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Brand Behavior | Social Media | Paid Media | SEO | SEM

Build Your Brand, Anchor Your Community, Initiate Impact

7/6/2021

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Get Busy Extending Yourself
Guest Post by Cheryl Conklin
cherylc@wellnesscentral.info
www.wellnesscentral.info


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Connecting with your community is the best way to encourage real change for your neighbors and beyond. Whether you have ample resources or are looking for ways to enact change in small ways, consider these ideas for helping out and rising up.


Volunteer Your Time, Effort, or Cash

Spending time, effort, and money (if you can) is an excellent way to begin making a change in your neighborhood. From volunteering with different groups to developing resources on your own, there are plenty of ways to get started. Or, you can always write a check to your favorite organization to make a monetary impact.
  • Find local committees for causes you’re passionate about and join up.
  • Explore volunteer opportunities in your state through California Volunteers.
  • Donate cash to a cause (and document the details for a charitable contribution deduction on your taxes).
Share the Love (and Your Stuff)

Sharing your gently used belongings is one way to help lift your community up, especially if you donate unwanted items to homeless or women’s shelters, children’s organizations, or not-for-profit thrift stores.
  • Choose a national organization that is active in your community and drop off your clothing items.
  • Give your furniture and household items new life by gifting them to a Habitat for Humanity ReStore in your area.
  • Crowdfund entrepreneurs and families all over the globe through a microloan program like Kiva; donors’ small loans add up (and you get your cash back later).
Grow Your Own Impact

What if your community has a stark lack of volunteer opportunities? Or maybe you want to reach farther than your neighborhood or city. Digging a little deeper to grow your own effort for change might be the perfect move.
  • Embrace entrepreneurship by starting a nonprofit agency and filing as an LLC with a local or global reach. You’ll also need to seek out the best LLC registered agent to act on behalf of your company when dealing with the state.
  • Explore the definitions and parameters of public charities, foundations, and other nonprofits before jumping in to ensure you follow the rules.
  • Put together fun virtual events to attract attention to your efforts.
  • Investigate guidelines in your state regarding nonprofits operating as Limited Liability Corporations.

Effecting change can start with the smallest of actions – whether you volunteer, donate, or launch your own nonprofit organization, progress is the key. Getting involved with causes you care about expands your horizons, builds your brand and does good for the people around you – it’s a win-win.

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The State of 'SEO'. Google Trends Makes it a Whole Lot Easier

12/9/2020

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Before starting this article, I hopped over to Google Trends to take a quick pulse as to what users have been searching for in the field of digital marketing in the last 90 days.
Sure enough, it is the  perennial fine tuning of 'SEO', also known as Search Engine Optimization.
Keeping up with Google Trends — What is the use of Google Trends

Google Trends is a global online tool by Google that helps you visualize and analyze trends in people's search behaviur within Google Search, Google News, Google Images, Google Shopping and YouTube. It is a powerful tool when it comes to reviewing the success of your brands' SEO strategy.

Subscribe to a Google Trends alert to get email updates on topics and searches in your region.
Become an Expert in Google Trend Lessons
7 WAYS YOU CAN USE GOOGLE TRENDS TO BOLSTER SEO
The World of SEO is dynamic and ever changing.
Here are the must know stats of SEO that will help you fine tune SEO strategy, increase website traffic, and boost conversions.
1. As of June 2019, 94% of internet searches happen on a Google property. (Jumpshot via Sparktoro, 2019)
2. Over a two year period, there was a 900%+ growth in mobile searches for “___ near me today/tonight." (Think with Google, 2018)
3. Over a two-year period, there was a 200%+ growth in mobile searches for “open” + “now” + “near me." (Think with Google, 2018)
4. Text will always be the foundation of search so making sure the text around your website's assets is descriptive will help them rank well in search. (HubSpot, 2020)
5. 62% of those in the U.S. age 12+ use voice-operated assistants. (Edison Research, 2020)
6. 18% of Americans age 18+ own a car with an in-dash information and entertainment system. (Edison Research, 2020)
7. 60% of smartphone users have contacted a business directly using the search results (e.g. "click to call" option). (Think with Google, 2019)

GET THE COMPLETE SEO STARTER PACK
The 8 Must Know SEO Tweaks for Your Content Creation as you Move On to 2021

1. Create Content that Aligns with Your Buyer's Search Intent

Understanding and satisfying search intent is Google's ultimate priority.
Pages that rank on the first page of Google have all passed Google's litmus test on search intent.
According to SEMRush, there are four types of search intent.

