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Friday, 3 June 2016

Snapchat, Launching a Podcast, Social Ads, and More: Behind-the-Scenes of Social Media at Buffer in May

It's been an exciting month at Buffer – Tons of fun social media initiatives, experiments, and thinking ahead on innovative ideas to continue to grow on all of our channels. Ideas like:

How can we best market our new Buffer CultureLab podcast?

What does our audience enjoy on Snapchat? How can we grow and stand out?

Are we spending too little or too much on social media advertising? What's the ROI?

These are a few of the awesome things that keep the experiments and learnings churning. But it's always good to take a step back to evaluate and discuss strategies and goals. I'd love to go behind-the-scenes with you and share all things social media from May.

Here we go!

In this post, we'll be hosting our first ever “Blog AMA” (Ask Marketing Anything) where you can ask our marketing team anything you would like!

Want to run a marketing idea by us? Sure! Want to know more about the strategies or stats below? You got it! Wondering how to set up specific reports in Google Analytics? We can help!

Simply drop your question or idea in the comments below and a member from our marketing team will jump in and answer as best as we can.

A look at Buffer social media marketing stats

Let's start off with a complete rundown of our social media stats from May for each of Buffer's 5 primary social channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Snapchat. It's always fun to dive into social data and we're hoping that this will help build a bit of context around your own social strategies.

(All stats cover a 28-day period)

Facebook

We gained 3,810 new page Likes for a total of 59,661 Likes.

We shared 71 posts (50 links, 19 photos, and 2 statuses) that earned us 40,176 interactions with a total of 707,242 people reached (both organic and paid combined).

Organic Reach: 374,366

Paid Reach: 332,876

Boosted Posts: 15

Average organic post reach: 6,685

Average paid post reach: 22,191

Fun fact: 9 out of 10 of our top posts were links to our blog posts.

If you're interested in digging deeper into any of these stats, I'm happy to share our Buffer Facebook Stats from May 2016 (download).

Twitter

We gained 36,565 new followers for a total of 561,636 Followers.

We shared 223 tweets that earned us 76,440 interactions with a total of 6,258,140 impressions (both organic and paid combined).

Organic impressions: 6,190,854

Paid impressions: 67,286

Promoted Tweets: 32

Average organic Tweet impressions: 32,412

Average paid Tweet impressions: 2,102

(This data did not include Tweets from our #bufferchat sessions or direct replies to our users.)

Fun fact: Our top tweet from May was a curated piece of content from Business Insider. This shows the true power of curating content on your own social media channels.

Top Tweet from May

If you're interested in digging deeper into any of these stats, I'm happy to share our Buffer Twitter Stats from May 2016 (download).

Instagram

We gained 1,191 new followers for a total of 10,492 Followers (12% growth increase vs. April)

We shared 27 posts that earned us 5,520 interactions with an average engagement rate per photo of 2.078%. We did not run any Instagram advertisements in the month of May – all posts were organic.

Average likes per post: 188.7

Average comments per post: 15.7

Top hashtag used: #BufferLove

Most engaging filter: Rise

Fun fact: Our top post (218 likes and 118 comments) was a Buffer Swag giveaway. We continue to see success with giveaways on our Instagram account.

Snapchat

Measuring our performance and growth on Snapchat has been a fun challenge to tackle. Currently, there aren't any automated ways to get analytics or data from a Snapchat account. We pulled the following data manually using a few great tips from marketing superstar, Everette Taylor.

Snapchat Score: 948 (based on the number of snaps sent and received)

Number of Snaps sent: 64

Number of Snaps received: 117

Avg. number of views per Snap: 475

Fun fact: We'll be rolling out a whole new set of awesome Buffer Snapchat stories over the next few weeks. More details below!

If you're interested in digging into the big spreadsheet we use to keep track of all of our social media data, I'd love to share our nifty Buffer Social Media Metrics Dashboard (download).

