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Content Marketing Interview with Jon Wuebben

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

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This week, to conclude the Content Marketing & Strategy series of interviews I had the pleasure of speaking with Jon Wuebben. Jon Wuebben is a veteran copywriter, speaker, entrepreneur and online marketing leader.

TelegentLOGOSeeing the exploding need for high quality, keyword rich web content, he founded the SEO copywriting house, Custom Copywriting in 2003. He is the President and CEO of Telegent Media, LLC, Encore Publishing and Custom Copywriting, one of the fastest growing online content providers in the industry, having written copy for the Fortune 100, small startups and dozens of mid-sized organizations. He understands the power that web content can have on a growing business and how it can transform unknown brands into industry-leaders. More recently, Jon wrote Content Rich: Writing Your Way to Wealth to help businesses of all sizes write their own content and to learn all the tips and tricks of SEO copywriting and how it relates to online marketing.
 
Elise Redlin-Cook: As usual, I’d like to start with a general question.  We have always heard that content is king, but content strategy and development are truly gaining traction now.  What do you see happening over the next 2 or 3 years with respect to content strategies and content marketing?
 
Jon Wuebben: First, is the adoption of a content strategy…thousands of firms will be doing this over the next 2-3 years. 25 x 25 twitter iconUnderstanding SEO and SMO is the first priority. Really understanding your prospects/clients is the next step. Bringing efficiency to the time it takes to create, distribute and leverage the content will also be a major trend. There are short cuts and there will continue to be development in this area. Social networking will continue to grow in importance. Overall, content strategy development will see a renaissance and will encourage and influence the creation of thousands of new start-ups, which will ultimately be a big part of what will get us out of the current economic downturn.
 
Elise: When coming up with a content strategy, where do you go for inspiration?
 
Jon: You go to the editorial calendars of magazines in your industry, most of them have this page on their website under “advertising”. When people advertise in a magazine, they want to tailor their ad to the appropriate issue. Same goes for online content. Think in terms of advertisers – what would they want to see on your blog? Then think in terms of prospects – if you could get them to do business with you just by having them read something that you provided them, what would it be? If you are totally stumped, go to competitive blogs and see what they are talking about.
 
Elise: What team should own a brand’s content and social media strategy? Should it be Marketing, PR, Customer Service, Legal, or other?  Why?
 
Jon: Marketing, marketing, marketing. End of story. They all should be involved to some extent of course, but marketing owns it..really owns it.
 
Elise: Do you feel that there is an applicable methodology to creating viral content, or does it just happen?
 
Jon: It usually just happens, but if you have a lot of subscribers, followers and fans, then it becomes much easier. Go with the classic link bait stuff: Linkbait is used to describe viral, linkable content designed to attract thousands of links and is recognized as one of the most effective ways to build links – and relevance for a site. So 25 x 25 twitter iconlink baiting is really building link friendly content. It’s also a great way to approach social media content –because it gets people interested.
 
Elise: Here at Vertical Measures, being an SEO agency, we are primarily focused on building great links for clients, I’ve got to ask… what have you found to be the most successful content strategy for gaining backlinks? Why?
 
Jon: Gaining links can be easier than people realize. First, as all the experts will tell you, you need a good “hook” for your blog posts, Tweets or Facebook Status Updates. A hook is the angle or the way of grabbing attention from the reader. You do it by capitalizing on something that’s really important to most people – security, money, respect, gossip, new ideas, a secret, etc…and give it a little sizzle.
 
Types of Hooks:
• Tying in to what’s relevant – the News Hook
• Going against the grain – the Contrary Hook
• Taking the offensive position – the Attack Hook
• Providing something important – the Resource Hook
• Making people laugh – the Humor Hook
Using hooks like these will get you back links. Want a sure fire way? Come up with a “Top 100 Ways to Do Something” blog post and you will go into viral link nirvana…but you gotta make it good.
 
Elise: Great input, so who are the three people (or companies, organizations, etc.) that everyone should be following?
 
Jon: Steve Jobs, Seth Godin and Malcolm Gladwell.
 
Elise: Alright, let’s get just a bit more personal. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
 
Jon:  France. Love the lifestyle. Switzerland’s great too. ;)
 
Elise: What led you to create Telegent Media and Custom Copywriting?
 
Jon: There was a very obvious need for web copy when I started in 2003. Companies were begging for it practically. There were all these old school copywriters out there who still had one foot in the print world – and didn’t get it or have the vision thing. Fortunately, I…and a few others out there…Arnie Kuenn and Joe Pulizzi included…have the vision thing. ;)

Thanks so much for Jon for allowing us to interview him, and providing such great insights into the world of Content Strategy.

