Saturday, 30 April 2016

Google has a crazy idea for injecting a computer into your eyeball

Google headquarters Jimmy Baikovicius Flickr




Google has filed a patent for what sounds like a bionic eye.


A patent filed in 2014 and published Thursday describes a device that could correct vision without putting contacts in or wearing glasses everyday.


But to insert the device, a person must undergo what sounds like a rather intrusive procedure.


Here's how it would work: After surgically removing a person's lens from the lens capsule of his or her eye (ouch!), a fluid would be injected into the capsule. This fluid would act sort of like a glue, allowing whoever is conducting the procedure to attach an “intra-ocular device” to the lens capsule.


That fluid would solidify to create a “coupling” between the lens capsule and the device, creating an electronic contact lens. The electronic contact lens would correct the wearer's vision.


A sensor in the device would sense when the wearer is trying to see something far away or up close and would let that person do so with complete visual clarity. Here's how it's outlined in the patent:


The electronic lens could be controlled to have a first optical power during a first period of time to provide images of far objects (e.g., objects more than approximately 20 centimeters away from the eye) in focus on the retina of the eye, and the electronic lens could be controlled to have a second optical power greater than the first optical power during a second period of time to provide images of near objects (e.g., objects approximately 9 centimeters away from the eye) in focus on the retina of the eye.



Google is essentially proposing an artificial contact lens that could improve vision and would only need to be inserted once.


This isn't the first time the tech giant has shown interest in creating technology for people's eyes. Google was awarded a patent for a smart contact lens that will run on solar power and can perform functions like measuring glucose levels.


But just because a patent exists, doesn't mean we'll be seeing an electronic contact lens anytime soon, if at all.


Read the original article on Tech Insider. Follow Tech Insider on Facebook and Twitter. Copyright 2016.


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Thursday, 28 April 2016

11 Ways To Engage Influencers Before Asking For Something


11 Ways To Engage Influencers Before Asking For Something


You want to get noticed by influencers don't you?


The trick is not to yell “me, me, me” over the rooftops.


Unfortunately, I see exactly this tactic nearly every day. Here's a recent email I received:


get noticed image for engage influencers


I get this exact template ALL THE TIME. It reads like this:



  1. Hey Dave – you wrote a great article (which I probably didn't read)

  2. But you forgot to link here, or linked to a poorer resource

  3. How about linking to mine, instead?


From people I have never met, who offer me nothing in return.


Now to be honest, sometimes the resources they send are great, and from time to time I'll even link to them.


But what would go SO much better would be if someone offered me something, anything related to what I'm working on.


So, in light of this movement towards depersonalization, I'm going to pitch you all on how you can engage with people BEFORE demanding something from them, as well as give you some ideas for what you can offer in that outreach email.


Here are 11 ways to build a relationship before asking for something in return.


1. Respond to their audiences' questions in comments


What do influencers value most?


Their audience, of course!


What I love (love!) is when someone sparks a discussion on my blog. Afterall, the point of writing content, lest we forget, is to spark conversation.


For example, here's a great discussion that took place on BareMetric's blog not that long ago.


great discussion on BareMetric's blog image for engage influencers


The question was originally to Josh, but the first person to answer was actually another member from the audience. Once the ice was broken, more comments flooded in.


Influencers love to see this! Do this just a few times on their blog, and they will remember you.


2. Invite them to a podcast or interview


My most successful outreach campaigns (by acceptance rate) are always requests to interview someone on our podcast.


And, not surprisingly, these are the outreach campaigns I respond to the most as well.


Invititation podcast or interview image for engage influencers


Does it surprise anyone that I have much better luck featuring someone on my podcast than asking a stranger for a link?


Probably not. In fact, I don't think I've ever turned one down myself.


People like to be featured, influencers especially. It's what got them there in the first place after all.


And afterward, you can capitalize off that new personal relationship to maybe get a link (possibly even to that very same podcast – see how it works?).


3. Send them a gift (ex. an amazon book)


Send them a gift image for engage influencers


Let's stop thinking digitally, just for a moment. We tend to default there automatically since we all work online.


But it's not all that hard to transition out of it, we just have to ask for someone's phone number, or physical address.


Here's an email I received from Sara at Socially Stacked, in which she offered me a free t-shirt in exchange for changing my link (which was already to them, she just wanted an update).


email I received at Socially Stacked image for engage influencers


Everyone loves free t shirts – especially people who went to college and lament the fact that post college they are so hard to get!


