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What Is Content Syndication, and How Can It Help Your Marketing?

October 2nd, 2012 :: Monika Jansen

One of the things you are doing as part of your marketing strategy is creating content, from blog posts to whitepapers, to demonstrate your expertise, build thought leadership and generate leads. Instead of sitting on all of that valuable content, put it to work for you –monetize it.

You can do this through content syndication, a content-sharing strategy in which your content is reused by other websites and online media outlets. (This strategy applies to images and videos too – and you see it in newspapers all the time.) Because this is a strategy I am definitely interested in myself, I did some research and found 3 main benefits to content syndication:

Greater reach – If you want to increase visibility for your company, products, or services, I really can’t think of a better way to reach more people at once with little effort on your part.
Earn extra money – While you will not make a living from content syndication (unless that is all you do! – think advice columns and Dave Barry), you can certainly make some extra money, always a good thing.
Generate leads – When someone engages with your content, they are most likely in need of the product or service you offer. Reach out to them simply by asking if they have any questions.

Before getting started, be sure to ask the content syndicator the following:

How long have you been in business?
Will you republish my content, or repurpose it? If you are going to repurpose it, how will you do so?
What other websites will my content appear on?
Where will my name and company be listed? Will they be hyperlinked to my website?
Will the content link back to the original on my site?

Once you get established with a content syndicator (or two) and find it beneficial to your bottom line and sales funnel, ask if they would be interested in an ongoing agreement, in which you provide content regularly.

2 highly regarded content syndicators include:

Mochila – an online media marketplace for both content buyers and sellers.

NewsCred – their syndication platform uses an API to make it easy for publishers to find your content, and then you can track and analyze your content on 3rd party sites so you can see what’s working. Best part – they let you stay in control of the entire process.

If you have syndicated content, what was your experience like? If you haven’t syndicated content, would you try it? Leave a comment below!

Image courtesy of aisquared.com

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Tags: content monetization, content syndication, lead generation, Marketing, Thought Leadership
Posted in Marketing, Thought Leadership | 11 Comments »

Are Marketers Ruining Social Media? 3 Tips to Ensure You Don’t

September 27th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen

Are marketers ruining social media? That is the question posed in a really great article I came across on Forbes.com in which Shel Israel points out all the things that marketers are doing wrong on social media – and thus corrupting the experience of what social media should be.

Here’s what Israel said marketers are doing wrong, along with my suggestions on how to get it right:

1. Marketers are starting to view social media as transactional, rather than conversational.

Tip: Keep your focus on sharing, not selling. Yes, it’s good to talk about your company every now and again, but when you do, make sure you’re sharing something valuable that will spark a conversation.

For instance, when I announce on my Facebook page, “Hey everyone, Company A just launched a new website that I wrote the content for!” I can offer a tip on writing a call-to-action for your contact us page. Tooting my own horn AND sharing something that is useful – score!

2. Marketers are turning social media into a marketing tool at the expense of other uses – like product development, recruiting, customer support, etc.

Tip: This is why you need to put together an editorial schedule. If you want to keep the content you share a nice mix of topics, plan it out, because it’s so easy to get stuck in a one- or two-topic rut (just like you do when it’s time to make dinner and you decide it’s omelet night – again).

Simply make a list of all the topics you’d like to cover. For me, that would be marketing, social media marketing, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn; finding an intern when need be; sharing info on an online marketing tool that I love; posting photos from events I attend; answering FAQs in the form of a tip – I could go on, but you get the point.

3. Marketers are posting messages that are more corporate than individual.

Tip: Keep your messages personal. Use “I” instead of “we.” And if you use “we,” define who “we” is. Be honest and straightforward – be you. Always keep in mind that your target market is made up of people, and people like to do business with people they like.

I always write the way I talk, so focus on doing that and resist the urge to write and re-write your Facebook status update. Otherwise, you could find yourself spending 15 minutes trying to get one sentence perfect – so perfect, it sounds like a robot wrote it.

Have you noticed a change in the social media content that brands are posting?

