Today’s health care consumers — baby boomers in particular — are hungry for reliable health content, and more than ever they are using the web to educate themselves. The Pew Research Center reports that nearly 80 percent of internet users go online for answers to health questions.

Perhaps more surprising is the rising role social media plays in consumer health education. According to PwC’s Health Research Institute (HRI), 42 percent of consumers have used social media to access health-related consumer reviews (e.g., specific treatment therapies or physician reviews), and 20 percent have joined a health forum or community seeking health content. Younger consumers in particular tend to trust social media as a credible source of information — 90 percent of individuals age 18 to 24 would engage in health activities or trust health information found via social media.

Consumers also are demanding tools to help them take charge of their own health care decisions. Currently, more than 40,000 health-related apps are marketed to consumers — covering everything from diet counters to smartphone-enabled blood-pressure monitors and glucometers.Continue Reading

As content marketers, we are all looking for formulas that will make our content sing and stand out from the rest. Many of us are practiced at creating content, but can we be sure that it’s valuable and appreciated by our users?Continue Reading

Are you just dying to create your own infographic? Seen five new ones in the past 15 minutes?  Think before you design. There’s a lot to consider about infographics, including purpose, relevancy, and the potential for ROI.

As our web becomes even more image-driven, eye-catching and easy-to-digest content is here to stay. While infographics are a great format for translating data into easily shareable, fun images, you have to have a clear purpose and plan in mind before you start.

Continue Reading

A content marketer has to contend with constant, lightening-fast competing messages. No matter what field you serve, your audience has thousands of other messages competing for their attention and action.

This may feel overwhelming, lead to fatigue, and exhaust you to the point of not trying.

Don’t give up yet. There are five simple rules you can follow to ensure your messages will be the ones that do get through. Most of them concern something so imperceptible that we don’t even think about it: information design.Continue Reading

Couples with marital troubles are often told to spice things up in the bedroom. Why is that? Well, it turns out that people get bored with even the most fun activities. You see, we as humans are programmed from a biological and emotional perspective to seek out new challenges and experiences in almost every part of our lives. For example, experts on the aging process often encourage senior citizens to take up new sports or play puzzle games like Scrabble to keep their mental muscles agile. Likewise, we can all stand a little variety in our activities and surroundings to keep us as engaged and entertained as much as possible.

On the flip side, when things are too different people tend to become uneasy or even fall apart. Change to a part of a routine is necessary to keep it interesting, but completely change the routine and you risk experiencing way too much chaos as fear of the unfamiliar sets in.Continue Reading

• “How do we know it works?”
• “Can we prove that we’ll affect the bottom line?”

Aren’t these the client questions you receive most often about social media? When my clients ask them, I explain that social media is about building relationships with customers. All the different tools — Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. — are the distribution vehicles you choose to get your message across. When you choose the right delivery vehicle for the right message, you can ensure your success.

Continue Reading

After refueling on orange Jell-O (in chic martini glasses) and Cheetos, Content Marketing World participants were ready to hear about “7 Content Ideas to Blow Up Your Small Business in 12 Months or Less.”

Marcus Sheridan, CEO, River Pools and Spas, (wearing an orange shirt and looking, in his words, like a creamsicle on steroids), compares content marketing to a modern-day David and Goliath story. Using content marketing, Marcus was able to grow his business, even though the pool industry’s business model is not traditionally set up to favor people in Marcus’ position.

Continue Reading

If you are truly an effective content marketer consultant, at least 25 percent of your job is educating your clients about the digital marketplace. Clients look to you to clarify how things really work  in cyberspace, and if you are good at your job, you take that seriously.

One area where my clients have a lot of questions is with analytics. Even when they are digital experts, it’s common for me to have to explain what the different benchmarks in analytics packages really mean.Continue Reading