Content Marketing Trends For 2015

The Internet has been an evolutionary tool for user content since the start and especially since the social networking takeover of 2002. Since then, companies have worked hard to create a welcoming online presence for both everyday followers and its clientele.

Follow examples of Fortune 500 companies that make it a point of adding social media and online marketing content into their yearly budget. Why do the big companies care about online marketing? People don’t simply experience a company from an image splashed on the page of a magazine, a billboard, or hear a name or slogan on the radio on the way to work. A company’s reach and exposure frequency is strongly related to its social media and content marketing strategy.

Follow these online strategies to ensure a positive effect for your company’s content marketing and social media strategies:

Content Creation

Storytelling is a tool that has been used to influence and educate for centuries. This is how people pass on information and facts from one to the other overtime. Nothing should change for online content.

There is a need for good journalists, editors, and broadcasters in every business sector since most business graduates today lack grammar rules and writing techniques. This is so important to connect the consumer to a product or service. Consumers want to know what a product or service can do for them. The best way to do this is to create an image or relationship in the consumer’s mind. The artists of gab are best to do this as they sculpt the perfect persona of goodwill for a particular product or service that consumer will appreciate moving him or her along in the buying process.

Keep It Brief

Don’t be so vague not enough information is given, but don’t run on endlessly your viewers lose interest quickly. Keep in mind that most people are pressed for time. Keep it short and sweet with enough information alleviating further questions. Cut the clutter and leave the knowledge behind.

Bring Your Work(s) To Life

Use infographics, animations, images, and other call-to-action elements to pull the reader in for that “wow” effect. Link your image(s) to a website or blog. Not only will this boost impressions, it will give the viewer more information and let your viewer wander online.

Keywords Count

Basically, SEO focuses on the technical elements you are specifically searching for, whereas content marketing will drive the search rankings. Prior to the social media takeover in 2002, social media and content marketing were one in the same. Presently however, social media is the social interaction online and content marketing is the literal verbal or visible substance used to market the company, like the information you see on a company’s website.

Be consistent in your articles. As you write, use the same words throughout your article to boost the relevancy of that article, in turn boosting your article’s ranking in Google’s search. For example, if your article is covering how to roast the perfect turkey, use the words “roast”, “turkey”, and “Thanksgiving” or “holidays” consistently in your article so when someone searches “how to roast a turkey” in Google, your article will have a better chance of being discovered by the person searching the web for that how-to article.

Keep Your Viewers/Readers In Mind

Remember whom you are writing to. Be mindful of your language and the information you cover in your articles. Some things might be better left unsaid depending who might be offended by what you say. If there is potential for damage, just leave that part out.

This is a new era for marketing and its strategists giving even the smallest players a chance at the big win in the game of business takeover. New ways for businesses to grow are being discovered allowing an equal playing field for all businesses at any profit level. The making for a stable and elongated online presence is at the disposal of the company. Make your marketing content count!

4 Amazing Secret Santa Gifts For The Office

The end of the year is near and the office is gearing up for holiday parties, Secret Santa, and Chinese gift exchange. If the spending limit is $20, what would you get for your special coworkers? Here are some office-friendly gifts that everyone can use!

Mug Warmer, $10

Keep your coffee or tea warm with a mug warmer. For those of you that sip cold coffee by the time you arrive at work, or don’t want to stand in line at office microwave to refresh your beverage, this will be your weekly lifesaver!

Tech-Friendly Gloves, $14

If you’re freezing in the office or prefer not to remove your gloves, you will fall in love with this perfect knit on your first wear! Innovation takes hold as these toasty gloves allow your computer to recognize any fingertip motion through the glove’s material woven together with new technology in every thread. You can also use your Smartphone for faultless social media, text messaging, and other normal phone usage as well!

State Of Emergency Kit

Never a bad idea to prepare for the unpreparable with a personal needs emergency kit ready to go at any moment. In the black tin box of only 4 x 1 x 2.5 inches, comes bandaids, breath freshener, deodorant towelette, dental floss, extra buttons, lip balm, pain reliever, adhesive bandage, needle and thread, a safety pin, nail clippers, facial tissue, and a stain remover. What more could you need?!

To-Do Mug

Never forget a task with this easily makable and erasable mug! Jot down everything you need to do and get to it!

Get your coworkers something they not only want or need, but an item to make their day just a little lighter. Help your fellow associates work more efficiently! 

Getting What You Want In Business

Have you ever wondered how people get to those higher-up positions in a company? They seem so confident and sure of themselves but all they did was use a few strategy techniques to get what they want in life. These few simple tricks that go unnoticed can help in life, your relationships, and especially your career. In my experience, attitude and how you handle or approach a situation is everything! There are only a few things to keep in mind.

Be kind. Burning bridges never gets you anywhere. And once it’s burned, good luck putting it back together.

Be different. Don’t be afraid to go about a situation in an unorthodox manner. Why? Without stepping outside appropriate behavior pertaining to language and politeness, find a way to differentiate yourself. There are over seven billion people in the world today. Imagine that you are competing with every single person … why should someone choose you? Figure out why you are special, and don’t think you aren’t! If you lack in one area you excel in another. We can’t be great at everything, but figure out what your highlights are.

