Do you want a better way to plan, organize, and publish your social media content? Looking for a solution that doesn’t cost a lot of money? In this article, you’ll discover how to set up a social media content calendar. #1: Set Monthly Social Media Goals It’s important to set an end goal for every [...]
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- Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle
Last Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted 3-to-2 to repeal regulations of internet service providers. Those regulations fell under a general title: net neutrality.
If you have questions -- you're certainly not alone.
How did this happen? What was the case for repealing net neutrality in the first place? And what, exactly, has the FCC voted to dismantle?
Normally, this is the part where I would say, "Relax -- I've got you covered." But for the sake of transparency, I'll be honest. I'm not particularly relaxed -- or happy, for that matter -- about this decision.
And while I will, as always, answer some of the most common questions about the vote as clearly as possible, know this: It's not easy for me to neutrally -- no pun intended -- report on the matter.
Perhaps the answers to these questions will provide some insights as to why.
Net Neutrality is a collection of regulations that prevent internet service providers (ISPs) -- like Xfinity, Spectrum, or Verizon, for example -- from altering internet speeds or censoring online content. In other words, it allows free speech on the internet, without corporations deciding which sites or applications are allowed or blocked.
Net neutrality originally took effect in 2015, when the FCC approved net neutrality after years of debate, which included two rejections of earlier versions of rules and regulations. The tipping point came when Title II of the Communications Act -- I'll explain that in more detail in a bit -- which essentially laid the legal groundwork to bar ISPs from obstructing online information and access.
The post-net-neutrality web came to be known as the "open internet": a web where, as Free Press phrased it, users could "share and access information of their choosing without interference."
Here's where the legal aspect of net neutrality really comes into play -- but please note that this blog post is not legal advice and instead provides background information to help you better understand the background of and the vote to repeal net neutrality.
When we talk about the repeal of net neutrality, we're really talking about a reversal of Title II of the Communications Act. In 1934, the Act was first passed to regulate mass media communication -- at that time, it was things like "wire and radio".
The Title II section of the Act was written to regulate “common carriers” like utility providers of electricity and telephone landlines. And when efforts were made to enforce net neutrality, the turning point came when ISPs were reclassified as "common carriers" regulated under Title II. It's quite lengthy and can be read in full here, but using that reclassification as a foundation, the Open Internet Order went into effect, making the below, pivotal declaration (among many others):
" ... carefully-tailored rules to protect Internet openness will allow investment and innovation to continue to flourish. ... today we adopt carefully-tailored rules that would prevent specific practices we know are harmful to Internet openness— blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization—as well as a strong standard of conduct designed to prevent the deployment of new practices that would harm Internet openness. We also enhance our transparency rule to ensure that consumers are fully informed as to whether the services they purchase are delivering what they expect."
But last Thursday, the FCC voted to repeal this regulation and oversight, which will reverse things like:
They say that competition is good for the consumer -- it provides the public with various pricing and provider options from companies both large and small.
As you may have noticed, in most U.S. regions, there isn't much competition -- if any -- for ISPs or cable providers. Here in Boston, the market is largely monopolized by Xfinity, and in others, it might be Spectrum or Verizon. There's very little room -- again, if any -- for smaller players, and without net neutrality, that same issue will extend to streaming content providers.
Take the Washington Post's example of Hulu and Netflix (the latter of which expressly dissented the repeal). While those two (large) companies will still be able to compete fairly, mostly due to their respective abilities to pay the post-repeal fees required for faster content delivery fees -- smaller players will have too high a barrier to enter the market.
This point might be the one that you've heard about the most. As we noted above, the Open Internet Order barred ISPs from censoring certain content, websites, or applications as they see fit. Now, those regulations will no longer be enforced.
And while such ISPs as Comcast promised to maintain net neutrality ...
Comcast supports Net Neutrality. We won’t block, slow or throttle your data. http://bit.ly/2yWNGGq http://pic.twitter.com/UF68eFtv2H
— Comcast (@comcast) July 13, 2017
... since last Thursday's vote, certain key pieces of its previous written commitment have been deleted from its website.
