I recently attended a conference where a major financial institution proudly displayed its new automated content curation system. Basically, their answer to the content marketing dilemma every company is facing is to use an outside company to skim off the best financial-services content around the web and present it on their site as a value-added customer service. mean, why spend the time and money to create original content when you can curate unlimited content from the web and present it as your own customer portal? An intoxicating idea. They’re not. MORE >>

It was a straight-forward post with a powerful message: We’re entering an era where the content is being produced faster than ever, but our attention spans are not. He suggested three possible responses: Create increasingly spectacular content (be more amazing). Create content at a lower cost (reduce the time invested in generating content). Place your content in front of existing audiences (PR, News-jacking, guest blogging). Produce the best content you can, even if it means staying tightly focused on a few topics. You can choose two.” Sound familiar? MORE >>

I’m even getting inquiries about this supposedly newfangled term: content marketing. So why is a “visual” kind of guy excited about content? It all revolves around this soon to be ubiquitous term, content marketing. Sure a firm can dive into analytics to measure traffic, find the search words people are using to find them, and the type of content they seek. Brand differentiation is now easier and a more enjoyable process than ever and our friend, social media, um, content marketing, is the ticket to the dance. It’s all about the content. MORE >>

“A link, a funny photo, a famous quote, or even a recipe or coupon are legitimate types of content, but these are not the types of content that will optimize your social media presence and bring you powerful, lasting results.”  let’s take a journey together up the content creation curve: Tweets/Status Updates. But consistent blogging does create a valuable body of work that can lead to dedicated fans and a base of content that can establish a voice of authority. And blog posts can create conversations and engagement like no other content form. MORE >>

Search engines give preference to websites that have fresh, relevant content. Your content keeps working for you month after month! . If they don’t read your blog, re-purpose the content in customer newsletters and sales materials. . 5) Your content engine — Your investment in a consistent stream of quality content can be leveraged in many ways to support a content marketing strategy. use links from blog posts to answer customer questions, as the basis for speeches, newsletter content, and as reading assignments for workshops. . MORE >>