As the harsh spotlight illuminates dark posts, Russian ads and who-know-what-else, expect a backlash against Facebook. It may come in the form of regulations or user revolt, but it’s going to change Facebook a lot. It’s not a matter of if, but when. So if you use Facebook to promote your business or connect with customers, what can you do to prepare yourself?
The Basics of Content Marketing for Writers
Writers hate marketing themselves – with good reason. Who wants to be annoying, aggressive, and always selling? Thankfully, there is an alternative that’s much more effective anyway. It’s content marketing, and writers in particular are finding its soft-touch methods to be a relief – and a lot more in tune with the buying behavior of today’s readers.
Build Your Author Platform: A Requirement for Today’s Writers
If you hope to be a published author someday – or to self-publish and sell your books yourself – your author platform is absolutely critical. In fact, it’s almost impossible to achieve any measurable success without an author platform. Here’s a quick overview of how to get started establishing your platform – for new writers and experienced writers too.
How to Make Money Writing
Today’s writers are empowered in ways that were simply not possible in years past. The writers who know how to take advantage of the new strategies and tools are reaching readers directly and charting new paths to success. Here’s an overview of the strategies and skills you’ll need to work towards financial freedom as a writer.
Build Your Content Strategy with These Four Essential Platforms
Do you really need to blog for business? Or be on social media? While every business is different, there are four essential elements in building your online presence. Here’s a simple, integrated action plan for the “Four Pillars” of any good content strategy.
How a Mini-Series Can Help Your Content Strategy
I often produce little mini-series within this podcast. This structured way of writing is how I prefer to work, because it keeps me on track. It’s good for my audience too – and I have the data to back that up. So, would this method work for you? Let’s take a look.
Repurposing Content to Create an Online Course
In today’s world, the selling process really is about teaching. Here’s my method to streamline the process of creating a online course that you can use for customer acquisition, customer on-boarding, or just to “productize” your knowledge and create a new revenue stream.
Repurposing Content: The Downstream Method
If you’re not repurposing blog content for your social posts, you are missing a huge opportunity to save time and effort. In this week’s episode, I cover how to reuse the meta description, the post excerpt, and the post content itself so you can streamline your social media activities.
Repurposing Content Across Different Formats
Are you repurposing blog posts into email newsletters? This and other strategies for making more than one use out of your content can make you much more efficient. Here’s how to do it safely and effectively.
What Authors Can Learn From the Music Business
Authors can learn a lot from the changes in the music business. Dave Kusek, founder of Berklee Online, is interviewed by Joanna Penn about the music industry and how it directly applies to the shift in digital publishing.
Content Syndication: Safe SEO Practices for Your Blog
Duplicate content is bad for SEO – or is it? Content syndication, done properly, is not only safe – but encouraged. There are 4 methods for syndicating content, two of which I endorse for a clean and effective content strategy.
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.
Starbucks Rewards: An Evolution in Data-Driven Marketing
The more you know your customer, the better. That can be in face-to-face interactions, or as Starbucks is showing, through individualized data. Here’s a look at the innovations of the new Starbucks Star Rewards Program – and how you can 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?
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.
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.