Image courtesy of when-is-now.com

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Tags: Forbes.com, Marketing, Shel Israel, social media, Thought Leadership
Posted in Marketing, Social Media, Thought Leadership | 7 Comments »

The 3 Elements of Influence, and How You Can Use Them

September 10th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen

What is influence? Like branding or engagement, it is a critical part of marketing. To have influence means that you are an expert in your field or industry, people follow your lead, and people will change their way of thinking or doing something based on what you say.

Tom Webster wrote a fabulous article on his blog, BrandSavant, in which he discussed influence and what elements are required to be influential. While many people measure their influence based on their scores from Klout, Kred and PeerIndex, Webster said that is shortsighted: “Influence is swaying someone else to produce a change in state, and there is no demonstrable evidence that a higher Klout score gives you that magical power.”

Because Webster is a researcher, he decided to look at the “how” and the “why” of influence. “Aristotle posited that there were three specific appeals that a writer or speaker could make in order to sway their audience,” Webster writes, and they are:

Ethos, the argument from the author’s credibility
Pathos, an appeal to the emotions of the audience
Logos, an appeal to the audience’s sense of logic and reason

If you can bring Ethos, Pathos and Logos together, you can influence others. Klout et.al. measure Ethos, or your credibility. By demonstrating how your expertise has helped clients, you can build credibility.

As Webster points out, Pathos and Logos are harder to achieve. Here’s how:

Pathos: Your messaging must engage the audience and make them want to react or interact with it. This could be done with a short video in which you share what your company does – in song.

Logos: Write messaging that you not only want an influencer to share but is also specific, relevant, and logical to that influencer. For example, if you have tips for people in your industry on how they can save time and money doing X, share them.

Apple and Oprah Winfrey, to name just two, embody these three elements of influence beautifully. They are both without a doubt game changers. What other companies or people do you view as influencers?

Image courtesy of wordpress.talentnetlive.com.

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Tags: Branding, BrandSavant, Ethos, influence, Klout, logo, Marketing, Pathos, though leadership, Tom Webster
Posted in Marketing, Thought Leadership | No Comments »

4 Easy Ways to Generate Leads on Forums

August 29th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen

LinkedIn Groups, Quora and HighTable are all great Q&A forums that allow you to demonstrate your expertise – and demonstrating your expertise and thought leadership is a great way to generate leads and find new clients.

Here’s how:

1. Answer questions

Yes, this is probably obvious, but if you want to really make an impression, you have to go beyond a simple, one-sentence answer. You should back up your answer with statistics or examples of how you’ve successfully done x for clients. Offer tips on how they can do x, along with alternatives they may not have considered.

2. Comment on other answers

If you agree, explain why. If you don’t, be polite and civil while you explain why it might be better to do x this way instead of that way. As above, if you can offer tips on how to do x, all the better.

3. Look for questions on related topics

In business, there is a lot of crossover from one topic and area of expertise to another. Take marketing. Though I am a copywriter and editor, and I know a great deal about social media, branding and marketing strategy. Look for questions on topics that are related to your area of expertise to broaden your reach.

4. Visit forums routinely

As with any part of your marketing strategy, consistency wins the day. Just as you make time to check email and post on your business’s social media accounts every day, visit forums and answer questions on a regular basis, whether it’s once a day or once a week.

If you want to delve into forums deeper, you could start your own forum. However, this is a bit of time commitment that requires continual marketing and engagement. If there are no forums on your topic of expertise, though, it might be worth trying out.

Have you successfully used forums to generate leads? What tactics did you find worked best?

Image courtesy of valdosta.edu

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Tags: forums, HighTable, lead generation, LinkedIn, Marketing, quora, Thought Leadership
Posted in Marketing, Thought Leadership | No Comments »

How to Increase Your Influence – and Klout Score

August 23rd, 2012 :: Monika Jansen

Influence. Everyone wants it, but not everyone can get it – especially online, where there is an impossible amount of noise to cut through.

