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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 30, 2016 11:02 PM
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Whether you promote content that is fresh or seasonal, evergreen or topical, your endeavor will be meaningless if it doesn’t make your readers sizzle and pop with excitement. How do you capture the attention of your audience without crafting content from scratch?
Perhaps all you need is a high-quality photo. Not a bland, lifeless image, but an attention-grabbing picture — one with a story behind it. Maybe you need a series of compelling images if you’re marketing a lengthy content piece.
Research shows that:
- Color visuals increase a person’s willingness to go through a content piece by 80%.
- Posts or articles with images receive 94% more views than posts or articles without images.
- Understanding of content jumps from 70% to 95% with the integration of images....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 30, 2016 10:22 PM
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The V-word was on everyone’s lips at our Monetising Media conference last week. Debates raged about production, distribution and of course, monetisation of video, but are the benefits of video really all they’re cracked up to be?
The Media Briefing’s flagship State of the Media Industry Report 2017 (coming soon) highlights the importance of video in media organisations going forward. Respondents placed video as the second highest investment target for 2017 behind data, and is also in the top five for revenue terms.
Is video a fad, distracting publishers from thinking long-term? Or is there genuinely the demand, and more importantly a sustainable future, for our current obsession with it?...
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 30, 2016 10:07 PM
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Visualizing the Fortune 500 is an experiment by the team at Fortune magazine. This is an interactive data visualization site that shows the location of each company's headquarters and the size of the circle represents the company's annual revenue.
People visit and revisit the Fortune 500 for lots of reasons, chief among them: job prospects, sales leads, corporate research and investor information. And bragging rights, of course. Below are two visualizations that allow you to explore the Fortune 500. On the map you'll find every one of the U.S. headquarters from the 2016 list, on the line chart below it, you'll see how each of the companies on the 2016 list has moved through the ranks for the past 20 years.
They also show an interactive visualization of how the companies have moved through the ranks over the last 20 year history of the Fortune 500....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 30, 2016 2:54 AM
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So what is product packaging? It’s a practical tool, yes. (I mean, how else are you going to effectively get beer into your mouth?) But it’s also more than that. Like any good design, packaging tells a story. It’s also a sensual experience, literally engaging us through sight, touch and sound (and possibly smell and taste, depending on the product/package). All of these details help us understand what the enclosed product is for, how it should be used, who should use it and, maybe most importantly, if we should buy a product or not. In the Ultimate Guide to Product Packaging Design we look at how to get your packaging to tell the story you want....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 30, 2016 2:30 AM
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Do you use your smartphone or tablet to post images to social media? Looking for mobile image apps to enhance your visuals? In this article, you’ll discover four mobile apps to help you create and publish outstanding social media images on the go....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 30, 2016 2:12 AM
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What Is Social Media Engagement? Why Is It Important For Your Business? Engagement is the sum of likes, shares and comments that your message has received on social media. It is a fair assessment of the impact that your message has created on your social media audience. For your business to succeed on social media, you have to attract and hold your target audience members on your social media pages, and engaging them is the first stop on the road to building a loyal social media following. Here are 15 super-effective ways of engaging your social media audience....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 30, 2016 1:36 AM
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Gone are the days of blathering on ad nauseam about anything your heart desires. Content marketing via blogging is one of the best ways to increase the online visibility of a brand. These days, though, the posts you create must be engaging, informative, interesting, and generally high in quality to get you anywhere. Contrary to what you may have heard, quantity does not exceed quality here. Even so, coming up with fascinating topics for a blog is often difficult for business owners. Here are 20 topics and ideas to get you off to a great start....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 30, 2016 1:15 AM
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The ability to create Twitter Moments is being rolled out to all users. Twitter Moments enable users to stitch together multiple tweets into slideshow-like stories. When they originally launched, Moments were intended to help Twitter users keep up with what the world is talking about at any given time without having to follow loads of new people or watch trending topics closely. The below video from Twitter explains a little more about how Moments work:...