  1. Informational: This category is related to the search for specific information. It can be a simple search like "what's the weather today?"  that provides instant results or something complex like "the different kinds of events" that requires a more in-depth explanation. 
  2. Navigational: In this case, the searcher is looking for a specific website or app. Common examples of navigational searches include "Facebook login," "Skyline," and "Amazon."
  3. Commercial: The intent behind a search is commercial when the user is looking for a specific product but hasn't made the final decision yet. For example, searches such as "best booth designs" and "best DSLR cameras" are all commercial searches. 
  4. Transactional: Here, the intent is to buy. The searcher has already made a decision to buy a specific product or tool. Examples include searches such as "buy linear booth," "buy Macbook Air," and "buy groceries online."
Your Complete Guide to Search Intent
HOW TO DESIGN ADS FOR YOUR BUYERS' JOURNEY
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2. Focus on Creating an Unique Title Tag and Meta Description

The page title and the meta description of the page are critical factors in Google's eyes.
What are Title Tags?
According to Google: 
"Titles are critical to giving users a quick insight into the content of a result and why it’s relevant to their query. It's often the primary piece of information used to decide which result to click on, so it's important to use high-quality titles on your web pages."

Search engines like Google typically display the first 50-60 characters of a title.
Ideas on Creating Title Tags:
  • Include your target keywords.
  • Write a title that matches search intent.
  • Avoid creating duplicate title tags.
  • Avoid keyword stuffing.
  • Keep it descriptive but concise.
Step by Step Guide on Writing Title Tags

What are Meta Descriptions?
According to Google:
"A meta description tag should generally inform and interest users with a short, relevant summary of what a particular page is about. They are like a pitch that convince the user that the page is exactly what they're looking for."
Google typically truncates meta descriptions to 155–160 characters.
Ideas on Writing Your meta descriptions:

  • Coin out unique meta descriptions for each page
  • Action-oriented copy is conducive to Google search
  • Align you target keywords with search intent
  • Summarize within 160 characters highlighting the search intent
Step by Step Guide on writing Meta Descriptions
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3. Optimize Your Page and Strive for 100% Google Page Speed

Your web site speed is dependent on how well your site is optimized. Your site is composed of text, images and videos.

Your free tools of compression and 3 ways to optimize your pages for enhanced speed.

1. Compress Your Images and Videos - Reduce the load time for your web pages.

  • TinyPNG: TinyPNG uses smart lossy compression techniques to reduce the file size of your PNG and JPEG files.
  • ImageOptim: If you're a Mac user, you can download and use this free tool for all your image compression needs. Recommended by Google, is the best tool for compressing JPEGs, but not for PNGs. If you are using Photoshop, get the WebPShop plug in here, as instructed by Google developers.
  • 8 Video Optimization Tips for faster loading.

2. Provide Alt Text for Images — Doing this will help browsers better understand the images on your site.

Here is what Google says about writing alt text:
"When choosing alt text, focus on creating useful, information-rich content that uses keywords appropriately and is in context of the content of the page.
Avoid filling alt attributes with keywords (keyword stuffing) as it results in a negative user experience and may cause your site to be seen as spam."
Focus on Object-Action-Context. You cannot go wrong.

3. Lazy-Load Your Images - This technique defers the loading of non-critical resources (images, videos, etc.) at page load time.
Images and videos are loaded only when users need them.
Google explains the link between lazy loading and site performance:
"When we lazy load images and video, we reduce initial page load time, initial page weight, and system resource usage, all of which have positive impacts on performance."
Google's resource guide for lazy-loading images and videos.
HOW TO ACHIEVE FOR 100% GOOGLE SPEED
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4. Instigate Internal Linking

Internal links  establish an information hierarchy for your website and provides Google with an in-depth understanding with the content and context of your page.

If there’s a page on your website that you care about a lot and that has a lot of value to you, you should be thinking about how you can explain that value to a search engine. One quick way to do this is by creating an internal linking strategy around it.

Start by considering how a search engine understands the value of an internal link; it’s looking at how many pages on your website link to that page, and how they link to it. If every page of your website links to something, it must be important to you — like your homepage, or your blog’s homepage.
HOW TO USE INTERNAL LINKS TO IMPROVE YOUR WEBSITE SEO
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5. Be Mindful of Your Web Visitors. Find Ways to Elevate User Experience.

Google wants your users to have a good time with your content.
As such, user experience is one of the key factors in improving your search rankings. 

Other than page speed, here are few tips for good user experience.

  • Proper use of headings and sub-headings: Proper use of subheadings (H1, H2, H3) helps Google understand your content better and makes your text more accessible to readers.
 
  • Make your content visually appealing: Studies indicate that visuals help people understand your content better. “Visual discovery allows the consumer to generate a more emotional connection, which translates into less price sensitivity.” Visual search falls under the umbrella of what is known as “sensory search”, which includes searching via text, voice, and vision. Use relevant images, videos, and screenshots to illustrate your points.
 