Quick Note: You may have noticed that we did not include Pinterest or Google+ in the stats above. We are still marketing on these channels, but they account for less than 1% of our overall website traffic and so we thought we would focus on the more prominent channels in this report. Feel free to ask us any questions about either of those channels in the comments below!

Referral traffic to the Buffer Social blog

Total traffic from social media

The above chart shows the top five social referrers to the Buffer Social blog. Numbers six through ten were Google+, StumbleUpon, Scoop.it, Pocket, and Reddit.

Total traffic from all sources

The above chart shows the top seven overall referrers to the Buffer Social blog.

Inside Buffer's social media strategies

Now that our social media stats are taken care of, I'd love to share a bit about the strategies that we're working on for some of our larger Buffer projects. It would be fantastic if any of these resonate with you or help to spark any ideas.

It would also be great to hear your thoughts and questions as part of our Buffer AMA (ask marketing anything) in the comments below!

1. Marketing our new Buffer CultureLab Podcast

We launched a new Buffer podcast, CultureLab, in mid-May and it has been a wonderful and challenging experience in both setbacks and growth.

Exploring the ins and outs of launching a new podcast – where to feature it, how to boost it with ratings and reviews, spreading the word, reaching out to potential guests, creating a compelling intro – has opened our mind to fun new social media marketing opportunities.

We're accompanying some episodes with a blog post

For the launch, episode 4 “Hello I Know Your Salary” and episode 5 “Skinny Jeans and Snake People” we've included a blog post to go along with the actual episode release. This opens up a nice avenue for promotion across all social media channels and allows us to provide a bit more context to our audience.

It also makes it so the reader or listener can quickly browse through the episode and see what he or she will learn before committing to listening.

What are your thoughts on this strategy? Do you enjoy podcasts that have accompanying blog posts, or do you prefer to dive right into the episode?

We're looking at experimenting with Facebook Live and Snapchat

As podcasting continues to grow in popularity and become more of a mainstream channel, we feel it's important to find new and exciting ways to market CultureLab. Facebook Live and Snapchat may be two great ways to help us accomplish our goals.

Facebook Live and Snapchat are both mediums that cater well to video and audio and so they follow a similar format to podcasting. They also provide an opportunity for us to “tease” topics that we'll be chatting about in our podcast as well as answer any questions that our podcast audience may have for us.

2. A new Snapchat strategy

One of the most exciting projects that I had the pleasure of working on in May and will continue to explore in the coming months is our Snapchat strategy. Up until this point, the only thing we have been really been consistent with on Snapchat is our “Bufferoo Takeovers” on Fridays. Each Friday a new member of our team takes over the Buffer Snapchat (@buffersnaps) for the day.

What I think we may be missing out on is the opportunity to provide real social media value and knowledge to our audience through an emerging platform in Snapchat. That's why we're creating a plan to implement what we like to call Buffer Snap Channels. Here's a quick overview of what this may look like:

Monday: Buffer Social Hour

Topics: Social media and marketing education, thought leadership, blog post promotion

Host(s): Ex. Kevan, Leo, Ash, Brian, Hailley, Marcus, Vatsal, Kirsten, Adam, Tia, Juliet

Wednesday: Buffer Culture Hour

Topics: Work culture, Buffer Open blog discussion, chat about a new podcast episode

Host(s): Ex. Courtney, Caro, Mary, Arielle, Kelly, Joel, Nicole, Bonnie, Darcy

Friday: Buffer Team Member Takeover

Topics: A day in the life of a Buffer employee

Host(s): Any Buffer employee who would love to get involved

Tuesday (Optional): Buffer Engineering & Design

Topics: An inside look at Buffer's product, development and design tips

Host(s): Ex. Lorenz, Marc Anthony, Roy, Tyler, Dan, Neil, Katie, Emily, Tom, Steve

Thursday (Optional): Buffer Happiness Hour

Topics: Great stuff happening on the people team, Buffer employees, remote working,

Host(s): Ex. Mary, Julia, Paul, Stephanie, Rodo, Christina, Maria, Octa, Danny, Kelly, Ross

Buffer Snap Channels are in the beginning stages and so we would love to hear how these may initially feel to you. Did we forget a topic or theme? What else would you like to see on our Snapchat? Please feel free to Snap us directly using this Snapcode or leave a comment below!

