Thursday is guest post day here at Duct Tape Marketing and today’s guest is Emeric Ernoult – Enjoy!

Feeling a bit lost with your Facebook Page insights?  Good.  Facebook Insights terminology (https://www.facebook.com/help/336143376466063/) was not built for humans, and now that we know you are not a killer robot from Mars, we’ll help you measure your Facebook Page’s performance without drowning in all that robotic Martian muck.

What can be measured can be managed (and improved).  These are the first six key metrics non-robots must track to understand Facebook Page performance, why you need them and where to find them.

#1: Fan Reach

Ok, human.  Here’s the scoop-

Organic reach (views) consists only of posts viewed directly in the Newsfeed or on your page.  (fans and non-fans alike)

Viral reach (views) consists of posts viewed as a result of a friend’s actions (sharing, liking, commenting)

Fan Reach simply shows the number of your page’s fans (clicked your page’s ‘like’ button) who have seen any given post.

Got it?  Here’s the fun part-

The fan reach metric is not available in the Facebook statistics interface; that would be way too easy for hard working marketers like us, right?  It’s only available in an Excel file available for download.

To access fan reach data, you first need to export post level data to Excel.

Choose the format, the date range and select “post level data.

You’ll find it under the very robot’ish label titled “Lifetime Post reach by people who like your Page.”

Within the Key Metrics tab, look for the column labeled “Lifetime Post reach by people who like your Page.

Important- Fan Reach is a part of “organic” reach, so it only records the views that occurred directly (newsfeed or on your page), and not through the action of a friend (share, like, comment).

Why your fan reach metrics are likely the most important

Per-post fan reach helps you measure the quality of your audience and the appeal of your content to them.  If you bought thousands of fans from a website, or sponsored a contest with an eye-catching prize unrelated to your brand , many of these uninterested ‘fans’ have probably unsubscribed from viewing your posts.  If they haven’t, Facebook’s EdgeRank feature will effectively do this for them, and this can severely disrupt your ability to reach your real fans.

Publishing interesting and valuable content to a genuine audience is the best way to ensure your message is worth the effort.  Start gauging your efforts and your page’s health with Fan Reach.

#2: Organic Reach

Good news humans!  This one is simple!  And, it’s much easier to find! Organic Reach simply adds views from users who have not liked your page to Fan Reach (direct views of a given post on the newsfeed or on your page).

Just go to your Insights, scroll down to your list of posts, click on the Reach number for each post and hover your mouse on the bar chart for “Organic”.

This metric will also appear under each post if you’re logged into your Page.

From the Insights interface, click on the number of people reached for the post in question and hover your mouse over the “Organic” bar chart.

So, if you don’t want to go through the hassle of downloading an Excel file to get your fan reach, you can check your organic reach metrics much more easily. Just keep in mind there’s an important difference between the two.

The example below shows the differences between Fan Reach and Organic Reach on two compared pages.

Fan Reach and Organic Reach can vary significantly from one Page to another. These figures are extracted from the Agorapulse Facebook Page Barometer (http://barometer.agorapulse.com/).

Before relying solely on organic reach, check to see if there’s a big difference between these two metrics on your Page.  If Organic Reach is very close to Fan Reach, it usually means that people cannot be exposed to your content if they are not already fans.  So, try promoting your page on other channels.  Efforts made on your website, blog, or newsletter can significantly increase your organic post views.

#3: Engagement

The killer Martian robots at Facebook say, engagement is “the number of people who clicked anywhere in your post” (https://www.facebook.com/help/336143376466063/)

So, liking, commenting, liking a comment, sharing, viewing a video, clicking on your links and photos, clicking on a commenter’s name, clicking on your page name, hiding, or reporting you as spam, from anywhere, all qualify.

Reach tells you how many people have potentially seen your content; engagement is the number of people who have interacted with your content.

Luckily, this is another one that is pretty easy for us human types to find.  To see number of people who engaged with your content for each post, look for the “Engaged Users” column within your Insights (close to where you found your organic reach).

The Engaged Users metric is easy to see on your Facebook Insights page.

While a lot of views can be great, successful Facebook marketing depends on making sure the content you offer your audience triggers some kind of interest. This is how your engagement metrics will help you sharpen your message.

Raw numbers can be misleading, though.  If you rely solely on the number of engaged users, you’ll never know if good engagement on a specific post is due to the quality of your content, or if it was simply shown to more people. So, always compare the number of users reached with the number of users who engaged for each post.

Now, compare your post engagement metrics with your other posts by creating a percentage.

Use this formula for each post to compare one post’s performance against another.

This formula will give you a percentage that takes the exposure of each post into account while allowing for comparison between posts.

Percentages help benchmark posts against each another. This screenshot is extracted from the content performance heatmap of the Agorapulse Statistics feature (http://www.agorapulse.com/features/facebook-statistics).

#4: People Talking About This (or Storytellers)

This is one of Facebook’s least understood metrics.  Partially due to it’s dual label. “People Talking About This” data in Facebook Insights is also referred to as “Storytellers” in many different places, including the Excel download.

The “people talking about this” metric only measures three types of actions: likes, comments or shares. These actions are already included in the wider array of your Engagement metrics, PTAT (as the robots call it just narrows it down a bit more by highlighting the number of engaged users who showed their engagement with you to their friends.

So, back to your Insights interface where you found your organic reach and engagement stats, and look at the “Talking About This” column. Way too easy.

Click on the “People Talking About This” number for each post to see a breakdown of the action taken on each post.

The “people talking about this” metric is essential for measuring how many people are willing to spread the word about you to their friends. It’s the “viral” metric, touching on one of your primary motivations for creating a Facebook Page-  connecting with the friends of your existing fans for free!

Facebook is evolving, and has been limiting the reach of these stories since mid 2012, so don’t expect too much from this metric. Virality is still a reality on Facebook, but it is not the viral Eldorado it used to be in the early days.

