A Great Video Points the Way to Effective Use of RSS

Written by Paul Mosensen

An overview on Google Reader, and how to manage RSS feeds, folders, share buttons, and integrate with LinkedIn, Google Alerts, Google+, and Twitter……

Via www.youtube.com

Image hazel.estrada via Flickr CC

[This is a perfect example of what John is discussing. We have curated his post via Scoop.It.]

Written by John Jantsch

You need lots of content, you know that, but you also know that content creation is one of the more time intensive marketing activities you have to tackle.

While you do need to create your own content as the foundation for your total content and teaching strategy, you can – and should – supplement your content with that from other people.

One of the best services marketers can provide these days is to act as a filter for all that’s being produced out there and aggregate the best of the best on behalf of our communities.

Finding and sharing consistently high quality, relevant content and adding insight to this information is not only a great way to increase the volume of your content, it’s a great way build trust in the value of your content.

Here are 5 ways to go about it: Go to DuctTape Marketing Blog

Content Marketing Beats Social Media

A report from BlogHer suggests that tech businesses targeting American women can be most effective with blog content marketing.

Content marketing campaigns including blogs can be especially useful for consumer electronics companies targeting women. A report from BlogHer found that 69 percent of adult females in the U.S. rely on blogs when they research smartphones, computers, tablets and other consumer electronics.

Social media marketing is also effective, but to a lesser degree, with 53 percent saying they turn to Facebook, Twitter or another social network for information about potential purchases. Additionally, they are sure to check manufacturer websites, but blogs weigh more heavily into their eventual purchase decisions.

Click  for highlights of the BlogHer Study.
Via www.brafton.com

Who Knew How Hard It Was to Be An Outbound Marketer?

Rebecca Shares Her Pain Musically for Our Amusement

This may go down with Old Man River as a classic song of pain and suffering.

The Outbound Marketer’s Lament

HubSpot’s Rebecca Corliss sings her heart out about the horrible life of an outbound marketer as she tells the tale of toting that virtual barge and lifting that virtual bale.

Just When You Hoped Things Might Slow Down, They Speed Up

The smart folks at CMO.com understand the need to make these rapidly changing trends understandable and actionable.

What words come to mind when thinking about the digital marketing landscape? Complicated? A deep morass? Or a land of opportunity?

No doubt, digital marketing has experienced a huge uptick in the number of channels and devices at its disposal, further underscoring the need for marketers to determine the best allocation of their budgets. Shifting priorities and increased competition have not made life any easier.

As I see it the biggest shift is to mobile devices, particulary the iPad.  The iPad is quickly becoming both pervasive and practical for daily business use. That means that content marketers have to change the way they deliver content to our customers. Content must be mobile friendly–and increasingly interactive and actionable.

Here’s the entire Digital Marketing Trends Infographic:

You can read more great stuff and download the full size Infograhic at: CMO.com

Written by Will Davis via Marketing Trenches

Don’t let your 2012 marketing approach turn into a Little Shop of Horrors–make sure you have your 2012 content plan in place.

As I sat down yesterday with a couple members of the Right Source team for our check-in on our 2012 tactical plan, I was reminded how our marketing, like that of many of our clients, is heavily dependent on content. We use the term content marketing all the time in our industry, yet to many folks outside of the industry – and to many of our potential clients – it means very little.

What I’ve realized is that a post Mike wrote nearly 2 years ago – What is Content Marketing and Why is it Hot? – is still incredibly relevant today and maybe even more so. Why?

Many People Still Need an Explanation of What Content Marketing Is

People in the industry don’t believe it, but it’s true – the term content marketing sounds great but many marketers, presidents, and CEOs have never heard it or don’t know what it means….
Via www.marketingtrenches.com

The Power of Storytelling for Content Marketers from Robert Rose

In this video post, Robert Rose, co-author with Joe Pullizzi of ‘Managing Content Marketing,’ discusses what brands can learn from big-screen storytelling, as well as from Joseph Campbell: creating ‘heroic’ content that speaks to your audience.
Via www.contentmarketinginstitute.com

This past September, I was honored to speak at Content Marketing World. My talk was called “Storytelling Secrets From Hollywood.” Since that time, I’ve had a few people ask me for the slides. Inspired by these requests, I’ve been having some fun learning about video-editing programs. So here, I thought I’d go one step further and develop a little video for CMI readers.

The video embedded below is the basis of my presentationat Content Marketing World 2011.  I’ve since added some more visual elements to the storytelling — including clips from some of the movies I reference. (Hopefully, I’ve made them a little more fun to watch). Of course, if you’re interested in viewing the on-demand version of my talk, it’s available here.

Watch Robert’s video below:

Read Robert’s complete article here: Content Marketing Storytelling: Secrets from the Big Screen 

Via Marketing Clout

You wouldn’t ask a violinist to conduct an orchestra. He may be an extraordinary musician, but what does he know about conducting or about how each section comes across to the audience? Will the audience come back? Chances are, probably not.

Similarly, your typical copywriter, while highly skilled in his area, won’t necessarily have an understanding of writing content for integrated digital marketing campaigns.

Old school copywriters are still in demand for offline campaigns. The new breed of digital writers, however, understands how to write for the web. For example, they know how to:

• Make your content searchable and high ranking for search engine optimisation (SEO) using key words and links without compromising on content quality
• Make copy digestible, using short, punchy sentences, subheadings and segmentation
• How to write for social media with the right tone, timing and level of interaction

Via www.marketingclout.co.uk

Written by Melanie Brooks

Dave and Carrie Kerpen started their marketing company,   Likeable Media, after they created a buzz selling sponsorships to their New York wedding. They raised $100,000 for their wedding and $20,000 for a charity

The couple, who both had marketing backgrounds, were asked by so many people “what’s next” after their wedding promotional stunt that they started their own company, which today has offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, and Mexico City.

Dave appears in this video on Inc.com talking about how he got started as well as sharing some tips on what makes someone good at social media marketing. While I wish there was less “wedding” and more “tips for 2012”—as the title suggests—I did like what he had to say about the kind of person who excels at social media marketing.

The most successful person in social media is the same person who is the most successful person at a cocktail party. —Dave Kerpen

Dave has a few fantastic tips that are worth considering in your freelance business…
Via freelanceswitch.com

Classic wisdom from David Meerman Scott. Don’t buy, beg or bug!

It still boils down to content marketing.  According to David, you can choose from three old, traditonal methods:

• You can buy attention (advertising)
• You can beg for attention from the media (PR)
• You can bug people one at a time to get attention (sales)

Or…

…you can earn attention by creating something interesting and valuable and then publishing it online for free: a YouTube video, a blog, a research report, photos, a Twitter stream, an ebook, a Facebook page.

More content marketing and social media wisdom from David: Via www.webinknow.com