Popular Articles on Business 2 Community

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• Creating An Effective Social Media And Marketing Strategies
• Fox Bans SodaStream Super Bowl Ad Featuring Scarlett Johansson: Plan Backfires Ad Goes Viral
• 8 Tips to Help You Choose a Social Media Platform
• 10 Hottest Social Media Marketing Trends Watch Out This 2014 (Infographic)
• My 5 Favorite Ways to Find Trending Topics
• 12 Really Good Reasons to Engage in Content Marketing
• Top 10 WordPress Plugins That You Need To Be Using In 2014
• 8 Reasons Why eCommerce Brands Should Target Russia
• The Rise Of Visual Storytelling

Creating An Effective Social Media And Marketing Strategies Posted: 29 Jan 2014 04:00 AM PST Today, many business owners are obsessed with social media marketing. It's the number one daily activity all over the world and the potential for marketers to grow their businesses is endless with these networks. It's now inexcusable for any company that wants to grow big to not be in some sort of social media marketing. Before getting into paid ads, it's important to construct your social channels with top notch content, customer service of high quality and eye-catching images. When you optimize your channels, you'll not only receive loyal brand promoters but also capture leads and convert visitors into customers. Create A Game Plan And Stick To It If a business does not have an execution strategy, its content can get lost on the internet. The first thing is to set a limit of the number of posts to be published per day on a given social channel. This number can be varied according to the needs but having a certain target to hit is very beneficial. For example, 4 posts per day can give you a benchmark and a goal to achieve. Check out how often your competitors are posting per day and establish the amount of content to be posting. The idea is to be active and not overly active. Compile your contents in an easy-to-read format and set a calendar. Plan ahead and continue making adjustments when necessary. As you are working and creating your strategy about marketing on social media, be confident that the idea you are presenting is going to make a positive change to your business. Schedule your publications and monitor your campaign by analyzing performance and managing the social feeds. Check the social media management platforms to help you with scheduling and planning ahead. Managing Each Channel As An Independent Entity While there can be content that is spread across all the channels, it's important to treat each social channel as separate and individual entity. Always adjust your content depending on your target audience. Some channels have audience that are more business focused searching for educational and in-depth content while others are informal and more engaging. Publish content that appeals to your targeted audience. Dissect your business and identify ways to optimize your social media channels at each step of your potential customer's journey. Establish An Effective Customer Service When a visitor responds on your handle or posts on your pages and does not get any response, trust is actually lost. Chances are that the dissatisfied visitor will be taken by your competitors. A timely response that is well thought can be satisfying to a visitor who may turn into a customer of your products or service. Negative comments should be responded to as well. Offer such feedback in respect and patience. Engage your visitors by using giveaways or make them promote your products for free. A good sense of humor can go a long way to maintain a visitor. Embrace mishaps because it's human to err. Apologize and show visitors how the error is being addressed if you have made a mistake in one of your social media blog posts.

