In this lecture, for my MKTG 3722 class at University of Missouri UMSL, we discuss the ways that a marketing plan can be built to serve business interests, and how it may benefit an organization.
-Blogging for Business
-Finding a Purpose
-Defining Goals & Measurements
-Creating a 1-Year Plan
-Setting Expectations
-Social Media Strategy
For more on social and digital marketing, check out Blank Page Consulting, my company, a St. Louis marketing agency at www.BlankPageSTL.com.
Things to Budget for When Planning a Drupal ImplementationDani Nordin
This presentation, done for the Drupal Business Summit in 2012, covers factors that must be considered when planning Drupal implementations of medium to high complexity.
Planning for SharePoint 2013: An Aptera Seminar by Scott WalshAptera Inc
Planning for SharePoint 2013: An Aptera Seminar by Scott Walsh. This event took place in Nashville, Tennessee on January 22, 2013. Aptera is headquartered in Fort Wayne, IN and does SharePoint, Business Intelligence, .NET Custom Development, Mobile App Design & Development, Web Design & Development and more!
WIMPgives 2014 Prep: How to build a website in one day for a charity hackathonMelissa Geissinger
Prep Day for WIMPgives, an annual charity hackathon put on by Web & Interactive Media Professionals in Sonoma County, California. We have teams of volunteers sign up to build websites for nonprofits for free in 1 day.
Building a Great User Experience for Content Editors in Drupal 8Suzanne Dergacheva
For new content editors, Drupal can seem like a daunting maze of forms full of confusing terminology. If you take some time to customize the admin UI, it can make a big difference for content editors.
In this session, we cover techniques to improve the user experience for content editors. This will include how to architect your site with content editors in mind, as well as smaller configuration decisions that effect content editor UX.
Facebook for business and personal branding presentation.
Covering:
* Statistics, demographics of users
* When to post
* Facebook Strategy Worksheet
* Effective Facebook Profiles
* Facebook Tabs and Apps
* Finding Content
* Creating Effective posts
* Facebook Insights
* How to use Facebook Groups for business
* Facebook Events
* Facebook tips and tricks
Things to Budget for When Planning a Drupal ImplementationDani Nordin
This presentation, done for the Drupal Business Summit in 2012, covers factors that must be considered when planning Drupal implementations of medium to high complexity.
Planning for SharePoint 2013: An Aptera Seminar by Scott WalshAptera Inc
Planning for SharePoint 2013: An Aptera Seminar by Scott Walsh. This event took place in Nashville, Tennessee on January 22, 2013. Aptera is headquartered in Fort Wayne, IN and does SharePoint, Business Intelligence, .NET Custom Development, Mobile App Design & Development, Web Design & Development and more!
WIMPgives 2014 Prep: How to build a website in one day for a charity hackathonMelissa Geissinger
Prep Day for WIMPgives, an annual charity hackathon put on by Web & Interactive Media Professionals in Sonoma County, California. We have teams of volunteers sign up to build websites for nonprofits for free in 1 day.
Building a Great User Experience for Content Editors in Drupal 8Suzanne Dergacheva
For new content editors, Drupal can seem like a daunting maze of forms full of confusing terminology. If you take some time to customize the admin UI, it can make a big difference for content editors.
In this session, we cover techniques to improve the user experience for content editors. This will include how to architect your site with content editors in mind, as well as smaller configuration decisions that effect content editor UX.
Facebook for business and personal branding presentation.
Covering:
* Statistics, demographics of users
* When to post
* Facebook Strategy Worksheet
* Effective Facebook Profiles
* Facebook Tabs and Apps
* Finding Content
* Creating Effective posts
* Facebook Insights
* How to use Facebook Groups for business
* Facebook Events
* Facebook tips and tricks
Discover the top tips to help your DECA chapter or association have a strong social media presence and integrate social media into your communication initiatives.
To land your dream job in a creative role, there’s nothing more important than the interview. Job interviews showcase your talent and expertise—and your ability to think on your feet. So how do you make sure you’re prepared?
Networking for job interviews
Crafting an effective resume and creative portfolio
Researching the company and position
Dressing for a job interview
Bringing the right materials
Knowing your long-term goals
Asking about next steps
Following up with the interviewer
Staying positive and confident
How to Succeed at Video & Written Content Creation Scripted.com
In today’s world of content marketing, consumers are eager to digest multimedia content. In fact, about 85 percent of Internet users are watching video online today. If you’re looking to drive engagement through visual content in your content marketing strategy, adding video is an easy way to do it. On October 30, Wooshii (Anna Tong, Head of Marketing) and Scripted (Ryan Buckley, Head of Partnerships/Co-founder) teamed up to lend their expertise on how today’s content marketers can create engaging videos.
User Focused Rapid Prototyping with small budgets using DrupalCrispin Read
At White Fuse we have found that many of our clients do not have the budget for rigourous and repetitive user testing. We have been experimenting with various techniques in our design and development process in order to get the best user focused designs for websites using tight budgets and small timeframes.
The Benefits of having a Marketing PlandiannaGreford
The benefits of having a marketing plan is essential for a small business owner and there are many benefits that you will enjoy when you develop and commit to an integrated approach to your business marketing that is only possible when you consistently implement the actions in your marketing plan.
This presentation is a general introduction/refresher to marketing planning and it will guide you through the planning process and building the plan itself. The presentation starts with an overview of marketing and this part is generally aimed individuals with limited marketing management experience or marketers who want a refresher. The next sections go into the market planning process, marketing communications planning, marketing budgets and forecasts, and the final section covers writing the marketing plan.
The George Washington University's Strategic Public March 25th live webinar provided prospective students the opportunity to attend and ask questions about the Master of Professional Studies in Strategic Public Relations online program, the faculty, and the school. Our presenters included Larry Parnell, BS/MBA, Associate Professor and Program Director and Elizabeth Alouche, Admissions Advisor.
The future of mobile marketing and the benefits of web apps @ Riga Comm 2013webapptool
Presentation @ Riga Comm 2013 about the future of mobile marketing and the benefits of using web apps for companies. Webapptool is an online HTML5 toolkit to create web apps.