  • Ditch intrusive popups: Since 2017, Google has been penalizing sites that use intrusive popups. To grow your email list, use exit-intent popups, or display them to users who have spent at least 5 minutes on your site. Here is a useful stat from Omnisend: Landing pages, the least popular type of signup form, have the highest conversion rate (23%). On the other hand, popups, the most popular signup form, have the second-lowest conversion rate (3%). (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)
 
  • White space give relief to the user. It is a fundamental aspect of good design. According to Crazy Egg, white space between paragraphs and in the left and right margins increases comprehension by 20%. So consider using white space to make your content more legible and grab user attention.
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO DESIGNING FOR USER EXPERIENCE
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6. Include Human Friendly Keywords in Your URL

A good URL structure provides both users and search engines an idea of what the destination page is all about. 
According to Google: 
"A site's URL structure should be as simple as possible. Consider organizing your content so that URLs are constructed logically and in a manner that is most intelligible to humans (when possible, readable words rather than long ID numbers)."

Here are some bullet points for you to create well-structured URL:
  • Keep it simple and shortUse short: A study conducted by Backlinko found that short URLs tend to outperform long URLs in SERP (Search Engine Results Page).
  • Include relevant keywords: Targeted keywords in the URL increase your chances of ranking better in search results. 
  • Make the URL human friedly.
  • Separate words with hyphens.
  • If your title/headline includes stop words (and, or, but, of, the, a, etc.), it's not critical to put them in the URL.
  • Don't use slugs that already belong to other pages.
  • Standardize your URL naming conventions.
HOW TO OPTIMIZE YOUR URL FOR SEARCH ENGINES
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7. Lay out a Strategy in Building Backlinks

Backlinks are links from third party sources that point to your website, in comparison to internal links that exist between two pages within your website.

Google doesn't care how interesting your content is – it cares about how interesting other people think your content is. And Google measures that primarily through links to your website, or backlinks. Backlinks are one of the most important factors in how search engines figure out how high they should rank your content.
According to SEMRush, you shouldn’t be buying links, but earning them.
Here is a look at some popular (but relatively simple) ways to earn links to your website:

  • Use HARO to Respond to Requests From Journalists. HARO (Help A Reporter Out) is an established platform where journalists seek sources and quotes for upcoming stories. Sign up and receive three source request emails every day (Monday to Friday), which are relevant to you or your client's industry.
 
  • Guest blogging is great tactic for earning links and sharing your insights and experience from topically relevant industry publications. Let’s say you are a cybersecurity professional and looking to write guest posts. Head over to Google and run a search for: cybersecurity intitle:"write for us"
 
  • Use Niche-specific Directories: Most industries and niches have active directories that recommend and showcase companies operating in that sector. You will also find that local variants of these exist for many towns and cities.  Run a Google search for: ( your industry) intitle:"directory". You are presented with a number of industry-specific directories which you could submit your site to.
 
  • Turn Brand Mentions into Links: If your brand has been mentioned in the press, it is worth following up with the journalist or editor when you have been mentioned in the press without a link and asking them to add it in. Here are 10
Here are 10 brand monitoring tools other than SEMRush.
1. Brand24
2. Google Alerts
3. Brandwatch
4. Hootsuite
5. BuzzSumo
6. Social Mention
7. Native social networks and analytics
8. Ahrefs
9. TweetDeck
10. Keyhole
  • Become Cited as a Resource: If you have spent time creating great content or a great product, you should look to build links by being cited as a resource. For example, Hubspot has created the The Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics for 2020

  • Publish Your Reasearch and Push it to the Press: Launching a data-driven digital PR campaign using either your own or third-party data is worth the time and hassle.  Because, publishers love sharing research studies and surveys, and is a great way to earn fantastic links if you are prepared to put in the time and effort. 
11 creative ways TO EARN BACKLINKS
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USE INFLUENCER MARKETING TO CREATE BACK LINKS
8. Publish Long Form Content
When a search query is typed into Google, the search engine crawls websites for content that will help solve that user's query. Web pages that have a longer time spent on site than others suggest to Google that browsers found that information important enough to stay on that page.

As a result, Google is more likely to suggest that page above others. Research dictates that long-form articles (posts with 3000+ words) get 3x more traffic, 4x more shares, and 3.5x more backlinks than articles of average length (901-1200 words).
An example of long form content.

According to Hubspot, here are 8 ways of writing long form contact
  1. Form your paragraphs in comprehensible sections.
  2. Section off your main ideas.
  3. Make sure your thoughts are organized.
  4. Describe the 'so what?' of each section.
  5. Keep a conversational tone throughout your piece.
  6. Hook the reader with an engaging introduction.
  7. Add visuals to break up long sections of text.
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WRITING LONG FORM CONTENT
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On-page SEO is all about using keywords and content to explain a topic that searchers enjoy reading. However, it's also a way to let search engines know the purpose of the page and what it's about. 

This technique includes optimization of content by adding keywords to a few places that create a good user experience for the reader, which also happens to make it an easy-to-crawl page for a search engine. For this very reason, on-page SEO still holds a lot of klout in the eyes of inbound marketers. Heck, even Matt Cutts, the face of Google’s search algorithm, said that content is how they are able to rank sites without any extra contextual information. 


