It's a long list this week. I frequently find that the number of tabs I have open in my browsers (yes, multiple) has reached double figures just collecting articles to read. Yes, I know I should use a reader to help with this. Instead, for the best stuff, the stuff I really want to keep and reference time and time again, I use Evernote. Some of this list was saved a while back, but I've cleared out my tabs today so you've got a mix of new and not so new. But just because something isn't hot of the press, doesn't mean it can't teach you something. 

CONTENT & COPYWRITING

10 online copywriting mistakes from Econsultancy

I'm largely a huge fan of Econsultancy. They're on the pulse, have a great tone of voice, are open to topical debate and, apart from the odd Oxford comma, are a pretty good team of writers. This offering is one such example.

6 types of visual content you need to use in your marketing campaigns from KissMetrics

This ain't rocket science, but sometimes a simple list helps to focus why we're creating all this content and how best to use it.

Five steps to establish a content-creating company culture from Grow

This is not an easy task and neither will it be a fast one. But demonstrate what you can with what you've got and take it from there. Becoming a content king one piece at a time.

Nine free content planning tools to kickstart your campaign from Econsultancy

While you're convincing those with the purse strings that content is king, you'll need fab free tools like these to also demonstrate you know how to manage all that 'stuff'.

Facebook rewards longer content: here's what we found from Spin Sucks

Think about it. If you can catch the eye of your audience in those milliseconds before they scroll onto the next post, you've got them. One of my favourite examples of the success of long content on Facebook is the Isles of Scilly Police. In nailing a hilarious 'brand personality' and telling stories through their Facebook posts, they're reach goes far beyond the Scilly community. 

 

BLOGGING

Need ideas for your business blog? Here are 50 from Entrepreneur

The author of this article thinks they're being generous. You may think I'm being generous in passing this on. In reality, you might only pull a handful of ideas from this list. If you use all 50, good luck figuring out your next 50.

How to create a "lead generation pipeline" with your blog (part 1) from Marketing Land

This is partly about blogging and naturally partly about content. But it's also about sales. Combine all three, preferably without your readership realising, and you could be on to something.

 

EMAIL MARKETING

How we got a 127% increase in click-throughs by redesigning our email template from Campaign Monitor

When was the last time you created a new email template? And when did you last A/B test one template against another? Depending on your answers to those questions will depend how surprised you are by the outcomes of the test discussed in this article. 

Put simply: your emails should have a content/visual hierarchy and an obvious as well as engaging call to action (CTA). 

Email design is important too, but prove that one to yourself by doing an html/plain text A/B test sometime. Let me know how you get on...

27 lead generation ideas you can implement immediately from optinmonster

This headline made me chuckle. I may even have rolled my eyes while serving a wry smile. It reminded me of the social media love for any article that provides tips for getting your baby to sleep. In other words, yes they're lovely ideas but you can't possibly implement them all at the same time and some will definitely only work for some businesses.

 

BRAND

It's time to change the way we measure brand value from The Drum

Is this the holy grail of measuring brand awareness? Enter the relationship between brand perception and buying behaviour. No, this is not the gold at the end of the rainbow, just another metric. And unless you've got a corporate budget, probably one to pass on for now.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA

20 essential daily social media tasks from SmartWebsiteMarketing

Need we say more...

How do you track if your social media traffic is converting? from RazorSocial

A layman's introduction to the valuable bit of social media. Next time your boss asks you why you're doing it, you'll be armed.

Top 10 reasons your brand needs to be on Pinterest from Forbes

I've been away from Pinterest for a while but the stats in this article do what they should: say it all. More traffic, greater conversion, higher user spend. If you're not there... Be square.

How Made.com succeeds on Pinterest by Econsultancy

And here's how the pros do it...

 

Unlucky for some, but I hope these are useful for you. 

Until next time...