Smart content marketers meet the audience where it is.

People are on their mobile phones (3.5 billion in 2020) and on social media messaging platforms (e.g., Facebook has 1.3 million active monthly users).

Smart marketers also know that one-to-one marketing elicits a better response than one-to-many.

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Editor’s note: As Instagram moved ahead last week with its pilot to do away with “likes” in the United States, we thought this article from earlier in the year would be a helpful reminder.

“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.

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Do you view numbers as something akin to Frankenstein’s monster? Does the thought of doing math send you running into the night to escape hideous calculations?

I often hear content marketers say, “I went into writing (or a creative field) to avoid numbers.”

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Unsuccessful prospective guest bloggers act like door-to-door salespeople. They knock on as many doors as possible, delivering the same pitch and hoping at least a couple of people say yes.

Successful prospective guest bloggers act like invited guests who show up with a nice host gift. They knock on one door, follow the submission guidelines, and deliver a personalized pitch.

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Editor’s note: Given that thousands of marketers succumb to conference hangovers every year, we thought it was the perfect time to refresh the advice on how to overcome it.

It’s the day after an invigorating conference.

Your head has been filled with trends, slide decks, tips, graphics, and inspiring stories.

Your notebook is filled with ideas, notes, and doodles of possibilities for your content marketing program.

You’re suffering a conference hangover. But you don’t need to. Take the advice of some past and current Content Marketing World presenters on what to do to turn your learning into actionable – and doable – steps for you and your brand.

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An email pops up in your inbox. It’s from the company where you purchased a gift for a family member’s birthday almost a year ago. It reminds you it’s almost time to celebrate again.

The brand made a smart email marketing move – delivering personalized, relevant, and timely content. But what it did next was dumb.

Sarah Mitchell received a reminder email about her father’s birthday. He had passed away that year so she unsubscribed and gave the reason in the corresponding form.

But the emails kept coming – two more before his birthday. She talked with someone at the company and asked them to permanently remove her email address.

The next year, another email reminder about her dad’s birthday appeared in her inbox.

“I was livid. I’ll never purchase anything from them again and I’ve been a customer for over 20 years,” Sarah says.

While the brand originally provided a personalized and helpful email, its failure to act on Sarah’s feedback led to the loss of a longtime customer.

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Is your relationship with social media dysfunctional? You find the platforms attractive because they draw billions of people. And though you know billions won’t be attracted to your brand, you still ponder what your (and your brand’s) life would be like without these good-looking social media platforms.

You’re not alone. Marketers’ flawed social media relationships revealed themselves when we asked Content Marketing World speakers which social media platform they wished they could (or are planning to) leave behind.

A confession by Kiley Peters, owner and CEO, Brainchild Studios, reflects the thinking of many who responded: “I have a love-hate relationship with most social media platforms.”

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When the end of a quarter arrives, do you have more questions than answers about your content marketing program? Why is that infographic still not done? Why did our month-over-month blog readership drop? Why does the team seem less productive? Why isn’t management more supportive of our content marketing?

The unifying answer revolves around one thing – time. The team spends too much time on the wrong things, too little time on the helpful things, and no time on key things.

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