Take a deep dive with these articles:

Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide: Official documentation from Google that helps new marketers and webmasters alike.
Google-friendly sites: More official documentation on building Google-friendly websites.
Page Speed Insights
On-page ranking factors from Moz
Google’s ranking factors
The Short Cutts: Brief summaries of Matt Cutts' Webmaster Videos for Google

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How to Find Influencers? Is there is Search Engine for Influencer Marketing?

12/2/2020

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Searches for Influencer Marketing has gone up by 1500% over the last 4 years
Who are Influencers & What is Influencer Marketing?

The simple answer: an influencer is someone who influences others.
'Celebrities' were the original influencers.
Celebrity endorsements are the original form of 'influencer marketing'.
As seen here, some of the images from web on conventional influencer marketing.

Who are the Influencers of the 21st Century?

In our digital social media world, social content creators who are perceived as experts in their niches — to promote your brand or product. These people have put the time and effort to engage groups of followers on social media. These people are trusted by their tribe.  They are known simply as “social media influencers.”
When Macy's invited a group of influencers to a preview event for their new watch collection, these influencers used their own style and tone to get the word out.  source: Hootsuite
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How Effective is Influencer Marketing?

The Convincing Stats for Influencer Marketing.
  • 71% marketers find that influencer marketing leads are better quality than other lead generation resources.
  • LinkedIn is the most effective social media site for sharing content and garnering
    audience engagement
  • Over half of the online population follows a celebrity or influencer on social.
  • 49% of buyers rely on influencers for purchase decisions.
  • 89% of marketers say influencer marketing ROI is as good or better than other marketing channels.
What are the Influencer Marketing Channels?

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin
  • Snapchat
  • Blogs
  • You Tube
  • E-mail
  • Newsletter
  • Digital Print ads
  • Television
What are the Influencer Marketing  Content Types?

  • Blog Posts
  • Instagram Post/Stories
  • Facebook Posts
  • Sponsored Facebook Live
  • Twitter Posts/videos
  • Snapchat posts/videos
  • Emails
  • Linkedin Posts/Videos
  • YouTube videos
  • Magazine/newspaper articles
  • Television appearances/videos

The main difference between conventional and digital influencers:
In the conventional format, the celebrity is bounded by brand parameters. When it comes to the 21stC digital landscape, the influencer decides on how to incorporate the brand product as he/she sees fit.

How to Locate Influencers?
As you know by now, Influencers are specialists in their niches. These individuals have influence over an audience you might be trying to reach, and can be helpful marketing to those buyers. So, how do you find them.

Yes, you can spend hours scrolling through social feeds, researching an influencer’s content and following, and then crafting an email that you hope gets noticed, or you can use technology to find influencers: influencer search engines and different apps.
Technology Tools and Platforms to Search and Interact with Influencers
Followerwonk
This tool from Moz allows you to search for relevant influencers on Twitter based on keywords and location. It’s a great first tool to use when building your list of potential influencers to engage and partner with.

Hootsuite
Hootsuite search streams can help you discover influencers by monitoring conversations relevant to your industry across multiple channels.

Right Relevance Pro
This app can search out top content shared by influencers based on topic and location. Use it to identify thought leaders and discover potential influencer partnerships based on the quality of the content they share.
Inspiring EXAMPLES OF INFLUENCER MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
Fourstarzz Influencer Recommendation Engine
This app provides custom influencer recommendations. It helps predict estimated reach, engagements, and other campaign results.

Buzzstream and Buzzsumo
These tools offer products to find influencers in fields like tech, communications, retail, and more, as well asmanage influencer campaigns.

PeerIndex
As a tool that specializes in social analytics and influence, this will help to determine what constitutes important content and who is delivering that content across Twitter handles, specifically.

Google Blog Search
For companies searching specifically for bloggers with a large following, this tool is a great place to search for the leading bloggers within your industry.
HOW TO REACH OUT WITH INSTAGRAM HASHTAG

Influencer search engines are great tools to use if you’re looking for influencers for your next campaign. Many of these platforms offer multiple search features, as well as communication, payment, and tracking tools. 

