Popular Articles on Business 2 Community

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• E-mail Marketing vs Social Media: Small Businesses Should Do Both.
• 5 Reasons Social media is Just as Important as Content in Marketing Today
• 20 Fascinating Statistics About Marketing in 2014 [Infographic]
• Native Advertising vs. Content Marketing
• 18 of the Best Content Marketing Strategy Guides of 2013
• Should Hospitals be on Facebook? Social Media Marketing for the Healthcare Industry
• This is Why Your B2B Email Marketing Campaign Doesn’t Produce Leads
• Mobile SEO Ranking Changes You Need To Know!
• Targeted Content, Ads Influence Social Media Marketing Success
• What is Translation Memory? And Why Should my Business Use It?
• 7 Ways to Identify Great Marketing Content
• 30 Remarkable Content Marketing Facts and Statistics for 2013 (and 2014)

E-mail Marketing vs Social Media: Small Businesses Should Do Both. Posted: 11 Dec 2013 08:50 PM PST A lot of marketers are putting all their eggs into one of the two big marketing baskets when it comes to Small Business marketing. I keep hearing and reading a lot about how one is beating the other and some use of stats that really don’t mean much. Well here’s my take to the ever-growing battle. The verdict: It’s not one or the other! It’s both and here’s why. Both are free! Let’s rephrase that. Both can be free and in most cases free to get started and learn the ropes. While you can go ahead and create a free social profile for facebook, twitter, and other social networks, most email marketing companies are offering free email marketing as well. Free is a peculiar word because even though both can be free, you still have to do invest a lot of time and other resources into making the best out of email marketing or social media. Both can be utilized for free and for you to be successful, you’ll need to put a lot of effort into your marketing. The previous statement shouldn’t scare you but rather encourage you. They are complementary! Both Email marketing and social media help you reach your customers. Both do it in a very similar way. Both have their benefits (see below) but most importantly they should be used in tandem. If you are using email marketing, you should be syndicating the same content to social media and vice versa. It’s important for you to be uniform, meaning that your marketing campaigns that you do via online marketing should all be consistent. So if you decide to use one, you should do both. There is no harm and if you can be successful doing one thing, you can certainly be successful doing two and reaping the benefits of both. Both accomplish different objectives. Email Marketing is great for accomplishing certain business and marketing objectives. Same goes for Social Media. With email marketing, you have the ability to reach customers directly. Think about it, an email marketing campaign will be seen, whether it’s opened or not requiring an action of the consumer (open, click, or just delete). Either way, the consumer is interacting with you. Social Media is a bit different. You play by the consumers rule and you are competing with leisure time and the social newsfeed. Now this might not be a bad thing as it is perfect for some objectives. Here’s an example: If you want to run a contest for your small business and you want people to share, Social media has one component that is very hard to replicate via email: the viral component. Social Media can help you reach the right customers for free and within hours (if not sooner), you can have hundreds if not thousands of customers learning about your business/website. In the end, you should make your own decision. The biggest objection small business owners will have, when it comes to choosing one or the other, is how much resources (time and money) will they have to invest to see some results. That’s a whole different matter that we can discuss next time.

5 Reasons Social media is Just as Important as Content in Marketing Today Posted: 11 Dec 2013 08:34 PM PST Content is king. How many times have you read that statement across the web? Nearly every marketing guru will use this line, and at the heart it is true. Content is, indeed, an important element to everything from self-promotion to branding. But it isn’t the be all and end all that so many assume it is. Right alongside it, ranked equal in importance, is social media. Perhaps not everyone is on board with this idea due to the relative newness of the technology. The implications for using platforms like Twitter and Facebook as an inbound marketing tool only established itself after it became apparent that social media was here to stay. More than that, it is connected to everything on internet these days. You could say social media is among one of the most important technological advances in modernity. Other techniques that reach out directly to your demographic are still crucial. You want to be able to write engaging emails to subscribers, for example. Then there is the importance of having a solid, well hosted site. But you should still be spending as much time and effort on your social media marketing as you are on your content marketing. Here are five reasons why: You Want People To See Your Content – There is no point in having excellent content if no one is going to be seeing it. That is where social media becomes so important. No matter what the media style, from blog posts to videos, you want it to be visible to as many online users as possible. Step one to that goal is getting it out there into the ether. While sending out newsletters is one way, it isn’t an extensive practice. A social networking page like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+ is much better. So are other social sites like YouTube, Pinterest, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Vimeo and the myriad of alternative sites that are good for specific elements to a well-rounded campaign. You Want People To Share Your Content – You don’t just want people to view your content, you want them to share it. Word of mouth took on a new meaning when the Internet began to advance to the level it is at now. Just one person sharing a link can immediately put you within reach of hundreds of people, sometimes thousands. That is just on a single profile! The easiest way to get others to pimp out your link is just to encourage them to do so with a simple call to action. But there are many other strategies you can turn to. You Want To Find Ideas For New Content – What are people talking about right now? There is no easier way to find out than turning to social websites to see what is trending. Twitter is especially useful for this, since you can do a wide scale search specific to your industry, or just see what is hot in general. Facebook has recently implemented a similar function, but the private nature of their system still makes checking tweets a better tool. You can also take a glance over what people have been saying on your pages, and they will often suggest topics for you to cover. That gives you a direct line of sight into what they want. Just imagine how powerful that knowledge can be! You Want To Recycle Old Content – Old content needs love too. You might be shocked to find how much you can wring out of something long since posted. Remember that you will be gaining new eyes every day. Many of them haven’t seen what you’ve published in the past. Every couple of months you should be able to post a link to content that got a lot of positive attention the first time. New followers means a whole new pool of people to check it out the second time. There have been cases of content that did well the first round actually going viral the second or third rotation as the publisher’s social circle increased. You Want To Talk To People About Your Content – Here is probably the most important reason: engagement. You don’t just want to throw things at people to see. You want to take part in a discussion about it. From seeing their opinion to giving your own, social media marketing allows you to create a relationship with the people you are targeting. Now you even have access to users on the go, thanks to the prevalence of mobile social apps. Nothing is more valuable on the web today, and it gives you a chance to build brand loyalty one on one with the very people you would have once indirectly advertised to. Is it any wonder social media marketing became such a big deal in such a short amount of time? Bottom Line: Social media marketing is just as important as content marketing because that content couldn’t do as much without it. It couldn’t reach as far, inform as much, or bring the same results. Which is why it should be given just as much priority as anything else, if not more.