3. Social media paid advertising

In May of last year, we shared our strategy for boosting posts on Facebook and some of the results we were seeing with our efforts. One year later, we're still boosting posts on Facebook and continue to see compelling results for social media paid advertising.

Finding new and creative ways to target our audience on Facebook

Based on the Facebook data we shared above, just about half of our overall Reach in May was from boosted posts. Plus, on average, boosted posts reached 3.3x the amount of people than did organic posts. We spend about $50 per day on boosted posts and around $1,500 per month.

One initiative that I worked to hone in on in May was our targeting efforts with Facebook advertising. It's important for me, with the amount of advertisers now on Facebook, to begin to drill down into the specifics and get our posts to people who are most likely to click on them.

To do so, I analyzed the data in Facebook Audience Insights and Google Analytics and added (or removed) targeting options from our various Facebook ad campaigns.

What sort of results are you seeing with your Facebook ads? We'd love to hear below!

Evaluating the effectiveness of our Twitter ad campaigns

Another initiative that we're keen to understand on a deeper level is the effectiveness of our Twitter ad campaigns and if they are truly driving results that are worth our investment.

Unlike Facebook boosted posts, Twitter's “Promoted Tweets” aren't quite as effective in terms of paid reach and engagement. The month of May was a great learning experience for us with Twitter advertising and we're excited to continue to perfect our technique and drive better results on Twitter.

Have you seen some great results with Twitter advertising? We're keen on learning from you below!

Social media content we'd love to write about (any thoughts?)

Finally, I'd love to share a few of the upcoming social media blog post ideas we're considering. If any of these topics jump out at you, I'd love to hear your votes!

How to Successfully Run a Social Media Campaign from Start to Finish

The 10 Golden Rules Successful Social Media Managers Live By

53 Design Terms Explained for Marketers

Creating The Perfect Facebook Ad: 50 Examples To Help You Get it Right

37 People Doing Amazing Things in Marketing and Social Media

Any other topics or blog posts on your mind? We'd love to hear from you.

Over to you for AMA (Ask Marketing Anything)

Thanks so much for following along with us until this point! Now we'd love to hand the reigns over to you

Thursday, 2 June 2016

Pinterest replaces 'Pin It' button with 'Save'

Pinterest, the web service that lets people pin photos, videos, and other content onto boards, today said that it has changed the text of the red button that's visible on Pinterest and other websites. For years, it has said “Pin It.” But now it says “Save.”

The announcement comes after Pinterest confirmed that it had started to test just such a change on some users.

Today's blog post from Pinterest product manager Steven Walling spells out the thinking behind the change:

Now that more than half of people who use Pinterest are from outside the United States, we've been working harder than ever to make sure our app and website are easy to use no matter where you live or what language you speak. Unfortunately it turns out that the notion of “Pinning” ideas doesn't always resonate with everyone around the world.

So we decided to test what would happen if we swapped our Pin It button for the more utilitarian Save instead. We were amazed by just how many new Pinners started saving ideas on Pinterest, especially people from outside the US.

In spite of the impressive numbers, we still really struggled with the decision to make the change. We have a lot of love for our Pin It button, which has served us well for so long. But the most important thing is for Pinterest to feel welcoming to everyone, and that's why ultimately we went with the more understandable Save.

Pinterest has found through its testing that people save 10 percent more with its browser extension when it says “Save” rather than “Pin It.”

The word Save is becoming a more common feature of Facebook and even Google. Meanwhile, Pocket remains a place to save articles and other content from around the web.

