At the Content Marketing Institute, our team is filled with people who have a genuine enthusiasm for the practice of content marketing. We also are fortunate to be supported by another team with a similar fervor – a vibrant #CMWorld Twitter Chat community. This super-smart, incessantly curious, and generous group gathers each Tuesday at noon Eastern Standard Time. We extend our sincere thanks to the hundreds of people who have joined us in 2015, including our inaugural CMI Community Champion Mike Myers.
Joe summed up our sentiments well when he tweeted:
Love you all #CMWorld. You are helping to change the face of communication and business as we know it. The big picture is real.
Below are a few of the most retweeted and insightful tweets from our chats. We invite you to join us in 2016. (You can see a schedule of upcoming chats and read transcripts from previous chats here.)
Community talk
Getting to know the #CMWorld community
A7 #CMWorld is full of the best and brightest content marketing has to offer. I can’t decide between the people and the education!! #CMWorld
— Blanks/USA Blog (@BlanksUSABlog) April 28, 2015
A4 Put simply, #contentmarketing will become #marketing #CMWorld
— Mike Myers (@mikemyers614) April 28, 2015
100th chat
A5: #ContentMarketing must follow the customer journey. So it’s ALL about the customer experience #CMWorld
— Michael Brenner (@BrennerMichael) July 7, 2015
A1: I think being able to positively affect the lives of others, and accomplish real business goals at the same time is amazing. #cmworld
— Joe Pulizzi (@JoePulizzi) July 7, 2015
CMWorld wrap-up
A8: It’s time for the campaign to go away. Content marketing is a long game and not just a short win #CMWorld
— Vishal Khanna (@bediscontent) September 15, 2015
A1: Many of us speak with our marketing or advertising voice. It’s hard to be authentic with a mask on. #cmworld
— Scott Lum (@ScottLum) September 15, 2015
Audience-building
Email marketing
A1: Email is only as old school as your strategy. #CMWorld
— John Bonini (@Bonini84) May 5, 2015
A2 The best way to build an audience is to solve problems: blog, white papers, videos. Email is just about delivering that content. #CMWorld
— Aaron Orendorff (@iconiContent) May 5, 2015
Subscriber-building via websites and blogs
Subscribers want to listen. Leads want to buy. #cmworld
— Tom Reid (@GovConSME) June 2, 2015
A5 The metrics you use to “quantify” subscriber value affect behavior, so use care. Consider long-term relationship. #CMworld
— Anne Janzer (@AnneJanzer) June 2, 2015
Customer experience and content marketing
A3) Absolutely! Without successful customer experience, what is a business? Even the simplest email content makes a difference. #cmworld
— Crowd Content (@CrowdContent) June 9, 2015
A7 – there is element of consistency across touch pts – which is core brand messages must be the same otherwise there is confusion #cmworld
— Sue Duris (@SusynEliseDuris) June 9, 2015
Growth hacking content marketing
A1 Growth hacking is a mindset. It’s fast-pace, data driven, actionable approach capitalizing on ops & Ideas that drive biz growth #CMWorld
— Sujan Patel (@sujanpatel) November 17, 2015
A6: Get content marketing inspiration from brands you admire. They’ve likely solved a lot of challenges. No need to start from zero #CMWorld
— Maureen Jann (@MaureenOnPoint) November 17, 2015
Strategies for building your email list
A1 An email list is a marketing asset you OWN, versus social media, which you’re just using and don’t control. #cmworld
— Martin Lieberman (@martinlieberman) December 15, 2015
A4: Make sure the content matches the hook that brought them to it – no bait and switch – clarity is key #cmworld
— Ardath Albee (@ardath421) December 15, 2015
Content creation
Headline tips
A1: Top headline-writing tip: Surprise me. Intrigue me. Make me smile. (Sounds so simple) #CMWorld
— Doug Kessler (@dougkessler) April 21, 2015
RT @JoshStAubin SEO is great, but you write to provide value to people. Scoring in search is icing on the cake. #cmworld
— Content Marketing (@CMIContent) April 21, 2015
Content built for intentional repurposing
A1. I think content marketing strategy is first: Why, Who, What. Then comes where. Distribution must be part of planning. #cmworld
— Lee Odden (@leeodden) June 16, 2015
A1. I like to say: great content isn’t great until it’s discovered, consumed and shared (or acted on). #cmworld
— Lee Odden (@leeodden) June 16, 2015
A4: Great #content still needs to have the human element. Plan ahead but stay involved. #CMWorld
— Mike Myers (@mikemyers614) June 16, 2015
Content Inc.