20 Fascinating Statistics About Marketing in 2014 [Infographic] Posted: 11 Dec 2013 04:05 PM PST Marketing is one of the fastest changing industries around. New tools, practices, and social conventions fly in and out on a week-by-week basis. What worked so well last year is practically unthinkable for next year. At the same time, some of 2014's most powerful marketing strategies hadn't even been thought of in 2012. You could say that this kind of rapid development is true of other industries like medicine and technology. But I would argue that marketing has the unique advantage of being "workable." A surgeon can't, for example, just invent a new procedure to "see if it works." Apple can't release a new computer just because of a "gut feeling." These industries are limited by slow-moving protocol. Marketing in 2014 – Freedom to Do More! But marketers do have the unique ability to test things out. Marketers have the freedom to try things that professionals in other industries don't. While other industries are tied up by regulation and protocol, marketers have the freedom to go out and experiment every day. If you're excited about the freedom of marketing, I think these 20 statistics about marketing in 2014 will help get those creative juices flowing for your best year yet! 2014 Marketing Statistics You Can't Ignore: HIGHLIGHTS Social media marketing budgets will double over the next 5 years. Nearly half of all companies have a content marketing strategy. B2B companies that blog get 67% more leads than those that don't. 78% of CMOs think custom content is the future of marketing. Videos on landing pages increase conversions by 86%. 52% of all marketers found at least 1 customer on Facebook in 2013. 65% of your audience are visual learners. Visual data is processed 60k times faster by the brain than text. Customer testimonials have the highest effectiveness rating for content marketing – 89%. Inbound marketing delivers 54% more leads than traditional outbound marketing. Click for image source. Infographic via WebDAM. Where do you see marketing in 2014? Which statistics do you consider the power players here?

Native Advertising vs. Content Marketing Posted: 11 Dec 2013 10:04 AM PST The online marketing community is buzzing about native advertising thanks to a native advertising workshop hosted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a consumer warning issued by the FTC. In Australia, brands that mislead consumers through native advertising may face legal action in 2014. Native advertising, also called sponsored content, advertorials, or infomercials, isn't a new concept. Newspaper advertorials are a much older form of this practice, where advertising is dressed up to look like editorial content and placed in publications. According to VentureBeat, native advertising can now take the form of Sponsored Stories on Facebook, Sponsored Tweets on Twitter, or sponsored articles on websites like TheAtlantic.com or The Huffington Post. The FTC warns marketers that these types of placements should be clearly marked as sponsored content so consumers aren't tricked into believing they're the same as traditional editorial content. But native advertising isn't the same as content marketing (sometimes called brand journalism or branded content). One example of native advertising is the "sponsored emails" or "partner tips" sent out by Netted by the Webbys. The emails look similar to editorial emails, but they're actually paid for by a sponsor. An example of content marketing would be HSBC's Global Connections website, which features in-depth articles about issues and strategies for global businesses. Rarely do the articles mention HSBC, but they help position the bank as an authority on international business. Though different from the value added strategy of content marketing, native advertising is still a legitimate form of marketing. The main distinction is that content marketers are aiming to build long term trust, consistently providing value for readers without asking for anything in return, while most often the goal the native advertising is to have the reader purchase a product or service before obtaining this valuable content. Here's a look at some other key differences: Purpose Native advertising: The content may appear to provide value, but that goal is secondary to selling a product or service. Often the advertorial may try to solve a problem that conveniently involves buying the brand's product or service. However, the content of native advertising generally does not have inherent value without the reader buying a product or service. Content marketing: Here, the goal is to build trust over the long term by providing relevant, useful information. Ultimately, the hope is that content marketing will help generate sales or sales leads but that's part of a longer sales funnel. Sales are not expected solely as a result of one content marketing piece. Content marketing provides value to readers that's independent of them buying a product or service. The content is valuable in itself. Tone Native advertising: Sometimes, native ads take a pushy and salesy tone. Or they may have a faux friendly tone to emulate the writing style of the publication. Content marketing: Effective content marketing takes a knowledgeable, yet authentic tone that doesn't try to pressure the reader to buy. Instead, it acknowledges the reader's challenges or pain points and offers actionable tips or solutions. Even if those solutions don't involve the brand's product or service (in fact, it's better if they don't because then it feels more genuine and less self-interested), the goal is to engage with the reader and build rapport. Benefits Native advertising: Nowadays, readers are wary of being marketed to and many can smell a sales pitch a mile away, so the benefits of native advertising can be fairly limited. Content marketing: Content marketing done well builds trust with readers, helps create shareable content for blogs, social media feeds, email lists, and avoids some of the potential legal issues associated with native advertising because it doesn't try to mislead. Now that I've outlined some of the differences I've noticed between native ads and content marketing, I'd love to get your take on this topic. Leave a comment and let us know if you agree or disagree! For more tips and strategies on effective content marketing, download Curata's latest free ebook, Stop Egocentric Marketing.