Fox Bans SodaStream Super Bowl Ad Featuring Scarlett Johansson: Plan Backfires Ad Goes Viral Posted: 28 Jan 2014 07:56 PM PST Well played Fox Television. In your attempt to keep your hands from getting dirty you went ahead and outsmarted yourself. If you didn't hear, Fox decided not to allow a commercial from the "Make your own Soda" company SodaStream as they were reportedly concerned that Coke and Pepsi would be upset. The result of the ban from the television network was the video went viral in a big way. Within just hours of the ban reportedly more than 1.8 million people visited the companies advertisement on YouTube effectively making the ban into an aggregator rather than deterrent. SodaStream having Scarlett Johansson strip down from her robe into a sexy little dress doesn't hurt the cause, but I feel confident to say that had little to do with the video taking off across the webosphere. The good news is even if a few of those 1.6 million viewers set out to the store and buy a soda stream, Coke and Pepsi are going to be more than okay. I'm also guessing that Fox will have no problem finding someone to fill in the ad space, so I guess all and all they are going to be okay as well. The big question here is should Fox fear Coke and Pepsi to such an extent that they drive substantial ad revenue and content away? Further, did Fox actually do themselves or the brands they supposedly wanted to appease a service here by banning the ad? At the very least Fox could have taken the millions of dollars from the small(er) company in exchange for their 1 minute of air time. And the winner is… In the end SodaStream is the big winner here. In what amounts to a very mediocre commercial with a mid-tier A lister, SodaStream got to skip the expense of the superbowl ad and ended up getting a more focused audience and wider media outreach than they could have hoped for. Lesson: See also old media companies doing dumb things. Check out Scarlett and SodaStream in the ad that was banned by Fox

8 Tips to Help You Choose a Social Media Platform Posted: 28 Jan 2014 06:45 PM PST What is one tip for choosing which social media platform(s) you should focus your social marketing efforts on? The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses. 1. Find Out Where Your True Fans “Hang” It’s such a simple and common sense approach, and yet so many businesses fail with it. Don’t try to be everywhere. Instead, find out where the majority of your audience spends time online, and focus your marketing efforts on that channel. One big channel that you’ve mastered well is considerably better than 10 small channels that you just barely manage to juggle at the same time. - Juha Liikala, Stripped Bare Media 2. Check Competitors Where are your larger competitors most active? This is probably the best place to focus on because they have determined those networks to be most effective. - Josh Weiss, Bluegala 3. Track Analytics Track to see which referrals are generating the most sales and focus on those. A/B test and track again! It’s the only way to REALLY know if what you’re doing is working. - Alexis Wolfer, The Beauty Bean 4. Look at LinkedIn for Targeting Industry Pros Imagine a publication with more than 100 million captive readers and writers, such as Bill Gates and Richard Branson. They are natively hooked into and targeted to a social network. LinkedIn drives more B2B leads than Facebook and Twitter combined. Publish original content, network among peers in groups, and become an influencer. - Trevor Sumner, LocalVox 5. Science Experiments The beauty of social media platforms are that it’s fairly inexpensive to experiment on them. You should try out lots of different platforms and track the results on each in a very scientific and objective manner. Try, measure, and learn. This can be done with little to no marketing budget and without extensive training or expertise. - Danny Boice, Speek 6. Match the Product to the Platform Not all products or services are alike. Be wary of one-size-fits-all thinking. Social media can be a time and effort black hole, so stay focused on what best builds your brand. A restaurant posting pictures of food on Instagram is probably more effective than coupon links on Twitter, and a consultant tweeting and blogging about the industry builds more credibility than posting pictures. - Seth Talbott, AtomOrbit 7. Define a Purpose for Your Platform The best social marketing strategies can involve multiple platforms, so make sure you identify the core use for each platform. For example, if a key focus for your company is on recruiting great talent, then make sure LinkedIn is a piece of your social media plan. For other key goals, other platforms may be more compelling. Make sure that with each platform, you are defining its key use. - Doreen Bloch, Poshly Inc. 8. Consider the Mindset of the User People surfing Facebook are getting information about their life; they are not necessarily ready for a sale. People on Pinterest are sparked by interest and much more likely to buy. Understand the differences in the platforms. You may want to use a softer sell on Facebook. Show three pictures of kittens before you show a link to buy cat food. - Gideon Kimbrell, InList Inc

