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Archives for January 2014

January 31, 2014 By Benjamin Porter Leave a Comment

You Are What You Read

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You are what you read. So we’re glad you’re reading our blog, packed with content tips and social media management tricks. After all, we’re experts. But what else should you be reading to ensure you get a balanced diet of noggin nutrients to maximize your digital engagement strategies?

Social media watcher Mark Hayes recommends Social Media Examiner, an information-dense, main dish type of resource. It’s the meatloaf of social media information consumption, if you will.

“This user-friendly site offers valuable tips for leveraging your opportunities on Facebook, Google+, Twitter et al,” he writes. “Whether you’re using Facebook for contests, Twitter for quickie ads or message forums to provide links to sites, you’ll find ways to enhance your marketing strategies. Social Media Examiner offers everything from advice on how to deal with website emergencies (such as security issues) to how to set realistic goals for your marketing campaign.”

Favorite side dishes around the office here at Brandsplat include Social Media Today for timely insight and analysis (like a spinach salad to add muscle to your social media plans), 12 Most for list-building inspiration (sweet potato fries, anyone?) and the smart, once-weekly Brain Pickings for discovering interesting new things (our version of spicy Indian-inspired green beans).

We also like Mashable for dessert. You don’t want too much of this sugary, image-dominated sweetness, but it’s a nice way to wrap up your reading. If you’re more of a cheese plate aficionado, try Forbes’ Social Media section. Less fluff, more substance.

Still, like any good diet, variety and moderation are the keys to good health. You wouldn’t want to consume information from just one of these sources and consider yourself well-informed. And don’t forget to exercise: Take some of the ideas you read out for a walk with you. Clear your mind and use them as a springboard for fun ideas you’d like to implement in your own diet (ahem, website). Then give us a call and put us to the test as to how we can help you realize those dreams.

But what say you, readers? Which blogs, news sites or other web-based sources do you rely on to ensure you’ve got a healthy amount of social media know-how? Sound off in the comments section below!

Filed Under: Brand Engagement, Online Brand Management, Online Marketing, Social Media Management Tagged With: 12 most, brain pickings, Forbes' social media, Mashable, social media examiner, Social Media management, social media today

January 24, 2014 By Dawn Walnoha Leave a Comment

Storytellers Make the Best Bloggers

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Everyone loves a good story. When they are well-crafted, stories capture our imaginations and motivate us like nothing else. So why aren’t we doing more storytelling in our blogs?

Each of us accumulates funny, moving and strange stories over the course of our lives — and so do our businesses. It may not seem like a natural fit at first glance, but dig deeper and you’ll find that everything from cautionary tales, like the client who didn’t heed our advice and ended up in a heap of trouble (names and identifying information redacted, of course), to an epiphany-filled saga of the decisions that led your business into its current gangbusters-growth period can help our audience get to know us in ways that keyword-dense, Google News Alert-triggered, predictable copy cannot.

But not if they’re one-sided, muddled or overly dense. And not if they don’t play by the rules of storytelling, which are hard-wired into our very brains: Setup, conflict, resolution. Toss unnecessary information into a story and suddenly the reader knows he or she’s not in the hands of a master. And because we invest emotionally in stories, we’re wary of those from untrusted sources.

Another thing to remember is that effective story-based blogs are written with the reader’s inner dialogue in mind. What is the reader thinking? Expecting? Wondering? What emotional payoff does the writer want him or her to experience through this story? As such, what breadcrumbs must the blogger leave along the way to encourage the reader to continue reading? Finally, what kind of timing does the writer need to observe in order to drive home the point?

And how does that help you if you’re already running out of time to blog or don’t love the writing process? Simple: A great ghostwriter can conduct a brief interview with you or another thought leader at your company and spin those experiences into storytelling gold. And, yes, we just happen to know a few.

But what about you, dear readers? Have you used your storytelling skills recently to make your point in Technicolor? Sound off in the comments section below!

Filed Under: Blog Marketing, Brand Engagement Tagged With: good blogging, stories, storytelling, storytelling skills

January 17, 2014 By Benjamin Porter Leave a Comment

Google+ and Google Authorship: 2014's Dynamic Duo

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Google_Plus_and_Google_Authorship_2014s_Dynamic_Duo

Last time, we talked about how your company needs to get aboard the Google+ Express. If you haven’t read it already, go ahead. We’ll wait.

This blog will convince any still-doubting Thomases of the power of Google+. How? We’re going to introduce you to a little thing called Google Authorship and what it means to Google+ as well as to your click-through rate (CTR).