18 of the Best Content Marketing Strategy Guides of 2013 Posted: 11 Dec 2013 07:21 AM PST Content marketing is a hot topic, primarily in the B2B world but increasingly in consumer marketing as well. The number of Google searches for the phrase have increased 400% since January 2011. And as noted here yesterday, 93% of B2B marketers are now using content marketing, with more than half calling it their biggest priority this year. The first step toward content marketing success begins with (or at least should begin with) creation of a content marketing strategy. But where does one begin? What are the best practices and frameworks for creating such a strategy? What are the critical elements to include, and pitfalls to avoid, in developing a strategy? Discover the answers to those questions are more here in 18 of the best guides to crafting a content marketing strategy of the past year. Content Marketing Strategy Guides Why you need repetition in your content strategy by iMedia Connection According to the brilliant Rebecca Lieb, "One of content marketing's biggest challenges is coming up with new material. One of content marketing's other biggest challenges is overcoming something you've been told not to do since you were small: repeating yourself." She then explains how to "repeat yourself" creatively in order to drive home a message, without seeming repetitive or redundant. How to Build Your First Content Marketing Strategy by Search Engine Watch As the title implies, Jayson DeMers here outlines a solid content strategy-building process based on five questions (starting with "Who Are You Writing For?") and five guidelines (among them, "Review Your Data to Develop Great Content"). Content marketing: What is more important than strategy? by GO Marketing Writing that "A sound strategic planning process is based on consistently applied business objectives that flow through functional areas and support each other," John Gregory Olson presents a helpful model for planning, and makes a case for the one element that's more important than strategy. Let's Move Beyond The Content Marketing Hype by WCG CommonSense Michael Brito contends marketers "must move beyond the content marketing buzzword and commit to building a content strategy that will allow you to execute your tactical content marketing initiatives flawlessly and at scale," and promotes a four-pillars framework for content strategy development. 8 Steps To Become A Brand Publisher by B2B Marketing Insider Stating that "Brands need to become better storytellers and think and act like publishers," Michael Brenner showcases his presentation detailing the impact the Web and email have had on traditional print media, and why this means brands need to tell their own stories by creating "content hubs" to earn traffic instead of buying it through advertising. Experts outline key content marketing trends for 2014 by The Guardian A half dozen "content marketing gurus" offer their predictions for impactful trends in 2014, among them the importance of taking an "integrated omni-channel approach" not just in terms of devices and formats but also measurable multi-channel online marketing; an increased focus on user experience; and putting the story first ("Brands need to tell a story and it has to be a story that people can care about. The format, channels, platforms, devices and timing of how that story is told will be dictated by what you want your audience to feel"). The Top 10 Content Marketing Strategy Lessons from the Last 15 Years by Content Marketing Institute ***** 5 STARS Joe Pulizzi, the godfather of content marketing, shares 10 key lessons including "Content marketing is the great equalizer…Large budgets don't always win; actually, the smaller players usually come out on top because they are equipped to move more agilely and quickly than their larger competition"; it's more productive to focus on using a few channels well than being on all platforms; and being distinctive is a must. Failing Distribution Strategies Smother Great Content by MediaPost Noting that "The old adage — build it and they will come — doesn't work for content marketing," Laurie Sullivan reports on Forrester Research guidance on building a content distribution strategy to overcome the glut on content online. How to Create a Content Strategy (In Only 652 Steps) by Portent, Inc. ***** 5 STARS Few writers can match Ian Lurie's blend of sardonic humor and useful marketing wisdom. While there are not actually 652 steps here, there is a remarkable guide to auditing your current content marketing, setting goals, and then crafting a strategy to meet and exceed those objectives. How To Develop A Content Marketing Strategy Framework by BloggerBeat Matthew Anton presents three dozen questions to ask when creating a content marketing strategy, from questions about the company's business model (e.g., "Which products make up most of the revenue?") to analyzing competitors, to determining the driving factors behind customer purchase and loyalty. 4 Reasons Why Content Marketing Should Care About Audience Development by iMedia Connection ***** 5 STARS Reporting that "60 to 70 percent of content churned out by b-to-b marketing departments today sits unused," Tony Zambito explains why the biggest problem for b2b marketers isn't a lack of content, but rather a lack of the right content—and how to fix it by strategically using buyer personas. A Bigger Megaphone Doesn't Mean Better Marketing by MediaPost Laura Patterson addresses the same topic as Tony does above, explaining how mapping content to the buying journey and customer lifecycle enables marketers to more strategically build out their content marketing editorial calendars. The Content Marketing Pyramid: Are You Hungry for Content? by Business2Community ***** 5 STARS Pawan Deshpande presents a remarkably useful model for content planning, the "Content Marketing Pyramid." At the base of the pyramid is curated content, "which is relatively low effort and lends itself to high frequencies," with each higher level representing formats which require greater effort and should be used with correspondingly lower frequency. 4 secrets of a successful digital content strategy by iMediaConnection Miranda Anderson suggests four principles to underpin a content strategy, including the idea that all content should have an objective: "We create content because we want our audience to do something — to buy, learn more, or love our brand. Your content should always point back to that core objective." 