A podcast Audiogram is an audio wave animation. A short animated movie of an audio file. It can be a great way to share a podcast interview or audio clip or sound bite on social media, your website or Youtube.
Think of it as a way to turn .mp3 and .wav audio files into movie files. As a result, listeners are more engaged thanks to the animated sound wave of the audiogram.
Audiograms can really boost engagement on social media.
The results of a study conducted by Headliner found that when they shared a static image with a link to a podcast, and an audiogram for the same show on Facebook, the audiogram generated 5X the results and traffic. The static image generated 118 clicks and the audiogram generated 660.
Chrome extensions help you trick out your browser to customize your computer, in turn making you more productive. Here are the top Chrome Extensions that help my PR efforts – and can help entrepreneurs or anyone in any industry or niche be more productive.
What’s an Extension you ask?
“Extensions are small software programs that customize the browsing experience. They enable users to tailor Chrome* functionality and behavior to individual needs or preferences. They are built on web technologies such as HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.
An extension must fulfill a single purpose that is narrowly defined and easy to understand. A single extension can include multiple components and a range of functionality, as long as everything contributes towards a common purpose.” Source – Chrome * Extensions exist for other browsers as well
Here are my top Chrome extensions for PR Campaigns and Boosting Productivity
Alexa Traffic Rank – Lets you see the global Rank and the US rank for any website -free Use: I use it to evaluate both media list building for PR campaigns and guest posting opportunities. Does a site get enough traffic to warrant pitching them or submitting a guest post there?
Grammarly – writing editing software – free and paid versions. Use: It will check spelling and grammar and will make suggestions for better words, will score your content’s reading level, let you know if you are using too many colloquialisms, etc. A must before launching a PR campaign, pitch letter, blog post or any writing and communication.
Hunter.io – email address finder – free Use: Looking to connect with the media or pitch a website on submitting a guest blog post? This extension will help you find any publicly available emails that are listed on a website, even if you couldn’t see them or find them when visiting the site.
One Tab – A browser organizing tool that can save up to 95% memory and reduce tab clutter – free Use: If you are like me the queen of opening multiple browsers, this extension helps organize them into a single page so that your browser is less cluttered, it reduces bandwidth usage, and lets you save the tab. Ideal if you are doing a search – save the search in one tab for future reference.
Awesome screenshot- a screen capture & image annotation tool – free Use: Show and tell with pictures. It is true that a picture is worth a thousand words. Good screen capture with notes can help move a project forward with less back and forth. The image of browser extensions in this post is a great example of how you can use screenshot & annotation.
Loom – is easy to useand free video screen recorder for Mac, Windows, and Chromebooks. Record your camera and screen with audio directly from your Chrome browser and share it easily – free Use: Show and tell with video. Want to share your thoughts, do a quick demo or tutorial, review of a document, graphic, website…. This easy tool lets you film your desktop with the option to appear on camera as well.
Have a favorite Chrome extension? Please share it below in the comments!
You are ready to get endorsements for your book. You’ve identified your ideal celebrities and influencers. Now it’s time to contact them and make the ask, but you may be wondering how to contact a celebrity for a book endorsment. Here are the top ways to find the contact information of celebrities:
Start with a Google Search
Google is a great resource for finding contact information. Start with a google search. Try being completely literal. Type in ‘email address for Celebrity Name’. We are going to use Barbara Corcoran as our example.
As you can see you get a number of results, including Barbara Corcoran’s own website [1], which is sure to have a contact form. We’ll save that for later.
In this search you see both RocketReach [2] and CEOEmail [3] which claim to give you email addresses. Both are free. It is worth having a look and copying down the email addresses into a file.
Test the email addresses to see if they are valid using this free tool:
In the event you don’t find any email addresses you can try the following:
Find an email address for a staff member at your celebrity’s domain. You can do a Google search, or try a Linkedin search using your celebrity as the company name.
For example: look for any address at @barbaracorcoran.com. From this you can determine the email convention they use. It might be ‘first initial’ and ‘last name’, or ‘first name’ only before the @ sign. You can then substitute your celebrity name in the same format as the email address you found.
How to Contact a Celebrity for a Book Endorsement- Ninja tips:
Address your endorsement request to a few different email addresses at the same time – addresses that you found, or just try a few of the most commonly used email conventions. That way you increase your chances of success, and any email address that is not valid, will send back an email letting you know that.
