Guest post by Greg Narain (@gregarious), co-founder of Chute, a social media platform that helps brands and publishers obtain rights to UGC content. Customer-contributed stories are not only powerful, they’re also influential and important. Yesterday, customers conveyed their stories through text and voice. Today, we’ve moved to visually rich tools like photos and videos. While compelling to look at at face value, there’s quite a bit more hidden within. Ever one of these stories affords us much more than just…
Your Brand: The Next Media Company – Become A Content Organization
Guest post by Michael Brito, author of Your Brand: The Next Media Company There are four fundamental truths shaping today’s digital ecosystem, which I outline in my upcoming book, Your Brand: The Next Media Company. Number one. There is a content and media surplus in the market place. There’s no shortage of advertising, marketing messages, mobile devices or social interruptions trying to command our attention, daily. Number two. There is an attention deficit in the minds of consumers. Our brains…
Content is King! Amazon Invests Millions In Original TV Shows…But Why?
My friend Tim Stenovec (@TimSteno) just published a great story on Amazon’s move to create original programming a la Netflix for The Huffington Post. He was kind enough to include me in his article (thank you Tim). He sent along a few questions as I was boarding my flight from NY to LA. As Tim was on deadline, I needed to send a thoughtful response as soon as I’d have the opportunity to turn my phone back on. The quote…
The 4 C’s of the Conversation Company: still a long road ahead for most companies
Guest post by Steven Van Belleghem (@steven_insites) One of the key challenges in the social business/conversation world is: how can companies honestly be customer-oriented. In my research, I learned that four pillars help companies to move forward in this challenge. These four dimensions are: Customer experience, Conversation management, Content marketing and Collaboration with clients. Customer Experience: people love to talk about your service and your products. It is the key driver of consumer conversations. Conversation: the story of my previous…
Why Brands are Becoming Publishers [video]
Is content still king? According to Deanna Brown, CEO, Federated Media Publishing, “Content, in the right context, is ultimately king.” Welcome to the evolution of publishing, where storytelling, advertising, and technology intersect. By having unhindered access to social and mobile media platforms, brands are experimenting with paid, owned, and earned media to reach connected consumers in their channels of relevance. As brands dabble in publishing, traditional marketing and advertising networks are also evolving. Federated Media is no stranger to the…
The New Social Producers
Miles Fisher may not be a household name, but chances are, you may have already seen his work. Perhaps you’ve seen his Tom Cruise spoof in Superhero movie or the clip that’s still making the rounds on the Web. Or maybe you’ve seen his clever rendition of “This Must be the Place” by the Talking Heads shots as a video homage to American Psycho. While many hopeful souls move to Hollywood with dreams of getting discovered and becoming the next…
A Social Publishing Model from Intel: “iQ”
Guest post by Bryan Rhoads, global content strategy, Intel Today’s web is an endless 24/7 cycle fed by content and social actions. In this cycle, brands are realizing that content is currency and social actions are the transactions in this marketplace for eyeballs and attention. To remain relevant, not only do brands need to produce more interesting, useful and more timely content, they need to adapt to a new “social publishing model” to best feed the social graph and this…
Report: Content and the New Marketing Equation
Rebecca Lieb, my colleague at Altimeter Group released a new report, “Content: The New Marketing Equation Why Organizations Must Rebalance.” The report helps organizations find balance in the creation of effective content strategies while delivering value to stakeholders and consumers and also the bottom line. It’s safe to assume that the attention of the audience as we knew it is waning. And when we look at the online and mobile behavior of connected customers, a sense of responsibility emerges as…
Going Global by Going Local: Why localization improves engagement
Part 15 in an ongoing series that serves as the prequel to my new book, The End of Business as Usual… The world is becoming a much smaller place. But even with social media contributing to a globally connected society, businesses that continue to take a global approach to social content and engagement may be missing opportunities for greater resonance and relevance. While a global presence is necessary for any organization hoping to connect with customers around the world, placing…
How Marketing Automation will Need to Evolve to Survive
Meghan Keaney Anderson is a marketing manager at HubSpot, a marketing software company in Cambridge, MA that makes marketing automation software. We are all seeking a way to scale personal attention. The great promise of marketing automation is that it enables you to trigger messages based on a visitor’s actions on your site, ideally sending messages when they are most relevant rather than spam. But whether you are a B2B or B2C marketer, you can recognize that buyer-behavior is ever-changing….