Content Is More Than Copy

I always have to remind people that content is much more than simply words on a page. Perhaps this is the most important form of online content, but it’s certainly not the only type, especially now. And yes, I did write the book, Content Rich: Writing Your Way to Wealth on the Web, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t discuss video, audio and other types of content every day…because I do.

Ask yourself, what types of content does my audience respond to? Who am I trying to reach? Product videos can be very compelling if you sell electronic goods, for example. Videos give your website a nice personalized touch. How about a video from the CEO of your company welcoming people to your blog?  People that see these videos may share them with their friends. If they do, then you have just made an effective social media play!

And what about Podcasts? They are hugely popular. Think of all the commuters in cars – don’t they need something to listen to? Of course.  Many people don’t have time to surf their favorite blogs or watch a video. Using your expert status, you can create a show that covers all the important topics of your industry and make it available to thousands of people who want to know what you think and may even want to do business with you.

III. HOW YOU CAN GET IT ALL DONE Continue reading →

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Other Ways to Link Bait

Contests

Another thing you can do to build link‐friendly content is to run a contest or sweepstakes on your blog (or your Twitter or Facebook page). It doesn’t have to be expensive – you could give away your services, actually. For me, being an online copywriter and marketing consultant, I could give away 10 pages of free content. I haven’t done that yet, but I could. It would probably go off very well. What could you give away? Once you decide, promote it and blog about it like crazy…on every social media channel at your disposal!

Interviews

Finally, to build some high quality link bait or “link friendly” content, you could interview prominent people in your industry. How about that for an idea? You know that these people you interview will link to you, right? Absolutely they will. Most of the prominent people out there in any field appreciate the added exposure. Play off that and get some great traffic as a result! Try this on your YouTube channel next week… Continue reading →

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by Jon Wuebben

II.  Types of Social Media Content

So if social media is any online media that allows users to interact with one another, there are probably many different types of social media right? Yes, that’s right. Here is a list of the unique forms of social media and which sites are the most important.

Social networking – Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn,

Social networking sites allow users to add friends, send messages and share content on either the “one-to-many” or “many-to-many” format. Typically, people on social networking sites get together in communities of like-minded interest. More on Twitter in a bit…

Social bookmarking – StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious

Social bookmarking applications allow users to share their favorite online content with one another while by creating online bookmarks. The bookmarks are on a web site so other people can then see your bookmarks and ideally be exposed to something that they wouldn’t otherwise encounter. Some social bookmarking sites, like StumbleUpon and Digg, use a voting system that allows users to indicate what bookmarks they found interesting. Continue reading →

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by Jon Wuebben

Social Media. Heard of it? Unless you have been sent in a rocket ship to space for the past couple years, you probably not only know about it – but are digging into it and may be a very active participant. It has been the biggest thing to hit the business world since the Internet itself…plain and simple. Whether you are a business with a fan page on Facebook, a Twitter page and a You Tube channel, or a just a regular guy or gal who is re-connecting with old friends through social media, it has affected practically ALL of us.

So, what is Social Media?   Wikipedia says this…

“Social Media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogs (many to many). It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers.”

Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological Continue reading →

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by Jon Wuebben

Content is not about creating it once and being done with it. Content is about publishing… Publishing to your audience. Whether it’s new pages on your website, blog posts, tweets or anything else, it’s about providing information that your audience wants to know about. Top 10 lists, interviews with important industry players, book reviews, new product releases, etc. There are tons of things that people want to know about. People are curious creatures and they’d rather support you and buy from you than a big unfeeling corporation.

So what is the content life cycle? It’s a process for communicating with your audience. It’s a plan that you put together to connect with them on an ongoing basis. All the while, your audience grows and you are selling more products and services. Why? Continue reading →

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by Jon Wuebben

Did we ever think that two college students with a gift for rhyming could hi-jack the advertising and promotions department for McDonalds for a few weeks with a clever rap about mcnuggets?  It happened.

Welcome to the Democratization of Self Expression.

What does this mean? It means that your brand is out of your hands. And it should be if you think about it. Your customers are important. What they think has always been important. It’s just that before, corporations loved being able to dish it down people’s throats. And look how far it got us. Chrysler. GM. Others. It doesn’t work, it’s never worked. The reason why Toyota came out of nowhere in the 70’s and 80’s and then eventually went on to dominate the auto market is because they listened to their customers. In a way, they were on the forefront of social media. They gave their customers a voice before they were able to have one on their own! With any news, we can now question it, put in context, analyze it and comment on it. Continue reading →

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Question for you: When you write a blog post what happens to it?  Is it just posted on your blog, awaiting replies?  I hope the answer is no. You see, there’s this thing called Social Media, which has sort of taken over the world and is bringing people together in ways never before seen…have you heard about it? He he.

…OK, we know you have. But are you using it?

Many people have complained about the time commitment for social media and the proliferation of all these new online places we need to have a presence on. But you see, here is the secret: The power of leveraging is the answer. When you write something on one vehicle (Say your blog) and its gets posted to all of them – that makes your time more efficient, right?

Remember that not everyone gets all their information from the same source. A devoted Twitter fan may not read any blogs.  Someone surfing online may have never been on Facebook. The key is to have all of your content on all of the various channels; unless, of course, the content was specifically designed and intended for a certain audience. This is rare however.

Here are a few other important notes: Continue reading →

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So when you’re writing that copy, whether it’s a blog post, a new Services page or a press release, what are you ultimately trying to do? When you are shooting that video, tweaking the audio and editing out the bad stuff, what do you want to accomplish? Yes, you want to communicate something. Yes, you want to get ranked in the search engines. And yes, you want that prospect to turn into a customer. But, really…in the end, you are trying to build your brand.

And with the untimely passing of music icon Michael Jackson, I was reminded of his sheer power to sell, promote and yes, build a lasting brand. And let’s face it; building a brand in the music business is incredibly tough. Think of those artists that actually lasted longer than twenty years. There are probably about a dozen. That’s it. And with the incredible outpouring around the world for this song and dance man, this poor boy who ultimately crossed racial, demographic, economic and every other type of boundary, his brand power displays greater resonance than any of us ever thought he had while he was alive. How would you like to make your company as ubiquitous and powerful as that? It’s pretty compelling.

And what is branding exactly? Continue reading →

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