There’s no denying the power of social media. In fact, Forbes states that social media can be the very thing that moves your business forward especially from a marketing standpoint. From that marketing standpoint, yes it can push your business forward but do you know how it also benefits your business? It allows you to connect with your audience on a personal level.

Social media is an extension of your brand and ultimately, it’s where you can grow your brand and to let your brand’s personality shine. In opposition to that, some might say that social media is necessarily the best platform to make a real and meaningful connection with your audience but that’s where so many people go wrong. If you use social media the right way, you can definitely make meaningful connections with your audience… here’s how.

Customer Appreciation: Show Them Your Gratitude

The fact that your audience, aka your customers, follow your brand on social media, means that they obviously support your products or services and because of that, it’s important that you show your appreciation to them. This will not only keep your customers happy but it will also give you an edge over your competitors.

Showing your appreciation to your customers can come in many forms. You can post flash sales and free giveaways but one of the best ways to show your appreciation to your audience is to communicate with them. For example, respond to them in comments if they share any of your content. Communicating with your audience is a marketing strategy that should be done on a regular basis.

Get Their Opinion: See How They Truly Feel About Your Brand

Getting your customers’ opinion is one thing that business owners tend to shy away from because they’re afraid a follower will post something they don’t want to see. Well, the reality is that your customers’ opinion is very important and getting their opinion, good or bad, is what’s going to help you improve your business in certain areas. Also, when they comment on things that need improvement, respond to them as best as you can, especially the comments that you can definitely make changes on. Apologize for any bad experiences they had with your brand and thank them for letting you know.

There are, of course, people out there that just simply have it out for your business or were very unsatisfied about your service or product and will do everything in their power to try and destroy your brand’s image, and a lot of the times, it’s your competitors doing it under fake names. If it gets to that point or if legal action is taken, that’s when you seek the help of your business insurance.

Business insurance has different policies that cover instances like libel/slander and all kinds of other things that can go wrong in a business. If you don’t have business insurance, it’s best to get your business insured before an incident like that has a chance to tarnish your brand.

Take Their Feedback and Apply It For Business Improvement

To stay connected with your audience, you have to consistently be active on social media. You’ve asked for their opinions, and now that you have them, what are you going to do with them? Well, you have to make improvements, or else why did you ask for their opinions in the first place?

By asking your audience their opinion, they’re also going to want to know if you made any changes, so keep your audience up to speed as you make those improvements. You can make posts addressing the issue and update them on the actual changes that have been made to enhance their user experience. 

They will love your brand even more because it shows them that you’re not just all about business… it humanizes your brand, letting your audience know that you’re not perfect and that you make mistakes. It also shows that your audience’s opinion matters to you and that you actually listen and care about what they have to say.

Making Real Connections

You may not realize it but your audience watches every move you make (every post you make) and a lot of your followers aspire to be your brand. As you know, when you market your brand, you market to a specific audience and want your brand to portray a certain image… well, the image you want to create is ideally, who your followers are or aspire to be. This is what allows you to make a connection with them. For example, if you’re a car enthusiast and sell car parts and accessories but share posts of vintage cars, you’re going to make real connections with fellow car enthusiasts too.

Social media may have the best reputation for making connections with people but the fact that we live in a digital world means that the best place to reach people and make connections with them is online… it’s not impersonal, it’s the new norm!

The post The Power of Social Media: How to Connect With Your Customers appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Importance

The world of business and technology will have those that try to hack technology. Fake followers or fake traffic are perfect examples of these. Without the right social media monitoring tools seeing a clear ROI on a marketing campaign can be difficult. The ability to monitor engagement will also allow a company to understand what drives engagement with their followers. Creating content for current and potential customers that is not only high-quality but also spurs a conversation can build a sense of community. An example of a company that did this is Barstool Sports as they built a community and have a huge following. 

Data Rules Everything 

The introduction of technology that gathers data and can translate this data into an actionable plan is here. The business world no longer makes decisions on gut instincts as there are data sets that can help with nearly all decisions. Social media monitoring relies on data so it will need to continue to improve as social media develops. 

Social media is here to stay with campaigns by companies becoming more data-driven than ever before. Companies that create the best piece of technology to monitor social media is sure to see continued success!