Upfluence
This influencer platform lets you identify organic influencers in a  brand’s own customer base and website audience. Their platform has built-in influencer search, CRM, and ROI analysis. Details here.
Source: Influencer Marketing Hub and Zen Media

Key Selling Pointers:
  • Premium influencer campaign management
  • Product placement outreach
  • Influencer event management
  • Payment and transaction services

Who should use it: 
  • Agencies
  • Brands
AspireIQ
It describes itself as an intelligence marketing platform built for  advocacy. Ideally, the “community” shares similar values and passion tied to your brand beyond the product or service you sell. Detail here
Source: Influencer Marketing Hub and Zen Media

Key Selling Pointers:
  • Drive brand awareness 
  • Generate authentic content at scale 
  • Boost engagement and retention
  •  Improve your products 
  • Maximize your sales

Who should use it: 
  • Brands
  • Marketers 
  • Content creators
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HypeAuditor
The AI feature of this platform analyzes and ranks bloggers by quality followers and authentic engagement. The AI knows the difference between "real followers" and "paid followers". Details here.
Source: Influencer Marketing Hub and Zen Media


Key Selling Pointers: 
Robust influencer data and analysis, including:
  • Their current ranking (and the change since last month for some lists only)
  • The influencer’s Instagram username 
  • Main topics the influencer posts about 
  • Their audience country 
  • Their followers 
  • An estimate of their authentic engagement

Who should use it: 
  • Brands
  • Agencies
NeoReach 
This robust platform has managed more than $250 million worth of influencer marketing campaigns to date. This is an enterprise-level influencer marketing tool whose customers include Airbnb and Walmart. Details here.
Source: Influencer Marketing Hub and Zen Media

Key Selling Pointers: 
  • Find and manage talent with easy search features.
  • If you are look for a You Tube super star of an Instagram Celebrity, this is the platform for you.
  • Coordinate each step of your campaign fulfillment process
  • See what’s working and what isn’t with intuitive analytics

Who should use it:
  • Agencies
  • Brands 
SOCIAL LISTENING IN THE AGE OF UNIVERSAL UNCERTAINTY
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Mavrck
As a leading influencer marketing platform for micro-influencer marketing, this platform is aimed squarely at enterprise and Fortune 500 companies. It offers more features and higher price points than others.
Details here.
Source: Influencer Marketing Hub and Zen Media

Key Selling Pointers: 
  • Influencer marketing 
  • Ratings and reviews 
  • Referral programs 
  • Ambassador programs 
  • Digital focus groups and surveys 
  • Full-stack content creation 

Who should use it:  
  • Enterprise brands 
  • Agencies
PopularPays
The platform has a community of over 60,000 individuals with a robust search engine and relationship suite feature set. Users collaborate with selected partners via Threads, or at scale through the Campaign workflow tools. It’s best known for its TikTok influencer search engine.
Details here.

Key Selling Pointers: 
  • Find and vet influencers and creators 
  • Manage influencer and creator relationships
  • Chat with influencers and creators
  • Collaborate at scale 
  • Data and performance all in one

Who should use it:  
  • Brands 
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CreatorIQ
CreatorIQ was developed to offer influencer marketing that was more brand-safe, data-driven, and transparent to meet the increasing needs of marketers. Like Neoreach, CreatorIQ focuses on the enterprise market—its customer base includes Unilever and Disney. Details here.
Source: Zen Media

Key Selling Pointers:
  • Audience profiles
  • Growth history
  • Cross-platform content to find, assess, and qualify over 15 million creators before adding them to your network
  • Surface the best creators for your brand with the discovery engine built for scale

Who should use it:  
  • Enterprise brands 
  • Influencers 
Heepsy
This platform analyzes the followers, likers, and commenters of the influencer in order to verify the influencers’  authenticity. The platform identifies the demographics of an influencer’s followers and other audience analysis. Heepsy has a database of over 7 million influencers on Instagram and YouTube. Details here.
Source:  Zen Media

Key Selling Pointers:
  • Create and export lists of your selected influencers
  • Advanced filters for niche searches
  • Access to Influencer database

Who should use it:  
  • Brands 
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Influence.co
With the usual influencer marketplace services, this platform also acts very much like a social media platform. This helps brands sustain the types of authentic and long-term relationships that are intrinsic in influencer marketing. Influence.co now has a social network and marketplace with more than 250,000 members, 150,000 of whom are influencers, 70,000 businesses, and 30,000 others. Details here.
Source:  Zen Media

Key Selling Pointers:
  • Manage all aspects of your influencer marketing in one place 
  • Build and manage complete communities for every business 
  • Execute campaigns on clients’ behalf

Who should use it:  
  • Brands
  • Agencies
  • Influencers 
Post for Rent
Influencer marketing’s explosive growth happened when brands realized consumers were more likely to trust the recommendation of someone they know—and social media made it possible for everyday people to be known by increasingly large numbers of people. Post for Rent serves all sizes of brands, as well as agencies and talent managers. Details here.
Source: Influencer Marketing Hub and Zen Media


Key Selling Pointers:
  • See the demographics of the follower base for your selected influencers. 
  • Robust campaign and talent management 
  • Brands, agencies, and talent managers can manage their entire workflow, payments, and reporting.