Content marketing for entrepreneurs
A5 Be super focused on a small niche audience. If your content is for everybody, it’s for nobody. #cmworld
— Joe Pulizzi (@JoePulizzi) September 29, 2015
A6 While social media connections are great, most #ContentInc models use email subscription as the center of the business #cmworld
— Joe Pulizzi (@JoePulizzi) September 29, 2015
A8: Stay true to your strengths, talents & passion! #CMWorld
— Ben Gibbons (@bendgibbons) September 29, 2015
Charitable component to your business
A1 Similar to being a well-rounded person, being a well-rounded brand should include some form of giving back in my opinion! #cmworld
— Pam (@pamkozelka) December 1, 2015
A1: Brands don’t *need* a cause, but a sense of purpose can gather/mobilize employees and customers to do great things #CMWorld
— Bill Cushard (@billcush) December 1, 2015
Content marketing careers
Personal branding and content marketing
A8 The stronger your personal brand, the more you can help amplify your organization’s message. Your reach & credibility only help. #cmworld
— Christin Kardos (@ChristinKardos) July 14, 2015
A8: Personal brand helps with discovery and community. People connect w/ people 1st, brands 2nd #cmworld
— Amy Higgins (@amywhiggins) July 14, 2015
A5: It’s in a brands best interest to foster personal branding and retain those who practice it. #cmworld
— Josh McCormack (@joshmccormack) July 14, 2015
Professional development
A8 Never stop asking “why would my audience care about this?” in everything you do #cmworld
— traci browne (@tracibrowne) August 11, 2015
A8 Read everything you can! Seriously. Consume content marketing blogs and e-books and podcasts. And twitter chats! #cmworld
— Erika Heald (@SFerika) August 11, 2015
A8. Write. Write a lot. Write often. Be a strong strong writer. #CMWorld
— Reva Minkoff (@revaminkoff) August 11, 2015
Content promotion and distribution
Paid promotions for content marketing
So, 1) Know you audience 2) find out where they hang 3) Entertain them with awesome content 4) Test your paid promos. Easy as pie! #cmworld
— The Cartoon Agency (@BrandedCartoons) January 6, 2015
A1: Here’s how I view the channels of content promotion http://t.co/fYWI3cxEbv.U can do it through earned, owned and paid #CMWorld
— Chad Pollitt (@ChadPollitt) January 6, 2015
Value of traditional media in content marketing
Ads are not content marketing usually. But the best ads and the best content marketing tells stories-ones that are meaningful. #cmworld
— Christoph Trappe (@CTrappe) January 20, 2015
You ultimately need direct connections to customers (email) – journalists, ads & everything else are temporary tactics #cmworld
— Nick Kellet (@NickKellet) January 20, 2015
Content promotion
A1 2/2: You don’t need a large audience to get your content out there. You can use it to grow your audience on social and email. #cmworld
— Kristi Hines (@kikolani) November 24, 2015
A7: It depends on your influence. If you are influential you get away with less promotion. If you are new it’s 90% promotion! #cmworld
— Ian Cleary (@IanCleary) November 24, 2015
Content to build trust
A2: Your company content can and should be the soul of your business. Traditional media struggles w this. #CMWorld #BeReal
— Marcus Sheridan (@TheSalesLion) August 18, 2015
You can (& should) build trust through all forms of marketing/advertising, but #contentmarketing allows you to tell a better story. #CMWorld
— Mark Kats (@ActualKats) August 18, 2015
Content marketing research
Research in your content marketing strategy
A3: Start with a strategy and a plan. What are your goals? What do you want to learn and why? #cmworld
— Lisa Murton Beets (@LisaBeets) April 14, 2015
A1. Context is key. Tell audience why that stat is so vital that you had to share it. How does it affect them? #cmworld
— Erin Cushing (@eccushing) April 14, 2015
Influencer marketing
Media and influencer relations
A4: Research who you want to target- what they write about, their beats etc. #cmworld
— Amanda Subler (@AmandaSubler) May 26, 2015
I would suggest spending less time worrying about press release and more time building a content rich media room on website #cmworld
— traci browne (@tracibrowne) May 26, 2015
A4. Sounds simple, but personalization is personal. And variable text ≠ personal. Pay attention. Think about what matters to them. #cmworld
— Carmen Hill (@carmenhill) May 26, 2015
Community-building to support marketing goals
A5: Don’t change your approach. You should treat a community of 1000 like a community of 10. Be personable. Familiar. Engaged. #CMworld
— Evan LePage (@EvanLePage) September 22, 2015
