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This article is from Brian Solis , and in collboration with Barnickel Design, they have created this infograph that clearly shows that there is a perception gap 

 

what customers want and what executives think they want.based on research from Pivot referring "The Perception Gap"

Jan Gordon: My commentary

Hopefully this article and findings will help to provide some clarity so marketers can begin to engage with their customers, in a way that is meaningful to them. Word of mouth spreads like wildfire and you'll want to make sure your business is listening, engaging and responding to their needs before someone else does.

 

Here are some highlights:

 

** 76% of marketers feel they know what their customers want yet only 34% have asked customers

 

**59% of social customers wish to engge businesses for buying insights and customer service respectively, on the contrary only 37% of marketers believe that these services re in demand by their customers

 

**Take a look at Actual Consumer usage VS marketers' perceptions of consumer usage on the infograph, there is definitely a gap in perception here

 

 mobile social apps 

 

**15% of consumers use them on Linkedin, marketers think it's more like 36. 7%

 

**twitter 35% useage - marketers perceive this to be 82%

 

 

 Daily deal  & coupon sites

 

**Facebook usage is 35%

 

**Marketers perceive this to be 56%

 

Selected by Jan Gordon covering "Curation, Social Business and Beyond"

 

Read full article and see infographic here: [bit.ly/MMPPdI]

Via janlgordon

This post was written by Melonie Gallegos for iMediaconnection

 

In this piece, there are 8 tips to help marketers get in on the social curation boom in a meaningful way - that means Pinterest and beyond!

 

Here's an excerpt:

 

"Curation is a long-standing tradition of collecting, saving & organizing objects. Today it takes on a different meaning. Organizataions have evolved from collecting artifacts to digital curation of media and content"

 

When human behavior shifts and it certainly has, (more about that in the article), brands are quick to follow suit.

 

Here are some highlights:

 

There are a lot of websites offfering curation-type services

 

To get a clear sense of how a brand might leverage curation in this article, they have broken them down into categories.

 

**social bookmarking and news

 

**sharing

 

**Aggregation and syndication networks

 

**There are 8 ways your brand can get in on the action

 

Here are a few that caught my attention:

 

Become a curator creator

 

**Create your own Pinterest board and it's more than just slapping images, it takes thought, strategy, being part of the community and continually showing up

 

**appreciating other people's content and having two-way conversations

 

Create an Interest-based content strategy

 

**Focus on the interests of your audience, not your products and services!

 

**Allign their real-life interests with your brand position

 

Curated by Jan Gordon covering "Pinterest Watch"

 

Read full article here: [http://bit.ly/IXNQQB]

Via janlgordon

This article is by Mars Dorian for businessgrow this piece is based on John Kearon's talk at a conference about the power of emotion and why you need to make people feel something to get them to do something.

 

Jan Gordon: My commentary

 

Know your audience and speak to their listening

 

This was mentioned in this article by the author who paraphrased

what John Kearon said:

 

”We are feeling creatures. Content matters so much LESS than you think it does. Do something shocking or exhilarating in your marketing, but don’t be bland. If people feel nothing, they do nothing

 

Do the best companies make you think or feel? The author suggests feeling is what makes things happen".

 

Jan Gordon: 

Content in any form is an important part of marketing. It's the door opener, the bridge that can lead to comments, relationships, brand advocacy, transactions and other opportunities that might not have otherwise happened. Using emotion that strikes a chord with your audience is very important.

This was a response from Mars Dorian to one of the comments and I absolutely agree with him: (again, know your audience, this might not apply to everyone).

"haha, I think the limits of pushing that emotional zone haven't been pushed yet - because companies as well as solopreneurs tend to hold back on the edgy, but effective stuff".

 

Here are some highlights that I think apply to content curators/arketers particularly: 

 

"PURE emotion is the sole buying decision influencer — because it’s targeting your oldest and most powerful part of the brain – the fight-or-flight REPTILIAN BRAIN".

 

Here are a few suggestions that caught my attention particularly for content marketers/curators:

 

Concentrate on the feeling benefit of your products and services

 

**show pictures, words and/or videos of how people feel after they bought your product or services - What state do you want them to feel?

Write Visual:

**The easier it is to grab your sentences, the more your audience can picture it. If they can "picture" it, they can feel it.

 

Selected by Jan Gordon covering "Curation, Social Business and Beyond"

See full article here: [http://bit.ly/SIKXEw]

Via janlgordon