Curation Revolution

As a business, one of the most effective ways to gain traction and visibility is through a strategically planned marketing and/or public relations campaign. But did you know that your customers can be just as effective?

Customers can be more influential than ever these days, thanks to social networks and the internet. In fact, the average customer has a reach of 42 people for each positive experience or engagement with your company online. That means if you have only 200 customers who are brand advocates, you have a potential customer reach of 8,400!

Marty Note
An important Infographic and idea. At our Durham, NC based startup Curagami we see the next phase of web development as devoted to learning how to empower, listen to and benefit from the kind of leverage ONLY customers provide such as:

* User Generated Content - the most valuable content you can't buy.

* Social shares and its help with seo, traffic and profits.

* Brand advocacy and word-of-mouth advertising.

* Brand shaping via listening and curation of content created by influential customers.

Last night I realized I needed to order boxer shorts as all of this travel, I'm currently in Columbus Ohio, is putting a strain on a limited supply. Instead of buying Joe Boxer boxers I went to a site and made a cancer survivor design.

The first product I created, Poetryslam Magnetic Word Game (c. 1999), took six months and $10,000. Last night I created a line of boxer shorts for $100 and an hour of my time using drag and drop tools.

Put that experience in the context of this excellent infographic about the power of your influential customers to arrive at the game plan we suggest to B2C ecommerce and B2B content marketing partners daily:

* Create an Ambassadors Program as the foundation of online community.
* Empower Ambassadors with social tools.
* Feature great Ambassadors to create healthy competition.

* Reward Ambassadors with social listening, support and inclusion.

* ASK for help.
* Rinse and Repeat.

Find ways to listen, curate and feature your customer's input and social shares to make your online marketing easier, more fun and sustainable.

Via Brian Yanish - MarketingHits.com

An introduction to the "Hero's Journey" method of storytelling Your product or services will likely solve a problem for your customers,  

No matter how boring you view this product, it sits within a ‘story arc’ that can always be made interesting to consumers facing the challenges that it solves.

Via malek

Marty Note
I like Biznology's 3 Tips to increase engagement so much I added a few:

Biznlogy

1. Ask Questions, Respond to Answers

2. Personalize

3. Test ‘Em

Scenttrail
4. Curate Simple (i.e. not mean) controversy.
5. Curate Social Content.
6. Tap Branded Content (manufacturers or gurus).

7. Polls and Surveys.
8. Guest Posts.
9. Ambassadors.
10. Test for Engagement with new KPIs

Controversy
When Moon-Audio.com ask their customers Fostex or Audese? They got headphone lovers to weigh in on what they like about their favorite brands and why. This kind of simple controversy is great for creating online community since it doesn't destroy the "we are in this together" feeling.

Curate
When site sponsors and owners use THEIR content (User Generated Content) that action says, "We listen" more clearly than words. Follow those who follow you on social media and curate their content into your streams, websites and blogs with permission and attribution to increase engagement. Nothing like using what they've shared in a material way to prove the value you place in sharing.

Tap Branded Content
When you use a Seth Godin riff or TED talk you increase authority and authority helps promote engagement.

Polls & Surveys
When in doubt ASK and publish results. We are bench mark seeking machines we humans so always share results and incorporate results into blog posts and website content to reinforce value you place in those who vote (see #5).

Guest Posts
When you ask someone to help out you prove how much you value others. Your community grows when its open to outside influence. Salesforce increased blog traffic by 1,000% when they asked for guest posts. Guest posts have high built in engagement too since the writer is sure to share with his/her social net.

Ambassadors
We are big believers in ASKING FOR HELP. Inside your traffic 1% wants to share high value UGC, 9% will vote and share that content too so find your 10% Ambassadors and ask for their help.

Testing for Engagement
We need new Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that value UGC, shares, likes and links. If your content is creating engagement double down. If not review these 10 tips and test something new. Make sure your "winner" metrics include KPIs that speak to core content marketing and engagement values such as time on site, shares, comments, likes and links.

Via Thomas Faltin