5 Inspiring Books That Are Transforming My Life and Business

The news was horrifying.

There had been a mass shooting.

Then another story broke.

Some madman with his fingers on a big red button with megalomania syndrome was testing nuclear weapons.

It’s not a good way to start the day.

If we listened all day to the 24/7 news cycle we would all be clinically depressed.

I hate to break it to you but things in general are quite good.

The big picture is positive.

The truth revealed by the data tells a different story that big media wants you to hear.

The world is getting better.

But I am an eternal optimist.

So below are 5 books that may help you in your life and business.

Add something to your life and change you.

One word at a time.

This first book “Enlightenment Now” reveals the truth beyond the depressing daily news.

#1. Enlightenment Now

In the book “Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress”  Steven Pinker reveals some facts.

And Bill Gates said “My new favourite book of all time“.

Here is a snippet of how good things have become in the last 200-300 years as revealed by his exhaustive research.

Life expectancy – In the mid 18th century the life expectancy was 35 years in Europe and the Americas. For the world as a whole it was 29. But starting in the 19th century life expectancy began to rise. The answer in 2015 is 71.4 years. I know when I would rather live.

Health – Research has shown that discoveries by just 100 scientists have saved over 5 billion lives. These include Karl Landsteiner who saved an estimated 1 billion lives with the discovery of blood groups. And we can thank people like Edward Jenner who discovered vaccination in 1796 and Willam Foege for saving over 300 million people from Smallpox which has now been eradicated since 1977.

Wealth – Between 1820 and 1900 the world’s income tripled. In the next 20 years it tripled again. And it has kept rising. Today the Gross World Product has increased almost 200 fold since the start of the Enlightenment in the the 18th century.

Peace  – Wars between great powers have (including world wars) are the most intense form of destruction that the human species has dreamed up. At the dawn of the modern era in 1500’s the great powers were almost always at war. But the decline has been marked. There hasn’t been one since the USA fought China in Korea over 60 years ago.

Image source: Enlightenment Now

It’s not just the great powers that stopped fighting each other with armed conflict between two nation states also in decline. There have been no more than 3 in any year 1945 and none in most years since 1989 and none since the American led invasion of Iraq since 2003.

Environment – Wealth is one thing but at the cost of destroying humanity and the planet we inhabit and is our only home would be foolish. Progress needs to be sustainable. As the world has got richer nature has begun to rebound. London no longer has a fog (coal smoke), the waterways of Puget sound and the Great Lakes are now being re-colonized by fish, birds and sometimes swimmers. The wealthier a nation the usually the better its environment. Oil spills have dropped from more than 100 in in 1973 to just 5 in 2016.

It doesn’t mean there is a lot more to do.

Underlying this progress is something that has made this possible.

Knowledge and reason.

And a willingness for humanity to toss off the cloak of old ways of thinking and continue to evolve.

To become fully human.

To grow and progress.

#2. Killing Marketing

Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose live at the front of Content Marketing. Their new book “Killing Marketing: How Innovative Businesses Are Turning Marketing Cost Into Profit” released last year challenges the business models of marketing.

What are my biggest takeaways from this book?

The first one It is summed up in the quote I stumbled across on Jeremy Epstein’s blog.

“Sales – you call them. Marketing – they call you.”

Content marketing is an ongoing investment that attracts an audience…. and leads and sales.

The other key insight was the new and innovative revenue and business models for new age online publishers. The challenge is for organisations, brands and businesses is to think of themselves in a digital world as media companies.

And not just a soulless brand.

If you don’t believe in content marketing yet, then this book may turn and transform your thinking.

#3. Building a Story Brand

Donald Miller in his No. 1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller “Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen” could be a game changer for how you reveal your business and brand to the world. 

In between the covers he reveals the seven universal elements of powerful stories to teach readers how to dramatically improve how they connect with customers and grow their businesses.

The key takeaway for me was that you need to make your customer “the hero” and not your brand. You are just the guide that shows them the way and has a plan.

That is the opposite of what marketing 101 tells you.

If you don’t yet believe in the power of storytelling as a differentiating tactic in your marketing then this book may change your mind.

#4. The Obstacle is the Way

Ryan Holliday in his cult classic book “The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph” reveals the message of the modern stoic.

Tim Ferriss labels stoicism as his “life operating system“.

As revealed in the book.

“Stoics focus on the things they can control, let go of everything else, and turn every new obstacle into an opportunity to get better, stronger, tougher. As Marcus Aurelius put it nearly 2000 years ago: “The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.”

It’s truth resonated and inspired me to write the post. “3 Life Lessons I Learned the Hard Way”

If you are looking for comfort and want to keep sitting in the safety corner then this book is maybe not for you.

If you want to grow and learn from life’s pains, problems  and trials then you will be inspired.

#5. The StoryTelling Edge

Joe Lazaukas and Shane Snow from Contently (a content marketing software platform) ave written a book that looks at the current and future state of content marketing.

In “The Storytelling Edge: How to Transform Your Business, Stop Screaming into the Void, and Make People Love You” they also show and pose the importance of brands using storytelling in their marketing.