10 Hottest Social Media Marketing Trends Watch Out This 2014 (Infographic) Posted: 28 Jan 2014 10:14 AM PST 2013 has come to an end and that year proved the undeniable importance of using social media as a major marketing tool for many businesses, brands and digital marketing agencies. Major social media players like Facebook and Twitter have matured as an effective marketing and advertising platform for engaging targeted audiences – generating significant returns and revenue in the process. In 2013, businesses and marketers also witnessed how these social media networks evolved much further into the digital marketing arena, with new tools and features that will generate even more business, and expect existing customers to come back for more. Facebook has been expanding its advertising services and will venture into video advertising in response to Twitter's video tool Vine. Instagram, another visually-oriented social network that has been growing in popularity has also integrated paid and video advertising options for their users. These trends and a whole lot more are what business owners and digital marketers should expect in 2014. Digital Marketing Philippines aims to help business owners flesh out their 2014 digital marketing plans with this list of Social Media Marketing trends that will surely hit more waves than one this year and beyond. The infographic (click to zoom): Embedded from Digital Marketing Philippines

My 5 Favorite Ways to Find Trending Topics Posted: 28 Jan 2014 04:40 AM PST As good social media marketers, you know that a best practice to engage your audience and drive traffic to your website site is to cover hot topics, whatever they may be– current news, celebrity gossip, sports deals and latest technology developments. It's important to stay on top of it all. What's trending today? This week? This month? Trending topics could be current global affairs, sports deals, political scandals, celebrity gossip, or the latest tech developments. Just like in the real world, also online, you have to keep up! The key to growing an engaged social community is to post relevant content that provides your followers with an added value. But the line between sharing content and advertising is a fine one, and crossing it will turn people off and will not get them engaged. To avoid that, you would only want to share your own content no more than 20% of the time. These tools will help you discover trending topics to share during the other 80% of the time. 1. Google Trends Google Trends is a great tool in seeing what is being most searched on the Internet. It is especially useful, in that Google Search is the most widely used search engine around. Its visualizer is a super cool way to display Google Trends. It lets you view trending Google Searches, up to 25 searches at a time– with the option to customize the display to one country or what's trending globally. So if you're looking for what's hot in your country, or around the world…this is definitely your tool. You can also opt to view Trends the traditional way with Google Trends Top Charts for specific topics relevant to your audience. 2. Buzzfeed Not only is Buzzfeed a great source of entertainment and procrastinating…but it also straight up tells us what's popular. From pop-culture-related content…to food…to the news, Buzzfeed definitely has what's trending. 3. Twitter On Twitter, you can choose if you want to view worldwide trends, trends specific to your country, or even trends specific to a list of selected cities. To use trends on Twitter go to Home>Discover>Trends and it displays trends specific to you (based on your location- creepy, eh?) You can edit your trends and tailor them to your preference by adding cities. Whatever tools or websites you decide to use in discovering the trends of 2014, make sure you understand how trends work for them and use it to your advantage! 4. Zite This app is a great tool to discover trends for your followers. Zite brands themselves as an intelligent magazine that helps you discover interesting things to read, based on your preferences- any that it does! You can use this to your advantage by selecting general trending topics (which you can find using any of the aforementioned tools)…and then Zite delivers you the best of those topics from blogs, newspapers, magazines and videos! Fun fact: CNN Trends is fueled by Zite: CNN uses Zite technology to identify the top 10 CNN stories per day, along with a list of additional sources from around the web. Just like CNN, you too can take advantage of the app and find the best of the best that's available to you! 5. Swayy Swayy is a tool that connects to your Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter and presents content according to keywords you define. Each day you get an email with relevant content that you can share with your followers. One of my favorite things about this tool is that for Facebook, it lets you use it via your own personal Facebook account or through your page (or both), allowing you to view trending sources accurately (based on your personal feed or business page).