5 Core Beliefs of Extraordinary Content Marketers by SteamFeed Ross Simmonds helpfully exposes a handful of beliefs held by the best content marketers, among them knowing "when you have an ugly baby" ("This is one of the reason you see so many TV ads about people who work in marketing – Tunnel vision") and my favorite, "Accepting Best Practice is Accepting Status Quo." Don't copy your competitors—be the source they try to copy. The Top 6 Reasons You're Failing at Content Marketing by BuzzStream Blog Dan Tynski expertly provides "a guide to common errors and pitfalls that beginner content marketers should make themselves aware of," starting with "problems of scope"—is your goal in content marketing to find new customers, improve search rankings, or up-sell/cross-sell existing customers? "If your goal is to create content that can drive leads or sales, it doesn't make sense to create content that is too broad or targets large audiences with only cursory interest in what you are selling. Whereas if your goal is brand awareness, or perhaps link-building for SEO, going broad with your content can be an excellent strategy." How to avoid creating worthless content by iMedia Connection Stacy Thompson highlights three key elements to take into account in order to avoid wasting your (and your prospective audience's) time, including relevance: "content that neglects to factor in the preferences of the reader is nothing more than what CMI (the Content Marketing Institute) defines as 'informational garbage.'" Building Content Marketing Strategy – 10 Steps by B2B Marketing Insider Michael Brenner (again) lists and expands upon 10 key steps for developing a content marketing strategy, such as stepping into your customer's shoes to understand their point of view on what constitutes valuable content, and going mulit-format—maximizing the value of your content by repurposing a white paper as a series of blog posts, a YouTube video, and a SlideShare presentation.

Should Hospitals be on Facebook? Social Media Marketing for the Healthcare Industry Posted: 11 Dec 2013 05:15 AM PST Across industries, sophisticated organizations are now committing both time and money to their social media marketing campaigns. But the healthcare industry (including hospitals, B2B medical manufacturers, and health clubs) has hesitated to embrace social media. A survey of 1,060 U.S. adults by the PwC Health Research Institute found that one-third of respondents considered social media platforms appropriate for the discussion of healthcare. The Journal of Internet Medical Research found that 60% of adults surveyed used the Internet to access medical information. This is a major opportunity – it's time to get ahead of the curve. That said, there are some of the unique concerns for healthcare marketers when it comes to marketing on social. These include: Fear that social media may compromise patient or client privacy and security Challenges in creating a secure monitoring system, which could potentially lead to charges of malpractice Challenges in producing factually accurate content Still, the benefits of engaging on social may outweigh the risks. Here are some ways that healthcare institutions can engage on social in a relevant, useful, and industry-appropriate way. And if you want more information, be sure to download the new ebook created by Infinigraph and Marketo, The State of Content Marketing and Social Media in the Medical and Fitness Industries. Use Images In a study by Infinigraph, we measured the effectiveness of different posts made by healthcare companies, including hospitals, clinics, and health care foundations. We found that healthcare audiences engaged most with posts containing images. This image below from Cleveland Clinic received 1,140 shares, 24 comments and 1,995 likes on Facebook: Note the visibly placed calorie count on the image – Cleveland Clinic knows that their audience is interested in nutritional information. Also, when you consider that more than 75% of health-related costs involve obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol, low-calorie recipes from Cleveland Clinic could potentially reduce health costs in the long-run. This next image from WebMD received 1,377 shares, 48 comments, and 1,135 likes. Both attractive and useful, the image accompanied an article about the best foods for sufferers of food poisoning or the stomach flu. Keep it Human, Keep it Useful Here are some of the most engaged-with Facebook posts from our surveyed healthcare institutions over a 30-day period. What made these post successful? All contain images, and all link to valuable content. These short posts link to larger articles which tell human interest stories, tapping into audience emotions, or provide useful health information. As for placement, Facebook and Twitter are both crucial to your social media campaigns, but our research strongly suggests that Facebook posts generate the most engagement with the health and wellness industry. Facebook has more active users than Twitter, and content posted to Facebook has a longer shelf life – depending on engagement, Facebook posts can remain prominently displayed for days. Closing Thoughts: A Few Best Practices for Healthcare Marketers Make your data available. Allow your ratings and reviews, as well as error rates within your database (if applicable) to be made public. Educate your employees on social media policies. Make the risk of violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) clear, and prohibit posting inappropriate information about doctors or patients. Implement privacy settings. Be sure to safeguard personal information and content. Avoid using social media channels to communicate with patients on sensitive issues. Advise them on a secure, personalized server. Enlist at least one author, editor, or reviewer on every piece of content that you publish. Include references or links to the source of your content, and date it whenever possible. Include an "About Us" or "History" section on your website. Present information about qualified staff, services, and facility as well as your purpose, goal, or mission. Ask for audience feedback through surveys and questionnaires. Make your contact information easy to find, and encourage your audience to get in touch via email, Facebook, and Twitter. When they do reach out, respond promptly and thoughtfully. To read InfiniGraph's 30-day competitive analysis of engagement from medical and fitness brands, follow the links to their Medical Foundations Engagement Performance Report and Fitness Brands Engagement Performance Report. For more best practices, statistics, and analyses of social marketing and healthcare, download our ebook: "The State of Content Marketing & Social Media in the Medical & Fitness Industry."