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 29, 2016 11:03 AM
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IConsumers find video engaging, compelling and convincing — so much so that they’re anywhere from 64% to 85% more likely to buy after watching a product video. In fact, video on a landing page can boost conversions by an astonishing 80%. Already, companies that use video on their website get 41% more traffic from search results than those that don’t, and by next year, you can expect 74% of all web traffic to be video. Sure, every smartphone worth its salt has a decent video camera, but the highly competitive content arena today demands top quality content in all formats — including video. There’s a lot to think about, from actually shooting the video to post production, finding copyright free music and more. Equipment quality, lighting expertise, editing skill and audio optimization still matter a great deal (more than ever, in fact). So while the barriers to entry for video creation have been reduced, the barriers to creating exceptional video have actually skyrocketed.In this column, we’re going to explore some really useful places to find one element that can make your marketing and product videos way more professional and polished: background music....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 28, 2016 10:47 PM
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Retail marketers have long focused on perfecting their omnichannel strategies; however, the rules of consumer engagement have changed. Many major anchor stores are either closing or redesigning their approaches, and the overall mall landscape is changing to meet the needs of a new audience.
And while shoppers can be reached on a variety of platforms, they remain individuals and prefer a unified experience that engages them in unique ways. Business is not as usual. And, as this year’s holiday shopping season approaches, there are important lessons to learn.
Unique experiences build on brick and mortar’s strength
Even though online sales continue to grow, a recent Deloitte study confirms that consumers still prefer in-store shopping, choosing to make more than 90 percent of all transactions in store.
The fact remains — brick-and-mortar retailers offer shoppers something they want that online retailers just can’t provide: a hands-on experience with products and the ability to take them home immediately. That’s why today’s retail landscape is fertile for brick-and-mortar retailers to nurture shoppers, seeding growth with unique shopping experiences....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 27, 2016 1:33 PM
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Good typography may be hard work, but designers shouldn’t forget to have some fun with it! While crafting fonts and typographic characters can sometimes feel stiff and overly mathematical, we want you to help you find the joy in creating more expressive and playful typography.
Of course, this approach is great for children-oriented design projects—but let’s not limit ourselves. After all… not every coffee shop, ice cream store and logo needs to look posh. Let’s find the more creative side of typography and get goofy!
In this article, we’ll spotlight some examples of playful typography and show you how to join in the fun with your own work....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 27, 2016 1:18 PM
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There’s no denying it… Bright, bold colors have been a huge trend this year—not only a 2016 web design trend, but across all mediums. This color palette is popular with good reason; when bright color pops in design, it can conjure excitement, joy and intrigue. For that reason, it’s a great skill to master as a designer.
There are many different ways to incorporate bright color into your designs. This article takes a close look at 10 different examples which accomplish just that. Enjoy!...
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 26, 2016 6:58 PM
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SnapChat officially changed its name to Snap, Inc. as the company restyles itself from a one-[major] hit app company into a digital lifestyle brand. To mark the occasion, Snap, Inc. introduced Spectacles, fashion and tech-forward sunglasses that record 10-second clips, which can then be uploaded to SnapChat Memories via wifi. Following the Apple playbook, Snap, Inc. also designed a fashionable case that doubles as a charger. Spectacles will be available this Fall and will cost $130.
Spectacles are the result of a secret acquisition in December 2014 of VergenceLabs, which developed Epiphany Eyewear to record video clips with the press of a button on the side of the frame and upload them online via its app. Over the last 19 months, Snap, Inc. remodeled Epiphany into a fun, but thoughtful sunglass package to give Snappers a way to share their perspective hands-free.
By pressing a small button on the side of the glasses, Spectacles capture video through a 115-degree lens, which better conveys someone’s natural perspective and field of vision. Those on the other side of the lens, will know they’re being recorded because of a halo-like light that surrounds the lens. Unlike smartphones, which record video in a rectangular format, video via Spectacles is circular, allowing the viewer to watch the content naturally, whether in portrait or landscape mode, the way the user “saw” it. Essentially, clips offer a playback experience that simulates your natural point of view....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 30, 2016 10:44 PM
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It’s no secret that visual content is powerful. Numerous studies show that our ability to recall information increases significantly when it’s presented as an image rather than plain text.