Do you have any of your own insights that you’d like to add about content marketing? 

 

Elise C.

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Content Marketing Interview with Simon Kelly

Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

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Simon<br /> Kelly” title=”Simon Kelly” class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-5409″ /></span><span style=Simon Kelly, the Chief Operating Officer for Story Worldwide is recognized as a pioneer of new media in the branded content industry and is credited with introducing a unified approach for custom publishers in the US. Kelly and his partners have transformed what was originally a print-centric custom media company into a global, multi-channel content marketing and branding agency. Story Worldwide’s signature approach is storytelling and narrative branding and they assist in turning their clients’ brands into engaging media channels. Simon was gracious enough to answer some questions for us.

Elise Redlin-Cook: Let’s start with a general question.  We have always heard that content is king, but content strategy and development are truly gaining traction now.  What do you see happening over the next 2 or 3 years with respect to content strategies?
 
Simon Kelly: Brands will continue to recognize the importance of content driving sustained engagement. The smarter brands will realize that thinking in short term, finite ‘campaigns’ no longer work and that the 25 x 25 twitter icononly way to create enduring relationships with audiences is through continuous engagement. This requires a fundamental shift in understanding what consumers want and applying those insights to delivering useful and/or entertaining content, not just today, or even next month, but as long as you have, or want to have, a relationship with your consumers.
 
Elise: When coming up with a content strategy, where do you go for inspiration?
 
Simon: We draw on three sources for insights and inspiration for a content strategy: the Brand, the Audience and the Category. In other words, using a narrative approach, we create a Story platform for the brand and this platform informs all content strategy. The insights are gained from listening to the stories that consumers tell about your brand and then using metaphor and archetype for inspiration we distill these stories into a single, authentic Story platform. The platform has to be something the brand can ‘own’ and authentically support the brand’s authority to publish. There’s a great deal of chatter about brands becoming publishers (we’re responsible for a lot of it) and so if the brand is to be the channel, not adjacent to it, it had better know its story and tell that story through all channels. This sits at the heart of any content strategy.
 
Elise: How can you integrate content across multiple channels when many brands are currently operating as silos around one product or channel?
 
Simon: There are really only two ways to do this. The first is to 25 x 25 twitter iconensure that you understand the brand’s story and its platform and then apply it consistently across all channels. Otherwise the danger is that consumers will receive confusing, or even conflicting brand messages depending on the agency/internal owner/channel and it will damage the bran’s reputation. The second approach is all about organization. There needs to be a central owner of the brand’s channel – in fact we’re hoping it won’t be long before brands start creating a new role/title called CSO – Chief Story Officer.
 
Elise: So, what team should own a brand’s content and social media strategy? Should it be Marketing, PR, Customer Service, Legal, or other?  Why?
 
Simon: All of the above! Or at least each of those roles have a part to play in defining a brand’s content and social media strategy. However, there needs to be a single, identifiable and accountable strategy. Ultimately I believe the term ‘social’ will be dropped – all media is social, it’s just becoming easier and quicker to connect with a million of your closest friends at the speed of light! (See the below infographic for our recommendation on how brands and their agencies can structure for content/social media strategy).
 
So the question is who should own the brand’s channel, including social media and all other content and the answer remains the same as above. One recent ‘Aha’ moment for us was learning how to structure the team from the agency-side. We created a team of ‘active responders’ each of whom was armed with pre-agreed engagement protocols to deal with the comments unearthed through the listening process- is it a legal issue, customer service, product-related or a mis-guided/incorrect perception. We treated each comment as a bug and used a bug-tracking software to rack each comment and make sure each one as dealt with. The team of active responders was set up much like an AP newsroom from the mid-20th century – each responder was part analyst, part journalist and part customer service agent dealing with multiple comments flying in from all over the world.
 
social media team graphic
(Click the image to view a larger version)
 
Elise: Very interesting. Is there such a thing as a “social media expert/guru?” If so, would they better be described as “content strategist” since Content is what often drives Social Media?
 
Simon: Absolutely not. 25 x 25 twitter iconIf anyone describes themselves as a social media expert, run a mile. Such thinking/nomenclature is dangerous in that it can support a siloed approach as opposed to an integrated content strategy across all channels. For us, Social Media is just another form of publishing – connecting content with audiences, but doing so in real-time. The lessons learned over the years that brands have applied to previous channels still apply, they just need to be updated and integrated into the overall content strategy.
 
Elise: Who are the three people (or companies, organizations, etc.) that everyone should be following?
 