Here's what @comcast removed from their Net Neutrality page. They no longer promise to:
— Jon Henshaw (@henshaw) December 14, 2017
-Not throttle back the speed at which content comes to you
-Not prioritize Internet traffic or create paid fast lanes
-Make internet accessible to low income familieshttp://bit.ly/2yYKwC4 http://pic.twitter.com/LqhnwwYSGv
Those in favor of repealing net neutrality, like FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, argued that such regulations were accomplishing little more than "micromanaging the internet." And by classifying ISPs as utilities, net neutrality opponents say, it stifles their abilities to innovate.
By removing regulations, opponents argue, ISPs will be free to "catalyze innovation," according to statements from Verizon. And while supporters of net neutrality argue that its reversal will actually minimize competition, its opponents say that it will help boost it -- by way of the freedom to build better networks and charge accordingly for access to them.
“We are helping consumers and promoting competition,” Chairman Pai stated prior to the vote. “Broadband providers will have more incentive to build networks, especially to underserved areas.”
However, this innovation may simply come in the form of the ISPs' freedom to charge more for higher speeds, which potentially holds serious repercussions for businesses that rely on such in order to operate -- and further increases barriers to entry for smaller and emerging companies. That could actually minimize competition, as opposed to the Chairman's arguments, and the higher cost could be passed onto the consumer.
This one is fairly intuitive. Net neutrality opponents have argued that since the internet worked just fine prior to the 2015 regulations, it will continue to operate normally and satisfactorily without it now.
In a blog post published the day prior to the FCC vote, Comcast Senior Executive Vice President David Cohen wrote that "there is a lot of misinformation that this is the 'end of the world as we know it' for the Internet."
In other words, supporters of net neutrality are overreacting to its repeal -- and should stop treating it as something, in the words of Commissioner Brendan Carr, "apocalyptic."
Not yet, exactly -- here's what happens next.
First, it was discovered that public comments in support of the repeal were fabricated, with plagiarizers leaving pro-reversal comments under the names of people who are no longer alive.
New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has compiled a database that allows users to find out if names of their relatives or loved ones were used in this manner -- as was the case for designer Morgan Knutson. And while these findings alone most likely can't invalidate the FCC's vote, they could support congressional efforts to maintain net neutrality.
And about those efforts: Over a dozen senators, including Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, are working to present a Congressional Review Act -- the process that allows Congress to counter regulatory rulings from federal agencies -- that would nullify the FCC's vote. It's worth noting, too, that if such an Act did reverse the vote, the FCC would not be able to act to repeal net neutrality again.
In sum, the FCC's vote has carved a very clear, accessible path for the aforementioned changes to become a reality -- but they haven't gone into effect yet.
And as for what the vote means for small-to-midsize businesses, as we mentioned before, there may be repercussions as a result of the potential for more steeply-priced access to the high-speed internet that so many of us rely on. But until these changes actually take effect and regulations are officially dismantled -- pending the Congressional Review Act -- it's too soon to tell.
As always, I'm open to your take on the matter. Feel free to reach out to me with your thoughts and questions on Twitter.
Featured image credit: “We Love Net Neutrality action at Verizon with Light Panels - Photos by Alex Garland” by Backbone Campaign is licensed under CC BY 2.0 / Cropped from original
http://bit.ly/2BdXLor
As marketers, we spend a lot of time planning, writing, and experimenting with content to grow our audience and get prospects into our sales reps’ pipeline. But that doesn’t mean well-crafted content stops playing a role when we hand those prospects over to sales.
Did you know that reps spend about 15% of their day leaving voicemails? And only 20% of all sales emails are ever opened. This means 80-85% of sales outreach efforts are going unnoticed by those prospects you’ve worked so hard to capture with content.
In fact, research shows that decision makers touch at least five pieces of content before they buy. But only 20% of salespeople actually use content to engage prospects and clients. For marketers, this leaves us with a big question: how do we leverage the content we’ve created to help salespeople bridge the gap, engage more prospects, and close the deal?
Bitly’s and HubSpot’s marketing teams both put significant effort into sales enablement, which is why they teamed up to generate a resource on the subject: 30 Ways Sales Can Leverage Content Marketing to Close Deals. Click here to get the full-length ebook, or read on for some quick tips.
You only get one shot at a first impression, and content can help you say more in a short window of time. Whether you’re the one landing the first sales call or helping a rep land it, leveraging personalized content can help start that important conversation.
For example, Mobile application NoWait used personalized content as the foundation of their product launch. NoWait’s product allows diners to remotely add their name to a restaurant’s waitlist. Since the company wanted to target the CEOs of restaurant chains, they segmented out the top 30 to target with highly customized content.
