Erika Heald Consulting

Marketing that drives results

Content Conversations

Conversations and resources for small business, startup, and solopreneur content marketing and social media.

January 7, 2019 Content Chat Recap: 2019 Content Marketing Career Development Planning Session

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The start of the year is a natural time to celebrate the successes of the past year and set aspirations for where you want to be next year. Too often, though, these goals can fizzle out by mid-year when professionals realize they didn’t take the necessary steps to achieve their dreams.

In this #ContentChat planning session, we detail the steps for you to develop an action plan that keeps your eyes on your professional prize this year.

Q1: This time next year, how do you want to answer the question “What do you do for a living?”

Answering this question may be a challenge, and that’s OK. Take your time to truly assess what you want your career to be, and set an intention to reach that.

You could want to add to your existing role, focus in on a specific aspect, or jump into a different area entirely.

If you’re having trouble, consider using this formula from Patrick.

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21 Social Media and Content Marketing Tools to Make Your Life Easier

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21 Social Media and Content Marketing Tools to Make Your Life Easier

Content marketers have a seemingly endless number of tools at their disposal to make their jobs easier. Whether it’s optimizing your social media accounts, researching the best keywords to use, or creating visuals to accompany your content, there’s something online for everyone (and often times free).

The hard part? Cutting through the noise and finding the best tools for the money.

Luckily, our #ContentChat community regularly discusses the must-have content marketing tools that they use in their professional life. Here’s a selection of the most mentioned and loved content marketing tools. Note that I’ve included affiliate links for a few of the tools I use every day and recommend the most. If you make a purchase from one of those links, I may receive a small commission.

If your favorite isn’t on this list, comment below:

Grammar & Plagiarism Tools

  • Copyscape 
    • While most of its value comes from its paid offering, Copyscape has a free comparison tool to check websites or text for plagiarism. With the premium offering, you can check text for plagiarism with a search of the entire internet. This can come in handy if you’re managing a guest blogging program.
  • Grammarly
    • This free browser extension checks your content for critical grammar and spelling checks, and its premium offering has advanced checks for punctuation, context, and even plagiarism. Use my affiliate link to try it out for yourself—if you end up going pro, I’ll receive a small commission.

Influencer Research Tools

  • BuzzSumo
    • BuzzSumo can give you a more comprehensive look at your social footprint, helping to track what content is working well and identify the most influential users in your space.
  • Klear
    • This influencer search engine can help you find the most trusted voices across social networks and blogs, and paid offerings add relationship management and measurement capabilities.

Keyword Research Tools

  • AnswerThePublic
    • This highly visual tool distills the who, what, when, where, how, and why of any term to see what people are searching for. Be sure to linger on the homepage for a minute so you can see the video through to its completion.
  • Moz
    • This all-in-one SEO tracking and research toolset has a range of free offerings for SEO, link building, and local marketing. Paid options unlock the full suite of tools. I personally use it to create at-a-glance website performance dashboards for my clients.
  • Neil Patel Uber Suggest
    • Get data on keywords with just a quick. Whether it’s for SEO or PPC, this free tool gives you data on keywords, as well as suggestions for others.
  • SpyFu
    • Stay ahead of the competition by getting data on their most profitable keywords and ads for paid and organic search. The free functionality with SpyFu is limited, but paid options give you unlimited data and downloads.
  • Yoast.com/suggest
    • Enter your keyword and this will suggest new long tail keywords. Just what you need when you’ve got a blog deadline combined with writer’s block.

Reputation Management & Media Monitoring Tools

  • Mention
    • This platform provides real-time media monitoring for your brand and your competitors, as well as use cases for crisis management, influencer marketing, and competitive analysis.
  • Meltwater
    • Meltwater has solutions for marketing, PR, and communications, including insights on your share of voice, brand monitoring, and influencer research. Disclosure: I’m a long-time content marketing contributor for Meltwater.

