Content marketing reached a tipping point in 2012. While B2B and B2C marketers have used content marketing for years, it became the must-have element of every 2012 marketing plan, driven by the exponential growth of social media and the disruption of search rankings by Google Penguin and Google Panda.

Here are the five content marketing trends that were awesome this year, and some tips to help you leverage them for your 2013 marketing plans. Continue Reading

For marketers who are always looking for ways to stretch their budgets, content marketing provides excellent, cost-effective opportunities across an array of platforms, devices, and formats. The caveat, though, is that to be successful, content marketing requires consistent efforts in strategy, branding, creation, promotion, and distribution. Therefore, you must make both a human and financial investment if you want a quality content program that works. Continue Reading

What content creator hasn’t hit “submit” without taking that extra couple of minutes to check over what is about to publish? While it’s understandable (particularly when you are under the gun with a looming deadline), luck often dictates that the one time you don’t stop to give your piece the once-over will be the time it contains a glaring error.Continue Reading

Images, particularly photographs, are content marketing’s magnetic force since they’re driving social media across platforms. As a result, you need a tailored image strategy within your content marketing plans.

Don’t take my word for it. Recent research shows photographs are the engine driving social media activity. Look beyond the high growth of sites like Pinterest and Tumblr and you’ll see measurable activity that translates to sales. On Facebook, Dan Zarrella of HubSpot found that photographs yield greater likes, comments, and shares.Continue Reading

Content marketing is like the quiet kid who sits in the back of the class to whom no one pays attention. Yet, below the surface lies a superhero who can transform your content marketing into a powerhouse via its integration with social media, search, and sales.

So how can content marketing supercharge your social media, search, and sales?Continue Reading

Photography is the content marketing darling of 2012. It’s the subtext of the recent headlines regarding Facebook’s purchase of Instagram and Pinterest’s meteoric growth this quarter. In large part, this is attributable to the fact that photographs provide an easy way for people to create and contribute content on social media, helping to reduce the high proportion of lurkers.

Before examining how you can use photographs to expand your content marketing offering, let’s look at the usage of each of the hottest new photography sites.

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Content is at the heart of social media. It fuels social media engagement through the stories and communications we exchange across a variety of social networks. By understanding how these social media-related interactions take place, marketers can create content that can more effectively meet their business goals.

Here are seven content marketing lessons I gathered from New York City’s Social Media Week 2012.  

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According to a recent Content Marketing Institute B2B study, marketers’ biggest content marketing challenge is creating a steady stream of must-read information at every step of the purchase process that stands out amidst the endless messages available on social media, tablets, smartphones, computers, and other devices.

How do you consistently develop content that pulls prospects and customers in, meets their needs, and does so right when they’re ready to consume it? To help you in this mission, here are seven easy-to-follow tips:Continue Reading