In 2008 I shared a post outlining the (not so) secret of the social web: passion. It’s one of the reasons most marketers still don’t understand how to build a community or create stuff that passes the “so what” test of digital content.

I was reminded of this when reading my friend Mitch Joel’s post today about the key to successful content — that without passion, it doesn’t really exist:

Most marketers who are creating content are worried about things like the type of content they’re writing (text, images, audio, video)? Where that content should reside (Facebook,Twitter, blog, YouTube, Pinterest)? How frequently to post (hourly, daily, weekly)? Who is going to create it (an intern, the communications team, a freelance journalist, the CEO)? It turns out that Seth, myself and many other people who create content that seems to garner some semblance of an audience and attention are inspired to create the content. Pushing beyond that, we are inspired consistently.

It struck me, it’s not really about content in the first place and hasn’t been in years. Content is commoditized, we can literally get it anywhere and we probably don’t need it from you or your brand. The trick is to have people on your team so interested, curious and activated in your category that they can’t help but create consistently and have it be remarkable. It’s just what they do (read Mitch’s whole post linked above to get more of a sense of what I mean).

Of course you have to be interesting too, you have to write well (or be articulate on video, or creative in visualizations). But that’s still not enough. Without actually caring — something you can’t fake, and without legitimate passion — something you can’t outsource, you’re not going to succeed.

If you’re thinking that’s a difficult problem to solve, you’re right. But that’s the path to becoming a premium brand, forming trust with users and leading your category. If it was so easy everyone would do it and have consistent growth in organic marketing KPIs. But it’s not, and that’s the reality we live in (and your challenge). Build a team with passion for your products, the web and marketing overall. Content is simply a byproduct.

image credit: Shutterstock

It’s Not About Content, It’s About Passion is from The Future Buzz, a Blog Covering Digital Marketing. You should follow Adam on Twitter and Google+ .

I love this thought on doing the right thing from one of my fellow Googlers Chade-Meng Tan (AKA “Meng”). I saw it on a wall inside a Google office and happened to think about it today as it is a sticky idea.

I searched for it and saw it’s public on Meng’s blog, so I wanted to share the whole quote with you guys:

New Google employees (we call “Nooglers”) often ask me what makes me effective at what I do.  I tell them only half-jokingly that it’s very simple: I do the Right Thing for Google and the world, and then I sit back and wait to get fired.  If I don’t get fired, I’ve done the Right Thing for everyone.  If I do get fired, this is the wrong employer to work for in the first place.  So, either way, I win.  That is my career strategy.

Of course, many of us have been doing this their entire careers, although I never really thought of it like the above. It’s really the best way to live your professional life and align with the right company. If you’re a manager, you really should embrace this too: hire smart people and then get out of their way. If you’ve done your hiring appropriately this is not just a win for your team members (smart people are going to be independent, motivated and do the right things) it’s a win for you because you’ll retain them.

image credit: Shutterstock

Do The Right Thing, Wait To Get Fired is from The Future Buzz, a Blog Covering Digital Marketing. You should follow Adam on Twitter and Google+ .

The following is a guest post from Future Buzz community member Matt Boyd.

These days, nearly all of us are remote workers at some point (if not every day). Sometimes, we tend to get caught up in the amazing benefits that come with the lifestyle but can also forget about our health in the process. It’s important to remember our health in situations where bad habits can form quickly.

When it comes to health, remote working is a double-edged sword. If health is a major focus, the remote lifestyle can lead to an incredibly enjoyable physical and mental state. If ignored, physical and mental deterioration can ultimately lead to productivity and business failure.

We shouldn’t take this lightly but fortunately, there are things we can do to further our health and make remote working even more awesome than it already is!

Following are a few ideas I practice and recommend for everyone who works remotely (or even at an office):

1. Think well

It’s really valuable taking time to yourself every once in awhile for the sheer purpose of clearing your mind of all distraction. Make yourself unreachable to the outside world and own your time while examining your healthy and unhealthy thought patterns.

The things you think about can directly determine your productive output and stress levels, so thinking is the greatest responsibility we have as remote workers. Write down your top ten favorite places to think and visit them regularly, and great creative here: think outside, in a social setting or somewhere inspirational.

2. It’s obvious, but people still ignore it: don’t eat crap

Let’s face it, cheeseburgers are hard to ignore. Truthfully, I enjoy a big fat cheeseburger as much as the next person but sometimes it’s important to consider the bigger picture. What you eat not only affects you, but it affects your company, your clients and the work you’re producing for them. Fueling your body with crap will only help you produce crap work.

You’ve heard the old saying “everything in moderation” and I believe this is true. Eating one cheeseburger isn’t going to kill you but limit yourself and fight against the urge to develop the habit of poor eating.

3. Got enough coffee in your sugar?

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably read or seen something that will tell you excess sugar is bad so, I’ll spare you the details on that.

As a coffee freak, I drink 4 or 5 cups per day (and hopefully you’ve seen the latest research: coffee is good for you!). I take mine with cream and a bit of sugar which is fine, until I reach my 5th cup. At the end of the day, my sugar intake is through the roof just because of the moderate amounts of sugar in each cup of coffee, not to mention the sugar in everything else that’s mass produced and processed in this world.

Sugar is everywhere and not good for you so keep it on your radar. Monitor your intake and make sure you’re not over­indulging, doing so is one step closer to a healthy life balance. If you can, remove processed / refined sugars from your diet altogether.

4. Smoothie like a champ

Smoothie making is an art and one I’ve mastered over the past year. There are an insane amount of benefits in the regular consumption of fresh, green smoothies. I’ll just list a few benefits here:

a) It’s a super fast way of consuming all the vegetables you need

b) If you achieve a good mixture of greens and fruit, it tastes really good.

c) It’s extremely filling

d) Since it’s full of water, it’s a great way to stay hydrated

e) It’s not juicing so you’re consuming the pulp, fiber and all. Tons of fiber!

f) It’s overall one of the best and most healthy things you can do

The benefits are easy to see so there’s no reason not to jump on this bandwagon! If you do, I promise you’ll notice a boost of energy and level of clarity you’ve never seen before. The best tool for the job is the NutriBullet and as someone who uses it regularly, I highly recommend it. No matter who you are or what you’re doing, a regular regimen of fresh green smoothies is a great addition to your healthy lifestyle.

5. Posture is everything

Posture is known to affect your productivity. Remote workers are travelers and frequent different places daily. If you’re regularly working from coffee shops or libraries then ergonomic seating can be difficult to find. Pay close attention to your posture by making sure you’re sitting in a natural position and that supports your back. These places are notorious for providing seating that doesn’t cut it, so make sure you’re always thinking about and optimizing your posture. Another option is to consider a standing or even a treadmill desk.

6. Talk to lots of people

A healthy social life is key to successful remote working, but sometimes it’s easy to get in a social rut and become a “shut in”. Being at home feels really good in moderation but too much time spent indoors and by yourself will provide a very unhealthy balance and can ultimately lead to depression, stress and anxiety. Make it a point to talk to as many people as possible and thrive socially: don’t forget other humans exist too.

7. Track yourself before you wreck yourself

Remote working isn’t the most active lifestyle in the world and it’s easy to place exercise on the bottom of our list of priorities. Exercise is very important, we all know that, but how are we supposed to know if we’re actually doing enough or using our time wisely? Some people walk or run regularly, but are you actually burning calories? Can you see your maximum potential withinyour workout regimen? The answer is simple. Track your results!

Tracking your daily workout routine is a great way to truly understand where you’re at physically. There are several different tools that will help track the metrics you need (FitBit, Nike Fuel Band, iPhone and Android apps, etc).

Tracking your progress is vitally important and can, not only boost your morale but give you a better sense of your progress which will empower you to apply pressure where it’s needed most in your daily routine.

Conclusion

As remote workers, it’s easy to put our health aside in lieu of our goal of world conquest. Careful attention to all aspects our your body and mind is a great way to “one up” the competition and propel yourself to greater levels of success. In any walk of life, health is our most important asset. This is especially true for the remote worker. Stay fit, lean and always keep your mind sharp.

Matt Boyd is co-founder of Sqwiggle, an app designed to make remote working a more collaborative experience. Follow him and his journey as a productivity blogger, remote worker and distributed team builder on his blog or Twitter.  

image credit: Shutterstock

Ideas For Healthier Remote Working is from The Future Buzz, a Blog Covering Digital Marketing. You should follow Adam on Twitter and Google+ .

Not that this should surprise anyone, but PEW just released research sharing a majority of Americans now own a smartphone of some kind. A quick summary of their findings from their site:

• 55% of cell phone owners say that their phone is a smartphone.

• 58% of cell phone owners say that their phone operates on a smartphone platform common to the U.S. market.

Taken together, 61% of cell owners said yes to at least one of these questions and are classified as smartphone owners. Because 91% of the adult population now owns some kind of cell phone, that means that 56% of all American adults are now smartphone adopters. One third (35%) have some other kind of cell phone that is not a smartphone, and the remaining 9% of Americans do not own a cell phone at all.

Of course, a smartphone is essentially just a mobile computer with the phone being one (now relatively minor) functionality of the device. It’s my opinion the day will come, sooner rather than later, when every single person in the US (and eventually, globally) will own a smartphone. The trend in PEW’s research supports this as shown above. Whether we continue to call them “phones” or not is to be determined, as with their actual use this doesn’t seem like the best name for them anymore. But names are powerful so smartphone could stick, too.

