Content Rules  ## Metadata - Author: [[Ann Handley, C.C. Chapman, and David Meerman Scott]] | [[3. Resources/Authors/Ann Handley, C.C. Chapman, and David Meerman Scott|Ann Handley, C.C. Chapman, and David Meerman Scott]] - Full Title: Content Rules - Category: #books - Kindle: [Open in Kindle](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004CFB030) - Document Tags: [[Marketing]], [[Writing]] ## Document Notes ## Highlights - Content may rule, but your online content must be the right sort of content: Customer-focused. Authentic. Compelling. Entertaining. Surprising. Valuable. Interesting. In other words, you must earn the attention of people. ([Location 254](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=254)) - Specifically, creating content as a cornerstone of your marketing can: Attract customers. Educate your buyers about a purchase they are considering. Overcome resistance or address objections. Establish your credibility, trust, and authority in your industry. Tell your story. Build buzz via social networks. Build a base of fans and inspire customers to love you. ([Location 473](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=473)) - Inspire impulse buys. ([Location 480](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=480)) - Blogs Subscribers. The number of people who have subscribed to your blog via RSS or e-mail to get the latest content automatically. Inbound links. The number of other sites that are linking to your site. Most search engines, like Google or Bing or Yahoo!, can display this number for you. Comments. How much interaction do you have in the comments section of your blog? This is a good measure of how engaged your readers are. Social validation. How many people socially validated your content by liking it on Facebook, tweeting it on Twitter, or otherwise sharing it through social channels? ([Location 773](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=773)) - Photo and Video Views. All photo- and video-sharing services will display the number of views. If you share across multiple services, you will need to add these numbers up or use a service such as TubeMogul to do it for you. (You can also post to several video platforms via TubeMogul, by the way.) Likes, thumbs-ups, and favorites. Similar to blogs, most services have some form of so-called social validation, like the ability to like or favorite a video. ([Location 780](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=780)) - Webinars Signups and attendees. How many people took the time to fill out your registration form? How many of them actually showed up on the date and at the time to take part in the event? How many viewed it later, on demand? ([Location 785](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=785)) - Ebooks or White Papers Downloads. How many people downloaded a copy of your ebook or white paper? ([Location 788](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=788)) - Worry more about creating remarkable content; worry less about being professional. ([Location 925](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=925)) - 6. E-mail blast Businesses often use this phrase to describe an offer they've e-mailed to their subscriber list. The problem is that it suggests a certain disrespect. Are you a spammer? If so, then you've blasted. Legitimate businesses mailing a legitimate offer to an opt-in subscriber list? Not so much. Instead: How about newsletter, e-mail offer, or subscriber update ([Location 1204](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=1204)) - 13. Users A dehumanizing word that strips people of any individuality and humanity. Online marketers and drug dealers are the only two industries that refer to their customers as users, says Gerry McGovern, author of The Stranger's Long Neck: How to Deliver What Your Customers Really Want Online (A&C Black, 2010). Instead: How about people? Customers? Friends? Or how about calling out the specific group of people you want to engage—crafters, movie buffs, dog lovers, swimming pool installers, or what have you? ([Location 1246](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=1246)) - “1-7-30-4-2-1.” ([Location 1401](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=1401)) - 1 = Daily ([Location 1403](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=1403)) - 7 = Weekly ([Location 1411](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=1411)) - 30 = Monthly ([Location 1416](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=1416)) - 4 = Quarterly ([Location 1427](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=1427)) - once or twice a year, think about content marketing activities that are more of “a celebration, an event, an announcement,” ([Location 1437](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=1437)) - “Brand journalism is not a product pitch,” David Meerman Scott writes in his blog. “It is not an advertorial. It is not an egotistical spewing of gobbledygook-laden, stock-photo enhanced corporate drivel.” Rather, the person you hire will convey your company's true story in a compelling way, by doing all of the things this book lays out: uncovering the stories about your brand and how your customers are using it; narrating them in a human, accessible way; and sparking conversation about your company, its customers, or its ([Location 1881](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=1881)) - Go big, or go tactical. MarketingProfs produces two flavors of webinars: how-to webinars that offer specific, tactical information, and (alternatively) big-thinking, inspirational, or high-level strategic seminars, often featuring big names in business or marketing rock stars. ([Location 3054](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=3054)) - Use authentic video and images. Boring stock images on presentations (or in other marketing materials, for that matter) detract from your presentation. Don't let your slides look like everyone else's. Seek out images or video from actual customers or employees, or look for interesting public images—for example, search Flickr to find unique images. (Go to http://flickr.com/search/advanced and search only within the Creative Commons license that allows use with proper attribution to the original photographer. And then, of course, remember to give attribution in your presentation.) ([Location 3090](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=3090)) - Moderators matter. Choose your moderator wisely. A good, responsive moderator can make the difference between an awesome and an awful webinar. “A good moderator improves the experience for the audience,” says Shelley. That includes keeping things moving at an energetic, brisk clip; paying attention to feedback or audience chat (and responding both publicly and privately to specific audience comments); and managing the questions from the audience (knowing when to interrupt the speaker to ask a clarifying question, for example, or posting relevant links in the chat window from resources referred to during the presentation). That person also moderates the Q&A period at the end or throughout the presentation. ([Location 3112](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=3112)) - PowerPoint presentation PDF. People like printing a hard copy of the presentation slides. We don't really understand why, but they do. ([Location 3147](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=3147)) - MarketingProfs: www.mpdailyfix.com/do-your-pdfs-have-embedded-sharing-options ([Location 3419](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=3419)) - Connect your blog to your web site. Make sure your blog and other content is clearly connected to your main web pages. Business blogs can be a key source of new traffic from search engines and social media, Mike says; a blog post—and not your home page—may be the first thing a potential customer sees about your company. Set up your blog as part of your corporate site either as a subdomain (blog.yourdomain.com) or as a page (yourdomain.com/blog). Also, be sure the navigation and the overall look and feel of your blog links it visually to the rest of your site as well as makes it easy for users to find information about your products and services. ([Location 4507](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004CFB030&location=4507)) ## Related by Author - [[3. Resources/Readwise/Books/Everybody Writes|Everybody Writes]]