#5: Click-Through Rate

Ok, you know this one. CTR has been measuring the effectiveness of email marketing, banner advertising, landing page quality, and search engine ads such as Adwords campaigns since… yeah.

Nothing’s changed here. Click-through rates tell you the number of people who have clicked on a link in your content, watched your video or viewed a larger version of your photo.  I like to think of CTR as the ‘Really Really Engaged’ metric.

Click on the Engaged Users number within you rPage Insights interface, and you’ll find your CTR.  If the content is a link, it will be named “Link Clicks;” if it is a video, it will be labeled “Video Plays;” if it is a photo, it’ll read “Photo Views.”  Pretty straightforward.  Thank you, killer robots.

Depending on the type of content you are reviewing, you’ll find click-through rates shown as “Photos Views,” “Video Plays” and “Link Clicks.”

The click-through metric is at the bottom of your content quality funnel. Keep a close eye on it.

#6: Negative Feedback

Some people just don’t like your content showing up in their newsfeed.  When they take an action by hiding your post, hiding all of your posts, or reporting you as spam, this is called Negative Feedback.

Click on the Engaged Users number in your Page Insights to see the number of users who gave negative feedback at the bottom of that window.  You’ll have to download the Excel export as mentioned in the fan reach section above to get a breakdown.

Click on the Engaged Users number for each post and you’ll see the “negative feedback” number in small print.

Facebook has given more weight to the negative feedback metric since September, 2012. Posts with a high negative feedback number will have much less exposure through EdgeRank and Pages with an average negative feedback that remains high will see their overall reach decay over time.

Again, the raw digits fed to us by Martians can be tricky.  This is where so many marketers go wrong.  You can’t see the truth behind your page’s negative feedback without taking exposure into account. So, never rely solely on the number you see on your Insights dashboard.  Always compare the number of users reached with the number of users who gave negative feedback before judging the quality of each post.

Then, create a percentage score of this comparison to compare results from different posts.

Looking back at negative feedback in percentages, I’ve found the average negative feedback is 0.1% of the users reached, but some Pages go as high as 0.7%!

Use percentages when analyzing your negative feedback and engagement scores. These averages are extracted from the Agorapulse Facebook Page Barometer (http://barometer.agorapulse.com/).

Use These Six Metrics to Improve Your Facebook Marketing

Most Facebook data can be misleading or gamed to your disadvantage, but it’s very hard to trick individual post metrics.  These means will help you understand the truth of your page’s performance.  And, they’re free! If you consider your time free. 

Once you’re solid in understanding this data and analyzing it in the most productive way, you may want to use third-party tools to save time. There are many.

These free tools are a great place to start: the Agorapulse Barometer (http://barometer.agorapulse.com/), or Simply Measured (http://simplymeasured.com/free-social-media-tools)

You may also decide to invest in paid tools such as Agorapulse (http://www.agorapulse.com/) Quintly (http://www.quintly.com/)  or Wisemetrics (http://wisemetrics.com).

Your turn! What metrics are you paying attention to and why? Do you analyze your data directly on Facebook or do you use a tool? Please leave your comments and questions below.

Emeric Ernoult is the founder of AgoraPulse (www.agorapulse.com), a Facebook Marketing Technology  that has been featured on AllFacebook as the “Low Cost Facebook CRM alternative”. AgoraPulse is currently being used by more than 10,000 brands and agencies across 57 countries. Clients include McDonald’s, Playstation, Microsoft, Fiat, Mini, and dozens of leading Digital & Social Media Agencies).

Emeric is a regular speaker at International  conferences such as the AllFAcebook Marketing Conference,  Social media Examiner Facebook Success Summit and Facebook Marketing Conference (London), iStrategy, Digital Paris and eMarketing Paris.

The 6 Metrics That Determine Your Success On Facebook is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

This month’s theme here at Duct Tape Marketing is writing – you might enjoy these two posts if you have read them yet – 7 Things I Did Not Know About Writing Before I Started and How I Write and How I Decide What To Write

photo credit: erin m via photopin cc

Essentially, from a marketer’s point of view, writing is about producing content for the purpose of turning interest to purchase. In that pursuit there are many forms of content that come into play. Content that must create awareness, trust, education, engagement and conversion and, in many cases, take the form of written word, spoken word, pictures, video, graphics and even visual representation of otherwise dry data.

Because I get asked lots I thought I would share the tools I use to turn out content in various forms. (Feel free to add to the list below!)

My Content Creation Toolbox is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing podcast with Mitch Joel

I’ve been sensing a change these days. Actually, like most change, it happens in a way that is imperceptible, until you step back and look at something like a six month window. Then you can see it.

photo credit: andjohan via photopin cc

The world of marketing has changed – social, local, mobile – all powered by content, has happened, it’s not a fad – and yet businesses are still acting as though they can treat it as such. But here’s the really scary thing – it’s changing again.

For this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast I visit with Mitch Joel, CEO of Twist Image and author of Ctrl Alt Delete: Reboot Your Business. Reboot Your Life. Your Future Depends on It who, in dramatic fashion, describes this state of denial that many business owners and marketers are living in as purgatory.

The change we are undergoing right now will dwarf what we’ve seen over the past five years. Every bit of data and information we share and consume is headed towards a single source or, as Joel calls it, a single pipe. We are moving beyond customer service and marketing messages to a era where businesses must be built to interface directly with the customer at every level.

The customer and the direct relationship with the customer is an organization’s greatest asset and greatest risk. An organization’s ability to respond directly and in real time will determine success and failure. Proactively leveraging opportunities in real time is the new landscape.

One of my favorite lines from the book sums this up – “Instead of asking people to like us Facebook – why not trying liking them first.”

