It’s been a year since I wrote my original content marketing lies post. There was no shortage of dubious ‘expert’ advice available then, and the flood has continued unabated over the past year. That said, there have been many great blog posts, articles, e-books, and presentations. There has also been an enormous volume of hype, exaggeration and outright B.S. thrown around. I love the enthusiasm, but sometimes the flood gets frothy, and even well intentioned advice can spawn inaccuracies, half-truths or worse. I think that part of this relates to confusion about its definition, and the fact that some conflate …
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This monthly Content Marketing and Social Media column is contributed by Bob Geller. Bob is president of Fusion PR, and has a background that combines a solid grounding in technology with a 25 year record of success in sales, marketing, and public relations. Bob joined Fusion in 2000, and has helped build it into a leading independent tech PR agency. He has led client teams that have achieved outstanding results in areas ranging from enterprise tech, to telecom, online, CE, financial and clean tech. Bob also helped launch Social Fluency, a subsidiary of Fusion that develops dynamic social media practices which are integrated with traditional PR efforts. Bob has provided critical commentary to publications such as CMO Magazine, PR Week, PR News, and Bulldog Reporter. He created and manages the influential blog Flack’s Revenge, and has contributed to Cision Navigator, Ragan’s PR Daily, and Handshake 2.0, among others. Bob on Google+
Bob Geller's Posts
You have diligently read this column and heeded my advice about crafting compelling content. You have noted the challenges of getting attention for content – and used all of the tricks and techniques that I have shared to boost the odds that yours will rise above the noise. It is aligned with customer interests, optimized, colorized and multi-screen sized. In short, you have that YouTube video, blog post, article, whatever, crafted that is sure to set your audience on fire – and now want to get some results from the %@|^& thing. What do you do next? What are some …
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A flip side of the social media revolution is that now anyone can be a publisher. This means that you need to compete with all kinds of bloggers, online media, Twitter and other social network chatter to get your content and postings noticed. It is a harsh reality, one that puts pressure on social marketing teams to be on top of their games. Content curation can help. it is the practice of using OPC (other people’s content) to generate a steady stream of high quality, relevant materials. Curation typically employs a mix of tech, process and skills, and should be …
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There is a tremendous amount of innovation in content and social media marketing these days, and this can be both a blessing and a curse; a blessing because of the wealth of technology coming onto the market; a curse, because navigating the field and picking the best solutions can be a challenge. E.g., I am sure most have had the experience of jumping eagerly into a new project – one that takes us out of our comfort zones, and requires new tools – only to get frustrated by the range of options. Or, just when we think we have it …
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Last January I wrote about the challenges of capturing the consumer’s attention. The problem is that your customer is a moving target – both literally and figuratively. It has been a little over a year and in that short time technology has been on a forward march, and content consumption habits have evolved. While many of the challenges I described then still relate, new obstacles are emerging. Things that haven’t changed are the need to be relevant and interesting. But this is not enough – the sheer amount of info and media choices continues to frustrate both users and content …
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A number of challenges can stand in the way of great content marketing results, especially for newcomers, and small-to-mid size businesses that don’t have the budgets or resources of big brands. There is no shortage of advice, or content about content marketing, yet some might find it confusing or contradictory. There doesn’t even seem to be a consensus about what it is, as I explained in my last column. The technology can be confusing, too. Probably the single biggest challenge is the burgeoning growth of content. How does one stay ahead and rise above the noise? So, it can be …
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For my final column of 2012, I thought that I would explore the state of content marketing, try to clear up some confusion about the field, and also take a look at trends to watch in the coming year. Content marketing’s star has risen, and I have seen much interest and excitement about the field. But I also encounter lots of questions; so I’d like to chime in with my two cents, and try to clear up some of the confusion. The misunderstanding can start with the label itself, as the phrase “content marketing” does not seem to be very …
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There are certain benefits to getting involved with social media, and becoming an avid content creator. This is true, especially if you want to stay well informed about your pet topics – which in my case spans content marketing (e.g., this monthly column), public relations, social media, and tech marketing. By actively engaging and keeping an ear to the social media ground, you meet some great people, and discover invaluable content. It works the other way too – people find you (especially if you are good at what you do, and prolific and consistent enough to, heaven forbid, become an …
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As we enter the final weeks of the U.S. presidential race, I thought it might be interesting and fun to set our content marketing sights on the world of politics. Political campaigns spend vast sums on marketing, and are amongst the most innovative and aggressive users of social media. They rely on a wide range of content to get their messages across – and tend to be very smart when it comes to using words and images to inform and persuade. So, perhaps other marketers can learn a thing or two from them. I will cite examples, share tips and …