Add a read receipt- if used, it will let you know the email was received and read.
Use Press Contacts to request celebrity endorsements
Celebrities and high-profile people often have a PR firm on retainer or staff. You can typically find their contact info in a press release issued about the celebrity. These releases may be found on the celebrity’s website, or by searching for news about them.
Once you find out the celebrity’s PR contact you can either contact them to ask who to direct an endorsement request to, or just pitch them directly.
Use the Contact form on the celebrity website
The contact us form on any website is always available as a way to contact a celebrity, or anyone else. It usually goes to a general mailbox, often opened by an assistant. I have had success using this method to request endorsements, though it’s not my preferred method; I use it only when I can’t find a celebrity email address or press contact name and email address.
Here is why you should ask Barbara Corcoran, or any celebrity for an endorsement. They might just say yes!
In fact, Ms. Corcoran encourages you to request endorsements, and has a dedicated link to make it easy for you.
Fast Track Your Results & Get More Celebrity Endorsements
Your Opportunity to Make Book Sales with One Email
You have probably heard that the money is in the list. It’s never been more true than for authors, who can build a list of book buyers before you even publish. Set yourself up right in advance, and you can make book sales with one email.
Having a list of interested readers, ready to buy your book as soon as it’s published or available for pre-order, is a major asset.
Many authors make the mistake of focusing on writing and publishing their book and not thinking at all about their marketing until their book is already completed. Building your author platform takes time; building a prospect list also takes time. It’s understandable to put off even thinking about marketing, considering how much concentrated effort goes into the writing and publishing of a book. There’s nothing worse than publishing your book after all your hard work, and hearing crickets – no sales, no reviews, nada. It’s actually pretty depressing; and it doesn’t have to be that way.
Smart authors spend some time building their author platform in advance of publishing their book so that even before they launch, they have generated some interest in their book. By building an email list of interested people, that interest can turn to buzz and sales the minute you publish.
Build a List of Book Buyers Before You Even Publish
The simplest way to build an email list, is to create a book landing page that allows potential readers to opt-in. That way while you’re busy completing, editing, and polishing your book, you can be gathering the email addresses of interested people so that the minute you publish you can let them know about it. Your book has a waiting and ready audience even before it’s published. Once it is, you know you can send one email and make book sales. This is great insurance that your book will make sales, get read, and your hard work will pay off.
Once you have built your list, you can use the time before you publish to build engagement with your audience. Here are a few topics for those emails:
Behind the scenes of a day in the life of you, the writer
Ask for input – on a cover, a subtitle…
Let them know about a major endorsement the book received
Update them – let them know where you are in the writing/publishing process
Building engagement helps create a sense of know, like and trust. This will have your list rooting for you, supporting you and even more committed to buying your book as soon as it’s released. The great news is that if you build a list of book buyers and keep up the engagement, you’ll have a list of hungry readers and buyers for all your future books as well.
Not getting responses to your Help a Reporter Out HARO media pitches? The reason may be that your pitches don’t include the 7 must-haves for a successful HARO media pitch. Either you aren’t giving journalists what they need, or your pitches simply stink. The pitch that does satisfy on all counts, gets the publicity.
I am not a journalist, however I occasionally use HARO to find sources for a story, a blog post, or book that I am working on. My team and I use HARO to get publicity for myself and my clients, and we’ve had a lot of success with it.
After posting a query on HARO recently, I was surprised by the number of pitches that missed the mark. Some simply sucked. And it doesn’t have to be that way.
In an effort to help you not be one of the 45 % of pitches that suck, I analyzed the responses I received. The collated results are presented here. It was a small sampling; not sufficient to call this a scientific study, but valuable information if you put it to use. I also interviewed a few journalists on best practices for HARO media pitching, and what they like to see in a pitch.
I started by asking for insight on succeeding with HARO from its founder Peter Shankman, who said:
“In the past ten years, journalists have been tasked with doing ten times more with five times less. Truly want to get your story placed? Do as much of the journalist’s work as you can. Give smart background. When you offer a source, make sure they can talk and know what they’re saying. Beat the herd by being just a little bit better.