12 Really Good Reasons to Engage in Content Marketing Posted: 28 Jan 2014 03:23 AM PST If you're in business, you're in the business of marketing. Keeping your brand front and center and in the minds of potential customers requires consistent effort. You can network, advertise, call, mail, email, present, use social media and meet in person. But if you're not engaged in content marketing, you're missing a huge opportunity to grow your business. Here are 12 reasons why your company should engage in content marketing: #1 You've got to work for this one…keep reading! #2 Strengthen Your Brand Clarify your brand message: what you stand for, what you do, recount success stories, demonstrate expertise, share what the BENEFITS are of working with your company. #3 Build Trust Contacts get to know you, your personality, how you approach your business and solve problems. They feel comfortable working with you. #4 Establish Credibility Content marketing that is relevant to your customers and addresses their issues identifies you as the "go-to expert" in your field; a potential "trusted advisor." #5 Create…and Accelerate…Business Relationships The interactivity inherent in content marketing and social media creates and shortens the time it takes to build a business relationship; its ongoing nature creates clients. #6 Increase Search Engine Ranking Get found! Search engines reward good content – copy, SEO, images or video and design – with higher rankings. #7 Build Your Email List Invaluable for other promotion, email lists are built from subscribers consuming your content. #8 Identify & Target Your Ideal Client Those who read your content are interested in what you have to say and hopefully, in what you have to sell. Those that sign up for your blog, follow you on social media sites and open your enewsletters are buying what you have to say. # 9 Make Money! Popular websites, blogs and newsletters can be monetized through advertisements on your site, in your enewsletter or by affiliate marketing. # 10 Reach More Potential Clients A meeting puts you in front of one or two people; a networking event provides a group; your speaking presentation introduces you to dozens but content marketing connects you with hundreds, even thousands of prospects. # 11 Give, and You'll Receive By creating and publishing content, you are helping existing and potential customers and earning the right to ask…for the sale. # 12 Stay Top of Mind A marketing strategy that includes content marketing assures that you are consistently reaching out to your past, current and potential customers. A blog repurposed into an email newsletter means you'll show up in their in-box…just when they're in need of your service or product. And What's the #1 Reason to Engage in Content Marketing? Because your content marketing is working …even when you're not! You could be in a meeting, home asleep, or on vacation…but your blog posts, website content, articles, videos, infographics, podcasts, ebooks and social media updates are being read, viewed, shared, and commented upon 24 hours a day. Engaging in Content Marketing allows existing and potential clients to not only find you – but find out more about you. Even if you have been in business for years, a content marketing strategy may spur potential buyers that otherwise didn't know you, to get in contact. That same content may provide a fresh reminder to those who do know you to get back in touch. Having content, like a new blog post or a newsletter, ready to publish and email, is a great way (or excuse!) to "touch" — or contact — your customers. Newzful makes content marketing easy! Researched from hundreds of print and online sources, Newzful provides short-form content including facts, stats, data and news from 14 industries and topics. The results are "hand-picked" and targeted to your customer. Ideal for content marketing. Contact Newzful to find out contact marketing can grow your business.

Top 10 WordPress Plugins That You Need To Be Using In 2014 Posted: 27 Jan 2014 07:35 PM PST If you're running a WordPress-powered website or blog, then you're always searching for a way to innovate and make your site easier to use –for both you and your visitors. This is one reason why WordPress plugins are so unbelievably awesome, because they seem like quick little cheats and hacks that take little-to-no time to learn, install, and use. One of the most important parts of the plugins we chose is that all ten of them can help just about any blog in some way. Also, we wanted high functionality, low cost, ease of use, popularity, and simple installation. To make the cut, they basically have to be foolproof and downright powerful. Well, it is now the year 2014, and this top-10 list of the year's best plugins has arrived. If you haven't yet download these plugins, your life is about to get a whole lot easier… Here are top 10 WordPress Plugins you should consider using in 2014. #1: WordPress by Yoast With over 7 million downloads to date, that makes this one of the #1 WordPress plugins for its power, ease-of-use, and functionality for optimizing your posts for search