This is Why Your B2B Email Marketing Campaign Doesn’t Produce Leads Posted: 10 Dec 2013 09:17 PM PST Email marketing seems basic enough to carry out and needs no special skills. How hard could it be? You develop a mailing list, you send your content, and track the progress. And besides, email has been and remains to be the most faithful pillar and icon of lead generation lore. Little do most marketers know that certain (mis)steps can and will kill their chances of conversion. These are things that we normally view as harmless and would not have any adverse effects: Overusing images – Marketers now tend to use a singular image as the entire representation of their content, not considering the possibility that a.) Prospects might disable images when viewing email via mobile devices, or b.) Putting all your eggs on one image is a make-or-break risk. HTML-based emails are the new thing, but overdoing it could also hurt. Not personalizing emails – Many companies take effort to the next level by ditching generic emails in favor of receiver-customized ones. When emails are segmented based on clientele profiles, people would feel that the company is personally reaching out to them rather than throwing an open letter to the world, thus increasing CTRs and conversions. Harassing prospects with thousands of calls-to-action – Blame this on modern image technology; oftentimes we see content pages saturated with various links that not only create confusion but also causes prospects not to click anything in the end. Create a singular, powerful call-to-action and place it strategically where it's impossible to miss and impossible to misinterpret. Not sending enough emails – Perhaps due to a lingering (albeit reasonable) fear of being regarded as spam, marketers are missing out on conversions because their emails lack impact. An introductory email is not enough; send up to 3 emails a week and focus on educating them, not annoying them. While doing so, link your emails together and find your way in building momentum. Forgetting to include contact information – Need be elaborated? Lacking value in your content – The ultimate trickery is having prospects open an email with dazzling imagery and words, only to conclude in the end that nothing in it offers real value, perhaps because it was not catered to a specific need or persona. Work hard in letting them feel like hitting a jackpot upon knowing what your email has got to offer them, and you'll see the results instantly. This content originally appeared at This is why your B2B Email Marketing Campaign doesn't produce Leads

Mobile SEO Ranking Changes You Need To Know! Posted: 10 Dec 2013 08:28 PM PST Mobile search engine optimization (mobile SEO) has been in a state of flux in recent years. The mobile website SEO landscape has been turned on its head with the introduction of Apple iOS and Google Android devices. The smartphone user is becoming one of the more common browsers of the Internet. In fact, Google has recently announced changes in rankings of smartphone search results in order to improve the search engine experience for mobile users. This amplifies the importance you should place in ensuring your mobile website SEO strategy. As you're probably already aware, Stream Companies (and Google for that matter) recommends a fully responsive website over an adaptive website. In fact, many of the below recommendations for improved mobile SEO rankings can easily be accomplished with a responsive mobile website. Engage your mobile users One of the most important elements of any mobile website SEO strategy is to engage users. As smartphone users are typically on-the-go and do not have much time to find what they're looking for, businesses must create content that can be found quickly and painlessly. In essence, offering specific content that gives mobile users exactly what they need is pivotal to creating and sustaining customer engagement. Optimizing your site for SEO The landscape for mobile website SEO is always changing, and Google and other search giants are starting to alter the way mobile sites are ranked and how easily your business can be found. Mobile SEO is a key factor to improving your overall search engine optimization strategy, and it starts with ensuring that your site is built for mobile users. While many websites now have versions for desktop users as well as smartphone users, there are frequent instances where redirects between the two sites make it impossible for users to easily find your site and navigate it. Sites that use redirects will push a user from the desktop version to a different site optimized for mobile visitors. If this is the method your business it using, it's absolutely critical to continuously test the site to ensure your users can easily get to the mobile site, and all the links and redirects are properly in place. For example, if every link on your desktop site leads to the homepage of your mobile site, this can create issues with the user. Or, if your mobile customer is trying to read contact information, the redirect needs to go to that exact section of the mobile site – not to an alternate, irrelevant page. The beauty of responsive websites is you're only dealing with one URL and one set of content, which means there's no complicated redirecting involved between two separate websites. Optimizing your mobile website to ensure an easy, seamless engagement will create an enjoyable experience for every user – the most important element in any mobile website SEO strategy. Build your site to avoid errors and dead ends Google is going to begin penalizing sites that are not built error-free for smartphone users. This amplifies the importance of making sure your mobile website SEO strategy focuses on providing your visitors with a high-quality mobile experience. Smartphone users are more likely to run into issues where they're unable to load pages because the pages are built for desktop versions. Other issues may involve problems with unplayable videos and other visual content. Working through configurations to ensure your site is free of issues will help you place higher in Google search rankings. Mobile website SEO strategy is becoming more and more important for businesses everyday as the number of users viewing the Internet on smartphones is growing at an incredible rate. Google is seeing this trend and is placing a bigger emphasis on proper mobile search engine ranking for these types of sites. To effectively attract and engage your mobile audience, it's imperative ensure your business is prepared for these changes and has a sound mobile SEO strategy in place. Want to learn more about digital marketing trends and changes taking place in the new year? Click here to register for the action-packed webinar, Digital Marketing Trends For 2014 And Beyond!, taking place on December 19th, 3-4pm EST.

