essential keywords for your business.
- SEO copywriting your principal website pages and your alighting pages to make them more Search Engine Friendly and more simply found by looking engines.
- Link office building to upgrade your couple recognition and to accomplish a tip looking engine placement.
- Social Media Marketing to emanate more brand loyality and to attain more targeted visitors.
- (YOU DON’T PUT POINT #5 LIKE IN THE OTHER FILE??)
When you enlarge your Conversion Rate, you will obtain more leads and more sales from your targeted traffic.
A accumulation of improvements may be practical to enlarge Conversion Rate:
- Find what are your Unique Selling Points (USP) and make them coherent and without doubt in your website and your alighting pages.
- Improve your website pattern to be more looking engine kind and to improved talk your summary to your visitors.
- Improve your website usability and accessibility to make navigation and anticipating information, products or services simpler for your visitors.
- Improve your sales duplicate to evidently present the benefits of your products or services to be more convencing and convincing to your visitors. Such a Sales duplicate will urge on and appeal to your visitors to convert.
- Improve alighting pages to accurately tie in your promotion campaigns and the keywords used in them.
- Ensure that your alighting pages are keenly applicable to the calm of your website.
- Track your campaigns and investigate results to upgrade performance.
- Experiment with not similar ads, and broken up assessment every component and every step of your campaign to excellent melody your selling campaign and upgrade yoimprove lapse on investment (ROI) our results
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