Content Marketing Specialist - Words That Begin With You - Newton, NC

Holy Cow! Is This Free Webinars for Everyone All the Time?!?!

Justin P Lambert — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Now, I realize I don’t understand Google+ really well yet, and I truly believe it’s shaping up differently from Facebook or any number of other sites it was supposedly created to emulate and overtake. But I read a cool article not long ago at the Content Strategist blog that made me wonder if Google+ was quietly throwing another huge game-changer out there for all of us to gawk at.

Here’s the article: Google+ Hangouts Can Energize Marketing Plans. It’s just a short, sweet comment piece about the Google+ Hangouts feature, which provides access to a small (10-person or less) video conference option within the Google+ framework.

But here’s the line that blew me away:

“Soon, Google+ will be rolling out Hangouts on Air, which will let anyone live broadcast to an unlimited audience, according to Social Media Examiner‘s Phyllis Kare.”

What?! Are you serious??? Is Google just off-handedly offering free access to unlimited audience webinars for everyone all the time?

That’s incredible!

That Phyllis Kare article they referenced provides a lot of great information about the Hangouts feature, and it’s well worth a read if you’re as clueless as I am. But man alive! If that’s truly what Google’s offering with their new Hangouts-on-air feature, I’m once again renewing my annual membership to the Google Fanboy club!

What do you think? Is Google about to Wal-Mart the entire paid webinar industry? Is that a good thing or not? Let me know below!

How Will You Use Open Google+ Hangouts? (blogworld.com)
Experimenting with Google+ hangouts – live, interactive broadcast conversations (psmithjournalist.com)
Google+ Hangouts On Air and SMBs (cloudave.com)
Live Broadcast Your Google+ Hangouts on Air (madrasgeek.com)
Google+ Hangouts on Air live broadcasting is now out of beta (arstechnica.com)

No related posts.

I’m Still Not Good at Facebook

Justin P Lambert — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Image via CrunchBase

A few weeks ago I read this solid article on The Content Strategist called “Connecting, Not Selling, on Facebook.”

I read it, then re-read it… then read it again.

There’s nothing wrong with the article at all, believe me. It’s just that, for as long as I’ve been marketing my own business using social media, and as long as I’ve been working with my clients to do the same, I’ve struggled with Facebook as this huge unanswered question:

How do I SELL to nine hundred million people who have come together to goof off?

Here’s the expert advice that made me re-read the article again and again:

“Shankman’s advice, Hockenson said, is “to place special content onto your timeline that can engage users in a unique way — not just spamming the same information over every platform available. That way, when fans know what kind of content to expect from your page, they will know to return to your brand site for specific engagement instead of clicking the back button.”

BUT

“Shankman says marketers should think of their brand’s Facebook page as a place to have a conversation with consumers through status updates, comments and polls.”

…which sounds to me like every other social media site.

So, here’s the question I want to leave with you:

Is Facebook different?

We can’t ignore it. There are almost a billion people actively using Facebook at this point. Anyone who tries to maintain a solid online presence without even thinking about it does so at their own peril.

But is it different from all the other social media sites in anything other than size? From a marketing perspective, of course.

Think about it, and let me know what you think. Because I’m still not really good at Facebook.

Toss Out Your Social Media Metrics (inc.com)
Connecting, Not Selling, on Facebook (contently.com)
Facebook Marketing: Why Less Is More (mashable.com)
How to Acquire Good Leads with Social Media (ronmedlin.com)
Why You Should Let Your Fans Post on Your Facebook Page (blogs.constantcontact.com)
You can’t do THAT on Facebook, social media champs and Twitter punishment (jeffesposito.com)

No related posts.

Instant Expert Podcast – Introduction

Justin P Lambert — Fri, 04 May 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Here’s the first in a series of podcasts based on my Special Report, Instant Expert: How to Write the Book on the Subject of Your Choice and Make a Killing at It!