In the world we are heading towards marketing and advertising must become more useful. Advertising must become so useful that people would keep your ad on the home screen of their phone. Messages must become so useful that people are willing to pay for them! Information no longer wants to be free, it wants to be worth paying for.

Media must become both active and passive. The move towards socializing every event or show has created an environment of fatigue. There are times when we just want to read something, or, if we want to engage, it’s got to fit the experience. More content isn’t the answer. Better content, relevant content, content that fits what I am doing right now or content that my trusted friends say is the best, is the answer.

It’s time once again to reboot business and reboot how we do business, how we work and what we call an office and a career.

Reboot Your Business and Your Life is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

People seem fascinated with routines – how other people get things done and the like. While you do need to develop your own way of getting it all done, it can be inspiring and reassuring to hear how others are doing it. (Yesterday I wrote – 7 Things I Did Not Know About Writing Before I Started)

How I decide what to write about

photo credit: Sven Van Echelpoel via photopin cc

I have a pretty solid editorial calendar that runs out about a year in terms of monthly focus themes so my blog posts, podcasts and guest content is lined up to match my annual plan. For example, this month’s theme is writing. I also write a lot of content for needs beyond my blog – presentations, eBooks and webinars often show up in outline form on my blog. (Here’s a description of this Total Content System approach)

How I write

I’m an outliner. I come up with the primary point I want to make from the blog post and then I outline the supporting points, elements and resources that I need to add to fill it out. I find that this approach allows me to stay focused and write very quickly. I write an opening statement, add 3-5 subheads, fill in each and wrap it up with a restatement of the original point.

Then I add lots of links, tips, tools and additional reading to make it as useful as possible. The last thing I add is the headline. I use SEO plugin to create URL, title, and description but the headline is there to grab attention in places like Twitter and RSS readers.

I asked Seth Godin, Mitch Joel, Ann Handley, Mark Schaefer, CC Chapman, Ian Cleary and Brian Solis two questions related to today’s post and I’ve included their thoughts here to give you even more insight into the practices of others who write.

My questions:
1) Describe your blog editorial process: how you decide what to write about
2) Describe your blog writing process: how you attack the actual process of writing a post
Their answers:

Seth Godin

It doesn’t matter.

If you had Elvis’ microphone, you wouldn’t sing like Elvis, nor would you want to.

Readers don’t care about shovels, they care about holes!

Mitch Joel

Editorial process: At the beginning of every day, I scan my email inbox. I subscribe to a significant amount of e-newsletters and I use this as my pure inspiration. If there’s something that really pops up, I tend to save it in an email inbox folder titled “blog.” Over the course of the day, if I find anything else that inspires, I also file it there by sending myself an email. When I finally feel like I am ready to write, there is usually one theme that bubbles up to the top and that’s the one that I roll with. My typical blogging time is at the end of the day, but inspiration can hit at any time… from anywhere.

Writing process: This pretty straightforward. I start with the title and just blog. Once the first draft is done, I do a quick spellcheck and glance for grammar. I review the post a couple of times and put in the tags last.

Brian Solis

About the only plan I bring to the table is the desire to blog and to do so with rhythm and passion. While I don’t maintain an editorial calendar, I do keep an open mind to trends and also the ongoing challenges and questions I see people asking or attempting to address. I keep a list of ideas as they come up via Apple’s Reminder app. For the most part, I write on the weekends. It’s quieter and I can slow down and focus enough to think through what I’m writing about, who it’s for and what the takeaway will be. I’ll then publish the posts later in the week. I don’t however, write against an outline. I go with a feeling and let it evolve naturally. I think about the outcome as I go to make sure that there’s value at the end. But, often I find that what I set out to write and what I end up publishing are often two different pieces altogether.

Ann Handley

Editorial: At MarketingProfs, our editorial process on the text/newsletter side is generally mapped out about a month in advance (with some flexibility for timely items that deserve coverage).

We aren’t a news site with real-time coverage — instead, we publish how-to information with an eye toward filtering the noise to get to the signal. We educate marketers about what they need to know, when they need to know it.

How to we know that? We listen, read tons of blogs/sites, and rely on the PR folks we have relationships with, as well. We also practice what I call “social prospecting,” looking for good writers/speakers/story or session ideas via social networks.

The one exception to my statement about us “not being a news site” relates to our research summaries (here’s an example: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2013/10730/internet-ad-revenue-breaks-record-mobile-achieves-111-yoy-growth) and opinions (www.mpdailyfix.com), which are timely and newsworthy, but not necessarily breaking.

On my own site (AnnHandley.com), I feel no pressure to produce. So I only create content there when I can’t stand not to, and I don’t have anything that remotely resembles an editorial calendar. For example, after seeing Sheryl Sandberg speak in Boston recently, I felt compelled to write this (link), because I couldn’t not write about it. So the things I create there are far more emotionally charged for me. But the trade-off is that I post waaay less frequently.

Writing: I almost always start with a headline that expresses my distinct point of view, which becomes a sort of Blog Mission Statement for the whole post.

That headline doesn’t always end up being the one I use on publication, but it always gives me a framework and perspective to work from. This is critical for me because, as someone who started my career as a newspaper reporter, I sometimes find it a challenge to put “me” into the story, and to not feel like I have to cover an issue comprehensively, like a news reporter might. That was a huge shift for me, when I started blogging.

I know lots of people use word outlines and graphical organizers and mind maps and the like. But I’ve always been terrible at that. (Side note: I was always also terrible at diagramming sentences. Something about it feels like foisting math sensibilities onto the mystery and poetry of the written word. Also, I’m allergic to math.)

I’ll add one more thing about writing a post or article or pretty much anything: Sometimes writing comes easily, and the words flow onto the page as easily as soft butter onto warm toast. But that’s rare. More often than not, the words are like cold butter on sandwich bread: When you try to work it, the whole thing ends up kind of a mess.