This book is not just about the art and importance of storytelling but the science and tech to do it at scale.

They dive into the “Two Big A’s” of Automation and Artificial Intelligence to reveal how their platform can amplify and optimise your content marketing.

If you are a content marketer or a an entrepreneur that wants to make a bigger impact then this is a must read.

It is the future of marketing.

Last thoughts

Books are my mentors and inspiration spaces and places.

They take me on journeys and reveal worlds I haven’t seen or even imagined.

They are time machines.

Transportation capsules.

I never cease to be surprised at humans creativity and drive to make an difference and make the world a better place.

I hope you find these books as inspiring and informative as I did.

Here are some other books you may enjoy

The post 5 Inspiring Books That Are Transforming My Life and Business appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.

Read Full Article: http://bathseoexpert.tumblr.com/post/171531961286

3 Things You Can Do to Keep Your Business Independent

It does matter what your business is: whether it is a store, a performance, or your own blog. There is a need to collaborate. Collaborations come in many forms with varying lengths of time. It can be a one-time gig or a business partnership that may last a lifetime. It is easy to identify the benefits of collaboration. The risk and responsibility are divided among the members. This also means that money should not be an issue, with more people contributing it makes capital easy to accumulate. The difficulty with collaborations is when people don’t see eye to eye.

You want to expand your business, but they want to play it safe. You want to stay original, but they want to follow trends. The farther into these partnerships you go, the more you realize that the first vision you both agreed on drifts away. The issues are not only on the level of creative differences. The cracks may appear at a management level. In an ideal world, work will be split 50-50, playing to each of your strengths. What are the odds of you being perfect complements of each other? You might take up more of the work, or the kinds of jobs might not be properly split. It is difficult to properly measure equal distribution.

These warnings stand if you are thinking about getting into a partnership. What do you do when you already find yourself trapped? Here are 3 things you can do to stay independent, or bad business partnership solutions.

1. Prevention is better than cure.

The first way is to not get into a partnership in the first place and avoid a reliant mentality. If you have just gotten out of a bad deal, don’t go jumping into a new one no matter how promising it may seem at the beginning. There will be a honeymoon period, a time when ideas are always fresh, and you work like a well-oiled machine. However, as individuals, we naturally make independent decisions. If there is a misstatement online or controversial content that you did not consent to, you are obligated to go down with the sinking ship. The reverse can also be true, you might want to feature a new product that you believe will be the next best thing, but your partner has apprehensions and you end up not pursuing it.

It’s a push and pull game, and you don’t know when you or they will be right. The risk might be divided, but the credit of a good idea or the blame for a bad move are not as easily split down the middle. Avoid the blame shifting and be independent.
This isn’t to say that you have to run your business or blog on your own. It is just that the power dynamics are tricky to navigate between two people in supposedly equal positions. Have your collaborations but be clear about who is boss.

2. Shift the Power

When you do find yourself in a bad partnership, but you believe in its potential you may opt to shift the power. Identify the roles taken during the rough patch, see who stepped up and pulled the weight. If you did most of the heavy lifting, propose to take over. They may still work with you, but it cannot be equal. If you take over the finance and management, it is best that they take over the creative aspects. Being apart of different sectors guarantees that you are both limited, and no one should have absolute power.

When the other person is willing to fall back, by all means, don’t be afraid to take charge. It might be uncomfortable at first, to be the sole face of your business or blog, but this means you are easy to identify. There should be no misunderstanding about who did what, and credit will naturally fall where it is due.

When everyone works in the environment that fits them best, the whole entity will benefit. Having a clear power structure allows people to properly focus on their job. No one will have to do the major heavy lifting because there was no choice.

3, Go Your Separate Ways.

In particularly bad situations, it is not cowardly to jump ship. When the project has become too different and the people are unreasonable. Take what you can get and start on your own, if you can’t buy them out, then sell out. The ideas that have been neglected now have a proper space to grow. It may seem daunting with the lack of funds. Do as much as you can alone and take out small loans. The progress might be slow, and the work is backbreaking. But at the end of the day, everything is yours. You don’t have to fight over intellectual property rights or division of assets. When you look back, you might be surprised at how far you have come. When you take the opportunities you believe in and you are your own boss, the extra work is worth it.

Collaborations and partnerships aren’t bad. They provide a good safety net for those who are starting out, for those who need an extra push, or for really big ideas that need to be executed fast. If you are more of the turtle than the hare, make the extra effort to be independent. Small collaborations with other equal businesses are fine. They add diversity and help you reach a broader audience. The level of commitment in a long-term partnership is the problem.

Being independent in the long run has more fruits with less of the headache of coordinating and matching up to someone else. You save time, you save effort. Taking out small loans has also become increasingly popular in recent years, with more and more start-ups. The discrimination against small businesses has gone. You can achieve the same success on your own as the likes of Kat von D with her own makeup line and college students pursuing their own businesses straight out of school, the market is ripe with opportunities. If anything, it is the right time to be independent.