But Pinterest has a solid base of more than 100 million monthly active users, and its content tends toward the visual, which distinguishes the app to a degree. So it's no surprise to learn that YouTube is the most popular site for pins to come from so far this year. And the button itself has become widely adopted - there are now around 150 million “Pin it” - oops, make that “Save” - buttons on the internet, Walling wrote.

Also today, Pinterest said users can now see all of the boards onto which a pin has been saved.

Happy pinning! Or should I say happy saving?

Get more stories like this on Twitter & Facebook

Pinterest replaces 'Pin It' button with 'Save'

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9 Simple Steps for Choosing the Perfect Name for Your Blog

Whether it's your first day at school or a new job, there's something to be said for starting off on the right foot. Launching a new blog is no different.

Think about it – in the coming days, weeks and months, you'll be devoting hundreds of precious hours to this thing. You might as well give it all you've got right from the get-go, right?

This is where the value of a name comes into play.

Though you weren't physically around when your parents began brainstorming about what name to give you, odds are extremely high that there were a few conversations – some of them more heated than others, for certain – about the nominal identity you'd carry with you throughout the course of your life.

Eventually, time went on, and a name was chosen. Hopefully, their decision has served you well.

Likewise, a sizable portion of your blog's success or demise will come down to its name. Seeing as how this first step is so important, you'd think more writers would devote a greater amount of time to the brainstorming process.

Unfortunately, they don't.

The end result? Disaster domain names like this – www.speedofart.com.

Yup, that's the link to Speed of Art's official website. Pretty crazy stuff, huh? And yes – that's a real domain name, by the way. Feel free to give it a click, if you like.

So, if coming up with a unique, long-term name for your blog were as simple as a quick three-step process, everyone would be doing it.

Looking to launch a new blog or rebrand an existing one?

If so, commit now to making sure you discover the perfect name.

Though somewhat of a lengthy, painstaking process, by following each of the 9 steps below, you're sure to experience a light-bulb moment of sorts as the perfect blog name is found and a new blogging brand is built.

1. Explore your blog's many topics

To get things headed in the right direction, sit down with a pen and paper and consider the topics your new blog plans to cover. Write them down.

Though the general idea should be fairly easy to pinpoint, take things a step further, focusing on the specific, more intricate parts of what you'll be covering on your new blog.

This might seem silly, but jot down anything and everything that comes to mind. For example, if you're starting a website on recreational cycling, at least initially, you're likely to write down terms like bike, pedal, or helmet.

But here's the thing – don't limit your creativity when doing this activity. Keep going with terms like head tube, eleton, echelon, streamline, aerodynamics, etc.

Dig deeper.

As you write, it's likely that the majority of the words and phrases you write down won't work.

It doesn't matter.

The more you write, the more likely you are to spark a thought stream of blog-specific branding goodness.

Once a list of 10 to 20 items is created, circle the ones you feel could potentially work for your blog and cross off the rest of the bunch.

2. Hone in on your editorial tone

Next, take some time to think about the tone of your new blog.

While tone will certainly play a more important role when it comes time to start creating content, if there's a disconnect between the title of your blog and the content you're regularly producing, your readers will take notice.

With that in mind, how would you describe your blog's content? Is it smart and serious? Fun and light-hearted? What about simple and straightforward?

It doesn't matter – blogs of all tone types can succeed, but there needs to be threads of commonality running through the center of everything you and your blog do.

You've already created a list of potential blog names. To go along with it, you're now crafting a secondary list of words that describe your new blog.

More than likely, these words won't make their way into the title of your blog, but what you're most concerned about is the feeling that your blog's new name transmits.

When all is said and done, does it align nicely with the list of descriptors you'll have made? If not, you haven't found the right fit and should keep going.

3. Focus 100% on your ideal reader

Have you ever read or seen Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland? If so, you might recall the part where, deep in the heart of Wonderland, Cheshire Cat speaks to a lost and wandering Alice.

