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Author Archives: Kira Sparks

New Tech for an Old World: How Game of Thrones Gets Social Right
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Grumpy Cat Approves of the Red Wedding Fans of HBO’s show Game of Thrones are still reeling
(a.k.a. ruined for life) from the season’s shocking Red Wedding episode. But, even those who don’t watch the show likely took note of the Internet’s vocal, collective *gasp* over the bloody affair.

In fact, data shows it was HBO’s most social episode ever. Social analytics firm Mashwork charted more than 700,000 online mentions of the episode across Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and other sites. To put that in Game of Thrones terms, that’s a heck of a lot of ravens.

With Sunday’s finale wrapping up the season, there are plenty of takeaways for brands from the show’s social success. Let’s look at a few of the brilliant ways the show’s creators stoked the fire by cultivating and curating fan content. (more…) →

Bottom Line of the 2013 Social Media Marketing Report: You’re Not Alone
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Some days, a social media marketer’s life is a challenging one. With little time to build a strategy, you’re stuck in an endless cycle of trying to keep up on Twitter, create like-worthy content and battle trolls on YouTube.

But then, you go to a conference, or read data like Social Media Examiner’s Social Media Marketing Industry Report, and you don’t feel quite so alone. Everyone has the same challenges. And most importantly, everyone has the same opportunities.

Social media is a brave new world, ready for innovators and big ideas. Take a look at this year’s social data. We promise you’ll feel motivated to take action. (more…) →

You are a Publisher (yes, you!): Four Content Marketing
Strategies To Start Today
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Content Marketing: Owning, not renting media. Attract and retain customers. Create and curate valuable, compelling, consistent content to change or enhance a behavior.

c/o Joe Pulizzi, Content Marketing Institute

As a tactic, content marketing is not new, nor is it uncommon. Ninety-one percent of marketers report practicing some form of content marketing – whether that’s writing blog posts, updating social media channels or creating whitepapers.

But, despite its history and prevalence, not so many find their efforts fruitful, with only 36 percent of respondents to a CMI study reporting that their content marketing is effective.

What’s the challenge? Joe Pulizzi, founder of Content Marketing Institute, joined us on our webinar to shed light on content challenges and offer ideas for improvement. (more…) →

Kenshoo Social Ads Study: Three Key Success Factors
and How to Boost Results
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Written for the Shoutlet blog by Josh Dreller, Kenshoo’s Director of Marketing Research

As a Shoutlet partner with an advanced solution for integrated social media marketing, I’m happy to give you all a sneak peek at some recent research Kenshoo Social just released.

Earlier this year, Forrester Consulting surveyed 105 large social advertisers — social media and advertising professionals whose companies spend more than $100,000 per year on social media ads — to uncover how both organic social media marketing and paid social media advertising are working to achieve their business goals.

In this Kenshoo Social commissioned study, The Key To Successful Social Advertising, How To Choose The Right Tactics To Achieve Your Social Advertising Objectives, there were three key findings:

(more…) →

Six Stats (and Six Reasons) Why Content Marketing Matters
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Looking for tactics to improve your strategy? Attend our webinar to learn 10 content marketing initiatives your company should start today.Why do you follow brands on social media? it’s likely one of two reasons: You love the brand, or, you want the content they share. Brands of all sizes are beginning to understand this power of great content and take steps to kickstart their content marketing strategies.

But, it takes time and hard work to perfect the art of content – which is why we’re excited to host a special webinar with content expert Joe Pulizzi to help you hone your content strategy. Join us next Tuesday for 10 tips and new ideas to improve your content marketing strategy, starting today.

In case you’re still on the fence about content marketing, take a gander at the stats we’ve pulled together as a preview for Tuesday’s presentation. (more…) →