The post Social Media Monitoring Importance and Companies Dominating the Market appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

To make it, one needs to create a signature that stands out anywhere. From the writing on a wedding card to leveraging on social media, make a mark. This post is a guide on everything worth knowing about starting an invitation business.

Define your style, technique, and market

Hand-painted wedding invitations, unique invitation wordings, black tie wedding invitations, etc. Scout social media and the market place to see what is trending. Then settle for a method that sharpens and works with your style.

A wedding stationery range includes save the dates, to invites, down to thank-you cards. A style that works should be cohesive throughout the whole range. And this gives them a signature look.

Choose to cater to a certain group of people, instead of everyone. Opt for either low range, middle range or high range clients. This helps with creating designs to fit their budget and precisely targeted marketing. Catering to everyone means you have no market.

The competition is another key factor here. Check out the biggest competition and see what social media platforms they advertise on. Then go back to the drawing board and create a business plan. Do not use another’s designs, and study about copyright laws to protect yours.

Build a cohesive portfolio

It is not too early to start creating a portfolio that stands out. The stationery business is one to nurture for months or years before a breakthrough. Get inspired with the passion to do something extraordinary with those designs.

Begin with something small and expand as the business grows. Build something original with a synergy across all designs. Let all your designs scream “it’s me” whether it is independent or together. Look for a feature that stands you out and dive right into it.

It may be going bespoke by creating custom hand-made invitations. Or it could be something dramatic, intense, colorful, baroque or calligraphic. No matter how great your works are, they go nowhere if there’s none for people to see.

Be wise about choosing suppliers

When getting into wedding invitations business, choose suppliers with care. They are very critical to a wedding stationery business. From the embellishments to the cards and even envelopes, everything should be top notch. This is because it is the face of the business.

There should be consistency, promptness, and precision. If you specialize in painted wedding invitations by hand, it needs even more care. A situation where the quality of paper or material changing should never happen. It could ruin all your hard work.

For the printing aspect, either outsource or buy high-quality printers. The ones strong enough to handle your ideal paper without ruining them.

Marketing: Website, social media, and Others

An online presence is essential to wedding business. Starting from websites to social media accounts, overhaul everything. Not only will you stay updated with wedding invitations 2019 trends. This is where all the hardcore marketing happens.

First off, every business must have a website that serves as an online shop. Float one and fill the homepage with quality content that tells guests what you’re about. Do optimize photos and designs with wordings to boost its ranking on Google. Launch the website on a very fast host for easy visitor navigation and reduced bouncing. Ensure it also updates with ease.

Create a business buzz using social media platforms. It will bring in massive clients through the door. Give your Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest boards a do-over. They are very popular for everything wedding. This is a place to showcase wedding stationery designs because brides scavenge those places. To network, and make solid contacts, refer to Twitter.

Consider using an online marketplace like Etsy. The audience of such marketplaces is huge, and guests can link back to your website. Again, do not spend heavy cash on attending a fair or getting blog listings. Run adverts instead, because they never go away and it reaches wider audiences. Also partner with planners who’d get a percentage if a referral from them patronizes you.

Structure pricing

When starting out as a wedding stationery designer, work on pricing. Document how long it takes to put each design together. If it takes too long, tweak the manufacturing process without compromising the quality of design.

Note how much materials cost, time spent and overhead cost. This includes marketing, accounting, packaging and posting to clients. Spread the total cost in a reasonable way over your works and set the price. Although affordable, they should bring meaningful profit.

Take crash courses

Starting a stationery business for a wedding, at last, gives an ecstatic feeling. But pause a bit on floating a website or advertising to people. Sign up for courses in wedding stationery business to help you stand out. There are many courses online that could prove helpful and are free or cheap.

Courses like Skillshare is very helpful to new stationery business starters. They cover areas such as illustrator, branding, Photoshop, portfolio creation, marketing, etc. To start a stationery business for wedding proper, work with Atly. This package features an array of courses for learners to choose from.

The best of them is the Design house prep school that teaches only about wedding stationery. Since you are sure about a specialty in wedding stationery design, go for it. It covers everything that has to do with wedding stationery as a whole. From digital calligraphy to artwork, pricing, branding, profitability, watercolor themes, etc. Everything there is to know about the wedding stationery business is here.