Speak your mind but don’t overstep your boundaries. This goes a long way in the business realm. Let’s take a typical marketing scenario for instance. Your boss and you are creating a marketing strategy targeting young architect students right out of school. Your boss thinks you should socially post to LinkedIn as it is a professional network. However, you believe that the best social network for this target market is Facebook and Twitter, as those are the networks your audience spends most of his or her time on. What do you do? Simply voice your opinion, explain why, and if your boss does not see the light after your justification there is nothing you can do but bite your tongue. Who knows, your boss might change his or her mind later on. Either way, your insightful voice won’t go unnoticed.

Ask permission, subtly, if you ask at all. Let your hunger for power guide you and not overrule and destroy you. If you show your boss why something works better than what he or she is suggesting, rather than simply stating what needs to be done, it will illustrate your point more clearly. Better to show the zebra where the watering hole is rather than tell him which way to go.

Show some control. The second you let your emotions run wild you have lost. The less you care the more someone else will. This isn’t to say not to care, but you don’t have to wear your heart on your sleeve for all to see. Play the game. A predator waits for the right time to pounce instead of rushing into a losing battle.

Everything you do in life should be approached from a standoff point. This will allow time to think how to handle a situation before acting out drastically, resulting in detriment. Like everything else, these simply tactics take practice, but anyone can accomplish what they want if handled properly. Make a plan, ponder the execution, and then when ready, go for the gold! We believe in you! 

What Reddit Life Is All About

Founded in June of 2005 by Alexis Ohanian and Steve Huffman, Reddit has become one of the top entertainment social networking websites in the world. Reddit’s global presence contains content of text, photo, video, and direct link posts.

The name Reddit (sort of) sounds like, “I ‘read it’ on Reddit.” Reddit has users in  over 190 countries with over 5 billion total page views and over 114 million visitors per month.

At first, I was a bit perturbed by how validated the content is and who was posting, thinking to myself that anyone and everyone is on the web, so how do you know what is being shared is legit?

I went to post in the Ask Me Anything (AMA) subreddit and I had to provide a link providing confirmation that I was actually who I said I was. That made me feel better, especially when I was inspired to write my first AMA post after reading a post from USA Today reporter and American astronomer Seth Shostak, known for his extensive research for search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

Tips from seasoned Reddit users:

·      User temporary17: “If you criticize someone's post, do so constructively. Never attack the person behind the post, even if they deserve it.”

·      User greyclocks: “Don't just stay subscribed to the default subs. Find subreddits that you like or interest you. There's a subreddit for everything.”

·      User Mexican_mudkipz: “Reposting is not bad! If gives you free karma!”

·      User sheymyster: “You can pick up a lot of software super cheap. I recently built my first gaming computer and I picked up a Windows 7 ultimate key for $19, I think it's usually like $200 retail. I believe the subreddit is/r/softwareswap.”

Great tips, but what is all the talk about a “subreddit”? A subreddit is a forum dedicated to a specific topic. You can even create your own subreddit, but let’s not get too ridiculous that nobody would think to search for a keyword linking to your subreddit. These titles are not hashtags. Some of the popular subreddits are: Funny, Pics, Gaming, AskReddit, WorldNews, Politics, and Random. There are also unique subreddits like: TodayILearned, ShowerThoughts, AdviceAnimals and NotTheOnion.

If you really get into Reddit, you can work on your karma. Fellow Redditors can upvote or downvote a post, link, photo, or anything else you might share. Reddit states, “If you think something contributes to conversation, upvote it. If you think it does not contribute to the subreddit it is posted in or is off-topic in a particular community, downvote it.”

Reddit’s community has grown far and popular, offering something for everyone to read or laugh about. Reddit is an interactive community that can help get things accomplished!

Retro Logo Attracts Home Buyers

Branding is all about imagery. The colors, the shape, texture, even the layout of the images all have cognitive induced responses influencing customer’s reactions. There are certain logos that appeal to the building family more so than others. Triggers that work well for building companies are images that evoke a feeling for strong relationships, reliability, and personal interactions.

An old-school theme shows results. The new “grandpa graphic” has a 1940’s retro-styled feel and construction companies are taking advantage of how much their clients love the new look. The building and home improvement audiences like to see a logo they are familiar with.

This greatly improves upon the diversification of a construction company, as it is difficult to emerge against competitors when rivaling on a platform with the only real differences is between the products available and prices offered. The image your companies see should align with your services as well though. Do not commit to a visual upgrade if the services you provide lack in quality. Make an overall change if you are going to pledge to the change.

There are 5 prime ways to successfully brand yourself:

Know your audience

The construction industry is middle-aged. These people like what is easy, familiar, and low-cost-friendly. Look into the demographics of your customers. Know if they watch television for the news, or listen to the radio more. Are they conservative or like to live on the edge? Where your company is based will also be a factor to consider.

Uniqueness

Stand out! Even if this is giving away a free wrench with every service provided. The roofing and construction industry is a niche market since it is so technical. What is your unique product or service? What makes you different from the next contractor? If you are speechless, than some branding strategy may be in order.

Passion

Passionate people are educated people. If you are not passionate or educated learn to fake it. Make sure you can fake it for the long-run though as customers might lose interest if the short-run flair fades quickly. Think about influencers like Steve Jobs who are very passionate about their products and services. They don’t just tell you what the product or service does but describes it and will sell you on it on the simple fact that Steve Jobs is passionate.

Consistency

When customers receive a service and come back for more, they expect the same service when they return. With the saturation of the industry being filled with so many competitors consistency is something the customer can rely on. Take McDonald’s for instance … the customer knows he or she will receive the same Big Mac in Florida as in China.

Exposure

Posting on social networks helps, but posting to the right social networks has a greater effect. This relates back to the demographics of your customers. Know if he or she spends more time on Linkedin and Pinterest than Twitter and Facebook. Offer deals for customers who share your page. And remember, interacting with people is the social aspect of social networking … talk back to your patrons!

The retro logo speaks to a generation of people as well as gives light to a company in a niche market. Find a way to stand out in such a memorable way someone will have to fall through a roof to remember!

Ello - why you should support this private social network

Ello.co is the ad-free social network said to be the ‘anti-Facebook’ website gathering all who want to post – critic-free. This invite-only site was started by a small group of designers and artists on the quest seeking creative freedom.

The creators of Ello.co wanted a place unburdened by the usual advertisements stricken displays smeared across the sides of each landing page. The site is an advocate for keeping personal information private and the collection of data non-existent. A site where people can actually feel safe? Hopefully! But an anti-Facebook page? Not so much.

Ello.co is a mixture of Tumblr and Facebook. The only discrimination against Facebook is that Zuckerberg has a new competitor. Who isn’t sick of all the rules and regulations online communities enforce from the implementing process stimulated by power struggling moderators. Social distortion screams confinement concerned with what content is permitted and what is not.

The media has desensitized our youth to the point where Nicki Minaj reaches the ears of middle schoolers, so why should our social media platforms not separate posted content into appropriate censored-genres?

Ello.co allows the posting of adult-level content acting as a site for adults, created by adults. Being provocative can empower women and relinquish artistic vision upon people to influence and motivate others. Reddit promotes confrontational works in a section known as ‘NSFW’, but that doesn’t mean vulgarity is flashed for all to witness. NSFW settings are coming soon to Ello.

The beta version of Ello.co took on so much attention that the creators were not expecting that the site now updates its users throughout the building process. Blocking and muting along with @mention pre-population on user profiles and improved error handling were completed in the last beta test. Soon to come highlights will feature fluid grid noise post, enhanced user discovery, in-line emoji integration and image compression.

Black and white themed pages and simplistic-styled text make navigation through Ello relaxed for now but there will be add-ons available to enhance each user’s page starting at only $1. Users will also be able to access multiple accounts at once. First on the agenda is keeping up with the 34,000-per-hour requests to join this new social media mega takeover.

Find Ways to Cozy Up As Temperatures Drop

As the tree leaves start to change with the approaching seasons so should your home décor. It is always pleasant to walk into a comfortable home infused with warm, welcoming colors and style. Find ways to cozy up as temperatures start to drop.

Aroma Appeal

Candles are great to add smell and to be used for another heat source to any room. Yankee Candle usually has a fall sale where you can stock up all the seasonal scents at once. Cinnamon and Pumpkin are festive holiday smells to have floating in the air. Wrap a bow of ribbon around the top edge of the candle for flair.

Collective Color

Spice up any room with popping accents. Replace the couch pillows with friendly colors like burnt orange or deep-forest green. If you prefer a pattern rather than a solid color you can never go wrong with plaid or a leaves theme for fall! Earthy themes and tones have a simple, nurturing appeal.

Accentuate

Liven up any room with accents. This is easy to do on a nickel and dime! Set a chic bowl on your dining or living room table and fill with ornamental leaves and vegetables that match fall color schemes. Put some throws across the couch making it easy to bundle up during relaxation time. Rugs are also great to sink your toes into; lay rugs on the bathroom floor in front of the sink or in high-traffic hallways.

Restoration Recycling

Reinvent an item’s purpose. Recycle items by thinking of new ways to use them. Sheets can be turned into curtains since keeping the heat out is not an issue during cooler weathers. Use wooden crates to hold books, toys, or kitchen supplies, giving off a rustic feel. Chairs with sturdy frames are commonly refurbished. Spruce up a current chair color with peacock blue creating a visual contemporary meets classic charm piece.

Door Design

Don’t forget the most visually welcoming presence in your entire house: the front door! Paint or stain your front door a deep red with a matte finish and add a countryside looking wreath. Hanging a large empty photo frame is an alternative to the conventional wreath option. Update lighting fixtures and sweep the front porch too.

Staying warm is key to getting through the colder seasons, but mental warmth is always the most important and self-satisfying factor.