That’s why infographics, despite the fact that they are everywhere, are still effective when done well.
Infographics are still effective when done well says @sujanpatel. #contentmarketing CLICK TO TWEET
What that means, as summarized by Jeff Bullas, is that an infographic (and visual content as a whole) should:
- Blend seamlessly into the user experience
- Fit the platform used to share it
- Offer genuine value — never an aggressive attempt to sell
- Be bite-sized — quick and easy to consume
- Relate to the things your audience cares about
- Be consistent in style and tone
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 30, 2016 10:16 PM
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In August, Washington Post Managing Editor Cameron Barr and his fellow senior editors decided to do something about a problem that had been niggling at them for some time:
Articles were becoming too long, often for no good reason.
"We were seeing too many pieces that were in the mid-range of their ambition and their success — coming in at 60, 70 inches of copy," Barr said. "We were seeing the same thing in a number of blogs, where pieces were just too long, and we felt as though editors were not applying the necessary discipline and rigor in how these pieces were being handled on the desk."
The solution? A newsroom-wide initiative to cut down on editorial flab, Barr said. Since the middle of August, he's asked Post's department heads to take responsibility for articles longer than 1,500 words online or 50 inches in print. Bylines, captions, headlines and subheadings don't count....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 30, 2016 10:00 PM
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Remember the time when you or a friend wanted to start a blog back in high school? Blogs had only hit the internet back when I was in high school and everyone, writer or not, suddenly seemed to have an opinion on sports, fashion, food, life, and what not! The best way to make those opinions known to a wider audience was blogs. Everyone wanted to have one!
Thanks to WordPress, everyone got their fair share of blogging. No kidding. WordPress started in 2003 and took blogging to a whole new level of awesomeness. Everyone back in the day was totally flattered by WordPress’ default blog themes and the customization they allowed.
WordPress has done it, yet again. This time for websites! Designing a website has never been easier. Branding Agency, Dubai based e-shops, professional web development service providers, and many more businesses turn to WordPress to get an online presence and market their products. WordPress is by far the smoothest of all content management systems. It has upheld its good name all these years. Here’s how they are pulling it off....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 30, 2016 2:44 AM
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The layout of a responsive website is designed in such a way so that it becomes sensitive to the screen size of the device, which is used for accessing it. In the present time most of the websites are not responsive. But the pace at which the number of mobile users is increasing, it is high time for the entrepreneurs or the webmaster to upgrade their site and make it responsive. This is especially applicable for the owners of the ecommerce sites as it will definitely impact the conversion rate of their site. There are many ways with the application of which a website can be made responsive. A skilled and knowledgeable web designer can accomplish the task with ease and efficacy if he or she is aware of the technique. We have collected 30+ responsive websites from the internet which is going to be of great help for the designers. These examples will help the designers to draw valuable inspiration as far as the style and layout of the website is concerned....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 30, 2016 2:20 AM
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There is a huge amount of content competing for attention; how will you cut through the noise? Fortunately, there are a number of tools that help businesses deliver content to their target audience at the right time. By leveraging these content distribution tools, businesses can expand their reach and make a positive impact on their audience with the help of high-quality content. However, you must remember that to leverage these tools to their maximum potential, you must create very high quality and valuable content....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 30, 2016 2:03 AM
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For ten years in a row, marketers report that email has produced a higher return on investment than any other channel. Today, influencers like Neil Patel and industry leaders like HubSpot combine emails with landing pages to deliver a one-two punch that gets prospects converting like no other medium. An email landing page is a standalone web page that uses persuasive elements like testimonials, contact forms, and benefit-oriented copy, to convince visitors to convert on an offer. They’re reached after a prospect clicks on a link within an email. Let’s take a look at how 20 pros create successful ones....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 30, 2016 1:24 AM
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Most of you work in organizations where Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel are standard. If you’re writing anything interesting, you’re collaborating. And if you’re collaborating, Google Docs and Google Sheets are indispensable tools. Most of you work in organizations where Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel are standard. They’re comfy and familiar. If you send a file in those formats to somebody, you know they can read it. So why bother with Google? Here’s why: the more collaborative the task, the better Google’s tools are. They key is that you can all work on a piece of content at the same time. Here are three great examples:...