Original post: 3 Things You Can Do to Keep Your Business Independent

This post is courtesy of: https://www.dailyblogtips.com

13 Quick Tricks to Drive Traffic to Your Blog in Minutes

It happens to the best of bloggers.

You produce stellar content that’s helpful and easy to read.

You even publish a blog post a week – or more – to prove you’re serious about blogging.

You genuinely care about your audience.

But sometimes, despite doing everything by the book, the traffic’s a dud.

That’s when the questions start – am I good enough to be doing this? Heck, does blogging even work as a legitimate business model? Am I wasting my time?

If that’s you, let me clear the air by quoting Jon Morrow, “Each and every one of us decides who we are. No, you may not be ready to be a popular blogger now, but you can become ready.”

Blogging works. We’ve seen a lot of proof around us for that. The problem is not blogging; it is doing things that don’t yield trust or traffic to your blog.

You see, a decade ago you could crank out a 300-word piece and get more content published, left, right and center. In those days, just having something published meant you could attract huge traffic. Because not many were doing it.

Gradually, the world caught up and more people started putting out better content. Longer, more in depth, more useful content. Bloggers started calling it “epic posts”.

Today, most of the world has caught up with “epic”. It’s no longer a differential point. It’s a given.

The secret to attracting more traffic is doing what others are not doing, or unwilling to do yet.

And what if I told you it could be done in under 30 minutes?

To make it easier for you, I have compiled a list of 13 quick tricks to drive traffic to your blog in minutes:

1. Add drama to your work

Spice things up by telling a story or starting out with a metaphor. Kevin Duncan of Be a Better Blogger uses this technique like no other. His posts open with engaging anecdotes that establish a connection with his readers right at the beginning.

The result? A hooked reader.

2. Pick a topic that attracts traffic

Needless to say, if your topic is dull, you are not going to attract much traffic any time soon. Start with Google Trends, BuzzSumo and Feedly to research what’s in demand. I suggest the “three-circle strategy” to pick a topic/niche when you’re starting out.

Here’s how it works:

Draw three circles on a piece of paper. In the first circle, write down all areas you’re knowledgeable about. In the second, write what interests you. And in the third circle, pick topics from the above two circles that are in demand.

Your sweet spot is where the three intersect.

3. Analyze your headlines before hitting “publish”

Use a headline analyzer like CoSchedule. Once you are done writing the post, copy and paste your draft headline into the free tool. It’s super-quick and effective.

Once you punch in a headline, the tool assigns it a “Headline Score”. It also gives your headline a grade based on the overall structure, grammar and readability. The report dissects your headline into “common words”, “uncommon words”, “emotional words” and “power words”. It tells you your headline “type” (this post is a “list type”) and does a length analysis. Lastly, you get some cool tips to improve your headline, all for free and in under a few minutes.

Here’s an example:

4. Go visual

Why? Because the human brain craves visuals. The last time I checked, humans had a shorter attention span (8 seconds) than that of a goldfish (9 seconds). The proof lies in the wildly popular visual platforms such as Facebook Timeline, Instagram and Pinterest.

We’re drowning in words and don’t have enough time to read every single blog post out there. If visuals, such as memes, videos, infographics, comics etc, can help you retain attention, why not give them a try?

Visme, Canva and Vine are just a few tools to get started in under minutes. For example, using templates in Visme, you can create stellar infographics for free within minutes.

5. Improve your blog’s loading time

As you probably know, Google considers loading time as an important factor in ranking websites. Research shows that 47% of readers now expect a page to load in 2 seconds.

Let’s start with the low lying fruit – the first thing you want to do is reduce the number of plugins you use. Plugins make your blog sluggish, so unless absolutely necessary, get rid of extra add-ons. Replace these with an all-in-one plugin, such as Jetpack for a more efficient loading time.

Compress images using Smush.it or use BJ Lazy Load for an image to load conditionally when the reader scrolls to the bottom of the page. An alternative is to use a CDN or a Content Delivery Network which is a network of webservers such as Incapsula.

6. Make social sharing easy

A recent study found that using social sharing buttons on posts leads to 7 times more mentions. Start with writing magnetic headlines that are short and brief (for platforms such as Twitter so there’s room for shortened URLs). Include hashtags and usernames when appropriate.

7. Join HARO and answer relevant queries

HARO or Help a Reporter is a “free publicity” service dedicated to bringing reporters and qualified sources together. As a blogger, you can be a story lead or an expert source for a reporter query. Signing up is free and it takes less than 10 minutes to briefly answer a HARO query, which can result in high-quality inbound links to your blog.

8. Convert a visitor into a lead

Add a solid call-to-action at the end of your posts that urges them to either read another of your posts, subscribe to your list, click a link to a landing page – do something.

Here’s an example:

Source: Forbes.com.

Use TrenDemon to add customizable calls-to-action based on visitors’ realtime engagement. It’s made up of several algorithms that analyze and identifies the pages that bring in most traffic and engagement, and helps optimize your marketing ROI.

A landing page is a dedicated page to convert a reader into a subscriber by offering a “freebie” or a “lead magnet”. A great alternative is GetResponse’s Landing Page Maker.