This is a way to gain knowledge and excel out there.

Give time: Hold onto your job for a minute

If you’re thinking of how to start a wedding invitation business, adopt patience. A miracle will not happen in split seconds, do some refining. It may take 2 months or even 2 years before a breakthrough. Keep working on the side and practicing to get better on the job.

Do not leave your day job until it is safe to do so. This job serves as your back up and income. It waters down the desperation that could set in when orders do not come. When a struggling wedding invitations business is all without a job, frustration sets in.

This could cause a level of desperation that sees you cutting corners.  It is safe to leave your job only when business is good and orders are consistent.

The article above shows how to start a wedding invitation business in details. If you have a passion to become a wedding stationery designer, this is the guide. These tips will help you scale all the major potholes beginners fall into. Apply the tips in our ultimate guide step-by-step and have your business running great!

The post Diving into a Wedding Stationery Business using social media appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

The first and foremost factor to keep in mind in order to kickstart your Insta page is to get more and more followers. After all, that is the most integral part of your business that will drive the growth of your page. You might know your Instagram content is good, but imagine how much better it will seem if it looks like 10,000 people agree. It immediately triggers the mind of your potential clients and may end up being interested due to the fear of missing out, given that the page is trending. However, getting so many followers is a task and not a one day’s job. Don’t fret, buying initial 1000 followers can help in spreading the word of mouth and prompt others to follow the trend. Although, the followers you buy may be bots and may not be active or engaging, it will help your brand receive the light it deserves.

Whether you’re trying to become a social media celebrity or simply looking to spread brand awareness on Instagram, it can seem tempting to pay for your first couple thousand followers. But, even before you do that, make sure that your images and content game is on point.

Create and Optimize Your Instagram Profile

Choose a theme, carefully handpick the pictures you will post, create a calendar and customize your Instagram profile to make it look good. Urge your potential followers who you are, and give them a strong reason to follow you.

Confused as to how you can lure your potential clients to follow you? Start by making sure your username is recognizable and easily searchable — like your business name. Ensure to add your full business name to the “Name” field in the “Options” section — this will appear under your profile picture and under your username in search.

The next big step is to make sure your profile is public to attract more and more people to follow your profile.

Buy Instagram followers

There are plenty of services available that allow you to buy instagram followers for the price of a small Starbucks latte. To kickstart your page and increase your follower base, it’s the best option, but in no way it is an alternative to quality of posts as with time you would want your follower base to increase and be engaging.

Join Instagram Engagement Groups

If you are a beginner, another way you can increase your followers is by joining engagement groups. They will help you become more accessible to a wider groups of people and may increase the engagement on your page.

Brush up on your photography and editing Skills along with your hashtags

Nothing comes easy, even though it may look like a piece of cake, it still requires efforts. Instagram works on post quality and nothing matters more than appealing pictures. So bring out the artsy side in you, learn basic photography tips and install photo editing apps on your phone. A bad quality picture is a complete no no!

You want to grow on Instagram, you have to post great pictures! You can’t just post a  snap, you need to add a description with tons of relevant hashtags. Not just that, you need to craft your images to engage your followers — both those who follow you now and the ones you want to gain.

Run Contests and Giveaways

You want to increase your page’s fan base, let’s start with hosting contests. Everyone loves freebies and gifts, they love win and have fun — both of which you can give them by hosting these.

Even when you have a small following, you can boost your numbers if you do things correctly. If you plan to do a giveaway, you need to make sure that you’re giving away something that your audience wants and ask them to get their friends to like and follow your page. This way you can get optimum engagement along with many news followers.

So what are you waiting, let’s see you grow big on insta!

The post Dreaming of going big on Instagram? appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Waiakea Hawaiian Volcanic Water is the first to offer the unique volcanic drinking water that exists in that region. The volcanic water’s superior and outstanding benefits stem from its purification process. The water is purified by a natural process of flowing through and being filtered by the Mauna Loa Volcano’s 14,000 feet of porous volcanic rock, which is one of the purest natural water sources in the world. The water is infused with essential minerals, is alkaline with a pH of between 7.6 and 8.2, is rich in electrolytes, uses no artificial processes at any stage, and presents a refreshing and rather sweet taste that is easy on the palette.