engines. Basically, the plugin works the way it sounds: simply download it, install the plugin, and it goes to work getting your blog or website search engine optimized. According to the raving customer reviews, this plugin is not to be overlooked. #2: WP Google Drive Don't get caught in a sticky situation. Backing up the files from your WordPress site is just as essential, as it is easy with this plugin, called WP Google Drive. Backup plugins for WordPress are a dime-a-dozen; however, the fact that this backs up to Google Drive makes it unbelievably simple and convenient. #3: Ebyline WordPress Payments Ebyline is an industry leader in connecting freelance writers and clients who need content creation. Thus it makes sense that they would develop a plugin that allows clients to pay freelance writers directly from their WordPress dashboard. Not only is this convenient, but the plugin even keeps track of W9 tax information too. Clever. Very clever. #4: Google Analytics Dashboard If you need to track your traffic, but don't want to navigate away from your WordPress dashboard, then you can do it with this plugin: Google Analytics Dashboard. The convenience of this plugin is monumental, giving you a realtime picture of what your traffic is doing, directly from inside WordPress. #5: Shareaholic If you want one of the best plugins in the history of blogging, you'll need to download Shareaholic. It's basically a platform, from which you can get your blog posts noticed, via social networking media. Not only will this work with Facebook, but you can also use it with LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, and even Google+. Also, it will provide the usual Facebook buttons, just so you can increase your blog post's 'shareability'. In addition, its sleek design cuts down on the clutter, helping your blog get noticed and stand out. Few plugins are this powerful. #6: Thank Me Later Have you ever posted a comment on a blog, or provided your email to a site –then receiving an email mere seconds from doing so? You automatically think, "Well either that's the most obsessive blog admin on the web, or this is an auto-generated email." Well, with Thank Me Later, you can make your 'Thank you,' emails far more personal through the ability to customize certain fields, and the best part… you can tell it to send hours after you the signup. The beauty of this is the fact that it provides a much more personal touch to the emails that are programmed to be sent to new commenters and visitors. #7: Akismet Of course, not all comments are generated without ulterior motives. Having to deal with spam and those annoying ad comments is synonymous with the success of a blog… until now. Askimet is a WordPress plugin that will filter junk comments and sift through the real ones and the spam. Simply set it and forget it, but you can moderate all comments if you wish. Also, your use of Askimet will send reports and help improve the plugin to provide better filtering. #8: Contact Form 7 Basically, Contact Form 7 is a WP plugin that provides one of the most functional, simplest, and easiest contact forms for blogs. If you've recently filled out a contact form on a blog, then there's a good chance it was one powered by Contact Form 7. Also, do you remember how we talked about those annoying spammers in #7? Well, CF7 even works with Askimet, so that you can rest assured –those spammers aren't going to abuse your contact form. #9: Simple Pull Quote If you run any kind of a research-based blog or write about anything concerning current events, then it is important to be able to quote your sources. However, quoted sources are often overlooked by readers. One great way to keep people reading (even your quotes) is to make the quote 'stick out'. Simple Pull Quote is a plugin that simply adds a button to your post dashboard, which allows you to highlight the text that was pulled from another source. The visitor then sees a clear, concise quote that sticks out. Simple. #10: JM Twitter Cards Twitter Cards were only announced in 2013 and enable you to tweet with media included. They allow you to insert images and video from the blog post into your Tweets that link to your content. When you click on a tweet, it'll show more information about that tweet such as its title, a short summary, image, Twitter account and source link. This can turn your Twitter stream into something more like Facebook or Google+. This is a relatively new plugin (with great reviews and over 25,000 downloads to date). But If you would like to insert pictures and video directly into your Twitter stream than this plugin is it! Your WordPress blog is only as good as the plugins you use. Plugins basically make life simple and your blogging effective. In addition, the ability to utilize entire SEO packages and work directly with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+, are fantastic assets. Some of the most prevalent bloggers in the industry swear by plugins – so learn from the best, and be sure not to overlook these fantastic WP plugins in 2014. What about you? What WordPress plugins have you found useful? Which ones couldn't you do without? Look forward to hearing about them in the comments below. Want to learn how to create and market a blog that makes you an online authority, leader and expert? Join me for my Master Class on "How to Create Authority Online" where I will show you the 10 key steps to becoming an online authority, leader and expert in your industry and niche and monetize your knowledge. To find out more click here