Oh, and be fast. Super, super fast. Get your reply out within five minutes of receiving the HARO.”
The key to pitching HARO successfully comes to, as Mr. Shankman says, “doing as much of the journalist’s work as you can.” In an age of 24/7 news, with reduced newsroom staff, journalists’ jobs are more challenged than ever, so your key to getting the publicity you want is to literally help a reporter out.
How journalists use HARO:
To find sources, as well as to help develop a story idea they are working on
When they are on a tight deadline, as well as for stories with more lead time
“I use it both for same-day deadlines and for long-term features and I’ve really gotten wonderful stuff for my stories from it – both from average people, whose opinions and experiences are hugely important in my work, and from experts from every field,” – an editor for a major U.S. news organization who uses HARO several times a month [they requested anonymity].
To get started let’s look at a sample HARO query – broken up into sections.
What Journalists want in a response to a query:
Journalists told us they want you to provide all the requested information in a concise response so that if they are on a tight deadline, they have all the information that they need to use you as a source without needing to speak to you. That said, it’s very important to include a phone number and other contact information, should they have the time and want to follow up and verify information, do an interview or get additional information.
What Journalists don’t want …
Busy journalists don’t want to have to guess who you are, what information or expertise you have to share, to have to try and locate your contact info, or try and locate you. This may sound obvious; however, many pitches were missing some or all contact info.
I encourage my clients to think of their pitch like a gift, with their entire pitch and supporting assets nicely and attractively packaged, so it’s all in one place. Incomplete, off topic or unclear pitches just clog a busy journalist’s inbox and often just get deleted.
“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” – Zig Ziglar
7 Must-Haves For A Successful HARO Media Pitch:
Get your pitch in asap.
The number of responses to a query can be anywhere from 10-100 depending on the topic or media outlet. Queries from top national publications tend to get more responses than smaller or lesser known media. Busy journalists often go with the first great pitch they receive.
Create a compelling subject line
In a sea of responses [average query gets 35-100 responses], your subject line can help your email get noticed, though a long query title, leaves less room for your unique pitch to show in the journalist’s inbox view.
24% of HARO media pitches rated ‘very good’
Use a greeting
Business communication usually start with a greeting. Granted, some HARO queries are posted anonymously, so you don’t have an actual name of a person to address. This is not something our journalists noted, nor a requirement, however a greeting is a standard business pleasantry. One that addresses the journalist by name is courteous and also demonstrates you have read the query carefully, which goes a long way towards your credibility.
52% started their pitch with a greeting, addressing me by name. The balance had no greeting at all.
Establish your credentials
To be used as a source by a journalist, you need to let them know what your credentials are, concisely, right within your pitch. Demonstrate you are a good, expert source for their story. One mistake we see repeatedly is “my bio is on my website.” A busy journalist with 95 other responses, will either hit delete or just move on to the next pitch which contains all the information they are seeking.
64% of HARO media pitches established their credentials within the email
Fit the requirements
While not all pitches have requirements, the ones that do have them for a specific reason, so it’s important to respond only if you are a fit.
47% of pitches fit our requirements, 35% might be a fit but needed clarification, 16% didn’t fit at all
“And a lot of the people weren’t on target. I was very specific in my HARO query about how I was looking for responses on how to invest. Another example, in a query on the business side of co-working spaces, a lot of people responded back saying, ‘Oh, I work at a co-working space. Would you like to talk to me?’ And that’s not useful.” – Dawn Reiss, freelance journalist /writer for various national outlets.
Complete, Cut and Paste Response
The ‘cut and paste’ response is where the person has answered the questions posed in the query, right within their email pitch. A busy journalist doesn’t want to interview you to find out if you are the right source for their story. Or they might like to interview you, but with limited time, they’ll have to do with taking your response as is, and cutting and pasting it into their story, citing you as the source.
“I much prefer a response that actually provides the comment or information the person wants to share.” – An editor for a major U.S. news organization who uses HARO several times a month [and requested anonymity].
In other words, if a query asks for you best tips for mobile marketing, include your best tips for mobile marketing right in your email pitch.
Include a phone number
While our journalists have stated that they often don’t have time to speak with you for a story, they still expect you to include your phone number. That way, should they want to get additional information, touch base before going to print or interview you, they already have your contact info.