The company loaded up personalized videos on iPads and sent them to these CEOs in customized packaging. To date, the app is used in more than half of the companies they targeted.
Here are some other ideas you can try out using content to land that first sales call:
Here’s an example of a personalized email HubSpot recently sent to some of our contacts database to re-engage them with our content:
If a prospect isn’t receptive to initial conversations about your product, it isn’t game over just yet. There are still ways to continue the conversation.
Leveraging content also doesn’t mean just leverage your own content. In “no” situations, you can turn the tables and talk to the prospects about their content instead.
The most enticing sales emails are those that follow up on a personalized action.
For example, consider a sales rep who had emailed you a few times, but you never got around to replying them. After a few emails that went without a response, imagine that they followed up by citing a piece you had written for your brand.
For example:
“I saw that you recently published a piece on the Bitly blog about tracking the ROI of influencer marketing. Is this something your marketing team is interested in exploring and learning more about?”
This is a real example of an email sent to Bitly's own senior content and community manager, Denise Chan. The sales rep then went on to suggest a follow-up call to discuss some strategies we were currently trying as well as suggestions on how to improve on our tactics.
Content is a valuable tool for nurturing prospects when they’re not quite ready to purchase or aren’t fully convinced yet.
The average business loses around 20% of its customers each year by failing to attend to customer relationships. And it costs five times more to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one. Make sure you’re not forgetting upsells and additional sales in your sales engagement process.
Nurture customer relationships by sending content regularly throughout different stages of the customer life cycle. Or try inviting prospects and customers to create content or your next product with you.
Lays’ “Do Us A Flavor” contest is a really fun example of how crowdsourcing can both nurture relationships and improve your product. “Do Us A Flavor” was a year-long social media campaign which invited customers to help choose the next flavor of chip the company would create.
Crowd-sourced contests make customers more engaged and invested because they feel like they’re being heard and they played a hand in creating the product.
The “Do Us A Flavor” contest drove over 14.4 million public submissions, Lay’s brand’s ad awareness increased by 2%, and purchase intent increased by 1%.
Go further with your marketing by turning customers into brand advocates. Then use those brand advocates to help your sales team close additional deals through case studies and referrals.
For example, ClassPass often runs referral deals that include benefits for both the new and current customer:
Think about brands you’re loyal to. What makes you so passionate about the product that you’d want to take the extra step to tweet about them or forward a piece of content you received in your inbox?
Chances are it’s because you trust the brand, you feel valued, or you have an emotional connection with the product.
Since sales reps spend most of their days in meetings or on calls, they don’t have much time to search for the most recent content marketing has put together.
Bring the content to the reps right into their inboxes. Repurpose the content from your marketing newsletter into a monthly or weekly sales digest. You can also include general industry content from other publications or companies for a different perspective.
Round up the top performing posts and include:
In a recent survey, 43% of people reported that they want to see more video content from marketers. And more than half of marketing professionals worldwide cite video as the type of content that drives the highest ROI for them.
Video can be a powerful piece of supporting material at any stage of the sales conversation.
If you’re sending that first email, include a short 30 second video that explains what your product does and why you need to hop on a call to chat more.
If you’ve just wrapped up that first call, follow up with some video case studies and testimonials to keep your prospect excited about the product.
You can also encourage different members of your product and customer success teams to live stream on Facebook and Twitter. Research shows that visual content makes information stick. Win a permanent place in your prospects’ minds and hearts by weaving video content into your communication plan.
Don’t forget personalization! Use a tool like Vidyard to personalize your video messages for your prospects like HubSpot did in this example:
A recent study found that companies who reach out to leads within an hour of first contact are seven times more likely to have meaningful conversations with decision makers than those who waited even sixty minutes.
But for most companies, it’s not possible for sales reps to keep up that level of outreach. That’s where email drip templates come in handy.
Draft together a few different sets of email drips that either trigger automatically or can be triggered manually by a sales rep.
Here are some examples to get you started:
We’ve covered 7 ways you can help your sales team leverage content to close deals, but do you want more where that came from? Don’t worry, Bitly and HubSpot put together 23 more tips for you to use in your own sales in marketing strategy in this guide, “30 Ways Sales Can Leverage Content to Close Deals.” Download now and get started.
http://bit.ly/2AX9dAw
Do you manage Facebook ad campaigns? Wondering how to automate tasks such as raising or lowering bids or pausing underperforming ads? In this article, you’ll discover how to set up automated rules for your Facebook advertising campaigns. How to Set Up Rules for Your Facebook Campaigns Keeping up with the day-to-day fluctuations of your Facebook [...]