Targeted Content, Ads Influence Social Media Marketing Success Posted: 10 Dec 2013 07:20 PM PST Social media marketing has reached fever pitch levels as the holidays edge closer, meaning that more organizations are creating more content for sales, promotions and specialty products. However, because of all of this media, users can be easily turned off from the amount of posts and advertisements they see, creating a lower return on investment for their social networking campaigns. The question to answer in such a case becomes ”With all of this clutter, how can your company shine through and reach your audience?” Instead of trying to hammer home your point of low iPad prices or the limited time that your products are discounted, creating targeted content will be more likely to attract the attention of customers. For many businesses, social media remains one of the prime ways to directly reach their audience and gauge consumer reaction to their products. However, using this platform has been historically sporadic when it comes to seeing results. One way to mitigate this and attract more customers is to create quality content that will better fit their values. A recent study by ExactTarget found that 38 percent of Facebook and 43 percent of Twitter marketers are not as concerned with the amount of followers gained – rather, they are focusing on the quality of members that are added through the network. This could mean generating more opportunities for long-time clients and decreasing the chance that customers will leave for competitor services. Over 70 percent of marketers using either social networking giant cited brand awareness as their top priority while a desire to drive site traffic came in just over 55 percent. These numbers demonstrate the fact the organizations are changing the approach to their social media strategy to focus more on client needs rather than solely concentrating on business gain. Increasing digital interest Creating content for social media profiles can be challenging, but by directly targeting user interests, organizations can appeal to client preferences. In addition to posting statuses and tweeting about virtually everything, many social networks offer the chance to display business ads on the site. According to eMarketer, U.S. retailers are expected to increase their digital ad budgets to $9.5 billion, representing a 15.7 percent increase. By 2017, this number is forecasted to hit $13.82 billion. Most of an organization’s marketing funds will be used during the holiday season, when companies tend to get the largest portion of annual revenue. In addition to this development, the format of mobile ads could soon be changing as social media platforms adapt to user preferences. According to MarketingProfs, Facebook’s in-stream ads and Twitter’s Promoted Tweets are the beginning of a new wave of advertisement standards. The source expects mobile video formats to increase in popularity with 5-second and 10-second promotions being used more often. To deliver quality content and service to your customers, you need the right tools to get the job done. With Fonality’s business phone solutions, organizations can easily handle an influx of calls and ensure that agents have the features to deliver a positive experience. For more information about this offering and more, contact Fonality today.

What is Translation Memory? And Why Should my Business Use It? Posted: 10 Dec 2013 04:47 PM PST If you are involved in managing documents, content and text into and out of lots of different languages, then your world involves translation and localisation. Within digital and online marketing especially, the need to market to people in their own language has never been so important. As a result the translation industry is always looking for ways to improve quality, consistency and price. That's where translation memory comes to the rescue. You've probably carried out translations in the past so translation memory is all about putting them to good use.  All those previous translations are accumulated within the software in source and target language pairs called translation units. These are then reused which means that the same sentence never has to be translated twice. Get it? Basically, the software memorises the translations and if they ever need to deal with the same words, text, paragraphs, etc again then they already have the translations. As time goes by and your translation memory grows the speed at which your translations can be carried out get faster and faster. This accelerates the delivery of translation projects and that helps to increase revenue because you can take on more and more jobs with customer satisfaction guaranteed. Starting to see how this could benefit your business and translation workflow? One of the leading pieces of translation memory software is SDL Trados Studio (there are loads of others – go online and do some research if you want to purchase one) and earlier this year it was announced that the Husqvarus Group, the world's largest producer of outdoor power products will be using this software. Using the software allows the company to communicate with its global customers in over 35 languages. Important documents such as Operator's Manuals and Service Bulletins can be translated much quicker than before. In essence, they reap all the benefits mentioned above. So how does it work? Well it opens the source file and applies the translation memory so any identical matches or “fuzzy matches” (those that are similar but not identical) within the text are extracted straightaway and placed within the target file. The translation memory manager works its way through the source file and the suggested matches can either be accepted or overridden with new alternatives. If a translation unit is manually updated, then it is stored within the translation memory for future use as well as for repetition in the current text. In a similar way, all segments in the target file without a "match" are translated manually and automatically added to the translation memory. Translation memories are most effective when localizing documents that contain a high level of repetition. If your company is using a Content Management System (CMS) to manage their information, this creates and edits individual blocks of text rather than entire documents.  These are then published in a variety of different formats. Using  translation memory will make this process quicker and is more consistent. This is far more efficient than machine translation which can only be used for a limited number of supported languages. Translation memories work best on texts which are highly repetitive, such as technical manuals. They are also helpful for translating incremental changes in a previously translated document, corresponding, for example, to minor changes in a new version of a user manual. Traditionally, translation memories have not been considered appropriate for literary or creative texts, for the simple reason that there is so little repetition in the language used. So don't toil unnecessarily, simply use translation memory. Your efficiency levels will rise, it'll take far less time to get the end result, you'll be able to take on more work and you’ll save money. Plenty good reasons I would say to start looking at how translation memory could work in your business.

