JUMP START Blog and Online Community

Can you believe it's already that time again? Time for the Flair weekly roundup...and with summer flying by as quickly as it is, I totally get it if you missed some of the content marketing news this week. No need to worry, though...Flair's got your back. Check out the latest and greatest in the world of content marketing with my weekly round up. There are some  REALLY great ones this week! Happy reading!
 

1. Why brands need visual and image guidelines (The Content Standard by Skyword)
   If a picture's worth a thousand words, then imagine what the right picture can add to your content. Learn more about how to create and implement visual imagery that works to get you noticed...which, after all, is the whole point of content marketing, isn't it???
2. Content marketing ROI: 5 ways to measure content marketing success (Business to Community)
   Whether you're a one-person show or you're trying to validate the worth of content marketing to the powers that be in your organization, learning how to measure what's working (and what's not) is powerful. 

3. Self-improvement through content marketing (Target Marketing)
   All of us over here at Flair have a common bond in our vested and intense interest in mindful health. From essential oils, to Eastern medicine, to natural and alternative healing, to whole foods, to meditation...if it has the phrase "self-improvement" in it, sign. us. up. Check out how two of our collective favorite things in the world combine...self help and content marketing.

Those who know me well will tell you...I can apply movie quotes to just about any scenario in life. Jerry Maguire, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Field of Dreams are a few in particular I tend to over-use.

"Show me the money," 

"It's not show friends..."

"YOU'RE Abe Froman...the sausage king of Chicago???" 

and, of course,

"If you build it, they will come..."

But the latter really isn't true when it comes to marketing, or at least when it comes to content marketing. Because it doesn't matter how awesome your content is...if you're not throwing the gasoline on it, it's probably going to die out. So how do you add that spark to your content marketing flame?

One way is the oh-so-powerful social media. Social is bringing brand awareness through influencer marketing, audience connection, inbound marketing and even the odd unboxing trend that seems to have weirdly taken off in the last couple years. 

In the words of Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it." Same could be said about inbound marketing. But you don't have to worry if you had a busy week and couldn't keep up – we rounded up our fave news articles for you. Check out this week's top five inbound marketing news clips. 

1. The future of B2B marketing: A much-needed human touch (Forbes)
   Inbound marketing, by definition, has the human factor embedded into its very philosophy. Everything (read: EVERYTHING) is about making that connection. See how this relates even to the world of B2B, because even in biz, it's still about the people. 

Coming at you with the must-go-to marketing events of July. 

What?  MozCon

When? July 9-11, 2018

Where? Seattle, WA

The showstopper event that has something for everyone, from content marketing to SEO to social…MozCon is one of the most-anticipated industry conferences of the year. And if you need more convincing? This three-day event even has a friendly hugging robot, Roger – I mean, what more could you want from a marketing conference?

 

What?  Facebook Ads Summit

When? July 9-13, 2018

Where? ONLINE

We love online events, because packing your bags in the summer should be for vacation, not conferences. So put your suitcase back in the closet and post up at your desk for this online summit geared toward any marketer or biz looking to fine-tune their Facebook ad strategy. The live online training, put on by none other than our fave social media gurus at Social Media Examiner, will leave you in awe. You’ll walk away with a better understanding of the power and capacity Facebook has to offer, so you can generate revenue and further your brand-promotion through your Facebook ads.

Want to hear some pretty staggering stats? 

• Posting content with images can result in 650 percent more engagement than posts that only have text. Think about that: – 650 percent!
  
  
• Posts that include videos typically attract three times more links than the wordy-text-only versions. 
  
  
• Consumers are 85 percent more likely to purchase something after watching a product video. 

So if you're the type who believes visual content doesn't matter, or that it's not worth the money you'll invest in creating it, I urge you to read on, because if you're not taking advantage of all that visual content has to offer you (and your brand), you're missing out on a huge opportunity. In fact, according to HubSpot, infographics are shared three times more often than any other form of content. 

On that note, let's check out the top five infographics we saw in June. 

Inbound marketing is many things...but the one thing it's not? Simple. It's complex, multifaceted and, when done right, effective.

If you've wanted to implement inbound strategy but feel overwhelmed with where to start, here's a list of 26 (some of them are very simple) easy-to-do ways you can use inbound marketing to transform your reach and strengthen everything there is when it comes to your brand identity. Read on for our list of the best ways you can use inbound marketing to surge ahead of your competition. 

1. Develop Buyers Personas – This is, in a nutshell, the single most important aspect of inbound marketing. Buyer Personas are fictional representations of who your target demographic is. Once you have researched the age range, gender, specific problem they have, where they go for info (Facebook? LinkedIn? Pinterest? Google search?) you can then create and deliver content they would find useful. 
2. Define, then address, pain points – You'll start this process with your persona development, and you'll use it in everything you do. You don't want content that's just fluffy and shows "yay, you can create content!" You want content that's useful. So what's the main reason your audience needs you? Great! Now show them how you can help!
3. Personalize content – This is where your Buyers Personas become worth the time you invested in the process of getting them done. You know who your product or service is good for, and you know where those people are...now make sure your content is exactly what they need...and put it exactly where they go.
4. Use forms – Using smart forms on your site accomplishes two things. One, you gain valuable data and information about your customers. And two, you make it as easy as possible on them. Smart forms dynamically adapt to your user, displaying data and updating per their experience. Have they been there before? Filled out a form before? Capture more info and a better picture of who your customer is through the use of smart forms. 
   

