Content Marketing

Content Top 50, Marketers on Snapchat, How to Retweet

The Strategist picks the day’s most relevant and interesting stories about the world of content from around the web. Here’s what you should be reading today:

Content Marketing’s Top Brands

ClickZ’s Toby Murdock has ranked the top 50 brands in content marketing. 

His list includes American Express, which launched Open Forum, a website for helping small business owners be successful.

General Mills’ Tablespoon has recipes for families, and Kate Spade’s Behind the Curtain “focuses on how to wear what’s in style. It also adds special touches to the digital experience with different types of media, including music.” Also featured on the list are Williams-Sonoma and Verizon.

Marketers on Snapchat

Mashable reports on whether or not marketers will delve into the world of Snapchat. 

Sixteen Handles, the frozen yogurt chain, is using the platform “for a promotion that presents users with a coupon that self-destructs within 10 seconds.”

If a friend is tasting a yogurt at a location, a customer needs to send it to Love16Handles on Snapchat. Then, a coupon will be sent for anywhere from 16 to 100 percent off on the purchase. The cashier only has 10 seconds to scan this promotion.

Marketers have been on Poke, the Facebook-like program, as well. Delta, an Israeli lingerie brand, showed a 10 second video of a model getting dressed on its Poke ad.

Retweeting for Content Marketing Purposes

Business2Community’s Gerry Moran says that it’s important for any content marketing strategy to include retweets. 

This is because they help companies tap into the original tweeter’s brand and provide interesting and valuable content to the followers.

Retweeting assists companies in expanding their networks because people want to be retweeted. Thus, they follow the brand so it’s more likely to happen.

Al Jazeera to Buy Current TV

The New York Times reports that in a deal announced Wednesday, Al Jazeera purchased Current TV, which was co-founded by Al Gore.

Al Jazeera, which receives its funding from the Qatar government, looks to persuade the American public that it is a legitimate and respected organization. Many distributors in the U.S. have blocked it because they suspect terrorist ties. The deal was struck for an estimated $500 million.

Andrew Sullivan Departing from Daily Beast 

The New York Times is also reporting that Andrew Sullivan, who wrote “The Dish” for the Daily Beast, is starting a website that will be subscription based. 

He will charge readers $19.99 per year or whatever they want to pay. His new company will be called Dish Publishing LLC, and the site will be on andrewsullivan.com.

Hearst Receives 800,000 Digital Monthly Subscribers 

In the United States, Hearst has 800,000 subscribers in the digital space, which is short of its one million base goal, according to Paid Content.

In a letter to employees, President David Carey said, “More than 80 percent of our digital subscribers are new to our files, and their engagement levels meet or exceed the high levels we see from our print products.”

By the end of 2012, the company also had 186 million monthly mobile page views, which was a huge increase from 39 million in 2011.

Becoming an Influential Writer Online

CopyBlooger’s Henneke writes about what it takes to become influential in the online space if you’re a writer.

Writers need to collect ideas from other sources and use different points of view online to create a unique approach to a story or topic. Creating your own voice is necessary, and can be done by looking at successful writers and seeing what worked for them. Putting out inspirational paragraphs in pieces that teach writers is going to make you a better writer as well.

 

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