The new Facebook Timeline format will officially be applied to all business pages as of March 30, 2012, but some businesses are already experimenting with the feature. Reactions are mixed, but as content marketers, we are thrilled.

We think the timeline format offers a great opportunity for brands and companies to tell their story in a more authentic, visually compelling, and streamlined way. The new format offers businesses a bigger canvas on which to paint a picture — and lots of great new storytelling features.

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Your website content is your personal greeting to potential or existing customers. Think of it as your front desk, your introduction and an opportunity to connect with someone you haven’t even met. When your company offers a variety of products and services, it can be a challenge to get just the right message across on your home page. A focused message not only explains what you can do for people, but grabs their attention and makes them want to learn more.

Here are a few important ways to streamline your message and create welcoming home page content to get customers through the front door (virtual and actual).Continue Reading

Digging in to reveal the vital nuggets of information that tell a brand or company’s story is an essential first step in the content development process. At SPROUT Content, one of the first things we send to clients is our content questionnaire. This simple yet informative Q&A doc is tailored for each client to help us get to know them better. The goal is to bring out the most important information about their history, goals, offerings and industry. It’s like an online dating profile for businesses.

The questionnaire

Regardless of if you are working with a client or managing your projects in-house, it’s a good idea to use a tool like the content questionnaire because it sets the foundation for the editorial content strategy, key messages, voice and positioning.  It also reveals where more agreement is needed.

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The groundbreaking Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends research from Junta42 and Marketing Profs showed the differences in content marketing tactics used across industries and by companies of all sizes. It was revealed that when it comes to content marketing, large companies (more than 1,000 employees) and small companies (10-99 employees) use content marketing in very different ways.Continue Reading

I recently wrote a blog about creating a social media conversation calendar and was excited to learn how many people took action after reading it. As a follow-up to the blog, I wanted to share an example of client who is successfully using a conversation calendar to engage with and grow their fans on Facebook.Continue Reading

If you were an architect building a house, wouldn’t you pin down a few concrete details before laying the foundation? Establishing the number of bedrooms and bathrooms needed, knowing who will live in the house, and choosing the best location for the home would be no-brainers.  The same process is true for creating content.Continue Reading

It’s well known that social media presents a tremendous opportunity for businesses to connect directly with their customers and potential customers.  But, at Sprout Content, we hear all too often, “I started a Facebook page, but what do I say?”

Social media Conversation Calendars are a great way to not only develop your content strategy for social media, but also make the process more efficient and keep your posts updated regularly. Here are few guidelines that will help you get started.Continue Reading