It’s disheartening. Sometimes you cry. But if you keep at it, it somehow works out.

Writing is relatively easy. Good writing is very, very, very hard.

CC Chapman

Editorial: I wish I was more of a planner who would lay out a full editorial calendar, but that isn’t how I work (although I do it for clients all the time.)

For me when I get inspired, I write. Sometimes if I just have an idea and don’t have enough time to do all the full post so I’ll start a new post in wordpress and leave it as a draft. I’ve got tons of these and on days when I’m stuck for something to write I’ll go through the drafts and pick one.

I am constantly consuming content from every source imaginable and many times that will inspire what I decide to write about, but sometimes it comes from going for a walk, taking a shower or any other random time.

Writing: For me, I always write the post first. I’ll sit down and brain dump the idea directly into word press. Sometimes the headline comes first, but even if I have an idea for it, usually by the time I’m done writing it will evolve and change.

I proof read it at least twice with the final time being in a preview window so I’m reading it as it will look live on the site. This helps me notice strange formatting and since it is bigger text then the editor, I tend to notice mistakes a bit quicker.

Mark Schaefer

Editorial: I have absolutely no editorial calendar, which I find rather liberating. I write about whatever interests me and try to write ahead so I have at least 10 or so posts ready if I need them. To me, scheduling the blog is kind of what it must be like to conduct a symphony. You want it to flow in a harmonious way, pulling here and there to get just the right mix. I want there to be an ideal blend of tips, insights, opinion, and fun. Most of all it is has to be interesting and one way to accomplish this is to be flexible enough to write about what is happening now, not what was scheduled a month ago. It works for me, anyway!

Ian Cleary

Editorial: I only write about social media tools and technology and I get ideas from a variety of sources including tweets, subscribers that ask me questions, reading other blog posts and monitoring keywords related to social media tools and technology. I also often get an idea when I’m in the car or working out in the gym so I jot it down or create a task.

All content ideas goes into an editorial calendar called Divvyhq. There’s a place to park ideas and a place for scheduled content. Since using an editorial calendar I’ve got more consistent with my blogging and I’m not stuck for new content ideas because I’m always adding new ideas.

Writing: I go to Divvyhq and pick a post off my list or come up with a new topic basic on a combination of a couple of items on the list.

I then do some initial keyword research using Google keyword tool and SEOMoz to see if there are useful keywords I can target for the blog post.

I write an initial headline which I’ll always tweak a few times before publishing. I try to grab attention with my opening line and then outline what the angle of the story is. If I have some research or a quote to use I’ll add it in straight after this. I’ll then write the body of the post and finish off with what I want the reader to remember with a call to action to put in a comment!

When the first part of the post is written I’ll go to photopin and find some images to add to the post and then I’ll optimize the content for search engines.

When I post the content I schedule it as I have set days for publishing. When it is published it automatically goes out twitter using dlvr.it. but then I’ll manually post the content on a variety of platforms such as LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook, Inbound.org and Scoop.it. I also reach out to relevant audiences that might be interested in the post to encourage them to come back and read it. When I get comments I try to respond immediately to them.

So, since you made it this far I wonder if you might add your process?

How I Write and How I Decide What To Write is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

I remember thinking I wanted to be a writer as far back as high school. Only thing is I didn’t really know how to become one.

photo credit: geoftheref via photopin cc

Then one day I decided that writing articles would be a good way to build my business, so I just started writing and a funny thing happened.

The practiced of writing daily turned me into a writer.

But, the habit of writing also shaped far more than my ability to create meaningful sentences and that’s the reason I believe that everyone in business must write.

Writing to express my thoughts transformed everything about how I approached business and trained me to view the world and my place in it in a completely different way.

Below are seven benefits I attribute to the fact that I write on a daily basis.

Writing makes me a better thinker – (understand that better is relative!) In an effort to create content that is succinct, reveals new ways to look at common things, or apply simple solutions to seemingly complex problems, I believe I now think about business much differently.

Writing makes me a better listener – When I engage in conversations or listen to radio interviews, I listen with a writer’s ear and often find my head filling up with ideas for blog posts by simply listening to others discuss sometimes unrelated subjects.

Writing makes me a better salesperson – I write like I speak and often I write to sell an idea or even a very specific tactic. It’s amazing, but I find that clearly stating idea pitches in writing has improved my ability to quickly articulate them in a selling or interview setting. It’s like you build up this reserve bank of pretested discussion points.

Writing makes me a better speaker – This one falls nicely from the previous point, but I’ll also add that working through blog posts on meatier topics, those that readers weigh in on, has produced some of my best presentation material to date.

Writing keeps me focused on learning – The discipline required to create even somewhat interesting content in the manner I’ve chosen requires that I study lots of what’s hot, what’s new, what’s being said and what’s not being said in order to find ways to apply it to the world of small business.

Writing allows me to create bigger ideas – The habit of producing content over time affords you the opportunity to create larger editorial ideas that can be reshaped and repurposed for other settings. I’ve taken a collection of blog posts on a specific topic and turned them into an ebook more than once.

So, think you don’t have the time or the reason to write? – I hope you think again.

Tomorrow I plan to share a little bit about my writing process and how I choose what to write about. In addition I’ll features the thoughts of Mark Schaefer, Seth Godin, Mitch Joel, Ann Handley, CC Chapman, Ian Cleary and Brian Solis.

7 Things I Did Not Know About Writing Before I Started is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.

I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from Flickr or one that I took out there on the road.

I spent a little time in Philadelphia this week.

Good stuff I found this week:

Linkstant – script that alerts you when someone links to any page on your website.

Ubersuggest – keyword suggestion tool that uses many sources and groups suggestions in some very unique ways.

Issuu – great way to find some unique publications and publish your very own magazine.