Who should use it:  
  • Brands
  • Agencies 
  • Influencers/Creators
Next Steps

Before getting started, outline your strategy in a more targeted and detailed manner. Depending on the industry and size of your business, some examples of influencer marketing goals might be: 1. Increase brand awareness, 2. Precipitate brand engagement, Generate Leads, 3. Promote Sales, 4. Promote New Product, 5. Drive Traffic to Your Website,
6. Increase Social Media Following, 7. Improve Customer Loyalty

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Staying Power in the Age of Disruption

7/12/2014

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Marketing has gone tremendous disruption over the last decade. Here are some ideas that have demonstrated stupendous staying power in the field of this ever changing landscape.
marketing area on the move
Crowdsourcing “A central principle animating crowdsourcing is that the group contains more knowledge than individuals,”  Coined by Jeff Howe in a 2006 Wired magazine article The Rise of Crowdsourcing, the idea is to leverage collective intelligence to create something of value. Good examples are: IdeaExchange from Salesforce, MyStarbucksIdea.com and IdeaStorm.com from Dell.

Customer Reviews "Suddenly, everything is about the product and its ability to meet expectations, not just how you market it." Alejandro Camino, VP Marketing and Communications at Softtek. People's perception of products and services are impacted by customer reviews and ratings. Sellers Beware!

Diversification Dividend "Marketing has become a LEGO blocks game." Luis García de la Fuente, CEO FactoríaDeClientes.com A single marketing campaign can contain a viral video, live webinar, inforgaphic, social media interaction, email promotion and behaviorally targeted advertising. Diversification is the secret to brand nourishment!  Read more.

Experiential Marketing Experiences are emotional, personal and tangible!  Offer in-depth experiences that stimulates people’s senses. Do it and your brand will triumph.
Read more

Gamification “Games and research into human psychology have taught us that people are happier when they earn something, rather than when it is given to them,” Darren Steele, the strategic director of Mindspace. Now, you know the popularity of Safeway Club Card.

Mashup An abstraction that helps people see new connections between seemingly disparate concepts. All the rave about Skyline Windscape is nothing more than a mashup between oxygen and displays. How you trap oxygen within the folds of fabric. The result: A marvelous air powered exhibit system, another industry first.

Mobile First is all the rave now. With half of U.S. mobile consumers owning smartphones,“Now is the best time to start leveraging mobile marketing, because it’s still relatively new in the eyes of both marketers and consumers,” Marketing in the Moment...     Read more

Offline Links Propagates Inbound Links/Leads  We know that Inbound links expands your brand horizon, generates direct/indirect traffic and helps optimize your search engine rankings. However, did you know that  Offline is the New Online Link Building Strategy . Our online inbound leads went up by 22% by focusing on the trade show event #CES 2014

Product Placement You, the marketers are the creators of valuable content and can place product information in your blog posts, ebooks, webinars, videos and presentations, while generally appealing, include information about what your company does and how that might benefit the prospect. Here is my attempt at it.

Prosumer Integral part of web 3.0 culture, Prosumers are the result of cross pollination between consumers and producers in the online media landscape. "Common consumers who were predicted to each become active to help personally improve or design the goods and services of the marketplace" Dave chaffrey, CEO and co-founder, Smart Insights. Read more, on how you to transform your clients into brand ambassadors.

Personalization "Being able to directly talk to a need is magical." Hope Neiman, Chief Marketing Officer at EMN8. Dynamic content is the outcome of such desire to personalize content– provide prospective customers a seamless, near intuitive path down the sales funnel—one that would recognize each potential buyer as an individual and adapt to his or her needs.

Segmentation allows organizations to target a prospect or a customer with the most relevant messages to her needs and preferences. According to eMarketer, 39% of marketers who practice list segmentation see better open rates and 28% see lower opt-out and unsubscribe rates. “Successful Direct Marketing pros will alter their tactics to overcome inbox clutter and increase relevancy.” Forrester Research Vice President and Principal Analyst David Daniels. Do it, and your prospects will love the marketing delights that you send them over.

Transparency "Information is so much more valuable if people are opting to share it with you.“ Cameron Chapman. Transparency is the social currency of our digital age. It encourages your audiences to become active participants in this new cultural revolution. A must read: Radical Openness: Four Unexpected Principles for Success

Visual Content “Less text please, more graphics – we’d rather see it than read it.”  Iris Shoor, the co-founder and VP  Product Marketing at Takipi.  Visual storytelling as a means of spreading a marketing message is crucial to your brand existence.
Read more.

Virality "Viral marketing is an idea that spreads--and an idea that while it is spreading actually helps market your business or cause."
SETH GODIN, Marketing Author & Speaker. “Being viral isn’t the hard part,” observes Godin. “The hard part is making that viral element actually produce something of value, not just entertainment for the client or your boss.”

“What is in it for me?” It is the value proposition that propels people to take action. Why will anyone choose to engage with your brand? Check out these Facebook ads with good value proposition.

Wireless "We’ll look back and see that wireless, not the Internet, made the greatest change."
Richard K. Marketing Sociologist… A definite game changer indeed. An increasing result of this is Geotargeting is a method of marketing in which you deliver a message based on the location of your audience... in case you were wondering why
Lowes and Walmart are wired up with the wireless technology.... Read more

Want to know more?
Read about 83 other ideas that will make you a prolific marketer!

