Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

According to Jeff Bullas, articles with images get 94% more total views than articles without images. Ninety-four percent! If I were to tell you that you could expand your reach by 94% by doing something fairly simple, I'm guessing you wouldn't think twice.

Of course, "simple" is relative. I don't mean you should take five minutes to scope  out some stock photos   and then insert them randomly into your posts. To get more eyeballs on your blog, you'll have to be more strategic than that -- and this blog post will help you get started with that strategy.

Follow the eight tips below  to learn data-driven tips that will help you squeeze the most value out of images in your blog posts....

Your blog is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful inbound marketing tools at your disposal. In fact, it's practically a marketing Swiss army knife: it enables you to regularly publish content, boost your website's search engine optimization, establish your industry thought leadership and expertise, and it also provides content fodder for your other marketing channels such as social media and email marketing.

But one of blogging's biggest benefits is in its huge potential for lead generation and reconversion. So if you're not taking advantage of all the lead generation opportunities your blog offers -- and then optimizing those opportunities -- you're likely missing out on a huge piece of your company's lead gen pie.

But have no fear! In this post, we'll walk you through all the various lead gen opportunities you can take advantage of on your blog, and even give you some great tips for optimizing those opportunities to make sure you're squeezing every last lead out of your business blog....

Overwhelmed by the streams of fast-moving information online? Check out our TOP 25 internet marketing blogs – a list of absolute must-follows!

If you’re anything like me – always looking for ways to save time, make the most of the resources you have, and stay on track with news and events in your industry – you need a quality reading list. Thanks to the growing number of blogs popping up online, digging through the abundance of content to find resources that consistently provide value is challenging.

As you can see in the following graph from Statista, the total volume of posts and blogs is continously growing – and – yes, it can be easy to  miss important stuff from leading internet marketing blogs....

A brand story is made up of all that you are and all that you do. From the company’s history, mission, inspiration, goals, audience, and raison d’être, it’s why you exist. Your story is the people, places, and ideas that your company thrives on. It’s the foundation that keeps a brand going and growing. It’s a blend of those vital little core pieces of information about your business — how you came to be, why your products or services are special, what you’re passionate about, your company culture, how you make people’s lives better, and why you would do business with your company.

Brand stories can be told in many different forms, with an evolving story line and cast of characters, but content creators must be vigilant about continuity and consistency, avoiding any holes. Your brand’s story has to resonate with people at a level that goes way beyond what’s tangible — the functionality, features, and benefits of your products or services — to create a deep, emotional connection with your audience. You have to create something that they want to be a part of and show that you really “get” who they are and what they need.

Here are a few basic questions to answer to help you pull your story out of its box

Online readers may have a harder time remembering news stories than print readers, according to a recent study from the University of Houston.

The study got two groups of university students to read the news and recall what they read. For 20 minutes, one group of 25 read a hardcopy of the New York Times, while another 20 read the newspaper's online version. Both groups were required to abstain from the news for the day until the study session, and participants weren't told that they would be tested on their recollection of what they read.

The results: although both groups read similar amounts, print readers remembered an average of 4.24 news stories, while online readers recalled an average of 3.35 stories....

Sometimes the hype of social media outstrips common sense. This is one of those times.

There seems to be a growing amount of buzz and attention about creating a “social enterprise.” This is a good thing. Complicated, but good.

But somehow in this same conversation there is this expectation that the CEO, CMO, and other executives should blog and tweet. This was the topic of a lively debate with some friends at SXSW recently and it was heated enough that I thought that perhaps this is an issue for some readers too....

What is this terrifyingly important factor?

It’s the offer you make your customers — the thing (or package of things) you offer in exchange for money. And it’s critical because in the real world, you can’t sell a product or service that your customers just don’t want to buy. There’s no “hypnotic” marketing that can trick people into buying something they have no desire or need for.

But that’s not to say “just be awesome and your business will sell itself.” Great copywriting offers rarely happen by accident — they’re crafted. So here are some resources to help you out with that....

While Tumblr now has over 100 million blogs, it is still the most overlooked social media network for brands. Currently, only 31% of the top 100 brands have adopted a Tumblr account. Social media analytics and reporting platform Simply Measured performed a study showing just how these top brands were performing and some of the tactics employed.

Of these 31 companies tracked, 21 were active in the past 30-day period (July 5th through August 4th). This places Tumblr as the sixth most popular social network behind Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and Instagram.

Of the 21 active brands on Tumblr, 13 post 3+ times a week, 7 post daily (7+) and 6 posted more than 10 times a week.  Of the top brands active on Tumblr the average number of posts per day was 0.7 posts, with an average “note per post” of 1,462. The shelf-life on Tumblr engagement is much higher than other traditional social networks with 29% of reblogs occurring after the initial 30-day period. Even more, only 36% of reblogs happen on that same day, and posts will see 51% of total reblogs within the first week....

In copywriting, the word ‘we’ is a really, really bad word. But why is ‘we’ a really, really bad word? It’s because it’s used when we talk about ourselves, about our business. But guess what! Your customers and prospects don’t want to hear about you, they want to hear about them. They want to know that you understand their problems, their needs and they want you to show them how rosy their future will be once they’ve bought your product or used your service.

So here’s what you do. Go through all your emails, your website, your leaflets and cut out the word “we”. Change the sentence so it focuses on your customer or prospect by using the word “you”. Do this on all you copywriting, even on your About Us page on your website. Tip: Show them how you can solve their problems don’t talk about your XX years’ experience or your awards.

Hands down, blogging is one of the best content marketing strategies. Blogging is attributed to 55% more visitors to a company’s website, and blogs are 63% more likely to influence a consumer’s purchasing decision.Additionally, blogging helps your personal branding efforts by showcasing your knowledge to a wide audience. However, blogging is not the only type of content marketing you can create to show your expertise. If you want to create different types of written content, here are seven content marketing ideas you may want to consider:...