P.S. – You know what I love most about this shirt – my girlfriend likes it. Yes, it's actually a quality shirt, and it's the first time someone ever sent me a physical gift for a digital action. #remembered.


4. Buy them lunch (or offer to meet in person)


Sticking with our recent theme of non digital acts of affection, let's move onto buying launch, which I've seen recommended by not just one but two great entrepreneurs (Ramit Sethi and Neil Patel).


Buy them lunch image for engage influencers


Now you might be wondering if they have so much money and you, potentially, don't – why would you buy them lunch?


Remember, it's not about the money, it's about the gesture.


Offering to buy someone lunch is like saying, “I know your time is valuable. I'd like to treat you in exchange for spending it on me”.


This tactic will allow you to move levels above your traditional social / entrepreneurial class, and the cost of lunch (<$30) is well worth the advice (which usually costs hundreds per hour).


5. Leave them a review on Amazon or iTunes (or give them a testimonial)


Positive reviews are how many search engines work, such as iTunes, Amazon, and TripAdvisor.


Positive reviews image for engage influencers


Unfortunately they're a pain in the butt to get, because they require the person to create an account, log in, and post something after they've already received all the value there is to get.


They have no incentive to leave a review, which is why so many great products and podcasts have relatively few reviews.


So if you want to stand out in the crowd, a relatively easy way (5 minutes, seriously), is to write someone a review.


A spin on that is to send someone an offer for a testimonial. I used this recently myself by offering Drip, the email marketing software I use, a testimonial solely because I like their product so much:


send someone an offer for a testimonial image for engage influencers


About a month after I provided them with the testimonial, they demonstrated our blogger outreach software and became a customer. An unintended but welcome consequence!


6. Offer them your product for free


Speaking of products, have you considered offering yours for free?


If your product is inexpensive, or digital, this is a super simple way to get a few folks on board.


People love free swag (remember the t-shirt example).


This works great in tandem with a product review if you're marketing an eCommerce website or SaaS!


7. Endorse them on LinkedIn


The other day my partner met with a potential client. He didn't close the deal.


The reason, the client said, was because his LinkedIn profile was lacking connections.


Now, this might seem like a very arbitrary reason to ding someone (to us it did), but the point is that your online profiles matter.


They're your reputation.


And when it comes to LinkedIn, one of the ways to make it sparkle is through Skills & Endorsements.


Skills & Endorsements image for engage influencers


So, spend some time and hand out a few recommendations. It's free, and the person gets a notification when you do it!


8. Join their newsletter and respond to their questions


A tip that Brian from VideoFruit recommends is to join someone's newsletter and answer their first email.


tip from VideoFruit to join someone's newsletter image for engage influencers


As someone who has a newsletter and in whose first email is a question, I can say that people rarely take the time to answer this question and engage with me.


But I always respond when someone does.


Sign up for the newsletters of your favorite influencers and actually let them know you're following along.


9. Introduce them to someone (a potential customer, or a connection)


This is by and large the most valuable thing you can do for someone.


A valuable introduction, is, well, invaluable.


Here's an example of this happening to me just the other day:


Introduce to a potential customer image for engage influencers


In addition to helping two people at the same time, you'll also be helping yourself by tightening your own network.


And trust me, if the two people get major value out of meeting each other they will NEVER forget who made that introduction.


10. Become a case study for them


Another thing I'm looking for is successful case studies that prove the points I try to make elsewhere.


For example, if I write and publish this article about building relationships, I'd love for someone to put it into action and use one of the techniques and then let me know.


Another example is with my software – we're constantly on the lookout for success stories, and when one comes my way, you're guaranteed to get featured with a link.


successful case studies image for engage influencers


I did this recently as well with Drip in an article I wrote about how we achieved nearly 1000% ROI on Black Friday with Drip. In turn, they featured us on their blog and on Medium (note how in this example we've used multiple techniques including the testimonial and the case study to build a relationship with another software tool in our niche).


11. Send them birthday wishes on G+ or Facebook


Send birthday wishes on G+ or Facebook image for engage influencers


This last one is a fun one, but why not wish someone a happy birthday, which you can do on FB and G+.


It will make you feel good, try it!


Wrap


We've been way more successful at getting links (and many more things much more valuable than links), when we thought first about what we could give and thought last about what we could take.


