Here at Crowbait, we think of it as something of a duty to keep up with the latest developments in the worlds of content marketing, social media and digital communication. In our weekly summaries we cast a gimlet eye along the digital marketing industry, taking in the latest news, gossip and opinion to fall from the mouths, pens and keyboards of the world’s most progressive marketers. This week, we’re going to be looking at a couple of inspiring infographics from Wishpond and Shortstack & The Social Skinny, we’ll summarise the best of Econsultancy and we’ll see how Google has landed itself in trouble. Again…
The very best of Econsultancy
The guys and girls at Econsultancy have been busy over the last week, and we can’t help but be impressed with what they’ve produced – as usual! Take a look at three of the best content marketing blog posts Econsultancy has managed to come up with in our potted summary…
Flying South ahead of Google’s Enhanced Campaigns
Google’s Enhanced Campaigns represents a significant change to AdWords, and according to Econsultancy contributor Heledd Jones of Confused.com, cost-per-click increases of between 5 and 10 per cent are already beginning to affect many UK business. Fortunately, in her blog post ‘Google’s Enhanced Campaigns: what we’ve learned from migration,’ Heledd offers some best-practice advice on migration from someone who’s been there, done it and got the commemorative Google t-shirt. Migration is something we’ll all have to handle sooner or later, but Heledd’s advice makes it seem a lot less scary.
Stats entertainment
Econsultancy’s Graham Charlton has been looking at figures with the compilation a list of ‘10 interesting digital marketing stats we’ve seen this week.’ So, are the stats actually interesting? They may not raise eyebrows amongst non-digital sorts, but facts such as ‘the 7.04 second median load time of ecommerce websites is double what most consumers will stand’ and ‘tablet users consume 47% of their content in written form’ are certainly eye-openers for those concerned about their website’s performance.
Combo content campaigns
According to Econsultancy’s Kasia Piekut, 40% of digital users respond better to combinations of text and visuals than to written content alone. In Kasia’s blog post ‘Four great examples of brands using Instagram to break free of the browser’ he has taken the time to compile some excellent content marketing campaigns with a strong visual element. Campaigns such as these show how integrating visuals and especially social media with your written content can help it to achieve new levels of success over time. Nice work Kasia!
Content advice from the horse’s mouth
Content marketing in the digital sphere is still a relatively new field, so it’s often a rarity to find someone that has been practicing the art for as long as Copyblogger’s Pamela Wilson. When she started producing content for her company three years ago Pamela was right in at the ground floor of content marketing, and she’s now in a position to share her expertise with you. In her blog post ‘Seven lessons learned from three years of content creation’ Pamela discusses some of the best-practice techniques she’s picked up over the years including tips on how to be productive, how to engage potential customers and how to know what to write. It’s a useful read for all content marketers, regardless of your level of experience!
Informative infographics #1
This week’s first incredible content marketing infographic comes courtesy of Wishpond – hosted here by Technorati. The ‘State of Content Marketing 2013’ infographic tells us just how healthy the content marketing industry is in the present day, how successful it remains for practitioners and just how many companies are expected to employ content marketing by the end of the year. Did you know that 9 out of every 10 organisations market with content, and that the total spent on content marketing in 2013 alone will top $118.4 billion? All these facts and more are available courtesy of the ‘State of content marketing 2013’ infographic.
Informative infographics #2
Do your social media updates get liked, shared, retweeted or commented upon, or are they largely ignored by the online community? If the latter sounds familiar, you could benefit from Short Stack & The Social Skinny’s infographic ‘10 quick tips and examples for better status updates,’ hosted here on the Socially Stacked website. The infographic gives content marketers advice on how to promote their content through social media and get it read by their connections, which is invaluable advice.
Short ‘n’ tweet
Twitter is an excellent marketing tool when it’s in the right hands. All too often, however, tweets and links are trumped into the world without making anything like the desired impact. The Huffington Post’s Lynn Shepherd has compiled these ‘Five golden rules for being a writer on Twitter’ to help people promote their written content without being eaten alive by the online community. Read it and improve your social media presence today!
Non-static stats
More stats now, but this time they refer to mobile marketing. We’re all aware that digital marketing isn’t just about convincing people to read stuff on their computers – today, tablets and smartphones make up a massive proportion of the digital media market. In Chris Warden’s blog post ‘7 mobile marketing stats that will blow your mind’ on the Convince and Convert website, we’re regaled with the interesting (if slightly alarming) statistic that 75% of Americans bring their phone with them to the bathroom and that mobile internet usage is expected to surpass desktop internet usage by 2014. If you haven’t optimised your content for mobile yet, here’s proof that now is the time!
What’s new in the news?
Meanwhile, the nation’s broadsheets have been taking note of content marketing as well. Well, more specifically, they’ve been taking note of search engines – and Google in particular. The Guardian reports that the US Federal Trade Commission has stepped in to tell search engines Google, Yahoo and Bing (among others) to ensure that they label sponsored ads clearly and distinguish them from ‘natural’ search results – potentially preventing paid-for advertising materials from being confused with your useful content.
Google is the subject of another Guardian article, but in this one the search giant is on the right side of a court ruling for once. The European Court of Justice has ruled that Google does not have to delete sensitive information if asked by an individual, circumventing the Right to be Forgotten act pushed for by many data privacy campaigners. While the ruling may not affect the content marketing industry all that profoundly, it might make us think a little more carefully about our social media profiles in future…
Social media sites are powerful tools for the dissemination of news, as content marketers can no doubt appreciate. To Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, they are ‘a scourge,’ after anti-government protesters used Twitter and Facebook to spread news of upcoming protests amongst their fellow citizens. Now, the Turkish government is looking to introduce tighter controls over Twitter, reports the BBC. Shouldn’t social media represent the ultimate forum for free speech and self-expression? What do you think?
That’s it from us for now we’re afraid, but be sure to keep an eye on the Crowbait blog for the next in our create, curate and circulate blogs for the latest content marketing news, gossip and opinion this time next week!