Google Authorship was created to connect a piece of content (blog, website, etc.) with the Google+ profile of its author. This link lends an authenticity to the work itself and allows writers and thought leaders to build their brands online. It’s also no surprise that Authorship-linked content gets clicked on more.

“Google Authorship puts a face and a name to the search engine results, helping to build trust, communicate relevance, establish credibility and improve CTR — in some cases by upwards of 150 percent,” notes Gray MacKenzie, co-founder of GuavaBox. “CTR has a direct correlation to your traffic numbers.”

Using Google Authorship and Google+ together also creates a centralized curated content portfolio — a handy way for you to show people what you know.

In other words, if thought leadership is important to your business, then it stands to benefit from this boost — no matter its size or scope.
As MacKenzie notes, great content will win — it’s just a matter of when. And by using Google Authorship and Google+, you’ve got some control and influence over the “when.”

“Search engines are getting smarter and every algorithm update finds and penalizes more scammers and spammers,” MacKenzie says. “The good content will win out eventually, but you can help it along and gain an edge by leveraging the Google+ community and platform.”

How about you, dear readers? Are you using 2014’s dynamic duo yet? If so, tell us about your experiences. If not, maybe we can help.

Filed Under: Brand Engagement, Digital Engagement Tagged With: Google, Google Authorship, thought leadership

January 10, 2014 By Dawn Walnoha Leave a Comment

Google+ Will Own 2014. Are You on Board?

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The year is 2014. We still don’t have flying cars, but we do have a new social media superhero in Google+. If you’re not yet using — really using — this awesome tool to market and promote your company, consider this your “all aboard.” Because this is going to be Google+’s year.

True, Google+ is no Facebook. Next to the 1.29 billion active users on Facebook, Google+’s 540 million total users seem almost insignificant. But taken on its own, that’s a whole lot of potential customers and sales. More important, however, is the parentage factor: Just as Google’s ownership of YouTube has led to video’s increased importance to SEO rankings, Google’s involvement with Google+ has all the makings of a similar nepotistic advantage.

In fact, studies have shown that Google search rankings favor the “plusses.” Google has been shown to index the posts you share on Google+, meaning if you’re sharing content and posts about your company and its services, you’re more likely to show up in a relevant search of the same. That’s the power of Google, like it or not.

“Google+ is a total communication social network designed to create connections, distinguish thought leaders and boost Google rankings in the process,” says online marketing and media strategist Marie Alonso. “With Google using the Google+ platform to collect personal information, Google+ is increasingly being revealed by Google as a vital part of its master plan for SEO. During 2014, businesses will realize Google+ packs more SEO power than they originally anticipated and more companies will expand their Google+ profiles to make the most of this opportunity.”

In fact, many experts are making the case for thinking about Google+ as more than just another social network.

“With Google using the platform to collect personal information (demographics, location, etc.), Google+ should no longer be thought of as another social network,” adds social media trend watcher Nick Bellamy. “It’s increasingly proving itself to be an integral part of Google’s grand scheme in terms of SEO, social signals and providing a more personalized search experience.”

And we haven’t even covered Google Authorship. That’s our next post. Between now and then, may we suggest you establish and start using a Google+ account for your business if you haven’t already done so? Remember…

“At the end of the day, if you ignore Google+, there’s a good chance Google Search will ignore you,” warns digital marketing blogger Carolyn Coates.

Filed Under: Digital Engagement, Online Marketing Tagged With: Google+ Will Own 2014. Are You on Board?

January 6, 2014 By admin Leave a Comment

Full-width Post

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unsplash_5245b69bc5330_1

This is some dummy copy. You’re not really supposed to read this dummy copy, it is just a place holder for people who need some type to visualize what the actual copy might look like if it were real content.

If you want to read, I might suggest a good book, perhaps Hemingway or Melville. That’s why they call it, the dummy copy. This, of course, is not the real copy for this entry. Rest assured, the words will expand the concept. With clarity. Conviction. And a little wit.

In today’s competitive market environment, the body copy of your entry must lead the reader through a series of disarmingly simple thoughts.

All your supporting arguments must be communicated with simplicity and charm. And in such a way that the reader will read on. (After all, that’s a reader’s job: to read, isn’t it?) And by the time your readers have reached this point in the finished copy, you will have convinced them that you not only respect their intelligence, but you also understand their needs as consumers.

As a result of which, your entry will repay your efforts. Take your sales; simply put, they will rise. Likewise your credibility. There’s every chance your competitors will wish they’d placed this entry, not you. While your customers will have probably forgotten that your competitors even exist. Which brings us, by a somewhat circuitous route, to another small point, but one which we feel should be raised.