8 Reasons Why eCommerce Brands Should Target Russia Posted: 27 Jan 2014 05:16 PM PST As domestic markets become saturated; many retailers have recognised the importance of expanding into new territories internationally in order to increase revenues and profits. A.T. Kearney’s Global Retail Development Index™ (GRDI) reported that in 2013, developing countries have become hugely attractive targets for global expansion. The annual study ranks the top 30 developing countries for retail expansion globally. The 2013 report identified South America (Brazil, Chile and Uruguay), China and the UAE as having the most attractive markets. However, what was surprising was the exclusion of Russia from the top 20. In the past, Russia was viewed as a bit of a backwater and a difficult place to do business. The country was plagued with logistics and delivery issues and there was a lack of effective payment options which both contributed to sluggish growth in the eCommerce sector. However, things are beginning to improve and as a result, many global brands have started to invest in Russia. For instance, EBay Inc. launched their Russian language website in 2010 and following its success opened offices in Russia in 2012. China's Alibaba Group and the UK fashion retailer, ASOS PLC, are among other international companies that recognise the strategic importance of Russia – with both companies launching Russian versions of their websites in recent months. There are many reasons why these companies have decided to enter the Russian market and many more why other brands should follow suit. 1. Huge country Russia's sheer scale is very attractive to investors and brands alike. The country is the largest in the world and has a huge population of an estimated 143.5 million people. That's almost as many as Germany and France combined. 2. Highly urbanised population Russia is a highly urbanised country with 73.8% of the population living in urban areas. There are 10 Russian cities with a population of more than 1 million people, providing brands with access to huge markets in relatively small geographical areas. 3. Huge eCommerce market According to the Russian search engine Yandex.ru, internet penetration in Russia rose 14% to 53 million users between 2010 and 2011, making Russia Europe's largest internet market. 4. Huge opportunity for future growth In 2012, Russian internet penetration was estimated to be just 51%. This means that there is still a significant opportunity for growth as new users and communities are connected to the internet and begin to shop online. 5. Persistent growth in consumer spending Consumer spending has almost tripled in Russia since 2003 aided by rising consumer borrowing. Household spending currently accounts for about half of the Russian economy. 6. Relatively fast internet connections High-speed Internet usage has exploded in Russia and has not been confined to major cities. In 2013, the average internet connection speed in Russia was estimated to be 6Mbps, an 8.4% increase on 2012, while the average connection speed in France was just 5.2Mbps. This allows brands to reliably deliver rich internet experiences with video and other interactive functionality. 7. Strong real wage growth & large middle class population Russia is the most prosperous of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) economies and the only BRIC country in with a tangible upper middle class today (10m households with income >US$50,000 at PPP(Purchasing Power Parity)). The middle class population is also expected to increase in the future. It is estimated that 82% of all households in Russia will be part of the middle class by 2015 (Global Insight, Rosstat). 8. Russians are big spenders As a result of the increase in real wage growth and the Russian middle class, many countries' tourist boards are reporting an influx of Russian tourists. Many of these reports claim that Russians spend more than their European counterparts. For instance, Russians were the second biggest spenders of any tourists to Dubai in 2011, just behind UK visitors. High net worth Russian shoppers typically seek out luxury British brands when visiting the UK or shopping online. To meet demand, the Mercury Group, Russia's biggest retailer, has agreed franchise deals to operate physical stores for some of the world's best-known luxury fashion retailers including Burberry, Ermenegildo Zegna, and Giorgio Armani. While Russia presents so many opportunities, breaking into the Russian market can be challenging. It is recommended that brands begin with a Russian language website, professionally translated and localised, before embarking on expanding into physical stores.