Only 41% of our respondents included a phone number in their pitch
I hope you will use this information to help you succeed in your HARO media pitches. To your publicity success!
One of the strategies in your marketing toolkit today should be the interview process. The interview, or a simple question and answer session, can be very effective in facilitating the creation of a variety of valuable customer facing content such as blog posts or profile articles, to content that is strictly for internal company use.
The beauty of the interview process is that you can simply hold a conversation that you record and have transcribed into text. Speech to text software is now built into computers and smart phones, or you can use a transcription service. You now have both text and audio versions of your content. Both versions can be re purposed into additional formats including video and Power Points. You can get additional mileage by extracting short quotes or sound bites to use as social posts and tweets.
What works so well about this format is that most people are comfortable speaking about their business, product or service, than they are writing about it. Most people also prefer being directed and prompted. A blank white page with free range, can be very daunting.
Ask a client to write a testimonial for your business. They’ll wonder what to write about and put it off. Sending them 3 questions to answer about your business is a much easier and more comfortable way for them to respond, taking the guesswork out of it for them.
The beauty of the interview process is that it is a strategically designed set of questions that can help you elicit the story that you would like to tell. Whether you are interviewing a customer a strategic partner or one of your staff, by strategically designing the questions you get to shape the outcome, and can reap the benefits of 3rd party credibility – someone else telling your story and singing your praises.
Download our handy Interview Resource List
Here are my Top 10 Interview Types:
1. Customer Input
Many companies do not take advantage of this simple and obvious activity. Your client will be more than happy to tell you what their biggest challenges are and what they would like help with; then when you offer that solution they’re sure to buy.
2. Testimonials
Clients are usually happy to give you a testimonial however many businesses don’t even ask. Create an easy format with questions that prompt the client’s response, and your clients will thank you. They are often uncomfortable not knowing what to write, so when you remove the guesswork it is easy for them to just get it done.
3. Case studies
This is an underutilized form of content for your business. Case studies are so valuable because they show prospects how you solved another company’s problem, which gives prospects the ability to see themselves in your existing client, and basically try your solution on for size. It is also a form of third-party credibility, which carries more weight than a description of that very same service does in your company brochure or website.
4. Product Research
Interview customers to find out what they like about your products, as well as features they would like to see added. Everyone loves to be consulted and offer his or her opinion. Your customers probably use your products more than your own staff does and have probably already thought of things that could be improved or features that will make your product better. Make this an ongoing each aspect of your marketing and product development and research
6. Industry Insight
Interview a partner or vendor about different aspects of your industry. This can create a thought leadership piece and help inform your customers and your prospects about your industry trends, inner workings and the state of affairs.
7. Interview a Recognized Expert or Thought leader
By interviewing a thought leader, you are giving people access to someone they know and respect, as well as getting the benefit of greater exposure due to your expert’s popularity. This also positions you as a top expert and a peer of the thought leader.
8. Interview Staff
A staff interview can create content that introduces your staff and the role that they play in your business. This personalizes your business, provides insight into who a customer or vendor will be working with, and helps deepen engagement with your brand. This helps create greater consumer confidence, as people buy when they feel they ‘know, like and trust’ the company.
9. Interview Yourself
The interview format works very well to generate content more quickly, so why not use it yourself, wearing both the interviewer and subject hats. If you decide to keep your finished piece in an interview format, no one needs to know who the interviewer was, however you can also turn the interview content into a general article.
10. Interview to create a book
This one is possibly my favorite. Use an interview format to create a book. Many professionals, entrepreneurs and the public in general are interested in writing a book, yet it’s a daunting project that often gets put off repeatedly for that very reason. Using a strategically designed set of questions, it’s easy to create the content for your book through an interview. Your book can be published keeping the interview format, as I do with the books that I publish for my clients, or you can turn your answers into prose. Either way, it helps you get your book written much more quickly and efficiently so you can reap the benefits of being a published author.
The interview format is incredibly versatile and can be included in your marketing and content toolkit to help you create the variety of content that are required in today’s marketplace. Using interviews in your marketing can help grow all aspects of your business. The value of the interview format can be clarity. Simple questions, answered directly. I recently interviewed a colleague who runs a unique marketing service, for a profile in an online magazine. After reading the published interview, one of her prospects commented,
“Now I really understand what you do and the value of your service.”