Waiakea is the first U.S. bottled water to be certified as carbon-neutral because of its many eco-initiatives. The company only uses packaging that is environmentally friendly. Regular plastic bottles are extremely harmful to the environment, and more than eight million tons of plastic are dumped into oceans every year. It takes over 1,000 years for a plastic bottle to degrade into the environment.

Waiakea Hawaiian Volcanic Water was founded in 2012 and was rated number 414 on the Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing U.S. companies. Bottled water has become a more than $100 billion industry and is sold in countries all across the globe.

Along with its main mission of providing healthy and delicious water that has the least environmental impact, Waiakea Water also uses sustainable sourcing, participates in regional reforestation projects, and works with charities that conserve the environment and provide clean drinking water to areas in need. Approximately three percent of the company’s revenue goes to nonprofit organizations and local programs because Waiakea believes strongly in the betterment of one’s community.

Waiakea is also serious about its philanthropy and donates 650 liters of water to different areas of the world for every liter purchased from the company. It also partners with Pump Aid to help to struggle African communities so that more than 1.35 million people have drinking water, basic sanitation, job opportunities, education for children and women, and a reduction in malnutrition and illness.

Waiakea has won the 2015 Food and Beverage Innovation Award. It was also named the Most Socially Responsible North American Company by Best Biz Awards and The Market’s Most Elite Bottled Water by Dujour Awards.

The post Waiakea Water Promotes Health and Cares About the Environment appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

A good social listener is able to generate leads, create content their audience finds resourceful and improve their overall customer experience. It demands deep analysis so as to gain clarity from a conversation. Here are ways to generate business leads using social media listening.

Learn Their Language

To convert your target audience into customers, you have to communicate in their language. This way you can position your message to those who want to use your brand in a relevant manner. Gathering your target market’s data should be your first step. Find the common phrases you can track.

The common phrases will lead you to the content they are interacting with and the competitor pages. Do your own research and come up with words that may translate into topics or hashtags your target audience uses. You will able to use these keywords to optimize your content for your target audience.

Create Social-lead Gathering Campaigns

From the list of keywords you created, choose those that are most relevant to your brand. Monitor each of them using a social listening tool. Most tools will give you daily reports on mentions. Check the daily mentions of keywords that matter to your business.

Reach out to those interested in your services and engage in meaningful conversations. This is a chance to connect with them, make them understand your brand and that will transform a lead to a sale.

Wow Customer Experience

One of the major reasons why people shift from one brand to another is as a result of poor customer service. Through social media listening, you can create exemplary customer experience by:

• Responding to complaints and questions quickly- Ensure you have a system of responding to potential and current customers
• Gather feedback- Listening to your clients helps you solve numerous problems at once.
• Create solutions- Don’t only focus on your brand mentions. Offer to advise, answer questions and give guidance to questions relating to relevant keywords. You might just convert someone into a client.

Engage With Influencers

Based on research, influencer marketing brings about higher ROI. Collaborating with a like-minded influencer will help you utilize their immense influence and audience. Check out the hashtags and keywords influencers’ use that could be of lead to your niche. Add them to the monitoring tool and continue analyzing posts and tweets of the most active influencers.

Create a campaign just like you did for clients. Be sure to contribute to social media conversations when appropriate. By doing this, you get to reach a new market and increase awareness around your products.

Follow Industry Hashtags

Keep an eye on the industry hashtags. You may find your niche’s most used hashtags using various tools. After identifying the most popular keywords, monitor them using your social media listening tool for alerts. Look out for emerging trends and how people are responding to them. Do they need something? Solve their problem

Never Stop Learning

The only permanent thing is change, and to stay relevant you need to learn new things. Dig into your industry in any way possible. What brand is your inspiration? Check their strategies and how they implement them.

This will give you new ideas and trends that can be valuable for your business. NetBase uses social media listening to generate leads for your brand and discover new opportunities. Be the trendsetting brand in your niche!