Weekend Favs May Eighteen is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

Thursday is guest post day here at Duct Tape Marketing and today’s guest is Teddy Hunt – Enjoy!

photo credit Via Flickr by FaceMePLS

With 79 percent of Americans working remotely at least part of the time, it seems the days of copywriters chained to cubicles are far behind us. However, leaving the desk behind can take some getting used to. Read on to discover tips for copywriting in a mobile work environment, and 4 helpful apps to assist you in doing so.

Stay Connected with Technology

Many of us step out of the office to recharge our batteries, but you shouldn’t cut yourself off from your workplace altogether. A smart phone allows you to receive phone calls from your clients and respond to their emails while you’re away from your desk. You can also set up a landline-style number through Skype. The low subscription fee lets you make and receive local and international calls just as you would in the office. Calling landlines is cheap, but beware of dialing international mobiles. Global roaming charges can add up quickly!

Invest in a Convertible Tablet

Laptops are the traditional choice for mobile copywriters, but convertible tablets offer greater flexibility. They have the screen size you need and the keyboard you love, with the additional of benefit of being able to run mobile apps. These handy programs aren’t just for wasting time. Read on to learn about the apps that can help you write great copy on the go. Here are 4 of the best ones:

Wi-Fi Locator and Free Wi-Fi Help You Connect

Mobile copywriters need to research, send email, and log stories on the go. The Android-compatible Wi-Fi Locator and its iOS counterpart, Free Wi-Fi, track your location and tell you where to find the nearest t-mobile broadband hotspots. Handy maps make it easy to head to the places you can log on.

Evernote Turns Note-Taking High Tech

Once upon a time, copywriters wouldn’t be seen without a well-worn notebook. These days, that notebook has gone digital with the launch of Evernote. To call it “the ultimate note-taking app” might sound like an overstatement, but its ability to capture text, images, and video is impressive. In fact, it’s created such a buzz that 89 percent of Evernote users downloaded it on a friend’s recommendation.

Use it to record your interviews or simply to jot down your own thoughts when inspiration hits. The ability to tag items helps you stay organized, no matter how many assignments you’re working on.

Omnifocus Keeps You on Track

With a multitude of external distractions, staying focused can be one of the greatest challenges for copywriters on the go. The Omnifocus app makes the job easier by prioritizing your workload and breaking it down into smaller, more manageable tasks. The reminders function ensures no job slips through the cracks. Omnifocus is currently available for Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and details can be synched across these devices. An Android version is also in development.

(Image via OmniGroup)

Mozy Backs Up Your Important Data

Almost three-quarters of businesses have lost data in the last two years. If you think it won’t happen to you, then consider these sobering statistics. A staggering 140, 000 American hard drives crash every week, and more than 2 million laptops are stolen annually.

Backing up your data using a cloud system like the Mozy app will help you keep business as usual should the worst happen. The app can automatically back-up the files on your laptop or tablet while you work.

Keeping Pace With An Accelerating World

Perhaps the most important takeaway that you could get from this article, though, is that copywriters need to do everything they can to keep pace with today’s rapidly changing marketplace. The more quickly you can generate great ideas and deliver stellar copy, the more competitive you will be in your endeavors as a professional copywriter.

And if you aren’t currently very mobile in your own copywriting practices, it can be to your advantage to do so. In fact, many remotely working employees have reported a 25 percent increase in productivity, so it makes sense to take your copywriting out of the office. What other tips do you have for copywriting on the go?

Teddy Hunt is a freelance content writer with a focus on technology. When not behind a computer, Teddy spends the majority of his free time outdoors and resides in Tampa, Florida.

Mobile Copywriting Tips and Four Apps to Assist is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

I’ve said repeatedly that building a vibrant community is the most important objective of any business these days.

photo credit: Mourner via photopin cc

While this may sound like some social media laced feel good sentiment it’s actually quite practical.

Making your business customers, prospects, suppliers and partners feel like important members of a bigger community simply makes long-term business sense and is the key to long-term growth in ways that you not have even considered.

Many businesses get the idea treating customers in ways that make them want to return and refer, but you should also look at your best customers as collaboration partners able to help you formulate plans for growth.

Creating new products and services and making plans for growth is tricky adventures. Why not systematically involve your customers in every decision you make? Why not create new products and services with your customers? Why not include them in content creation and marketing campaigns?

Why not get your best customers to tell you what they need and then help you create, iterate and perfect it?

Below are five steps that can help you build systematic community involvement into your growth plans

Champion personas

The first step is to segment your business customers into personality types. Not every customer group is right for this approach and you may likely have completely different segments, such as B2B and B2C, and may need to build entirely different approaches for different segments.

Additionally, you’ll want to identify customers groups or types that are more open to this level of involvement. One of the best places to look is for customers that already refer or evangelize what you do. Can you identify them specifically or can you at least come up with a description of common characteristics?

These are what I refer to as you community champions. This is the first group to focus on as you try to expand your community reach.

Ongoing mining

Next you’ll want to dig in and figure out what this group might be lacking. This is sometimes a little tricky as if they really knew they probably would have told you by now, but I find that posing a series of questions around what they wish they had, what they can’t find or what doesn’t seem to work, even about your current offerings, is a good place to start.

After you do this you’ll want to audit your content, touchpoints and revenue streams in an effort to identify a handful of potential growth and involvement opportunities.

Many times you can find ways to involve your customers by simply creating content opportunities such as guest blogging, case studies and video testimonials.

Consider events you might create where your customers can do some of the education. Host peer-to-peer roundtables and let your customers facilitate discussions among prospects.

Consider additional revenue extensions where your champion customers could moderate other customer groups and help add ongoing value.

Innovation circles

Once you’ve established some working rapport with your community champions get them involved in helping you build, test and refine new offerings.

Create what I like to call innovation circles to use to build with your customers. Take rough product, service, packaging and pricing ideas to your circles and get feedback. Then with this feedback create a beta test group that agrees to help you get it right. Then use these testers as case studies and early evangelists for your now much improved offering.