That is the power of asking the right questions. Ready to put interviews to work for your business?
Note- this article was written using an interview format [I interviewed myself using a speech to text software] then edited the text for the final article.
I’m still inspired a week later……..and can’t wait to share with you some truly great things… A week ago I was attending the Entrepreneur Magazine 360 Conference here in New York City, getting inspiration from successful entrepreneurs.
It was a very energizing day hearing from a variety of entrepreneurs ranging from:
Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas to Daniel Lubetsky founder of Kind Bars, Olympic Skier/NFL player/Philanthropist/Entrepreneur Jeremy Bloom, to Reddit founder Alexis Ohanion.
I was inspired, impressed, validated and educated- I still am, here are some of the highlights and takeaways from the event:
Are you a Visionary or an Operator?
Les McKeon gave a great presentation on the journey a business goes through. He demonstrated why:
“You are either a Visionary or an Operator – you can’t be both.”
Will.i.am was intelligent, innovative, inspired, visionary, awesome…. He hardly spoke about music, and spoke more about his company i.am+ which is going to compete directly with Apple with its wearable tech.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Entrepreneurial ideas come frm fusion = Mixing + inspiration + needs + community.@iamwill ” quote=”Entrepreneurial ideas come from fusion = Mixing + melding inspiration + needs + community.”]
In 2015, everything is going to be wearable and functional. Maybe a jacket instead of a phone.
<<< >>>>
Sometimes you miss major success by 1 Inch
Jeremy Bloom- Olympic skier, NFL football player, philanthropist and entrepreneurs founder of a 100 million dollar company, had a 22 second shot at making Olympic Gold… yet missed by 1 inch. It’s what he did after missing that was so inspiring!
You may have heard the expression Fail Fast. Jeremy gave himself 48 hours to have a pity party. To replay in his mind all the things he could have/should have done differently and then he moved on with his life.
<<< >>>>
Daniel Lubetsky, founder of Kind bars, proves you can be successful and be kind [pun intended]
When you move from a skeptic to an evangelist, nobody can stop you.
There were so many wonderful ideas, inspirations and insights! I hope these examples have inspired you as well.
One more thing… all these entrepreneurs have one major accomplishment in common. Can you guess what it is? Please place your guess in the comments below. The first person to post the answer wins a special prize!
Whenever you have the opportunity to be around and get inspiration from successful entrepreneurs, grab it. As Daniel Lubetsky said, “Entrepreneurs are probably the most fun at a party.”
What all the entrepreneurs who spoke at the Entrepreneur 360 Conference have in common is that they are all authors.
It’s so much fun when you see your PR tip put to good use… and getting results- Publicity!
Just a quick note to share with you something exciting.. and to encourage you to take advantage of this free tool, if you aren’t already and get set up for more Publicity today!
Google alerts have been part of my PR tips and toolkit for as long as I can remember. If you have done any of my trainings or been on my list for awhile, you have probably heard me recommend them! It is one of the best free tools you can use to track PR, build a media list, get pitch and content ideas….
In fact I just made a new video for you about how to use Google Alerts – and hadn’t had a to post it yet when… I saw this headline on Time Magazine’s website:
Kenneth Cole Replaces Man’s Stolen Bag After Learning of Theft From Google Alerts read the full article here
I got so excited. Kenneth Cole’s team is using Google alerts as I recommend…and they used the alert to take action, resulting in some great publicity. Free tool. Free Publicity! How exciting!
This is the kind of PR tool that works for you, no matter what your company size.
I want to make sure you benefit from Google Alerts and maximize this PR tip and get more publicity – I show you how in this video:
It shows you the best way to set up your alerts… and how to use them for the most return on your time.
Update: I have found Talkwalker alerts discover more content than Google Alerts. They are also free- same set up recommended.
The best gift, or gifts, are sometimes the ones you can give yourself. So as we come to the end of the year and the beginning of a fabulous new one, with all its great possibilities……. I ask you to consider this:
“Hard Now, Easy Later…… Easy Now, Hard Later”
When I heard the very wise Debi Silber, the Mojo Coach, say this at an event recently, it really left an impression on me. For example. Peace of mind and a sound, solid business.