A7 Most important, forget about numbers. The real influencers in your community are the ones who love you most. No numbers needed. #cmworld
— Kelly Hungerford (@KDHungerford) September 22, 2015
Measurement and ROI
Content marketing metrics
Q4: You can actually use all the metrics listed in this graphic to measure an individual piece of content: http://t.co/08vAZzEWY6 #cmworld
— Pawan Deshpande (@TweetsFromPawan) March 17, 2015
A3. Vanity metrics are the most seductive, beguiling and useless from a business success perspective. #CMWorld
— Kip Meacham (@KipMeacham) March 17, 2015
Content hacks and tools to double conversion rates
For measuring content, I want to see influence, attention and velocity. Does your content compel people to DO something? #cmworld
— Matt Heinz (@HeinzMarketing) July 21, 2015
SEO
SEO and content marketing
@CMIContent Too many folks target & optimize for keywords, but don’t answer searchers’ potential questions well in their content #CMWorld
— Rand Fishkin (@randfish) August 4, 2015
A8: Back in the day SEO was 80% technical and 20% content. – Now its 80% content and 20% technical. #CMWorld
— Marvin Russell (@marvinrussell) August 4, 2015
@CMIContent If at first you don’t succeed w/ piece of content, try publishing new version & 301’ing or rel=canonicaling old one. #CMWorld
— Rand Fishkin (@randfish) August 4, 2015
Social media
Social media management / management of multiple accounts
A6: First step is always education. If people don’t know the guidelines they can’t follow them. Create a SM Manager mentor program. #cmworld
— Tony Fernandez (@bukowski33) February 10, 2015
SlideShare
PowerPoints do NOT need to be boring. It’s really not a requirement. Seriously. #CMWorld
— Christoph Trappe (@CTrappe) March 10, 2015
@tracibrowne Google searches. Our site has a lot of SEO power due to our optical readers which extract text and index content. #cmworld
— LinkedIn SlideShare (@SlideShare) March 10, 2015
A8: I’m more about the individual’s posting content. Feels more personal to me. @dharmesh is ALWAYS a must read when he posts. #CMWorld
— John Bonini (@Bonini84) April 7, 2015
If you want to own a conversation you need to move from thinking like a publisher to actually publishing like one. #CMWorld.
— Jason A Miller (@JasonMillerCA) April 7, 2015
Customer service in a social/tech age
A1. With social media, customer service is now a spectator sport. The onlookers are as important as the customer. #cmworld
— Jay Baer (@jaybaer) July 28, 2015
A7. Take your inbound #custserv calls, transcribe them, turn into a word cloud, and use as a #contentmarketing idea map. Bam! #cmworld
— Jay Baer (@jaybaer) July 28, 2015
Comments good or bad are great indicators for the type of content customers NEED. Many same questions = create content addressing #CMWorld
— Lydia Nicoll (@LydiaNicoll) July 28, 2015
Social selling
A1 Social selling isn’t “selling.” It’s listening, responding and being a source for consumers’ needs. It’s more personalized #cmworld
— LUCYrk (@LUCYrk78) August 25, 2015
A5: social listening = information. social analysis = insight. Biggest miss IMO is co’s doing listening w/out gr8 analysts #cmworld
— Tom Martin (@TomMartin) August 25, 2015
Event apps to build and develop content for reuse
A5: Integrate social media & a hashtag (like this one!). Create attendee profiles for networking, etc. #cmworld
— lindsay (@flinds) September 1, 2015
A6 Instead of telling people to put their phones away tell attendees to get them out! Embrace #mobile & use the app to engage #CMWorld
— CrowdCompass (@CrowdCompass) September 1, 2015
Varied content for social distribution
A3. See what resonates best w/ your audience. Be mindful of what gets more likes, shares, comments, etc. & do more of that. #CMWorld
— Josh St. Aubin (@JoshStAubin) October 13, 2015
A4: Be a social media user first. If you’re exposed to it in your own feeds, you’ll know how to treat the content you share. #cmworld
— Evan LePage (@EvanLePage) October 13, 2015
A3: Make sure the focus stays on quality and brand alignment. Share only exceptional UGC so you don’t lose credibility yourself. #CMWorld
— Megan/HerMrktngBlog (@hermarketing) October 27, 2015
A5. Hashtags play important role in discovery process and no saturation. That being said, don’t spam hashtags – use relevant ones #cmworld
— Josh Brown (@joshabrown00) October 27, 2015
Strategy
Content-driven experiences
A1 We need to ask “what experience do we want to create?” and then understand what content can do that #cmworld
— Carla Johnson (@CarlaJohnson) January 27, 2015
#cmworld a true marketer is creative, conscious of strategy and concise.