“Which road do I take?” asks Alice. “Where do you want to go?” responds Cheshire Cat. Uncertain of where she's headed, Cheshire Cat counsels Alice, saying, “If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there.”

As crazy as it might sound, Cheshire Cat's words have a great deal to do with naming your blog.

No, you're not headed to any literal location, but attracting your ideal reader is definitely a kind of destination in its own right.

And here's the tricky part – unless this project involves the rebranding of a pre-existing blog, you can't be for certain as to the type of reader who will frequent your site.

That said, it's easy for you to know who you want to target. In fact, all you really need to do is consider a few of the following:

Demographic Makeup – Age, gender, geographic location, income level, education, etc.

Mode of Thinking – Personality type, attitude, values, lifestyle, etc.

Common Pain Points – How will your blog's content lend a helping hand?

Desired Action – Read, share, comment, purchase, etc.

More than anything, you're looking to ensure that your blog title resonates with what your ideal reader holds near and dear.

Clearly, the posts you publish will ultimately be what matters most, but a solid title and branding strategy will often be the thing that brings a new reader to your blog in the first place.

4. Research other blogs within the space

There's no plagiarism or editorial thievery, here.

Seriously, more than anything, you're on the hunt for creative inspiration. It just so happens that there are no finer hunting grounds than blogs within your specific niche.

Because of this, open up your laptop and read through your competitors' blog titles, taglines and even a post or two – there's nothing off limits.

It does you no good to mimic someone else's branding strategy, so don't think twice about it. What you need is something unique, memorable and on point with your end goal.

Thankfully, when your brain is tired of thinking and your hand of writing, some leisurely investigatory work might be just the thing you need to find the right name.

5. Begin working with a small list of potential titles

Having made it this far, you should have a couple of pages of notes. As is customary, there are probably a few scratches and scribbles you've included during the ideation process, but things probably look pretty good.

At this point, it's time to take your jumbled mess of notes and form some concrete ideas. Generally speaking, to get the ball rolling, you might try combining a few of the terms and characteristics you wrote down earlier.

If that doesn't work – and rarely is it that simple, to be honest – take something you've jotted down and work with it until you've created a word or phrase that's entirely unique to you.

And there's no need to limit yourself to the dictionary when coming up with a new name for your blog. Keep combining, inventing and discovering until you've created a miniature, more polished list of potential blog names.

Struggling to get there?

Take a break. Forget about it. Spend time with friends and family or get outside and go on a walk.

Naming the blog you plan to work with for a great deal of time can be a heavy undertaking.

It's a labor of love.

Melissa Culbertson of BlogClarity.com put it best, saying, “It's a process of elimination and refinement.”

Be patient. Soon, an idea will stick.

6. Check for domain availability and conflict

Finally! You've made it!

Not only have you finalized a list of potential blog names, but you've chopped it down to size and have the most perfect, groundbreaking blog name the World Wide Web will have ever known!

With the heavy lifting now over, you're in the clear, right?

Wrong.

If only it were that simple …

Here's the thing about digital originality – with upwards of 3.17 billion people on the planet having regular access to the Internet, there's an incredibly high chance that you're not the first person to have thought of what you thought was a one-of-a-kind blog name.

As such, it's likely that the domain you'd need to launch your blog has already been taken. Keep your fingers crossed and check your domain name's availability here.

Ideally, you'll want to scoop up a .com domain. However, if you're really attached to a name you've come up with and the .com domain isn't available, check to see if a .net domain is a possibility. You could even give a new topic, or location-specific domain a go, like .travel, .family or .nyc.

In spite of what you might think, there are successful blogs with a .net domain. Who knows? Perhaps yours is the next one to make it big!

On the flip side of things, if the .com version of your domain is available, that doesn't necessarily mean you're good to go.

Keep digging to find out if any .net or .org domains exist that are similar to yours. If you discover that a name has been trademarked, avoid it. You'll save yourself a world of hurt having done your due diligence right from the start.

