tricks

Today content is at the center of the digital experience. As marketers, you rely on it to drive awareness, build communities, and increase sales. Without content, there’d be no tweets, status updates, blogs, videos, or pins — all of which can help achieve one or more of those goals. So you can see why it’s very important to understand how your content affects engagement on social networks.

This week, Google made a small but noteworthy update to Google+ with your content in mind. Now every Google+ Profile and Page includes the total number of times that the account’s content has been seen by others. The number, which is displayed near the follower count, is the sum of your page, post, and photo views since October 2012. While this number doesn’t go into detail about your content’s performance, it’s an important metric nonetheless.

The update couldn’t have come at a better time. Google+ recently changed the way link posts are displayed in the stream, putting them front and center which will undoubtedly capture more attention. This was a major upgrade for content sites, which make up 29 percent of the top pages on the network. Additionally, a new study found …read more

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Upworthy, the content-sharing startup whose penchant for hyperbolic headlines has generated its own parody websites, is laying out its plans for a new ad program called Upworthy Collaborations. When the company raised an $8 million Series A last fall, executives said they wanted to make money through sponsored content. However, they revealed more details about those plans (and who’s actually… Read More …read more

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Houston, we have a problem. The problem is one of plenty. In fact, we have too much. Too many things to choose from. We have too many channels and networks. Too many opportunities to communicate with our customer. Too many places in which to put our messages. We’ve all seen the graphic that illustrates the mind-blowing number of social media marketing channels. If you add in all of the digital platforms as well, it is enough to make you run screaming from the room.

And when we have so many options one of (at least) two things will occur. We will either become paralyzed from all the options and stand there like we do in the cereal aisle, or we will race and cut corners. Either option is ill advised.

The Paralysis of Abundance

When we have many, many choices, it is easy to become paralyzed and not know where to start. It makes me feel like the end of the book The Cat in the Hat. The social mess is so big and so deep and so tall, there is no way to fix it, no way at all! So, we do nothing but stare at the pile hoping for a solution. …read more

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If you’re a frequent Google Drive user, you may have noticed they recently launched add-ons for Google Docs and Sheets. You may have also noticed a familiar logo in the add-ons store.

Merge lets you send to a small list of emails directly from Google Docs and Sheets. It’s built and supported by MailChimp, but you don’t have to have a MailChimp account to use it. That’s right, we built a whole new app just for Google Docs and Sheets users.

Merge is a great option for book clubs, little leagues, neighborhood groups, PTAs—anyone who needs to send simple emails to lists of up to 1000 email addresses. In fact, this is exactly the type of Gmail user that Google was hoping to help when they approached us. They asked if we could build an add-on that would make it easy for a Google Drive user to create and send personalized email right from a Google Doc.

With Merge, you can pair your Google Doc to a Google Sheet that contains email addresses and data fields for the people you want to contact.

Then, you can merge in personalized content—first name, last name, address, etc.—from your Google Sheet.

When you hit …read more

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One of the things we discuss a lot around here are “triggers”; Psychological buttons that motivate people to get off the fence and take action. There are many different triggers one can employ in their marketing but without a doubt the most powerful trigger there is, is scarcity. When we can’t have something we want […] …read more

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