7 Ways to Identify Great Marketing Content Posted: 10 Dec 2013 06:00 AM PST What is the big hoo-hah about "content marketing"? Is it just a buzzword, a fad, a passing fancy? Well – yes, it is a buzzword, but there's no "just" about it. From cheesy direct marketing letters to sophisticated, amusing TV ads to the classic Burma shave signs, marketing with content is nothing new. What's new are the additions to our bags of marketing content tricks, rather than replacements. We have new formats (e.g. tweets); new environments (e.g. the internet and its many neighborhoods – Facebook, YouTube, et al.); and a new joined-at-the-hip connection some marketing and sales teams gain through alignment. In the Olde Days marketing came to buyers over the airwaves, in their mailbox, in the magazines and newspapers they read, on the back of the cereal box, and in other generally unasked-for ways. Now that most people proactively research any potential purchase, these motivated likely purchasers discover your content as web pages and downloadable assets in search results, in social media conversations, and as online advertising. The people who find you are by definition more highly qualified than the people you find. Another welcome new development is the ease of discovering and speaking to target audiences. Rather than buying time for an ad on a TV show watched by 18- to 33-year-old men and wasting money buying exposure to a lot of people outside that demographic, or mailing your offer to a collection of likely zip codes, you can tailor an offer to known interests and activities, and email a personalized message to people who have already raised their hands. Online marketing has ways for you to attract potential buyers, then help them along the buyer's path with the right content at the right time. You find out what that "right" content is by trial and error in performance. Here seven clues to help you know if your content is "right" and help you make the most of it. Great marketing content: Speaks to a targeted audience This target could be defined by one or many factors. The tighter the filters, the more personalized your content can be, the smarter you look, and the better the fit of your content and offer will be. You do not want to market right-handed gloves to left-handed people. Fits a specific place in the buying cycle This is really important. Your content cannot say all things to all people. To people just exploring your category or company, present high-level materials. Be broadly educational. To people looking for a reason to choose one company over another and make a buy, present your most sophisticated vendor comparisons. Limit those pieces of content (papers, podcasts, infographics, whatever) to a tight focus on one spot in the buyer's journey. Tells your story with customer-centric examples It's not about you. Let that be your new tattoo. It is about your customer. You content becomes believable and fosters trust when it address your buyer's need – not when it pushes your product. Make your story come alive with stories the buyer can relate to. If they can identify, you begin to seem familiar and helpful. That's very good. Uses meaningful images Articles containing relevant images have an average of 94% more total views than articles without When searching, 60% of consumers are more likely to consider business with an image in search results People process images 60,000x faster than text Make sure to align images with your message and tone. They need to be relevant to the other content. Has a call-to-action Your content is ultimately meant to move prospects down the sales funnel and convert them into buyers. Make it easier for the buyer to follow your lead in this dance: Tell the reader clearly what the next step is and how to take it. Can go beyond the PDF The format the content is delivered in plays a significant role in how well – or not – it speaks to your prospects. Although PDFs still have a sizable fan base in the B2B space, today's digital options have essentially blown the doors off the old paradigm, opening a brave new world of opportunities in delivering information. Can be parsed into additional pieces for optimum use Build your content as pillars: Big pieces of content that are 1) important to your buyer, and 2) can be parsed out into multiple other pieces. Whatever your initial format for a piece, create additional pieces (in the same format or others), and distribute it across multiple platforms. This does two things: It spreads the cost of content creation our over multiple assets It gives you brand, message, and offer consistency across products and channels. Want to learn more? Two options: Watch Jay Hidalgo's on-demand webinar "7 Characteristics of Great Marketing Content" Read the Act-On white paper "7 Characteristics of Great Marketing Content Burma Shave photo by mlhradio, used under a Creative Commons 2.0 license.

