Erik Qualman's Blog, page 525

5 Tips for Creating Content to Share on Pinterest

Pinterest is one of the best sites for generating new leads for your company site. There are currently more than 72 million Pinterest users in the world, and with the right content, you can gain the attention of many of them. However, if you’re like many business owners, Pinterest is a little more difficult to understand. There is a lot less direct social interaction with users, and the type of content you post seems to be more specific.

To make the most of Pinterest, you’ll need to create compelling images. Once you’ve mastered this concept, your images will help to increase traffic, get you more pins, and dramatically boost your brand image on Pinterest. Use these tips to get you started as you work to master this specific network.

1. Cover Images Should Be Insightful

As your audience scrolls through Pinterest, they will see image after image, and if the image doesn’t look great, they’ll scroll right by. Pinterest users click on images because they are attractive, useful, or provide some kind of insightful value to the consumer.

Venngage, content creation specialists, took a look at 200 of the best performing infographics, and determined that “one of the most important aspects of any content is the reaction it garners from its audience.” Keep that in mind as you work to develop an infographic that your target audience will pin again and again.

2. Blend Images and Text

Though your Pinterest strategy should mostly include images, there needs to be a nice blend of text. Content with too much text and too few visuals won’t create many leads. If you scroll through Pinterest’s most popular content, you’ll notice that blog posts are coupled with vivid imagery.

One of the best ways to blend image and text is through infographics. Infographics are some of the most lucrative content shared on Pinterest for their usefulness and eye-grabbing quality. Venngage recommends keeping them extremely simple, yet unique and useful to fit in with the hundreds of other infographics that have been pinned hundreds of times.

3. Choose a Popular Topic

 Every social media platform has its most popular topics, and for Pinterest, that’s travel, food, and marketing, according to Venngage. The topic you choose matters especially on Pinterest, since the newsfeed is created to reflect what people are searching for. This doesn’t mean that every Pinterest post should reflect these three categories, but it helps to boost brand awareness and social signals if you make them some of your main points.

 4 . Brand the Image

Your images should direct the viewer back to your company in some way. The best way to do that is to leave your company name or logo on each of the pins to create brand awareness. According to a blog post from Yahoo! Small Business Advisor, “Pinterest users engage with brands more on Pinterest than on other social media platforms and serve as content creators for the brand through the repin feature.” You’ll want to maximize on that statistic by including your logo and a call to action on every post.

5. Cross-Promote

Posting content on Pinterest is generally most effective when you cross-promote through other social platforms. A lot of Pinterest users rely on the network to pin websites, products, and content that they see elsewhere. By promoting your content on Facebook and Twitter as well as Pinterest, you can target that audience and promote social interaction on multiple platforms.

Pinterest is a pretty unique social network, but that’s what makes it so effective for sharing content. If you can learn to master the ins and outs of this network, your content will be well on its way to a much wider audience reach and an increase in lead generation.

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7 Twitter Mistakes You Need to Avoid

Twitter has become one of the most popular social media platforms used by celebrities, friends, musicians, politicians, entrepreneur, big brands, and small businesses. It has already grown to 316 million monthly active users with over 500 million tweets sent per day. The 140 character limited social platform gives users the power to share ideas quickly through the World Wide Web.

However, whether you’re a novice on Twitter or recently signed up for an account, there are mistakes you should avoid making on the platform. If you’re looking to build a brand for yourself or your business, it’s important to use Twitter appropriately. You want to avoid the possibility of having your account banned, blocked, or reported from other users. Are you making any of the following Twitter mistakes?

Tweeting Inconsistently

Consistency is extremely important when it comes to Twitter. If you want to stay above the crowd on your followers’ feed, you need to post several times a day, especially when Twitter moves at a really quick pace.

If you’re only tweeting when you feel there is a relevant article to share, then you might be missing out on opportunities to connect with others. In fact, many people on Twitter prefer to connect with individuals who are active on Twitter. They want to be able to receive the latest news, relevant articles, useful resources, and latest trends from the businesses and influencers they follow.