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The Leap From Social Media to Social Business

7/11/2014

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Picture
As businesses bask in the warmth of a social media presence with increased customer interaction, branding opportunities and expanded marketing capabilities, they now need to carve out the next phase of their social evolution. They need to make the shift towards social business.

What is Social Business
?
Social business is a concept of moving past posting compelling content, and developing it into every day business practices.
“With social business you start to look at the way people are interacting in digital experiences and apply the insights derived to a wide variety of different business processes.” Ethan McCarty, Senior Manager of Digital and Social Strategy at IBM 
Social business utilizes the channels to create productive experiences for everyone from customers to employees. Successful social business is all about taking what works best in social (collaboration, real-time data, and brand awareness) and applying it to other areas of the business (sales, customer service, and advertising). e.g. IBM added web pages for sales personnel with links to their Twitter and Facebook account so that they are more accessible and knowable for customers.

"While creating a social brand is a necessary endeavor, building a social business is an investment..." Brian Solis

Helpful article:
The Path to Co-Creating a Social Business

Articles you might like:
edge on brand marketing
The Edge on Brand Marketing
"We are not just passing into another historical period or... cultural modification.......But more specifically we are terminating the last 65 million years of life development."
Thomas Berry, historian philosopher

Habits of a Holistic Brand
Habits of a
Holistic Brand

Change is the Lord of the Universe. Everything is in a state of becoming of continuall flux. How do you stay. How to stay centered and coherent in the swing of inevitable changes. Holistic brand wisdom from the master himself.
_


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The Decline of Paid Ads and The Rise of Organic Content

1/20/2014

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The Decline of Paid Ads and The Rise of Organic Content
With changes in Google algorithm, that supports educational content like blog posts and videos instead of simple website urls, it is no surprise that Expedia Lost 25% Of Their Search Visibility In Google Possibly Over Unnatural Links. 
Organic wins 94% of the time versus paid search result.
For the marketers out there, create content that connects with your audience and compels them to interact with your brand.
Related Article:
Google Hummingbird Demands Mobile-First Content

The days of interruptive marketing are but a distant memory and the
Internet has permanently changed the way we interact and exchange information. Today, 8 out of 10 people identify themselves as blog readers, and 23% of all time spent online is spent on social media sites, sharing content. To take advantage of this new buyer behaviour, cultivate an active online presence.

HubSpot’s research shows that 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results.  Now, more than ever, it is vital to continue creating compelling, educational content that people love and share.

Did you Know?

Microsoft Research reports that people spend only 10 seconds on your homepage before leaving if they don’t immediately connect with your marketing messages.
61% of B2B marketers rate webinars as the most effective content-marketing tactic. Webinars are great educational offers for that middle-of-the-funnel prospect who has started the research phase of his or her buyer journey and is now getting into the consideration phase, looking for more information.

80% of business decision-makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles versus in an advertisement. The bottom line: We don’t want to be sold to, we want to be educated, and articles deliver the kind of information your prospects are seeking in order to make smart, well-informed decisions.
Related Article: Content marketing is about optimizing the dialogue between a company and its customers for profitable outcomes

60% of the population are visual learners and articles with images get 94% more views over those without an image.
Related Article:  How Live Talks Become Visual Content
B2B companies that blog, generate 67% more leads per month than those that don’t.
If you have an active blog, you have a better chance of making a connection with your website visitors.

Image credit: http://adsoftheworld.com/


Helpful article:
Read more about inbound marketing that works!


Articles you might like:
creativity demystified
Be a Creator. Not a Mindless Consumer
You are a Creator in " jeans and a t-shirt, and within you dwells the infinite wisdom of the ages and the sacred creative force of All that is, will be and ever was.”
Leran to combine the practical & the metaphysical, to unleas the creator within.

take creativity out on a ride
Take Creativity Out
on a Ride

The dynamic blend of a strong brand proposition and a compelling brand personality gives birth to a powerful brand expression.
Drive Demand  by Creatively Expressing your Brand


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Customer Revolution Is The Staying Trend!

1/9/2014

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You the Marketers, are the Architects of the Customer Experience!

Customer Revolution Trend
Customized content for each consumer will be growing trend for 2014 and beyond. You now have technology in place to capture the range of customer behavior in your emails, on your website, in your mobile app, at your physical locations, "even on your customers’ morning runs — and attribute them to individuals." Technology has now made the quantum leap that  captures these cross-channel, cross-device customer behaviors, it’s up to you, marketers to weave an engaging story.

Bryan Brown, Vice President of Product Development, Silverpop specifies 3 Key Tactics that encourages customers experience.

Pick a channel you’ve never individualized before and add an element of personalization.
Or, add more customized content to an existing channel to make it more helpful, fun and/or engaging.