The post 6 Ways of Optimizing Social Listening to Generate Business Leads appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

In a move that represents a collaboration among heavyweights in the fields of toys, retail and motion pictures, JD.com partnered with Paramount Pictures and Hasbro for the Chinese release of “Bumblebee,” the latest Transformers movie.

Jingdong, China’s biggest and most powerful retailer, rolled out a series of special promotions to mark the premiere of “Bumblebee” in the lucrative Chinese market. JD, founded by Richard Liu, sponsored a sales event known as “Super Bumblebee Day” to coincide with the opening of the film in China. During the promotion, members of the company’s huge customer base were able to take advantage of deals on merchandise linked to the “Bumblebee” movie. Hasbro and Panasonic were among the major companies participating in the sales event.

In addition to the big sales promotion, JD.com also unveiled numerous delivery vans and delivery packages with unique “Bumblebee” designs on them. The movie-themed vans and boxes were seen throughout China as part of the promotional effort by Jingdong.

The sixth installment in the wildly successful Transformers science fiction movie franchise, “Bumblebee” has emerged as a massive hit since its original release in December 2018. Directed by Travis Knight, the film stars John Cena, Hailee Steinfeld, John Ortiz, Jason Drucker and Pamela Adlon. After receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews from movie critics, the film generated substantial returns at the box office. So far, it has earned more than $400 million worldwide.

The plot of “Bumblebee” takes viewers back to Southern California in 1987. Bumblebee, the popular Transformers character, is now living in a junkyard in a beach town. Charlie, the character played by Hailee Steinfeld, is about to turn 18 and trying to make her way in the world. Charlie revives Bumblebee, and they set out on a series of adventures.

The partnership for the “Bumblebee” debut in China is just the latest collaboration between JD.com and Hasbro. The two powerhouses also joined forces in 2017 to release a short film, “Mission Red.” The plot of “Mission Red” concerned a battle in which Optimus Prime and Red Knight were working to protect a crucial fuel source in the Transformers universe. Red Knight is a Transformers character that is exclusive to Jingdong.

In this year’s celebration of the release of “Bumblebee” for Chinese audiences, JD.com is sponsoring no fewer than three separate short films featuring Red Knight. Panasonic and HLA, the Chinese menswear brand, are also participating in the promotion and the release of the three shorts.

Founded in 1998, JD.com has earned an exceptional reputation in the international retail field. JD.com has established itself as the biggest online retailer in China, the largest overall retailer in China, and the country’s top online firm in terms of revenue generated. The company boasts an active customer base of more than 300 million people worldwide. JD.com offers a vast array of products for sale, including clothing, cosmetics, mobile phones, consumer electronics, and fresh food. The firm is a member in good standing of the Fortune Global 500.

The post JD.com joins forces with Hasbro and Paramount Pictures for Transformers movie release appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

You will notice that many of them will consider telling you what you would like to hear about which they would be lying without you knowing. If you would want your business to be ranked high on Google or any other search engine, here are a few things that you need to consider when looking for the right SEO consultant.

1) Experience Of The Firm

Given the rate at which various search engines will change the algorithms, you will need a consultant who has experience and offers effective campaigns at the most affordable costs, and Scott Keever SEO San Francisco company would be my go-to place when in such a situation. Browse through different candidates’ website so that you may know the amount of SEO experience that they have as well as more on their past successes. You should not just judge solely on the number of years that the company has been in existence. You may end up getting an older firm that has outdated mechanisms.

2) Past Results

The results posted by the candidate agent are some of the things that you need to look at. Ensure that you steer clear any consultancy firm that promises to offer you great results for your website to appear on top of the first page of the search engine. Ask the agency how they plan to measure the success campaign so that you can see the progress of your campaign and how it will be fruitful to you.

3) Presence In The Industry

You need to also concentrate on the industry presence of the consultancy firm that you are working with. This will help you narrow down the list in a significant way. Check if your candidate can regularly publish guest posts on various industry news as well as websites in the right manner.

4) Customer Reviews

It is essential that you check every SEO agency and how past clients have reviewed it. Merely read the reviews as well as testimonials that have been published on the consultants’ website. You find that any person can write biased reviews, so you need to be very careful when you are trending here. You may even consider using those sites that offer unbiased reviews and ratings for instance BBB.