Social Media Schedulers & Management Tools

  • Buffer
    • A close competitor of Hootsuite, Buffer is a widely used social media scheduling tool that’s worth a look. Buffer has the greatest appeal for smaller teams or if you’re only juggling a few social profiles, but both Buffer and Hootsuite support businesses of all sizes.
  • Hootsuite
    • If you have ever worked in social media, chances are pretty good that you already you know of Hootsuite. This social media marketing and management dashboard has everything you need to thrive on social, including good support for team workflows. That said, it’s worth it to try other offerings in the space to find the best fit for your team.
  • MeetEdgar
    • MeetEdgar is unique in its approach to combating social media overload by helping you to easily share and reshare your best content over time, automatically. If you want to give it a try with a 30-day 100 percent money-back guarantee, check out my referral link (it also has more details on the product). Or, you can follow them on Twitter @MeetEdgar for the latest social media tips and resources. They host #SoloBizChat on Wednesdays at 4 p.m. ET, and are also a regular participant in our #ContentChat!
  • Sprout Social
    • Sprout Social is a great option for everything from robust social analytics, social engagement, social publishing, and social listening. Plus, it’s built to scale. I’m a long-time Sprout Social user and highly recommend it. Use my affiliate link when you sign up for your free trial and help support #ContentChat.

Visual Tools

  • Canva
    • Tackle design needs with ease with Canva. The interface is easy to navigate and can help with everything from posters to infographics. I build all of my #ContentChat promo images and blog post headers with Canva.
  • GIPHY
    • Make your content more animated and personal with GIFs, and GIPHY makes it easy to find or create a GIF for any occasion. The site also allows for you to apply for a brand channel if you are a recurring GIF creator.
  • Pablo by Buffer
    • Even if you don’t choose Buffer for your scheduling, Pablo is incredibly easy to use when you want to overlay text over any image and share on your social. You can either choose from their 600k+ images, or you can upload your own.
  • PicMonkey
    • If you need photo editing and design capabilities, PicMonkey is well worth your while. The tool has an expansive library of fonts and templates, and can easily become your go-to for most design needs. Use my affiliate link to get a free one week trial to test it out yourself.
  • Unsplash
    • If you think that royalty-free images are only available with a big price tag, you are going to love Unsplash. This community of photographers provides gorgeous free visuals to complement your content.

The Holy Grail

  • Google
    • Oh Google, how we love you. If you have a content marketing need that the tools above can’t quite crack, give it a Google search or try Google’s marketing tools before you reinvent the wheel. You can even set up Google Alerts for tracking purposes so you’re always in the know on the key topics that affect your business.

13 Blogs and Resources for Content Marketers and PR Pros

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13 Blogs and Resources for Content Marketers and PR Pros

A large part of professional success comes from a curiosity to learn more and a resilience to constantly adapt to the ever-changing landscape of our tech tools.

Whether you’re working in-house and needing further training than your company offers, or you’re a solopreneur needing resources to stay on top of your game, there is a well of great blogs and resources online to keep content marketers and PR pros in the know.

These 13 websites come highly recommended by our #ContentChat community. Check them out for yourself, and comment below if you have others you’d add.

  1. Buffer
    • The social media management platform creates a plethora of unique articles that highlight great case studies, market research (including analysis of proprietary data) and how-tos. The company also hosts weekly webinars to teach you how to get most out of the platform.
  2. BuzzSumo
    • BuzzSumo’s content has a heavy focus on data and using it to help you reach your audiences more effectively. This includes branded reports that you can only find on the site.
  3. Content Marketing Institute
    • It’s no surprise Content Marketing Institute has more than a quarter million followers on Twitter. The content marketing powerhouse hosts the annual Content Marketing World, and it keeps pros up-to-date on the latest and greatest of all things content on its site.  
  4. Contently
    • This blog taps a series of experts to weigh in on everything from the role of content in sales enablement to what people really feel about working for brands.
  5. Hootsuite
    • Hootsuite hosts a range of simple list/tip style articles that are incredibly helpful to learn something new from in each post. You can even filter by topic, network or resource type to only view articles that are pertinent to what you need.
  6. HubSpot
    • HubSpot hosts a blend of tech news and how-tos filled with great case studies and easy-to-follow steps for topics most pertinent to your business.
  7. Kissmetrics/Neil Patel
    • The Kissmetrics blog, which Neil Patel bought in January 2017, was full of great resources and tips for marketers and PR pros. Many of the posts now live on Neil’s site, where he regularly adds additional content, including podcasts and in-depth articles.
  8. MarketingProfs
    • Articles, courses, reports, podcasts, and video tutorials, if you name it, MarketingProfs probably has it. The site has produced tens of thousands of marketing resources and has a great search function to help you find just the right content you need. Topics range from ABM, branding, demand gen, social media, public relations, and more.
  9. Meltwater
    • PR and marketing pros alike can learn something new from Meltwater’s blog, which often displays best-in-class examples of campaigns, as well as insights on how the latest technology like AI is shaping the communications landscape. Did we mention that #ContentChat’s Erika Heald (@SFErika) and Michelle Garrett (@PRisUS) are regular contributors?
  10. Orbit Media
    • Orbit Media shares practical tips for content marketing professionals, as well as a focus on analytics and web design (a unique aspect compared to many of the other blogs on this list).
  11. Social Media Examiner
    • If your company is heavily invested in social, you don’t want to miss out on Social Media Examiner’s content. The site keeps you in the know on all the updates in the rapidly evolving social media landscape, with marketing guides for each of the major platforms.
  12. Sprout Social
    • Sprout offers a range of deep listening and analytics, social management, customer care and advocacy solutions for businesses of all sizes, and its blog details everything from trends changing the industry to deep-dive how-tos for crucial topics like how to set up your content plan.
  13. TrackMaven
    • TrackMaven puts it best in its own blog header: “everything you need to drive results, empower your team, and keep up with the latest marketing technology news.” The blog hosts everything from answers to marketing challenges, crucial skills for C-suite marketers, and the top tools to keep you ahead of the competition.

December 18, 2018 Content Chat Recap: Year End Wrap-Up and GIF Party

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This was an incredible year for #ContentChat, and we are so grateful for our guests and community for joining us each Monday. In this year end wrap-up, we reflect on our work this year and look forward to next year’s lineup, which resumes on Monday, January 7.

Be Our Next #ContentChat Guest!

Interested in being a guest on #ContentChat next year to discuss one of the topics the community identified below, or for a fresh idea we’ve yet to discuss? Leave a comment with your pitch!

Q1: What is your content super power?

The power of distilling complicated information and making it accessible and helpful. 

The power of channeling your audience and (figuratively) stepping into their shoes. 

The power of writing — a lot.

The power of creativity.

The power of developing a consistent and memorable voice.

The power of SEO and developing a  long-term strategy.

The power of being there and joining the conversation. 

The power of turning content into a conversation. 

The power of taking a larger piece of content that can be used in different ways across channels and formats.

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December 10, 2018 Content Chat Recap—Community Conversation: How to Get Internal SMEs to Share Content

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How to get internal SMEs to share brand content—a #ContentChat recap

It’s well known that audiences respond better to content from their peers compared to content from brands. At your company, you likely have a plethora of subject matter experts with rich social followings interested in topics that your company is directly involved in.

If life was easy, you could ask your SMEs to share your content, they would, and in turn their audiences would engage with your brand—but it’s more complex than that (and for good reason).

In this #ContentChat community conversation, we engaged in a free-form discussion about engaging your internal SMEs to share content on social. 

Q1: What is the current state of your company’s social sharing of your brand’s content?

For some, sharing of branded content appears to be on the decline. That said, it’s key for companies to also share content that isn’t branded but is still relevant for their audiences. 

For others, their brands and audiences are more eager to share content.  

There are some things that companies can do to combat low posting or engagement, such as sharing a social media suggestion email. 

If you try something like this (like Bernie is going to), create content suggestions that are flexible and easy for people to personalize. 

You don’t have to solely rely on email to get the word out. Use tools like Slack to share social suggestions, or Buffer to facilitate the posting. 

Employee advocacy solutions can also be your new best friend. 

Even with the best tools, there are some other pitfalls you may run into. We’ll dive more into how to address these in the next couple of questions. 

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57 Content Chat MVPs to Follow to Make Your Twitter Feed a Better and Smarter Place

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57 Content Chat MVPs to Follow to Make Your Twitter Feed a Better and Smarter Place

Over the years, #ContentChat has fostered a community of incredibly savvy communicators involved in arenas across the content marketing spectrum. Outside our Monday meetups, these pros engage with one another to share ideas, helping us all learn ways to reach our audiences in more authentic, effective and innovative ways.

If your Twitter feed has hit a lull or you’re looking to turn your feed into a non-stop river of resources and tips for how you can step up your content marketing game, check out our #ContentChat MVPs that will make your feed a better and smarter place:

  1. @Alcrump12 Alex Crump
    • Alex shares a fun mix of pop culture, podcast and marketing content, and she was even a judge for this year’s Content Marketing Awards!
  2. @AllisonRyder Allison Ryder
    • Allison tweets about tech and business, video & content and miscellaneous photos from her travels.
  3. @AmywHiggins Amy Higgins
    • Amy’s active in content and SEO, and you can count on her for great articles in her Artistic Bytes roundup.
  4. @ATXCopyWriter Kristen Hicks
    • Kristen blends topics related to current real-world issues, entertainment culture and marketing resources to keep you up on professional and personal topics (including horror movies!).
  5. @Aubrey__Harper Aubrey Harper
    • Aubrey’s feed is a great reminder to focus on the human element of marketing and to sacrifice quantity over quality any day. She is also great for tips on managing a B2B blog.
  6. @Avtar_Madan Avtar Madan
    • Avtar shares a delightful mix of tech news, resources for marketers and commentary on world happenings.
  7. @Baker_Rithms Jeff Baker
  8. @BerrakBiz Berrak Sarikaya
    • As said by Berrak herself, you can expect daily life musings, anything related to writing and marketing and miscellaneous observations when you follow.
  9. @BillSkowronski Bill Skowronski
    • Bill is looped in with great tips from several Twitter chats and shares great resources for companies in the nonprofit space.
  10. @Brafton Brafton
    • This agency’s Twitter is full of great visuals, including infographics, memes and gifs that can break the sea of text on your feed.
  11. @BRAVOMedia1 Debi Norton
    • If you’re in search of SEO resources, Debi’s your go-to-gal.
  12. @BruceDesch Bruce Deschamps
    • Brush up your social media knowledge by following Bruce. He shares the latest news from all channels and formats (including video), and shares some great insights from #SMEchat.
  13. @B2the7 Bernie Fussenegger
    • Bernie’s feed is always packed with great resources on everything from types of leadership, how to turn your email list into cash and ways to unlock the full potential of your content.
  14. @CaitlinMarie89 Caitlin Kinser
    • Caitlin’s feed is full of live tweets from events she attends and tips for using social media to its fullest potential.
  15. @CarmenHill Carmen Hill
    • Carmen snagged the #CMWorld Community Champion Award this year and her Twitter feed lives up to the hype. She’s always engaging with folks in the space and sharing great resources to keep us all at the top of our game.
  16. @CHARGEgoforward Charge Go Forward
    • This agency is always full of fun gifs and great insights from their client experience during our #ContentChat, and their feed highlights great sports and entertainment marketing and sponsorship tips and case studies.
  17. @ChristinaMHager Christina Hager
    • Christina will keep you up on current events, issues related to women in business, and ways to supercharge your social strategy.
  18. @ChrlieChaz Jen Brass Jenkins
    • Jen shares great articles to keep you on top of your marketing game, and her Instagram that autoposts to her Twitter is full of great travel pics. Did we mention the cat content, too?
  19. @DerekPillie Derek Pillie
    • This is Derek’s profile dedicated to his interest in customer experience and data-driven service solutions and he’s constantly engaging with others in the space.
  20. @DominicGarcia Dominic Garcia
    • Dominic is a #ContentChat and #CMWorld loyalist and is constantly engaging with the communities during the chats since he’s well versed in all things content marketing!
  21. @DSimanoff David Simanoff
    • David is a #ContentChat favorite for his great collaboration with other participants, and you can follow him for insights from other chats, including the CMI #CMWorld chat.
  22. @Epodcaster Jennifer Navarrete
    • If you’re into podcasts, you don’t want to miss out on Jennifer. Her feed is also full of personal thoughts and updates so you can keep up with her daily happenings.
  23. @HeavyMetalMG Mike Goldberg
    • At #ContentChat we can always rely on Mike for top notch gifs, and in the downtime you can rely on him for great marketing articles and WWE gifs.
  24. @Ideakid88 Wayne Hendry
    • Wayne helps SMBs grow and shares great content related to customer service, social media and more.
  25. @InkandCopy Masooma Memon
    • Masooma’s feed is full of great quotes, “Did you know” and tip style posts that are easy to digest while you’re on the go.
  26. @JasonLWebb Jason Webb
    • As a copywriter, Jason engages his followers by posting real-world examples of wins and flops.
  27. @JesseGhiorzi Jesse Ghiorzi
    • Jesse blends sports with marketing for a fun feed sprinkled with tips for PR pros.