Look for creative ways to use customer behaviors to drive cross-channel interactions.

Maybe a mobile app interaction is reflected on the website. Or an in-store exchange drives an SMS. Or a retweet leads to an email.

Make real time your mantra. Whether it’s a contact who just abandoned a shopping cart, exited your store after a test drive or posted a product review, the timeliness of your response can make a difference. Configure your business rules and automated programs to make it happen
.
Read more about the 7 Key Marketing Trends for 2014 - and Tactics for Thriving in the New Year
_

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2014 Must Read: Yes Digital Changes Everything

1/7/2014

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content marketing
[As Rebecca Lieb puts it] ... But, content marketing is not new. In 1895, John Deere published the first journal of its kind teaching farmers all about the latest in technology and trends in the industry. More than 100 years later and with 1.5 million in distribution to 40 countries, The Furrow could be the most successful content marketing initiative in history. Since then, thousands of companies have used content marketing (to an extent), but never have we seen marketing professionals focus so much on content craze.

Why?
  • Buyers accept content from brands and brand ambassadors more than ever. In other words, you don’t have to be The Wall Street Journal to find and engage readers. (Learn to create brand ambassadors)
  • Buyers find 99% of purchase information by themselves. The consumer is now in complete control and doesn’t care much for your sales processes.
  • Shrinking media budgets are leaving an opportunity for YOU. The traditional media model is hurting, and many of those media companies aren’t investing in content areas that YOU can cover more effectively.
“Content marketing is about optimizing the dialogue between a company and its customers for profitable outcomes. The better the conversation is, the more attention it attracts, and the more your customers are compelled to talk and buy. Almost any company or service can find a content marketing strategy that will work for it." --Bryan Eisenberg, marketing speaker and co-author of The Wall Street Journal,BusinessWeek, USA Today, and The New York Timesbestselling books Call toAction, Waiting For Your Cat to Bark?, and Always Be Testing

If you have any sort of web presence, you are a publisher. Think like one and build a digital content strategy that enhances, embraces and exhilarates your audience and skyrockets your conversion rate. This book is a must read for this year!


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Trends in Sight: Marketing in 2014: The Year of Social

11/30/2013

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marketing in 2014
As we all look ahead towards 2014, it is all about Social Marketing. 9 in 10 marketers will use social media marketing. Call 2014 the year of “social acceptance.”

Redesign your website for the experience of your users not for search engines only. We have now transcended from the age of SEO to the age of CEO [Customer Experience Optimization]. Our technology have aided us in knowing our customers in a way that boggles the mind. We know all the numbers associated with our target audience - we know their age, location, annual income, their spending habits and so forth. Behind this veil of statistics, what we now need to know is the  person with emotions and questions regarding the purchasing of your products and services.
Your marketing strategy needs to be personal.

When developing content always ask yourself: how relevant is your message for this person at this point of customer life cycle?

Since the dawn of history, man has been nurtured by fire side stories. Our brains are hard wired to remember stories.
share stories and connect with stories. You, as a marketer are the new story tellers of our digital age.
“The purpose of a storyteller is not to tell you how to think, but to give you questions to think upon.” Brandon Sanderson
Need help developing a story. Here are some pointers from Brian Tarcy.

In a society inflicted by massive ADD, small and simple is your ticket to drive attention and retain registration.

David Armano of global social agency Edelman Digital calls mini content, like the six-second video platform Vine, "the second coming of YouTube." He adds, the best way to reach someone is in those "in-between" moments when they're flipping through content on a mobile device.
Read more: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/229806#ixzz2mA401zJ6
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2013/09/17/the-top-7-online-marketing-trends-that-will-dominate-2014/

Content, Context and Contact. -  should be the three pillars of your marketing strategy for 2014 and beyond.


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Future of Branding in the Context of Modern, Mobile Life

11/24/2013

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The future of Branding is about creating connection
Babylon Wonder Poster | www.zazzle.com

It is not about selling. It is about helping people

"We are in the business of sales but we don't start with a pitch. we start with a conversation. We try to develop story engines. We ask: What story are you trying to tell? We want to launch a thousand ships together.”
Cecelia Wogan-Silva, director of creative agency development at Google

The future of branding belongs to storytellers who understand the hero’s journey in the context of modern, mobile life. The hero’s journey is a storytelling structure pervasive across cultures. It starts with a call to adventure, requires that the hero be connected to others, including a mentor. The hero will face extremely difficult challenges along the way. The hero ultimately wins and returns home, armed with new knowledge about herself, other people and the world.

Does your brand inspire people to respond to the call for adventure, whether through providing information, tools or a catalyst? Does it help them overcome the obstacles they will face on the path, either by making sure they have nourishment, transportation, tools, information or access to other people? If your brand doesn’t serve any of the segments in the hero’s journey, you’re right to be concerned about the future. Read more
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