Content marketing experts are a unique bunch.

When we asked Content Marketing World presenters about what’s missing in most content marketers’ tech stack, some waxed poetic, others imagined the possibilities, and others got practical, talking products and output.

That’s why we love them – a diverse group of answers means a diverse group of thinkers.

“Every content marketer is missing something from their tech stack. Content marketing is a delicate, interconnected ecosystem – you have to have the right technology for each aspect of the process,” says Scott Spjut, assistant vice president, social and digital content, Fifth Third Bank.

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Stop dreaming big when it comes to your influencer marketing program. You don’t have to be able to afford to work with Kylie Jenner to reach her 110 million Instagram followers ($1 million per post) or Martha Stewart with 1.8 million followers ($2,500 per post).

Instead, design your influencer marketing around microinfluencers.

More than 75% of Instagram influencers are microinfluencers – defined as between 1,000 and 10,000 followers – according to recent research from Socialbakers. (People vary in their definitions of microinfluencers, from as few as a 1,000 to over 500,000 followers.)

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It’s graduation season, the time of year when advice abounds. But let’s be honest, not all advice given to new grads, new employees, or even seasoned professionals is worth following.

We asked the experts presenting at Content Marketing World 2019 to share the worst content marketing advice they ever received or heard. They had a lot to say. The thoughts they share form a don’t-do-this guide covering everything from strategy and SEO to quantity and quality.

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What’s your favorite marketing blog?

If you’re like your fellow marketers, your favorites offer succinct, clear, valuable, useful, and actionable articles.

Those common themes came from the 50-plus responses received after we posed the question on the Content Marketing Institute’s Slack, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn channels as well as a query on Help a Reporter Out.

Nine blogs earned multiple nods (in alphabetical order): Backlinko, Content Marketing Institute, HubSpot, Moz, Neil Patel/Quick Sprout, Orbit Media, Search Engine Land, Seth Godin, and Social Media Examiner.

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“You like me, right now. You like me.”

With those words (frequently misquoted over the years), Sally Field heartfully showed her gratitude for public validation in her 1984 Oscar acceptance speech.

Her words came to mind as news circulated that Instagram is experimenting with removing public validation on photo or video posts. (Twitter also is exploring alternatives to a “like”-focused atmosphere.)

Teens and influencers are wringing their hands, wondering how they’ll show the world that their content (and, by extension, their person) is popular.

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Editor’s note: What constitutes quality content can be mercurial, but content marketers must define it for their programs to know whether content is successful. To aid you in defining quality, we brought back this post from a couple years ago.

Quality wins. But what does quality content really mean? How do marketers guarantee they are creating something that is high quality?

We asked the Content Marketing World presenters how they define and achieve quality content.

I appreciate the simplicity of the response (and the intended grammatical mistake) from Doug Kessler, co-founder of Velocity: “Quality content resonates with its audience. If it doesn’t do that, it may be smart or beautiful or funny, but it ain’t quality.”

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Editor’s note: Critically understanding why and how you’re creating personas (or even if you should create them) is essential to creating, distributing, and promoting content successfully. That’s why we brought back this article about personas and stereotypes. 

We have soccer moms – married women who live in the suburbs and are best known for transporting their children to and from sports practices and other activities.

We have NASCAR dads – blue-collar, middle-aged Caucasian men who graduated from high school and like watching stock car racing.

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How are your writing muscles?

Have they gotten stronger since you started the five exercises detailed in How to Make Your Writing More Powerful a couple months ago?

I gave you some time to rest up. Now, let’s get back to the writing gym. (Don’t worry if you haven’t worked out in a while, now is a great time to start.)

This time, I’ve added a couple videos for fun.

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