Hello and welcome to Gideros Mobile Academy. Gideros Studio is a multiplatform mobile development environment, which allows develop your mobile application easily and faster. It includes an integrated development environment and an SDK, together with several examples and tutorials.
This presentation is the first part of Gideros Mobile Academy series.
Discover the top tips to help your DECA chapter or association have a strong social media presence and integrate social media into your communication initiatives.
To land your dream job in a creative role, there’s nothing more important than the interview. Job interviews showcase your talent and expertise—and your ability to think on your feet. So how do you make sure you’re prepared?
Networking for job interviews
Crafting an effective resume and creative portfolio
Researching the company and position
Dressing for a job interview
Bringing the right materials
Knowing your long-term goals
Asking about next steps
Following up with the interviewer
Staying positive and confident
How to Succeed at Video & Written Content Creation Scripted.com
In today’s world of content marketing, consumers are eager to digest multimedia content. In fact, about 85 percent of Internet users are watching video online today. If you’re looking to drive engagement through visual content in your content marketing strategy, adding video is an easy way to do it. On October 30, Wooshii (Anna Tong, Head of Marketing) and Scripted (Ryan Buckley, Head of Partnerships/Co-founder) teamed up to lend their expertise on how today’s content marketers can create engaging videos.
User Focused Rapid Prototyping with small budgets using DrupalCrispin Read
At White Fuse we have found that many of our clients do not have the budget for rigourous and repetitive user testing. We have been experimenting with various techniques in our design and development process in order to get the best user focused designs for websites using tight budgets and small timeframes.
The Benefits of having a Marketing PlandiannaGreford
The benefits of having a marketing plan is essential for a small business owner and there are many benefits that you will enjoy when you develop and commit to an integrated approach to your business marketing that is only possible when you consistently implement the actions in your marketing plan.
This presentation is a general introduction/refresher to marketing planning and it will guide you through the planning process and building the plan itself. The presentation starts with an overview of marketing and this part is generally aimed individuals with limited marketing management experience or marketers who want a refresher. The next sections go into the market planning process, marketing communications planning, marketing budgets and forecasts, and the final section covers writing the marketing plan.
The George Washington University's Strategic Public March 25th live webinar provided prospective students the opportunity to attend and ask questions about the Master of Professional Studies in Strategic Public Relations online program, the faculty, and the school. Our presenters included Larry Parnell, BS/MBA, Associate Professor and Program Director and Elizabeth Alouche, Admissions Advisor.
The future of mobile marketing and the benefits of web apps @ Riga Comm 2013webapptool
Presentation @ Riga Comm 2013 about the future of mobile marketing and the benefits of using web apps for companies. Webapptool is an online HTML5 toolkit to create web apps.
Hello and welcome to Gideros Mobile Academy. Gideros Studio is a multiplatform mobile development environment, which allows develop your mobile application easily and faster. It includes an integrated development environment and an SDK, together with several examples and tutorials.
This presentation is the first part of Gideros Mobile Academy series.
Top 10 marketing agency benefits from marketing automationRichard Fallah
Are you a marketing agency looking for marketing automation? In this infographic, you will find out 10 major benefits that agencies get from using marketing automation.
The Real World of Public Relations & How You Can Be Successful is all covered in this presentation.
Discover ...
* PR Defined & Why is it important
* What PR is Not
* The Benefits of PR
* How public relations is different from / connected to advertising
* Duties of PR
There are many applications of social media outreach, and this session will look at its application to non-profit objectives such as public relations, constituency building, citizen engagement, health behavioral change campaign, or fundraising.
The workshop will comprise presentations with case studies, one paper-based exercise, and open question time. We wish to run a needs assessment before the workshop to ensure the workshop meets participants' expectations.
The workshop will provide participants with a brief overview of communication models, social media trends, and a bigger picture view on how social media has changed the rules of online engagement. It will help participants better appreciate social media, assess its pros and cons, and evaluate if their organization should use or expand the scope of their social media activities.
Topics will include background information on social media; how traditional (one-way) communication paradigms no longer work in interactive media; and how two-way communication models operate online.
A key focus will be to help organization evaluate the pros and cons of social media, and then assess if social media offers any benefits to their organization. Participants will be asked to assess how social media can advance their organization's mandate, whether it is a viable channel for their constituents, its pros and cons for their situation, and then to review other relevant assessment criteria. Midway through the workshop, participants will be invited to complete a paper-based form to help them assess if social media offers enough benefits for their organization to adopt or expand the scope of their social media outreach.
The remainder of the presentation will focus on practical guidance for organizations that wish to implement or expand the scope of their social media outreach. Topics covered will include reassessing organizational goals; researching constituents; starting an incremental approach to social media outreach; defining the scope of your social media activities; mainstreaming into institutions; daily operations; responding protocols; institutional policies; tools of the trade; and methods for prioritizing resource allocations.
This presentation was prepared for entry-level email marketers. It covers the basics of email marketing including email benefits and value, design, content, copywriting, post campaign analysis and social media integration.
Blogging 101 - Presentation on how to build and manage a successful content w...Robert Scales
Blogging 101 - From "what is a blog?" to "how to write original content" and user engagement, this presentation covers the basic information you'll need to start your own dynamic content publishing website (Blog).
Webinar: Should a blog be a part of your marketing plan?Sonnhalter
Sonnhalter drew from its blogging experiences and developed a list of questions to help manufacturers decide if a blog is the right choice for their organization and gives them advice on how to get started in the world of blogging. John Sonnhalter and Rachel Kerstetter present the questions that need answered before starting a blog and give advice for integrating a blog into your marketing plan.
This presentation is all about meaning and importance of content writing, tools required by a content writer and tips and tricks to become a content writer.
To land your dream job in a creative role, there’s nothing more important than the interview. Job interviews showcase your talent and expertise—and your ability to think on your feet. So how do you make sure you’re prepared?
