Your grandmother is on Facebook, so odds are in your favor that your employees are too. It is inevitable that unless you’ve blocked these sites with a firewall, employees will use some of their work time to visit their various online presences. Managing employee’s social media usage is important to keep them, and your company, out of hot water. Here are a few tips for carving out a policy of acceptable use across various networks.

Define Your Terms

Is an employee’s protected, private Facebook account social media? What about their public blog or deviant art gallery? Specify in broader terms what is and is not social media; since there are new services emerging daily, a definition and not a list of services will be more effective.

Don’t Share Private Intel in Any Form

It may seem private to send a message to a trusted friend or family member, but if their account gets hacked and that information leaked, that employee is still the source. It’s best to keep that information in-house

Monitor Your Brand

Without monitoring, why have a policy at all? Know your employees and be aware of their presence on networks outside of work. No need for irrational snooping, but if a google search turns up an employee’s public blog, it’s public knowledge and a good company keeps passive watch on those things.

If used correctly, there are plenty of workplace social media opportunities that will benefit your company and not harm production.

Lou Perseghin lives in Providence, RI and works for a non-profit managing volunteers, recruiting members and handling marketing efforts.

Image from dharmaconsult.be

• Outbound links. Some companies fear outbound links, thinking that they don’t want to risk sending prospects away from their website. But outbound links draw new audiences to your site. And if your content is worth reading, those visitors who left will come back.
• Keep it short. Short, scannable, fun. Your readers should know, within the first few sentences, the message your content is sharing. They should be able to scan the rest and leave with a nugget of truth they can apply to their life immediately.
• Pass the “Wow” test. When I write personal essays, I make sure the topic passes the “Wow” test. I tell the story to a few friends and family members. If they respond with an enthusiastic, “Wow!” or “Really?!” I know the story will make a good essay. Your stickiest content should make people say, “Really?! I didn’t know that.” Then they’ll want to tell a friend—or ten. And that’s how really sticky content, well—sticks.

Dawn Allcot is a full-time freelance writer and blogger. She frequently writes about technology, business, parenting and paintball.

Image from orpconline.com

3 Reasons to Establish an Active Company Blog:

• Capture Web Surfers: Potential customers are searching for information online every day. When your content marketing plans include a frequently updated blog populated with information about relevant key phrases, your chances of capturing the attention of the right web surfers is greatly enhanced.
• Enhance Company Credibility: Blogging is a great way to build credibility for your company and key team members. Publishing a steady flow of useful information is a great way to become seen as an industry leader in terms of knowledge and expertise. This applies to the company as a whole, as well as to team members who can boost their own professional credibility with byline blog content.
• Link Search Engine Marketing to Social Media: In many ways, company blogs are the perfect way to link your search engine marketing efforts to actively building community via social media. Set your blog up so that new posts are automatically updated on the company’s social media profiles and utilize add-ins that make it easy for blog readers to share information they find beneficial through their own social media accounts.

Mary Gormandy White is co-founder of Mobile Technical Institute, where she works with clients throughout the U.S. as a professional trainer, consultant, and speaker, focusing on topics related to HR, management, and public relations. She has extensive professional writing experience and is the author of 101 Human Resource Management Tips and 101 Successful PR Campaign Tips in the LifeTips book series.

Image from blog-en.tamtamy.com

Starbucks has already deftly employed the call to action. I was among the hoards that flocked to Starbucks because the promise of free pastry was broadcast on twitter.  But the latest news courtesy of Mashable has me floored at the sheer GENIUS of this company.  Most stores in Boston offer free wifi (I have even sought refuge in a Starbucks when my internet was out for a seemingly interminable three days), and by Fall franchises across the country will too.

Can you see the content marketing relevance already? By providing this service for free, Starbucks is giving the boundless gift of the internet to its customers, in turn encouraging them to stay that little bit longer, to make themselves feel all the more at home. Why not sit back with a latte and a scone and facebook to your heart’s content? Starbucks’ doctrine is to create that “third place” away from home and work where you feel secure and at ease. Now that third place has free wifi. Even those poor souls without iPhones will still be able to tweet!

But that isn’t the genius part. Mashable reports that Starbucks has teamed up with the likes of Apple and the New York Times to provide exclusive marketing content that will ONLY be available via the Starbucks wifi network.

Mind. Blown. Poof.

What we have here is bordering on mythical: the possibility of the endless Win chain. Customers get wifi for free. Win. Starbucks attracts and retains customers for longer stretches. Win. Customers gain access to exclusive content, including iTunes downloads. Win again. Corporate collaborators pique consumer interest by giving a glimpse of premium goods. Win.  Maybe one customer will actually be willing to pay for restricted New York Times content? Maybe another will “rush” to the iTunes store to purchase an album after listening to a single track? Or maybe they’ll both be happy to keep returning to Starbucks for these free little snippets. Even if conversion rates aren’t great for the big guns giving up content, Starbucks can still profit shamelessly from their content marketing attempts.

There is, however, one final step to be discussed in a board room somewhere.  Making sure those websurfers actually BUY something. I’ll leave it to corporate to work out that one. Might I recommend using the smell of freshly baked cookies as a strategic sales tool? It works for selling houses…

Are you giving your customers access to something exclusive? Does doing business with you have definite, quantifiable perks? If you ARE  reading this at Starbucks, maybe you should start brainstorming.

Nicola Fairhead is an ideaLaunch editorial intern with a ferocious appetite for writing, editing, and consuming content.  She has quickly become a content marketing evangelist.

