do corporate blogs offer an improved alternative to the customer survey?
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Why Social Media Marketing Isn’t Really Free
Nothing is free in this world — not even social media marketing, says Tom Johansmeyer of The Cross Border Group.
Corporate Blogging: How to Wrangle Your Best Writers
For the corporate blog manager, getting internal team members to contribute can often be frustrating — but they’re not entirely to blame.
Social Media Marketing: What’s the Value of a Retweet?
We all want more followers and on Twitter, but what kind of value does a retweet really provide to your business? According to Tom Johansmeyer, group marketing director at Cross Border, there’s actually little to no value in retweets — unless it directly translates to revenue. Johansmeyer says that having more retweets than reads isn’t an uncommon phenomenon for some posts (he’s seen it firsthand). How does a company get away from the fool’s gold that retweets are offering? It begins with an understanding of value. If you’re getting retweeted, but it’s not being reflected in your sales funnel at all, you…
Inside the ROI of Social Media Marketing
One of the most common knocks on social media marketing is the challenge it poses to the analytically inclined. And while this is a legitimate concern, there are a number of ways to accurately measure the impact your social media marketing is having, explains Tom Johansmeyer, group marketing director at Cross Border. Social media is about more than just communication, he says in this short video. It can create traceable revenue — if used correctly. Once you decide to comprehensively track your social media activities, you’ll quickly see what goes on behind the scenes — and a lot of it…
Is the Corporate Blog a PR Alternative?
Many corporate blogs are launched with the goal of acquiring additional press pinned squarely on them. For the blogs, this does more harm than good. Such an approach is misguided. The blogging will be inauthentic, and readers will quickly identify the ruse. You’re far more likely to reach your PR goals if you change your perspective on the corporate blog itself. It is not a means to an end. Instead, it’s an alternate route, according to Tom Johansmeyer, group marketing director at Cross Border. A corporate blog should be an add-on to your current PR efforts. It is not a substitute.…
Corporate Blogging: The Value of Editorial Calenders
Editorial calendars offers more to marketers than what meets the eye. The main benefit — having prepared editorial content items at the ready — is often mistakenly assumed to be the only incentive to use an editorial calendar. But according to Tom Johansmeyer, group marketing director at Cross Border, there is a hidden benefit to editorial calendars. By using an editorial calendar, you can tap in-house resources such as a legal team or other editorial experts to screen the content before it is released to the masses. This way, says Johansmeyer in this short video, you can prevent grammatical blunders or even worse, legal…
Corporate Blogging: Considerations for Search Engine Optimization
One of the main marketing advantages of corporate blogging is that it provides an excellent platform to improve your company’s visibility in search. For that reason, Tom Johansmeyer of Cross Border advises companies to have an endgame in mind when crafting SEO-fused copy. Don’t retrofit your SEO practices to your goal, says Johansmeyer in this short video; if you have a product you’re trying to push, create copy with it in mind. Without a proactive approach to SEO writing, he says, you’re unlikely to get the most value out of your corporate blogging efforts. For more on factoring SEO into your content…
Adding Visual Elements to Increase the Appeal of Your Blog
Vanilla content can get boring rather quickly. Instead of scaring away visitors of your corporate blog, you should look for ways to make their stay more pleasant. Visual elements can help. Tom Johansmeyer, group marketing director at Cross Border, provides some ideas for applying artwork and graphics to your corporate blog in this short video. He says that visual elements are a terrific option to break up the monotony that comes with heaps of content. Not only that, but it will keep readers’ attention better. For more advice from Tom, watch the video from OpenView Labs.
Do Blogs Really Need a Comments Section?
Not necessarily, says Tom Johansmeyer, group marketing director at Cross Border. In this short video, Johansmeyer aims to debunk the notion that all blogs need a comments section for legitimacy. He asserts that they don’t, noting that the content should make a blog — not the comments. Engagement is created through content, he adds. What’s the alternative? Instead of fixating on comments, start pointing your visitors toward your sales funnel. For more on comments in blogs, watch the video from OpenView Labs featuring Johansmeyer.