This series covers the basics of the Instant Expert formula in quick, bite-size chunks that I hope you can enjoy and learn from. Please, share your opinions in the comments section below and/or on iTunes, where I also encourage you to subscribe to future episodes as well!

Enjoy!

Instant Expert Introduction

Spruce Up Your Copy Podcasts – Step 2: Plan Ahead (justinplambert.net)
Spruce Up Your Copy Podcasts – Step 5: Limit or Eliminate Jargon (justinplambert.net)
Spruce Up Your Copy Podcasts – Step 8: Read it Aloud (justinplambert.net)

Instant Expert – How to Write What These Markets Need Once you have narrowed down your choice of media to...
Instant Expert – Expanding Your Expert Status While publishing in a microniche is definitely the key to...
Instant Expert – Initial Decision Making Last week we discussed the one thing that's vital to...

Are You Scared of Mobile? Really?

Justin P Lambert — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:00:00 +0000

A 1st generation Apple iPad. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I read an article by Newt Barrett of ContentMarketingToday.com about the effect of mobile devices on content marketing.

Go ahead and read the whole article, it’s really good. But then, click back over here because it sparked some thoughts.

“For those of us who been around computing since the early days of PCs, the consumer move to mobile devices and away from desktop and even laptop computers is astonishing–and maybe a little terrifying.”

This quote appears just a few lines in, and when I first read it, I was shaking my head and saying to myself, “Oh no, not you too, Newt!”

But, thankfully, Mr. Barrett eases into a much less hysterical point of view. But it made me think, “Do some of my fellow content marketers truly fear technological evolution?”

It’s a little disheartening, but I think the answer is yes. But the fact is, technology is, by definition, in a constant state of flux. Most changes are for the better, even if some of them are tough to keep up with.

I can’t imagine anyone with a rational viewpoint being able to honestly look at the iPad and explain in a convincing way how Apple has made the world a worse place as a result. The iPad’s totally cool. There’s no arguing that.

Anyone who decides to ignore technological improvements in favor of “the same old thing” is in serious danger of disappearing into obsolescence. And for a content marketer, that’s the kiss of death as far as I’m concerned.

My take on the mobile revolution: I don’t think it changes things that dramatically. Content is content. It’s just a matter of determining how best to get it in the audience’s hands.

These days, and going forward, the best way will likely include some form of mobile optimization. But since the bulk of what we do is online, it’s pretty much a matter of making sure the sites we use (and the coders we work with) know what they’re doing. For the most part, they do. It’s their job.

So, for the most part, we can concentrate on continuing to create spectacular content.

It’s our job.

Apple’s iPad3 a Wakeup Call for B2B Marketers (contentmarketinginstitute.com)
Why the Massive Move to Mobile Computing Changes Content Marketing Rules (web2.sys-con.com)
The Myth of Mobile Content Marketing (copyblogger.com)
150+ Content Marketing & Social Media Predictions for 2012 (contentmarketinginstitute.com)

No related posts.

As a Content Marketer, Are You Mulder or Scully?

Justin P Lambert — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:20:00 +0000

Courtesy of Fox (the TV station, not Mulder...)

OK, I’m about to reveal the true level of my geekdom. And, if you’re interested in improving your content marketing chops, you’re coming with me.

I’m a huge fan of The X-Files. It’s one of the few TV shows I fell in love with from the pilot episode and the rest of the world actually did too. Thanks to the magic of Netflix Instant Watch, I’ve been binging on re-watching the series for the last several months, and it’s still great.

The show evolved over the years it was on the air, but for the seven years when it was most popular, there was one truly unbeatable aspect of it that kept viewers coming back.

It wasn’t the scary, disturbing plots, (although they were really cool); it wasn’t the slam-bang special effects, (although they were pretty impressive); and it wasn’t the occasional goofy humor intermixed with the spine-tingling horror, (although that’s always a match made in heaven.)

No, in my opinion, the most impressive aspect of The X-Files (and the aspect that directly relates to improving your content marketing skills,) is the complex, yet deeply satisfying, relationship between Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

Who is Fox Mulder?

Fox Mulder is the believer. A man fully convinced in his beliefs (of alien life and the existence of a world outside of what science can explain) to the extent that he has dedicated his life to finding the truth about these things.

He is a man of action. Quick to pull his gun and start running after anyone – man or monster – who may hold the key to uncovering the truth he seeks.

He’s rash, impetuous, willing to try anything. And these qualities gain him some incredible success: he’s always the one who sees the monster, watches the UFO speed away, or in some other way catches a glimpse of “the little man behind the curtain.”

But, he gets himself in a lot of trouble along the way, too. He gets beat up, shot at, abducted, not to mention constantly being on the verge of losing his job.

If you’re a content marketing Fox Mulder, you’re a fast-acting tour-de-force who’s willing to try anything because of your fervent desire to see the results that you know content marketing can bring you. You’re focused and determined, ready, willing and able to give your content the time and energy it needs and deserves because you know it’s going to bring your business to the next level and beyond.

And you’re right. But there’s a problem.

You can’t do it alone.

Who is Dana Scully?

Dana Scully is a medical doctor who joined the FBI after med school. A scientist who therefore views the world through that lens.

She is analytical, critical, a skeptic who needs to look at the evidence and has difficulty looking beyond it in search of the truth.

She is strong, independent, determined to do what is right. But, in her own way, she’s also constantly seeking answers, even if she needs to bend a few rules to get at them.

She’s the yin to Mulder’s yang. A skeptic to his believer. A voice of calm reason to his energetic paranoia. And – this is important – she knows her way around the FBI rulebook and politics, and knows how to work the system.

So, while Mulder heads off alone to chase a lead, Scully stays at the morgue and examines the body. While Mulder runs after the monster or chases the UFO, Scully pulls out her cellphone and calls for backup. While Mulder gets punched in the face, Scully draws from a safe distance and yells “FREEZE! FBI!”

And she’s gotten Mulder out of trouble more times than we can count because when Assistant Director Skinner (their boss) needs answers for the men upstairs, Scully always has the folder with the little bit of evidence they managed to scrape together so the case can be filed and the X-Files can live to search another day.

If you’re a content marketing Dana Scully, you’re all about strategy and analytics. You’ve got a solid plan from the start and you’re working that plan slowly and methodically. You’re aware of the studies that tell us the best time to tweet, the most effective headline formulas, the best post frequency. You’ve identified your audience and you’re keeping a finger on that audience’s pulse through a hundred visits to Google Analytics every day.

The only trouble is, you’re not really getting anywhere.

Because you can’t do it alone.

Mulder and Scully Together

You see, the reason Mulder and Scully were able to accomplish so much is that their dichotomous personalities completed each other so well. Mulder couldn’t have succeeded without Scully, and Scully couldn’t have without Mulder.

Without Scully, Mulder’s just a crackpot who believes in aliens and (unfortunately for all of us) has a badge and a gun

Without Mulder, Scully is a potentially boring desk jockey who examines dead bodies for evidence and writes a neat report.

Together, they can save the world.

So what does this teach us about content marketing?

Simply this:

To succeed at content marketing, you need to embrace both sides of the Mulder/Scully equation:

You have to have a strategy in place. A framework of content that works together and builds on itself.
But you also have to be impetuous sometimes. Try something crazy. Just throw it out there and see what happens!
Know your audience like the back of your hand, and spend some time on analytics or you’re flying blind.
But don’t get so caught up in analyzing everything that you forget to act! The more the DO, the more there is to ANALYZE!
You’ve got to use your head. Great content elicits thoughts and conversation, and it’s based on a solid understanding of how people think, learn and make decisions.
But you have to use your heart too! Passion for your topic and your audience is key. If you don’t appeal to your audience’s emotions, you’re dead in the water.

When the impetuous believer in you starts to lose heart, your analytical skeptic can pull together the necessary evidence to keep you going. And when your analytical skeptic gets too bored, your impetuous believer can light the fire again!

Content marketing is a long-term commitment. A difficult road, sometimes. And it’s not for the feint of heart.

But the truth is out there.

Aaron Rodgers Is the Greatest Content Marketer in the NFL! Did you get a chance to watch the Green Bay...
WTBWY TV: What is Content Marketing? Enjoy the first in (what I hope will be) a...
WTBWY TV: Why is Content Marketing So Important? Here’s the second in a series of brief instructional videos...

Blogging in Obscurity

Justin P Lambert — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 21:32:26 +0000

Courtesy of h.koppdelaney (flickr)

You wake up in the middle of the night, and you need to pee.

It’s 2:47 AM and you’re in your own bed, in the bedroom of your own place, so this is a walk you’ve taken a thousand times before. As a result, you do what any logical, big-brained Homo Sapiens will do under the circumstances.

You get up and start walking to the bathroom.

In the pitch black dark of a sleeping house.

And guess what happens?

Sure enough, you stub your toe on the corner of the bedroom door jam. And there’s that two-second pause between when you know it’s going to hurt and when it actually does, so you open your mouth and scream silently. Then, as you hop up and down as quietly as possible and try unsuccessfully to stifle the string of colorful metaphors spewing from between your clenched teeth, your good foot lands on the toy car your son has so thoughtfully left on the hallway floor and…

Well, you get the picture.

Bottom line: you decided that past experience being what it is, you were capable of wandering around your house in the pitch dark with impunity. And the universe just definitively kicked your butt.

It’s interesting to note that the autobiographical aspects of this story (cleverly hidden by my use of second-person narration) can teach several important lessons about blogging, content marketing, running a business, and mastering the physical laws of success.

Are You Wandering Around the Blogosphere in the Dark?

Maybe you’ve been there. I know this isn’t my first time.

You’re pounding away at the keyboard, or clicking away on the mouse. You’re doing what seems like the right thing, because it’s what they always tell you to do, and you think you’re really giving it your all.

Then, suddenly, you realize something pretty scary:

You’re getting absolutely nowhere.

Yikes, right?

It’s not a good feeling. Especially when it’s combined with that age old “I’m a complete idiot” refrain in your mind and, worse yet, in your heart.

It’s kind of like stubbing your toe and realizing it would have been really cool if you’d decided to turn on the light.

You see, this whole content marketing thing can be pretty overwhelming. Blogging is a huge, time-consuming affair. Producing and re-purposing content can feel like a bottomless pit that you’ll never be able to fill. And when you add to that the fact that you need to be producing and distributing all this content strategically?

Holy cow.

Mistakes I’ve Made

I’ll come right out and tell you: I’ve screwed this whole thing up for a while now.

And it’s particularly interesting (and depressing) to me because I have branded myself as a content marketing specialist, and I’ve proven that claim time and again on behalf of my clients. But with my own content marketing efforts…

Well, let’s just say I’ve left some things to be desired.

And when it finally became clear to me, it hurt like that stubbed toe I described above: sharp pain mixed with head-shaking foolishness.

You see, I’m currently not on course to meet any of my established goals for my marketing program in 2012. None.

How’s that for head-shaking and toe-holding?

So take a look at the following list of mistakes I’ve made recently, and see if you may be making one or two of these yourself. I’ll be begging shamelessly for your comments later, so give this list some thought. If you’ve figured out a foolproof way to overcome one or more of these mistakes, please share. Or if you’re struggling with it yourself, let us know so we can help. (Misery loves company, after all!)

1) Lack of Consistency

Successful content marketing requires quality, quantity and consistency in order to accomplish the desired effect.

Your content needs to be really good, and there needs to be a lot of it, no doubt. But you could write millions of words, put out hundreds of videos and podcasts and still get nowhere if you’re just throwing things out there sporadically, with no rhyme or reason.

And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing.

I preach consistency to my clients, even offer them a discount for allowing me to work consistency into the mix on their behalf, because I know how important it is. Yet, with my own content, I’ve been publishing if and when I have the chance, and calling it good.

Well, it’s not good, as the results prove.

2) Putting My Own Work on the Back Burner

I think one of my biggest downfalls is likely an issue for many freelancers like myself: I tend to put off my own marketing efforts in favor of obtaining and completing work for my clients.

And don’t get me wrong, it’s vital to put the necessary effort into completing active client projects well and on time. And it’s also important to be actively seeking more work. After all, cash flow is fairly important to business survival (not to mention little things like eating and paying the rent…)

But here’s the thing: Every time I choose not to write a new blog post for my own blog or film the next video in an ongoing series, I’m promising myself less of a chance of future success!

Every single piece of strategic, high-quality content is a step toward future success. So, the inverse is obviously true as well. By completing that client’s work, I’m guaranteeing momentary, immediate success. But by completing my own work, I’m guaranteeing lasting, long-term success.

So balance is necessary. And thinking about it now, I’ve been completely unbalanced of late.

3) Organized Wishing Instead of Goal Setting

I’ve always been a sucker for lists.

I work with a To Do list and a schedule, just like a lot of other folks. And I’ve tried numerous times to establish and maintain a set of written, prioritized short and long-term goals, both personally and for my business.

But here’s where I falter: all too often, I find myself viewing a goal as just a pleasant dream or wish. It’s as if the initial desire and passion that caused me to write it down in the first place has evaporated or been forgotten, because I can easily push it back to another day, or another week, or cross it right off the list.

And that’s pretty scary when you consider that some of those goals are directly connected to my business and personal success as I’ve defined them.

What it really comes down to is a sense of urgency.

I’m naturally a fairly laid back person, and it takes quite a bit to get me riled up. I get really excited when I consider the power of the written word and I love to write. I’m also passionate about helping other people succeed by means of content. But, for reasons I haven’t nailed down just yet, I sometimes can’t manage to connect menial task A with long-term marketing goal B and transfer some of the passionate excitement I have for B into the completion of A.

As a result, truly important tasks sometimes wander around my To Do list for days or weeks waiting for the urgency to magically manifest itself. And, as all you other freelancers can confirm, we rarely have the luxury of a true deadline on our own marketing efforts.

4) Just Plain Old Laziness

I’d be remiss to leave this one out.

Truth be told, sometimes I’m just plain lazy. And that gets me in trouble on a number of levels:

I’ll sleep in when I’d be much better off using that extra hour or two writing a new blog post or polishing up a client’s project.
I’ll watch another episode of X-Files (man, I love that show – I watched it as a teenager and rediscovered it thanks to the magic of Netflix Instant Watch!) instead of networking with some of my powerful LinkedIn connections.
I’ll go a week, sometimes, without sharing any of the cool stuff I’m reading with my Twitter, Facebook or Google+ networks.

These are just a few examples, but they all boil down to one simple truth: if I could master my tendency to take it easy on myself, I could get a huge amount of important work done and start reaping much greater rewards from doing so. Period.

The Physical Laws of Success

A lot of my mistakes above have to do with failing to understand and work with The Physical Laws of Success. Specifically, I’m referring to inertia, direction and momentum.

You see, the law of inertia taught us that an object at rest tends to stay at rest. And that perfectly describes a non-existent or lackluster content marketing program: at rest. It’s not going anywhere. It’s dead in the water.

But, the other side of that same coin is that an object in motion tends to stay in motion! And that’s a lot more encouraging. If I get myself in motion, actually doing something, it’s easier to stay in motion!

And this brings in the laws of momentum and direction as well. Once an object is in motion, all the other forces that affect that object will tend to change its momentum and its direction. Gravity, magnetic fields, collisions, friction… all these other forces can either increase or decrease an object’s momentum and/or change its course.

Depending on the intended goal, that could be a good or a bad thing.

So the trick for a business person is to minimize those forces that will slow you down or push you in the wrong direction, and maximize those forces that will speed you up and keep you pointed where you want to go.

Those forces are different for all of us, and they can involve physical, mental or emotional baggage of all kinds. For me, some common negative forces are physical laziness, fear of rejection, fear of failure and the myth of finite ideas. Positive forces include pride, passion for the job, and a desire to prove to my wife that I’m not insane. (Whether or not this is true is irrelevant.)

A Manifesto for Those Blogging in Obscurity

With inspiration taken from the hilarious and poignant An Invocation for Beginnings, released by Ze Frank to announce the start of his new A Show, I’d like to offer the following manifesto for myself and all the other content marketers who have struggled with not fully practicing what we preach:

I AM SCARED AND I AM POWERFUL. My fear gives me the power to turn this ship around and finally find Atlantis.
LET ME REMEMBER that my source of ideas and creativity is a spring-fed mountain stream, sometimes rushing and overflowing its banks, sometimes barely trickling, but always running fresh, not a stagnant cesspool, crusted with the remains of every bad idea I’ve ever had and stinking like the backside of forever.
LET ME REMEMBER that my audience is made up of people, not Google, and that my content is, and will forever be, the product of one human being sitting on the couch with a glass of lemonade and talking about cool stuff with another human being who would love a chance to talk too.
LET ME REMEMBER that the human body doesn’t need eight hours of sleep nearly as much as it needs the ferocious adrenaline high that is success and a job well done.
I COMMIT TO producing one spectacular piece of fresh or re-purposed content every single day, realizing logically that I can’t possibly accomplish this perfectly, but that if I accomplish the same percentage of successful attempts as I’ve managed to date, I’ll still be producing at least twice as much as I ever have before.
I COMMIT TO publishing that content according to a predetermined editorial calendar and list of goals. While that calendar and list have always existed, the commitment is apparently new.
I COMMIT TO working smarter, not harder, by means of the magical power of re-purposing my content. Without exception, every single thing I produce can be used at least two ways without losing value.
I COMMIT TO my blog readers, my newsletter subscribers, my Twitter followers, my Google+ circles, my LinkedIn connections and my Facebook friends: I will not let you down.

In Conclusion, I Need You.

Now, if you’ve stuck with me through 2000 words of confessional, obsessional ranting and raving, I have a humble request.

Help make me accountable for all I’ve said in this post.

Help me realize the commitments I’ve made, now and into the future.

Help me help you, if I can.

Here’s how:

Leave a comment at the bottom of this post. It doesn’t have to be long or profound, it doesn’t even have to make a ton of sense. Just let me know you’re out there, and you’ve heard me.
Link to, Tweet, Share and +1 this post. The more people who get a chance to see it, the more people will comment, and the more I’m going to need to be accountable to follow through. Please. If you see even the slightest glimmer of value in this post, share it with your world.
Subscribe. My e-mail newsletter, which you can subscribe to in the box at the top right of this page, is a huge part of this new commitment to fresh content. Be there, and see the magic unfold.

Thank you sincerely for reading, for being here at all, and for helping me get to content marketing Nirvana.

No related posts.

Spruce Up Your Copy Podcasts – Step 10: Know When to Let it Go!

Justin P Lambert — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:43:06 +0000

I’m thrilled to be able to offer the first podcast series from Words That Begin With You. It’s based on my popular special report, Ten Ways to Spruce Up Your Copy – Even if it Doesn’t Need It!

You can subscribe to WTBWY Radio on iTunes so you’re sure not to miss another episode!

Step 1 – Know Your Audience

Step 2 – Plan Ahead

Step 3 – Get Excited!

Step 4 – Write Like You Speak

Step 5 – Limit or Eliminate Jargon

Step 6 – Trust Your First Draft

Step 7 – Proofread

Step 8 – Read it Aloud

Step 9 – Trash Your First Draft

Step 10 – Know When to Let it Go