If you’re not consistently tweeting and keeping your twitter populated, your followers may choose to unfollow you.

Spamming Your Own Content

People tend to turn away when tweets are too self-promoting.  You want to avoid stuffing your Twitter with content solely from your own business or website.

There’s a 70-20-10 rule for Facebook, but it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t apply to Twitter as well. It would be best to post 1-2 links from your own blog or website each day. Then, schedule 2-3 links that are from other sources. This will give your twitter profile more variety.

Consider tweeting 2-5 times a day and have a variety of different content to share. There are lots of great content curation tools that you can use to find related news, trends, and helpful resources related to your industry. It makes it easier for you to find worthy and high-quality content that you can share with your followers.

Tweeting Your Posts From Other Social Accounts

Facebook allows you to decide whether you want to share updates with your Twitter followers. Similarly, when you post a new picture on Instagram, you are able to tweet a status update of your Instagram post.

This may seem like a great idea, however, those following you on Twitter may not be the same fans on Facebook, and your Instagram followers are probably not the same group of individuals following  you on Twitter.

In fact, when you automatically allow Twitter to tweet  your Instagram post, the picture is not directly posted or uploaded to Twitter. The Instagram photo appears as a link that directs your Twitter followers to your Instagram profile. In addition, with the 140 letter restriction for Instagram, parts of your Instagram post update will be cut to accumulate for the link. Take a look at the two examples below.

 

Although it can be convenient to automatically tweet your Instagram posts, but it takes users away from Twitter. Keep in mind that not everyone has an Instagram account to follow you either.

Buying Twitter Followers and Retweets

Okay, we all know that this is a big red flag for social media marketing. Still, there are hundreds and thousands of accounts on  Twitter that attract users to buy followers and retweets. It can seem very suspicious when your follower count fluctuates a lot.

Often times, these bought followers are fake accounts that remain inactive for months. Eventually, they get deleted and unfollow your account. In fact, the accounts that are following you do not have a real profile. It’s very obvious to spot the real accounts from the fake.

Avoid 0buying fake followers at all cost because it affects the genuinely of your own account.

Following Anyone and Everyone

When you’re first starting out on Twitter, you may feel the need to follow back everyone who follows you. However, you want to keep your followers limited to the individuals you want to connect with and are related to your industry and business.

When you follow too many people, your Twitter feed will have too many tweets of other individuals that aren’t related to your industry. This will make it difficult for you to stay up-to-date with relevant information from influencers in your industry. It will also cause you to miss out on opportunities to connect with other entrepreneurs and prospects as well.

In addition, many of the fake follower accounts tend to follow a lot of other people to make their profile seem legitimate.

So, make sure you review the account before following them back. Follow individuals that you want and believe will provide valuable information for you.

 Not Acknowledging Your Fans

When you’re tweeting, you’re hoping to interact with your followers. You want to get noticed and have someone reply to it.

Yet, sometimes when we get the comments and replies that we want, we fail to acknowledge them.

Interacting with your fans is extremely important, so make sure you either thank them for their retweets or just favourite it. It’s a simple gesture to show that you notice them.

Making It  Too Personal

Finally, avoid using Twitter as your personal journal or diary.

There should definitely be a fine line between having a human touch for your Twitter profile and disclosing too much information.

In the past, many people have used Twitter as a way to share what they were doing during the day, the events they encounter, or things they were unhappy about – like a digital diary.

Sometimes, your personal opinion can reflect negatively in others’ eyes. Especially when you’re building a professional image for your Twitter profile, you want to avoid sharing content that isn’t relevant and too personal.

However, don’t avoid tweeting about your personal life entirely. People still want to see that human side of your business or make connections with your personal life. Your social profiles are like your resume online and they reflect who you are. Influencers, businesses, and entrepreneurs from the other side of the world don’t know who you are. One of the only ways to get to know you more is through Twitter.

So, think twice before you tweet something!

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The Social Advantages Consumers Need

Consumers are constantly being influenced by everything around them.

