A Content Strategy For Your Career

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By Bernie Borges | Published: February 15, 2012

Yes, you need it no matter how secure you think your job is.

A career content strategy offers a way to strengthen your position and personal brand
Have you ever been fired or laid off? Do you aspire to a role that still seems a distance away? A career content strategy offers a way to strengthen your position and personal brand. Using content marketing as a personal branding strategy, you can meet influential people in your field, prove your intellectual mettle to colleagues and develop yourself as a key player in a particular niche.
In fact, I believe a self-focused content strategy can make the difference between a fine-but-unexceptional “B” career path, and fast-paced, self-directed “A+” journey.

Envision (and behave like) your future self.
A career content strategy begins with goal setting (no different than in business). Once you have long-term and short-term goals defined, consider the types of content that will support your goals. For example, if your goal is to be a CEO, what are the short-term stepping stones to brand you as a future CEO? I suggest you behave as a CEO today through your content strategy.

Identify the topics in your industry that people care about and develop your content plan around them. If you don’t have a thought-leadership blog, create one. Even if you only blog two or three times per month (because you’re busy), it’s more important that you create quality content, rather than quantity.

Commit to two content assets.
Sticking with  the “I want to be a CEO” example, identify the qualifications of the CEO you aspire to become and commit to two content assets that can help you hone those skills. It’s well known that blogging is a powerful content asset, but you should choose one additional publishing tactic to diversify your digital brand. For example, you may seek out speaking engagements or guest article contributions (such as this one). Consider writing a book or e-book. Don’t focus on monetary gain, rather focus on personal branding through your content. You may even consider a dedicated website (yourname.com) or a newsletter such as Paul Dunay’s Buzz Marketing for Technology to aggregate and leverage your portfolio of content.

Identify risks and rewards.
There are risks to your career content strategy. Your content must be unique, otherwise you won’t stand out. Your content must be consistent, otherwise you won’t get noticed. You may encounter criticism from industry colleagues. Criticism may not be all bad, depending on how you handle it. Be respectful, genuine and engaging in criticism. Criticism can provide an opportunity to engage in a more visible conversation around a topic, which can fuel your personal brand–as long as you handle it gracefully.

Build your network.
I’m amazed by how many professionals overlook the importance of building a strong network. It’s proven that having a strong online network even when you don’t need it is far more effective than building your online network when you need it. A strong online network can support you in your content strategy by spreading  your content and engaging with a wider audience. LinkedIn in particular–with its status-update feed that includes embedded links–offers the chance to promote your ideas among your network and share other relevant content.

Offline content plays a role.
So far, this article has focused mostly on creating an online (digital) content strategy in your career journey. Your offline content is also very important – and too often overlooked. The content you deliver through internal and external presentations, your email communication, how you conduct meetings, how you follow up with people, how you manage people and even how you criticize people are all part of your content. Yes, I’m referring to reputation management. The key is congruency. Your published content must be congruent with your offline content in order to be perceived as authentic and trustworthy.

A content plan benefits your career.
The benefits to having a content plan in your career journey should be obvious. Unless you’re planning your retirement party next week your content is a form of currency in your career journey and should be managed with the same diligence you use to manage your money. At a minimum it requires consideration. In the best case, it calls for a committed plan that brands you so effectively that doors open that would not have otherwise opened were it not for your content strategy.

No excuses.
We live in a hypercompetitive world. No job is secure. I hope you believe that. Overlooking the strategic importance of a content plan in your career journey is very risky in the long run. It requires commitment, dedication and passion. So what’s holding you back?

I already work 14 hours per day. How do I make time for a content strategy?
I’ve studied the mindset of triathletes to gain insight into how they do what they do. The average triathlete is 34 years. And, 75 percent of triathletes are amateurs. In other words, most triathletes have normal lives with jobs and family duties. So, how do triathletes train to compete in triathlon events? You won’t like the answer. Most commit to grueling schedules that have them waking up a 4 a.m. to run, bike or swim before going to work. Most devote substantial time on the weekends to training. And, most hang out with other triathletes for inspiration and tips. If amateur triathletes can train for grueling competitive events, you can make the time for your content strategy. It requires a mindset and commitment that stretch us outside our comfort zone.

Retailers: What's Your Pinterest Strategy?

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We have a fresh niche social site to talk about, and its making a huge splash. Last week, we saw reports that Pinterest has hit 10 million unique monthly U.S. visits. Reports for the week of January 16, 2012 monitored the site traffic as high as 17 million unique monthly U.S. visits. It’s addicting, it’s social, and it’s driving tons of site traffic. So what is Pinterest?

What is Pinterest?
The millions of people using and visiting Pinterest everyday are there to do one of two things: users can share their favorite things, people, thoughts, or ideas from all over the web on virtual “boards”; and a person can monitor their board’s activity or “repin” from the people or brands that they follow. Thanks to a beautiful, constantly refreshing interface, each visit to Pinterest can be equally memorable as it is unique.

