I love content marketing.
Of all the big three – SEO, social media marketing, and content marketing – it’s my favorite.
Why is that?
Because it’s all about writing, persuading, and getting people to nod their head to what you’re saying.
When you can do that well enough, you’ll get sales, conversions, or whatever it is your ultimate goal is.
That’s why I like content marketing.
I’m not alone, either. Many people like it, and they write about it a lot.
In this post we’ll take a lot of that writing, or more aptly, the best of it.
Yep, these are what I consider to be the best content marketing articles this year.
Enjoy!
Of all the big three – SEO, social media marketing, and content marketing – it’s my favorite.
Why is that?
Because it’s all about writing, persuading, and getting people to nod their head to what you’re saying.
When you can do that well enough, you’ll get sales, conversions, or whatever it is your ultimate goal is.
That’s why I like content marketing.
I’m not alone, either. Many people like it, and they write about it a lot.
In this post we’ll take a lot of that writing, or more aptly, the best of it.
Yep, these are what I consider to be the best content marketing articles this year.
Enjoy!
Content Marketing Stages
A fun post that appeared on Content Marketing Institute on April 16 was What’s Next in Your Content Marketing Career Evolution? Written by Jason Miller, this post details the following stages you might find yourself at:
– The Young Gun;
– The Emerging Artist;
– The Collaborator;
– The Crackerjack.
Emerging Artists want to share their passions through content,” Miller writes, while a Crackerjack will “lead the industry rather than just responding to it.” There’s checklists for each and the whole posts has a Jim Morrison/Doors theme. Check it out!
Types of Blogs
I hate posts that don’t have dates, and I usually don’t include them in these weekly roundup posts. I’m making an exception for Will Hoekenga’s post called The 10 Types of Popular Blogs: Which One Is Yours? Why am I doing this? Because this Lead Pages post is great, has lots of wonderful tips, and could really be a small eBook, so long it is.
The post has cool categories like the Rogue site and the Niche site and it tells you benefits and drawbacks of each. A Rogue site will “polarize, which attracts attention,” but will also “attract an above-average amount of haters.” I’m telling you, check it out!
Trends to Watch for in 2016
The Top 7 Online Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2016 was a September 29 Forbes post by Jayson DeMers. Those 7 trends are:
– Video ads will start dominating;
– App indexing will lead to an explosion of apps;
– Mobile will completely dominate desktop;
– Digital assistants will lead to a new kind of optimization;
– Virtual reality will emerge;
– Wearable technology and the Internet of Things (IoT) will pave new ground;
– Advertising will become more expensive.
Alright, where to begin?
– First of all, the Internet of Things refers to how you can use “things” like smart watches and wearable technology to access the internet. Even things that count your steps and upload it could be considered as such.
– Next, I think we can all agree that advertising will be more expensive. I’ll go a bit further and say that paid advertising for individuals and small businesses will decrease in effectiveness as larger businesses gobble up the prime deals.
– Then, I totally agree on video advertisement gaining ground and taking the lead. It’s clear those are making more money for advertisers and those putting them on their site. One thing I hate, however, is how video ads jerk you from your spot in the article to the location of the ad, if it’s not an ad that follows you. Hopefully that dies out.
– Finally, I think DeMers is right on his assumption that mobile will come to dominate. He says that Google is “banking on desktop traffic fading away,” and that’s probably true. I don’t like that as I always use my laptop – I have to as I’m a writer.
All in all, a good post with things that will likely come about. I’m glad I stumbled upon this article – good job!
Marketing Formulas
Bryan Collins had a post up on Boost Blog Traffic on February 12 called 4 Bombproof Formulas for Openings That Grab Readers and Don’t Let Go. Those 4 formulas are:
– Problem-Agitate-Solution;
– AIDA;
– Bob Stone’s “Gem”;
– The Approach Formula.
Perhaps some of those sound funny to you, maybe you don’t know what some are. That’s fine – click over and learn. There are three examples of each approach and I know you’ll want to make a short cheat-sheet to put over your desk. Do so now!
Interesting Marketing Stats
15 Stats Marketers Need to Know to Improve the Customer Journey Today was a September 6 Business 2 Community post by Andrew Sheridan. Some of those stats are pretty interesting, and include:
– 43% of people said they’re more involved in B2B purchasing than last year;
– 66% of smartphone users look up something they saw on TV;
– 72% of potential buyers use Google for research.
There are a lot more numbers here, and they’ll make you think. Check ‘em out!
Content Marketing Tips from Movies
One post I really loved was October 19’s Content Marketing Lessons From Hollywood A-Listers. It appeared on Marketing Land and was written by Quinn Whissen.
The post takes movies like Jerry Maguire, Money Ball, and Finding Nemo and takes their central marketing message, using it to explain the essentials of content marketing to you.
For instance, Jerry Maguire is all about “Help me help you.” For that movie the post talks about useful content, delivering information, and the rewards of it all.
You’ll find a lot to chew on here. Check it out!
The Power of Infographics
10 Reasons Your Brain Loves Infographics was a post by Joe Gullo’s site on May 2. He mentions how there’s been a 9,900% increase in visual content on the internet since 2007, and a lot of that is because of infographics.
Images really get to our sub-cortex, that caveman brain that grew up on visual cave paintings for thousands of years.
This infographic has tons of useful information, and once again shows that small sites with get-up-and-go can beat the Big Boys each and everyday. The Big Boys rely on what they think, you rely on what you feel. Which do you think will appeal to that caveman brain more?
Trigger Words
Dvora Goldstein had a post on Boost Blog Traffic on June 4 called 17 Trigger Words That Work Like Cheat Codes for Getting Your Content Read. Some of those words are:
– You;
– Because;
– Yes;
– New;
– If;
– How.
If you go outside right now and look up you’ll also find that the sky is blue. That’s about the same level of awareness you’ll get from this post, in my humble opinion. I mean…we should use ‘you?’ Wow, do you want me to go back to first grade as well?
Honestly, sometimes the people that ‘know’ what’s going on don’t have a fucking clue. This post is laughable, how elementary it is. Obviously it’s summer, the time of year when we stop trying. Jon Morrow obviously has…but then he doesn’t do much besides bring ringers in anyways, er…guest posters.
I Ain’t Missin’ You at All
Michele Linn had a June 23 post on Content Marketing Institute called The One Content Marketing Question You Need to Ask (That May Scare You). That question is, “would anyone miss your content if you did not publish it?”
Wow, that hits you in the gut, huh? I have to say…probably not. I don’t think anyone would really miss the content on this site. Maybe on Wednesday, but that’d just be like missing coffee or a cigarette for a day. By the next it’d be easier and after a week or two you’ll hardly think on it.
Linn’s fix is to have your content build anticipation. You want people to be craving what you write, your tone, or whatever it is that’s pulling them in. If you’re not sure what that is, then you might have some problems.
I’m not sure I’m the best to comment on this, as I don’t get much traffic (about 500 to 600 unique hits a day) and hardly any comments. So like I said, people wouldn’t miss me much. How about you?
Dealing with Social Media Attackers
There were some good ideas for dealing with social media attacks on your brand in a November 15 Content Marketing Institute post. It was called When Followers Attack: A Monty Python Guide to Maintaining Social Media Harmon.
Jonathan Crossfield wrote the piece and he discusses the following social media personas:
– Trolls: “A Person who makes a deliberately offensive or provocative online post.”
– Complainers: Someone that has a genuine concern that you’re ignoring or not addressing correctly, causing them anger.
– Fanatics: Someone that “won’t stop protesting or heckling until” you see to their issue, even if the dispute is “unfair, unrealistic, or just plain wrong.”
So those are some interesting types and we often confuse them. The post gives you ideas for dealing with them, and even if you should deal with them in some cases.
I get called a troll about once a week, and on big sites. Content Marketing Institute actually banned me from commenting for a short time – taking away one of the only commenters they have, besides the spam posters.
I encourage you to speak provocatively and directly and not to mince words. You’ll be called names when you do, but by God, when you get companies by the balls like that they will begin to act, they will begin to redress your grievances.
Isn’t that a lot better than sending out an email to Company HQ and hoping for the best?
The Most Shared Content Page-Types
Isabel Wagner had an October 12 Business 2 Community post called Editorial Still Packs a Punch in Content Marketing. What I like about this post is that it tells us the “most-shared page types.” These include:
– Editorial at 27%
– Corporate Social Responsibility at 20%
– Press/News Pages at 17%
– Content Hubs at 14%
– Product Pages at 6%
– Company Information at 3%
Wow, don’t write about your company, huh? And gosh…product pages are that low?
I realized this a long time ago on my Montana blog. People in this state have tons of newspaper, TV and radio options to get their news. They don’t have a lot of analysis of that news, however.
That’s editorial opinion, and the more informed someone is in a niche, the more of that they’ll want.
Give it to ‘em!
60 Content Marketing Experts on Twitter
A very helpful post appeared on Express Writers on October 27. It was called The Top 60 Content Marketers You Should Be Following on Twitter, written by Julia McCoy.
First she mentions that there are 304 million “monthly active users” on Twitter, and that’s the best social network for catching an influencer’s ear.
She starts off with the usual suspects – Rand Fishkin, Brian Clark, Neil Patel – and that’s great. Still, I think their time has come and gone.
That’s why you’ll get some up and comers, the kind that don’t have to rely on others to write their blog content for them, or in the case of Rand, can managed more than one post a week.
You’ll get about a sentence or two on each and a link to their Twitter profile. Check ‘em out and give some a follow. Maybe you’ll be surprised who follows you back.
Conclusion
I hope you get some ideas from these posts.
Maybe they’ll help you get ahead in 2016. Who knows – maybe you’ll even get tons of traffic and make a million dollars.
That’s who I write for on this site – people that are struggling, but still believe they can do it.
Keep working hard – I believe you can make it.
Maybe they’ll help you get ahead in 2016. Who knows – maybe you’ll even get tons of traffic and make a million dollars.
That’s who I write for on this site – people that are struggling, but still believe they can do it.
Keep working hard – I believe you can make it.
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