Happy May Day, Friday Fixers! This week we move away from Mobilegaddon and get back into analyzing content marketing. Measuring return on investment, keeping your content relevant, and diagnosing content marketing failures are all hot topics, as always. This week we focus on the humanization of content marketing and letting our content be emotional. We also get into the importance of asking questions such as why in content marketing. So, for all you kids who were told to be seen and not heard (or in my case to stop asking so many questions) vindication is here! Now, it’s time to get your Friday Fix on May Day style.
5 Content Marketing Ideas for May 2015
May is a big month for holidays and fun days (May Day, Mother’s Day, May the 4th (Star Wars Day), Cinco de Mayo, Memorial Day, etc.). These are things that you can and should integrate into your May content according to Armando Roggio. What else should you do for May? Well, now is the perfect time to try new things from storytelling to creating video content to launching a hashtag campaign. Check out Armando’s article for inspiration and ideas.
The Importance of Asking “Why” in Content Marketing
In this piece, Kaitlin Loyal presses the importance of asking the fundamental question of why in content marketing. The thing is, sometimes we do things without fully being able to rationalize our actions. When I was a kid, my dad wanted me to vacuum the floor a certain way, and I always asked, “Why?” Why vacuum this way? Why is this more effective than another way? While using content marketing in your strategy might seem as commonsense as vacuuming the floor, you should still know why you do it. Further, dig deep into the carpet fibers of your organization and beg the why of the nitty gritty as doing so will direct and support your future decisions.
Bringing Emotion to B2B Content Marketing
Take it from John Miller that there’s more than enough room for emotional appeals in content marketing. While the initial inclination is to want to be objective and professional, the reality is that emotional language and ideas motivate people to action. Even anger can be used effectively in content marketing. So, don’t be afraid to shout, shout, let it all out in content marketing. More importantly, don’t not read John’s well-supported rationale for incorporating emotional appeals into your content.
4 B2B Content Marketing Predictions for 2015
This piece by Caitlin Roberson eloquently supports what John Miller asserts about emotion in his piece. While many focus on technology’s role in content marketing, they neglect to consider the importance or validity of the human touch, of emotion, of senses…. Read Caitlin’s piece and see what else to explore to get in touch with your content marketing’s sensitive side.
Your First Steps in Content Marketing
I remember watching my daughter take her first steps. They were shaky and she quickly stumbled. She often needed a little added support, but eventually, she could toddle from one place to another without incident. In no time, it seemed, she was running, climbing, and jumping. When you get ready to incorporate content marketing into your strategy, you’re kind of like a toddler in that you’re shaky and nervous but you want to run without incident as soon as possible. Here, Eric Enge brings helpful tips and clever suggestions as well as support for how you can make solid first steps that will get you running with confidence faster.
Why Are So Many Content Marketers Failing? MalContent vs. MegaContent? (Part 1 of 2)
The way Paul Salvaggio talks about people’s inability to harness the power of content marketing (despite its stellar reputation) makes me think of the Sword and the Stone where only Author, as the true king, had the right to pull Excalibur. I’m not saying that only one person can correctly wield the power of content marketing (though I’m sure sometimes, it feels that way), but I am saying that there are reasons that some succeed and some fail. In this part of Paul Salvaggio’s exploration, he covers seven causes as to why some content marketing flops; in the next segment, he will detail how to rectify those issues.
3 Ways to Start Measuring the ROI of Content Marketing
There’s so much rhetoric about content marketing whether it be about how to succeed or to fail, when and how to invest, when and why to outsource, etc. that it can be overwhelming. The best way to ground yourself is by determining the value of your content marketing. As Campbell Macdonald wisely asserts, you need to consider a few variables (and their value) to be able to determine the value of your content marketing investment.
3 Tips to Maximize the Synergy of Social Media and Content Marketing
Social media and content marketing actually go together like mint juleps and the Kentucky Derby (or like fancy hats and the Kentucky Derby, or like fancy hats and mint juleps, Derby optional). Here, Brett Relander provides three intelligent strategies for you to get the most out of your social media and content marketing match-up. Check it out.
How to Hire Ghostwriter for your Content Marketing Campaign
For those who don’t know, ghostwriters are as cool as their title implies. Ghostwriters are writers who you pay to write content for your organization, but you get to publish it as your company’s work; in other words, you don’t include the author’s byline (name). Adam Roseland covers the details on how and why to hire a ghostwriter. Even if you’ve never thought about it before, this is a good read.
5 Ways that Webinars Outperform Ebooks for Content Marketing
Tracy Vides starts this well-conceived piece by talking about how top-of-the-funnel marketing progresses to middle funnel. At this point, Tracy explains, audiences are looking for substance, and it’s your job to know your audience well enough to deliver the goods in the right kind of vehicle. In this piece, Tracy points out some key features that set webinars apart compared to their Ebook counterpart. Read on to help you with your middle-of-the-funnel plan.
Amy Delcambre is a freelance content and travel writer from Mobile, Alabama with a Master's in Creative Writing. When she's not painting the page with nouns, verbs, and adverbs, she's slaying grammar beasts as a freelance editor and saving the world one sentence fragment at a time teaching university writing classes. In her free time, Amy enjoys cooking, traveling, and testing which plant species best survive prolonged neglect.
Connect with Amy: LinkedIn