What does this mean for retailers?
I was still figuring out the proper pronunciation while I started to create boards dedicated to my favorite things.  It’s drawing users in with its simple, yet stunning web design – all empowered with beautiful products and impactful imagery. And, most importantly, it’s the talk of the digital world. CNN and Mashable have given the online pinboard a ton of coverage and praise already. As new data continues to emerge showing who is using it and how, Pinterest has quickly developed into the latest-darling of our online world.

For retailers, it’s time to watch what users are doing - especially if you are a home improvement, bridal, or high fashion apparel retailer – and then create your first boards. How do Pinterest users want and expect brands to share with them? The power behind Pinterest is the ability to share merchandise with the simple power of visual imagery. I believe that a presence on Pinterest is not about having a particular strategy, but rather all about how we effectively listen and engage with all of our consumers across all kinds of social platforms – from Facebook to niche social bookmarking, such as wish list or web discovery sites like Pinterest, Discoveredd, Svpply, and Nuji.

Pinterest itself has identified a number of “best practices” that brands should follow, including pinning on their boards from various sources. Think of complimentary products or design inspiration, repinning from other boards and brand followers, and create multiple boards to cover different topics, interests, products, and inspirations. To jump start your efforts, check out Mashable’s list of five ways brands can use Pinterest to boost consumer engagement.

Which retailers already have a presence on Pinterest?

Take a peek at how these 13 retailers are using the platform in unique ways for their brands:
American Eagle
Etsy
Gilt Groupe (Gilt Home)
Gap
ideeli
Lowe’s
Nordstrom
Rue La La
Threadless
Urban Outfitters
West Elm
Williams-Sonoma
World Market

How will sites like Pinterest impact e-commerce specifically?
According to Experian Hitwise data shown in an infographic from Shop.org member Monetate, this social “pinning” website is driving more traffic to U.S. e-commerce sites than Google+. And earlier this month, Mashable posted a study which said total referral traffic from Pinterest now beats YouTube, Reddit, Google+, LinkedIn and MySpace – combined. Pretty impressive for a website that launched and closed beta less than 11 months ago.

For niche markets of curators, bakers, brides, home decorators and designers and fashionistas, Pinterest is all the rage. I believe we will continue to see a blending of social sharing and e-commerce sites all over the world – which will push marketers to think beyond the walls of of their website to engage consumers and bring our brands to life. Retailers should be asking:

• Are we selling products worth sharing? Do we make it easy to share products on sites like Pinterest?
• Do we have complimentary content like design or decorating tips, fashion inspiration, and/or recipes if we sell products that compliment those products categories?
• Do we know what our customers like to share online?
• And most importantly, are we listening - and eventually responding – to customers who post about our products?

The nearly instant (and for now, consistent) growth of a site like Pinterest is another reason for retailers to have their social engagement and e-commerce brand messaging in sync. It’s only a matter of time before a retailer creates a dynamic and engaging online pinboard - and the next social sharing darling helps reinvent the way we think about engaging customers. And lastly, retailers should consider taking risks to be where your community is even if those new, niche communities don’t become the next Facebook or Twitter. Take risks and make the investment as a part of the cost of doing business in this social, crowdsourcing world we live in.

Alignment: The Secret to a Successful Content Strategy

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by Melissa Rach on February 16th, 2012

Pssst. Here’s a trade secret. At Brain Traffic, we can usually predict how successful a content strategy will be after the first few weeks with a client. No, we’re not clairvoyant. We don’t even have a fancy algorithm or success scorecard.

Here’s the trick: We simply look at how receptive the project sponsors are to collaborating with others within their organization. It’s our experience that people who are open to input and opinions succeed far more often than those who try to keep their projects under wraps.
Why? Because content strategy requires outreach and alignment.

Content touches just about every area of the organization. When you introduce a new content strategy, you’re asking all of those people to change their habits, opinions, and accountabilities. As a result, your strategy is only going to work if people get on board. Now, that doesn’t mean everyone has to agree on everything—that can be impossible. Alignment isn’t necessarily about creating consensus. It’s about creating a common understanding.

Getting alignment isn’t as hard as you might think. You can start by ensuring your project stakeholders:

Know the basics about your project

Your first alignment priority is to make sure everyone has access to the same information—so they can participate in conversations and make educated decisions. You need to make sure they know (at a high level):

• What content strategy is, how it could benefit the organization, and how it could benefit them
• What content exists today
• What internal and external factors impact your content—highlighting user research, competitive research, and an overview of the content workflow process

Know each other

You also need to help stakeholders learn about each other. In large organizations, it’s not uncommon for people to meet each other for the first time on a content project. Even in small companies, people see each other in a new light during the content strategy process. Helping people understand and engage with each other is critical. So take time to explain:

• How everyone fits into the content strategy puzzle
• What role each person is playing on the project
• How needs and perspectives differ, and why

Know what’s next

Lastly, you need to set the stage for the rest of the project. People always want to know:

• What are the immediate next steps?
• What is their role in the process?
• How much and how often can they/will they need to participate?

