High-ROI Content & Other Content Marketing News

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Big data stole the spotlight this week in the marketing realm, as a recent study revealed that companies plan to dramatically increase their spending on analytics in the years to come.

However, regardless of how many resources your business puts towards analyzing metrics, the intelligence can’t repair a broken strategy. As Wes Nichols pointed out this week in Forbes, it’s every content marketers challenge to take a more agile stance, so they’re prepared for the upcoming flood of insights.

To inspire you to action, we’ve curated 5 of the brightest content marketing stories of the week:

Create High-ROI Video Content Marketing With Google+ Hangouts on Air

For many companies, cost and lack of access to high-quality video production are barriers to visual content creation. Your ability to drag your feet on video content is about to vanish, thanks to this incredibly relevant read by Mary Montserrat-Howlett on Content Marketing Institute. Not only is there a mind-bogglingly impressive case study on the power of video, there’s loads of examples of real-life brands using Google+ Hangouts on Air to build an audience, create brand personality, and improve their SEO thanks to AuthorRank and Exposure. Everything you need to know to begin connecting and uploading videos directly to your YouTube channel with this free platform is included.

For more fresh ideas, dive into Visual Content Marketing Insights from 13 Genius Thought Leaders.

B2B Content Marketing Report – Need to Focus on the Basics

Do you know the biggest challenge facing B2B content marketers today? You may be shocked to learn that it isn’t actually creating enough content, or leveraging enough social platforms. It’s targeting; the art of creating content that ideal customers actually want to consume. Michael Brenner, VP of Marketing at SAP applied perfectly actionable analysis to this key finding from the recent CMO Council report. His primary advice? Stop focusing so much on self-promotion and random acts of content development, and build a solid strategy that will inspire trust in your prospects. There’s an abundance of food for thought in his interpretation of the report’s findings, which could change the way you approach your work.

For other fresh findings, check out 28 Indispensable Research Reports and Case Studies for Small Business.

The 3 Biggest Objections to Content Marketing Buy-In, and How to Address Them

Content marketing is tricky enough without having to convince anyone that it’s worth their time and budget. However, despite the numerous research reports and case studies which reveal the power of custom content, some marketers are faced with the daunting task of convincing their boss to start blogging for business. Startup marketer Alex Clifford artfully addressed several of the biggest perceived barriers to content marketing, which include cost, perceived pointlessness, or the challenge of tracking ROI. Whether you’re preparing to petition for more content marketing, or you’re at an organization that’s committed to content, this read is sure to inspire and remind you that you’re on just the right path.

Improve Your Blogging and Increase Traffic: 3 Tips

Image courtesy of Kromkrathog / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The title of this article is really a bit of a misnomer. It’s actually jam-packed with some of the most brilliant thought on content promotion we’ve encountered anywhere in recent memory. Interactive Marketing Expert Jonathan Payne sat down with Ashley Verrill of Software Advice to talk about advanced tactics for driving traffic to your content marketing. From using search engines before you start writing to determine whether your concept is sufficiently original, to using keyword strategy more naturally in your content marketing, her insights are fresh and definitely inspired by her expert experience. Whether your goals in the week to come include better targeted follower acquisition on Twitter, or finally delving into Google+ groups, best practices are almost certainly addressed in this read.

For more of the latest on content promotion, check out Content Promotion Strategy: 23 Proven Ways to Explode Your Website Traffic.

How to Streamline Your Wordpress Blogging Workflow

It’s challenging to streamline the process of content marketing, and cutting corners can result in lower quality, which should be avoided at all costs. A marketer’s best bet for getting more out of each work day is to carefully examine their processes and workflows to become more efficient, so they can focus longer on quality blog creation. In a fabulous guest post on Jeff Bullas’ blog, entrepreneur Syed Balkhi provides a step-by-step overview of how he streamlined his own content creation process, including tools for visualizing processes, and communication best practices for large teams. It’s clear that content marketers on teams of any size can benefit from the lean principals illustrated in this inspiring article.

Did you experiment with any brilliant content marketing tactics this week that paid off dividends in traffic and leads? Have you used Google+ to create video content? Share your thoughts in the comments – we can’t wait to discuss!