Television commercials, sales aisles at the store, seeing what other people have and do, and of course, social media, all impact what consumers desire and ultimately wind up purchasing.

Specifically, we’re looking at social media and the influence it has over purchasing products.

What Networks Are You a Part Of?

Most likely, you belong to a few social networks.

Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and Pinterest are four of the largest and most influential social media platforms.

Most likely, you’ve been influenced to purchase something based on what you’ve seen on social media recently. Whether it’s trying a new restaurant or purchasing a new sweater, social media has a huge impact on what you buy.

Educate Yourself on Social Media

Another example of being influenced by social media is making the decision to return to school.

As the following article looks at, whether you’re looking to completely change job fields or need information on where to find PDH online, social media can have an effect on your decision.

Perhaps you recently read on Facebook about a high school friend quitting their job to pursue self-employment. This may give you the push you need to pursue your own passions and take that leap.

How Social Media Influences Buyers

If you’re in the process of decorating your home, you’ve most likely turned to Pinterest at one point or another.

Pinterest is an image-sharing platform where you can “pin” photos that you like that lead to a link on where to purchase the product or where to get more information on the product (such as a blog).

But getting buyers isn’t as easy as posting photos of your products. While that can work, you need to actually engage with your customers if you want to maximize sales.

A few tips to use social media to influence buyers include:

Engage with consumers – Bloggers are actually the perfect example of engaging with people who they hope will eventually purchase their product. Bloggers focus on sharing their life story and connecting with their readers, which ultimately turns them into buyers – whether the blogger is recommending a product or selling a product that he or she created. Unfortunately, you can’t expect to just post your items to your Facebook page and generate sales. Selling through social media is about forming a relationship and connecting with your buyers.


Use multiple social media platforms – What’s your favorite social media platform? Chances are your favorite platform is different from the person sitting next to you. In business, you must use many forms of social media in order to reach a wider audience. At the very least, you should be on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Plus and LinkedIn, as those are the top five platforms and are generally used by the largest number of consumers.


Host giveaways and contests – A great way to get more followers is by hosting giveaways and contests on your social media pages. You can have people gain extra entries by sharing your status with friends and family. This gets more people to enter your giveaway and it gets more people exposed to your business. Ultimately, the more people you can reach via social media the better chances you’ll have at increasing your sales.

Photo credit: Image courtesy of Nutdanai Apikhomboonwaroot at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Facebook launches live streaming, but only for famous people

Mashable - Facebook just got into the business of live streaming video.

The social network added the feature to Facebook Mentions, the app launched in July 2014 that celebrities such as actors, musicians and athletes use to engage with their fans, who can leave comments.

Live, as the feature is called, will show up in your News Feed if a celebrity you follow decides to live stream. You’ll also get a notification about the broadcast if you have recently interacted with a celebrity’s posts. You can like, comment on or share the video while viewing a stream.

For celebrities, starting a live stream means tapping the Post button inside the Mentions app, then selecting Live Video. They can add a pithy description for the video, and hit Go Live whenever they’re ready.

As with Meerkat and Periscope, celebrities will also be able to toggle between their smartphone’s front and rear cameras, see how many viewers have tuned in, as well as view (and hide) their comments. Videos are saved afterwards to their Facebook Pages.

A Facebook live video feature was a long time coming for the social network and a notable omission when it launched an embeddable video player at F8 this March. (If celebrities previously live streamed through Facebook, they used an outside service.)

Offering an in-house solution made sense for the second-most trafficked site in the world, notwithstanding a recent statement by Meerkat’s CEO that Facebook was kind of irrelevant” for live media. Meerkat eventually conceded this wasn’t quite the case when it added Facebook support for watching some streams back in May.

During this year’s F8 keynote, Facebook director of platform Deborah Liu pointed out users watch over 3 billion videos daily. Meanwhile, thousands of celebrities with verified accounts use Facebook Mentions everyday, according to Vadim Lavrusik, product manager for Facebook Mentions.

Lavrusik told Mashable that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Serena Williams, Michael Buble and Martha Stewart will all live stream on Wednesday, helping to promote the feature.