The more stakeholders know, the more they’ll feel some ownership in your content projects from day one. Remember, stakeholders are your allies—or, if they’re not initially, it’s your job to find that common ground. The success of your content strategy depends on it.

Hoo-ah: How the US Army Has Become a Social Media Leader

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By David Strom / February 19, 2012 2:05 PM 

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Over the past several years, the US Army has developed an exemplary program in exploiting numerous social media methods, and done so without a lot of flash, expense, or personnel. They have an engaged audience, numerous followers, and maintained a multi-pronged campaign into all of the major social media networks, including recent beach-heads in Pinterest and Google+. All this, and with a five-person team based in the Pentagon and without spending much in the way of budget too. They are a worthy case study for organizations that are trying to make their own assaults on social media and haven't been as effective.

Just look at this slide showing the numbers. Granted, with a potential audience of millions, it shouldn't be all that unusual that they have the number of Facebook and Twitter followers that they do. But the number of engaged users is what is interesting here.


Let's take a tour of the Army social media landscape and show you what they are doing right. Regardless of your politics, I think you will agree that they are leading by example when it comes to social media.
They are a content machine. Each week they coordinate the posts on their various social media properties and there is plenty of fresh content. Any social media strategy needs to be based on terrific content, and regular infusions of it. They have this one covered, in spades. Just look at the two dozen pinboards they have already created on Pinterest, where our soldier on a camo couch lead image was taken from (you didn't see him at first, admit it).

Leadership is essential.The Army's efforts are led by Major Juanita Chang who is the Director, Online and Social Media Division for the past two years in the Army's Office of the Chief of Public Affairs. Chang is a career soldier who has been in active duty since 1996 and served at one point as a chemical weapons officer before she got into PR. Having someone who came up through the ranks is key, because they can emphasize with the boots on the ground and know the entire Army ecosystem too. When you pick your social media team leader, keep this in mind.

They have solid guidelines for usage. The Army has a 50-page social media manual (which incidentally is a Slideshare link, kudos for that) that walks everyone through what is and isn't appropriate for posting to particular sites. There are guidelines specific to security, including turning off the GPS or geotagging features of your smartphone and cameras, asking the soldier what could the wrong person do with the information that is posted online, and recommending that photos don't reveal sensitive information. Also, a soldier should talk to their family members about operational security and be sure everyone knows what can and can't be posted. Here is just a snippet from their manual:














They aren't heavy-handed about it either.
The guidelines are all common sense and not what you would expect from an organization that believes in the chain of command. "If we can trust our soldiers with guns and grenades, why can't we trust them with Facebook?" Major Chang asks. That doesn't mean they are completely hands-off. A Twitter post from a random civilian that wanted to make note of the recent Medal of Honor winner Salvatore Giunta, was unauthorized, and the Army asked that the relationship be clarified.

Despite such a broad footprint, they pick their targets and have solid engagement goals. Just like you might expect from them. "We don't have to be everywhere all the time. We have our goals and want to pick and choose our platforms to establish our presence," Major Chang told me.

Humor counts, too. Again, somewhat unexpectedly, the Army has a great sense of humor, at least how it is displayed across its social media empire. Humor is a very important engagement mechanism and a great way to break the social media ice for social media noobs. Take a look at the photo that topped last week's list of most frequently-shared pics from their Facebook site:
This was shared more than 375 times and Liked by more than 2,000 Facebook users. Granted, pet pics do well but still. Of course, it helps to have more than a million Facebook followers too.

Know your audience. "We know the audience that we want to reach," says Major Chang. "We want to connect America with its army. People don't always know what we do for the everyday Joe Taxpayer in Idaho." Look at this post on Google+ about a new Army concept vehicle at the Chicago Auto Show. This exposes their comment stream to non-Army Internet users and potentially widens their reach.

Blogs matter and could be the center that holds everything together. I know in our rush to embrace all that is new we tend to forget about the old, but blogging is still important and can cement the other social media pieces. The Army has one blog destination: the ArmyLive blog which has stories about its soldiers, methods, and values. Six stories were posted in Februrary, making it a vibrant and active place to come read about its doings. Can you say the same thing about your bloggers? And it isn't all cheerleading either: an article by the Sergeant Major of the Army, Raymond F. Chandler on new uniforms is enlightening. These and other blogs complement its main corporate website.