I've also been much more generous giving out links and other things when the tables were turned.


How do you like to build relationships with influencers?


Guest Author: Dave Schneider is the co-founder of NinjaOutreach an all in one Prospecting and Outreach tool which was created to streamline the process of connecting with influencers. He can also be found @ninjaoutreachand his business blog SelfMadeBusinessman.


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Facebook says 60% of data requests from U.S. government came with a gag order in second half of 2015

Mark Zuckerberg on stage at Facebook's F8 Developers Conference 2015




Facebook's latest transparency report is out covering the second half of 2015 and the social networking company says it continues to see an uptick in government requests for user data worldwide. In fact, authorities have requested information about account data 46,763 times, a 13 percent increase from the first half of last year.


The company has also revealed for the first time the percentage of requests it has received that include non-disclosure orders. According to Chris Sonderby, Facebook's deputy general counsel, “approximately 60 percent” of all requests received for user data that came from the U.S. government contained a gag order thereby prohibiting the company from even notifying users. In looking at the specific report, it's unclear which request types were impacted by this except that it's not any national security figures.


Facebook government request report from the U.S. for the second half of 2015.


Above: Facebook government request report from the U.S. for the second half of 2015.


Image Credit: Screenshot


“As we have emphasized many times, Facebook does not provide any government with “back doors” or direct access to people's data. We scrutinize each request for user data we receive for legal sufficiency, no matter which country is making the request. If a request appears to be deficient or overly broad, we push back hard and will fight in court, if necessary,” Sonderby wrote.


There were certainly quite a few events that may have precipitated the increase in government requests during the latter half of 2015. In its transparency report, Facebook cites case studies to give readers a better understanding. Sonderby specifically calls out a single photo related to the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, saying that the image “allegedly violated French laws relating to protecting human dignity.”


“We restricted access to more than 32,000 copies of the photo, in France only, in response to a legal request from the French government,” he wrote.


To reinforce it's position that it doesn't voluntarily surrender user information to governments, Facebook also explained how it's advocating for improvements in public policy and cooperation with international law enforcement. Sonderby explained that Facebook was a supporter of the Email Privacy Act which was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives this week, and that it also supported improving ways to make the Mutual Legal Assistance process more efficient along with “establishing agreements between governments that resolve conflicts of laws and allow providers to respond to foreign law enforcement requests in a manner consistent with international human rights.”


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Wednesday, 27 April 2016

Social Media Marketing World 2016: Tips and Reflections #SMMW16


Highlights from Social Media Marketing World


Social Media Marketing World is one of my favorite conferences of the year and a must-attend for social media marketers.


We had some fun on our #SocialTalkLIVE show talking with Mike Stelzner and some of the attendees as well as Ali McGee, Social Media Examiner Society Manager.


This was the 4th year for Social Media Marketing World and it has grown from 1100 attendees to 3000.  This was the first year it was held in the San Diego Convention Center which is 1/6 of a mile long.  So there was a lot of walking.


Statistics from Mike Stelzner:



  • ~3000 attendees

  • 84,500 tweets

  • 1 Billion Reach Twitter

  • 5,400 Instagram Pictures

  • Over 100 sessions during the 2-1/2 day event

  • 100+ volunteers to help run the event


New this year:



  • Geofilters on Snap Chat

  • Deep dive 90-minute workshops on Sunday and throughout the event

  • At the San Diego Convention Center (and it will be there through 2019 at least)


Another technique that they use to be able to start conversations with people was the different color lanyards and flags.  The orange lanyards were for people who had attended 3-4 years. People got an Alumni flag if they had attended 1 other year.  White lanyard new attendees.  Pins were for Society members. So now the volunteers or the staff could easily start a conversation with someone saying “Oh I see this is your first year” and make sure they felt welcome or know that they had come before.


Watch the SocialTalkLIVE session to hear feedback from the attendees – and in case you've never attended our Friday afternoon live stream before, we like to have a little fun with hats and wigs on a Friday afternoon.





Highlights mentioned


Michael Port Workshop – Heroic Public Speaking


Joe Pulizzi – Content Marketing in 3s – Do 3 amazing pieces of content to reach out to your audience (a great e-mail, a helpful pdf, or something else) – you don't have to do everything


Focus on Live Video in 2016 and beyond – especially Mari Smith's tip that Facebook gives more preference to live video in the News Feed while you are live


Darren Rowse tip – Giving answers with steps in your blog posts because Google is presenting his steps in search results


Holly Homer – Organic engagement on Facebook and how Quirky Momma does it


But a common theme with all the attendees is how wonderful the connections were.  Everyone was so friendly and if you had attended before, it felt like a reunion.


