12 Most-Tweeted MarketingSherpa Blog Posts of 2012: Inbound and email top the list
This time last year, we put together the top 11 posts of the MarketingSherpa Blog for 2011, and social media marketing easily dominated the list. In 2012, email marketing put up a good fight, but social media marketing along with other inbound strategies and tactics still took the gold.
This year’s list focused on three areas: inbound, email and customer-centric marketing. Along with a brief summary of each post, you’ll also find some interesting tweets about select posts. Read on for 2012’s most popular MarketingSherpa Blog posts, as determined by your peers.
Inbound Marketing
Blog Awards: The 13 best marketing industry blogs (according to you)
Our top post of 2012 shared the results of the MarketingSherpa Reader’s Choice Awards, where we announced the 13 winning blogs, in a variety of categories, as decided by you, the MarketingSherpa Blog audience.
“If you’re looking for information to help you improve performance and advance your career, check these blogs out,” said Daniel Burstein, Director of Editorial Content, MECLABS, in the post.
Social Sharing: Twitter has highest amplification rate, email has highest conversion rate
Social referral programs allow companies to tap into their customer advocates to promote their brands, products and services by getting those customers to share within their social networks.
Extole, a consumer-to-consumer social marketing company, recently conducted research on 20% of its customer base with an average data collection length of 45 weeks. Read on to learn some interesting data points this research uncovered on social sharing among different companies.
Interesting data here. What matters more, amplification or conversion? If it’s the latter, email beats social: bit.ly/GIh5qA
— Joe Boughner (@joeboughner) March 23, 2012
Social Media Marketing: 7 steps for using contests and sweepstakes to promote your brand
Sometimes a corporate social media account needs a little incentive to develop a following. Social media-based contests and sweepstakes can work as the perfect incentive. Online contests have a number of benefits, including fast time-to-market and low- or no-cost options. This MarketingSherpa Blog post describes three mini case studies to show the results an online sweepstakes or contest can earn. Also, learn seven steps for launching your own contests and sweepstakes to promote your brand.
“If you build it, no one will come … unless you tell them about it.” ` Sandra Fathi, President, Affect on sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/social-network… #SMM import — Margaret Hampton (@FloridaLocalSEO) August 24, 2012
Social Media Marketing: Social login or traditional website registration?
A survey completed on social identity looked into how respondents felt about using a social login — Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. — instead of having to individually register at multiple websites. Read on for some of the very interesting results and what they mean for marketers.
Content Marketing 101: 8 steps to B2B success
At times, one marketing tactic seems to totally dominate the discussion. The tactic we hear about most often these days is content marketing — particularly how important content and having a content marketing strategy is for B2B marketers.
Read on for an excellent eight-point breakdown of how to get started with content marketing, provided by Stephanie Tilton of Ten Ton Marketing.
Q: How do I getstarted with my content marketing? A: (@marketingsherpa) – ow.ly/ei1GY
— Scott Armstrong (@brainrider) October 9, 2012
Social Media Marketing: An early look at how marketers can use Pinterest
There are many valuable social media platforms for marketing, but arguably one of the most talked about platforms in 2012 was Pinterest. We spoke with two self-described Pinterest “power users,” who also happen to be marketers with some ideas on how practitioners should approach the social platform.
Email Marketing
Infographic: Email open rates by time of day
The most-shared email marketing blog post of the year shows that marketers recognize the need to never overlook the basics. This includes the best time to send an email. To take a more quantitative dive into the question of email timing, GetResponse Email Marketing decided to go into its substantial dataset for some research. Check out this infographic based on the results of that study.
Some interesting stats on email open rates and the best time to send – avoid the morning if you want email to be read ow.ly/eNdHD — Acquire (@acquirenewbiz) October 26, 2012
Case Study: Creativity vs. clarity in email subject lines
The subject line is the first impression of the message you wish to share with your list, so it must be appealing, perhaps even gripping. AWeber, the winner of the MarketingSherpa Reader’s Choice Awards as “Best Email Marketing Blog,” tested two sets of subject line approaches: clarity vs. creativity. Read on for the results and analysis of the email subject line test in this winner’s guest post.
Interesting study about email subject lines – Be clear, not cute for best results (thx @amandaegagnon) sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com/email-marketin…
— Who’s Blogging What (@wbw_Jeff) September 5, 2012
Email Research: Top 3 tactics to grow your list
Growing your database can seem daunting, with the number of tactics at your disposal. Thankfully, marketers have been running list growth campaigns for years. Check out this blog post to see a chart of 10 popular tactics, starting with the most effective on top, pulled from the MarketingSherpa 2012 Email Marketing Benchmark Report.
List Building: The four questions every email capture page must answer
When using a registration page to build your email list, you should provide new subscribers with explicit expectations on what, when and why they will receive email after opting in. Read on to learn four subscribers’ questions you want to answer at registration, and tips for designing and writing your sign-up page.
You had me at “write from the consumers perspective”: The 4 Qs every email capture page must answer | Marketingsherpa bit.ly/I5Cfkm
— Jann Mirchandani (@JannMirch) April 24, 2012
Customer-centric Marketing
Customer-centric Marketing: 7 triggers to engage customers and build loyalty
At MarketingSherpa B2B Summit 2012, keynote speaker Sally Hogshead presented her “7 Triggers of Fascination,” which represent different paths or ways to fascinate customers with your brand. Fascinating your audience creates loyal customers who are more engaged and more likely to refer others. Read on for a breakdown of each trigger, along with key takeaways for brands to implement.
Copywriting: How to improve headlines on landing pages and blog posts
Headlines can make or break an article or landing page. It’s important to remember the goal “is to seize readers’ attention and convince them to continue.” Your headlines must emphasize something “valuable” in the eyes of your consumer.
To help you, we gathered some research-tested theory on writing great headlines from our sister company, MarketingExperiments. Plus, read on for five attention-grabbing headline tips and a useful process for improving results.
Write blog post headlines that are attention-grabbing & communicate value to people ow.ly/a7l2V via @marketingsherpa
— Rachel Lai (@rachellai83) April 6, 2012
Categories: Marketing customer-centric, Email Marketing, Inbound Marketing, social media marketing
