Thursday, May 3, 2012

Let's Talk Expiration Dates

You've heard it time and time again. Content is King.

To show how your content is a reflection of your site to Google, let's consider expiration dates.

Somewhere, either sitting in your refrigerator, on your kitchen counter, under the seat in your car, or at your desk, you probably have food that will one day go bad. It will eventually sit there too long, start to grow mold, eventually stink up everything, and you will finally throw it out. Imagine if Google viewed your site the way you view that food.

Well it does. Kinda.

Google wants to expose its users to fresh sites. That means it will take note of sites that are updated often and updated with meanigful changes. Sites that are left too long and become stale will be tossed aside and may never be served up as a search result. So if it hasn't been stressed enough already, keep your site fresh.

How often should a site be updated? Often. Weekly, if possible.

How much should a site be updated? A lot. More should be changed than just the date, navigation, or advertisement.

What kind of content should be added to the site? New Pages. Not just new content on existing pages. Google wants to provide new value, so it wants to find new pages.

As a bonus, here's an infographic from bitrebels to further breakdown how to make your content King.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Anatomy of a Social Consumer [Infographic]

58% of consumers connect with brands on social media because they are a customer. When one follower shares information about you or something you've posted or written on social media, on average 77 people are reached. This can have a profound impact on increasing your agency's awareness. This infographic has more information and stats on how consumers are interacting with brands on social media.

SocialConsumer
Source:truaxis.com

Friday, April 27, 2012

How to Share Interesting Content on Social Media

There are countless articles online about social media, how to use it for business, how to engage your audience on social media, etc. etc. Almost always one of the tips include sharing content on social media your audience will find interesting. But how do you know what content to share?

Sharing content that you didn't write is called content curation. It can be a great way to be seen as knowledgeable and to build your social media audience.

Here are 4 tips to help you decide what content to share with your audience:

1. Be curious.

If you are curious about the same things your audience is curious about, posting articles that share in that knowledge and curiosity will be interesting and engaging.

2. Make the connections for them.

Ever see an article that is not directly about insurance, but you see how it could apply to insurance? Post it. There is no reason why you can't share seemingly unrelated content. Just make sure you make the connection for your audience when sharing.

3. Get excited.

When you get excited about an article, it shows when you share it with your audience. Your audience will respond to your enthusiasm. So if that article you found made you excited, share away!

4. Think about your audience.

Share content that is of interest to your audience. Strive for a balance of articles that you like with articles your audience will find interesting.