Erika Heald Marketing Consulting

Content marketing that drives business results

Content Conversations

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

November 4, 2019 Content Chat Recap: Where Executive Thought Leadership Fits Into Your 2020 Content Marketing Plan

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Company executives are prime candidates to champion your brand and reinforce your company’s purpose, especially in public-facing channels where their industry expertise and title carry significant credibility. But, not all executives are right for every thought leadership opportunity, and your activities need to stay aligned with any overarching business goals.

In this #ContentChat recap, we discuss the types of activities your executives can (and should) be involved in, hurdles you’ll likely face in the process, and best practices for staying strategic with your executives’ time.

Q1: Do you (or someone else at your company) work with your executives/leadership team to create thought leadership content that features their perspectives?

Per our poll, just over half (52%) of respondents work with their company executives on thought leadership content, and 29% said that someone else does that for their brand.

The community shared various types of content they’ve supported for executives, including blog posts, social media content, and presentations. We dive into this more in Q3.

[Read more…] about November 4, 2019 Content Chat Recap: Where Executive Thought Leadership Fits Into Your 2020 Content Marketing Plan

Why Social Media Guidelines Are the Key to Unlocking Startup Employee Brand Advocacy

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SOcial Media Guidelines for StartupsIt’s no surprise that social media can help your company grow, and startups especially can leverage social media to accelerate their success from a young company age.

Research has shown that nearly 61 percent of startups implement social media marketing strategies, largely thanks to its low-cost nature. Even further, those startups identified customer acquisition and customer retention as main results from their social media efforts, meaning there is a direct impact on the company’s bottom line through social.

From your company’s early days, your employees can be your most loyal social following, helping to aid in your social success through their own authentic posts.

The problem, though, is that too many companies simply assume that their employees know what is/is not acceptable on social media, and the companies neglect to create any written rules or procedures for team members to follow.

Even if your team is full of tech-savvy digital natives, you cannot assume that everyone is familiar with all the social bells and whistles, or what you want them to do on social—you need to provide guardrails, in the form of social media guidelines, for them to follow when engaging in brand-related matters on social.

[Read more…] about Why Social Media Guidelines Are the Key to Unlocking Startup Employee Brand Advocacy

4 Steps To Start A Smart Guest Blogger Program

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Blogs are increasingly important to companies for lead generation and nurturing. HubSpot even found that 55% of marketers say blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority.

With growing content needs, marketers may be inclined to invite guest bloggers to contribute content, thinking it will save time and fill a content gap. Although guest bloggers are a great option that can yield tremendous value for your brand, they are not right for every blog, and they can be more resource-intensive than you think.

If you’ve been considering a guest blogger program, use these four steps as the foundation to assess if your blog is ready for guests, and how to get your guest blogger program off to a good start:

[Read more…] about 4 Steps To Start A Smart Guest Blogger Program

4 Ways to Share Company Content in an Authentic and Meaningful Way

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You’re not alone if you are unsure how to support your company on social media.

More than 20% of workers don’t know if their company wants them to share relevant company news or brand updates, 15% are afraid to post the wrong thing, and another 15% simply don’t know what to share to support their company’s social media efforts.

The fact is that not only does your employer want you to engage with their posts and share their content, an active social presence can also greatly benefit your career. Social media is an easy tool to expand your professional network, provide access to new opportunities, and increase your company’s sales effectiveness.

In a few easy steps, you can start building an active social presence that helps you become a brand champion and expand your professional horizons. [Read more…] about 4 Ways to Share Company Content in an Authentic and Meaningful Way

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: [Read more…] about 21 Social Media and Content Marketing Tools to Make Your Life Easier

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. [Read more…] about 13 Blogs and Resources for Content Marketers and PR Pros

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