Networking for job interviews
Crafting an effective resume and creative portfolio
Researching the company and position
Dressing for a job interview
Bringing the right materials
Knowing your long-term goals
Asking about the next steps
Following up with the interviewer
Staying positive and confident
This presentation, originally delivered to the Dallas Bar Association's Solo and Small Firm Section on Feb. 6, 2019, walks through the why, where, when and how of starting and maintaining a legal blog. It includes tips for beating writer's blog, how to grow your blog's audience, and how to make it the cornerstone of your personal marketing ecosystem.
SEC Copywriter & Social Media Consultant Gloria Rand shows you the Blogging Blueprint that will help you quickly and easily get more web traffic and sales.
Content Marketing: Strategy and Implementation – a conversation focused on putting together a valuable strategy for a content marketing campaign, with tips and advice on implementation and measurement.
Brand new to Facebook Ads or just need a clearer understanding? Blank Page Consulting offers classes 1-2x a month in small group formats or at your corporate location. This slide deck is from our recent Facebook Ads Strategy Class + Workshop.
Classes offer tep-by-step instruction in how to strategically plan your Facebook Ads strategy + a hands-on technical walk-through in creating ads and utilizing the Facebook Ads Manager interface and tools.
If you have experimented with Facebook Ads before and haven't found success, be sure to attend both parts to identify what needs to change - AND to implement those changes successfully. (Updated September 2016)
Find out more about marketing classes & training services at http://blankpagestl.com/marketing-training/. For local St Louis marketing classes, check out our schedule at http://blankpagestl.eventbrite.com/.
Blank Page Year 2 in Review - Anniversary SlideshowDanni Eickenhorst
St. Louis marketing and business consulting agency Blank Page looks at the year in review - includes some memorable wisdom and advice for year 3 from clients and friends. :)
Soul School Sponsorship Deck - KTRS 550 Radio Show & PodcastDanni Eickenhorst
Soul School, hosted on KTRS 550 AM and coming soon to iTunes - is a St. Louis-based radio show that explores the lighter side of life with Monique Waldman and Sara Hoffstot. Learn more at www.SoulSchoolToday.com.
Navigating Social Media in 2015 - Presentation (Blank Page Consulting)Danni Eickenhorst
Blank Page Consulting President Danni Eickenhorst presents this social strategy 101 - from developing your message to choosing your platform. More at www.BlankPageSTL.com.
This half-day conference was created to help non-profits with digital and social media marketing - from basics to analytics and ROI. Speakers included in this deck are Travis Sheridan and Brianna Smith. A separate link will be posted on our blog at www.SMCSTL.org for Ashley Riley's presentation.
A.I. (artificial intelligence) platforms are popping up all the time, and many of them can and should be used to help grow your brand, increase your sales and decrease your marketing costs.In this presentation:We will review some of the best AI platforms that are available for you to use.We will interact with some of the platforms in real-time, so attendees can see how they work.We will also look at some current brands that are using AI to help them create marketing messages, saving them time and money in the process. Lastly, we will discuss the pros and cons of using AI in marketing & branding and have a lively conversation that includes comments from the audience.
Key Takeaways:
Attendees will learn about LLM platforms, like ChatGPT, and how they work, with preset examples and real time interactions with the platform. Attendees will learn about other AI platforms that are creating graphic design elements at the push of a button...pre-set examples and real-time interactions.Attendees will discuss the pros & cons of AI in marketing + branding and share their perspectives with one another. Attendees will learn about the cost savings and the time savings associated with using AI, should they choose to.
In this presentation, Danny Leibrandt explains the impact of AI on SEO and what Google has been doing about it. Learn how to take your SEO game to the next level and win over Google with his new strategy anyone can use. Get actionable steps to rank your name, your business, and your clients on Google - the right way.
Key Takeaways:
1. Real content is king
2. Find ways to show EEAT
3. Repurpose across all platforms
Everyone knows the power of stories, but when asked to come up with them, we struggle. Either we second guess ourselves as to the story's relevance, or we just come up blank and can't think of any. Unlocking Everyday Narratives: The Power of Storytelling in Marketing will teach you how to recognize stories in the moment and to recall forgotten moments that your audience needs to hear.
Key Takeaways:
Understand Why Personal Stories Connect Better
How To Remember Forgotten Stories
How To Use Customer Experiences As Stories For Your Brand
Most small businesses struggle to see marketing results. In this session, we will eliminate any confusion about what to do next, solving your marketing problems so your business can thrive. You’ll learn how to create a foundational marketing OS (operating system) based on neuroscience and backed by real-world results. You’ll be taught how to develop deep customer connections, and how to have your CRM dynamically segment and sell at any stage in the customer’s journey. By the end of the session, you’ll remove confusion and chaos and replace it with clarity and confidence for long-term marketing success.
Key Takeaways:
• Uncover the power of a foundational marketing system that dynamically communicates with prospects and customers on autopilot.
• Harness neuroscience and Tribal Alignment to transform your communication strategies, turning potential clients into fans and those fans into loyal customers.
• Discover the art of automated segmentation, pinpointing your most lucrative customers and identifying the optimal moments for successful conversions.
• Streamline your business with a content production plan that eliminates guesswork, wasted time, and money.
Most small businesses struggle to see marketing results. In this session, we will eliminate any confusion about what to do next, solving your marketing problems so your business can thrive. You’ll learn how to create a foundational marketing OS (operating system) based on neuroscience and backed by real-world results. You’ll be taught how to develop deep customer connections, and how to have your CRM dynamically segment and sell at any stage in the customer’s journey. By the end of the session, you’ll remove confusion and chaos and replace it with clarity and confidence for long-term marketing success.
Key Takeaways:
• Uncover the power of a foundational marketing system that dynamically communicates with prospects and customers on autopilot.
• Harness neuroscience and Tribal Alignment to transform your communication strategies, turning potential clients into fans and those fans into loyal customers.
• Discover the art of automated segmentation, pinpointing your most lucrative customers and identifying the optimal moments for successful conversions.
• Streamline your business with a content production plan that eliminates guesswork, wasted time, and money.
Core Web Vitals SEO Workshop - improve your performance [pdf]Peter Mead
Core Web Vitals to improve your website performance for better SEO results with CWV.
