Written by Larry Kim Blogging can be a powerful way for you to build your personal brand and increase the visibility of your company within your industry. Ideally, both at the same time. Your end goal, of course, is to become a top leading expert on the topics that matter to your niche. And when you're first starting out, committing to a...
By: Alexandra Tachalova When it comes to brick-and-mortar storefronts, local businesses often struggle to compete with neighboring big brands. Statistics show that, even for a well-known local store that's established a strong relationship with its customers and built a community through the years, having such a neighbor can be detrimental. But what about a newly opened business? Does it have any...
By: Craig Bradford Strategy is hard enough if you understand it. It's even harder if you don't. If you understand it, you realize it's made up of many moving parts. If you don’t, the best you’ll come up with is some version of operational efficiency: building more links, writing more blog posts, making more video. Those activities aren’t strategies — and if...
By Sarah Dawley It’s not healthy to eat stuffed crust pizza three times a day. Dogs get stressed out when we hug them. Beyoncé will never be your best friend. Don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just here to remind you that reality can be harsh. And the reality of working in social media is no exception. Every job has its challenges of course,...
By Joe Wadlington People go to Twitter to find out what’s happening in the world around them. Because interests and passions bring them to the platform, they’re hungry to expand those interests—to discover new people, publications, and businesses. People tweet about their likes/dislikes, how they spend their time, what they are reading or watching, where they are, etc. Because of this, their...
Written by Brittany Gellerman "Everything’s already been thought of." "I don't even know where to start." "I’m just not a creative person." We've all had those frustrating moments when when we're expected to come up with a brilliant new idea, but no matter how much we squint at our computer screens, we just can't seem to think of anything good. That's when we tend to look over at...
Written by Larry Kim n the last six years, I've done more than 100 pitches all across this country. I've enjoyed many victories, including raising $30 million in venture capital from institutional investors. But I've also suffered some defeats -- it would be just awesome if I never see another rejection letter. Needless to say, my successes and failures have taught me several...
Written by Brittany Leaning Like many of you, I'm a trained marketer and more of a "do-it-yourself" designer. Sure, I read through The Marketer’s Crash Course in Visual Content Creation and learned some sweet PowerPoint and Photoshop tricks that have helped me a lot with my content marketing job. But I really wanted to take my design skills to the next level. So I asked all my...
By Dara Fontein You wouldn’t launch a business without knowing exactly who your potential customers are, and the same can be said about your Facebook strategy. The more you know about the people who make up your Facebook community, the easier it is to create and share content that they will find valuable. Relying on a classic spray and pray method—where...
By Michael Aynsley If Instagram marketing is a medieval battlefield, you, the social media pro, are the gallant knight and the hashtag is your trusted sword. Wield it well and you will bring honor (brand awareness) to your noble kingdom (company). This guide will teach you how to be as prolific with the Instagram hashtag as Sir Lancelot was said to be...