Be cost-conscious and leverage free resources. Unlike those stories of thousand-dollar toilet seats and other cost overruns, when it comes to social media the Army is very thrifty. Major Chang was proud that what she has accomplished has been on the cheap: she hasn't paid for any ad campaigns and mostly relied on word-of-mouth to grow her various properties. "Experts are doing it all for less money. We use the free versions of every platform and do everything in house," she says. For example, there is the Army's YouTube channel here that has more than 2600 subscribers and posted five new videos last week (see content point above). Yes, they could have set up an extensive and expensive video streaming site, but why bother when you could it for free?

If you have a captive audience and focus, you can do this too. Remember, the traffic that you quickly gain can quickly leave to other memes-of-the-moment: organic growth is best.

Agencies Show Their Age On Mobile

mobile

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David Hewitt

Saturday, February 11th, 2012

Editor’s note: David Hewitt is VP, global mobile practice lead at digital agency SapientNitro.

Mobile strategy is about more than just phones.

Mobile platforms and engagement strategies in our digitally enabled world need to support all marketing initiatives, both offline and online, and be truly multi-channel. Mobile maturity is one area, however, where brands and agencies are playing catch-up with consumer demand.

A siloed approach to mobile has been commonplace over the past couple of years. Many agencies have supplemented traditional creative with mobile ads that lack a larger strategy, subbing out app development that offers no real value and failing to thoughtfully consider the best platforms and devices for mobile campaigns.

For example, Shazam recently made a splash by enabling second screen synchronization with the Super Bowl broadcast, and the company says it saw record engagement during the game.

Unfortunately, problems arose because not all hub pages were optimized and users had to complete Bud Light’s age verification screen on a screen that was not touch-friendly. Considering the large number of iPhones participating, it should have also linked straight to the promoted song on iTunes, instead of emailing it a day later. It’s likely that there was a lot of user drop-off, especially given the three-step process.

Missed opportunities like this will become less common over the next year as brands and agencies fight to stay ahead of the curve, proving 2012 will be a game-changer for mobile.

This shift to a more optimized mobile experience is not merely because the industry is a year older, but because enough agency and brand leadership are seeing a critical mass of mobile and multi-channel initiatives bear fruit. Marketers are realizing the growing risk of doing nothing.

This year, the market demands a more entrepreneurial mindset. Mobile is not just the hot topic of the moment — it’s the future. Embracing this reality requires a shift in thinking and many brands still do not have a mobile or encompassing digital strategy in place. Moreover, many agencies are still growing a set of basic mobile capabilities. Creating both smartphone and tablet-optimized experiences, along with the increasing need to pick platforms and develop apps, is becoming the norm.

Last but not least, 2012 is begging for brands to truly integrate mobile with commerce and CRM programs, and create new integrated experiences for in-store, at home and on-the-go.
While 2012 brings a new confidence to place bigger investment bets in mobile, here are some tips and trends to consider:

• Look at all of the touch points and device considerations that surround a mobile campaign. Consider environmental conditions like in-store Wi-Fi, device detection and fallback tactics such as developing SMS or mobile web alternatives to more specialized mobile tactics.
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• As mobile becomes more integrated with other touch points, the need to get store Ops and IT involved becomes a critical success factor. Pick an agency that knows how to work intimately with all facets of your organization.
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• On the flip side, some agencies and platform providers are so bent on serving every device that the entire experience gets ‘dumbed down’ so far that it doesn’t engage anyone effectively, especially the smartphone crowd that is more likely to participate. Know what devices to optimize for and how far to take it. Remember not to just look at today’s device penetration for a market, but also the consumer behavior that goes with it and where the trend lines point.
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• As the promise of enterprise mobile solutions and point of sales integration continues to heat up, plan for concepts and pilots that set a bigger stage for follow-on investment.
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• 2012 will be the year of getting websites and relevant marketing assets optimized for tablets, not just smartphones — especially as tablets continue to heat up for mobile commerce and chip away at market share for everyday PC tasks.
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• ‘Big Data’ is back as a buzzword and unsurprisingly so; the more multiple channels are connected, the more we need data to serve up the right experience to the right prospect and customer. There is a lot of opportunity here with location-based service integration and better behavioral and preference-based targeting. However, most of the real benefits won’t be realized until 2013-2014.
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• As most direct consumer brands have a mobile app of some sort, expect to see enhancements that bring context aware features, embedded loyalty, and in some cases pre-paid and mobile wallet capabilities.
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• Much of 2011′s mobile marketing budgets were still made up of slush fund ad budgets. Expect to see more purposeful campaigns and sizable budgets set aside for mobile.
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• Look to work with agencies and partners that don’t just put a person in the room that ‘gets mobile’ but has shown they can deliver it across channels and touch points.

Various agencies and brands sit in very different places across the mobile and multi-channel maturity curve. In 2012, those that don’t figure out mobile will really start to show their declining relevancy to today’s consumer.