But it can be done! I just watched a really interesting video interview on Social Media Examiner on how to improve your online influence. Mark Schaefer is a marketing consultant, teacher at Rutgers University, speaker and author of Return on Influence and The Tao of Twitter. In other words, he’s an expert in his field. Here is what I learned while watching the video:

Schaefer’s new book, Return on Influence, is about the power of your content. As he points out, no matter who you are, where you live, or what you do, your message can be shared and heard thanks to the Internet, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Of course, if you don’t have social influence, no one will hear your message – so it’s really a Catch-22. However, you can accrue influence online by being authentic and connecting with your audience.

One of the best ways to measure your online influence is with Klout, and companies are figuring out creative ways to influence their Klout scores with great content. Companies are also leveraging word-of-mouth influencers, as it is incredibly powerful to have someone share how great you are with the rest of the world.

Here are 3 things you can do to improve your Klout influence scores:

Surround yourself with people who care about you and who want to share your content.
Create or aggregrate meaningful content that is RITE – Relevant, Interesting, Timely and Entertaining.
Use social media to engage, not just talk. Social media is social and person-to-person.

Schaefer says that if you do those 3 things, you will increase your social influence – and thus your Klout score.

This next point is only marginally about online influence, but it’s really interesting:

For the first time, Twitter, aka business networking on steroids, is being adopted by young people, one of whom said to Williams, “We enjoy using Twitter now, because mom and grandmom are on Facebook. They’re not on Twitter, and Twitter is where the action is.”

Twitter is also picking up traction internationally, and Schaefer said that is because Twitter is simple, easy, and you can fit it into your day whenever you want to.

Who do you follow on Facebook, Twitter or elsewhere who is influential in their field? Why do you follow them? Share your comments below!

Image courtesy of socialfresh.com

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Tags: blogs, content, Facebook, Klout, Mark Schaefer, Marketing, Return on Influence, social media, Tao of Twitter, Thought Leadership, Twitter
Posted in Marketing, Social Media, Thought Leadership | No Comments »

5 Ways to Build Thought Leadership With Your Blog

July 16th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen

Would you rather learn how to play soccer from David Beckham, or your 5-year-old’s soccer coach (who is actually an attorney)?

Would you rather learn how to cook from Jacques Pepin, or your 19-year-old cousin who just got a job at the local burger joint?

I could go on, but you get my point.

When you think of an expert, you think of someone who is ridiculously knowledgeable on a certain subject, someone whose depth of expertise is nearly unparalleled. Building expertise on a subject via your blog takes time, but it is worth the effort. Here’s how to get started:

1. Pull in experts

Instead of asking well-known bloggers or experts in your field to write a guest post (which probably won’t work unless you already have a relationship with them), look them up on Twitter and ask them for top tips or advice around a specific subject via a tweet. Compile their answers into a blog post, complete with links back to their blogs or websites. Chances are, they’ll share your blog post, which will boost your blog readership and your audience on social media. Win-win!

2. Share insider information

The most valuable pieces of information you can share are the little tricks of the trade you have picked up during your career. It could be an industry-wide best practice, little-known secret, or something you’ve developed yourself. The more generous you are with your knowledge, the more knowledgeable you will appear.

3. Give detailed instructions

While it may be easier and faster to just give a high-level overview of how to do something, resist the temptation and dig deep. Give super-detailed, step-by-step instructions – include screen shots, photos, or links to other sites – that will walk your readers through the process.

4. Publish case studies

Showing is always better than telling. Turn your insider information into a case study by explaining how you have successfully used those tricks of the trade for your company and clients. Be sure to include concrete results (for example, “sales increased by 25 percent”).

5. Be active in your industry

This actually goes beyond your blog, but by actively participating in your industry, you will gain visibility. There are several ways to do this:

Comment on other bloggers’ posts in your industry
Follow other bloggers and companies on social media – and interact with them
Guest blog for other bloggers
Curate social media content in blog posts
Conduct surveys and research and publish the results

***

What have you done to build thought leadership on your blog? Share your ideas in the comments below!

