by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Sep 3, 2014 | Content Marketing, Marketing, Social Media
Back in the day, and yes I’m dating myself here, there was an ingenious advertising campaign devised by Wendy’s using the slogan “Where’s the beef?” Everywhere, from Saturday Night Live to the White House, people were asking “Where’s the beef?” and poking fun at investigating where the true value of something resides in comparison to face value assumptions. Back in the day, Wendy’s used the campaign to highlight the fact that Wendy’s burgers were actually larger than Burger King or McDonalds, and that these competitors had simply used larger buns to create an illusion.
Recently, I’ve been looking for the “beef” in my social media marketing. Like many small business owners I wear a lot of hats, and fortunately my passion for my business far outweighs the tremendous hours that are required. Particularly as a small business owner, I have to be discerning about where I spend my time and how.
Social media at times feels a lot like those competitor burgers – enormous yet not a lot of meat or substance. It’s a delicate balance to keep up with social media etiquette, find relevant and interesting content and even retweet and repost others’.
I’m fairly new at social media, having dragged my feet for years, but I could quickly see that you could spend all day every day attending to social media endeavors and still never quite get done, let alone have any time left over for your “real” job. I’ve enthusiastically embraced that social media is an integral and important tool for us to use. The reality of incorporating social media into my existing responsibilities created additional challenges. Social media takes a lot of TLC, patience, and dedication, and success doesn’t often happen overnight, or look like you expect it to.
Recently I found myself creatively asking my social media coach that old Wendy’s question, “Where’s the beef?” I began to list the justifications for my perceptions. Almost any small business owner could recite them in his/her sleep:
- There are only so many hours in the day.
- I’ve got to put my time where it makes the most sense strategically.
- Every hour I spend doing one thing means I’m not spending it doing another.
- [Fill in your own!]
By the end of our conversation, however, I realized that I’d unwittingly fallen into the same illusion that the viewers of the old Wendy’s commercials had suffered. I’d been looking at the numbers associated with my social media initiatives rather than the quality of those relationships themselves. In other words, I’d been looking for the big buns as the burgers rather than the beef itself.
Is it more impressive to say that you have 25,000 twitter followers than 5,000? You bet! In the course of two months since I started with social media, I’ve gained a few hundred net followers. Does that compare with the visions of what I could gain during that time? Not even close. The numbers had been how I was defining my success and had also over time become the source of my frustration.
But just as the bigger buns created the illusion of delivering bigger burgers, the focus on numbers is also an illusion. There are numerous ways to create a massive following, from purchasing followers, to setting aside my operational tasks and focusing exclusively on social media initiatives. That would get me the big buns I desired, so to speak. But that’s not what I really wanted. I didn’t want just big buns – what I really wanted was a good, high quality burger.
That’s what I need to remember, what every small business owner needs to remember when they start asking, “Where’s the beef?” Those efforts we make, every new social media connection made organically, adds the quality into the burger you’re creating.
“Social media is the vehicle, not the destination. You can’t just ask, ‘What’s the ROI of social media?’ You have to ask, ‘What’s the ROI of specific activities that we engage in via social media?” Hal Thomas
I’ve created new relationships with those in our audience who are genuinely interested in who we are, what we offer, and want to partner in ways that benefit both of us. The “beef” in social media isn’t really about the numbers. Yes, it looks impressive, but the true growth comes from the quality of the relationships you form. Within the past two months, we’ve found new columnists to write for us as well as new radio guests and those burgeoning relationships were formed easily and swiftly in ways that we never could have done without social media. The “beef” has been found and the quality of that beef will continue to feed my small business in ways that a couple of fluffy, big buns never could on their own.
Guest Author:
Christine Andrew
Christine Andrew is the founder and CEO of CoSozo, a wellness and empowerment media company she created in response to what was ultimately the terminal illness of two of her loved ones. CoSozo, literally Greek for “Healing Together” was founded on the desire to bridge the information gap between the alternative and allopathic medical worlds and empower individuals to make informed decisions that align with their own personal beliefs.
