October is wrapping up, which means the holiday season and new year are right around the corner. It also means now is the time to gear up strategy planning for next year…and justify all the work you’ve been doing over the last 10 months!
Which is why this month’s content marketing roundup focuses on tips to improve your content marketing strategy.(Even if you think your business is too boring for content marketing to work!)
The Step-by-Step Method to Making Your Content Shareable on Social Media by Beth Hayden
After writing a fancy new blog post, your next step is probably to share it on social media. But Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest all have different image and meta description standards, which often leads to less than ideal results like cut off quotes, weirdly cropped pictures, and under-utilized meta descriptions.
This article on Problogger provides step-by-step instructions on how to make sure your posts look perfect no matter where you share it.
Read This If: You share posts on social media and wonder why they look weird.
Breaking Content Marketing Constraints – A Small-Business Case Study by Brian Watson
Trying to compete as a small business is nothing short of terrifying for many business owners. How in the world are you supposed to get any attention when you are competing with big brands like Red Bull, Old Spice, and Hyatt? I loved this article because it starts where all marketing should start —with the author trying to help.
Over the course of four meetings, the writer, Brian Watson, sat down with the business owner Micheal to analyze their production process, figure out where the bottlenecks were, and then break them down. He includes a step by
Read This If: You are a small business and are struggling to produce quality on a regular basis.
7 Ways To Enrich Your B2B Content To Yield Results by Heidi Cohen
If you are in B2B, it is easy to get stuck in a content rut. Since your business isn’t exciting to the general population, it can feel impossible to create content that actually gets read. Who really wants to read about ball bearings or industrial paper towel dispensers?
In this article, Heidi gives seven actionable tips that will help you create B2B content that people will actually want to engage with, including how to sound more human, how to use stories, and what other types of content you should be considering.
Read This If: You think your business is too ‘boring’ for content marketing.
Brands Share Their Most Hair-Raising Content Marketing Horror Stories by Ashley Zeckman
Experience is the best teacher, right? These four stories from some of the industry’s top names are an easy way to learn what not to do without all the embarrassment. This article on Top Ranking Blog shares stories of failure from Michael Brenner of NewsCred, Joe Pulizzi of Content Marketing Institute, and two others. These mini-case studies are a great way to learn the ropes without having to make the mistakes y
Read This If: Reading stories of failure makes you feel better about your own strategy. (Or if you want to learn what NOT to do without losing money.)
A Delightfully Simple 6 Step Content Marketing Process for Small Businesses by Upasna Kakroo
This article on SEMRush offers a simple process for small businesses, who tend to struggle with most digital marketing trends, including content marketing. Upasana offers easy tips that will help small businesses tackle content marketing by breaking down the process into smaller, easier to tackle, projects.
Read This If: You own, or work with, a small business and content marketing seems overwhelming.
Bonus Pick: SEJ’s NEW White Paper “What Works in Content Marketing”
There is a lot of confusion about what content marketing is and how it can be used to build a successful brand and bring in qualified leads. Some marketers think it is just a buzzword that will fade away. As a result, many businesses end up with an ineffective strategy that wastes valuable time and money, or avoiding content marketing all together and wasting valuable opportunities.
To combat that problem, our team spent the last few months gathering tools, case studies, and data about what really works in content marketing. This white paper is the result of all that work. Inside this (free!) white paper, you will find a detailed history of content marketing, a detailed list of what you should be asking yourself before developing your content plan, and three case studies from different brands including SEJ and McDonald’s.
Get your free copy now, and let me know what you think!
Image Credits
Featured Image: Image by Paulo Bobita
In-post Photo #1: Aysezgicmeli/Shutterstock.com
In-post Photo #2: Image by Paulo Bobita