Huh? You may be thinking. If you are one of those people who go to sleep going over your to do list….. instead of counting sheep… imagine being able to drift off to sleep, knowing your list is short, and that you have taken care of the most critical business details. That leads to good, sound and peaceful sleep. Awesome. I’ll take more of that kind of sleep, and I bet you will too!
That tech issue that sidetracked me this week- 10 of my websites got hacked. A malicious malaware was able to infiltrate them. Perhaps it was my fault, maybe there was nothing I could have done about it.
All I know is that when you went to one of my sites you got a red warning page…..not the way you want anyone to think of your brand. Ever. Even if they recognize its not your own fault.
You see, at times. I opted for Easy now……Not that planning publicity is hard……. or the tasks I am about to share…. What can be hard is allocating the time to JUST get it done!
My sometimes taking the ‘easy now’ approach, lead to this week when I paid the price. You see, on my list of to –do’s was to set up a backup process for my websites. For some reason my host company stopped backing them up… and despite knowing that I could lose all the content, the images, and my online business in a heartbeat….. I did nothing.
So when I got hit with the malaware….the first question the tech folks I consulted with to help solve the problem asked was…. Do you have your sites backed up?
Luckily, I was able to save the majority of my content without a backup, but that might not have been the case. Had I added additional security measures that had been recommended to me months ago, maybe I would not have been hacked. $425 later and I am back online, backed up and with additional security.
In an effort to insure you have a most joyous holiday season, as well as the most prosperous, stress free and wonderful 2015, I invite you to take the time to do the things that just tend to stay on your to do list…… do them now. I invite you to have an easy, joyous and prosperous 2015.
Whether its planning for your publicity and content for the year – now, or more basic housekeeping like website and computer back ups. Make them a priority. It’s like insurance for your business and you deserve to have peace of mind.
Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”
Bill Gates
What are you planning for 2015? I’d love to know. Please post in the comments below.
To your publicity success! And all things Joyous, Easy, Prosperous and a Sound Business in 2015
Jane
P.S. Here are two articles on backing up your site
Content marketing—the strategy of creating and distributing content to a targeted audience—is a much talked about topic. It can be very effective for your business because it provides valuable information targeted to your prospects’ and customers’ interests and needs.
It engages without including a direct marketing message or selling, thereby positioning the company as a thought leader. But if you’re worried that this is just one more project you don’t have time for, fear not. There are some great, free tools to help you succeed at content marketing.
Of course, you’ll first need to create a strategy. Define your voice as well as your goals. Will you be creating original content, curating other people’s content, aggregating content, or some mix of the three? Are you looking to attract new customers, engage deeper and sell more to existing customers, or perhaps enter an entirely new market? Once you have all of the above established, it’s time to turn to these readily accessible tools to get the most out of your content. Here is our Content Marketing Toolkit for Small Business – originally printed in the NY Enterprise Report.
Editorial Calendar
Creating this will help you meet your strategic goals and manage your content marketing initiatives. Most of the work here is on the conceptual side, not in the implementation. A simple Excel spreadsheet, online calendar, or plug-in will make it easy to keep a schedule. If you have a content team, then a Google Docs or Google Calendar can allow multi-user access.
EDITORIAL CALENDAR PLUGIN: If your website uses WordPress, this plugin gives you an overview of when your content is scheduled to post. www.wordpress.org/extend/plugins/editorial-calendar/
Keyword Research
If you identify and use the correct keywords, your content is more likely to show up online where your audience is spending time, or searching on the topic. Tools to help you with this include:
GOOGLE KEYWORD TOOL: Gives you related terms, how competitive the term is, and how many times the term is searched for in a month. Results are more comprehensive if you are signed into your Google account. https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner
GOOGLE AUTO-COMPLETE/SUGGESTION:
As you type in the search box on Google, the auto-complete offers searches that are similar to yours based on searches others are doing related to your term.
WIKIPEDIA:
This online encyclopedia’s listings offer related terms and links on a specific topic, which can provide additional keyword suggestions. www.wikipedia.com
Content Aggregators
Aggregators gather and deliver all the content related to your topic or keyword inputs, from whatever data feeds they use as sources, and compile it in one place.