Christine held a long and successful career in the biopharmaceutical industry, primarily in the development and implementation of quality systems. As a consultant, Christine worked with manufacturers both within the U.S. and internationally to prepare for and successfully pass regulated industry inspections and also to develop systems and strategies to produce and maintain quality standards.
Today, Christine has what she calls “the best job in the world” using the powerful platform that CoSozo has developed to bring the spotlight to issues, information, and resources that can help people everywhere live happier, healthier and more fulfilling lives.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Jul 29, 2014 | Content Marketing, Social Media, Time Management
Turning on your computer or your phone is similar to opening the floodgates of hell for information overload. With daily bombardments of blog posts, news and websites, it is no wonder our brains haven’t exploded from over consumption. You can spend exhaustive hours reading, processing and filtering information every single day while just sitting at your desk or local coffee shop. It is an abyss or a dark hole that sucks you in and tightens the grasp on your brain. Fingers of words encapsulating your every thought, every move to retain your attention and drive you to take some kind of action.
The seduction and lure of content is the possessive lover of our society. The soft caress of the enticing paragraphs tickling your mind to keep you reading, distracting you as the hours tick by unnoticed. Until the end of the day when you wipe the sweat off of your brow, wondering where the hours went.
“Information overload” is one of the biggest irritations in modern life. There are e-mails to answer, virtual friends to pester, YouTube videos to watch and, back in the physical world, meetings to attend, papers to shuffle and spouses to appease. A survey by Reuters once found that two-thirds of managers believe that the data deluge has made their jobs less satisfying or hurt their personal relationships. One-third think that it has damaged their health.” The Economist
This may seem a little melodramatic, but think about the time you actually spend consuming all of this intel. It is the nature of the beast in your digital environment, trying to garner the newest, the latest, the greatest, the biggest, or the best, for your business, yourself, your clients and your community but heck, what a job in and of itself.
How would we conduct our businesses or gain knowledge and insight into social media without the research and reading? We need it. We do it. But at what cost?
With each article or piece of content, you must consider what to do with it next: like, comment, share, purchase, join, blog about it, bookmark it, or even search more about the topic. When you share it, you will think about where you will repost it and not just your own social channels but what about places like bizsugar.com or inbound.org? The possibilities are numerous.
Researching and reading isn’t just a simple process in your online world. There is more action to be taken which helps to build your engagement and community. It’s strategy and tactics. Sure you enjoy reading the content and probably learning something new, but it is what you do after that which counts even more.
You have a business to operate and make successful yet you must operate online as well. How much time can you invest or do you invest in maintaining your presence, building your reputation, connecting, networking, sharing, reading, commenting and engaging?
You know the drill. It is an extensive, arduous process that takes you away from truly focusing on your core business. While all of this is a “requirement” for your business, you need to develop some systems and processes enabling you to balance your time and efforts to be more productive and efficient.
Tips for Romancing the Data Overload:
- Make a list of the blogs, platforms, thought leaders and news aggregators you like to visit on a daily basis. Keep track of any daily content alerts you receive – more data to be consumed. You hopefully have created targeted lists or groups on each of your social media channels so you can easily locate those thought leaders and colleagues whose content and engagement you value most.
- Create a schedule of when you will interact, search, curate and share content. Allot yourself a specific amount of time so you don’t get sucked into a worm hole of reading and distractions. Use a timer if you must.
- Stay focused and resist the temptation to jump around from one platform to the next. Multi-tasking your reading and activities is not only a time waster but harmful to your health. Bookmark posts or use a “read later” tool like readability.com if something really sparks your interest. Add it to your swipe file if you feel it is a great idea generator for a later blog post.
- Unsubscribe from content that is no longer of interest or just clutters your inbox
- Set clear boundaries on your time – tune out and stop crunching the content
- Understand that it is physically impossible to read and digest every byte of data that is pushed your way. You are constantly inundated with new content every nanosecond. Can you really process it all? No and you don’t have to.