  28. @JMattMke Jeffrey “JMatt” Matthias
    • JMatt joined us as an expert on gifs and his feed does not disappoint.
  29. @Jonas419 Dan Goldberg
    • Dan is tuned into #HootChat and #CMWorld providing great insight on social media and marketing.
  30. @JoshMcCormack Josh McCormack
    • On top of book reviews, Josh engages with his followers on topics related to social media and customer engagement.
  31. @Kathrynclang Kathryn Lang
    • Kathryn’s looped in with some Twitter chats like #USABizParty, #LinkedInChat and #DaretoBe that could link you to your next best business contacts.
  32. @KaylaNaab Kayla Naab
    • Kayla’s looped in with a few great Twitter chats, including #SEMRushchat, #BizGalz and #IntrovertsTalkBiz, providing high quality content from a variety of groups.
  33. @KMullett Kevin Mullett
    • A self-proclaimed geek, Kevin’s great for all things SEO, social media, and UX, and he also shares great photography for a break from the marketing grind.
  34. @Lttlewys Brandie McCallum
    • Brandie is not only great for social media and advertising news and stats, but if you’re ever in Tampa her feed is full of fun things to do in the area.
  35. @_MariaMarchewka Maria Marchewka
    • Maria is social media savvy and provides great dialogue in a variety of Twitter chats on the topic.
  36. @MartinLieberman Martin Lieberman
    • Martin’s feed is a fun mix of marketing, pop culture and mainstream news on some of the biggest companies around. He’s also a resource on in-house ghostwriting!
  37. @McGuireDavid David McGuire
    • A copywriting pro, David regularly shares tips and resources for you to hone your editorial skills.
  38. @MDigitalPatrick Patrick Delehanty
    • Patrick’s all about the data and showing ways it can help you optimize your content marketing efforts.
  39. @MeetEdgar Meet Edgar
    • The social media solution provider is always lively during our chats and has a steady cadence of content to answer all your questions about social media.
  40. @MonicalNorton Monica Norton
    • This former journalist shares great articles related to gender and business, customer experience, and street art in SF’s Tenderloin!
  41. @OscarCharlieUK Oscar Charlie
    • This steady Twitter feed has a focus on social media and ways that technologies like AI and blockchain are shaping its future.
  42. @PathFactory PathFactory
    • This B2B marketing data platform shares great case studies from some of the world’s biggest brands.
  43. @PisaRose Shelly Lucas
    • Shelly isn’t afraid to get technical, and her tweets often lend insight on emerging technologies and the impact they will have on our world (and how we market within it).
  44. @PRisUs Michelle Garrett
    • Michelle is great with sharing case studies and real-world examples of great marketing and PR at work, and often points us to great resources during our #ContentChat.
  45. @PwrDigMarketing Power Digital Marketing
    • This marketing agency hosts a podcast called “Flip the Switch”, pulling in great guests to discuss everything from marketing to leadership skills.
  46. @QuickMuse Ken Gordon
    • Ken poses many great questions to his followers, looping them in on topics related to the latest book he’s reading or tech update or innovation he’s heard of.
  47. @RandyFrisch Randy Frisch
  48. @RebekahLMeyer Rebekah Meyer
  49. @ShawnPaulWood Shawn Paul Wood
    • On top of great sports content, Shawn participates in a handful of Twitter chats like #AdweekChat and #SproutChat to give you great tips.
  50. @SittingPretty61 Dr. Dorrie Cooper
    • Dorrie puts her background as a psychotherapist to its best use by sharing articles related to company culture, as well as great reads on SEO, social media skills, and the overlap of PR and marketing.
  51. @SpiceDebbie Debbie Schwake
    • Debbie pulls great quotes from helpful articles and conferences, and she can be seen as a resource for topics related customer experience.
  52. @SqueezeCMM SqueezeCMM
    • This solution provider keeps an eye on targeting buyers and keeps you in the loop on ways to best track them throughout their journey.
  53. @SuperDeluxeMo Maureen Jann
    • Mo has her finger on the pulse of the Seattle startup scene and is a #ContentChat loyalist that always points us to the best examples and resources for our topics.
  54. @TheJoelTruth Joel Schwartzberg
    • This seasoned speech coach can help you refine your presentations for a flawless delivery.
  55. @TodCordill Tod Cordill
    • Follow for the marketing puns and stay for the smart summaries of several Twitter chats.
  56. @WrittenbyEmilie Emilie Moreland
    • Emilie is constantly sharing great stats and resources for you to improve your blogging, including the role of SEO, and as an avid reader you may find your next favorite book thanks to her!
  57. @YoungP2 Paul Young
    • Paul brings a mix of tech news, Dell happenings and great hiking shots to add some nature to your feed.
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