But in all seriousness, the last obstacle you want disrupting your blogging career is a cease and desist letter from a furious business. Needless to say, the legal warning might put a dampener on your day.

7. Determine the evergreen nature of your new name

As far as the evergreen nature of your blog's new name is concerned, the title must deliver on two fronts – relevance and potential.

First and foremost, the name needs to be relevant not only by today's standards, but by those that will exist in five to 10 years, too.

Newsflash – no matter how much of a Nostradamus you consider yourself, you have absolutely no idea what will be taking place in the world in that amount of time. Sure, you can take a stab at it, but it'll be little more than a mere guess.

Thanks to this harsh reality, it's best if you avoid using any sort of slang, familial position or geographic location as part of your blog's name.

Just as fads come and go, so too does being a “young mother” and the location of your family.

In short, if the longevity of something is completely out of your control, it's best reserved as part of an upcoming blog post, and nothing else.

The second thing here is potential. Does the name of your blog allow for some wiggle room should you decide to alter your focus in the future?

There are benefits of having a name that's 100% specific to your specialty, but don't venture into this kind of branding territory unless you're sure you won't make any changes in a year or two.

Relevance and potential satisfy the demands of both, and blog with peace of mind moving forward.

8. Share your blog's name with others

Your blog's new name might make perfect sense in your head, but that doesn't mean it's destined for jaw-dropping success.

Be real with yourself for a moment – have you ever worn bell-bottom jeans? Shaved your head? Maybe collected Beanie Babies? That's right – you've had bad ideas before, and this could potentially be another one of them.

Launching a blog, brand and image takes considerable time and energy – not to mention a bit of cash. So, before immersing yourself in the blogging world, ask your spouse, best friend or coworker what he or she thinks of when you say (insert potential name of blog).

You'll get an honest response, and while this is certainly a subjective exercise, you're likely to receive some feedback you'd never considered before – both positive and negative.

Whatever your friends and family members say, know that you're the one in charge.

Repeat the new name out loud a couple of times, make the best, most educated decision you can and move forward with faith.

9. Make a decision and get to work

Naming a blog is by far one of the more sexy parts of the blogging lifestyle.

Everything else? It's enjoyable, but it's not nearly as attractive.

No joke – if you thought naming your blog was an arduous process, wait until it comes time to maintain a series of social networks, build an email list, drive traffic and develop your own products to both promote and sell by way of your writing mastery!

But wait! Let's not forget the most important aspect of the blogging lifestyle – the continual creation of strong, engaging content!

Parting thoughts

Listen, blogging isn't for everyone, but if it's for you, the challenge of coming up with an exceptional name for your blog is one you'll welcome with open arms.

Besides, if all goes according to plan, the name will be associated with the one your parents gave you for years to come!

The time is now yours to become part of the conversation. In the comments section below, briefly present the steps you took to come up with your blog's name.

Simply put, the more help bloggers can acquire, the better!

Guest Author: Lucas Miller is a Freelance Copywriter and Founder of Echelon Copy. When not writing, tweeting or attempting to play pickup basketball, he's working tirelessly to perfect what he claims is the “World's Greatest Pompadour.” To get more tips on how to start your own six-figure freelance copywriting business, join his free newsletter.

The post 9 Simple Steps for Choosing the Perfect Name for Your Blog appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

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9 Simple Steps for Choosing the Perfect Name for Your Blog

Wednesday, 1 June 2016

How to Rapidly Get Your Content Noticed Without Spending A Cent

It's easy when you're BuzzFeed. 7 million likes on Facebook. 3 million followers on Twitter. Enough linking domains and domain authority to compete with pretty much any website.

Heck, they could publish a live feed of paint drying and a thousand people would watch and share it.

But what if you're not BuzzFeed or the various other sites I could use as an example?

What if you're a small business with no social profiles of note and a fraction of the resources available to the online powerhouses? For most businesses, that's the case and their blog posts and other content marketing efforts are going unloved.