— Todd Davis (@ToddSocial) January 27, 2015
Multichannel marketing
A2: Brands can learn a lot from publishers. Good ones wake up in the morning thinking about their audience, not their publication. #cmworld
— Mike Myers (@mikemyers614) February 24, 2015
A2: Publishers think in terms of “stories” not feeds and speeds! #cmworld
— Ardath Albee (@ardath421) February 24, 2015
A2 I think brands can learn plenty, but 2 main things: 1. Focus on content readers actually want; 2. Put systems/processes in place #cmworld
— Mark Walker (@jfdimark) February 24, 2015
More intelligent content marketing
@atxcopywriter “Good” content is about what’s in the pipe. “Intelligent” content is about the plumbing. #cmworld
— MarciaRieferJohnston (@MarciaRJohnston) March 3, 2015
A1: I’m gonna repeat that. Deliver the right content, to the right person, in the right LANGUAGE, on the right device. #CMworld
— Val Swisher (@valswisher) March 3, 2015
Content program development in a large enterprise
A7: Lots of tools can help, but your strategy needs to be in place first. The tools will need to know what you want to measure. #CMWorld
— Mike Myers (@mikemyers614) May 19, 2015
Preach! If #contentmarketing isn’t a rollercoaster of ups and downs, you’re probably not doing it right #CMWorld https://t.co/rJARanFwBD
— Aaron Harrison (@howAaronsees_it) May 19, 2015
Engagement, impact, and sales
A8 Content marketing can’t be siloed, on an island — Establish a Reason to believe & a reason to Act #cmworld pic.twitter.com/I4a5rqNYz6
— jeff fagel (@jf1216) May 12, 2015
A4: Forget impressions and clicks. It’s all about real KPIs like leads, conversions and revenue from the content. #cmworld
— Andrew James (@AJUTAH) May 12, 2015
Content strategy 101
A1: Content strategy is about providing the right content, to the right people, at the right times, *for the right reasons*. #CMWorld
— meghscase (@meghscase) June 30, 2015
A6: An important caveat: nothing may be “wrong” with your content. It could be the context (timing/device/delivery). #cmworld
— Shelly Lucas (@pisarose) June 30, 2015
Teams and processes
Culture of content
A culture of content doesn’t just produce content, it values content #CMWorld
— Rebecca Lieb (@lieblink) January 13, 2015
Customers are important, but not the only audience. Think vendor partners, agencies, suppliers & employees as part of aud, too #CMWorld
— Rebecca Lieb (@lieblink) January 13, 2015
A1: Content is the touchpoint, the language, and the conversation between a brand and the audience. #SoImportant #cmworld
— Michael Brenner (@BrennerMichael) January 13, 2015
PR and content marketing
A8: Social media is a content distribution platform. Pay attention to which social referrals drive traffic and spend time there #cmworld
— Gini Dietrich (@ginidietrich) February 17, 2015
“Traditional PR” often misunderstood to mean “news releases.” PR has always been social. Now there are just more tools #cmworld
— Kathleen Stansberry (@kstansberry) February 17, 2015
Subject-matter experts
A1: Find experts doing guest posts for other sites in your niche. Also look for consultants or training companies as options #cmworld
— Tom Treanor (@RtMixMktg) March 24, 2015
A3: Use an editorial calendar so experts and content team are in sync #cmworld
— Linda Dessau (@lindadessau) March 24, 2015
Role of the editor in content marketing
A6: Don’t assume because someone is a good writer, s/he will be a good editor. #cmworld
— Ann Gynn (@anngynn) March 31, 2015