You don’t have to stop here either. You can use this same approach for all of your marketing initiatives, copy and positioning.

Accountability tracking

The final piece is the glue that holds this entire approach together and keeps your community champions coming back for more.

You must create a way to religiously track the results your champions are getting from their relationship with your organization as well as their greater involvement in the community.

This just makes good business sense, but it will also help reinforce the value you bring to the table over and above the somewhat empty claims of good service and low pricing used by your competitors.

One of the best ways to build this into your community is through game mechanics. Create ways for your community champions to participate in contests. Get them to compete with each other. Teach them how to help each other through tangible acts such as linking swapping, sharing and guest posting.

Make the use of your progress and services something they must report and even incentivize them by creating awards for people who come up with new uses and best documented results.

Partner platform

One way to take this notion up a notch is to teach a group of strategic partners how to do the same and then start cross-pollinating your communities.

When you create a common language and process, such as “innovation circles,” you make it easier to teach the methodology and create even greater participation as you and your partners are promoting the same approach.

Imagine how much more value you can bring to your community by building this kind of best of class partner platform, Further imagine how interested potential partners will be to learn how you plan to shine the light on them throughout your vibrant customer community.

Your customer champions want to help you grow and, while making referrals is one powerful way to involve them, when you take a formal approach like the one described above you’ll not only make it easier for them to refer you, you’ll create a team of business partners eager to help you plan and grow.

How to Turn Your Best Customers Into a Growth Engine is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.

I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from Flickr or one that I took out there on the road.

One of my favorite airports – Denver International

Good stuff I found this week:

SpeakPipe – website addon that allow visitors to leave you a voice message.

Marcombox – nice way to organize all of your marketing assets and campaigns.

The Habit Factor App – Personal goal tracking app that helps you establish more productive habits.

Weekend Favs May Eleven is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

What if you could spend 3 entire days working on your business with only seven other business owners under my guidance. Oh, and what if it was free.

I am conducting and filming a live 3 day workshop in San Francisco June 26-28 and eight lucky business owners get to join me for free as my in-studio business case studies. (Well, you do have to pay your travel, but the workshop is free)

Seven other business owners, you and me working for 3 days on your business while the world looks on. The event will be streamed live to thousands of viewers and recorded in a professional studio. So, in addition to getting to build a complete marketing system with me you just might get famous too!

If this sounds a bit like the chance of a lifetime then I have a task for you.

Visit this form and tell me why your business should be considered for this exclusive group. There’s a place on the form where you can upload a link to a :60 YouTube video and I highly recommend you share your story via video as we will have lots of submissions. (Think – How do I stand out?)

If you want to check out the course promo page you can do so here.

This is not a gimmick, I need a very small group of eager business owners to act as my case subjects in the studio for the live event and for that you get 3 days of consulting – simple as that.

So, go shoot your video and I hope to see you in San Fran. (Deadline to submit your application is May 30th)

A Ridiculously Awesome Opportunity for 8 Business Owners is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

Thursday is guest post day here at Duct Tape Marketing and today’s guest is Steve Aedy – Enjoy!

Great writers know a thing or two about how great writing is done. After all, that’s their job. For you, the business owner or marketer who needs to do some writing, it’s helpful to know what counts for your particular needs.

I Think, Therefore I Have a Headache

Blogging for business is not like writing a great novel. It’s about getting to the point in as few words as possible. That means thinking, which is painful and annoying, but you have to do it.

“I have only made this letter longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter.” (Letter 16, 1657) – Blaise Pascal, The Provincial Letters

KISS: Keep It Short & Simple

Blog posts are “quick reads” and are often skimmed for key points by people who are very busy. Respect that fact. Format your work with headings and bullet points. Keep your word count at or below 500 words. This is truly a case of “less is more”.

“Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time is wasted.” – Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Ham and Eggs Beats Eggs Benedict

Great authors know that simple is better, fewer words beat lengthy prose and it’s more important to not be misunderstood than to try and make yourself understood with a lengthy explanation.

“To write well, express yourself like the common people, but think like a wise man.” – Aristotle

“Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.” –  George Orwell

“The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” – Thomas Jefferson

Ready, Fire, Aim

A business blog post has a specific target to hit. That target doesn’t always have to be a sales pitch or an attempt at customer retention. Sometimes, that post is just a statement of how your business does business or some other non-sales theme. The point is, write your blog post freely, then edit it to conform to your main point, which you discovered while writing it.

“I write to find out what I’m talking about.” – Edward Albee

“How do I know what I think until I see what I say?” – E.M. Forster

Procrastinate Later…

This brings you to the most important point: write. Procrastination never helps, when it comes to writing. Despite the fact that what you start out with is less than perfect, write. Put down everything you can, then go back and cut out the fluff.

“Don’t get it right – get it WRITTEN!” – Lee Child

The Benefits of “Quick and Dirty”

Avoid the trap of “perfection”. Yes, you do want what you write to be good, but the beguiling temptation to craft exceptional prose is a time waster. This is NOT a novel, nor an excerpt thereof. Make it good and stop.

“Don’t try to be different. Just be good. To be good is different enough.” – Arthur Freed

Summing Up

The Marine Corps of the United States has a proven method of getting a point across to recruits:

1. I’m gonna tell ya what I’m gonna tell ya.
2. I’m gonna tell ya.
3. I’m gonna tell ya what I told ya.

Use this formula when crafting a blog post. After all, I told ya I was gonna tell ya what counts, right?

About the Author:

The article was written by Steve Aedy, who is a staff writer for Fresh Essays – a company that provides online paper writing service and editing help. He likes to write on social media, small business and education related topics. Follow him on Google+.