There are countless articles highlighting some top-notch pieces of content marketing, but most of the examples mentioned are created by the likes of BuzzFeed or Huffington Post that are instantly lapped up by their already-established audience. And for the average content marketer, that's of no use whatsoever.

So here's some advice on how to get your content noticed if you're not BuzzFeed…

1. Put the ground work in early

If you've developed a killer piece of content that you're expecting results from, you need to have a distribution plan in place from the outset. Starting your outreach or PR after your content has gone live is going to severely hamper your chances of it getting noticed.

Sure, you might get a few links or a handful of social shares, but you're going to have a much better success rate if you start as early on in the process as possible.

Building relationships with industry and media influencers is fairly well recognized as a key step to getting your content out there. After all, whose emails are you more likely to read? One from someone you've never spoken to before or one from a person you've interacted with on several occasions?

This can take time, but it's worth putting the effort in. If you can get someone with thousands of Twitter followers or a magazine with a huge Facebook reach to share your content, then they're doing most of the work for you.

2. Use strong data

Consider the internet as a courtroom. Your website is on trial and your customers are the jury. It's your job to fight your site's case and win the jury round, and the only way you can do that is through strong, compelling evidence.

The same goes for your content. With literally millions of pieces of content being produced every day, you have to ensure yours is backed up by only the strongest data or opinion. Otherwise, it's more than likely going to go ignored.

For example, if you want poll data, then make sure you get a representative sample. Approaching a journalist with data based on 25 responses isn't going to wash.

Getting strong data doesn't have to cost the Earth. In fact, there are plenty of places to get great data without spending a penny. For instance, a simple Google Trends search can show you interest levels around a subject, or you can access a wealth of information from public authorities using Freedom Of Information Requests.

This article from Forbes has many more sources of free data.

Approaching industry experts for their take on a topic is an effective way to get your content noticed as it gives the piece more weight and increases the chance of someone sharing it. You may have to grace their palm with silver if you work for a commercial company, but if you get the right person, the rewards can be worth it.

3. Use eye-catching visuals

Looks count. It's a fact that if you use strong visuals in your content, it's more likely to get shared – 94% more in fact. It makes sense when you think about. Would you rather read and share something that has striking visuals or an article with a huge chunk of text.

Infographics are an incredibly popular way of displaying data, and although every agency and their dogs are making them these days, if done right they're still very effective – infographics are Liked and shared on social media 3X more than any other type of content.

This extends to video too. According to Adobe, shoppers who view video are 1.81X more likely to make a purchase, whilst TechCrunch reported that between April and November 2015, average daily video views on Facebook doubled from a staggering 4 billion to an almost unfathomable 8 billion.

4. Distribute effectively

It's a tale told far too often. People are making fantastic content, hitting publish and then sit refreshing the page hoping to see the shares and links come rolling in. Again, unless you've already got a loyal army of readers, you're going to be disappointed, and all that time, money and effort will be for nothing.

You need to shout about your content as loud as you can in as many different places as you can. If you have social profiles then post to them, not just once but several times over the course of weeks or even months.

If you have an email list, then drop them a line and tell them about what you've just made and why they can't afford not to check it out.

Having a paid media strategy and budget is also important. It's not enough to rely solely on paid ads, but they can still be very effective in targeting specific groups of people. You can utilize paid media on most social media channels, as well as wider distribution networks such as Outbrain.

5. Contact influencers on social media

We've already spoken a little about building relationships and pushing your content out through social media, but now we're going to combine the two.

Whilst the majority of communications with journalists and influencers still take place over the phone or email, you shouldn't discount making contact over social media.

Twitter, in particular, is a perfect place for tracking down and contacting influencers and journalists. Most writers and editors will have a Twitter account as they'll use it for news gathering, so it shouldn't be too hard to find a relevant contact. You can also use tools such as BuzzSumo to pull up a list of influencers on Twitter.