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Content Marketing World 2012 took place two weeks ago in Columbus, Ohio. Given its importance, I thought I’d be remiss if I did not cover it in this column. Although I unfortunately did not go, and thus could not file live updates from the event, there are some benefits to not being the first out of the gate with a story (see this page, which references and links to the many good posts about CMW); the extra time gave me the chance to track down and interview Joe Pulizzi and get his thoughts on the event, on where the …
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I have written about ways to rise above the noise and get attention for your content (see my post Winning the Attention Game in Content Marketing). An important part of this involves tuning into the voice of your customer. After all, it is hard to get them to care if your info is not relevant to their concerns and needs. The ultimate in relevancy is to be able to connect with consumers based on their interests at the moment. While it is difficult to target down to the individual user, you can take some cues from online behavior such as …
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As I explained in my last column, I do quite a bit of reading to stay up-do-date with the content and social media marketing fields. There is so much great content about content marketing, and I often link to articles and cite experts. Usually, I just add a few words to relate the article to the topic du jour. It occurred to me that readers might appreciate more of a deep dive into some of the important works in the field. So I thought that I would include a rundown of the top pieces of content that I have found …
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I enjoy writing my monthly column for Windmill Networking. The drill usually involves talking to industry experts and doing lots of reading. As far as the latter goes, here’s a great trick that I learned: tune your Twitter listening to #contentmarketing; you will get a veritable fire hose of relevant information. There are many fine articles to read. There’s also often a numbing sameness in the Twitter stream, making it seem like we all went to the identical school of headline writing and use our prescribed tricks on our own content (if I don’t read one more “10 Ways to …
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There’s been much buzz recently about the use of images in social media marketing. More and more platforms are visual (think Pinterest, Instagram, SlideShare and Tumblr). Facebook’s Timeline is all about pretty pictures. And it seems that every other tweet references an infographic. We love images because they offer a nice diversion in a busy social media environment, and, let’s face it; viewing can be more fun than reading. Savvy marketers are jumping on board and exploring ways to incorporate imagery into the marketing mix. It is about winning and keeping attention. The right image can bypass our filters, trigger …
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In previous posts I have talked about the importance of producing content that grabs the attention of your customers and prospects and engages them or inspires action. But how does one do this in practice? How do you speak in the language of the customer, connect with their concerns and choose topics that are of greatest interest? There’s a concept called Voice of the Customer (VoC) that can be important for content and social media marketing. According to Wikipedia, it “is a market research technique that produces a detailed set of customer wants and needs… prioritized in terms of relative …
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As I discussed in my first post, it can be a real challenge to maintain the pace of content needed to succeed in today’s busy social media environment. Forrester’s famous Social Technographics report revealed that most of us are not natural content creators. And there are so many media choices today, making it harder to break through and make an impression. Content curation can open the floodgates by providing a rich source of third party info for sharing and commentary. It helps to ensure a steady stream of topics by avoiding over-reliance on 100% original content, and is a great …
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Use the Right Content Marketing Metrics and Strategy to Produce Real Results I believe it is a very exciting time for content marketing. Some say that this will be its big year, e.g. see 2012 is the Year of Content Marketing; and Windmill Networking columnist Judy Gombita shared this post about a Content Marketing Institute study that projected an increase in spending and said it “remains a top priority for marketers in 2012”). Social media expands the possibilities. By combining the two, you can take a discrete unit of marketing, track its trajectory, costs, impact, and connect the effort back …
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Optimize Story, Wrapper and Delivery Mechanisms to Break Through and Achieve Your Goals I started the first column in this series with the decidedly uncontroversial statement: Content is King. The truth is, I don’t really believe these words. In my opinion, content is no longer king. In fact, it is quickly becoming a commodity. The burgeoning growth of information and media choices is dividing our attention, and challenging marketers’ efforts to rise above the noise. Please understand that I am not saying that content is unimportant; just that having great content alone is not enough to achieve your goals, whether …
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In my last article I said that combining content marketing with social media can generate impressive results; that it can turn content into a work horse, one that generates real returns for the business. That is the good news. Unfortunately, it is much easier to try to bring the two together in ways that are not terribly impactful, or worse, hurt the brand. Success means overcoming differences between the worlds of marketing and social media. Marketers need to open themselves to new ways of communicating and launching campaigns. Social media practitioners need to learn more about marketing and get in …
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Brings Content from King to Ka-ching “Content is King.” The words are stated so often that few people question them. Yet, kings can be both fickle and demanding sorts. And, let’s face it; for those who work in social media, and areas like marketing, content is not just king, but can be a royal pain, too; after all, it can be a real challenge to generate the quantities of high quality content needed to stay ahead of the proverbial pack. Bringing social media together with marketing via content marketing can address this concern and offers other benefits. It can provide …
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