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 29, 2016 4:24 PM
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For many Americans, elections are spectator sports. Despite the huge numbers who tuned in to this week’s presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, historical data suggests that on Nov. 8, more than 40% of eligible voters will skip the polling stations and just watch the dramatic results unfold on TV.
To address America’s consistently dismal voter turn out, the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) launched a poster campaign intended to wield “the power of design to motivate the American public to register and turn out to vote.” It asked its 10,000 professional and student members to create nonpartisan posters persuading readers to vote, that would be free for anyone to print and distribute....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 29, 2016 10:49 AM
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Disney has had talks about a potential acquisition of Twitter, we’ve confirmed. They’re working with bankers now to determine whether the deal makes sense, multiple sources have informed us. While some reports have suggested that Twitter could fetch $30 billion, we are hearing that the price tag is much lower. Twitter stock is currently trending upward on the news, and Disney’s downward. At the end of last week, Twitter’s market cap was below $13 billion on Thursday, before rumors of a possible Salesforce acquisition broke. Twitter’s market cap is now almost $20 billion, suggesting that investors believe it could optimistically fetch that price. Disney, which owns media properties like ESPN and ABC, is hoping that the social media platform could amplify their reach. Twitter has also been dabbling in content partnerships, including one with the NFL. Successful implementation of these partnerships could also prove to be beneficial to a media conglomerate like Disney....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 28, 2016 10:43 PM
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If you sink enough money into most marketing tactics, you’ll see nearly immediate results. Since content marketing is often an exception to this rule, many marketers mistakenly think their content strategy is ineffective if results don’t come quickly.
Content marketing is not a quick fix. If you’re just beginning to execute on a content marketing plan or launching a new strategy, you need to be patient and know when to expect certain results. You will probably see an initial spike in traffic and social shares after publishing, but you likely will not see the biggest perks of content marketing occur until long after you’ve hit publish.
Sustained, strategic content marketing efforts can bring significant SEO benefits. This is where many businesses will likely see the greatest return from content marketing, yet SEO improvements can take months to materialize.
The good news is that once you do start seeing SEO benefits from content marketing, you’re likely to see a compounding return. In other words, your initial efforts will keep bringing value long after you’ve put the work in....
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Scooped by
Jeff Domansky
September 27, 2016 1:26 PM
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It’s the color of power and strength. As well as love and Disney romance. But the meaning of red goes way beyond fast cars and heart-shaped chocolate boxes. Through evolution, and thousands of years of human civilization, red has been used to tell stories, stir emotion and to get us to spend more money. Learn what the color means to different cultures around the world, and find out how to best use it for your business in our exploration of the color red.
In the beginning, there was red
Evolutionarily, red is a signal of heightened emotions, both good and bad. Think of our how our cheeks flush with anger when we’re upset, or how they blush when our crush pays us a compliment. In nature, the vibrant patterns of poison dart frogs help warn predators to stay away. And in reverse fashion it also attracts animals by serving as a signal of ripened fruit. Either way, the color red developed in nature in order to stand out.
Some content pieces had what it took to become viral way before the internet era. We called that phenomenon “word of mouth” and it helped products and ideas to spread around with the speed of light. In today’s world, with so many communication means available, it should be easy enough for anyone to create a viral piece and unleash it into the world. Unfortunately, not everything online goes viral. Some pieces attract millions of eyeballs while others get their fair number of shares without entering the VIP club. Why?...
Via massimo facchinetti
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These seven free stock photo sites are an excellent resource for bloggers, PR and marketers. Highly recommended. 10/10
Also my personal fav is Pixabay.com.
LOVE me some free cool pics!
NEVER forget though, Flickr Creative Commons!