Inbound Industry Report: June 12, 2012
Top marketing news, articles and tips from the second week of June 2012.
Content Marketing
We’ve all experienced it—something shiny and new catches our eye mid-conversation, and our train of thought instantly derails. Ardath Albee (@ardath421) claims that for marketers, when these shiny objects come in the form of “quick win” tactics, they can cause a ripple effect, and derail your solid content strategy. To combat this issue, Albee urges to keep your content efforts moving, and suggests the following:
- Track Your Short-Term Wins—Tie content marketing efforts to KPIs, using marketing automation, analytics and connections with your sales team.
- Change It Up—Take a fresh look at your audience, topics, and format, and add some fun. Be as engaged in the process as you want your readers to be.
Once you have your content in place, be sure to take ownership of it. Rick DeJarnette (@rickdejarnette) details how to use your content and the Google authorship markup process to establish yourself as a known industry author. In return, you’ll see greater lift in search results for your content over time.
Social Media
It’s natural to want to correlate Klout scores, Twitter followers and Facebook fans with level of influence. But, it’s not necessarily true that these highly followed online "influencers" have an impact when it comes to driving action beyond social chatter. Jay Baer (jaybaer) shares how we can avoid confusing audience with influence, and ignite actual behavior:
- Create Brand Advocates—Don’t just collect fans; activate a passion for your brand. Give your best fans something, whether it’s exclusive access or a place to voice their opinions. In return, they’ll become your brand ambassadors.
- Find Your Audience—After you’ve created a fan base, use influencers’ reach to cover the movement, not just the product. By doing so, you’ll provide knowledge, insight and feeling, driving action over idle chatter.
Facebook Updates
Facebook is making several potential post-IPO monetization plays with the introduction of its latest products and tools. One is the new App Center, which launched last week. It connects users with social apps by promoting and recommending ones they’d likely use based on friend and personal activity. The product aims to benefit both users and developers, but it’s clear that integrated apps will increase site engagement, thus fueling advertising spend, and driving revenue for Facebook.
In addition, new Facebook advertising tactics like sponsored stories and promoted posts are proving that “Facebook is intersecting the divide of natural conversation and paid placements.” With the average, non-promoted Facebook update reaching only 16% of fans, the new Promote option allows brands to extend post visibility—for a price. However, marketers must understand that they’re not paying to reach new audiences, just to more broadly reach the fans they already have.
Other Headlines
- Twitter’s iconic blue bird gets a simplified design makeover. The symbol will now be the sole, official representation of the brand, completely replacing the lowercase “t” icon sometimes on social media apps and widgets.
- HubSpot and HootSuite have teamed up to offer a social media lead nurturing and closing tool that allows users to monitor their leads’ tweets, identify follow-up opportunities, and nurture leads through multiple channels.
- Microsoft is bridging multiple devices into a seamless user experience with Xbox app SmartGlass. Available for Windows 8, tablets and mobile devices, this multi-platform focus gives users the ability to interact with content from any device in conjunction with games and videos on their consoles.
- Last week, LinkedIn was hacked, exposing 6.4 million user passwords. In response, the company shared detailed steps for its users to take protect themselves now and in the future. If you haven’t changed your LinkedIn password yet, go do it now.
Studies & Stats
- A new report by Genesys and the Economist Intelligence Unit shows that confusion continues over who controls corporate social media communications: 58% of C-suite executives believe the CEO is responsible; only 28% of middle managers agree.
- The Bridge Group compiled survey data that confirms and debunks existing notions of managing Gen Y sales reps in the ebook, Mythbusting Millennials. Results include information on current roles, motivations, needs and future plans, and is valuable for marketing leaders who build and manage teams of young pros.
What articles made your top list last week? We'd like to hear your opinions.
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