Ben Plomion says, “Content marketing was the buzzword of 2013, resulting in marketers scrambling to create engaging guides, e-books, white papers, infographics, and blog posts to attract and retain customers. This year the trend continues, but something has changed – we’re seeing the power of video take hold and dominate the content marketing space. It seems to be the new black! The reason behind this trend is video’s potential to reach and connect with millions of viewers worldwide. With video, the message is immediate, interactive and influential – something that a page of text is... [...]

Selena Larson says, “Twitter appears to be tinkering with one of its most valuable features—the follow system—just as CEO Dick Costolo said it might. If the social network’s recent experiments bear fruit, your Twitter feed might soon start displaying tweets from people you don’t follow, just because other people you follow do follow them. (For the sake of simplicity, let’s call these “friend-followed” accounts.) One Twitter user pointed out this new feature on Monday. He saw a tweet from the viral news site BuzzFeed appear in his timeline on mobile, along with... [...]

Selena Larson says, “LinkedIn’s publishing platform, which started as a small experiment available to just the “influencers” the professional network deemed worthy, is now available to millions of its members. Roughly 15 million people now have access to LinkedIn’s publishing tools, the company stated in its second-quarter earnings press release on Thursday”. LinkedIn’s Publishing Platform Now Open To 15 Million People ReadWrite  [...]

Bill Faeth says, “Optimize Your LinkedIn Personal Profile and Business Page Each time I get a connection request via LinkedIn, the first thing I look at is the sender’s profile, especially if I don’t know them personally. One thing I see all too often is that the person has not optimized either their profile or their business page. Now, you may be wondering why this profile optimization is important, even when you aren’t looking for a new job. For starters, LinkedIn is used for more than just recruiting; it’s an extremely valuable platform when it comes to search engine optimization,... [...]

Todd Wasserman says, “LinkedIn on Tuesday announced it is buying Bizo, a B2B marketing firm, for about $175 million. The transaction is a combination of 10% stock and 90% cash. It is expected to close in the third quarter. Formed in 2008, Bizo provides software and services that let B2B customers reach their target audiences online within professional segments. The platform also lets marketers adjust their messaging as the target customer moves through the purchase funnel. Some 120 million professionals use Bizo’s platform”. LinkedIn Buys B2B Marketing Firm Bizo for $175 Million Mashable  [...]

Chris Reed says, “Many people say to me that they don’t generate any business through LinkedIn. I have a simple reply. You’re doing it wrong. There has also been some debate recently on the Econsultancy blog around whether Facebook is more effective than LinkedIn for B2B marketing. To counter this argument, here are five best practices to make the most of LinkedIn and achieve your business goals… 1. Get your profile right If you have a half complete profile, no summary, no job description, no photo, no company page, no content updates on either your personal page or your company... [...]

Melih Oztalay says, “LinkedIn groups are for professionals in the same industry or with similar interests to dialogue, share information, learn from each other, establish themselves as subject matter experts, and much more. Group members can share experiences, business knowledge, interests, and ideas with a broad variety of individuals from around the world. This is the fifth installment of my 5-part series on using LinkedIn for your local business. The previous installments were “Using LinkedIn to Attract Consumers, Prospects,” “Using LinkedIn Company Pages for your Local Business,” “Using... [...]

Jawad Khan says, “With more than 300 million registered users, LinkedIn is one of the largest social networking websites in the world. But unlike Facebook and Twitter, which are more suited to B2C selling, LinkedIn is any B2B marketers dream platform. And its effectiveness has only increased with the launch of its own publishing platform earlier this year. This move has massively changed the way organizations could use content to boost their B2B marketing efforts and drive more sales. Having worked with leading B2B ecommerce portals like  Quality Trade, TradeKey and AliBaba, I can... [...]

Owen Thomas says, “Every morning, my phone fills up with notification badges—a dozen little inboxes asking to be cleared before I even get to my email. Dutifully or obsessively, I open them all as I walk my dog. There’s a special pleasure I take in swiping through LinkedIn Contacts, a standalone app from the professional network. Job changes, work anniversaries, and mentions in news articles add up to a customized newsletter about people I know through my world of work. LinkedIn is doubling down on this aspect of its Contacts app for iPhones, and it’s even renaming the app LinkedIn... [...]

Pamella Neely says, “Guest posting is still an effective way to help build a business or a reputation. It’s survived the ups and downs of Internet marketing fashion, built thousands of careers, and has adapted to the tectonic shifts of Google’s algorithm updates. That’s even after Google’s anti-spam czar, Matt Cutts, said in January of 2014, “So stick a fork in it: guest blogging is done.” When Matt Cutts says something like that, most SEOs cross the technique off their list forever. Usually, so do the rest of us. But you have to read the rest of what Cutts said to really understand... [...]