30 Remarkable Content Marketing Facts and Statistics for 2013 (and 2014) Posted: 10 Dec 2013 05:35 AM PST Content marketing has become ubiquitous, with 93% of B2B marketers now using it. And it continues to expand: 82% of marketers plan to increase their budgets for content marketing in 2014. Image Credit: Robert Rose Nevertheless, challenges remain; many marketers struggle to produce engaging content, and though buyers have embraced content generally as a influence on vendor selection, they remain frustrated with content they see as blatantly promotional, too self-serving, and not well informed. In addition, nearly half of marketers say they are unable to measure the value of their content marketing efforts. Which content marketing tactics are most popular? Which are under-used? How can marketers make their content marketing efforts more effective? Find these answers and many more in this compilation of 30 compelling content marketing statistics and facts. How Popular is Content Marketing? 1. 93% of B2B marketers are using content marketing—but only 44% have a documented content strategy. (B2B Marketing Insider) 2. 57% of marketers say content marketing is their top external social priority this year. (Michael Brenner) 3. In another study, 35% of marketing professionals worldwide cited content marketing as their leading focus in 2013, followed by social media (25%) and SEO (15%). (eMarketer) 4. 87% of B2B buyers say content has an impact on vendor selection; more than a quarter (27%) say it has a "major impact." (Social Media Today) 5. 82% of businesses plan to increase spending on content marketing in the coming year. (Heidi Cohen) 6. B2B firms spend, on average, more than 25% of their marketing budgets on the development, delivery and promotion of content to drive business leads. (DeSantis Breindel) What's the ROI of Content Marketing? 7. Content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about 3 times as many leads. (B2B Marketing Insider) 8. When it comes to content marketing, the "80/20 rule" actually understates the case. Only 10-20% of a company's website content drives 90% of its Web traffic, and only 0.5% of a website's content drives more than 50% of its traffic. (B2B Marketing Insider) 9. Almost half of U.S. business enterprises said creating "metrics that demonstrate the value of social media" was their top internal social media objective for 2013. (Michael Brenner) 10. Nearly half of enterprise marketers have not been able to formalize metrics to measure marketing optimization. (Michael Brenner) 11. The three content marketing tactics that deliver the highest ROI are featured articles (cited by 62% of marketers), video (52%) and white papers (46%). (eMarketer) What are the Top Challenges in Content Marketing? 12. The three biggest challenges to creating content are lack of time (30%), inability to create enough content (11%), and inability to create engaging content (11%). (Robert Rose) 13. Another study found the three biggest challenges for content marketing to be limited budgets (27%), limited staff (25%), and generating new content (21%). (iMedia Connection) 14. Only a quarter of companies take a holistic approach to social media where efforts are integrated across functional areas, and at only half are top executives engaged and aligned with the company's social strategy. (Michael Brenner) How Blogging Used in Content Marketing? 15. 76% of B2B vendors in North America maintain company blogs; 70% of large B2B enterprises, and 77% of small-to-midsize (SMB) firms. (Cox Business) 16. 80% of Australian companies and 86% of UK businesses blog. (Cox Business) 17. How important are headlines? Only 1 out of 5 readers gets beyond your headline. And traffic can vary as much as 500% based on the headline. (Heidi Cohen) 18. What are the most important elements to include in a headline? 36% of readers prefer headlines containing numbers (like this post). 21% of readers prefer headlines that literally talk to them by including the word "you." And 17% prefer headlines that show them "how to" do something. (Heidi Cohen) What Other Tactics are Important in Content Marketing? 19. 80% of North American B2B vendors use enewsletters in their marketing, as do 82% of firms in both the UK and Australia. (Cox Business) 20. Globally, about three-quarters of all B2B vendors use case studies in their marketing efforts. The best examples use photos or video along with text.(Cox Business) 21. More than 70% of businesses use video in marketing, though (likely due to cost) video use is more common in enterprises (88%) than SMB forms (76%). (Cox Business) 22. Nearly two-thirds of North American B2B vendors use white papers to generate leads; 79% of enterprises and 62% of SMB firms.(Cox Business) 23. 62% of B2B vendors in North America use webinars and webcasts in marketing, though usage is considerably higher at the enterprise level (79%) than in SMB firms (61%).(Cox Business) 24. The roads less traveled: less than half of North American B2B firms use microsites (40%), mobile content (38%), ebooks (34%), mobile apps (28%), podcasts (26%), print newsletters (22%) or gamification (10%) for marketing.(Cox Business) 25. 57% of B2B marketers use content curation as part of their content marketing strategies. (iMedia Connection) 26. But only 42% say they are able to measure positive results from content curation efforts.(iMedia Connection) How is Content Produced and Consumed? 27. Corporate social media efforts are led by marketing, PR or advertising functions in 68% of enterprises; another 28% center efforts in a dedicated social media or digital group. (Michael Brenner) 28. 71% of B2B marketers use content primarily to generate leads. (Heidi Cohen) 29. The three biggest complaints B2B buyers have about vendor content are too many requirements for downloading; blatantly promotional, self-serving content; and non-substantive, uninformed content. (Social Media Today) 30. The most trusted types of content are reports and white papers produced by professional associations (cited by 67% of B2B buyers) and reports or white papers from industry research groups (50%). (DeSantis Breindel)

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