Image courtesy of amnh.org

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Tags: blog, blogging, case studies, content curation, guest blogging, Marketing, social media, though leadership
Posted in Marketing, Thought Leadership | No Comments »

10 Marketing Insights From Today’s Top Thought Leaders

April 24th, 2012 :: Monika Jansen

I often find it helpful to glean insight from other marketers on current trends and new developments in our field. Recently, HubSpot gathered marketing observations, ideas and analysis from some of today’s best-known thought leaders. As I read through the collection, I was inspired by what they had to say. Here are my favorites:

Social Media Now

Social media changes at warp speed, as new technologies and best practices emerge almost daily. Here are a couple of observations that stood out:

Our ideas about privacy are changing. As noted by Seth Godin, a minority of people are concerned about what is known about them online, while the majority of us are redefining what is normal, as it relates to privacy.
Kyle Lacy observed that split seconds are becoming more important than ever. In fact, the split second capturing of a memory is often more important than the time it takes to write a post.

Smart Planning for Mobile

The emergence of mobile has caught many marketers off guard, so what do the experts have to say about preparing for it now?

Roland Smart suggests learning HTML5 as soon as possible to capture opportunities to integrate mobile into your marketing strategy on Facebook.
Scott Fox recommends getting away from your desk and stepping out into the real world to really see how mobile is being used by a growing number of people who are not desk-bound.

Online Content and Social Media

Social media has taken online content off the static webpage and infused it with the goal to generate conversation and to engage audiences more than ever.

Michael Lazerow says that content has the added duty of being sharable as well as interesting. It’s not enough to create excellent content; marketers must ask themselves if audiences will share it before they can publish it.
Cameron Chapman emphasizes the importance of verifying everything you write about, since content is being shared more than ever before. Misinformation can spread like wildfire on social media, so be sure you get your message right.

Divvying Up Resources for Social Media

Just when marketers thought they had enough social networks to balance, Google+ and Pinterest emerged, showing us there is still room for more online communities. How do we divide limited resources among all the social media channels?

Maria Ogneva suggests letting your customers be your guide. Wherever your clients, prospects, existing customers, and partners are, those are the networks you should concentrate on most.
Tom Pick takes it a step further by testing to find the platform yielding the best results. Study your analytics to find out which networks are driving the most traffic to your website, and make those networks your top priority.

Building an Online Community

Some of the best advice offered by the experts is to understand that social media is here to stay and is a powerful component of your marketing strategy.

Linda Bustos encourages marketers to think of social media as a marathon and not a sprint. Building a vibrant online community is hard work, and results might not come right away.
Priit Kallas believes that building for the long-term can help businesses stand out from the competition. He suggests focusing on creating customer relationships that can stand the test of time.

To read the entire list of marketing ideas, suggestions and insights, check out Hubspot’s 54 Pearls of Marketing Wisdom. What other ideas have inspired you recently, as it relates to mobile, social or content marketing?

Image courtesy of theorangeinkblog.wordpress.com

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Tags: Cameron Chapman, content marketing, Hubspot, Kyle Lacy, Linda Bustos, Maria Ogneva, Marketing, Michael Lazerow, mobile marketing, online community, Priit Kallas, Roland Smart, Scott Fox, Seth Godin, social media, Thought Leadership, Tom Pick
Posted in Marketing, Thought Leadership | No Comments »

How Using Q&A Sites Can Boost Your Business

September 21st, 2011 :: Rieva Lesonsky

By Rieva Lesonsky

Are you using questions and answers to grow your small business? If not, you’re missing out on a profitable opportunity. New data from Compete, reported by eMarketer, recently took a look at three popular Q&A sites and what kinds of users each attracts.

Compete looked at Ask.com, Answers.com and Quora.com, an expert-oriented site Quora that answers questions posted by users with information from trusted specialists. Quora also has a social component that helped it garner a lot of buzz on launch. According to the Compete data, although it has less traffic than the other two, the users are more engaged. Quora’s users are younger (18- to 34-year-olds accounted for 50 percent of its users) and also affluent, with 27 percent making more than $100K annually.

Compete found that most Quora users got there via search, which suggests that users start off using Google and then click on Quora as the most trusted result because of its focus on expert answers.

What does this research mean to you? If you’re looking to get known as an expert, consider checking out Quora to see whether it can be useful to you—especially if you’re targeting younger and affluent customers.

But Quora isn’t the only game in town. LinkedIn is an even better-known resource for engaging in questions and answers. Make sure you’re taking advantage of LinkedIn’s Answers feature by answering questions related to your field of expertise or your business.