CWV Topics include:
- Understanding the latest Core Web Vitals including the significance of LCP, INP and CLS + their impact on SEO
- Optimisation techniques from our experts on how to improve your CWV on platforms like WordPress and WP Engine
- The impact of user experience and SEO
In this presentation, Danny Leibrandt explains the impact of AI on SEO and what Google has been doing about it. Learn how to take your SEO game to the next level and win over Google with his new strategy anyone can use. Get actionable steps to rank your name, your business, and your clients on Google - the right way.
Key Takeaways:
1. Real content is king
2. Find ways to show EEAT
3. Repurpose across all platforms
10 Video Ideas Any Business Can Make RIGHT NOW!
You'll never draw a blank again on what kind of video to make for your business. Go beyond the basic categories and truly reimagine a brand new advanced way to brainstorm video content creation. During this masterclass you'll be challenged to think creatively and outside of the box and view your videos through lenses you may have never thought of previously. It's guaranteed that you'll leave with more than 10 video ideas, but I like to under-promise and over-deliver. Don't miss this session.
Key Takeaways:
How to use the Video Matrix
How to use additional "Lenses"
Where to source original video ideas
The Secret to Engaging Modern Consumers: Journey Mapping and Personalization
In today's digital landscape, understanding the customer's journey and delivering personalized experiences are paramount. This masterclass delves into the art of consumer journey mapping, a powerful technique that visualizes the entire customer experience across touchpoints. Attendees will learn how to create detailed journey maps, identify pain points, and uncover opportunities for optimization. The presentation also explores personalization strategies that leverage data and technology to tailor content, products, and experiences to individual customers. From real-time personalization to predictive analytics, attendees will gain insights into cutting-edge approaches that drive engagement and loyalty.
Key Takeaways:
Current consumer landscape; Steps to mapping an effective consumer journey; Understanding the value of personalization; Integrating mapping and personalization for success; Brands that are getting It right!; Best Practices; Future Trends
When most people in the industry talk about online or digital reputation management, what they're really saying is Google search and PPC. And it's usually reactive, left dealing with the aftermath of negative information published somewhere online. That's outdated. It leaves executives, organizations and other high-profile individuals at a high risk of a digital reputation attack that spans channels and tactics. But the tools needed to safeguard against an attack are more cybersecurity-oriented than most marketing and communications professionals can manage. Business leaders Leaders grasp the importance; 83% of executives place reputation in their top five areas of risk, yet only 23% are confident in their ability to address it. To succeed in 2024 and beyond, you need to turn online reputation on its axis and think like an attacker.\
Key Takeaways:
- New framework for examining and safeguarding an online reputation
- Tools and techniques to keep you a step ahead
- Practical examples that demonstrate when to act, how to act and how to recover
How to Use AI to Write a High-Quality Article that Ranksminatamang0021
In the world of content creation, many AI bloggers have drifted away from their original vision, resulting in low-quality articles that search engines overlook. Don't let that happen to you! Join us to discover how to leverage AI tools effectively to craft high-quality content that not only captures your audience's attention but also ranks well on search engines.
Disclaimer: Some of the prompts mentioned here are the examples of Matt Diggity. Please use it as reference and make your own custom prompts.
Digital Commerce Lecture for Advanced Digital & Social Media Strategy at UCLA...Valters Lauzums
E-commerce in 2024 is characterized by a dynamic blend of opportunities and significant challenges. Supply chain disruptions and inventory shortages are critical issues, leading to increased shipping delays and rising costs, which impact timely delivery and squeeze profit margins. Efficient logistics management is essential, yet it is often hampered by these external factors. Payment processing, while needing to ensure security and user convenience, grapples with preventing fraud and integrating diverse payment methods, adding another layer of complexity. Furthermore, fulfillment operations require a streamlined approach to handle volume spikes and maintain accuracy in order picking, packing, and shipping, all while meeting customers' heightened expectations for faster delivery times.
Amid these operational challenges, customer data has emerged as an important strategy. By focusing on personalization and enhancing customer experience from historical behavior, businesses can deliver improved website and brand experienced, better product recommendations, optimal promotions, and content to meet individual preferences. Better data analytics can also help in effectively creating marketing campaigns, improving customer retention, and driving product development and inventory management.
Innovative formats such as social commerce and live shopping are beginning to impact the digital commerce landscape, offering new ways to engage with customers and drive sales, and may provide opportunity for brands that have been priced out or seen a downturn with post-pandemic shopping behavior. Social commerce integrates shopping experiences directly into social media platforms, tapping into the massive user bases of these networks to increase reach and engagement. Live shopping, on the other hand, combines entertainment and real-time interaction, providing a dynamic platform for showcasing products and encouraging immediate purchases. These innovations not only enhance customer engagement but also provide valuable data for businesses to refine their strategies and deliver superior shopping experiences.
The e-commerce sector is evolving rapidly, and businesses that effectively manage operational challenges and implement innovative strategies are best positioned for long-term success.
The Forgotten Secret Weapon of Digital Marketing: Email
Digital marketing is a rapidly changing, ever evolving industry--Influencers, Threads, X, AI, etc. But one of the most effective digital marketing tools is also one of the oldest: Email. Find out from two Houston-based digital experts how to maximize your results from email.
Key Takeaways:
Email has the best ROI of any digital tactic
It can be used at any stage of the customer journey
It is increasingly important as the cookie-less future gets closer and closer
Mastering Local SEO for Service Businesses in the AI Era is tailored specifically for local service providers like plumbers, dentists, and others seeking to dominate their local search landscape. This session delves into leveraging AI advancements to enhance your online visibility and search rankings through the Content Factory model, designed for creating high-impact, SEO-driven content. Discover the Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy, a cost-effective approach to boost your local SEO efforts and attract more customers with minimal investment. Gain practical insights on optimizing your online presence to meet the specific needs of local service seekers, ensuring your business not only appears but stands out in local searches. This concise, action-oriented workshop is your roadmap to navigating the complexities of digital marketing in the AI age, driving more leads, conversions, and ultimately, success for your local service business.