5) Packages Offered

The consultancy fee is a must check. You need to factor in the marketing budget estimations that you have and also how you plans to get the most effective packages. When you are speaking with the potential project managers, be sure you are upfront with the budget rules and regulations that will help you choose a level that is suitable for your budget.

The post 5 Tips to Hiring an SEO Professional on a Budget appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

What are the benefits of a press release distribution?

A lot of marketing experts would say that press release distribution is an old and outdated PR strategy. They would argue that there are far better ways to gain visibility for your business. Well, they’re wrong. While new strategies have emerged, the press release is still alive and thriving. It has managed to adapt to new technology and continue to evolve. Not only that, it is still widely used by business everywhere. Why? Because it still delivers excellent results.

Here are a few things you can get from the best press release distribution services:

• Any business can benefit from a press release. No matter what industry you are in, what product or service you sell, and who your customers are – if you have a story to tell, a press release can help you say it.
• It can give your business instant exposure. If you want to spread the word about your product or service without paying for a single cent, this is one of the best things you can do.
• It can help you sell your product. Once you have exposure, your potential customers will be aware of what you’re selling. In fact, 71% of all business-to-business marketers rely on content marketing to generate new sales. If your press release is enticing, you might just gain yourself new customers and more profit.
• It can increase your website’s traffic. Using a press release to gain website views and online engagement is another benefit you can earn. Try to include one or two links on your content, along with some eye-catching infographics.
• You can gain valuable business communication. A press release will not only connect you with your target audience but to journalists and other businesses as well. You can make the most out of these connections and create valuable business relationships.

Best Free Press Release Distribution Services

Those are just a few of the benefits you can gain from a press release. But first, you need to know where to submit your press release and get the results you need. The following are some of the best free press release distribution websites that can help you:

• NPR.org – One of the largest non-profit multi-media news organizations in the country. You can submit your press release to their site for free.
• PR Urgent – This distribution website has several content restrictions, including image linking. However, submissions on this website are known to come up on Google News.
• PR Log – Free basic, no-nonsense press release distribution.
• NewsWire Today – Offers free press release distribution as well as newswire distribution for all kinds of businesses. They also offer premium paid distribution services.
• 24-7 Press Release – Your free submission will be distributed across their journalists registered to their media desk.
• Online PR Desk – Your free submission will be live on their website for three months. Their paid distribution service offers more live time.
• OnlyWire – Allows your content to be distributed through social media and networks but is not technically a press release website
• PR Leap – Aside from press release distribution, this website offers free social media exposure.
• PR Zoom – Online distribution service is also available aside from your run-of-the-mill press release.
• Open PR – Free open Public Relations portal where you can publish your press release for free.

The post The Best Free Press Release Distribution Services For Your Business appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Your outfit looks … well, it looks a little frumpy.

I know, I know, you’re only going to work. You’re not there to make a fashion statement. You’re there – as you should be – to be judged on the quality of the work you do and your depth of expertise on your subject matter and all that.

You’re smart. You’re knowledgeable. And once people sit down and patiently listen to what you’ve got to say, it all comes together. They just need to give you that chance, right?

I get it. And in the perfect world, you are right, Mr. B2B Content. They should give you that chance.

But this world ain’t perfect.

People judge books by their covers. First impressions can make or break you. And to some people, the clothes really do make the man. Presentation is (almost) everything.

Sadly, Mr. B2B Content, your stuff is sometimes getting dismissed simply because of the way it looks upon first glance. Great content that doesn’t play by today’s rules get overlooked in lieu of content that just knows how to present itself better.

So, how are we going to get people to give you the attention you deserve? How are we going to get their heads to turn and their hearts to thump?

We’ll just give your B2B content a little makeover, B2C style:

(Pre-makeover note: I’m not saying you need to invest in a new wardrobe, I’m just saying it might help to be clever in how you accessorize and work with what you’ve got. Ok, enough pre-amble, here’s the good stuff)

Rule #1: It’s OK to get a little crazy … with your headlines

The headline of your digital content is the most important factor in getting shared in social media, getting clicked on in search engine results pages, getting opened in an email subject line, getting people to read the first sentence (and potentially the rest) of your post, and of course, attracting eyeballs.

