Content Campfire: Noteworthy Nuggets January 4, 2016

Happy 2016! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and you’re ready for some hot content to bring your social and content marketing into the new year with style. Gather ’round friends, it’s time for Content Campfire.

Social media is the campfire around which we tell our stories.

Now that we’ve all had to abandon our pajamas and re-introduce ourselves to our pants, getting back on track can feel both uncomfortable and exhilarating.

Starting a new year brings so much promise. It can also bring undue pressure to measure up. Remember this:

“What we think, we create. What we feel, we attract. What we imagine, we become.”

Think about what you want to create for your business in 2016:

How would you like your business to grow? (Write this down, don’t just think about it)
What strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats do you see happening in 2016?
What will have to happen for you to achieve your goals?

Appropriately, this first nugget will help you move from thought to creation to success.

1. A Framework For Making 2016 Your Best Year Yet

This first campfire store is about you. Nearly every client and business owner I’ve worked with believes they will absolutely, without any hesitation, make the upcoming year better than the last. They’re not always sure how, but they know they will.

They have good intentions as the New Year begins — but their commitment quickly wanes as old habits and practices begin unconsciously taking hold. Before they realize it, their aspirations of having the “Best Year Yet” are long gone and they’re focused solely on plowing through tactics that get them nowhere fast.

Does this sound familiar? Do you often look back at the end of a year and wonder, what did we achieve that was worthwhile and made an impact on our customers’ lives?

This post has some great tips and exercises to help you stay committed to your goals and actually achieve the things you’ve dreamed of.

2. The Truth About Social Media Strategy

The biggest problem with organic social media for business is that the majority of companies are trying to employ a social media strategy that hinges on making social media do something it’s not well-suited to do: create new customers from thin air.

Can you sell stuff to new people in social media? Sure, but I recommend you mostly do that with paid social media. For the organic side, you will be much better off following this maxim:

The goal of social media is to turn people who like you into people who love you.

3. FTC Issues New Rules for Native Advertising on the Internet

The Federal Trade Commission unveiled its rules for how native advertising on the Internet has to look, spelling out what qualifies as deceptive and what doesn’t.

Native advertising, also called sponsored content, is an ad that’s dressed up to look like editorial material, but theoretically has a clear designation that distinguishes it from editorial content.

As it gets harder and harder to attract attention (especially if your ads suck), native advertising becomes more prevalent. If your business marketing strategy includes sponsored content, including leveraging paid advocates, make sure you’re compliant with the new FTC rules.

4. 10 New Facebook Features for 2016

The changes to Facebook in 2016 are new to Facebook, but aren’t new to the social landscape. Facebook is borrowing the best aspects of other popular services and integrating them into Facebook as a central hub.

Just today, Robert Scoble did a live Facebook video from a Tesla supercharge station with CBS tech journalist Larry Magid at Harris Ranch on the way to CES. Check it out–> here.

It was an ingenious way to leverage Facebook live video. There are so many things in the broadcast that will cause you to ponder…

Future of vehicles and how we use them
Future of technology
Future of car sales
Future of sustainability
Future of consumer safety
Future of marketing & advertising

Read an in-depth report from Search Engine Land on one of the other awesome new Facebook features next…

5. Is “Facebook Professional Services” Facebook’s Stealth Project To Beat Yelp?

There is a new “Facebook Professional Services” area on Facebook, where the company appears to be taking direct aim at local search companies like Yelp and Google by offering listings of local businesses and services, complete with user reviews.

The new feature is desktop-only and hasn’t been announced by Facebook.

When Search Engine Land’s news of the new feature broke, Yelp’s shares fell around 9%. Angie’s List suffered a similar fate (albeit on a smaller scale) with its shares dropping 2%.

I’m pretty excited about this new way to capture feedback from your happy, loyal customers on Facebook. It’s another reason that Facebook is knocking it out of the park for business marketing and advertising.

6. 11+ Awesome Free Tools To Grow Your Blog 3x Faster

You are already publishing great content but are you really happy with how many people are reading your blog posts?

Did you know that there are tools you can use that will give you a huge advantage and won’t cost you anything?

It’s true.

In this post, you’ll learn about the most effective tools you can use to improve your headlines, dig up insights to boost your blog, platforms you can leverage for traffic, and other tools to drive more eyeballs to your blog.

And they’re all free – how great is that?