A2: We encounter a lot of people who think content marketing is just writing. They don’t realize the importance of editing. #cmworld
— Brooke Howell (@BrookeHowell) March 31, 2015
A good editor is someone who can turn something ridiculously terrible, into something ridiculously incredible. #cmworld
Wyzowl @wyzowl
@wyzowl Sometimes all you can do is make it readable :/ #CMWorld
— Sarah A. Parker (@SparkerWorks) March 31, 2015
Team processes and brand guidelines
A8: Content marketing is a TEAM sport. Nobody can do this alone. Teamwork, trust & efficiency are critical to our success. #cmworld
— Amanda Todorovich (@amandatodo) June 23, 2015
A7: If any piece of content goes against the brand it causes confusion or distrust. You must infuse your brand into EVERYTHING #CMWorld
— The Gary J. Nix ® (@Mr_McFly) June 23, 2015
Front-end vs. back-end marketers
For CM, front=creators. Care for experiences. Back=ensure these get to the right ppl & trigger actions (+ tweak accordingly) #cmworld
— Jay Acunzo (@Jay_zo) October 6, 2015
@Jay_zo I don’t think you can write/create w/o knowing how measure & optimize Great content marketers r blend of artist + scientist #CMWorld
— Amanda Todorovich (@amandatodo) October 6, 2015
Culture of content marketing
A2: Encourage every single employee to participate in content process. Include diff teams & departments in brainstorming sessions. #cmworld
— Quinn Whissen (@QuinnCW) November 3, 2015
A8: Empower everyone, no matter what role, to share content ideas, big or small! #CMWorld
— UpContent (@getupcontent) November 3, 2015
Multi-author blogs
A3: Great examples of blog guidelines @hubspot @mailchimp @sharaholic Here’s CMI’s: https://t.co/nfCmdy0U1u #CMWorld
— Lisa Dougherty (@BrandLoveLLC) December 8, 2015
A5: Always have conversation with guest bloggers. Explain content strategy/ what content marketing is. 99% of the time they get it. #cmworld
— Shawn A. Turner (@shawn_turner1) December 8, 2015
Tools and technology
Content marketing productivity
A6. If something’s really not working, give yourself permission to step away. Come back to it tomorrow. Work on something else. #CMWorld
— Sarah A. Parker (@SparkerWorks) February 3, 2015
#Productivity makes #creativity” possible. #CMWorld
— Roger C. Parker (@Rogercparker) February 3, 2015
Content marketing tools
A4 You also need a continuous revisiting process – make sure the team is still getting value from tools after 3 mos, 6 mos, 1 yr #cmworld
— Andrea Fryrear (@AndreaFryrear) October 20, 2015
A1 If you type in Google the tool name you are aware of followed by vs, you’ll get some cool results #CMWorld pic.twitter.com/XSUlel3qHR
— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) October 20, 2015
Visual content and design
Creative video solutions
A3: Stop turning a print story into a video just because you have a camera. #cmworld
— Michael Buller (@MichaelDFCI) November 10, 2015
A3) Think of your video like a movie trailer – tease your audience so they want to find out more about your brand. #cmworld
— Sarah Quinn (@MissSarahQ) November 10, 2015
A6. Share, promote, advertise it. Blog about it, turn the key concepts into a gated piece of content. Opportunities are endless #CMWorld
— Stephanie Canarte (@stephcanarte) November 10, 2015
Want to discuss the latest trends in content marketing and get advice from experts? Join CMI (@CMIContent) and a guest every Tuesday from 12 PM – 1 PM ET as we discuss key content marketing topics. Follow #cmworld on Twitter to join the conversation.
Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