I’m not saying you need to dumb down your content to gain mass appeal, but I am saying your headlines could do a better job of cutting right to the core of an issue.

The best headlines:

1. Are as provocative as possible without being NSFW

2. Cut right to the heart of the matter (and show the benefit of clicking)

3. Speak to the human on the other end AS a human on your end

Pro tip: Get an issue of Cosmopolitan and replace “sex” on any headline with a noun from your industry (like say, “accounting’) and it almost always works. Almost.

Rule #2: Just because people are reading content “for work” doesn’t mean it’s OK to bore them to death

B2B audiences are not a collection of job titles – they are a giant group of people. Those people read books, watch TV, attend sporting events and are very aware of pop culture.

So, tie your content into current events. Here are some successful examples:

From Forbes.com

From Mergers & Inquisitions:

From Engage the Blog:

The pop culture tie-in gives readers instant context and a construct they can cling on to that they already understand. It makes it less intimidating to learn about something new when something familiar (and culturally relevant) comes along with it.

Rule #3: Be your Saturday self

You can leverage vertical solutions to find collective synergies in emerging markets all you want. But people won’t stick around to hear the rest of that sentence.

Use your human voice and talk less like a brochure.

The conversational tone breeds trust and encourages engagement. And since customers are losing confidence in their ability to trust brands, this conversational nature could make all the difference. People are saturated with marketing speak and appreciate when brands can speak to them in human ways. Just remember: You’re a human. Act like it. Unless you’re ok with being a digital marketing failure.

One last thing: I’m not saying you need to abandon your brand messaging and your core audience and turn into a LOLcat. But I am saying that whether you’re in B2B marketing or B2C communications your target audience is human beings. And humans crave human interaction. Make sure your brand is dishing it out.

And remember, don’t get your hopes too high. Just because you’re dressing like us now, doesn’t mean you’re going to get the same reaction as us.

Don’t worry about getting People.com numbers, just worry about getting the right people to your .com.

The post Dear B2B, It’s Totally OK to Copy Our Outfits, Love, B2C appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

And nothing will get eyes to glaze over more effectively than “yet another list post.”

“Top 10 lists are a tool of the Devil.”

“They’re usually bite-size chunks of nonsense.”

“List posts are now a big red warning for me that I’m being suckered.”

Everyone must hate list posts. Or so the echo chamber would have you think.

But deep beneath the eye-rolling and exaggerated sighs is a tender love for list posts that most people won’t admit they have (even though they likely read, learned from and loved a list post in the last 30 days).

Here’s why people secretly love list posts:

Bullet points run the world.

Everybody reports to somebody – whether it’s a boss, a client, or a board. Those reports usually include a PowerPoint, a word document or at least a succinct email with a series of arguments. And the common element in all of these are listed items.

People need to summarize complex information into pithy soundbite-ish content that the person they report to can easily consume. Bullet points do this. Writing a list post for your audience pre-creates these bullet points and saves them the step of formatting a word document (physically or metaphorically).

People actually scan. Even the ones who say they don’t.

Sure, tablets are causing a rebirth of reading long-form content on the web. But for the most part, people are quickly scanning content to see if they should invest their next, precious 5 minutes.

List posts allow a reader to quickly run their eyes down a page, see what the crux of the message is, and see if they’d like to invest in the context.

List posts provide a clear benefit.

Just like terrible infographics have given rise to the anti-infographic movement, terrible list posts give list posts a bad name.

The ones that don’t deliver, or the ones that have a cop-out last item (i.e. “Have fun!” or “Add your own tip!”) have made a mockery of the list industry.

But the ones that have a list of items with each item carrying it’s own weight provide the reader a benefit in the headline, and deliver in the post.

People don’t always need “a story”

It’s true that great content tells a story, but sometimes you just need a primer – or a series of facts or a collection of resources – to help solve a problem.

The art of communication is perfected when one person relates to another person a bit of information. Lists do that in an incredibly efficient way. Instead of worrying that you’re devaluing the written word by breaking your content into digestable chunks of information, focus on serving your reader.

Content, done right, can be customer service. And lists are all about serving your reader. Need proof?