Really want to get known as an expert? If you’ve got a little more time to invest, consider approaching bloggers in your industry and offering to write guest posts where you answer questions posed by their readers have or common questions that many readers ask.

There are many ways question and answer sites can help boost your reputation, give you credibility and improve your business’s sales. All you have to do is ask.

Image by Flickr user Marco Bellucci (Creative Commons)

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Tags: LinkedIn, quora, small business marketing, social media
Posted in Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media, social media, Thought Leadership | 1 Comment »

Join Us Live at 1:30 PM EST for Mobile Marketing for Small Business: Fact vs. Fiction

May 17th, 2011 :: Rieva Lesonsky

networksolutions on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

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Tags: Events, livestream, mobile marketing, social media
Posted in Events, Marketing, Social Media, Thought Leadership, Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Mobile Retail Conundrum

May 12th, 2011 :: grownetadmin

By Tim Gorin

Ah, the brave new world of mobile marketing … it can be both exhilarating and vexing. As a vision care provider and optical retailer in the Washington, DC, area, my company is confronted each day with trying to reach a consumer that is increasingly beset by an avalanche of digital media. But unlike ecommerce retailers, we face the additional challenge of trying to promote “click-to-brick”–that is, harnessing technology to encourage consumers to physically walk into our offices … no easy task in the face of so many online alternatives.

In the last 18 months we have virtually abandoned most of the conventional marketing strategies upon which we relied since opening our doors in 2001. That means no more print ads, no more TV, no more fliers and dramatic cutbacks in direct mail.

Instead we’re exploiting the power of technology by capitalizing on social media, maximizing SEO, embracing Internet deal giants Groupon and Livingsocial, and using Yelp! to push both internal customer service and external word-of-mouth to drive consumer engagement. At the forefront of that technology are smartphones and Internet-connected mobile devices such as iPads.

Still, it’s evident that mobile technology is not yet the retail promised land everyone has hoped for. Mobile marketing remains a digital minefield that demands both vigilance and creativity to succeed. A recent report published on Tealeaf, a software company that monitors shoppers’ online behavior, provides some sobering statistics:

“In February 2011, Harris Interactive conducted a survey on the Mobile Customer Experience, commissioned by Tealeaf, the leader in online Customer Experience Management (CEM).

Consumers surveyed expect the mobile experience to be better or equal to in-store and online (using a laptop or desktop computer) experience.

More than four in five U.S. adults who have conducted an online transaction via a mobile device in the last year report experiencing a problem (84 percent).

Businesses may be losing customers due to poor mobile experiences: 63 percent of all online adults said they would be less likely to buy from the same company via other purchase channels if they experienced a problem conducting a mobile transaction.”

And if that’s not scary enough, let’s not forget that when consumers have negative experiences they are likely to take action. Consider this Tealeaf data:

43 percent would abandon the mobile transaction and try later on a computer
16 percent would become more likely to buy from a competitor
14 percent would email or log a complaint with customer service
12 percent would abandon the transaction at the app/site and try a competitor’s app/site

So what does that mean for small businesses with limited budgets, staffs and time? Is there an effective way to safely and reliably use mobile technology to drive revenue, consumer loyalty and branding without jeopardizing our customers’ hard-earned trust? That’s what we will explore more deeply in Network Solutions’ upcoming Livestream event.

To learn more about ways to leverage mobile technology in your business, register for Network Solutions’ Small Business Mobile Livestream, May 17 from 1:30 to 2:30 pm EST.

Tim Gorin is a Yelp!.com Small Business Advisory Council Member, and is Vice President of Business Development at MyEyeDr.

Image by Flickr user Phil Roeder (Creative Commons)

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Tags: Events, mobile marketing, Search Marketing
Posted in Customer Service, Email Marketing, Events, Marketing, Search Marketing, Thought Leadership | 1 Comment »

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Thought Leadership Articles

What Is Content Syndication, and How Can It Help Your Marketing?

The 3 Elements of Influence, and How You Can Use Them

4 Easy Ways to Generate Leads on Forums

The Mobile Retail Conundrum