Tim Wailes says, “In my day-to-day role at Builtvisible, I build tools to break down marketing challenges and simplify tasks. One of the things we as marketers often need to do is pitch content concepts to sites. To make this easier, you want to pitch something on-topic. To do that more effectively, I decided to spend some time creating a process to help in the ideation stage. In the spirit of sharing, I thought I’d show you how that process was created and share it with you all. Tell me what you write The first challenge is making sure that your content will be on-topic. The starting... [...]

Shubhomita Bose says, “Black Friday, traditionally the biggest day for retailers, is losing its sheen. That’s according to the latest forecast by in-store data analytics firm RetailNext. According to the report, Black Friday is neither the biggest nor the busiest day this holiday season. The Busiest and Biggest Shopping Day of 2016 In terms of sales, Friday, December 23, is expected to be the biggest shopping day of 2016. Store traffic is expected to be highest on Super Sunday, December 17. “This year, with Christmas falling on a Sunday, most shoppers will want to cut short their shopping... [...]

Sean Falconer says, “Want to drive traffic to your blog and boost your social activity? Well, I’ve got a simple solution to help you achieve just that: An expert roundup. And the best part is, you only need to write 20% of the content — the other 80% is written by experts in your niche. Sounds easy, right? It is, well, as long as you have the right process. Luckily, I’ve successfully applied this approach multiple times — and I’ve learned a thing or two about how to drive the most traffic, shares, and engagement in the process. Have I piqued your interest... [...]

Sujan Patel says, “With more than 400 million active monthly users, Instagram has grown into a social network that businesses need to pay attention to. It’s more than just a photo-sharing site — it’s a way to engage fans and show off the best side of your business. Just look at this list of 25 companies that have mastered their brand focus on Instagram. 1. Lowes Lowes does a smart job of promoting its products on Instagram: The company connects with users by showing people real-world applications for the products it sells. 2. Starbucks To promote its brand and connect with customers... [...]

Ginny Marvin says, “Bing Ads has updated the campaign creation workflow; it’s now designed to make it easier for advertisers to get campaigns set up and activated. Throughout the process, more options are available so you won’t have to go back and remember to update settings and options after a campaign is created. Performance estimates are also built in along the way to help inform your settings from the outset. The new setup starts with the option of selecting a campaign goal or importing campaigns from Google, importing from a file or researching keywords. If you select a campaign... [...]

Brian Gardner says, “This week we’re joined by Seth Spears. Seth’s company (Spears Marketing) helps small business owners and bloggers build a reliable and profitable web presence that works … even when you’re not working. His primary focus is on digital marketing strategy. Seth is a husband, a father, and fanatical about the Cincinnati Reds and the Cincinnati Bengals. He’s a staunch free-market advocate and often called a renaissance man. Last, but certainly not least, Seth is a part of the brotherhood I founded two years ago called Brocation, where a group of entrepreneurs take... [...]

Joe Pulizzi says, “If you follow Content Marketing Institute/MarketingProfs annual research, you learned three weeks ago that our most recent survey shows that content marketing has taken a turn for the better. Sixty-two percent of B2B marketers consider their organization’s overall approach to content marketing to be much more or somewhat more successful than one year ago. The same trend holds true for 63% of B2C marketers as we see with today’s release ofB2C Content Marketing—2017 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends—North America sponsored by Hightail. As I detailed in my blog post... [...]

Antony Maina says, “Back in spring, Instagram brought its filter driven social network to Windows 10 Mobile. Now, it’s doing the same for tablets and PCs running on Windows 10. As a small business owner, you no longer need to rely on Android and iOS apps to manage your Instagram account. You can do all that right from your Windows 10 tablet or PC. Instagram for Windows The app offers native Windows 10 features such as notifications and Live Tiles. It also, for the most part, offers Windows 10 mobile app functions such as explore, search and Instagram Direct messaging. The biggest feature... [...]

Leyl Black says, “Is “agile marketing” on your to-do list for the coming year? If not, it’s time to get up to speed: According to a 2016 survey by Workfront and MarketingProfs, 41 percent of marketers either already use or plan to use an agile approach over the next few years. Workfront defines agile marketing as “a tactical marketing approach in which teams identify and focus their collective efforts on high value projects, complete those projects cooperatively, measure their impact and then continuously and incrementally improve the results over time.” It’s a process designed... [...]

Ayaz Nanji says, “Some 30% of Fortune 500 companies and 22% of Inc. 500 companies have active Instagram accounts,according to recent research from The Center for Marketing Research, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. The report was based on an analysis conducted in July 2016 of the social media accounts of Fortune 500 andInc. 500 companies. Some 149 companies on the Fortune 500 list have active Instagram accounts and 110 companies on the Inc. 500 list have active accounts, the analysis found. Nearly half (49%) of the top 200 companies on the Fortune 500 list are active on Instagram;... [...]