Social Media Content Marketing

https://www.instagram.com/tao_of_frank/ Recently, I looked into Instagram as a potential venue for marketing and advertising opportunities. (Did he really just say "recently"? Into a decade old network with 1 Billion users ?!) It hasn't been a priority in business-to-business (B2B). I decided to go all in and submerse myself in this "tao" of Instagram. And what I discovered was nothing short of enlightenment. *Cue wind chimes, tribal drums, and sound baths* Admittedly, I wasn't an O.G. of the IG. When I joined a few years ago, I used it as it was intended:  a visual diary, posting photos of my travels, my day, my dinner, my dog, my dog's dinner. It became apparent quickly that observations of everyday life are rarely engaging. No amazing vistas, no celebrity encounters, no street magic, and with no appetite for Tide pods or spoonfuls of cinnamon. But that's OK. At the very least it was consoling to my friends and family and casual acquaint...

There is money to be made in social media. But it's not being made where you'd think -- or at least where I thought. The bulk of the money is being made by companies and individuals selling services to other companies and individuals with the hopes of making money in social media. Confused? Me too. Thanks to social media, the days of the banner ads as revenue generators are behind us.  Pricing was based on traditional print advertising, but used visitors rather than subscribers as the benchmark. Then when tracking became available, advertisers charged by viewership or "eyeballs", And that morphed into click-throughs,  and later into conversions. To be honest, I don't think they were a good investment once the novelty wore off. Today, I am never quicker with a click then to shut those pop in ads for newsletter subscriptions et al. You still see banner ads (mostly on mobile) but online ads were replaced with search engine ads and corresponding landing pages...

New England. Seattle. What a game that was! Yes I said was . No, this article wasn't posted a week early. It's in fact timed perfectly because it's not about the big game, it's about the social media game around scheduled events. Good luck getting your post noticed nonetheless your message received next Monday morning. The Web will be overflowing with Facebook posts, Tweets, Instagrams, blogs, and commentary on the successes, failures, bad calls, and great plays of Super Bowl 49 ( Sorry. English Major here. I don't do Roman Numerals ). But today, rather than my words getting lost in a sea of Monday morning social media mayhem, you're reading this Super Bowl themed article. I've got your attention and you'll listen to what I've got to offer. Touchdown, and the extra point is good. First rule in social media event strategy is say it first . You can run the risk of saying the wrong thing, but that can be avoided if you've got t...

Like most of you, my resolutions this year involve healthy self-improvements. Starting with food: I will try to eat less of the bad stuff and more of the good stuff. I don't believe in cutting things out cold turkey (even if it is leftover with plenty of stuffing) but rather, cutting down. I seem to work better that way.  By the way, that's a photo of my breakfast this morning, pancakes, syrup, biscuits, bacon. Sorry, I forgot to mention, unlike you, my resolution begins tomorrow. It's the one advantage of having a birthday today. (Please remain seated as envy green is not a becoming color on you.) In short, I get to procrastinate my diet one more day. Even as it applies to social media. What? You don't do resolutions? Don't need a diet? Great! But everyone needs a social media diet for healthier communications. And like me, you get the extra day or four as it were and can start Monday. That's because no one's around. A mid-week start of the New Year is...