When you educate your customers, you can lead them to a better, more informed purchasing decision. One that they feel good about – and one that sticks. That means that you are an educator. In running your content strategy, can you think like a teacher?
Taking a Stand Against Deceptive Marketing Tactics
Ad-driven media is still the dominant paradigm, undermining the Web’s promise and potential. When you incentivize clicks as the only metric that matters, what do you expect? Cheap tactics for cheap clicks. Ev Williams, founder of Twitter, is taking a stand. Can he “save the Web,” or is it too late?
The Social Media Strategy Series: Wrap-Up
Social media for business is more than just Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. In the season finale of “Marketing Without the Marketing,” I give a top-level blueprint of a cohesive social media strategy that maximizes impact and efficiency.
Know Your Customer: Using Data-Driven Marketing
Data-driven marketing is becoming a must-have, even for small businesses. Here’s a brief case study of the Starbucks Star Rewards Program – and how to apply the lessons to your own business.
LinkedIn Pulse for Business: Baseline Strategies for Personal Branding
While LinkedIn Pulse is a low-commitment way to get started with blogging for business, you really need a strategy to get the most out of it. Here are two distinct game plans for you to consider: Which one is worth the time investment?
You Only Have to Tell Me One Lie
In your marketing, does what you say about yourself match what your customers say about you? If it doesn’t, you may have a trust problem – and you may not get a second chance to repair the damage.
Periscope for Business: Using Live Video as a Marketing Strategy
Have you tried using Periscope for business – or any other live video app? There are a lot of advantages for brands, and companies are getting really creative with it. Let’s have a look at whether or not live video will be a good strategy for you and your business.
Facebook Groups for Business: A New Approach to Marketing
With organic reach down to 9% or lower, Facebook has become purely a pay-to-play platform for businesses. Facebook Groups are the exception, and may be one of the most powerful marketing tools available. Here’s my strategy for how to build and nurture an audience of super-fans.
Twitter Ads for Business: An Underrated Marketing Strategy
Social media is a great starting point to drive awareness of your business, but let’s face it – there’s a ton of noise out there. One strategy that can help: Twitter Ads. If you haven’t tried ads yet as a part of your content strategy, here’s a quick guide to getting started.
Hope Is Not a Marketing Plan
There are no shortcuts in building a business. That’s why those insidious “instant success” stories are dangerous to real, working businesses. Here is one of those stories – and my reaction to it.
Medium for Business: The Benefits of Social Blogging
Medium has a ready-made audience and a algorithmic feed mechanism to get you in front of an audience that’s different than your own blog. Here’s how to coordinate the two – your blog and Medium – into a coordinated and effective strategy.
Facebook Ads for Business: Taking Your Social Strategy to the Next Level
A lot of businesses are using Facebook – but not a lot of them are using Facebook Ads. With the right strategy, you can get a huge awareness boost for your product or service, targeted to the right audience. Listen to the episode for some starter strategies and other considerations.
Content Strategy in the Modern Media Landscape
In the new media ecosystem, my belief is that the best stuff rises to the top. Why? Because what people value, people share. And it’s the only way that small players can see their message travel. Is your content strategy optimized for the Modern Media Landscape?
Pinterest for Business: Are You Missing an Opportunity?
Pinterest is still one of the most popular social media platforms, and it has been evolving into a great marketing tool for small businesses. Here’s a “starter strategy” to get you up and running and taking advantage of their new business-friendly features.
Using Social Media for Business: Strategies for Long-Term Success
How would you rate your use of social media for business? Has it been successful, or a waste of time? Whether you are just getting started with social media – or you’re in need of a reboot – here’s a collection of resources to help you focus your strategy and make better connections with your customers and prospects.
Instagram Stories vs. Snapchat for Business (Episode 62)
Part 8 of The Social Media Strategy Series A couple weeks ago, Instagram launched a new feature called Instagram Stories. It's a direct copy of Snapchat Stories. The differences in feature set are incredibly minute, but the differences in context are potentially very meaningful. There's been a lot written about this move by Zuckerberg & […]
Instagram Stories vs. Snapchat for Business
Instagram and Snapchat are each powerful social platforms that can help you construct a visual narrative around you or your business. But each have specific limitations as well. Here’s a quick comparison so you can make a decision for your business.
Snapchat for Business: How to Nurture Your Audience (Episode 61)
Part 7 of The Social Media Strategy Series Should I be on Snapchat? It's one of the most frequent questions I get from small business owners. There's a lot of excitement about this new and unique platform with good reason. But a lot of it is just hype, too. So how can you make a […]
Snapchat for Business: How to Nurture Your Audience
“Should I be on Snapchat?” It’s one of the most frequent questions I get from small business owners. There’s a lot of excitement about this new and unique platform—and a lot of hype. Let’s look at the considerations so you can make a good decision for your business.
Instagram for Business: Brand Storytelling with Images (Episode 60)
Part 6 of The Social Media Strategy Series It's fun to create and share images. So it's easy to see why Instagram is one of the Web's most popular platforms. But under Facebook's ownership, Instagram is evolving quickly. What we're seeing is a series of strategic moves to make the platform much more brand-friendly. Perhaps […]