Key Takeaways:
Embrace AI for Local SEO: Learn to harness the power of AI technologies to optimize your website and content for local search. Understand the pivotal role AI plays in analyzing search trends and consumer behavior, enabling you to tailor your SEO strategies to meet the specific demands of your target local audience. Leverage the Content Factory Model: Discover the step-by-step process of creating SEO-optimized content at scale. This approach ensures a steady stream of high-quality content that engages local customers and boosts your search rankings. Get an action guide on implementing this model, complete with templates and scheduling strategies to maintain a consistent online presence. Maximize ROI with Dollar-a-Day Advertising: Dive into the cost-effective Dollar-a-Day advertising strategy that amplifies your visibility in local searches without breaking the bank. Learn how to strategically allocate your budget across platforms to target potential local customers effectively. The session includes an action guide on setting up, monitoring, and optimizing your ad campaigns to ensure maximum impact with minimal investment.
For too many years marketing and sales have operated in silos...while in some forward thinking companies, the two organizations work together to drive new opportunity development and revenue. This session will explore the lessons learned in that beautiful dance that can occur when marketing and sales work together...to drive new opportunity development, account expansion and customer satisfaction.
No, this is not a conversation about MQLs and SQLs. Instead we will focus on a framework that allows the two organizations to drive company success together.
3. FINDING A PURPOSE
• Define clear goals for your blog
• But just like with business itself, if the blog doesn't
have clear goals it'll be left flailing with no clear focus
or intent.
4. SET COMPANY GOALS
• THE CORE PURPOSE OF THE BUSINESS
• A clear statement of intent
• NOT a mission statement or corporate
tagline
5. SET TARGETS
• Set targets for everyone who works with the blog
• Use these targets to measure your success
6. DEFINING GOALS
• Always ensure that the goals of the blog line up with the
business purpose of the company
7. BRAINSTORM
• How to communicate your core purpose?
• What can a blog visitor learn from us?
• What do they want to learn?
• What can WE learn from our customers?
• How can we contribute to the bait in our field
• How can we establish ourselves as thought leaders?
8. CREATING A 1-YEAR PLAN
• Create a 1-year plan with milestones
• Everyone knows what they are working towards
• Everyone knows how to measure success
9. SET REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS
• You must invest time and money into your blog
• Building immediate interests
• Newsletter mention
• Industry publications
• Launch party
• Search-friendly content
• Customer testimonials
• Answer common questions
10. • Boost visits through social media
• Evaluation and Analysis
• Determine what brings people to your blog
• Increase that type of content
• Experiment
• Triple direct search hits and shares
• Revisit and Reset
12. WHERE DOES THE BLOG LIVE?
• Where does your blog live in relation to your other online
assets?
• Address early in the planning process
• Will impact how you handle other online assets
13. MAP OUT YOUR ONLINE ASSETS
• Make a sketch, use cutouts, etc.
• Identify EACH asset
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Intranet
• Customer Portal
• Main Website
14. WHO OWNS THE BLOG?
• A blog is like a newspaper or magazine
• New Content
• Multiple Authors
• Contributors
• Editorial Hierarchy
17. LIST OF EDITORIAL STAFF
• Clearly indicates key roles and
responsibilities
• Will need updating whenever there
is a change in editorial staff
18. THE PRINCIPLES OF PUBLISHING
• Adherence to a strict code of ethics
is vitally important
• Be open about affiliations
• Be factual
• Correct your errors
• Set guidelines for type of content
• Images
• Links
• External Content
21. FIND YOUR NICHE
• Define key topics
• Assign these topics to content
managers and contributors
22. RESEARCH YOUR COMPETITION
• Do they have a blog or social media presence?
• What are they talking about?
• What are they not talking about?
• KEYWORD SPY - FREE TOOL*
23. RE-DEFINE YOUR NICHE
• If there is a lot of information out there you may
need to re-define
• Google ad words tools
• Shows frequently searched keywords and phrases
24. CONTENT FORMATS AND TYPES
• Determining Content Formats and Types now will make
planning and setup easier down the road
• Text, Video, Audio?
• Use Images Strategically
25. VIDEO
• Quickly becoming as important as text
• Hard to index
• Consider transcribing content for better
indexing
26. AUDIO
• Recent resurgence
• Podcasts can be beneficial to some
businesses
• Consider transcribing content for
better indexing
27. TEXT CONTENT
• News Item
• Q&A Posts
• Tips and Tricks
• Tutorials
• Discussions
28. RECRUITING
CONTRIBUTORS• Create Ownership and Engagement
• Contributors can identify
• Allow staffers to share expert knowledge
• Leverage their skills and include them in the planning
process
• Identify key contributors
• Profile these contributors on your blog
• Bio Pages
• Encourage contributors to share content
29. CREATING CONTENT
• Write What You Know!
• Answer Questions!
• Issue Statements on Hot Topics
• Quote Other Sources
31. WHAT IMAGES CAN YOU USE?
• Your Own Images
• Taken by staff
• Taken by professional
photographers
• Images that are licensed for use
• Stock images
• Photo Sharing
• Creative Commons
• **LEGAL DISCLAIMER
32. HOW TO USE IMAGES
• Add an Image Title
• Add an Image Description
• Add Photographer Caption when
Necessary
33. USING VIDEO
• If you have the resources and talent, videos can easily
become an important asset
36. GROUP PROJECTS
• ROLES
• Editor-in-Chief, the de facto owner
• Content Manager
• Content Editor
• Contributor
36
37. GOALS & TARGETS
• What are the goals of UMSL Digital Mindshare?
• Who is the audience?
• Talking points
• Content ideas
• Measurements
• Technology/Methods
• Competition Profile
37
Editor's Notes
And now for my final tool recommendation – The Message Placemat.
You’re pro
And now for my final tool recommendation – The Message Placemat.
You’re pro
The first and most important step in creating a business blog, is to define clear goals for the blog. This also happens to be the most overlooked component of the planning process, and for good reason. Defining goals for something that just looks like random updates about business related items, seems unneccessary. But just like with business itself, if the blog doesn't have clear goals it'll be left flailing with no clear focus or intent. Defining clear goals for your blog will help in two ways.
This is where you need to tunnel into the structure of your business and find its core. The best place to start this process is by talking to the people at the center of it all at the top of the pyramid. Owners and executives and also the marketing department. What you're looking for here, is a clear statement of intent, The Core Purpose of the Business. This is often confused with a mission statement or corporate tagline.