Article by JP Mangalindan for Mashable  

 

 

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Basics, Positivity and Negativity of Currency Liquidation

The most well-known point of interest of Currency Liquidation is the way that the activity makes high liquidity. The way that you can access to the record of the business can imply that there is comfort and convenience in funds. Thus, there is no restriction in the volume of exchanges or trades. It can likewise be conceivable that it can assimilate enormous measure of trade sizes.

Via Flickr

Money market sector contributing conveys a low and a small single-digit return, and when contrasted with stocks or corporate obligation issues, the danger to principal is actually low. In any case, there are various positives and negatives that all financial specialists ought to be aware of concerning the currency market. In this article, we’ll investigate these high points and low points, and reveal to you how the downs can extraordinarily exceed the ups.

The positives

An Awesome Spot to Park the Cash

At the point when the share trading system is very unstable and financial specialists aren’t certain where to contribute their cash, the currency liquidator can be an awesome option to refuge. Why? As expressed above, currency business sector records and trusts are frequently considered to have fewer hazards than their stock and bond partners. That is because these sorts of funds commonly put resources into generally safe mediums, for example, endorsements of funds (Compact discs), Treasury charges (T-bills) and transient business paper. Also, the currency showcase regularly creates a low single digit return for speculators, which in a down business sector can still be truly alluring.
Liquidity Isn’t Generally an Issue

Currency markets funds don’t put resources into securities that trade small volumes or that have a tendency to have small following. Maybe, they trade in unit and/or securities that are in genuinely high demand and are popular, (for example, T-bills). This implies that they have a tendency to be more liquid and that speculators can become tied up with them and offers them without any difficulty.

The Negatives

Purchasing Force Can Endure

On the off chance that a financial specialist is producing a 3% arrival in their currency business sector account, yet inflation is buzzing along at 4%, the speculator is basically losing buying power every year. After some time, currency business sector contributing can really make a man poorer as the dollars they get may not keep pace with the increasing average cost for basic items.
Costs Can Take a Toll

At the point when financial specialists are gaining 2% or 3% in a currency business record, even little yearly expenses can eat up a significant piece of the profit. This may make it much more troublesome for currency market speculators to keep pace with the inflation.

Contingent upon the fund or account, expenses can differ in their negative effect on returns. On the off chance that, for instance, an individual keeps up $5,000 in a currency business account that yields 3% every year with his or her dealer, and the individual is charged $30 in fees, the aggregate return can be affected significantly.

•           $5,000 x 3% = $150 aggregate yield

•           $150 – $30 in charges = $120 benefit

The $30 in charges speaks to 20% of the aggregate yield, a huge deduction that impressively diminishes the last and final profit. Note that the above sum additionally does not calculate any tax liabilities that may be produced if the trade were to happen outside of a retirement account.

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Going Fishing – 8 Ways to Write Content that Capture Your Readers

 

Writing content is hard. You think about your audience, who they are, what their reading levels are, what amuses and entertains them, and what “education” or information they need. The goal, of course, is to throw out the “bait,” get them to bite, and then reel them in with great stuff to read – stuff that they want to share with others. So how do you accomplish this? Here are 6 tips that can help.

The Headline – Nothing is More Important

You need to spend as much time coming up with a headline as you do anything else. Any journalist will tell you that, as people read newspapers, they look at headlines and then decide if they want to read the article. The title is the “bait.” It is also what is shared on social media.

Don’t wait until you finish the content piece before you create your title. Think about your content, then get the compelling title written first, because your content can then reference back to catchy words in it.

Getting a great headline is not that tough. If you are not wonderfully creative, read the really great titles of other bloggers; write them down; see if you can re-purpose them by changing out some of the words to fit your content topic. In general, numbers are good; “How to” is good. Asking a question? Not so good.

Be a Story Teller

One way to get content actually read is to tell stories throughout – we are all “wired” to tune in to stories. You can start with a funny tale that relates to your content. You can also use stories as examples of the points you are making or the ideas you are sharing. If someone used your idea successfully, tell their story. When you tell stories, you points and ideas have meaning and value to your readers.