Short on budget? You can try LaunchEffect, a free launch theme, and start collecting leads even before you’ve launched a blog.

Of course, this post is about attracting traffic, so how does collecting leads help? It does — because once you have a thriving list you can always direct them to your blog through a series of well-written autoresponders and emails.

9. Come up with the optimum number of posts, then stick to it

What’s the optimum number? Research shows that the more a company blogged per month, the more traffic it attracted.

On the flip side, how much is too much? One of the easiest ways to figure it out is to watch your subscriber activity closely. Are you getting many unsubscribe requests because of “too much posting” like this blogger? His quick case study will help you to find your minimum viable posting.

10. Start a forum on your website

An active forum will not only serve as a useful community to your readers but also attract new traffic with the help of natural longtail keywords that go into it.

To do a quick search of active and popular forums in your niche, just search for your keyword + forum. Then, all you have to do is create a free account on the best forum(s) and use your brand name as a nickname. You can start contributing as well as studying these forums before you launch your own.

Starting your own forum is easy. For WordPress, you can install the free bbPress plugin. Here is a tutorial to set up bbPress in under minutes.

11. Connect with bloggers who send you traffic

Monitor Backlinks is a neat tool for SEO and web marketers. It notifies you every time you gain or lose a backlink; every time your competitor gains a high-value backlink and compares ranking with your competitors.

12. Respond to your blog comments thoughtfully

According to Neil Patel, responding to comments increases your traffic. The more you respond, the more number of words accumulate on the page. This is ideal from an SEO-perspective. Not only that, repeat traffic also builds over time because they look forward to new posts and even become subscribers to keep updated.

You can also control your traffic by adding a link in the comment URL box and directing them where you want. Neil increased visits to his “About” page by 5,137 visits a month by simply using this feature in the comment box.

Here is a useful guide to help you deal with different types of comments you get on the blog.

13. Build up your professional brand on Quora

It’s a great place to answer questions and build a legitimate following. You get immediate exposure to 1.5 million monthly visitors, and add links to your blog posts and articles as resources in your answers.

If you know everything about your topic, answering a question shouldn’t take you more than 15 minutes. You want to follow all related topics too, just in case. You can also join in relevant conversations and educate your prospects better about your service/product (of course, no spamming).

Here’s a teaser for the topic Content Marketing (Fair warning: It can be addictive!):

The bottom line

I want to challenge you to try these techniques. Of course, not all of them will work for you so pick and choose a handful and run with it.

Gaining new traffic sounds like a lot of work, but it’s worth every minute. And with the above tips, you can boost traffic in 30 minutes or less. You may not feel it happen immediately, but stay consistent. You’ll see the results.

Eventually, the more you do these techniques, the more trust you will build. Writing epic posts is no longer enough – you want the right audience to read them too.

Guest Author: Pooja Lohana is an Online Business Coach + Writer & Editor. She helps entrepreneurs shine their blog and copy, and simplifies online marketing so they can make more sales and live the Un-9-5 life. Check out her step-by-step course on breaking into freelance writing.

The post 13 Quick Tricks to Drive Traffic to Your Blog in Minutes appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.

Read Full Article: http://bathseoexpert.tumblr.com/post/171457723441

6 Reasons Why You Should Consider Podcasting as a Content Marketing Channel in 2018

Podcasting has numerous benefits, however, producing an ongoing podcast is a hard nut to crack. It takes more effort than simply clicking ‘Record’ on your smartphone and then uploading it online.

According to a recent Edison Research report, around 98 million US citizens are listening to podcasts annually, with more than 50 million individuals listening to them on a monthly basis. Indeed, the present podcasting explosion has been presaged as the ideal age of podcasts.

Podcasting involves a tremendous amount of research, planning, acquiring technical skills, managing social media networks and engaging your target audience. Once a podcast is started, the only thing that is going to stay on top of your mind will be: what should the next episode be about?

For companies, podcasting can be a compelling opportunity to interact with your clientele, become noticeable among your competitors, and turn into an industry frontrunner and professional. However, you need to be very accurate about time management.

While only 3% of marketers are currently using podcasting for marketing purposes, around 32% actively wish to learn how to use it, and 23% intend to escalate their podcasting efforts.

Image Source: WebpageFX

Podcasting: Your shortcut to success

Did you know, MailChimp became a popular brand name overnight by simply running a 20-second ad at the start of every episode of the famous podcast, Serial?

This is just one illustration of a business taking advantage of podcasting, and it inspired several other companies to start producing their own podcasts.

Here’s why you should consider podcasting as a content marketing channel in 2018:

1. Practicing the art of subtle branding

Let’s face it: over-branding can actually kill your brand.

Around 57% of customers report that they avoid brands that bombard them with advertisements and other marketing messages. Podcasts can help you master the art of subtle branding!

As digital marketers, we are continuously reminded that storytelling is a vital instrument for consumer engagement. Through appropriate, enlightening, and valuable stories conveyed by evocative means, companies can connect with customers and develop a devoted audience.

One way to interact with your audience is a corporate blog. However, maintaining an attention-grabbing blog involves several SEO challenges and there is a high probability that your potential customers become more aware of brand involvement.

Therefore, podcasts such as audio content can help you implement a more subtle approach. This way, you can become an intrinsic element of the content itself. For example; eBay recently joined hands with Gimlet Creative to come up with its own podcast series titled ‘Open for Business’ that uses audio content for advertising purposes.

2. Easy to consume and mobile-friendly

Unlike blogs and videos, the beauty of podcasts lies in the fact that audio content can be more conveniently accessed on the go. It does not force users to abandon whatever they are doing just to concentrate wholly on your content. Whether they are working out or cooking, they can easily listen to your podcast.

According to HandMadeWritings, it is imperative for marketers to identify consumer behavior across multiple generations and to renovate their marketing approach accordingly. Therefore, with more and more consumers using smartphones today, it is also important to make your podcast mobile-friendly.

An interesting example of a company producing convenient-to-consume and enjoyable content is General Electric that started a science-fiction podcast titled ‘The Message’. Contrary to the eBay podcast, General Electric focused on the audience to succeed.

Image Source: e-Strategy Trends

3. Swift turnaround time

One of the reasons you should give podcasting a try is the quick turnaround time. Regardless of what audio software is used, the whole process of editing a podcast is very swift.

So, how do you come up with a quick podcast? Here are a few simple steps:

• Record your discussion
• Add a brief introduction to your company or product
• Add theme music (it’s advisable to purchase it to prevent copyright infringement)
• Listen to the recording to ensure that the sound is clear and your message is conveyed effectively
• Edit to make it picture-perfect
• Save it as an MP3 file
• Voila! You’re ready to upload it to your site.

4. Reflection of true brand personality

Along with offering value for customers, podcasts can also reflect a company’s individuality and fundamental values. Rather than using written content for conveying what a brand stands for, it is often more convenient to do so by expressing it vocally.

For instance, Slack, a popular corporate messaging tool, has initiated its podcast series called, ‘The Slack Variety Pack’ that depicts a true picture of the company. This amusing, buoyant and somewhat geeky content engages its main audience impeccably. Consequently, it helps in further strengthening the connection with its customers.

5. Higher reach, wider audience

Once a podcast is published on iTunes, Stitcher or similar platforms, a company exposes its content to a broader audience at no cost. These platforms act as search engines that are used by individuals to look for podcasts along with popular songs. In this way, a brand receives the organic publicity that helps in snowballing its reach and growing its audience.

Moreover, podcasts facilitate companies in developing a loyalty of an extensive range of consumers. Audiences generally subscribe to a podcast series and frequently listen to them. Furthermore, there is a high possibility that the listeners may endorse your podcasts to their fellows, thereby, growing your reach significantly. It can ultimately yield enhanced traffic generation.

6. Fostering improved relationships with your customers

Although a podcast is a unidirectional platform, it can facilitate companies in developing better relationships with the customers. It makes your audience feel as if they recognize the individual talking on the podcast.

The primary reason why individuals listen to podcasts is that they feel something mutual between the speaker and the company being represented by the speaker.

In this way, fostering a good relationship aids in developing conviction, which emboldens the audience to stay connected with the company. All this results in enhanced conversion as individuals are more probable to do business with an acquaintance than an outsider.

Final word

Companies these days are progressively implementing podcasting to increase their projections. It’s an influential marketing tool that has gradually become the novel talk-radio on portable devices such as smartphones and tablets. In fact, the augmented usage of smartphones has resulted in the massive development of podcasting.

However, just as any other method of content marketing, the accomplishment of corporate podcasts depends on genuineness, value, and significance for customers. There is no single formula for success. Nonetheless, it seems more and more companies are enthusiastic to experiment with podcasting.

Guest Author: Donna Moores is a savvy content marketer and a contributing writer at Convince & Convert, SocialMediaToday, and Spin Sucks. She has gained an outstanding marketing experience within the biggest industries and businesses, which she pleasantly shares with the readers. You may reach out to Donna on Twitter or via LinkedIn.

The post 6 Reasons Why You Should Consider Podcasting as a Content Marketing Channel in 2018 appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.

Read Full Article: http://bathseoexpert.tumblr.com/post/171450373821

Content Definition: What Are We Even Talking About?

How do you define content? Does everyone on your team agree with your definition? Do the people on other teams define content the same way?

Sure, there’s a dictionary definition for content (in fact, multiple definitions for multiple usages). A Wikipedia entry offers two slightly different definitions in its first two sentences.

This question of how to define content came up in the Content Marketing Institute LinkedIn group a few weeks ago. It pops up in Twitter chats and conversations fairly regularly. And there’s a healthy search volume around related phrases.

If definitions exist, why does this question keep coming up?

Is the definition of content simply information?

Plenty of people have explored what’s meant when people talk about content as it’s used in businesses and other organizations.

Michael Brenner teased out the differences between content and content marketing in an article so popular we’ve run it a few times. To paraphrase, Michael says “content” is typically produced because someone in the organization asked for it, while “content” paired with “marketing” is what the audience wants.

---

#Content paired w/ #marketing is what the audience wants, says @BrennerMichael. Read more>>
Click To Tweet

---

It’s an important distinction, but it’s not quite a definition.

In 2013, the TopRank Marketing community offered definitions. In its resulting post, CMI founder Joe Pulizzi said content is “compelling information that informs, engages, or amuses.”

Simple enough. Content is information that provides a benefit to the person who consumes it.

Other definitions in the round-up article echoed Joe’s with nuances.

A few felt a definition isn’t even possible, as Olivier Blanchard suggests:

The thing about the term ‘content’ is that it’s just vague enough to mean everything and anything, which is to say it doesn’t mean anything at all. It’s essentially a word that means “stuff to fill an empty space with.” It could be photos, video, marketing copy, thorough analysis, poetry, farts, vacuous nonsense, cat hair, or cheese cubes. The only thing it hints at is that there is a finite volume of the space it must fill. Ironically, the word itself is a vessel for more content: Here’s an empty word. Now fill it with meaning.

---

The word #content is an empty vessel. Fill it with meaning. @OABlanchard Read more>>
Click To Tweet

---

Take a spin through TopRank’s post to notice the range of responses and how often “stuff” and “things” show up in the definitions. Those are more indications of how strangely hard content is to define.

---

#Content is strangely hard to define, says @Kmoutsos.
Click To Tweet

---

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 9 Definitions: How Content Marketing Works Within Marketing

What the dictionary says

Dictionary definitions don’t completely satisfy. Here’s how Merriam-Webster breaks down “content”:

• “1a: something contained – usually used in plural.” Merriam-Webster’s examples include “the jar’s contents” and “the drawer’s contents.” Specifying the plural usage shows this isn’t exactly what we mean by content.
• “1b: the topics or matter treated in a written work.” This usage is much closer, as it’s tied to publishing (think “table of ”). But you’ve likely spotted the problem: Content transcends written works to include audio and visual formats.
• “1c: the principal substance (such as written matter, illustrations, or music) offered by a website.” This entry includes a Ben Gerson quote to clarify: “…Internet users have evolved an ethos of free content in the Internet.”

If you want to go off on a slight tangent, check out the Yarrr! Content episode of PBS Idea Channel, which explored the term (and why some people hate it) and settles on a similar definition.

But the content many of us work on isn’t limited to websites, apps, or any digital form.

Merriam-Webster offers a few more entries for content:

• “2a: substance, gist”
• “2b: meaning, significance”
• “2c: the events, physical detail, and information in a work of art. ‘The film was rated R for its violent content.’”

Notice how option c goes back to content as information. Still, as talented as the content community is, works of art might be a bit of a stretch for our definition.

Where does that leave us? I like the definition Rahel Anne Bailie offered recently on Twitter. Content is “contextual, human-usable data.”

---

#Content is contextual, human-usable data, says @rahelab. Read more>>
Click To Tweet

---

Given that my definition of content is “contextual, human-usable data,” this fits nicely.

— Rahel Anne Bailie (@rahelab) February 12, 2018

Information is data in context, and content is contextual data created for people.

I’d like that explanation even better if it borrows from that great Dr. Brené Brown quote about stories. What if we defined content as information with a soul? When I imagine what exactly that might be, my definition of content is “compelling information that informs, engages, or amuses.”

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Robot-Proof Your Job as a Content Creator

Why a content definition matters

If you thought of content as useful, helpful, engaging, and even soulful information, would that change how you approach your job?

That definition, with its built-in aspiration, serves as a reminder to aim high and think of the value to the audience first.

---

A definition for #content that incl built-in aspiration reminds us to aim high & value audience. @Kmoutsos
Click To Tweet

---

Would it change how others perceive your team and the work it does? Let’s say you evangelize the “helpful information” definition of content across your organization.

When your colleagues hear the phrase “sales content,” they would immediately think “helpful information for people who are ready to buy.” Note how nicely this notion of sales content aligns with Marcus Sheridan’s advice to rally sales and content teams around a shared mission to be the best teachers in your niche.

A shared, inspirational content definition could even go a long way to unite teams that are typically siloed. In a recent article on SpinSucks, Public Relations vs. Marketing: Is This Still a Thing? (spoiler alert: it is), Mike Connell wrote about content as the great uniter between those disciplines:

The truth is, there’s no arguing that marketing and PR are different, but ultimately their goals should align, and practices can converge under a common component: content.

---

#Marketing and PR are different, but their goals should align under #content, says @themuna.
Click To Tweet

---

If marketing and PR practices converge through content (read: helpful information), why can’t sales and marketing, customer service and marketing, and so on and so on. A shared definition can only help. 

Once your team agrees on what content means, don’t keep it to yourself. Explain your definition in your meetings with other teams. Post it in your organization’s intranet. Keep it visible and accessible.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Tear Down Silos to Create a Culture of Content

Content by any other name

How much does the name we give a thing matter? Perhaps the name matters less than its shared definition.

Some people dislike the term content. Some are simply confused by it. Still, content as a label won’t likely go away soon – in part because no other name has popped up to replace it.

Sure, instead of CMI, Joe could have called it the Engaging Information Marketing Institute, the Helpful Information Marketing Institute, or the Information With a Soul Marketing Institute. But he led with content.

I’m content with that choice. How about you?

Gather with other like-minded folks who realize the value of shared definitions, structures, frameworks, etc., for more successful content marketing. There’s still time to register for Intelligent Content Conference March 20-22 in Las Vegas. Use code BLOG100 to save $100.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post Content Definition: What Are We Even Talking About? appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

The Untapped Social Network With 10x the Potential of Twitter

Social networks have changed the way we communicate…

But their use and relevance are constantly on the hop.

I remember when the world was consumed by MySpace. If you didn’t have a MySpace page you were digitally irrelevant. Now there is a generation of teens and pre-teens who don’t even know what MySpace is.

Then there was Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn. Instagram. Snapchat.

Which social network is going to become obsolete next?

The social networks today are smarter than they were 20 years ago. They have seen the fate of platforms like MySpace and are desperate to adapt. They are always on the lookout for the next trend that they can woo users with and entice engagement.

Live video, automated messaging and disappearing snippets of our life are hot at the moment. But are you ready for the next big trend in social?

Why you should care about what is coming next

I remember when I first started out on Twitter. There were only about 5 million users at the time (there are now over 330 million), and people were genuinely engaged and interactive.

By publishing visually eye-catching and helpful content about digital marketing, people took notice. I could proliferate my message and create a splash in a not-so-crowded neighborhood.

In a sense I was lucky. I rode the Twitter wave, and soon became a figure of influence.

But today it is much harder to create a similar influence on Twitter and many of the other established social media platforms. Engagement has dropped for new users. True followers are hard to find. And they are making just about everyone pay to get the same attention that was once free.

So if you want to use social media to influence people to know, like, trust, and buy from you – adaptation is a necessity.

You need to have your finger on the pulse of what is coming next, what is trending, and what will enable you to create a significant impact at scale in the shortest time frame possible.

But how do you know what is coming next? How can you ride the next wave of social growth?

Here’s a shortcut…

The next big thing in social

More and more people are turning to voice as a medium for communication. Unlike text-based communication, voice conveys emotion, tone, and subtleties that text is unable to capture.

Not convinced? These stats might change your mind:

• The average human can speak 150 words per minute, but only type 40 words at the same time.
• Comscore estimates that by 2020 over 50% of all searches will be done by voice.
• There were 35x more Google voice search queries in 2016 than there were in 2008.
• 60% of people using voice as a medium of communication have only started in the last year.

Ok, so voice is on the rise… but what does that have to do with social media? How can you make the most of this trend?

The new social network that is disrupting the way we consume social content

HearMeOut is a voice-based social network built around 42-second voice recordings.

The beauty of this fast-growing social network is the opportunity it presents for people like you and me to tap into a HUGE new audience. With voice taking over our home, our cars, and even our messengers, people are rapidly switching to audio for their daily needs.

But you better move fast, HearMeOut have partnered with Ford Motors and are currently the only social app in Ford entertainment systems, a natural fit for a voice-based social network, which is building traction.

Hundreds of influencers are already using the HearMeOut app, taking advantage of what voice can do for the brands they work with and even their own personal brand. They are even using this app with their existing social networks by sharing a voice post on Twitter and essentially creating “Voice Tweets”.  Their 2.0 version, which was just released, has a homepage full of content and feature opportunities for brands and influencers.

Why voice?

With the ability to listen to your social feed when driving, running or any other hands-free activity, voice-based social adds more “screen time” to peoples days, expanding the reach for advertisers.

Voice not only expands the time users can be social but with over 256 million visually impaired individuals globally who have been widely overlooked for years, a voice-based social network is an accessible opportunity to be “social” like never before.

Voice-based advertising is also an emerging trend that you should be aware of. Unlike static text or image ads, you can actually have a conversation (albeit limited) with voice ads. This approach to advertising is interactive, engaging, and highly effective for brands as a competitive differentiator.

Now is the time for brands and influencers to be early adopters of this voice-based social trend. It’s also an opportunity for emerging influencers to skip the “queue” of more crowded and mature mediums like Twitter or Facebook.

There is enough evidence to suggest that voice and video are where all digital activity is going.

Will you be the one standing there on top of the pops when the hockey-stick growth comes for HearMeOut?

The post The Untapped Social Network With 10x the Potential of Twitter appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.

Read Full Article: http://bathseoexpert.tumblr.com/post/171415186516

What One Brand Did After It Created a Top 10 Blog

What would you do with a blog that averaged 150,000 monthly views?
Do tons more to drive leads, our team decided unanimously back in 2016.

Up until that point, we merely invited readers to consume our blog content, which focused on the latest social media trends. Readers were free to enter and leave the premises at any time. We didn’t ask for visitors’ email addresses in return for access. Even if we wanted to use in-your-face dropdowns begging for an address, we had no special content to offer.