But these are usually far too vague and aspirational. What you want is the raw purpose of the business. What is its essence?
Clearly defining and spelling out the business purpose, the prime objective or goal for a business, has benefits that reach far beyond the planning of a blog.
It also provides a new and welcome perspective on the business itself. Simply put, stating out loud while you actually do will help you do it better.
First, you'll set targets for everyone who works with the blog. Second, you can use those goals to measure your success. How do you define goals for a blog? Well, first you have to establish the goal, or goals, for the business. The blog is there to support the business, so their goals should be in line with each other. So, let's take one step back and look at the goals for the business itself, to find out how the blog can help get the business closer to its goals.
With the business purpose clearly established you're ready to start defining specific and attainable goals for the blog. The key in this stage is to always ensure the goals of the blog line up with the business purpose of the company.
To get this process started, brainstorm topics about how you want to communicate what the business does to the web using public. Here, it's important to remember what a blog is, a sharing and communication platform. Therefore, questions to start the brainstorming sessions should point towards active and participatory elements.
What can a blog visitor learn from us? What do they want to learn from us? What can we learn from our customers? How can we contribute to the bait in our field? How do we establish ourselves as thought leaders?
These goals will help focus the content of your blog and insure that what is published is in line with the overall business purpose of your company. The goals you end up defining will be as unique as your business.
While conceptual goals, like the ones we've established, are important, it's equally important to set specific goals around increasing readership, traffic, and engagement. I recommend creating a one year plan with milestones, so everyone working on the blog will know what they're working towards, and how to measure success as they move forward.
When you create your one year plan, it's important to set realistic expectations. And to do so, we first have to understand how the blog will function in the larger context of the online web presence of the company. The web is overflowing with blogs, so merely publishing a blog and expecting it to start bringing in readers is not realistic. To get eyes on the blog, you have to invest time and money in marketing and engagement. And here, as in most things in life, the return on investment is proportionate to the investment itself. Build immediate interests.
That could mean getting the blog mentioned in a newsletter, or an industry publication, or even host a launch party. Search engines like blogs because they're continuously updated. And because their content is more organically based. Search engines also rank blogs based on how well they ask and answer questions, and whether people find them trust worthy. An easy way to bolster this is to publish customer testimonials and stories or offer up best practice examples to answer common questions or challenges customers may face..
As an example, it could be published five customer stories or publish eight answers to common questions. A blog is an organic part of the overall marketing and branding strategy for a business. This means the positive influence of the blog does not come solely in the form of direct visits to the blog. It also comes from how the blog content is shared on the web, and how people start seeing that content and the company it came from, as a valued resource.
Evaluation and Analysis:
Once your blog is starting to get traction, and searched and on social media, it's important to hone in on the type of content people are searching for and sharing. And increasing production and publication of that type of content. It often turns out that the type of content you think people want, and the type of content people actually want are wildly different things.
For example, identify the three most found and shared articles on the blog to be used as content templates for future posts.
The next step is a direct follow up using the data gathered from your evaluation to run experiments on targeted content production. Triple direct search hits and shares for poles based on content templates. Then after the first year- revisit and reset.
It takes time for a blog to establish itself on the web, and this time can be used to gather metrics about visitor behavior and interaction, as well as experimentation with different publishing models. At the one year mark, you can look at all the data you've collected and identify what works, what doesn't work, and what can be improved upon. With this in mind you can go back to the first stage and go through the entire process again. From goals, all the way to implementation, and revisit every decision to see if it needs to be revised.
A blog, like the web, has to be a moving target. And by making a yearly revisit of every aspect of the planning process, you create an agile process that allows the blog to evolve with the times.
The question, where does the blog live, might seem a little silly. Well, it lives on the web, on a server, most likely on your server. But that's not what I mean when I ask the question. What I mean is, where does the blog live in relation to your other online assets? This is an important question to answer early in the planning process. Depending on what type of business you are working for, and how that business uses the web, the positioning of the blog will vary greatly.
The reason you want to think this through and make a decision about the positioning of the blog. Is that it will impact how you handle your online assets in the future. And it will also impact how the consumers and customers interact with the same assets. The best way to get a handle on your online assets and how they interact is to place them on a map and draw arrows between them.
This can be done on a sketch, or on a white board, or even using individual cutout pieces for each asset. What you want to do is identify each asset. So your main website, the intranet, the customer portal, your Twitter account and Facebook page, and any other online asset run by the company. Once you have all your assets on the board, start drawing arrows between them to show their current relationship with each other. If your main website has Twitter link on it, use an arrow from the site to Twitter.
If your website has a YouTube video on it, use an arrow pointing from YouTube to your website, you get the idea. Now, add the blog into the mix. Either, with a different color, or on a different drawing. Think about where the blog is positioned. Either inside the website, or outside. And how the blog changes the linking between elements. Unlike the main website, which usually is the one way communication stream from the company to the people. The blog can be build around a loser information philosophy incorporating elements like social media, like tweets and Facebook updates. And embedding YouTube videos etcetera.
The blog can also be used to point the visitor directly at key assets on the main website. While at the same time adding more information to the discussion or it can be used as the gateway between the business and social media in general.
If you think about it, a blog is a lot of like a newspaper or a magazine. You constantly publish new content, and you have multiple authors and contributors who create this content. And just like a newspaper or a magazine, you need to have an editorial hierarchy, with clearly defined roles, so everyone working on the blog knows who they answer to. And so, that the editorial decisions are consistent and in line with overall company policies.
At the top, you will have your editor in chief. This person is the de facto owner of the blog, and is the person who answers for its contents. The editor in chief has final say on what gets published. She is responsible for ensuring that all content is in line with company and blog policies and goals. Finally, she makes sure that the tone and presentation of the content is correct. The second tier is the Content Manager. Responsible for finding and commissioning content for all of or a sub group of topics.