ALLTOP:
All the top stories and top headlines on popular topics from around the web. www.alltop.com
SCOOPIT:
Aggregator of info on a topic or keyword. It crawls the web for you and aggregates content around a the terms you input. It then allows you to select the best content and easily publish in a magazine format. www.scoop.it
If you identify and use the correct keywords, your content is more likely to show up online where your audience is spending time.
What’s Trending
A word, phrase, or topic is trending if it is mentioned online and on social networks multiple times. Trending topics become popular either through a concerted effort by users or because of an event that prompts people to talk about one specific topic. Mentioning what’s trending in your own marketing will potentially give you more exposure, but make sure it’s relevant to what you’re selling. For example, a new product release in your industry is a great opportunity to create content and capture some of the volume of social mentions and searches on the trending topic.
Consider writing a product review, a piece on what this new product means for the industry, or a positive personal anecdote related to the product or its creators. It is typically best to steer clear of political or gossipy trends, unless you are in that niche, or can find a way to create related content that won’t be offensive to your audience and can be tied back to your company or product in a way that makes sense.
WHAT’S TRENDING: What’s hot in the news, YouTube, and on Twitter. www.whatstrending.com
GOOGLE TRENDS: Identifies the hottest searches on the internet. www.google.com/trends
Monitoring
This is a recommended strategy to find mentions of your brand, your name, a product name, and news about a competitor in the press and online. You can also use it to find content on your keywords.
GOOGLE ALERTS: Monitor the web for interesting new content, delivered to your inbox daily, based on your queries (by keyword or topic). www.google.com/alerts
HOOTSUITE:
This social media dashboard monitors social media presence and mentions, and also allows you write and schedule posts that will be dispatched to multiple social media platforms. www.hootsuite.com
SUMALL:
The only reporting tool that can visualize your Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube accounts along with any other service you use. Know which of your tweets, posts, photos, or videos get the most engagement in seconds https://sumall.com/20ft
Clipping
Clipping is a great way to collect content that is of interest for later use. This is where an editorial calendar comes in handy; when you know in advance what topics you are going to be creating content about, as well as when, you naturally start to gather background info when you find it. Here are some clipping tools to help you with the process:
EVERNOTE:
Multi-platform note-taking application and bookmarking app. www.evernote.com
PINTEREST:
Online bulletin board for collecting, organizing, and displaying information and images. www.pinterest.com
DIIGO:
bookmarking, research, and knowledge-sharing tool with multi-user capabilities. www.diigo.com
Content Suggestion Tools
Content suggestion tools are great aids while you are in the midst of blogging or creating content online. They will suggest related articles, videos, and keywords based on what you are in the midst of typing.
ZEMANTA:
Suggests images, links, tags, and related articles while you write your blog post, and promotes your content. Also available as a browser add-on. www.zemanta.com
REVERB FOR CONTENT:
Makes your content even more relevant and interesting. Offers all the features of Zemanta as well as a built-in dictionary and thesaurus. Add text or thumbnail images. www.wordpress.org/extend/plugins/related-content-by-wordnik/
Schedulers
Streamlining the content marketing process is a must for busy business owners and marketers. Scheduling tools vary from a simple one like LaterBro for managing one brand, to something more robust for managing multiple brands and social profiles, like HootSuite. Here are a few tools that allow you to schedule content in advance.
LATERBRO:
Schedules Facebook and Twitter updates. www.laterbro.com
TWEETDECK:
Schedules tweets and posts and connects you with your contacts across Twitter, Facebook, MySpace. www.tweetdeck.com
SOCIAL TOMORROW:
Facebook and Twitter posts. www.socialtomorrow.com
HOOTSUITE:
Helps you monitor and manage multiple accounts and schedule posts on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Ping.fm, and WordPress profiles. www.hootsuite.com.
PLEASE NOTE: You may want to watch this video I created on using Google Alerts for Content & PR Monitoring: http://youtu.be/9dD4JxtbT9Q
One of the strategies in your marketing toolkit today should be the interview process. The interview, or a simple question and answer session, can be very effective in facilitating the creation of a variety of valuable customer facing content such as blog posts or profile articles, to content that is strictly for internal company use.
This post first appeared in Business2Community
The best gift, or gifts, are sometimes the ones you can give yourself. So as we come to the end of the year and the beginning of a fabulous new one, with all its great possibilities……. I ask you to consider this: