A lot of companies have embraced the idea of content for use in marketing. This being said, there's much more to the practice of content marketing than just cranking out content. B2B companies with complex sales that overlook the strategy and process will find themselves in the weeds in short order. I'm working with a lot of companies who are really trying to evolve the practice of content marketing, but I'm also talking to a lot of companies who just want content and quick-fire campaigns. DemandGen Report. This often means that skill sets need to evolve, as well as thinking. MORE >>

McKinsey recently learned a difficult lesson about what happens when the world takes your thought leadership marketing seriously—and when you lack the ability to respond in the moment through social media. The trouble started when the McKinsey Quarterly published an article in early June entitled How US health care reform will affect employee benefits,  based on a survey the firm did about what will happen to employer-sponsored health care insurance coverage when the President’s health care law goes into effect in 2014. textbook example of pragmatic thought leadership. And so it did. MORE >>

For anyone in marketing or PR being asked to make “data-driven&# decisions “based on the numbers&# (and doesn’t that include pretty much everyone in marketing and PR these days?), the sources below provide a vast wealth of data, statistics and research results, as well as a bit of interesting social media trivia. How are consumers and b2b decision makers using social media in their buying processes? Which social media platforms are most effective at influencing buyer behavior? How do the audiences differ across various social networks? Social Media Facts and Stats. Adam T. MORE >>

Over the Labor Day weekend, I had the pleasure of working on my first website using the Genesis Framework from StudioPress. say pleasure because it happened to be my husband’s new photography site, and it was the first theme he’s chosen that didn’t lead me to using a string of obscenities that might actually shock people who regularly watch HBO. His previous choices of themes have included several from ThemeForest, and I must say that while they did have beautiful designs, they also had some of the worst set of installation and setup instructions I have ever seen. Enjoy! MORE >>

Should you ignore negative tweets? If not, what should you do? It’s a question which keeps coming up as marketers and companies get more and more involved in social media. Among most social media evangelists and analysts (I don’t like the term “expert”), the consensus appears to be that a negative comment is an opportunity for you to shine via social media channels such as Twitter. Social media marketing Social media monitoring customer service negative tweets social media marketing social media monitoring Twitter MORE >>