Content Curation Can Inform, Engage Customers June 4, 2012 Both consumers and marketers are faced with an ever more fractured media landscape in which informative and engaging content can be hard to find. But enterprising marketers are taking the reins and curating their own content in the hopes of providing the material that their customers are searching for. These days, almost all marketers are finding, filtering and sharing content, according to content curation services provider Curata. In a March 2012 poll of more than 400 US marketers and agencies that sold to business-to-business and business-to-consumer companies, Curata found that 95% had curated content in some way over the past six months by sharing a link, blog post or other content type with a potential customer. The survey also found that 85% of respondents viewed the main objective of content creation as establishing thought leadership.
Online Advertising and Marketing Whether advertising in print, on radio or TV, or on the Internet, it’s important to disclose the details of the deal up front. This publication offers practical tips on how to make effective disclosures online. Advertising on the Internet? The rules that apply to other forms of advertising apply to online marketing, too. The Content Marketing Explosion [Infographic] Content marketing isn’t exactly a new marketing technique, but it’s seeing massive growth in 2012, with new and innovative ways to promote brand awareness and build customer retention. From articles and social media to data visualization such as infographics, brands are using these techniques to leverage their marketing efforts and create a wider reach. Big name companies are staying ahead of the game with content marketing, while startups who are specializing in this area, are getting off to a fast start. Duplicate low quality content is replaced by authentic, branded, shareable content in the search engines. Google initiated this change with its recent Panda update, forcing content farms out.
Business Law Resources Good Reasons Support the Use of Background Checks in the Hiring Process. Many employers run background checks on job applicants before they make an employment offer. Doing so enables such employers to confirm the truthfulness and accuracy of background information provided by job applicants, such as… Most Valuable Global Brands Recovering Faster Than S&P 500 Slightly off-topic, but likely worth a look to anyone with a vested interest in how the global economy fares (which means pretty much everyone reading this blog): Millward Brown Optimor has compared the financial performance of its list of most valuable brands – you know, the one that pegs Google to be the most valuable at a whopping $100 billion – with the S&P 500 as a whole. The analysis shows the top 100 brands, which Millward Brown refers to as the BrandZ Portfolio and includes many technology companies like Apple, Vodafone, Microsoft, Nokia, BlackBerry, Intel and others, are recovering from the recession at a faster pace than the market. As the chart above shows, the most valuable global brands have been outperforming the S&P 500 for a number of years now but show a much faster recovery from the recession than the market in recent months. The BrandZ Portfolio is now worth 28% more than the S&P 500, and it has returned to profit (+5.6%) ahead of the market.
Social Media From Scratch Coming Soon: A New Video Series from Mark W. Schaefer: Social Media Explained! ShareThis Copy and Paste Database Error In 1997 the first social network was created called sixdegrees.com and was the forerunner of the modern social networks that started to gain traction in 2002. The first of the modern next generation social media networks that followed in 2002, had the the funky name of Friendster, which to my ear sort of sounds like a hybrid cross between a “Friend” and a “Hamster”. As with any good idea it was quickly copied (“ripped off” is another phrase that comes to mind) and MySpace was created and launched in 2003. This social media network dominated for the next 5 years as teenagers became addicted to the interactive and multimedia rich, self publishing web platform that allowed them to share music, content and information with their friends.
To Believe : Fulfilled Prophecy: Evidence for the Reliability of the Bible (The remaining 500 or so reach into the future and may be seen unfolding as days go by.) Since the probability for any one of these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance averages less than one in ten (figured very conservatively) and since the prophecies are for the most part independent of one another, the odds for all these prophecies having been fulfilled by chance without error is less than one in 10 2000 (that is 1 with 2000 zeros written after it)! God is not the only one, however, who uses forecasts of future events to get people's attention. Satan does, too.