If you’re interested in hiring writers for your content marketing, blogging, news releases and more, bid sites may seem like an easy solution. After all, you know you’ll get the lowest price on your content, and you’ll have a pool of thousands of writers to choose from. But are bid sites for hiring writers the best solution? Here are three reasons NOT to use bid sites when you’re hiring writers.

1. Writers on bid sites often use subcontractors. I’ve heard of writers who will bid on a “lot” of, say, 100 content articles. Then they freelance them out to subcontractors for half the bid price (or less)! There’s nothing inherently wrong with using subcontractors, as long as the original bidder is honest with you and you know what you’re getting. Is the subcontractor qualified? Experienced? Knowledgeable about your industry?
2. You have to manage the writers. If you go through a bid site, not only do you have to spend time hiring writers, you have to manage them to make sure they get the job done to your specifications. Isn’t it easier to let a content marketing agency handle that aspect of the business?
3. You often get what you pay for. If you go with the lowest bidder, expect the lowest quality. Don’t expect Cadillac quality and Hyundai prices. (Not that there’s anything wrong with a Hyundai, if that’s what you expect.) But aren’t your customers worth Cadillac content?

IdeaLaunch works with a large stable of qualified freelance writers—all with extensive SEO writing experience, grammar skills, and knowledge in the industries they write about (or the ability to research and write about any topic!). Whether you need a specialist or a generalist, if you work with a content marketing agency, you’ll know you’re getting what you need.

Dawn Allcot is a full-time freelance writer and blogger. She frequently writes about technology, business, parenting and paintball.

Image from emagazineblog.com

Do you have a social media strategy? If not, a recent study conducted by King Fish Media, Hubspot, and Junta42 suggests it’s probably time to jump on that bandwagon – “Study: 72% of Businesses Have a Social Media Strategy.” This Hubspot post reflects on the reality that simply using social media has become a given for most businesses, and that more and more emphasis is being put on how to use it. What these findings said to me is that social media marketing is here to stay. So maybe bandwagon doesn’t conjure up the right image. Maybe initially social media just looked like a fun-filled rollick passing through the business world. But it seems it is actually more of a shiny new high-rise: attractive, influential…and not really ready to roll away any time soon.

Get a social media makeover. If you want to work in the classy high-rise, you have to look the part, right? Mashable’s Matthew Latkiewicz says you should at least try to look a part. In his post “HOW TO: Pick the Right Social Media Engagement Style,” he suggests five different “Social Media Engagement Styles” to consider as you form a social media image for your business.

No soup for you! Seth Godin points out that as marketers, we have the power to choose our customers. You can craft your business to attract the people you want to sell to, the customers who will make your business run the way you want it to. Maybe embodying the enraged soup guy from Seinfeld is not exactly the right way to go. However, it is important to remember that your customers form an integral part of business function. So stop and think about how you want your business to function before letting just anyone in your soup line.

Caution! Did you try to save money when creating your website? Are you marketing to a demographic instead of a niche? Do you know what the difference between a demographic and a niche is? Take a minute to look at Melinda Brennan’s “6 Online Marketing Mistakes that Will Kill Your Business” to make sure you are not making any fatal mistakes.

The case for paper. Just a couple posts ago, I questioned the huge uprising against the fall of the printing industry. I’m still all for saving trees and supporting paperless publishing when at all possible. However, from a content marketing point of view, I will concede that paper may still play an important role. In his post “7 Reasons Print will Make a Comeback in 2011,” Joe Pulizzi points out that as printed material becomes more scarce (a good thing), it also becomes more noticeable – and therefore a more valuable tool for marketers.

Marcella Vieraitis is a summer intern at ideaLaunch. She loves writing and editing, and is soaking up all there is to learn about the world of blogging, social media, and content marketing.

Every time I visit a website, I’m able to gauge whether or not it’s undergone SEO. If it has, I can evaluate the quality of the SEO content and determine whether it’s a polished job or a sad case of keyword stuffing. I often have to fight the urge to offer the webmaster a few tips on how to hire writers or improve conversion. Even if I don’t end up working at a marketing agency, I’ll be able to utilize these skills when I design websites and blogs of my own, not to mention sharing them with friends, colleagues, and any kind of company I might be affiliated with. As an aspiring writer and book editor, I can already see how website optimization might figure into the promotional aspects of the publishing industry.

Overall, working with ideaLaunch has been a pleasure and a great learning experience, and I look forward to putting my new knowledge to use in the future. And with just one week left in my internship, I wish the whole company goodbye and good luck. Thanks for everything!

*Image from http://otherwhirled.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/goodbye.jpg

Emily Robinson is a fiction writer and an editorial intern at ideaLaunch. After her final semester of college, she intends to become a copyeditor and/or a starving novelist.

What is water?

This question pertains to the health advice to “drink more water.” Some experts say the water we get in our food counts. Others say it doesn’t. Some say caffeinated beverages actually count against our water allotment, while others say caffeinated beverages are still water. How can we drink eight glasses of water a day if we don’t know what counts as water? See the problem?

What is a conversion?

It’s the same situation when we want to improve conversions from our website. Fortunately, conversions are easier to define (believe it or not). First, ask yourself: “What do I hope to accomplish?”

Is your goal to:

1. Collect names for your mailing list?
2. Collect phone numbers of prospects?
3. Get people to contact you for more information?
4. Comment on your blog posts?
5. Get people to buy?

Ultimately, of course, we all want magic number 5—to improve conversions and get our prospects to buy. But the steps that could lead up to that are also worthy goals. Steve Jackson at Conversion Chronicles calls them “micro-conversions.”

Three Common Micro-Conversions and How to Improve Them

Let’s look at how we can improve conversions by getting people to:

• Click the link to read more
• