Category: blogging
There are only 44 days left until we pop the champagne, sing Auld Lang Syne (badly) and listen to Big Ben chime us in (or out) to 2012. Which gets us thinking…what is going to set the social media marketing agenda next year?
Here at Furlong PR, we are big believers in the pivotal role of expert content coupled with intelligent SEO on the bottom line. We have seen first-hand how content marketing can drive tangible results.
The gurus at Social Media Explorer (socialmediaexplorer.com) have already taken to their crystal balls, placing content marketing atop their social marketing trends for 2012.
So what’s new about content marketing? Social media pundits have been talking about this marketing discipline for years, but what has changed is buy-in at board level. Executives seem to have started to appreciate the positive impact that quality blog content, viral videos, white papers and the like can have on SEO and lead generation.
Content marketing requires quite a drastic rethink for many CMOs or CEO’s, in the sense that it asks brands to ‘be the media’ rather than feature ‘in the media’. The knee-jerk reaction has traditionally been that media=expensive=no thank you. But now that social media departments can begin to demonstrate the real business benefits of a strategy that incorporates content, budgets seem to be adapting to allow them to develop more sophisticated content strategies. More »
Why do some business blogs create a buzz, while others fail to get their community engaged and talking? Top quality content is obviously key, but a well thought-out social optimisation strategy should be just as high a priority.
Everybody gets the importance of SEO to drive traffic to your blog; adding keywords is standard practice. But in a persuasive article for Clickz.com, Lee Odden argues that it is possible to become blinkered in the pursuit of top keywords.
Social media optimisation (SMO) – essentially optimising social content to drive direct traffic to blog content – can also push up search engine rankings for blog web pages.
But before you embark on making your blog (and website) social media friendly – here are six questions Odden suggests considering:
· Who is the blog intended to influence? Are you trying to reach prospects, customers, employees, industry analysts, reporters or fellow bloggers within your sector?
· What blog content will you offer to meet the needs of your target audience? More »
“Most people are followers and providing social proof of popularity…can make people stop, engage and buy”. So says social media expert Jeff Bullas, and whether or not you agree, business is largely a popularity contest and this also applies to your business blog.
Picture this. You’re walking down the high street on a Saturday afternoon with your friend when hunger strikes. Two restaurants are coming up. One is crowded with diners filling their faces, windows steaming with the rising heat of plates of spaghetti bolognese. The other is empty, a bored-looking waitress drums her fingernails on the counter. Which one do you opt for?
You hit the bookshops next, searching for a Christmas present for your beloved. You skim the shelves, then pick up a book with a nice, catchy title. Splashed across the front are the words “bestseller” and numerous author and celebrity endorsements. Are you tempted?
Transfer this theory to the web, and think back to the last time you browsed blogs for your sector. Time is precious, and you only want to read something that’s worth it. Validation is key. Bullas calls this validation “social proof” – and urges you to provide it to attract users to your business blog above your competitors. More »
Very interesting article by Erez Barak for searchenginewatch.com yesterday on the shift from old fashioned content to real-time web content. Today, the most important thing in many website content creators’ eyes is visibility. Competition on the search engines is fierce. Last year, the internet was home to an estimated 215 million websites and 152 million blogs – around half of these written by amateurs and hobbyists (source: Technorati).
Drowning in a sea of poor-quality, yet super-SEO posts is a very real risk. There is no point in crafting sublime copy if nobody is going to find it. Yet at Furlong PR, we are strong believers that the quality of your business blogs and other web content does not need to be compromised for the search engines.
Although aimed at traditional publishers, many of the tips Barak offered are equally useful to marketers – and will help in the contest for eyeballs.
1. Use real time data to stay ahead of the curve
Look both on your website (for example, traffic coming from a specific keyword search) and elsewhere (Twitter’s trending topics are ideal) to maximise the web’s role as barometer for news and happenings as they unfold. More »
Social media users have an insatiable hunger for content. The proof? A whopping 30 billion pieces of content are shared each month on Facebook including blog posts, news stories, photos, videos and links. So why is some content not seen by anyone other than the poster?
A brand new study of 2,500 participants from the New York Times in conjunction with Latitude Research reveals the top 9 reasons (or skip straight to the end for a somewhat surprising Key Takeaway):
1. Your customers don’t trust you
Corporate mistrust is rife. Globally, only 56% of people trust businesses “to do what is right” (Source: 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer), falling in the US, the UK and Japan from 2010 to 2011. People won’t share your content if there is a lack of trust, so use the social space to drive honest and open public conversations.
2. Customers don’t care about your brand
Sorry, but customers are a fickle bunch. If you don’t offer at a minimum: valuable information, great deals and a forum to meet other like-minded people, they will look elsewhere. Don’t just feed them what they want; actively exceed their expectations.
3. Your posts are boring
Intriguing and funny content gets the most shares. Look to Volkswagen for inspiration. Their Star-Wars spoof video ‘The Force’ racked up over 40 million views. Of course, it helps to have an established power brand behind you, but the principle is to create ‘got to share it’ content. More »
How has the latimes.com attracted record traffic at a time when its best-established competitors are suffering slumps? The answer, according to the ship’s captain, Managing Editor/ Online Jimmy Orr, is a two-pronged blog content and SEO strategy that is attracting users hungry for quality journalism.
While the L.A. Times isn’t necessarily about to outpace the New York Times or Huffington Post in terms of readers, it has enjoyed a 5.4% year-on-year increase in uniques over June. Meanwhile, the Washington Post saw a decrease of 9%, the New York Times slumped by 18.8% and the Wall Street Journal by a hefty 20.5%. So, it’s time to take notice of a social media strategy that’s clearly working for the L.A. Times.
The cornerstone is a ramped up blogging strategy that has, according to niemanlab.org, “opened new doors for reader engagement”. Weaving news into blog content and even breaking stories within blogs, has fuelled engagement. Add to the mix a new SEO chief, optimising search-friendly headlines for the web, and traffic from search has leapt by 65% from this time last year. Combine the next ingredient, enhanced Facebook marketing to drive reader comments, and the result is a happy vicious circle. A larger community creates more traffic which creates more conversation and sharing around the Times’ content…and so on.
Orr puts the blogs’ recent traffic-driving success down to excellent content writers and high frequency posting. A recent move to integrate Facebook commenting has also driven quality comments as well as driving traffic from Facebook. In fact, since adding Facebook comments to about 50% of the site, including most blogs, latimes.com is now getting 450% more traffic referred from Facebook than this time last year. More »
We come across a whole lot of companies trying to develop a lucrative blog for their existing business. A rarer find is a company that has evolved out of a blog, such as Copyblogger. In an interview with socialmediaexaminer, Copyblogger CEO Brian Clark related how combing social media and SEO has been vital to Copyblogger’s success. Here’s a rundown of his key pointers on how to establish a killer blog utilising both:
Do a lot more giving and a lot less selling
A company needs to create unmissable content before it can make any money from blogging. Your audience wants value and information, not more advertising. Many companies with something to sell haven’t tapped into this yet.
Be a person first
This can be particularly tricky for a big company comprised of individuals with different ideas of what the business is about. But ensure you have a unified voice within social media marketing, and most importantly, that you come across as human.
Know what you want to achieve
Even a huge audience won’t create ROI magically. Know exactly what kind of content will attract people to your business before posting anything. Understand what people want, focus on giving it to them and understand you’ll achieve your goals on the back-side of that. More »
There’s little worse than putting your heart into crafting top-notch website content and blog posts only to discover that nobody has read it. Or ever will.
Given that there were some 152 million blogs live at the last count (BlogPulse: December 2010), the bad news is that most people will never find you online. Follow these 10 steps, however, by Demian Farnworth for copyblogger.com, and the good news is you can beat online obscurity for once and for all…
1. Dominate LinkedIn groups
Joining LinkedIn groups in itself isn’t enough. Embark on a posting and commenting spree and the potential to become an online influencer is vast – even from groups that you haven’t started.
2. Give away content for nothing
Remember, visibility and exposure are the most important things for a nascent business blog. Farnworth cites online powerhouses Seth Godin, Hugh MacLeod and Leo Babauta among those who started off by giving away a large part of their best stuff for free. More »
Link-building, a powerful means of ranking higher in search engines, should be an integral part of any business blog strategy.
But it’s not as simple as inviting owners of popular blogs to exchange links. Warner Carter, blogging for Technorati, suggests approaching link exchange similarly to a business deal or interview.
Branding is a critical starting point. This means investing in a unique blog design rather than opting for a free template. Think of it as dressing to impress for a job interview to make yourself stand out from the crowd.
Other blog owners will also scrutinise your blog content to assess your proposition. Carter advises creating at least 15 quality posts before embarking on a link-building campaign. It demonstrates commitment and dedication both as a blogger and a business.
Though it can take time, a solid network makes for a more appealing blog. Promote your blog before launching into link building, inviting comments and threaded conversations to lure target readers. More »
Blogs and social media marketing are becoming increasingly important influencers in female purchase decisions, according to the BlogHer 2011 Social Media Matters study.
In the first instance, the report confirmed that social media use and blog consumption are both on the rise in the US. The number of Facebook users climbed from 80% of online Americans last year to 87% this year, closing the gap between Facebookers and consumers of offline television (93%). BlogHer also found that 40% of online Americans read blogs (up from 37% in 2010) and 22% use Twitter (up from 16% last year).
A striking trend revealed by the study is the impact that blogs now have on online shopping habits. Around half (53%) of respondents (88% of those who describe themselves as active blog readers) said that they trust the information supplied in blogs that they visit regularly, with nearly one-quarter of the US population (24%) indicating that they make purchases based on blog content – rising to 53% of active blog readers.
What’s more, women tend to respond better to endorsements by trusted bloggers than by well-known celebrities when it comes to learning more about a product or making a purchase. More »