People come to the conference the first time for the content and they come back for the relationships #SMMW16



I am a big believer in attending conferences to take your online relationships into the real world.  So many partnerships, clients, and good friends develop from those conversations over dinner or in the hallways.


Social Media Marketing World fun               Andrea with Mike and Jon


 


Social Media Manager group


And I always love connecting with my Social Media Manager School group and my Facebook Advertising Secrets group!


Facebook Ads group at SMMW


 


Highlights from Social Media Marketing World


Here's a great video summary of the event.





If you are thinking about going to Social Media Marketing World 2017, I highly recommend it!  It's worth every penny.


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Tuesday, 26 April 2016

How To Guarantee Your First Impression In Search Results Is A Winner


How To Guarantee Your First Impression In Search Results Is A Winner


How long ago did you Google yourself?


Did you think your name search results were making a good first impression?


Many people won't even scroll, the first thing they see when searching for you (or your business or your product) in Google is what they go away with.


7 in 10 internet users search online for information about others image for search results


Did you know that 7 out of 10 of your perspective clients would Google you before even considering your product or your service? Did you know that most people would type your site name into Google instead of your browser address bar?


In the era of Google becoming a common verb, is it a smart idea to neglect your branded search results?


Probably, not…


What if you begin to be associated with a negative search phrase? What if a fake negative review ranks on top of your search engine results? What if people searching for you are driven away to your competitors?


Think of your search engine results page (SERP) as the first impression via search that a potential visitor to your website is going to have. It is important that it is a positive one, otherwise it could become a huge hurdle to your business success.


So, what creates a negative impression?


Common Reasons For a Bad First Impression


1. Auto-suggest provides a less than flattering option


A cringe inducing scenario for you – someone is disgruntled with your brand and they decide to trash talk you. A lot.


Before long, your name starts to be associated with those insults and auto-suggest immediately offers up “[Your Name] sucks!” as a possibility when you start putting in your name.


It could be better. Instead of suggesting that you or your business might be a bad choice, Google may simply recommend checking out for alternatives;


Auto-Suggest provides a less than flattering option image for search results


How many potential customers who were actually heading your direction will be driven away by this?


Plenty of companies have faced this very headache, especially giant corporations.


2. The image results look weird


When you put your name into Google, does it show “blended” image results as one of the first results? In many cases, those images could be embarrassing!


You want better control over how your brand is portrayed, both personally and professionally. You don't want any confusion. Or anything offensive, which can happen from time to time.


The tricky thing about these onebox search results is that they are attention grabbers! According to the most recent Google SERPs eye-tracking studies, when a a visual is located on a page, natural human behavior will make your eyes go to that image first.


We're naturally programmed to look at images: Your photos within your name search results will draw attention and influence to people's opinion. There's no way around that.


In some cases, that box may include some images misrepresenting your personal brand and creating a negative first impression:


The image results look weird image for search results


3. Your business reviews aren't favorable


Negative reviews high up in search results can become a sure-fire way to lose interest before you have even gained it.


What's more, Google will highlight those reviews with stars making them stand out in search results.


Your business reviews aren't favorable image for search results


Easy Fixes For These Common Pitfalls


Now that we know what issues may be creeping up on you and your SERP, it is time to look at how to fix them. The good news? They are all pretty simple, even if a few may take some time to work on.


1. Auto-suggest provides a less than flattering option


Unfortunately, this problem is not easy to deal with. Google Auto-Suggest results are fast to appear and slow to go away.


Google Suggest is powered by what people type into search results and thus can:



  • Manifest a real problem that needs to be fixed

  • Signal a competitor's negative campaign

  • Show you more phrases you need to be ranking for

  • It could be all of the above.


So your steps to address the issue will be:



  • Fixing the problem your customers are telling you about by searching it in Google

  • Using Mechanical Turk to push other suggestions into the box (This should be your last resort!)