Quote the Experts

If you want others to see you as an expert or authority, you have to associate with famous people who are experts. Every time you quote an authority, you gain credibility, so do it often. If you are giving advice to budding entrepreneurs, providing quotes from people like Richard Branson that speak to passion and motivation will make your words that much more valuable. If you are writing about finance and investing, quotes from Warren Buffett will work really well.

The other thing you can do is insert links to authoritative sources. Anything on finance and investing, for example, with a link back to an article in Forbes Magazine will increase your credibility as someone who knows who has the most authoritative advice, and, of course, it looks as if you have an intimate knowledge of the topic as well.

Lower the Language Level and Style

One really successful blogger has said that he writes every post as if he were writing an email to a friend. Think about that. Your emails are very conversational, use simple sentences, and are not filled with complex and sophisticated vocabulary. Unless you are writing a post for a highly technical and scientific audience only, lose the academic style and language. Write in an informal voice.

This is not to say, however, that you can sacrifice good grammar and punctuation. You absolutely cannot. You never know who might be reading your post and who might comment on the hideous grammar errors. Your content loses value if it is full or mistakes.

Make Your Reader the Hero 

If your post is wonderfully entertaining while still solving a problem or answering a question, your readers will want to share it. They will want to be able to say to their friends, “Look what I found- isn’t this great information? Isn’t this just the best story?” This raises the stature of your reader, and s/he feels really good about that!

Make Your Content Easy to Skim

Readers don’t normally read every word of a post at first. They skim. Make it easier for them to do that with lots of sub-headings and bullet points. They can then decide if they want to read the whole post. And if your sub-headings are catchy too, and state exactly what is in that section, they will be more compelled to read the “fine print.”

Don’t Forget the Media

Pictures, infographics, and even videos will break up the text. Plus, they just provide visual attraction and keep the reader focused and present. Research shows that bounce rates go down when media is included in posts.

Some Just Need to Hire This Out

Everyone is not a creative writer, no matter how expert they may be on a subject. If this sounds like you, and you need to maintain a business blog, stop publishing content that is falling flat. Hire a creative writer, give that person the content, and let him/her re-write it for you.

Yes, content writing is hard. If you like to write, though, you can get really good at this. Read, read, read good content and start to pick up the “tricks” that are used to bait, hook and reel those readers in. You can do this too with practice.

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Verizon Drops Contracts and Subsidies for New Customers

Re/code – Verizon announced Friday that it will stop subsidizing phones for new customers, at the same time fully doing away with two-year contracts as well.

Things have been headed that way both at Verizon and throughout the industry, but it is still notable that the company is now eliminating such sales entirely.

T-Mobile stopped subsidized pricing a while ago. AT&T still offers the option to buy a subsidized smartphone with a two-year contract, but not through third-party retailers, and has been steering most customers toward its Next installment billing options. In the most recent quarter, two-thirds of customers opted for one of the installment plans.

“I think it is one of those options that is going to go away slowly,” AT&T Mobile and Enterprise Solutions CEO Ralph de la Vega told Re/code in a June interview.

Existing Verizon customers will still have some options to get subsidized phones when they are ready to upgrade, but it’s a safe bet those options will narrow over time.

In addition to doing away with contract pricing, Verizon is simplifying its monthly rate plan options.

Taking its cue from the fast food and clothing industries, Verizon is announcing a new set of rate plans with just four sizes: Small, medium, large and extra large.

The new plans, which go into effect Aug. 13, aren’t necessarily cheaper nor are they more expensive. Instead, there are just fewer variables.

Customers pay $20 a month for each smartphone and then choose one of the four sizes of data buckets. The new plans apply both to single lines and to those sharing their bucket of data among many devices.

The small bucket, with one gigabyte of data, costs $30 per month, medium (3GB) is $45, large (6GB) is $60 and extra large (12GB) is $80. Customers who go over their monthly bucket will pay a rather hefty $15 per gigabyte for more data, so it pays to go for the baggy look in case you decide to binge one month.