Long copy or short – You decide

As a marketer, you probably don’t even believe in body copy. Let alone long body copy. (Unless you have a long body yourself.) Well, truth is, who‘s to blame you? Fact is, too much long body copy is dotted with such indulgent little phrases like truth is, fact is, and who’s to blame you. Trust us: we guarantee, with a hand over our heart, that no such indulgent rubbish will appear in your entry. That’s why God gave us big blue pencils. So we can expunge every example of witted waffle.

For you, the skies will be blue, the birds will sing, and your copy will be crafted by a dedicated little man whose wife will be sitting at home, knitting, wondering why your entry demands more of her husband‘s time than it should.

But you will know why, won‘t you? You will have given her husband a chance to immortalize himself in print, writing some of the most persuasive prose on behalf of a truly enlightened purveyor of widgets. And so, while your dedicated reader, enslaved to each mellifluous paragraph, clutches his newspaper with increasing interest and intention to purchase, you can count all your increased profits and take pots of money to your bank. Sadly, this is not the real copy for this entry. But it could well be. All you have to do is look at the account executive sitting across your desk (the fellow with the lugubrious face and the calf-like eyes), and say ”Yes! Yes! Yes!“ And anything you want, body copy, dinners, women, will be yours. Couldn’t be fairer than that, could we?

Filed Under: Weekly Five Things You Might Have Missed Tagged With: full-width

January 6, 2014 By admin Leave a Comment

Testing the Elements

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This is a sample caption

This is a sample caption

This is some dummy copy. You’re not really supposed to read this dummy copy, it is just a place holder for people who need some type to visualize what the actual copy might look like if it were real content.

If you want to read, I might suggest a good book, perhaps Hemingway or Melville. That’s why they call it, the dummy copy. This, of course, is not the real copy for this entry. Rest assured, the words will expand the concept. With clarity. Conviction. And a little wit.

In today’s competitive market environment, the body copy of your entry must lead the reader through a series of disarmingly simple thoughts.

All your supporting arguments must be communicated with simplicity and charm. And in such a way that the reader will read on. (After all, that’s a reader’s job: to read, isn’t it?) And by the time your readers have reached this point in the finished copy, you will have convinced them that you not only respect their intelligence, but you also understand their needs as consumers. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Weekly Five Things You Might Have Missed Tagged With: clouds, landscape

January 3, 2014 By Benjamin Porter Leave a Comment

Will You Fall Victim to the 2014 Digital Detox?

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Happy 2014, loyal Brandsplat readers! There’s nothing like the start of a new year to get us thinking about improving ourselves and our lives. And in 2014, in addition to those overly-ambitious, year-long-gym-membership-buying types, we’ve got another class of Resolutioners — those among us who have pledged to spend less time online. Whether it’s doggedly reading each Facebook update about people they hardly remember from high school or following every known D-list celebrity tweeter on the planet, some people have developed bad digital habits and are looking to perform a cleanse. We salute you, digital detoxers!

Luckily, our clients are in no danger of being crossed off anyone’s list. That’s because here at Brandsplat, we make sure their content is spot-on by spending time understanding what their audience needs before we write a single word, search engine optimized or otherwise. It’s because we know there’s more to expanding our clients’ reach than cramming a bunch of keywords into a spammy post in hopes of boosting their Google page ranks. We offer our clients the real deal: Content created just for them by an informed, engaged writer whose first and only priority is to make a connection with the people their services or products are designed to help.

True, not everyone can write passionately day in and day out about topics including investment scams, telecommunications challenges or how to know if you need to hire a lawyer. But then again, not everyone writes for us — just those who like to dig deep and create interesting, informative content to bridge the gap between our clients and those who need them; those who go beyond writing a certain number of words to spec; those who care that their client’s message is making it in front of the right eyes. In other words, real professionals.

Do you have real professionals writing for your company’s blog, website or social media channels? Here’s how to check: Watch your Google Analytics numbers over the next few weeks. Are they growing by leaps and bounds? Then you don’t need us. Anything less tells you that your company may have fallen victim to the 2014 digital detox and would benefit from the great combination of smarts and heart our writers bring to their work.

Go ahead and check. We’ll wait. Our number’s below.

Filed Under: Brand Engagement Tagged With: custom content, digital detox, great writers

BRANDSPLAT creates articles, blogs, social media, and all written content in the voice of your brand. Our clients include entrepreneurs, personalities, mid-size companies, and some of the world's biggest brands.

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