The Content Manager would answer to the Editor In Chief and serve as a filter for her. The third tier is the content editor, responsible for receiving and editing content before it reaches the content manager. The fourth tier is the Contributor. This is the tier in which the content itself is produced before being sent to the content editor. These tiers will differ depending on the size of your company. For a small company, one or two people can fulfill these roles, but for a large company it can be a good idea to distribute roles across many staffers.
In a real life scenario, the structure would work something like this, the Editor-in-Chief could call for content. The Content Manager would find the right person in the company to produce this content. The Contributor would produce the content. The Content Editor would handle cleanups, revisions, and rewrites. The Content Manager would look over the content, ensuring it's in line with what was commissioned. And finally, the Editor-in-Chief receives the content, checks to make sure it's in line with goals and policies, and tells the Content Manager to publish it to the blog.
The reason for this structure is to make sure there's over site at each stage in the process. By clearly defining roles, it will lessen the load on a single person by distributing responsibility across the different tiers. And yes, as you can see, this essentially means there will be a person in your company, whose main focus or sole job is to be the Editor-in-Chief or owner of the blog.
Creating editorial guidelines for a business blog will help you set the framework for content production. It will also give both content creators and the visiting public a clear understanding of what can be expected from the blog.
At the core of editorial guidelines lies two key components, the list of editorial staff and the principles of publishing.
A list of editorial staff makes it clear to everyone who holds the key roles and responsibilities where publishing the blog and its content is concerned. This list will of course have to be updated whenever there's a change in editorial staff.
The principals of publishing outline the overall principals the blog adheres to. Here, you should list the principals and philosophies of the company itself and also principals of editorial and journalistic affects. By publishing content, you're taking part in an age-old tradition of information sharing. And it's vitally important that you establish and adhere to a strict code of ethics when it comes to publishing this information. This includes being open and honest about your affiliations, being factual, and correcting your errors. Because you are publishing content online in a social media setting, there are also some other issues to consider.
Set out guidelines for the type of content to be published and how specific elements are handled. Including images, links, and content from external sources. The editorial guidelines is in many ways a legal document. And it's important to include management, legal, and marketing in the approval process of the guidelines.
Once the editorial guidelines have been completed and approved, provide them to everyone in the editorial staff. All the contributors and other asset holders, post it up in the office, and share it on the blog itself to ensure complete transparency.
You've now reached the content creation stage. The first step in creating a content strategy is to define a niche for your blog.
And from there, define key topics to cover, and assign those topics to content managers and contributors. Finding the niche for your blog can be a challenging task. But it can also be used as a tool to clearly define what sets your company and its expertise apart from the competition. To start the process, you need to define where you think your company's strengths lie in terms of expertise.
The next step is to research your competition. Do they have a blog or social media presence? What are they talking about, are they providing valuable information about the industry? What are they not talking about? Now, you need to search the web to see who else is sharing information about the same niche.
If there is lots of information out there already, you need to refine or re-define your niche and do new searches. In the end, you'll have a clearly defined area of expertise that you can excel at without having too much competition. With a niche defined, you can move on to define key topics. Here, I would urge you to pick no more than six topics or categories to be addressed. This will further define your content production and give structure to the blog.
To refine these key topics you can use tools like the Google ad words keywords tool, which shows you what type of keywords or phrases people are searching for in Google.
Before you start producing content it's important to consider, what content formats and what types of content you want to publish on the web. Let's look at formats first. Though the web is text based you can also publish images, videos, and audio on the web with great success. Making a decision about what formats you want to publish, both at launch, and also down the road, will make the planning and set up of the blog easier. And will also allow you to allocate the necessary funds to make each content format successful. The most basic content format is text and it's also the easiest format to produce. Because the web is text based all you have to do is publish the text and it will be found, indexed, shared, and spread throughout the web. Of course, you can tweak your text to be better indexed, more easily shared, and more compelling to the visitor.
But the overall production of text is straightforward. Images have always been important on the web, and continue to be so. By using images strategically in your content, either on their own, in a gallery, or as illustration elements in your posts, you'll increase the value of your content. Just remember that when you publish images on the web, you have to have a license to publish them. And apply the correct title and alternate description tags to the images so they are indexed properly. We'll address images in more detail later in this course. Video is quickly becoming as important as text on the web and for good reason. Properly produced and informative video content is easier to digest than text in images.
And requires less work on the part of the viewer. The downside to video is that it's hard to index, because the Web doesn't really understand the content in a video file. If you want to make videos part of your content strategy, you need to allocate funds for proper video production, including proper audio equipment and editing. And you also need to consider transcribing all your videos into text to be published alongside your videos for better indexing. We'll address videos in more detail later in this course.
Audio has been around on the web for a long time. And it's having a resurgence today thanks to the new sharing platforms. Depending on the type of business your company is in, launching a podcast, essentially a downloadable radio show on the web can be beneficial. However, like video, audio files require production funds and transcription to be the most effective. So I would only prioritize this content format if it is directly related to your product.
Let's look at some common content types. The most common content type on a business blog is the news item. Which just like the name suggests, is communication about news and events in the company.
While this may be interesting for stakeholders and customers waiting from your products. The news content type has little social and interactive value. To get your customers and the general public engaged, other types of content can have more of an impact. Q and A posts, tips and tricks, tutorials, and discussion pieces tend to get shared more, and also generate discussion and contribution. And if you really want to start a discussion and position yourself in a debate. Opinion pieces can be effective as long as the opinions are in line with the company goals and philosophy. My recommendation is to start with news items and one or two of the active types, tips and tricks, tutorials or discussion.
This way you'll be able to share news about the company and also provide content the visitor will want to interact with and will find useful and sharable. Check off the content types you want to focus on, on the content card. Once these types are well established and the blog has some traction. You can allocate resources to start publishing more content formats and more content types.
Depending on the content strategy and how the business blog will be structured, you need to have one or more people actively creating content for the blog. These people are referred to as contributors. One common challenge in running a business blog is to find the right people to be contributors and also get them to actively contribute. The key to creating contributors is ownership and engagements. Make the contributors take ownership of their content on the blog and feel like their contributions are part of the work identity.