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- Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle
Does your page use Facebook events? Want to retarget ads to people who engage with your events on Facebook? In this article, you’ll discover three ways to target audiences using Facebook event engagement custom audiences. #1: Target People Based on Their Connection to Your Event The fastest way to target people who are going to [...]
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- Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle
The days remaining in 2017 are few, and 2018 is just around the corner -- things you undoubtedly know already.
But here's something you may have forgotten about: There's not much time left to finish up your holiday shopping. (Gasp! We know.)
Maybe you're a marketer looking to complete your wish list. Or, maybe you've got a team of marketers you want to make smile.
To help you out, I've searched the internet far and wide (it's kind of what I do), and found you some of this year's best gifts for marketers.
Without further ado ...
Once upon a time, Starbucks offered a Tweet a Coffee program, which was retired after testing it in beta. I tried it for the first time earlier this season when Emily Maxie, B2B tech marketer at Very said something nice about our social media tool. I was really thrilled and just wanted to do something nice in return. Tweeting a coffee was an easy, hassle-free way to surprise co-marketing partners, customers, or others. Plus, it was almost instantaneous, so it was a savior for last-minute shoppers.
@emilymaxie, @meghkeaney just tweeted you a coffee! Redeem it now. http://bit.ly/2zjT7Tb
— Tweetacoffee (@Tweetacoffee) November 21, 2013
Although that program has been retired, there's still a good alternative: Send a Starbucks eGift Card. Just add a personal message and the amount you'd like to give, enter an email address, and hit "send."
Where to get it: Starbucks
Cost: Buyer's choice
As comedic writer Dave Barry once explained, "It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity."
Not only is this mug a good way to keep your favorite marketer sufficiently caffeinated, but its message is also on point. Around here, at least, our marketers love creativity -- but we also love precision. And, we love the written word. So when this mug came across our radar ...
Source: Amazon
... we knew it had to make this list.
Where to get it: Amazon
Cost: $14.95 + $4.95 shipping
This is a pretty great gig we all have. Sure, there are seemingly unattainable lead goals and endless writing deadlines. But think about it for a moment: Every day, we get to get up and figure out how to capture people's fascination. It's an amazing job.
This shirt summarizes that sentiment nicely.
Source: Amazon
Oh, and it's really comfortable for blogging.
Where to get it: Amazon
Cost: $17.39
We're not sure how the weather looks in your neck of the woods, but around the holiday season, it starts to get cold where HubSpot is headquartered, in Boston.
It's sweater weather. Hat weather. Fleece-lined hat weather, to be specific.
Luckily, HubSpot has a hat for that.
And while you're at it, check out these other last-minute gifts from the HubSpot Shop:
Where to get it: HubSpot Shop
Cost: $15
It's best to wear your priorities on your sleeve ... er ... torso. This cozy T-shirt puts your working style out in the open. In fact, it may double as a signal for the best way to bribe you for extra work.
Don't work in a jeans-friendly office? Nothing a blazer and nice pants can't fix (she writes as if she has actual fashion sense.)
Where to get it: Skreened
Cost: $29.99
A few years ago, a group of HubSpotters got these cases while working long hours at the INBOUND. But they're not just any cases -- they're Mophie smartphone cases.
Mophie is a smartphone cover that also doubles as extra battery life.
Source: Mophie
They're a little clunkier than the standard phone case, but they can extend your phone's life by 100% or more. If you know a marketer who is often working on the road.
Where to get it: Mophie
Cost: About $100, depending on variety
Rumor has it writer Jorge Louis Borges used to sleep surrounded by books. He'd crawl into bed with stacks of them on either side. His last scent before sleep would be that of open pages and intricately worded lines.
Source: Twelve South
This isn't quite as poetic, but it's close.
This laptop cover would be a good fit for the bookworm on your team.
Where to get it: TwelveSouth
Cost: About $80
Okay, so music may not make you smarter, but it does make you happier. And isn't delight what we're really after here?
Many marketers already listen to streaming music while they work, but without a subscription, that streaming music is typically limited or interrupted by commercials.
