Appraising eBay Redesign, Top Content Writers, Leveraging Big Data

The Strategist picks the day’s most interesting stories for the content aficionados who love the backstory and reading between the lines. Here are the gems you need to kickstart your Thursday:

Why eBay Redesigned to Look More Like Pinterest (Fast Company) 
Word on the street is that eBay has a brand new look and feel that has made window shopping a top priority.

According to Fast Company writer Mark Wilson, this is eBay’s biggest facelift since the company’s launch. But is it perfect? Definitely not — there’s always room for improvement. Here’s one passionate writer’s critique.

The Secret to Avoiding Content Writer’s Block (Crazy Egg)
It’s challenging enough to create one or two pieces of engaging and compelling content. But what happens if you’re a content marketer who needs to create, well — way more than just a few posts?

If you’re suffering from extreme writer’s block, the best solution is to write how you talk. Try less. Do more. Kathryn Aragon takes us through the work of some of today’s top content writers and how they ‘just get it.’

What Can Marketers Do to Manage and Leverage Big Data? (Forbes)
We’re not talking sample sizes with 1,000 people here — we’re talking gigabytes of raw detail overload.

The term ‘big data’ itself is a nontechnical concept that is just waiting for content marketers and brand strategists to jump in. Big data is about how you position your quantitative story just as much as the numbers themselves. Writers and journalists, it might be time to brush up on your stats.