Social media has single-handedly changed the face of marketing. In an industry that inherently grows and reinvents itself, the addition of social to marketing has added a whole new necessary level of thinking for marketers. We love the fast pace of social, so we're constantly reading to keep on top of our game, but we get it if you took a breather this week.

No worries...here are our favorite stories that came out in the last week. Our weekly top industry news post – this week, social's on deck. Happy reading and happy weekend!   

1. How to solve 3 major social media marketing pain-points that continue to exist (Business 2 Community)
   B2C bridges the gap between just using social media in your marketing, and using it effectively. Learn how to overcome the three biggest pain-points marketers encounter when trying to use social to their advantage – from how to find and utilize time and resources, to validating your ROI (oh, hey boss), to staying on track with your consistency. 
2. Looking for ways to improve your customer engagement on social media? Here are 8 (Entreprenuer)
   Eight rules for using social (and actually engaging, which is really the only point, no?) – from the no-brainers (post a lot, have a personality), to the less traveled path if you're just getting started
   (running promotions and campaigns to encourage engagement). 
   

I recently posted a blog on how to write killer content. In it, I discuss the top five resources the Flair team regularly uses when we create content. I thought I’d keep the convo going and let you in on our top tips for what we do just before we hit publish. Think of it as your pre-posting checklist.

1. Don’t write in long chunks of text – a recent study by Microsoft Corp. shows the average attention span of most humans went from 12 seconds in 2000 to just eight seconds in 2015. (For comparison, a goldfish’s attention span is thought to be about nine seconds...but I digress…)
   TOP TIPS: 

   • Short blocks of text, bulleted lists, headings and subheadings (brownie points for bolding) are your best friends when blogging. 

   • Keep in mind - you basically have about seven seconds to capture your readers’ attention – ultra long paragraphs and chunks of text will lose ‘em.
     
     

2. Link – embed high quality links, both to your own content and to others'. Link to older content you wrote (hello, thought leader…), link to studies and research, quote people you admire, be a resource to your readers.
   TOP TIPS: 

   • Be sure to set your links to “open in new page” so readers aren’t leaving your post.

   • Make sure you check your links – you definitely don’t want to include any broken links.

   • Find balance – don’t over-stuff your post with too many links.

   
   

If you're into inbound marketing even just a little bit, you should know the name Tom Fishburne. Founder and CEO of Marketoonist, which parodies the world of marketing in the form of comics, Tom delights with his creative take on various marketing ideologies and subtopics.

But of my many favorite Fishburne-isms, it's something he says in a recent CustomerThink interview that rings truest of all for me:

 

"The best marketing doesn't feel like marketing"

 

I couldn't agree more. In a world of research-at-our-fingertips and Google-searches-galore, consumers are savvier than ever. In-authenticity reeks, and brands that aren't true to their mission (or those who haven't taken the time to explore what their mission actually is) are going to have an increasingly harder time finding marketing that works.

Worse? Those same savvy consumers are also unforgiving. Making the wrong move with your inbound strategy could just mean the death of your brand. Don't get me wrong, we all make honest mistakes, and the brands who make them (and get caught), if they're smart, will own up and charge forward. But the brands who think they can scheme their way into the hearts and wallets of their consumers are in for a rude awakening. 

Marketing, inbound marketing, is about taking the time to:

• Understand your audience
• Think about how you can help them
• Figure out what problem you'll solve
• Create content that speaks to them
• Publish on a dependable schedule 

SEO moves faster than a speeding bullet - what works one month may hurt you the next. And with Google's never-ending updates to their algorithm and ranking factors, you can't afford to not keep up with the times. Did you miss out on the top news stories this week? Don't you worry...Flair's got your back. Read on for the top five SEO news articles we thought were worth pointing out from this last week. 

1. Best ways to improve your SEO and why you need to do it (Forbes)
   Forbes regularly posts on the most current and updated SEO news, and this article (coupled with the noteworthy contributors) doesn't disappoint. Get tips and thoughts from 15 members of the Young Entrepreneur Council - they're some of the brightest minds in biz. And they make some quick-hit-win suggestions that reinforce what we say all the time (like create authoritative content, post consistently and flesh out your meta data).
2. Supercharging your SEO with AI: Insights, automation and personalization (Marketing Land)
   AI is here, and it's not going away any time soon. So whether you think it's creepy or cool, check out Marketing Land's exposé on how tech companies are fully embracing AI to become power-houses with their automated robotic SEO strategies. Side note: if you're in the "it's creepy" camp, this article is definitely worth the read, as it has some pretty interesting (not to mention calming) stats and thoughts on the subject. You listen to Pandora? Watch Netflix? You're already deep in the throws of AI.