Simon: Joe Pulizzi from Junta 42, Avi Savar from Big Fuel and our very own postadvertising.com
 
Elise: I’m so glad you mentioned Joe Pulizzi. I’m actually interviewing him next week! Ok, so last question… If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
 
Simon: Seattle in the winter (winter sports, spectacular scenery) and summer (Seattle in the summer is one of the country’s best kept secrets). New York/London in the spring and autumn – two of the best cities in the world that continue to reinvent themselves.
 
Thanks to Simon for allowing us to ask him some questions and get some insight into content marketing.
 
Feel free to post your own questions in the comments below!

 

Elise C.

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Content Strategy Interview with Expert Lawrence Coburn

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

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In the little over a year that I’ve been working here at Vertical Measures I must admit that I’ve been very lucky to meet and speak with some of the most interesting and influential people in the interactive space. I thought that it was about time to start sharing the fantastic information that I am able to derive from these interactions with the Vertical Measures blog readers.

Recently, I was able to interview Lawrence Coburn, an original founder of RateItAll, who has been obsessing about social media combined with consumer ratings since the 90’s. He is a frequent public speaker on topics related to user generated content, SEO, and social media distribution. He sat on a panel at the Online Marketing Summit in San Diego with our president, Arnie Kuenn, a couple of weeks ago, and his insight into content strategy in my opinion is invaluable. In this interview, Lawrence discusses content strategy, viral content curation and his organization RateitAll.
 
Elise Redlin-Cook: Let’s start with a general question.  We have always heard that content is king, but content strategy and development are truly gaining traction now.  What do you see happening over the next 2 or 3 years with respect to content strategies?Lawrence Colburn, RateItAll.com 
Lawrence Coburn: For years now, we’ve been hearing that traditional organic search as provided by Google would be displaced by something.  Social search, social media, QA sites…. but it still hasn’t happened.  And from where I’m sitting, it’s showing no signs of happening – Google referrals seem as strong as ever.
 
So in my mind, twitter iconmaking sure your content strategy is aligned first and foremost with Google remains the top priority.  A lot of the classic content development strategies are as relevant today as they were a few years ago.  Creating compelling content around themes that are timely, frequently searched for, and/or unusually monetizable still seems like good strategy to me.

Over the next years, the format of that content is going to matter quite a bit.  For example, mobile internet browsing is skyrocketing – making sure your content is deliverable in a smaller footprint seems like a real basic thing every site is going to have to figure out soon, if they haven’t already.

Elise: What are some of the best ways to maximize content curation and engagement with the audience? (voting/commenting/etc)
Lawrence: This is a topic near and dear to my heart.  The biggest engagement win we’ve ever had on RateItAll is turning off the registration requirement on "liking" content.  We saw a 20x increase in engagement.  And as simple a "like" vote is, it’s critical to the UGC ecosystem.  Most people post on the internet because they like getting a reaction.  A "like" vote is a reaction, and one that can be packaged up in a digest or email alert which can bring folks back to the site.
 
Elise: Is there an applicable methodology to creating viral content, or does it just happen?
 
Lawrence: If only I knew.  I think there are definitely some principles that seem to work more than others.  Put all the content on one page and make sure people don’t have to click around to get the full impact.  Call out the most important sharing buttons: email, Facebook, and Twitter, in that order, and bury the hundreds of other sharing buttons.  Use lots of photos and/or video.  Don’t be afraid to use the Top Ten format, and check out the copy writing of celebrity and teen magazines for examples.  Oh yeah, have a syndicate of friends on places like Digg and StumbleUpon.  Beyond that it’s pretty much a crapshoot.
 
Elise: Facebook seems to be growing to be almost as large or important as Google.  Is there a recommended content strategy for Facebook?
 
Lawrence: Facebook Connect!  It’s fantastic – it gives you distribution via the Facebook newsfeed, lowers the sign up hurdle for new users, and gives you real ID on posts.  There is no reason for any site not to offer FB connect as a sign up option.  One thing I like is when sites try and get both – real email and name, and then a synch with Facebook.  This gives you ownership of the user AND the distribution might of FB.
 
Elise: Is there such a thing as a “social media expert/guru?” If so, would they better be described as “content strategist” since Content is what often drives Social Media?
 
Lawrence: Haha, I love gurus.  I can’t get enough of them.  I think I have something like 400 gurus following me on Twitter, and it makes me feel great. My advice to you if you are a guru is not to use the word "guru" anywhere near your bio.  The term has become a parody of itself.  Content is certainly big, but so is the distribution piece.  You need both to have success in this industry.
 