As an owner of a smartphone since having an early LG slide, then a Windows CE device, then gen 1 iPhone, then 2 generations of Androids, I’m excited for the future. Smartphones have (obviously) moved beyond the realm of early adopters into mainstream. Yet despite some who see a mobile-only world, I foresee a “mobile-and” world, where smartphones complement a laptop / home workstation setup with external monitor. At least to those who are power users in a professional space and use their computing time to create content, art, code, conduct business or play high quality games.

Growth here is amazing and will continue, and I personally welcome the next half of the US — and the rest of the world — to mobile computing. It seriously improves the quality of your life and work and the current generation of devices brings to life computing dreams I’ve had since owning a 486 as a child.

Related: if you’re a marketer or developer creating and promoting mobile apps, I’ve previously written a primer on mobile app measurement as one of my monthly columns at ClickZ.

Hat tip Mathew Ingram for the link.

More Than Half Of Americans Now Own A Smartphone is from The Future Buzz, a Blog Covering Digital Marketing. You should follow Adam on Twitter and Google+ .

Combining data — which can be dry, with creativity — which many companies and marketers lack, can be challenging. Yet we live in a stream-powered web and world that is increasingly visual, inspiring demands from media to achieve equal parts style and substance for news. This explains why unique and truly compelling visualizations are an underused, yet devastatingly effective tactic. They are equal parts rare and in demand. They beg to be shared. They are a catalyst for conversation, awareness and action.

Visualizing data is your secret weapon

Your marketing arm would be remiss not to have a designer on-hand or partner capable of creative and attractive visualizations as part of a larger content mix. Your analytics team is not doing their job if they sit on data without thinking of how to use it to create persuasive internal and external visualizations. Such content attracts links, traffic and media reactions – all essential for success in a world where no one has a monopoly on attention. Let’s take a look at a few examples from brands who are successful at thinking visually.

OKCupid visualizes dating trends to create popular online dating blog

Image source: OKCupid

OkTrends is the (no longer updated) blog sharing original research and insights from the free internet dating site (which is still very active) OkCupid. The blog compiles observations and statistics from hundreds of millions of OkCupid user interactions, all to explore the data side of the online dating world in a way that is accessible to everyone. Visualizations not only helped them attract millions of visitors, thousands of shares and hundreds of comments per story, eventually (as part of a larger strategy) led to acquisition by Match.com for $50 million in cash. The blog is no longer updated, in part because of the level of transparency OKCupid could offer as a startup which Match is either no longer able to or does not wish to share. It’s a huge opportunity for another player in the digital dating space to pick up where they left off.

Google clearly shows “how search works” in interactive visualization

At Google, not only do we create products that visualize data, but we use it creatively in our own marketing. For example, our search marketing team recently put together a visualization on ‘how search works’ that brings together some compelling data points such as the size of Google’s index, (30 trillion individual pages at the time of writing this) to speed at results are returned (1/8th of a seconds) into an easy to follow story. The most interesting part of this interactive visual to me was how the content was accessible and interesting to both a business and consumer audience. On the web everything is to consumer, so creating something that’s sharable and interesting is key for all types of brands, B2B included. No one should be boring.

Eloqua: shares visual thinking in ongoing infographic series

Eloqua is a provider in the marketing automation space and also a brand I previously consulted for working with the ever-awesome Joe Chernov. In partnership with design agency JESS3, they made some creative infographics such as a “Blog Tree” visualization blogs in the marketing category, a “Content Grid” showing where in the buying cycle types of digital content live, and a “History of Dreamforce” infographic outlining the history of this annual event. Eloqua’s visual thinking was not only award-winning. A competitor of Eloqua’s who is also very successful started to take inspiration from their content (the highest form of flattery). However, as shown in publicly accessible metrics in the above graphic, the Eloqua version was more successful. It shows: attention to detail, quality of content and a solid promotional process all matter. It’s notable that Eloqua’s quality marketing was a key factor in helping them grow to the point they not only went IPO, but were later acquired by Oracle for 810 million.

A final, note of caution about visualizations

Pretty colors and creative elements are fine in data visualization, but as far as effectiveness goes, simplicity is best. When proving your point with data don’t overcomplicate it. And be skeptical of those who do: whether visually or with what Charles Seife refers to as Potemkin numbers in his landmark book, Proofiness. In many cases, this is an indicator someone is attempting to hide or exaggerate something.

With that said, getting visual needs to become a core part of your marketing on a go-forward. Those who don’t will face increasingly competitive and difficult odds in gaining awareness in increasingly competitive organic communication channels.

Getting Visual: Your Secret Weapon For Storytelling & Persuasion is from The Future Buzz, a Blog Covering Digital Marketing. You should follow Adam on Twitter and Google+ .