Resolved to do better, in 2016 we began creating premium content monthly. We published lengthier e-books, practical templates, and how-to guides; we also posted blog content pointing to those premium assets. And we hired a full-time inbound marketing expert to generate leads through landing pages and nurture those leads through an evolving set of email sequences.

The results came quickly. Our premium content brought thousands of downloads and our email campaigns turned into a sizeable amount of free trial activations and subscriptions.

Still, we were restless. Was this the best we could do? Within a year, we knew we were ready for something more … something bigger. Yet instead of going deeper into the funnel to garner more sales, we chose to focus on the top of the funnel. We came up with a content initiative that would establish us as thought leaders. And rather than build out our current content site – which had thousands of daily readers – we launched a new blog with zero traffic.

While our existing blog had just won a coveted spot on Social Media Examiner’s Top 10 Social Media Blog list (and was a great conversion engine), it lacked that “oooh, let’s see what Agorapulse says about topic X” factor. Our writing was solid, well curated, and helpful for social media managers, but it wasn’t definitive.

---

Our writing was solid, well curated, and helpful, but it wasn't definitive. @kalnerwilliams. Read more>>
Click To Tweet

---

In our space of social media marketing, we felt being definitive wasn’t merely pontificating about a new announcement from Google or commenting on how to use a new feature on Instagram. Becoming a definitive source meant taking the time to see if an original idea holds up in practice. That sounds a lot like the scientific method, doesn’t it? It only made sense that we called the project Social Media Lab.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 5 Brands Share Their Content Marketing Process

Conducting content experiments

We hired one full-time and one part-time “social media scientist” to test long-held social media myths that we were antsy to see proven right or revealed to be completely off base. These scientists spent months setting up and running the tests. During this time, we had nothing to show the public so it was a matter of waiting until we had posts about the experiment to push live.

On one fateful week in August 2017, after months of sweating, we published our findings on three tests. Within two months, two of those three posts ranked on the first page of Google for their chosen keywords. And during that time, our lab experiments got social media shout-outs from some of the biggest names in the industry.

We’re still evolving the model, but we’re confident we’ve hit a rich seam of original, data-driven insights.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How Content Influences the Purchasing Process: Tips for Content Marketers [Research]

Agile sprints used experiment

A sprint in Agile methodology represents the period of time you allocate to complete a finite number of tasks. In the development world, it’s common to have weekly sprints. In fact, it’s what our internal development team uses. In marketing, we set monthly sprints.

At the beginning of each month, we decide which activities we’d like to take on (or have been asked to take on). Each activity is given a level of effort (LoE) using the Fibonacci numerical sequence – called “story points” in the Agile world. At the beginning of the monthly sprint, we all get on a call to count the points and assess whether we’ve over- or under-extended ourselves for the month. If necessary, we adjust to ensure we can reasonably complete each activity.

We hold ourselves accountable for these tasks by hopping on a daily scrum call with our team. Each of us has about two minutes to share what sprint tasks we’ve completed since we last spoke and what we plan to do for the rest of the day. We also share what blockers – whether personal or work-related – are in the way of moving tasks forward. At the end of the month, we review each assigned task and explain the success or failure of getting it done.

With Social Media Lab, we are so keen on getting the word out about our experiments that content creation and content promotion get separate tasks and story points. Our lead scientist is responsible for the content from each experiment and I’m responsible for the promotion of each of those experiments.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

• Confused About Agile Marketing? Your Questions Answered [With Video]
• The Science of Productive Content Marketing Team Meetings

Tech tools for content marketing sprints

Asana is our home base for all sprint activities. Our monthly sprint boards hold the LoE, tags, assignee, and latest status of each activity. As a team, we run through our Asana tasks at each month’s sprint kickoff meeting and retrospective. And each of us checks Asana a few times a week to make sure that we (and our direct reports) are on track to meet our goals.

---

Use a tech tool like @asana as a home base for all sprint activities, says @kalnerwilliams. #Agile
Click To Tweet

---

We use Google Hangouts to conduct our daily scrums (our marketing team is spread across seven countries) and a Slack channel called “scrum” to log our daily tasks and blockers. Slack is particularly helpful if one of us can’t join the daily Hangout or if we’re running late to scrum. Since Slack is more of a “push” tool than Asana, I’ve integrated the two, meaning whenever a status is changed on a key Asana project, a message goes out to the team on a linked Slack channel.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT:

• Your Content Team Can Sprint With Agile Marketing
• 7 Best Practices (and Tools) for Managing Your Remote Content Team

Please note: All tools included in our blog posts are suggested by authors, not the CMI editorial team. No one post can provide all relevant tools in the space. Feel free to include additional tools in the comments (from your company or ones that you have used).

A version of this article originally appeared in the February issue of  Chief Content Officer. Sign up to receive your free subscription to our bimonthly, print magazine.

Be inspired and learn the inside story from successful marketing leaders from the main stage and dozens of breakout rooms at Content Marketing World 2018 this September in Cleveland, Ohio. Register today. 

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post What One Brand Did After It Created a Top 10 Blog appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.