Martin Beck says, “Based on HubSpot’s “State of Inbound 2014–2015” report, the companies with the highest ROI focus on blogging, organic search, and content amplification. As the need for these three revenue-generating tactics has grown, Google Trends shows interest in content marketing and native advertising mirrors the growth of interest in these areas. The lifeblood of the most talented content marketing agencies is the ability to create data-driven campaigns that naturally earn high-authority press. Now, these same high-authority publishers are beginning to offer their own content... [...]

Kath Pay says, “It sounds obvious but so many of us forget to focus on the objective whatever we are working on, an email campaign, a newsletter series or a solus email. If you state your intent from the off, your path and destination (usually to conversion) are set. It often helps me to think of my objective as being two sides of the same coin. My aim is to sell to interested customers and those same customers are also looking to make a purchase of the product I am selling“. More than just a name: why is the name of your email programme so important? ‘Econsultancy’ Blog  [...]

Christina Warren says, “Prepare yourselves — Facebook now has serviceable GIF support. That’s right children, you can now post GIFs to Facebook and have them display not only inline, but in the mobile app as well. Longtime Facebook users (read: old people like me who have been using the service since it was for college students only), will recall that if offered GIF support in the very early days. The ability to embed or upload GIFs was removed a decade ago, probably because of the negative impacts a ton of GIFs in the Newsfeed had on the product“. Rejoice: Facebook gets GIF... [...]

Kristen Dunleavy says, “Have a healthy fanbase on Facebook? High-five! But how many of those followers are real, paying customers? If you want to start converting customers, you’ve got to get them engaged. And one of the most effective ways to do that is with email marketing. Facebook can help turn casual followers into loyal subscribers, and eventually paying customers. Use these tips to boost your email list while taking your relationship with your followers to the next level. Host a Contest Want to grow your email list crazy fast? Hosting a contest or giveaway is one of the most effective... [...]

MOZ team says, “A frequently asked question in the SEO world is whether or not branding plays a part in Google’s ranking algorithm. There’s a short answer with a big asterisk, and in today’s Whiteboard Friday, Rand explains what you need to know“. Is Brand a Google Ranking Factor? MOZ Blog  [...]

Amy Gesenhues says, “What’s a video view worth these days? YouTube says 30-seconds, but Facebook counts a video view at the three-second mark. Just last month, the Media Rating Council and IAB both defined a video ad as viewable as long as 50 percent of an ad’s pixels are visible for a minimum of two-seconds. But, do any of these metrics matter if a video fails to achieve true engagement with the viewer? “Our consumers are increasingly viewing videos across their screen of choice, so we’re always looking for effective ways to engage with them during that experience,” says Taco Bell’s... [...]

Mark Bergen says, “Google has grown up. At least that was a popular verdict from Day One of I/O on Thursday — that the major presentation lacked Google’s renowned childlike weirdness. That it was dull. Unlike prior years, there were no new device giveaways or skydiving, Glass-wearing founders. (Although Day Two brought some magic.) But the three critical new products — a photos app, a VR platform and a revamped Google Now — reflect a certain business maturity, as Google awakens to its threats on mobile and moves to attain the same centrality to our digital lives it had on the desktop.... [...]

Leslie Ye says, “My freshman year of college, I had a roommate who participated in an internship program in Washington, D.C. At the end of the internship, the students in the program attended a networking event with alumni in the city. She told me that she and the other interns competed to collect business cards — the “winner” was the one who ended the night with the most. Hopefully, this isn’t the way you’re networking. Of course, it’s important to close a conversation by getting the person’s contact information, but treating networking with a “gotta catch ’em... [...]

Stefan Tornquist says, “With apologies for the inflammatory headline, marketing is fooling itself about customer experience. In research over the last two years, we’ve seen a consistent over-estimation of how good things are and the results to come. Some of the most compelling evidence comes from our recent study in partnership with IBM, The Consumer Conversation, a look at consumer-facing organizations, most with over $1B in revenue. The report points out some of the ways in which views of brands and their customers don’t match up. At Econsultancy we strongly believe in customer experience... [...]

Isaiah Jackson says, “We don’t need to sell you on the power of using video in your digital marketing strategy. The proof is in the numbers: ⅓ of all online activity is spent watching videos 75% of people visit a marketer’s website after watching a video Website visitors are 64% more likely to buy a product online after watching a video Click-thru rates increase 2-3 times when video is included in an email (Thanks, Digital Sherpa!) So when we caught wind that our friends at Wistia were hosting their 2nd annual video marketing conference (the aptly named WistiaFest), we sent a few... [...]