  • Creating and optimizing landing pages to rank for those suggested queries (Both organic and PPC)


Creating and optimizing landing pages to rank for those suggested queries image for search results


A preventative measure is to keep an eye on your competitors, because it's always easier to handle before it becomes a search suggestion. Monitor comparison sites in your niche to make sure your product is always ahead. Most popular examples of those comparison sites are SimilarWeb, SiteGeek, G2Crowd, etc. Establishing your presence on those sites will help you more easily handle the problem when it's in search results.


2. The image results look weird


You can't actually choose the pics that show up in an image result one-box. But you can provide multiple images that differ from one another. Make sure you match the metadata to your name, so Google will immediately recognize it upon searching.


Publish varied images to varied platforms. The more images it can pull for your name, the better. Google seeks variety in image search results. Unless they find diverse images of you, your brand or your product, the more they'll have to “make up”.


Variety is one the key Google image search rankings factors.


To get better control over your image search results;



  • Use more visual sharing platforms (Instagram, Pinterest, Flickr, Facebook, Google Plus, etc) and upload different photos of yourself there. Here are more ideas to diversify your visual marketing channels.

  • Use folders, tags, and albums… as well as solid original descriptions to give Google more context and surround your photos with original text about you.

  • When you are invited to do an expert interview on someone else's blog, consider providing a unique photo of yourself to go with that interview.

  • Use Cyfe to monitor all these multiple visual channels you set up:


Cyfe to monitor all these multiple visual channels you set up image for search results


The more visual context you provide for yourself and your brand, the better!


3. Your business reviews aren't favorable


In many cases, you'll need to track down the original source, so follow the unflattering suggestions to their results pages. Sometimes it will be reviews on official sites like Yelp, and you can comment to tell your side and to offer a solution to the poster.


Other times it may be a blog, and that is when you have to contact them directly. Ask them to take down the review in exchange for offering up a solution to whatever is bothering them. Ask them to try working with you, your service or your brand again, then writing a second review mentioning the first and how things may have been different this time.


If it is a reasonable person they should have no trouble doing this. Occasionally you may come across a troll, in which case legal action may be required.


In the meantime, or if this isn't possible, you can bury those results with plenty of varied and high quality content and mentions across the web. Include a lot of social posting mentioning your name in that campaign.


Tip! Use Facebook pages to move negative reviews down and replace them with positive ones!


Facebook pages have become a great way to improve your business standing. They rank high fast and if you request friends and happy customers to review your business on Facebook, you'll have plenty of 5-star reviews to show off in search results.


Tip! Use Schema.org on your site to optimize your site for rich snippets (starred ratings in Google search results). Here is how;



Have any SERP tips for a good first impression? Let us know in the comments!


Author Bio: Ann Smarty is a marketing blogger and community manager for Internet Marketing Ninjas. She is author of reputation management course.


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Monday, 25 April 2016

3 Brilliant Marketing Automation Hacks for Content Marketers


3 Brilliant Marketing Automation Hacks for Content Marketers


For the last few years, automation has been a buzzword in content marketing circles.


If you've been under the impression that it's just another fad that'll fizzle out eventually, this recent report from Markets and Markets will probably lead you to think otherwise.


According to the findings of the report, the global marketing automation sector is set to grow from $3.65 billion in 2014 to $5.5 billion in 2019.


The reason why businesses are increasingly adopting marketing automation software is because it reduces manual effort while simultaneously improving effectiveness.


It also enables sound decision-making, allowing marketers to make better use of the limited resources at their disposal. Through automation, marketers are able to achieve greater levels of customization, thereby enhancing customer experiences.


Here's how you can use marketing automation at different stages of your social media and content marketing campaigns to drive engagement and improve ROI.


1. Automation in content creation


It's true. You can have all your content written entirely by a computer program. While the technology itself is rather sophisticated, automated content often lacks depth and insight.


“Set-it-and-forget-it” applications definitely make content generation a whole lot easier, but they do little to establish your thought-leadership in the industry. Automating content generation entirely may not be the best idea, but there are several parts of the content creation process you could automate for better results.


The most critical and challenging aspect of content creation is ideation.


The content you create should not only be relevant to your business or industry, but should also interest your audience. However, you may often find yourself hitting a dead end when you're looking for topics or themes to address through your content.


Content explorers help simplify the brainstorming process by recommending topics and ideas for your content. You can also use these tools to look for posts on similar topics and take inspiration from them.


For example, BuzzSumo lets you identify blog topics that have received the highest engagement based on specific keyword searches. As a result it helps you align your blogs with trending topics, increasing their appeal to your audience.