The Rise Of Visual Storytelling Posted: 27 Jan 2014 05:15 AM PST The social, mobile Web has disrupted businesses in more ways than most people realize. It has impacted the expectations of our customers and our employees who expect social media-like experiences. And it has changed the way we interact with internal and external communities to develop products, communicate to the marketplace, and win new customers. According to the Corporate Executive Board, as much as 60% of the buyer journey is complete before prospects reach out to vendors in a business-to-business transaction. And when they do reach out, it is often for a contract and a price. How can brands compete? By establishing relationships that build trust. Your buyers are looking for brands that know how to connect in a human and emotional way. In fact, the Corporate Executive Board's latest report shows that "emotional" marketing messages beat "promotional" ones by a factor of 2 to 1. The bottom line: Talking about your products or "solution selling" is the quickest way to be shown the door in a selling situation. So how do you communicate to your potential customers? Information Overload According to Nielsen, there are 27,000,000 pieces of content are shared each day. And Statistic Brain says that our average attention span has dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds – one second less than a goldfish! We check our phones 150 times per day. We check our email 30 times an hour. And the amount of information in the world continues to double every 18 months. All this available information and data is creating a battle for customer attention between brands, publishers, and each one of us who creates content. But more importantly, it's forcing businesses to think and act like publishers. That is why "Content Marketing" is one of the biggest buzzwords in marketing. It requires businesses to create content that their customers actually want. Content that helps them. And it is such a hot term right now because it is one of the biggest gaps between the content marketers create and the information our customers are looking for. That is why more than 90% of marketers are using content marketing, but only 42% rate their content marketing efforts as effective, according to a recent study. If everyone is creating content, how does a business break through the noise? How do we reach our customers in a way that engages them? The Answer is Visual Content Articles with images get 94% more views than those without. And posts with videos attract 3x more inbound links than plain text posts. A study by 3M showed that 90% of the information sent to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text. And this holds up when you look at how the social world is evolving. The meteoric rise of sites like Vine, Instagram and Pinterest, as well as the efforts by Facebook and Twitter to add more visual elements to their platforms are simply following the trend that visual content is the best way to reach short-attention-span audiences in a world filled with so many content choices. I recently asked my own social media followers "what was the best content of 2013?" All of the responses pointed to videos. Now, let's flip the conversation to one of the most hated of corporate tools: slides. You don't often hear Slideshare mentioned as a top social network. But according to Comscore, Slideshare is used by business owners and business executives at a rate 5 times any other social network! Slideshare may be one of the biggest content marketing opportunities for brands. How To Take Advantage Of Visual Storytelling We've all heard the saying that "a picture is worth a thousand words" but that is easier said than done for many businesses. The cavemen knew this when they created the first visual stories over 10,000 years ago. It is in our DNA to be able to tell visual stories that convey important pieces of information. There are a variety of ways marketers can incorporate visual content into their campaigns, including: Images and pictures Videos Slideshows Infographics Comics Memes (Example: Grumpy Cat) Infodoodles (Here's an Infodoodle on ideas for visual content) Are you ready to start telling better visual stories? Here are three tips that can help you get started: Become a voracious consumer and student of visual content. Follow the top photos, videos and presentations on a regular basis and try to understand what makes them so popular. Tell stories that inspire emotion. It is not about "going viral." The best visual content evokes an emotional response and comes from a ton of practice and an expected amount of trial of error. Measure your results. You cannot just focus on the creation. Look at how movies are marketed. Often, 50% or more of the budget on a movie is set aside for marketing and promotion. Production is just half the battle … even great content needs a little push. Every business faces the challenge of reaching new customers and growing their business. In today's digital, mobile and social world, your customers have more choices than ever before. They are tuning out promotional messages and rewarding the brands that have demonstrated the ability to provide useful information. But while content has become a strategic weapon in the battle for customer attention, the businesses who know how to tell visual stories are the ones who will stand apart. Is visual content a focus for your team in 2014? Let me know what you think in the comments below. This article originally appeared on The Economist's Lean Back Blog in 2 parts.

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