As I listened to presentations in social media marketing events and read emails and comments from you, my readers, the pain was clear:
Social media marketing takes too much time!
So when I was at Social Media Marketing World, I cornered Ian Cleary, founder of RazorSocial.com and expert in social media tools and technology.
What tools does Ian himself use every day — both free and paid — to save time while getting results in social media? Watch this video to find out:
Don’t look now, but mobile-friendly marketing is now de rigueur.
More and more people are accessing the internet through their mobile devices. In fact, Microsoft Tag estimates that mobile access to the internet will overtake desktop access by 2014.
When it comes to social media, an increasing number of people are using their smartphones and tablets to access Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks. According to a report by eMarketer, 46% of those surveyed accessed social networks from their smartphones in 2012, while 16% used their tablets.
Emails are also increasingly consumed in mobile devices. Based on March 2013 statistics, 43% of email is read on a mobile device. We’re seeing the same trend in PR in Your Pajamas: 50% of our subscribers read our emails on their iPhones.
Clearly, mobile marketing is something you can no longer ignore.
But is mobile marketing for everybody?
Viral videos, link baits, Google ranking…. These signs of online brand popularity sure can be intimidating. Especially if you’re in a type of business that isn’t exactly mainstream sexy or interesting.
What if you’re in an industry that’s boring? Is there no hope for you to succeed at getting exposure for your business, whether in traditional or social media?
Of course not.
While some products and services are more exciting and have more mass appeal than others, every business can reach out to its target market in a meaningful and compelling way.
Below are some ideas to help you see the noteworthy and newsworthy parts of your business.
I caught up with Mari Smith, Facebook Marketing Expert, at her Social Media Immersion Day in San Diego, and got the chance to ask her a couple of questions sent by PR in Your Pajamas readers.
The room was busy at the time, and it was very noisy, so do read the summary of her answers below this video: Read More→
Most people treat content marketing as just another tactic to promote your business. However, some believe content marketing is much more than that.
That’s the point of view of Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion and Owner of River Pools & Spas, in his Content Marketing World presentation entitled “Distilling the Magic and the Mystery that is Content Marketing Success.”
Sheridan used content marketing to save his swimming pool business, which was on the brink of bankruptcy. Sheridan’s content marketing was so successful, he is now also a consultant, advising other businesses how to do content marketing effectively.
Sheridan’s main point can be summed up like this: Read More→
Write Ahead, one of my followers on Facebook, recently asked:
This is such a good question that I decided to make a blog post out of it.
As a matter of fact, Write Ahead, there are a number of ways you can find out what stories journalists and media currently or will be working on.
Below are four ways to get you started.
I’ve been sharing information about the recently concluded Online Marketing Conference in San Diego. In case you missed my earlier post, you can read it here.
Today, I’d like to share some takeaways from two presentations about social media marketing. Social media changes so fast, and it helps to learn about “big picture” trends from those who are in the trenches day in and day out.
First up is Rebecca Corliss’ presentation “How to Improve Lead Generation Using the Social Media Advancements in 2012.” Corliss is the head of Social Media & Content at Hubspot.
The Online Marketing Summit 2013 was recently concluded in San Diego, CA. In this and future posts, we’ll be sharing with you some of the most important takeaways from the presentations and workshops there.
Daryl Colwell, Vice President at MediaWhiz, gave an excellent overview of content marketing in his presentation, “Content Marketing Like a Pro: Tactics and Techniques to Increase Search Engine Visibility.”
Colwell has been marketing online for 12 years and using content marketing extensively as part of clients’ integrated marketing campaigns. Entrepreneurs and beginners in content marketing have a lot to learn from Colwell.
Measuring PR can be tedious, time consuming and expensive.
And the fact that many PR professionals are not numbers people only makes matters worse.
The old way of counting and measuring exposure (column-inches) and monetizing them is no longer enough. They don’t adequately tell us the results our PR efforts bring. So what if that print interview has a potential readership of 500,000? We still don’t know exactly how many eyeballs we reached.
However, since PR has moved into the realm of social media, we are able to take advantage of the measurability of social media. This helps us put hard numbers on the work we do and the results we bring.
Take Google Analytics for example. Google Analytics is a free yet robust web performance analytics tool that can tell us a lot about how well our PR efforts are doing, particularly our PR efforts in social media. You install the GA code in your website, and Google crawls your site and records your site visitors’ activity.
PR sure is a-changing. It is no longer a matter of churning out press releases and bagging interviews, compiling clippings and counting column-inches. Now we have to “integrate” with social media. And what’s this content marketing everyone seems to be talking about? And should PR practitioners bother with it?
It turns out, the answer is Yes!
Much earlier, on this blog, I posted this definition of PR:
“PR builds awareness and credibility for your company, product or service – which is critical for entrepreneurs and small businesses.”
The Content Marketing Institute, which I assume to be an authority in content marketing, defines it as:
“Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”
It’s obvious that PR and content marketing both contribute to the business bottom line. However, there are distinctions.
PR is higher up in the sales funnel, creating awareness and credibility. On the other hand, content marketing takes care of the lower portions of the sales funnel, attracting leads, converting them into customers, and keeping them happy.
Despite this distinction, though, both PR and content marketing make use of content to propel them.
If PR and marketing are engines, content is the fuel. You can’t do PR without stories or seeds of stories, after all. You have to keep coming up with new content and new story ideas to keep the PR engine running.
Others liken content to currency. Content is the currency with which you acquire people’s attention, interest, patronage and loyalty.
Content for PR and content for marketing are not and should not be exclusive. In fact, they dovetail each other beautifully. They are not distinct and in fact should be consistent for maximum impact.
For example, marketing content can be the seeds for PR content. PR can repurpose marketing content into press releases, video news releases, and media pitches. Plus, don’t look now, but lots of content in social networks like YouTube and Twitter end up in news rooms. Effective content marketing helps you get found by journalists.
At the same time, good PR facilitates content marketing. If you’ve been doing your PR right, it’ll be much easier for you to get influencers to publish and share your marketing content. Your PR would have helped them to be aware of you and know you’re a company or person worth being associated with. Moreover, media coverage can be the germ for marketing content.
Here’s an infographic that summarizes the different types of content for marketing that businesses can produce (it’s exhaustive as of this writing but new types will inevitably come up):
Click here for the full-sized image.
Enjoyed this infographic? Read more marketing tips from Vocus.
Now we see how content for PR and marketing support, build on, and feed off of each other. If PR and marketing are still operating within silos, this is hurting your company. Integration is key.
How is your company’s PR working with and harnessing content marketing? Share your experiences in the comments below. Or connect with me on Twitter or Facebook. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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