It's not always a great idea to pitch your ideas to them straight away, especially if you only have 140 characters to play with, but it's a great place to at least make yourself known to them. Retweet them, comment on their articles and generally show an interest in what they're up to. You can then ask if they'd mind you sending them something that might be of interest. It's a much more human approach than just sending a cold email out of the blue.

6. Piggyback similar content

When conceiving the idea for your amazing piece of content marketing, you will no doubt have done plenty of research into other similar examples. But don't just cast those pieces aside.

If you've found content akin to yours that has been shared or linked to heavily, then you can use this as an indication that those people might be willing to share or link to yours too. Using tools such as Majestic or ahrefs, you can check the backlinks pointing towards the other content and build up a contact list of people to pitch to.

You can also do the same with Twitter using BuzzSumo. Simply click the 'View Sharers' button and you'll get a list of all the people who have shared that piece of content on Twitter. Again, you can then make targeted lists of people to approach with your content.

7. Put in the hard yards

There's no point in sugarcoating it – getting your content noticed is tough and it takes a lot of hard work. At least to start with. If you're new to the whole outreach and PR game then it can take weeks, months, even years to build up the necessary relationships with those in your industry who could share your work.

You'll spend hours upon hours making lists, sending emails and stalking influencers on social media. It may feel like you're banging your head against a brick wall at times, especially if you're not getting the response you're after, but it's these hard yards that pay off in the long term.

You'll slowly start to build up a strong outreach list of people who have shared your content. You can then leverage these people when you have new content to shout about, reducing the time you need to spend identifying and schmoozing with influencers.

BuzzFeed don't need to put in the hard work anymore when it comes to amplification, but they probably did once upon a time. You may not get to their levels of engagement right away, but putting in the work will greatly increase your success rate.

Do you have any top outreach tips for those without the reach of sites like BuzzFeed?

Guest Author: Chris Thomson is a Content Manager for UK digital agency Webtise. He has spent many an hour amplifying content for large national organisations and small startups alike. Follow him on Twitter.

The post How to Rapidly Get Your Content Noticed Without Spending A Cent appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

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How to Rapidly Get Your Content Noticed Without Spending A Cent

Facebook Messenger's emojis now look the same on all platforms

Facebook has made a notable change within its Messenger app with the redesign of its emojis. Starting today, not only has the look of the 1,500-plus emojis been modernized, but 100 new ones have been added. And they're now all supported across all platforms. This means that whether you're using Facebook Messenger on the Web, desktop, or on mobile devices, the emojis will come across just as they were intended.

Not all emojis were created equal, at least not from a technical perspective. We've all seen it: You can send a smiley face from an Android app to someone with the iOS version only to have it render differently on their device. In some cases, you might not even see the emoji but rather a broken-looking black box or something nondescript. It's certainly worth avoid that in a program that services more than 900 million monthly active users.

“Emojis have changed the way we talk to each other - whether it's a smiley face to show you're happy, a thumbs up, or a pizza when hungry, emojis are a fun, easy way to express yourself when words just aren't enough - and people love them,” Facebook said in a blog post. “In fact, nearly 10 percent of mobile sends in Messenger include emojis.”

The social networking company has also followed Apple and Google in updating its emojis to include more diversity. Of the more than 100 new emojis, many offer diversity in terms of gender and skin tones. Facebook said that these gender-agnostic and multi-colored emojis will be available on Android and the Web for the first time and are intended to “create a more balanced mix that's more representative of our world.” Some of the new emojis in Facebook Messenger include a female police officer, runner, pedestrian, surfer, and swimmer. Others will be rolled out in the future.

Facebook has also added am emoji picker, which promises to help you find the right emoji for the moment. No, the company isn't using any machine learning or artificial intelligence to scan your conversations and suggest that you use a angry face or a poo emoji. The emoji picker is just a shortcut that allows you to select emojis faster.

You can access the redesigned emojis today in the latest version of Facebook Messenger.

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Facebook Messenger's emojis now look the same on all platforms

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