Elise: Since we are an SEO agency focused on building great links for clients, what have you found to be the most successful content strategy for gaining backlinks? Why?
 
Lawrence:  twitter iconWidgets still work, and they’re pure gold from a link building perspective because you get to name your anchor text.  Awards and other Seals of Approval are great as well – who doesn’t like to win an award?  In general, tapping into people’s self expression or vanity are proven ways to get people to link to you.
 
Elise: Who are the three people (or companies, organizations, etc.) that everyone should be following?
 
Lawrence: My two favorite blogs are AVC and CDixon.org – oddly, both are New Yorkers and I’m in SF.  I guess it’s NOT an East Coast West Coast thing.  In terms of following on Twitter, I think David Weekly, founder of PB Works is really smart and funny.  I’m also a proud Rand fanboy – I think he’s brought a lot of credibility to the SEO space.  In terms of SEO posts, dig around Stuntdubl.com – Todd has some meaty posts in there.
 
Elise: What would you tell a senior in college who will be graduating this spring with a degree in journalism and really had their heart set on writing for a newspaper someday?
 
Lawrence: I would say, "Nice call!  Seriously!"  The ability to write is way underrated.  I find myself writing about 40 percent of my time at work, which is a staggering amount when you think about it.  Between blogging, representing my company on social media, sales approach letters, etc. – I find writing to be an absolutely crucial, and unusual skill.  And there are media companies that are growing – HuffPo is killing it I understand, as are a number of the big tech blogs.  I would definitely advise them to start building their personal brand as soon as possible… they will get hired based not only on their skills, but on their reach.
 
Elise: What inspired you to start RateItAll?
 
Lawrence:  Haha, that’s a good and easy question.  I put that site online in 1999 with some friends from school.  We saw how Amazon was allowing real people to write reviews of books and movies, and we wondered, over pitchers of beer at 3:30 a.m., why we couldn’t do that for everything.  So there you have it.
 
Elise: So, Lawrence it seems that you always have an exciting project in the works… what are you working on right now?

Lawrence: I’m glad you asked!  My company RateItAll, a consumer reviews site, is just wrapping up a project in an area that I think is the single most exciting thing on the Internet right now – geolocation, specifically, the universe of new business opportunities that exist when you know the physical location of the end user.  I think this has implications for virtually all aspects of online business, from SEM, to Ecommerce to advertising.

Our project is an iPhone App called DoubleDutch – it’s kind of a cross between Foursquare and Yelp and lets you "check in" to stay connected with your friends, and read and write reviews of the places around you.  The coolest thing about this app is that we are white labeling it, so any community around a geographic location can have their own social check-in app.  We think this could be huge for universities, conferences, hotels, and so forth.  It’s a very exciting time for us – if you have an iPhone, please try it out!

 

Elise C.

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Feel the Pull of Mobile Marketing?

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

A recent study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project reports that a whopping 39% of the adult population have seen the frequency of their online use grow as their reliance on mobile devices has increased. The report, “The Mobile Difference”, relates this increase in technology usage to be similar to the spike in telephone use that was experienced between 1980 and 1987. The spike in that instance was determined to be caused by the introduction of the answering machine. Once unanswered calls were now being returned, significantly accelerating American’s calling patterns.

The Mobile Difference study links the recent growth of frequency in online use to increasing broadband adoption, and to improving attitudes about how mobile access creates better availability for personal and business purposes. It breaks this group whom it calls “Motivated by Mobility” into several subgroups including: 8% Digital Collaborators, 7% Ambivalent Networkers, 7% Media Movers, 9% Roving Nodes, and 8% Mobile Newbies.

The study notes that 61% of the adult population claim that they do not feel the pull of mobility into the digital world. I certainly don’t fall into this group, as my iPhone and I are inseparable. Those who don’t feel the pull of mobility in the study, which they’ve labeled the “stationary Media Majority”, fit into several subgroups. 13% are Desktop Veterans, there are Drifting Surfers, Information Encumbered individuals, 10% Tech Indifferent, and 14% are lovingly nicknamed "Off the Network". Some feel the off the network folks shy away from “even a little modern gadgetry”. I don’t know about you, but I’m wondering what cave these folks are hiding in?

So what does this information mean to you? Well for starters it means you need to start marketing to the mobile crowd. More and more are feeling the pull, and it goes without saying that your site should be easy to navigate on mobile devices. Optimizing your efforts for mobile search will also prove fruitful due to our growing reliance on mobile devices.

Have you seen your online marketing efforts change due to the pull? Check out the below commercial by Sprint and tell me you can’t feel the pull of mobile search and marketing!

Elise C.

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