Staying current is important for your knowledgebase and success of your business, but if you are buried in the content surplus every day, then who will run your business? Your clients?
Managing your social media, online reputation, digital space, community and marketing is a full-time job, BUT so is running your business. Your laundry list is a mile long to effectively manage each of them and it is pretty much a catch 22 to be able to marry the entities together without being a drain on your effort. Don’t let your data overload seduce you away from your company, your life or your goals. Learn to filter what you need and when. Execute an effective plan with time restraints and a set strategy.
It’s time management. It’s teamwork. It’s about creating a balance.
The systems and processes you design for your business and social media workflow are key toward scaling your company as well as creating the optimum online community.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Jun 3, 2014 | Blogging, Content Marketing
That sounds virtually impossible. Insurmountable even. Who the heck can truly write “remarkable” newsworthy content in such a short period of time? I know and read about many who do and on a daily basis. Personally, I labor over many of my posts; no matter how many other ones I read stashed full of tips, tricks and recommendations for curating, newsjacking and writing.
The pressure’s on and you must produce a blog post. “Ugh” you say.
Sometimes you experience writer’s block, the dreaded blahs or why reiterate what’s been said time and time again. You know you’ve got game but it can still be a struggle to create something mammoth, something so rich that your audience will be shouting and sharing your post from the rooftops. Or, at least a few social channels.
[Tweet “Writing with your readers in mind, you must author up some compelling content.”]
One of my core beliefs of effective content marketing is to deliver content people actually want. Publish stories they actually will enjoy – to read and to share. Michael Brenner
Maintain originality, enticing your audience to hang on to every word, be inspired or educated with your twist on your hot topic. Remember, you aren’t writing for yourself, but your readers, those in need; those hungry for your content. When you know where they are, how they prefer to consume content, speak their language and solve their pain points, you will have initiated the first step toward:
- Educating them
- Generating authority
- Instilling trust
- Nurturing relationships
- Developing credibility
- Building your community
It’s just the first few bricks of your foundation.
Whether you are creating content for new prospects, current customers, industry analysts or someone else entirely, the real purpose behind those efforts should be to build a higher level of trust between the consumer of the content and the brand creating it. Dan Newman
Customize your content marketing strategy and tactics to target your unique audience. While there are allegedly many best practices and beliefs as a single monster sized umbrella for CM, you should experiment and create your own plan based upon your buyer personas, their needs, your industry and your budget as well. If you want different results, change the experiment.
Track and measure your efforts to determine what works.
And what works today, may not work tomorrow, but keep at it. It takes time, effort and creativity but with a little ingenuity and a genuine interest for your audience, writing can become second nature. So they say.
Blog Writing Tips
- Set aside some time each week
- Use an editorial calendar
- Be consistent
- Remember: quality over quantity
- Eliminate distractions
- Keep a swipe file of ideas, interesting articles, hashtags, circle of influencers and favorite websites/blogs
- Have a list of curation/news sites
- When you outline your post, know what questions you want to answer
- Organize your content
- Write a captivating intro
- Use headlines and subheads
- Include a CTA!
- Visuals count
- Use anchor text both internal and external
- Remember your tags, descriptions and SEO
- Take breaks to refresh and energize
- Edit
- Proofread
- Proofread
- Proofread
Expand your knowledge and understanding with:
The Research and Science Behind a Perfect Blog Post
Know the Erogenous Zones of Your Blog Post
39 Blogging Tips From the Pros
10 Content Marketing Lessons from Social Media Examiner
What Blogging Tips Are You Missing?
47 Content Marketing Tools To Help You Save Time And Get Better Results
Content Marketing Minds: 1 Genius, 3 Minutes, 9 Vital Concepts [VIDEO]
53+ Free Image Sources For Your Blog and Social Media Post
How to Write a Blog Post Outline: A Simple Formula to Follow
Back to you: what tips and tools do you suggest to help others with their blogging efforts and time management?