Try Googling some things in your industry. I’ll bet a list post is ranked competitively.

 For example:

And lists tend to do pretty well in social media.

For instance, here’s the trending topics box from Twitter at the time this post was being written:

And here are some sample posts I found while quickly scrolling through my Facebook feed a few minutes later:

(Note: These examples were selected sort of at random by scrolling through my news feed. They aren’t necessarily the best examples, but they are indicative of the overall trend of acceptance.)

Some of the best-performing posts on the dozens of sites I’ve worked on over the years have been lists. Like this one (below), which is viewed thousands of times a month, has a top 3 search ranking for “online video stats” and enjoys a second wind on social media fairly regularly.

101 Online Video Stats to Make Your Eyes Glaze Over

Not glamorous, not a tough post to write, and working hard every single day for a website.

Not every post needs to be a list – and a healthy balance of content types is actually key to a well-balanced content program – but lists are a worthy arrow in the quiver that we shouldn’t be ashamed to let fly.   Besides, people (not so) secretly love them.

Related articles

• Make Your Content Pop with These 5 Bullet Point Basics(contentmarketinginstitute.com)

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• The Foolproof Formula for Writing a Solid Blog Post [Template](hubspot.com)

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• **How to Write Compelling Online Content with Wide Appeal(blazingminds.co.uk)

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• You’ll Regret Reading This Lousy Blog Post(radian6.com)

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The post In Defense of Lists: Why People (Secretly) Love List Posts appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

If only I could get one of those big names – Chris Brogan, Seth Godin, Brian Clark, I’d even settle for Jason Falls – to trumpet the piece I’ll be en route to cashing checks and speaking in front of sold out conference center ballrooms.

If only I could get it to catch on. Maybe it’ll happen this time. I really hope it does.

</patheticness>

While we won’t readily admit to it – at least not out in the open on the internet – we often use hope as the primary driver of our content strategy.

“I hope people like this.”

“Hopefully, it’ll get picked up by the linkerati.”

“We haven’t considered our resources, our audience, or our end goals, but we hope this [fill in the blank with a whitepaper, video, blog post, etc.] will do the trick.”

It’s good to be optimistic, right? We should believe that anything could happen, shouldn’t we? Isn’t it better to see the glass as half full, not as half empty?

Maybe that’s what our kindergarten teachers and psychologists tell us, but optimism in the world of content marketing is the quickest path to surefire disappointment and oftentimes failure.

Allow me to steal a lesson from Jim Collin’s oft-referenced masterpiece “From Good to Great“.

James Stockdale – a veteran who survived almost 8 years in a P.O.W. camp was asked if the people who didn’t make it had anything in common, he said this:

“Oh, that’s easy, the optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”

“This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

Though the circumstances are drastically different (read: running a content marketing program is absolutely nothing like surviving a P.O.W. camp) the lesson remains the same: if you’re not ready to “confront the brutal facts of your current reality” you’re not likely to be successful.

Those brutal facts are:

•  There are no overnight successes. Despite what viral videos appearing on the Today Show might lead you to believe (I’m looking at you, golden-voiced Ted Williams), a viral video doesn’t typically pave the way to sustainable success. It usually provides a temporary downpour of traffic and then a drought.

•  Sustainable success takes commitment. The output of a top 10 blog in the AdAge Power 150 is astounding: On average, they’ve produced 2.4 posts per day with an average word count of 1,278 every single day for the last 7 years.
• A lot of your stuff will be ignored. Not every hit is going to be a home run. In fact, you’ll probably strike out a lot. The key is to keep learning and improve your approach as you go.

We can be as optimistic as we want when it comes to our content strategy, but our hearts will usually end up broken, our sails will lose the wind, and we’ll constantly be refreshing our Google Analytics report hoping to see the visits adding up.

But when they don’t, we question ourselves, we question our ideas, and we question the entire idea of content marketing in the first place.

And sometimes we quit. After all, the optimists die first. The people that see it like it is, never get too high, never get too low, and always keep their nose to the grindstone are the ones that survive. And after enough of the grind, they thrive.

In other words, don’t end up like the bunny.

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The post The Optimists Die First: Why Hope is Not a Content Strategy appeared first on Social Media Explorer.