Buying your marketing friend a subscription to a streaming music can get rid of all the commercial interruptions and just leave them with good working music. We're inbound marketers -- thus, we hate commercial interruptions.
Here are a few options:
It might be a bit excessive, but it's also kind of awesome. Here's a gift for the social media strategist who has single-handedly grown your company's Twitter following from 15 to 500 and beyond.
Source: Etsy
If jewelry isn't the right gift, there are also a range of social media coasters.
Where to get it: Etsy
Cost: $43.99
Welcome to secure accounts on the internet. Your password must be 15 characters long with at least two capital letters, three symbols, two numbers, and at least one variation of the Jabberwocky poem.
Nope, that won't work. And it can't be the same as any password you've used since junior high school.
If you could spare the marketer in your life this frustration, wouldn't it be a happier new year? Take a look at the 1Password app. It will create and store all of your passwords securely and enable you to log into your accounts with one click.
Where to get it: 1Password
Cost: Plans start at $2.99/month
One of my favorite books, this collection of essays from 99U, focuses on how to develop a habit of creativity in your work and personal life. It gives you tips on how to put your creative work first and fend off a stream of endless emails, texts, and other interruptions.
Source: 99U
With an average 4.4-star rating on Amazon, this book offers concrete ideas for getting more out of your daily routine and finding the right moments for creative, complex work.
Where to get it: Amazon
Cost: $10.99
While they don't do gift cards, you could help a freelancer's life easier with tools from WriterAccess of Zerys. Create a gift certificate yourself and wrap it up in a bow: Good for one day of reprieve from creating content.
Where to get it: Zerys or Writer Access
Cost: Varies
Marketers use all sorts of freemium tools to organize their time and plan campaigns. Find out what online apps your marketer uses to make his or her day-to-day easier with access to all the bells and whistles for a year.
Here's a breakdown of some popular ones:
Can you really put a price on peace and quiet? Turns out, Bose can: At a minimum, it's about $180. Yikes.
But if you can get over the price, this is an amazing gift for anyone who needs to focus throughout the day. Noise-cancelling headphones put your marketers in their own cozy and uninterrupted lead-generating world.
Whether they listen to Mozart or Modest Mouse, these headphones give marketers a chance to block out everything but the work ahead of them.
Where to get them: Bose
Cost: Models start at $179.95
For intellectually curious marketers, think about giving them the combo-gift of classes plus the time to learn a new skill.
There are a number of low-cost and free online classes and tutorials out there for people looking to code (Codecademy), design (Skillshare), or acquire other relevant skills. The trouble is finding the time.
If you really want to thrill a marketer on your team this season, give them the classes plus an approved block of time each week to dedicate to the lessons. Wrap it up in one package.
Where to get it: Check out Code Academy and Skillshare, plus your local continuing ed classes. Then, help your favorite marketer figure out how to make the class time possible.
Cost: Varies
Surprise! It's not too early to buy tickets for INBOUND 2018.
INBOUND is an industry event like no other. Of course, I would say that, because as a HubSpotter, it is the center of my life in August and September. But as it turns out, others think so, too.
Darby Tinch of Mohawk Home said, "This was by far the best conference I've attended in a very long time. Not only was it the recharge I needed professionally but also on a personal level. It has been a long time since I've been this excited about my career. I cannot wait until [the next] INBOUND!"
Where to get it: INBOUND
Cost: Tickets will be available at a special early bird price in January.
If none of the above seems like a fit, consider a donation in your marketer's name or honor. Donations are a personal thing, so be sure you have a sense of the issues your marketer cares about. But once you do, a gift in his or her honor can be really meaningful.
Where to get it: Because the donation should reflect the gift recipient and there are so many nonprofits we care about here at HubSpot, I'm going to leave the door open here and not make any specific suggestions. Talk to the gift recipient and see what they care most about.
Cost: Whatever amount you see fit.
There's your starter list. There are dozens more ideas out there: subscriptions to magazines or journals, lunch from a local restaurant, or a plethora of other gift certificates anyone would love.
http://bit.ly/2jaBJan
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Social Media Marketing Talk Show, a news show for marketers who want to stay on the leading edge of social media. On this week’s Social Media Marketing Talk Show with Erik Fisher and Kim Reynolds, we explore Facebook expanding AR Studio with Joel Comm, Instagram hashtag following and [...]
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- Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle