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | May 13, 2014 | Content Marketing, Marketing
Switching to a new online newsletter vendor can seem like a daunting and frustrating task, but with a little organization, planning and insight, the transition will progress smoothly. Carefully investigate the options, keeping in mind your budget, long and short term goals, how you intend to reach out to your database, format, templates, frequency of touch points, autoresponders, opt-ins and analytics.
One of our recent projects was to assist a client in moving from her two current platforms to just one. My team and I met via SKYPE to brainstorm options, the client’s current business operations, target markets and overall marketing needs. We did a lot of research to compare several options to determine the best fit for her organization.
This in-depth discovery process as well as our ongoing conversations ensured greater success in choosing the best tool and an effortless conversion for all stakeholders involved.
Using Redbooth, formally Teambox, I was able to create task lists for each of the three platforms to clearly define every step that was required. Because there were sign up boxes for e-commerce products in addition to the newsletter opt-ins on two websites, it was paramount that we created a set system of steps so as not to lose or confuse her audience while we built the new templates, moved the coding and rebuilt her list building funnel. It was an ongoing process of approximately 2 months, involving conference calls, revisiting goals and refining some of the methods. The outline below has been somewhat simplified but hopefully provides you with the required steps to change or even set up a new e-newsletter platform.
Steps to Switch E-Newsletter Platforms
| Platform 1 (current) |
Platform 2 (current) |
Platform 3 (final) |
| Write intro content to move current subscribers to P3 |
Write intro content to move current subscribers to P3 |
Design 2 branded newsletter templates for client’s 2 companies. |
| Clarify current lists, ensure all should remain as recipients |
Review all subscriber lists, delete bounces, download all lists for review, tagging and new categories |
Set up branded welcome and thank you pages |
| Review coding, opt-ins and page pop-ups for current e-book |
Send to each of the 2 company market segments from P1 and P2 subscriber lists: A/B split testing days and times (2 for each segment) |
Create subscriber categories and segments for new sign-ups |
| Remove P1 and input new P3 code on website |
Review initial mailing metrics, download email address of non-opens, resend with new subject line and A/B split testing |
Design 2 branded touch point emails |
| Close out account |
Review results |
Design autoresponder content and discuss delivery based upon opt-ins and e-newsletter schedule |
|
Download any old desired templates |
Add opt-in coding on 2 websites |
|
Consider repurposing content |
Review new sign-up metrics from P1 and P2, as well as brand new subscribers |
|
Close out account |
Brainstorm content and delivery schedule for kick-off emails |
Other miscellaneous items for discussion:
- Adding the sign-up to company email signatures and a Facebook tab
- Sharing the opt-ins in social channels
- Creating white papers and other valuable content for signing up
- Coordinating the content to be consistent with company mission, goals and other monthly posted content
- Formalizing the editorial calendar
This was a great team project, requiring a lot of thought and planning. We look forward to the final deliverables and continued marketing success.
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | May 8, 2014 | Content Marketing
Content marketing should not be thought of as merely advertising but a long-term commitment to solving the problems and pain points of your audience. Through continuous engagement and relevant content you have the opportunity to trigger a response, further creating credibility and trust for your brand. CM is here to stay and only keeps getting deeper entrenched within your digital community. It is important to gain a clear head and focus in order to produce desired outcomes. The B2B Content Marketing Statistics for 2014 clearly demonstrates not only the importance but some of the issues involved around content strategy, tactics, budgets, metrics, platforms, and time requirements.
“Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.” Content Marketing Institute
Cultivating and nurturing these relationships is part of the lead conversion in your marketing funnel. Consider where your audience lives and what they want and need. How can you make their lives easier, more simplified or answer their most pressing questions?
Think more in terms of solutions, benefits and features. Remember, it’s a two-way conversation, not a soapbox.
Content can be in a variety of forms: website, blog post, video, image, podcast, e-book, white paper, newsletter, social media post or an email. Whatever platform or venue you choose, direct it toward your readers and what they crave.
It isn’t a mass blast.
Quality over quantity because if you are simply pushing words to fill spaces, you probably aren’t being all that remarkable. You don’t want to be scratchy noise, but someone who is “follow-worthy,” shareable, intelligent, educational and helpful.
Brands and their agencies believe deeply that content is the future, and anyone who doesn’t get onboard will be left behind. Shane Snow
Creating a strategy AND tactics needs to be a part of your plan. What do you want to achieve with your content marketing? Who do you want to reach? Just because you read about the value and importance of CM, doesn’t translate to crazed writing and pushing of paragraphs. You need a method to your madness. Jason DeMers suggests 5 essential goals to consider as part of your content marketing plan:
- Help & educate
- Build a community
- Demonstrate your expertise
- Help the search engines help you
- Keep in touch with your customers
When writing your content, these five components will help you to deliver rich and relevant content that interests your audience, creates deeper relationships, builds your online brand reputation and ensures greater results for your efforts and expertise.
Content Marketing Review
- Goals
- Strategy
- Editorial calendar
- Content
- An understanding of your buyer personas
- Where does your audience hang out
- What are their greatest pain points?
- What drives them to purchase?
- What are they searching for?
- Appeal to their logical mind as well as their emotions
- Write for them. To them….. not the search engines.
- Find the best distribution channels
- Cross promote or vary content
- Track and measure engagement, conversation and results
In your quest to write something fresh and exciting, you may hit a few stumbling blocks, like we all do. It can be so frustrating. You have a few ideas or no ideas and you need a little more inspiration. Check out some of the links below to tweak your brain power and start tapping those keys.
50+ Tools for Content Curation and Content Marketing
Content Curation & Content Marketing – Curata Blog
Use Visual Content to Engage Your Audience: 9 Tips and 25 Examples
How to Go “All-In” with Content Marketing: 8 Experts Weigh In
Competing With Content Marketing: 7 Steps to Success [Infographic]
50 Content Marketing Ideas For Your Website Or Blog
The Cheat Sheet on Content Marketing
by Ace Concierge | Virtual Assistant | Apr 29, 2014 | Communication, Content Marketing, Guest Blogger
Let’s Rebel Against Boring
“I fell asleep reading a dull book and dreamed I kept on reading, so I awoke from sheer boredom.”
I’d like to start this post by sharing one of my greatest fears in my role as a video producer and content developer. Are you ready?
To have my content be boring…
You Know…
Dull, uninteresting, flat, humdrum, dull, stale, uninspiring, or just plain…
BLAH!!!!!
I’m hoping that’s not you.
However, the fact is that the web is full of an ample supply of boring crap interrupting our lives on a daily basis.
Plenty of it comes from businesses in the form of advertising or other repetitious marketing humdrum.
I hope you agree that it’s time to write a new script when it comes to business communications. Our customers want more. They expect it.
Therefore…
The single most daunting challenge of every content creator, be it a video producer, web developer, blog author, newsletter designer, social media manager or for that matter any business, is to be memorable, to create a memorable event.
…So memorable in fact that your content actually makes a difference to another person. You help solve a problem, fill a need, or inspire change.
You rock someone’s world!
Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore, authors of the best selling book, The Experience Economy, call memorable events that ENGAGE people in an inherently personal way, EXPERIENCES.
In this article I’ll share some thinking on how to use some principles of experiences and experience design to create more engaging digital communications.
Let’s begin.
Recently I was attracted to a communications effort that was the opposite of boring- one that I would define as engaging and memorable.
Here are some background details.
I began pursuing this new business-learning program a couple of months ago. The media in the program includes 8 podcast (audio recording) and a corresponding transcript.
The business series is about transforming a business into a media company as a component of a new type of marketing strategy. The theme is ‘Media not Marketing.’
How engaging is this new content?
I look forward to new weekly episodes and at times have even been excited when announcements arrived in my Inbox. OK … You might be thinking…Bill needs to get a life. After all, podcast and webinars are a dime a dozen. Snooooze City… Right?
But really… when’s the last time you were looking forward to an e-mail announcing another episode of business content, that seemed to talk directly to you and your needs.
There’s a lesson here. Let’s explore in greater detail.
But first, it might be helpful if I put this experience thing into some context for you.
Another words, why the heck is a video producer writing a blog post connecting experiences to business communication.
My Big Find
My journey into the world of experiences began 10 years ago after re-defining the work I do as a video storyteller, as creating experiences.
My interest in the concept peaked after discovering and reading a book called ‘The Experience Economy-Work is Theatre & Every Business a Stage’, and a trip into the Mountains of Colorado for the annual 3-day gathering (conference) of ‘Experience Economy’ practitioners and evangelist.
The journey has been on going since that first book and conference ten years ago. I’ve practically lived and breathed experiences and business experience design.
My big find is the discovery that EXPERIENCES have become the center of the new business landscape and the critical component needed for business differentiation.
Applying an experience perspective to the development of your digital content can be a game changer for your communications initiatives. It will energize the creation process and help create memorable digital experiences, not more boring and meaningless noise.
Let’s get back to that engaging new program that has me captivated.
Drum roll please…
The name of the program is “New Rainmaker” from Copyblogger Media, LLC.
I’ll apply a few experience design principles to it, that hopefully will help you start re-thinking the process content creation.
Concept One: Language is Important-An Experience vs. Content
The language you use in defining goals and their specific business outcomes can have a dramatic impact on a project’s success. My mind goes to a very different place when I think about designing a compelling experience versus writing a newsletter, producing a video or writing a blog post.
The word experience suggests, for me anyway, something more significant, memorable and worth sharing. It moves the bar in terms of imagining what’s possible.
New Rainmaker is an engaging experience because the program’s producers Brian Clark (The show’s star) and Robert Bruce (co-star) explore new ways, and challenge each other, to be different. In one their ‘behind the scenes’ episodes, they openly discuss a strategy of using storytelling, theatre, and drama to make their show distinct.
Have you ever thought of your work as theatre or drama – your business as a stage?
Concept Two: Great Experiences are Intentionally Designed
Robert and Bruce revealed in their episodes that they devoted 6 months planning the design and release of New Rainmaker. One of their activities during the planning phase included research on current business models and mediums being used by others in the same space. (Competition)
Concept Three: Distinctive Experiences Include Elements from 4 Experiential Realms
The most engaging experiences draw from these four realms.
1. Educational – to learn
2. Entertainiment – to have fun…. to enjoy
3. Escapist – to do…to draw in further… to transport guest emotionally
4. Esthetic- to be… to make your guest want to come in and just hang out…an inviting environment
New Rainmaker emphasizes the educational realm but is more engaging because of the entertainment value that is delivered by the production value designed into the learning experience. Each episode is scripted and background music edited into the production evoking an emotion of suspense to each learning episode. Productions are sprinkled with humor, which helps make the learning more enjoyable.
The overall experience is enhanced as it draws from the Escapist Realm.
Brian Clark accomplishes this through the effective use of storytelling. Most notably, he shares some personal stories that help build trust with his audience.
Often during the 8 episodes, you lose the sense and feeling that you’re listening to a business presentation in front of a computer, to a feeling that you’re in the front row of a theatre. Great storytelling transports people emotionally.
Finally, there is a touch of the Esthetic Realm mixed into New Rainmaker. Clark and Bruce deliver a radio like performance in a conversational and personal manner. Their down to earth style and transparency is inviting and makes you want to hang out and listen awhile longer.
Let me leave you with a final thought and question.
Maybe, business super thinker Tom Peters sums up the importance of business experiences best, in one of his ‘Essentials Book Series called Design.
“We must understand that experience is a very big word, with far reaching implications, but it is nothing short of the basis for a totally re-imagined organizational life form.”
Are your digital communications defined, fresh, immersive, accessible, significant and transformative?
Let’s rebel against boring communications !
Guest Author:
William Gibeault of Story Mavericks
Rock your customers- Grow your business
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