You should also engage with the contributors to encourage further contributions. In your company there will be staffers who are experts in their field and who love to share their expertise. These staffers are prime contributor material and they are usually easy to convince to become contributors. Leverage their skills and talents and involve them in the planning process of the blog in particular in outlining the niche and key topics. And ask for their input on what they think would be good content to be shared on the blog. By making them part of the team and giving them a say in what content they should produce, they'll be more invested in the end product. They can tell the public about what they do and also educate the public and the rest of the company.
Identify a small group of key contributes distributed across the company and profile them in a big way on the bog. Give them bio pages and columns so they can drag people to their own content and encourage contributors to share their content with co workers and friends and business contacts. Once these key contributors are in place and actively contributing, encourage them to enlist other members of the staff to contribute as well. The key contributors can take on the role of mentors to the rest of the staff guiding them through the process of sharing their know how in an easily digestible way. That way you get more staff interaction and avoid a situation where staffers feel left out.
A common question when people launch a new blog is what do I write about? The answer to that question is write about what you know.
Answer question, all businesses get questions from customers both existing and perspective.
Ask questions. Reach out to existing and perspective customers and ask them what they want to know more about. This is a great way to establish a list of possible future blog posts and it also gives you a great indication of what the company needs to put out more information about.
Write tips, tricks and tutorials if your business sells a product or service that the customer will use and need training on. Publish tips, tricks and tutorials on how to use the products.
If there's a hot topic on the news or in social media that relates to your company or its products or services jump on it immediately. Issue statements, opinions, perspective and facts that contribute to the conversation while at the same time subtlety pointing to the company expertise in the field.
Quote others and contribute your own view. Quoting other blogs and online sources with proper attribution and links and then commenting on their information can be both simple and effective.. The originator of the content will also become aware of your presence and be encouraged to interact with your blog. You can also leave comments on the original blog post or source to show you're actively taking part in the conversation and not simply hijacking it.
By using these seeds of inspiration, you should be able to produce a wealth of future blog posts and other content without getting frustrated that there's nothing to write about.
Images and graphics can be used for everything from illustrations to eye candy in a blog. They can even be the main content of a post or be part of a gallery. When using images correctly, they can become an important part of your blog and a reason for people to visit your blog. Let's first take a step back and look at images on the web. If you look at the code of a web page, you'll see that images are actually just links that are replaced by images by the browser. That's why they're referred to as replaced elements.
You place a link to an image in your code in the right way, and the browser will find the image and place it on the page. That means you can technically take any image from anywhere on the web and display it on your site. I say technically because, in real life, this is something you should never do.
So, let's answer the main question first. What images can you use on your blog? The answer is you can use your own images. Ones you or your staff have taken, or ones taken by a photographer hired by your company. And you can use images you have a license to use. Any other image is off limits and should not be used. You can get licensed images from many locations.
Stock image companies like Getty and iStock Photo sell image licenses for websites. Photo sharing sites such as Flickr have images released under varying creative commons licenses. Creative commons materials can be used only under the conditions of the specific variance of the creative commons license. For a business blog, the best practice scenario is to only use images either taken by or for the company.
Once you have an image, you can add it into your blog in a variety of ways. We won't get into exactly where you should place your images in your content. Instead, we'll look at how to properly add them into your content and make sure they get indexed and shared.
When you add an image to a blog post, you should always apply an image title, used mainly to keep track of the image within the blogging application. An alternate description describing the contents of the image for search engines and browsers that don't display images. And when necessary, a caption with photographer information, links and other valuable information. This ensures that image is indexed by search engines. And that the information in the image is communicated to the visitor even if the image is not displayed. The alternate description of an image should be applied following these standards.
If the image contains information, the text should describe the image. If the image is a link, the text should describe the target of the link. And if the image is for decoration and has no informational value, the alt attribute should be left empty. The images and videos card has information about proper image mark up and how to use the alt tag for quick reference. You should also consider setting the most important or descriptive image as the featured image of the post. This image will be displayed along side the title and description of the post in search engine results, and when it's shared on social media networks. Using images in a blog post the right way can appear tedious at first. But once a system is put in place, it becomes easy and the impact of a great image is well worth the effort.
Video is quickly becoming as important as text on the web and with good reason. Videos are easy to digest and take less effort to watch than reading an article. They can also be entertaining and informative in a way no written article can. On the downside, videos are expensive to produce, and it's challenging to make them appealing to the audience. But, if you have the resources and the talent to make videos work. They can easily become the most important marketing and communication asset in your overall strategy.
Whether you want your videos to be public and shareable or private and restricted, there are services that will do that either for free or for a small fee. If you want to go the free route, and you're publishing videos mainly to reach as many as possible, YouTube is a great service. You get the widest reach and many younger people actually use YouTube as a search engine, so you get an added benefit that way.
On the downside YouTube is littered with ads and links to other videos from other people. If share ability and viral distribution is what you want, YouTube is the place to be. But there are plenty of other, ad-free, complete-control options available.
Worth mentioning is VideoPress, Viddler, and BrightCove. All these are for paid video hosting providers that give you complete control of the content. The downside is that these videos do not distribute as easily and are less likely to give you the potential for viral distribution. Regardless of the platform you use, when you publish a video online you have to keep a few things in mind. Always provide a descriptive video title to ensure people find the video when they're looking for content on the subject matter. Consider providing a full text transcript of each video in the video description, and also in the blog post you embed the video in. This will make it easier for search engines to find the videos. If you're using YouTube or Vimeo, add tags and proper descriptions to ensure people find your videos, and that they're indexed properly. Moderate comments, or turn them off altogether.
You do not want the underbelly of YouTube to show up on any page with your company name on it. And finally, remember that as with images, you need to own or have a license to use any video, images or music featured in your videos. The images and videos card has a quick reference guide to how to get your videos indexed on search engines.
FIRST ASSIGNMENT DUE NEXT WEEK - LIST OF ASSIGNMENT
What are the goals of UMSL Digital Mindshare?
TEAM 1 REPORTER
Who is the audience?
TEAM 2 REPORTER
Talking points
TEAM 3 REPORTER
Content ideas
TEAM 4 REPORTER
Measurements
TEAM 1 REPORTER
Technology/Methods
TEAM 2 REPORTER