Content Toolbox: Quick Links
Content Marketing
A business without content is a fish out of water. These links explain why.
A visual explanation on the necessity and value of content marketing. Credit to VizEdu!
Video: Fifty Years of Marketing in Three Minutes No reading required!
Wikipedia definition of content marketing.
From the U.K. comes TalkContent. Their claim? The web's number one online content related resource, covering content planning, creation, marketing & monetization.
Junta42 is the go-to site for learning more on content marketing and custom publishing.
Some numbers. And a killer soundtrack. You won't look at your computer the same way ever again.
Social Media
The value of social media comes from its natural communication abilities. Social media gives you a very public space for you to demonstrate that you're an active and knowledgeable participant in your field. You can post links to your work and draw attention to your accomplishments. Don't forget, this is a social scene and no one likes a braggart. Share information openly, respond to conversations, and try and help people. Then people may actually take an interest in your occasional self-promotional piece.
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Twitter is a mechanism for sharing information, activities and thoughts in one hundred and forty characters or less. Think microblog. Follow me on Twitter!
LinkedIn is a popular social site for professionals. Expand your network, create forums, recommend colleagues, contribute meaningful feedback to discussion groups.
YouTube is a video sharing site. Here you will find ultra-creative video ads that went viral. Go to the site, do a search on what you offer and see what other people have to say about your niche.
Facebook is a place where you can converse with all your "friends" at the same time. Share photos and videos, post messages, create fan pages, and have fun.
My favorite blog is Brian Clark's Copyblogger who offers copywriter tips for online marketing success. His wisdom is useful for anyone involved in managing or marketing a business.
Open this now: Michael Stelzner's Social Media Marketing Industry Report. This report summarizes the social media practices and attitudes of over 800 marketers representing a wide array of business sizes and specialities (including yours truly).
Want more?
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Useful Downloads
Goals and objectives are not the same thing. Understanding the difference is critical to assessing the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Marketing consumes resources. Take five minutes to make sure you're investing wisely. This document will help. Courtesy of KMwordsmith.
Case studies and success stories. Write one and use this list to expand your case study's ability to market in numerous ways. If you want to know more about case studies and what you can do with one then read this document. I must acknowledge Steve Slaunwhite's "Cracking the Case Study Market" for providing much of the initial material included in this list. Courtesy of KMwordsmith.
If you participated in the March 11th seminar, Leveraging the Marketing Power of an Article, you can download KMwordsmith handouts and access other related information here.