How Great Business Writing Gets Done Quickly is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

John Jantsch talks about podcasting

Podcasting is making a comeback thanks to a growing consumer demand for content. If you’re not listening to podcasts, or better yet, producing your own audio content, you better reconsider.

photo credit: Bill Selak via photopin cc

I’ve been publishing the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast since 2005. I got into podcasting as a way to create content and unlock opportunities to get in front of leading authors and industry experts.

Back then, podcasting was new, iTunes had just burst onto the scene and an army of podcasters embraced this new RSS driven way to syndicate content. But then social media came along and things like Twitter and Facebook made podcasting seem so last decade. (Heck, people even starting suggesting that blogging was dead!)

But then, a funny thing happened on the way to the evolution of all things digital. People started to rediscover podcasting as a tremendous way to package and deliver content in a new and intimate way. All of a sudden, everyone had a podcast listening device in their pocket (otherwise known as a smartphone), and the new iPhone even came with the iTunes Podcast app preloaded. As a result to the easy access, podcast listening again began to surge.

Some people still shy away from the term “podcast” much like they did “blog.” Here’s the deal, just like a blog, forget what you call it, creating audio content is a great way to tap the fact that people want to listen to content on their most personal device – their phone – and why wouldn’t you work your tail off to get invited into that place.

How I podcast

There are dozens of ways to podcast and I am by no means an expert on every aspect of the technology, but I will share what seems to work for me.

Blue Yetti USB Mic - This a high quality microphone with lots of professional type settings and will set you back about $100, but the quality sound is worth it.

Skype – I do all of my interviews over Skype as my guests are from around the globe. I use a SkypeIn 9 didget phone number so my guests can call from a phone if they like but more and more people connect directly via Skype these days.

I also use a Skype add on called Call Recorder so I can record directly in Skype and it also lets me split the tracks so I can edit them independently.

Garage Band – I edit on a Mac and Garage Band does a great job. I level the sound, add music, and edit some things out before saving to iTunes.

Libsyn – I use Libsyn to host and stream my podcast. I pay about $10 a month for this and it keeps my podcast separate from my web hosting.

Blubrry PowerPress - This WordPress plugin creates a player for my blog and handles the RSS technical stuff including passing the podcast to iTunes. I run my podcast on my regular blog and use the category RSS feed to splice those posts off.

Rev.com – Sometimes I will transcribe my podcasts as a way to essentially take one form of content and make another. Rev.com is fast and very affordable.

If you want to learn more about the technical aspects of podcasting, check out Podcast Answer Man – Cliff Ravenscraft.

My personal listening list

2012 became the year that a number of very well-known content producers embraced the podcast format, producing and distributing audio content in a very big way.

The following podcasts have become very popular in iTunes and offer tremendous content for those inclined to consume their content while driving, working out or simply hanging out plugged into a pair of earbuds.

Seth Godin’s Startup School: Recently launched on the Earwolf network, the Startup School podcast features highlights from a workshop Godin conducted with 30 up-and-coming entrepreneurs.

Social Media Marketing Podcast by Michael Stelzner: Social Media Examiner’s Michael Stelzner helps your business navigate the social jungle with success stories and expert interviews from leading social media pros.

The Human Business Way by Chris Brogan: Business with a soul. Improve your impact. Be brave. Tell bigger stories. Discussions and more with today’s top authorities on sales, marketing and much more than just business.

The Work Talk Show: The Work Talk Show is a weekly podcast hosted by DJ Waldow & Nick Westergaard featuring a talk show format along with crazy smart guests who operate outside the lines of what work has traditionally looked like.

This Is Your Life by Michael Hyatt: This Is Your Life with Michael Hyatt is a weekly podcast dedicated to intentional leadership. The goal is to help you live with more passion, work with greater focus and lead with extraordinary influence.

Pat Flynn Smart Passive Income: Reveals all of his online business and blogging strategies, income sources and killer marketing tips and tricks so you can be ahead of the curve with your online business or blog.

Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield: “Facebook Marketing All in One for Dummies” co-author and online entrepreneur Amy Porterfield shows you exactly how to monetize your online marketing and blogging efforts using her own tested, ACTIONABLE lead generation strategies

Duct Tape Marketing: And of course, I’m partial to my own podcast full of small-business marketing tips, tactics, resources and interviews with some of today’s most inspiring authors, leaders and thinkers.

Download the iTunes Podcast App or Stitcher app and start filling your head with the sounds of content in the form of podcasts.

How I Podcast and Why I Think You Should is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

Much has been said in marketing circles about target markets, demographics, psychographics and other ways to define who and what makes an ideal customer.

photo credit: Fulvio’s photos via photopin cc

The thing that’s always bothered me about this simple approach is that it sort of has a lowest common denominator element to it – who can we attract?

What if you changed this point of view to something more like – whom do we deserve to work with?

Have you ever considered the following question? – What qualities would our ideal customers have?

I’ve spent the last few years evangelizing this idea of an ideal customer. For me the idea implies behavior as much as demographics.

And here’s the other thing, don’t you deserve to work with customers that appreciate your unique value?

Now some might suggest the idea of choosing your customers as somewhat egotistical, but it’s not at all. If you want to work with the leaders in your marketplace, then you better up your game so that can deserve to do so. It’s actually quite a humbling and centering idea.

I was talking about this very idea with a long time friend the other day. Eric Morgenstern’s firm, Morningstar Communications has experienced tremendous success and his roster of client reads like a “most desired” list.

Eric heard me share my thoughts on ideal customer during a presentation to a group of business owners and he later told me how behavior plays an extremely large part in the clients they seek out and, perhaps as importantly, those they don’t.

“Our clients are nice, smart and successful. Two out of three is not sustainable.”

“We’ve observed:

• Companies that are “involved in the community” tend to value effective communications, and our high level of service.
• Companies that are “lifelong learners” tend to value effective communications, and our high level of service.
• Companies that are true leaders believe, “. . . an educated customer is a great customer.”

