How to Humanize a Sketchy Industry
Social media is about people, not logos. I saw a presentation at the MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Forum in Austin a few ago from Eric Granof, CMO of ExpertBail, which seeks to become the country’s first branded network of bail bonds companies. Like video stores before Blockbuster, and ice cream parlors before Dairy Queen, Expert Bail […]
Using a Social FAQ to Kick Start Content Marketing
If you conquered four words, you’d have a better social media program than 90% of all companies. If you just utilized “thank you” and “I’m sorry” appropriately and often, you’d be in pretty good shape. But getting to true sociability requires more than just replying to direct inquiry. You have to use content marketing to […]
What I Learned About Humanity From a Steakhouse
Last week, in the post “Why Your Special Offer Isn’t” we talked about the importance of humanization. Faced with an invitation avalanche, consumers will respond to the stories that resonate with them on a personal level. And those stories don’t just have to live in social media. Myril Arch’s Story — Humanizing a T-Bone Recently, […]
The 10 Social Media Thoughts You Liked Best
Looking back on an exhilarating 2010, I wanted to take a second to just say thank you. No frills, no flourishes. Just thanks. There’s a LOT of places you could go to get you social media and digital marketing fix, and I’m incredibly honored that you choose to spend time here. As part of my […]
Blogging Success Summit – 23 Tips From Blogging Top Dogs
If you want to take your personal or corporate blogging to new heights in 2011, here’s an opportunity to get a leg up. The Blogging Success Summit kicks off in February, with 23 presentations from a murderer’s row of blogging luminaries (+ me). And for a short time, you can save 50% on registration at […]
The Dirty Secrets of Time, Priorities, and Honesty
I hate excuses. And the one I despise most of all is “I don’t have time.” Bullshit. You can find the time. It exists. You choose not to devote the time, and there’s a big difference. I don’t work out. (people that have met me in person are LOLing about the understated nature of that […]
3 Reasons To Dig Deeper In Social Listening
Guest post by Connie Bensen, the Director of Community Strategy and Social Media at Alterian, which provides leading marketing products for the enterprise. She also blogs at http://communitystrategist.com. Brands have realized that social networks offer an opportunity to interact directly with consumers. They create pockets of communities where like-minded people share information and seek advice. […]
Humanizing a Critically Important Industry, From the Ground Up
The public dialog about agriculture in California and beyond is largely negative, with tales of agribusiness nefariousness commonplace. This is despite the fact that 98% of America’s farms are still owned by families. Farmers are literally feeding us every day, but are routinely pilloried in social media and elsewhere by a very vocal minority. This […]
Is Content Marketing a Necessity For Your Brand?
Content Marketing – Give Them Something to Talk About If customers and prospects are already chattering about your brand on the social Web, your social media initiative can focus primarily on becoming an authentic part of those existing conversations. If someone throws you a surprise party, you just need to show up – you don’t […]
Content Lessons Learned From 25 Popular Blog Posts
I’ve been writing Convince & Convert for more than two years, and have produced more than 300 posts. Mostly from me, with some terrific assistance from talented guest authors. Last week, I was on a content marketing discussion panel (moderated by Jeff Rohrs) at the ExactTarget Connections conference. I was joined by Joe Pulizzi from […]
The 3 Amigos: Email, Blogging, Social Sharing
For a while now, there’s been too much talk about social media vs. email vs. search. All of these tactics can work together seamlessly to create a robust, optimized content marketing engine that pays real dividends in increased website traffic, and conversions. A collaboration between RESMARK Systems (a provider of hospitality software), Western River Expeditions […]
5 Ways to Turn Helpfulness Into Marketing Greatness
We’ve talked in the past about helping vs. selling, and that the former approach takes you a lot further in the realm of social media and word of mouth marketing. When I discuss this concept with companies, however, too often I hear something in the realm of “we don’t know what to provide our customers […]
Are You Growing Enough Voices
I’m back from my family vacation in Canada. While I was away, Convince & Convert featured 11 guest blog posts from friends, clients, and colleagues. Some of the guest writers blog on occasion at their own sites. None of them blog routinely. You might expect that this blog that has been written almost entirely by […]
Why You Should Use a Content Rationale Report
Little is the new big. On today’s Web, buying decisions are influenced less by the grand, sweeping programs that take old marketing and put a fresh coat of social paint on them. On today’s Web, buying decisions are influenced more by specific, hyper-relevant pieces of content that your brand creates to get in front of […]
Why D.I.S. is Crucial to your Content Marketing Strategy
Guest post from Russ Henneberry, who writes, speaks and executes on content marketing plans for small businesses. He writes a daily blog about how tiny businesses can make mighty profits using a personal computer, a little imagination and a few well placed dollars. The shift in marketing dollars from traditional advertising mediums to the emerging […]
4 Steps to Drive Sales with a Social FAQ
One of the key benefits of social media that’s not talked about nearly enough is its ability to mitigate doubt and confusion among fence-sitters. Yes, your prospective customers are confused and uncertain. After all, why would they even be coming to your Web site unless they had questions about your product or service? To be […]