Buzzsumo blogs with trending topics, increasing their appeal to audience image for marketing automation


Other tools like Headline Analyzer score your headlines to tell you how effective they are in attracting readers' attention.


Headline Analyzer score headlines image for marketing automation


Not only does it give your headline a score and a grade, but it also gives you a break up of the types of words you've used. Based on the word usage pattern it suggests a tip to help improve your score too.


In this example you'll see that I've used 0% Emotional words, and trying to use some could better my score.


Headline Analyzer break up of the types of words used image for marketing automation


It also classifies your headline by type – generic, list post, how-to, and question headlines. Another important factor based on which it scores headlines is their length. The ideal headline length recommended by the tool is 6 words (56 characters).


Headline Analyzer generic, list post, how-to, and question headlines image for marketing automation


Automating lead management processes could have a significant impact on your sales numbers. Although these processes may not always involve content creation, in some cases they do.


Lets assume you own an eCommerce website. Several prospects may have visited your virtual store and left without making a purchase. Using marketing automation tools will help you generate custom messages and ads for every person that visits your e-store.


These tools typically take into account the visitor's purchase history and current location, and tailor a message that will nudge the prospect to make a purchase. You can also use automation in your email marketing campaigns to send more targeted messages to your prospects.


In a less direct manner, it is also useful in content creation since it lets you customize your message based on the buying stage that the prospect is in. Here's an example:


lets you customize your message image for marketing automation


2. Automation in content curation


If you're looking to build a strong social media presence for your business, content curation is a must.


Social media has caused an unprecedented rise in content consumption and relying solely on content creation to meet the growing demand will simply not suffice. Content curation helps you stay visible and relevant in the transient social world.


However, curating content manually is a dreadfully time-consuming process, particularly if you maintain multiple social accounts.


Automating content curation will help you save a significant amount of time and effort, while also achieving consistency in your social media activities.


In most cases, content discovery engines recommend content based on a keyword search. The argument against such tools is that they affect the quality of content being shared. But that argument holds water only if you've set your tool on auto-pilot and are running posts without reviewing them.


In such a situation, you stand the risk of sharing content that may not reflect your business' values, or worse – may promote your competitors.


It's important to note that automating content curation is meant to reduce your effort, and not eliminate it entirely.


As long as you review all posts before you schedule them out, automating content curation will only work to the benefit of your business. In fact, more and more businesses are now using tools to automate content curation given their value proposition.


Content discovery and scheduling tools like DrumUp help you streamline your social media activities and significantly reduce the time and effort you invest in social media management. All you have to do is go through the recommended content for each account you add to the tool and pick the ones that you'd like to share.


Content discovery and scheduling tools like DrumUp image for marketing automation


You can also edit the post, schedule the same post to all/multiple accounts, add recommended hashtags, add images, choose a custom time of publishing and set posts on repeat schedules.


Content discovery and scheduling tools like DrumUp edit the post image for marketing automation


3. Automation in content distribution


Content distribution is an important aspect of your content marketing strategy. Ensuring that your content reaches the right people, at the right times is more important than simply creating content.


Without a holistic content distribution plan even the most exquisite piece of content could be left undiscovered.


You may have very well optimized your content for search engines, but with the amount of content being published online and the ease of access to all of it, your content distribution strategy needs to step up and move beyond those plain, old SEO tactics.


When you're devising a content distribution plan, you should consider paid media, owned media as well as earned media.


Ads, newsletters, email subscriptions, and social media all hold tremendous potential in amplifying your content. And if you'd like to reach out to thousands of people through content distribution, automation is imperative.


Tools like MailChimp help ensure that your content reaches all the right eyes and ears, all at once.


MailChimp ensures your content reaches all right eyes and ears image for marketing automation


Ask Katie Cross, and she'll tell you just how good the little monkey postman in the blue hat is. The independent writer recommends the tool highly, particularly for its awesome analytics. Who wouldn't like to know how many people are actually opening those emails?


line graph of a highly competitive market image for marketing automation


Given the challenges of a highly competitive market, the question really isn't whether you should use automation in content marketing; it's how well you use it that makes all the difference.


So, what tools will you be using today?


Author Bio: Vasudha is a blogger at Godot Media, a leading blog writing services firm. She writes extensively about social media marketing and content marketing. Her other areas of interest include travel and business.


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