Those are correlations that help us assess each individual prospect.

So much is a gut feeling . . . about the organization and its leadership, based on expertise and experience.”

So, gather the troops and start asking about ideal customer behavior, traits and qualities that define success.

Begin by exploring personas that you don’t want to work with. Persona is a term that takes its meaning from the idea of a theatrical role. In marketing the term is used to describe the common characteristics of a customer group much like the make up of a character in a play.

A client of mine did this exercise for his design and consulting business and was able to complete sketches of the kinds of clients they did not want to work with in such a way that it made it much easier to define what ideal looked like.

He used personas with names like Lottery Winners and Destined to Be Small to frame qualities that made up red flag customers. He even went as far as to identify customers that he was no longer going to work with.

That’s the funny thing about getting some clarity around this idea – until you know who you must work with, who you choose to work with, it’s far too easy to take work and customers that drag you away from the work you deserve to be doing.

Saying it doesn’t make it so, but until you are working towards defining, understanding and nurturing who you truly deserve to be working with success will elude.

Who Would You Choose to Be Your Customers? is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

Marketplaces have been with us for centuries. Around the time people started trading inside and outside of their village two models developed.

photo credit: Bert Kaufmann via photopin cc

You either took your stuff on the road and sold it door to door or you showed up somewhere near the center of town and rented a stall in the market or bazaar.

Even today’s shopping center is based on the marketplace concept – lots of people go to one place where they can go to lots of stores at one time.

You could make a case for the fact that the Internet in general is little more than a really, really big marketplace – containing everything that has ever been made along with everything that’s ever been said.

Unfiltered as it is though, the Internet is a bit like going down to market and finding that if you walk through the stalls for about fifteen years you wouldn’t even make a dent in what’s there.

eBay was one of the first to crack the marketplace code online. eBay aggregated buyers and sellers of stuff, mostly stuff in the attic and garage, and took a fee on the sale.

In recent years others have entered the digital marketplace business and the model, including eBay’s model, has evolved to the point where it represents a significant distribution channel for businesses large and small, B2B and B2C and is no longer limited to physical products.

Today sellers can find viable marketplace distribution in places like Amazon, Buy.com, Newegg, Ariba as well as eBay. Even traditional retailers like Sears and BestBuy are getting into the marketplace game. And, it’s pretty obvious that Facebook has plans to fall into this category as well.

Marketplaces are not limited to sellers either. Marketplaces like Alibaba are making it easier than ever for business to find and source suppliers and manufactures of products from around the globe.

As small businesses consider digital marketplaces for additional distribution, they must weigh the advantages and disadvantages, learn best practices and specifications and tricks of the trade in order to stand out.

Advantages of digital marketplaces

• Pre-built market – some marketplaces have millions of customers visiting on a daily basis.
• Shoppers with intent – people often come to a marketplace ready to buy something if not a very specific item.
• Convenience – Shoppers love the convenience and one stop shopping approach with one login.
• Niche markets – Some marketplaces build communities interested in very specific types of items.
• Fulfillment – Marketplaces can become a fulfillment center. Amazon’s Fulfillment by Amazon program is a huge boost for some companies.
• Credibility – Smaller, lesser known brands can benefit from the trust built by a marketplace.

Disadvantages of digital marketplaces

• Competitive proximity – Sure there are lots of shoppers, but your competitor might be in the next stall, so to speak, offering a lower price or better options.
• Commoditization – Some marketplace shoppers are simply looking for the best price on a comparable product.
• Loss of brand – What makes someone want to do business with you based on an awesome experience can be lost in the matching specs of a marketplace.
• Listing idiosyncrasies – Every marketplace has it’s own way of getting your stuff listed, priced and highlighted.
• Order management – Some small businesses don’t have the IT infrastructure to handle order management systems required to play at a high level.
• Hard to stand out – Winning the digital marketplace game takes a lot of work – uploading your products via a data feed and calling it a day is not going to cut it.

Best practices

If you decide to test a marketplace there are a handful of musts in order to make a go of it.

• Start slow and build – Unless you’ve got a full time IT staff it’s best to pick a marketplace and try to build your chops one at a time rather than jumping in and distributing your resources in ways that will dilute your time and attention.
• Go for Gold seller status – Every marketplace has some algorithm that rewards the best sellers. Some of this is sheer volume, but things like ratings and response times play a huge role. Gold status usually affords better placement. (Yet another argument for starting slow and working out the kinks)
• Need for speed – One of the quickest ways to rise and fall in the ratings game is quickness. Get your products in the customer’s hands as fast as possible.
• Provide tracking (Holidays!) – Provide lots of communication. Let people know if they can get something by a looming Holiday date. Exceed expectations.
• Grow with automation – Once you hit any level of volume in one or more markets you’ll need to find and employ tools that help you list, track, manage and reprice your listings based on the real-time activity going in a market. Some suppliers move the price of items up and down multiple times during a day making it tough to stay on top with a spreadsheet as your only tool.

Digital marketplaces can open up a world of opportunities or they can become a fast way to discount your products. The key is to establish your distribution in other places, refine your processes and then look for additional opportunities in the growing world of online maketplaces.

Digital Marketplaces Becoming a Viable Small Business Channel is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing

My weekend blog post routine includes posting links to a handful of tools or great content I ran across during the week.

I don’t go into depth about the finds, but encourage you check them out if they sound interesting. The photo in the post is a favorite for the week from Flickr or one that I took out there on the road.

1st time it’s snowed in Kansas City in May in over a century!

Good stuff I found this week:

RegReady – Interesting new service that helps you build your email list with like minded businesses.

Trap.it – Content curation tool that allows marketers to personalize content for prospects and customers.

Local SEO Plugin – Easily optimize your WordPress blog pages and posts for local search with plugin from Yoast

Weekend Favs May Four is a post from: Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing