tips | Internet Marketing Blog

How to be a formidable content curator: a 17-step guide

Over the past few years I must have heard the phrase ‘everyone is a publisher nowadays’ a thousand times or more. It’s largely accurate, due to the rise of social media, but I think we are mainly ‘curators’, as opposed to ‘publishers’.

Content curation is something that many of us will be familiar with, even if we don’t think of ourselves as curators. We instinctively find and share interesting content with our personal and professional networks. We follow others who share the kind of links that engage and entertain.

Yesterday the clearly charming Adam Vincenzini described my Twitter feed as "all killer and no filler". I know perfectly well that a bunch of my tweets can be filed under ‘utter rubbish’, but I must be doing something right.

As such here are my 17 tips to help you become even better at content curation, with one eye on Twitter, my platform of choice for sharing.

by Chris Lake 16 May 2012 12:25pm 19 comments

Facebook Edgerank: what marketers need to know

It's been nine months since I wrote the original Ultimate Guide to the Facebook Edgerank Algorithm. I was amazed to see the reaction to the piece.

It clearly seemed to strike a chord as it went on to be the most popular guest post on Econsultancy in 2012.

But a lot has changed since then in the world of Facebook. As I'm currently putting together a presentation for the upcoming Econsultancy Digital Shorts event in Manchester on Edgerank and other social algorithms, now seemed the perfect time to revisit the piece to update and expand it.

by Kelvin Newman 03 May 2012 11:29am 29 comments

What you should really do on Twitter

Business users coming to Twitter receive some advice that may not help them in the long run. Here’s an alternative view.

I have now composed over 12,000 Tweets. Laid end to end, they’d make a decent-sized book. A really boring, intensely repetitive book about eating soup, last night’s TV and, from time to time, a little bit of copywriting.

When it comes to Tweeting, I’ve earned my stripes.

I’m not saying I’m a ‘social media expert’. But I do find that my experience clashes with some of the received wisdom about using Twitter for business. Here are five pinches of salt to go with some of the stuff you might read online.

by Tom Albrighton 20 March 2012 09:34am 4 comments

Is your SEO costing a fortune and not providing any return?

The discipline of search engine optimization has marketing leaders around the world asking: “What do people search for when they are looking for my products or services?”

This is where solution-based SEO comes into play, and nearly any business can beef up its search rankings simply by thinking outside the box.

All too often, business owners insist on overloading their keyword strategy with industry jargon keywords. They assume that everyone is searching for their business in the exact same way that they are searching.

But, the fact of the matter is that everyone searches differently. Some people will search by industry jargon, some with long phrases, others with single words.

Some people ask a question, while others are searching for a solution to a problem and are not really sure what exactly it is that they are looking for.

by Jennifer Dunphy 19 March 2012 20:12pm 8 comments

10 top tips for building your email list

A friend of mine asked me recently “how do I get my email lists going?”. He knew he needed to get his message out to more people, but wondered how you go about building up your own lists without buying in any data?

In the recent 2012 Econsultancy Email Census, sponsored by Adestra, when asked, “Which three areas of email marketing do you really need to focus on in 2012?” segmentation came up top, but worryingly list/data quality has moved to fourth place.

We all know it, but data is the key to effective email marketing. Having a good quality, up-to-date email database puts you up front in terms of deliverability and optimising your results. It’s also the basis for delivering relevant communications.

Getting your data collection and your list right from the start can make or break your email marketing plans. Here are 10 tips for building your list size without buying in data.

by Steve Denner 09 March 2012 11:26am 6 comments

10 slideshows to help you create killer presentations in 2012

Most of the digital professionals I know need to create at least one slideshow a year, whether for an internal meeting, a client briefing or a conference talk.

All too often I see slideshows that contain great content and ideas, but sometimes the slides are cluttered and confusing, or worse, boring.

Thankfully help is at hand, to enable you to create wonderful slides in 2012.

by Chris Lake 14 December 2011 12:33pm 4 comments

10 great Google Analytics walkthroughs

Over the past 12 months, our guest bloggers have written some excellent step by step guides to help marketers make the most of Google Analytics.

Here are ten of the best, including phone call tracking, timing of emails, measuring Twitter traffic, and viewing regional search traffic.

by Graham Charlton 12 December 2011 12:11pm 2 comments

Five tips for building a healthy corporate culture

A lot is made of 'corporate culture' and many companies are keen to develop cultures that promote the success of both their businesses and employees.

But building a corporate culture is hard work. Case in point: the recent reports that Zynga was seeking to claw back equity from some employees has sparked a discussion about corporate culture in Silicon Valley, which can stereotypically be summed up as, "Work hard, work harder until you get bought out or IPO".

by Patricio Robles 30 November 2011 11:42am 2 comments

Christmas shoppers don't trust etailers to deliver on time

46% of the UK's online shoppers are planning to leave their Christmas shopping until the last minute this year, despite the majority having little faith in the ability of retailers to deliver in time for the big day.

This stat comes from an online Christmas shopping survey of 1,000 UK consumers carried out for Eptica, which also looked at how retailers were providing information on delivery.

So what can retailers do to appeal to last minute shoppers and reassure them about delivery?

by Graham Charlton 23 November 2011 14:15pm 9 comments

How to run a Twitterchat: 11 practical tips

Twitterchats are organised, non-linear, fast-paced conversations using Twitter where participants discuss themes and questions about a given topic.

With its speed, ease of use, accessibility and limited character format, Twitter provides an effective tool for individuals to discuss or unite around a theme or topic and Twitterchats have evolved from webchats and forum discussions.

So, how do you plan and run a Twitterchat?

by Michelle Goodall 09 November 2011 13:54pm 3 comments