In the past, Verizon had separate plans for single lines, and also charged more per smartphone when paired with a small data bucket than when tied to a large one.

Of course, if Verizon really wanted to make things simple, it could just price things the way Google is with its Google Fi service. Google charges $20 per month for unlimited calling and texting, with data priced at $10 per gigabyte. Customers pay only for the amount of data they use.

“Google Fi is one of those things we are watching closely,” said Verizon Vice President of Consumer Pricing Rob Miller. If that type of pricing resonates with consumers, Miller said that Verizon will consider such pricing. “Nothing is off the table.”

As for why it isn’t cutting its prices, Miller said Verizon’s goal is to offer a good value and a best-in-class network.

“We’re not going to be a price leader — never said we would,” Miller said.

Article by Ina Fried for Re/code

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Text Message and Social Media Make Quite the Duo

Your small business is taking off.

You’ve got marketing strategies and your client list is growing. Your email endeavors seem to be working. You’ve built great social media platforms and you’ve begun to use text messaging marketing.

Now it’s time for some integration.

Positive things can happen when you integrate text message and social media marketing.

As the following article looks at, here are 5 benefits of integrating your text message and social media marketing:

• One of the first things you can do is use your social media platforms to build your text messaging lists. Include opt in offers and different promos; you’ll see both lists grow.

• Text messaging is the perfect way to reach everyone – your Facebook followers, Twitter followers, Instagram fans … as long as they’ve opted in on text messaging, you could reach them all this way. Your messaging service can connect them all and when you send out a message, it also goes to all of your platforms. This will benefit you by saving time and reaching everyone.

• Remember, not everyone with a phone has social media. And different people like different social media. But you can reach everyone with a dual combination of social media and text messaging.

• More people check texts than social media. Not everyone checks their social media sites multiple times a day, but people take a look at their texts throughout the day. Also, when they see promos and updates in more than one place, it sticks a little more.

• You can use each platform, including text, to promote the other. Send out a text reminding customers to like your social media pages. Make opting in easy.

Reach Out to More People

The biggest benefit is reaching more people.

With texts and social media combined, your audience will grow. Often things get buried in social media, especially if your followers are very involved.

However with the integration of both text and social media, you can inform them of major happenings through text, then they can take a look at social media. They won’t miss a thing.

Think of texts as another form of social media.

You’re reaching out to customers who have taken enough interest in you to open their mobile device to you.

Be careful with the amount you text, you don’t want to bombard their phones, but a text every few days is good.

Whether it’s an update, a promo, a text only offer or a call to action to get on social media, this integration will benefit our business.

It’s easy to be part of the important aspect of mobile technology and marketing by integrating all of your platforms.

Your business will thank you for it.

Photo Credit: Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Why Your Content Marketing Isn’t Working — And How to Fix It

Now that content marketing accounts for about a quarter of all marketing budgets, it’s safe to say that marketers are recognizing its value. However, for all of the hype surrounding the importance of content marketing and its potential to grow a business, some question its true effectiveness. In fact, according to one survey, despite increased budgets, fewer than half of the respondents actually believe content marketing is effective.

via flickr

One of the primary reasons for disappointment is the fact that it just doesn’t appear, in many cases, that content marketing is facilitating sales. Sure, you might be getting more traffic to your site, likes on your Facebook page, and downloads of the resources you’re creating, but unless those activities bring in more revenue, it’s hard to quantify ROI. Compounding the problem is the sheer volume of content that’s being created. Simply put, there is so much to sort through that users are choosing only the content that is most relevant to them at that moment, and ignoring the rest. And if customers are ignoring your content, producing more of the same isn’t going to get their attention, and may even drive them away.

But how do you improve the relevancy of your content? How do you give your users what they need, when they need it, so they will be compelled to make a purchase?

You need to go on a journey.

A New Twist on an Old Concept

For decades, marketers have used the idea of a buyer’s journey to influence their tactics and help customers make a decision. The typical buyer’s journey progresses in three phases: discovery, consideration, and decision. In the first phase, the customer realizes that he or she has a problem and commits to doing something to solve it. During the second phase, the customer investigates the options for solving the problem and seeks justification for a specific solution. Finally, the buyer makes and evaluates that decision.

While the concept of a “buyer’s journey” isn’t a new one, the realities of the journey have changed considerably in recent years. What was once a linear path from perceived need to purchase has become a more fluid pathway that is influenced by more factors, thanks in large part to digital marketing. Thanks to the large amount of information available from digital channels, the buyer’s journey now shifts between phases haphazardly, and the decision making process takes longer than ever.

Compounding the problem is that many companies don’t consider the buyer’s journey when developing content. They develop content based on what they think customers need or want, or focus on one phase of the journey to the detriment of the others. Often, this means creating content geared to those in the consideration stage. That’s important, but by doing so, you’re ignoring those who are just realizing that they need a solution, or who are looking for justification for the solution they’ve chosen.

Changing Your Content Strategy

The key, then, to improving your content marketing is to align your branded content with different stages of the buyer’s journey. The idea is to create different content that’s relevant at different points, not content that only resonates when a buyer is still assessing the need for change or has made a decision.

Aligning content with the buyer’s journey requires having a strategy.  You want to create content that will not only facilitate a buyer’s decision to purchase from you, but keep them engaged and feeling supported after the purchase. However, by connecting your content with a point along the path, you’ll see greater results. To do so, remember a few important principles at each path:

Discovery: Content should show customers that they have a problem and that it needs to be fixed. This doesn’t mean admonishing them for everything they are doing wrong, but instead identifying common pain points and creating the desire to alleviate them.
Consideration: Case studies, testimonials, white papers, and solution-oriented content resonate with buyers in this stage. This is where you answer questions, and spark interest in learning more about your product. The average buyer is more than halfway through the sales process before he or she contacts your company, so your content should give them information that will spark them to make that call.
Decision: Content for people in this state needs to reinforce the buyers’ decisions. Show them that they made the right choice. Cost analysis, testimonials, and benefit comparisons — all of these help prevent buyer’s remorse and built your customers’ confidence.

Again, because the typical buyer’s journey is no longer linear, and there are so many competing sources of information and input, it takes longer for many buyers to make a decision. However, if you’re patient and take care to develop relevant content at every stage, you’ll begin to see greater return on your content marketing investment.

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Google Maps’ New “Night Mode” Feature Makes It Easier To Navigate In The Dark

TechCrunch –  A new update to the Google Maps iOS application promises to make it easier to navigate when it’s dark outside, potentially reducing the risk associated with using the app while behind the wheel. (Not that you should be actively using the app while driving, but…admit it, you’re probably guilty of this.) In the latest release, the app has introduced a feature called “Night Mode,” which opts for a darker display over the glaring white one that’s the default look for Google Maps.

The idea is that this could improve your night vision, as your eyes will no longer have to adjust as you switch between the bright display and the dark road ahead.

Sure, it’s a minor feature release, but one that could make Google Maps a safer navigational aid for the millions of drivers who rely on the app instead of an in-dash navigational system.

Night Mode is live now on the iOS version of Google Maps, but hasn’t yet arrived on the Android app. That’s likely going to change soon, however.

The update also included a handful of other interesting features, such as the ability to label places to see them on your map and in search suggestions, which offers a more personalized experience, and the ability to edit the captions of photos you’ve uploaded to Google Maps.

 But clearly, the standout feature – and one users have been asking about for years – is Night Mode.

The feature is also entirely automatic, so you won’t have to fiddle with your phone’s settings in order to switch it off and on. Instead, Night Mode will only activate when it’s actually nighttime – not simply when it’s dark. (Yes, we confirmed this by testing in a darkened room).

It’s also only available in turn-by-turn navigation mode, not the default maps interface. In other words, the enhancement will appear right when you need it, and there’s nothing else you need to do…well, except update to the latest version of Google Maps, that is.

Image from TechCrunch

Article by Sarah Perez for TechCrunch

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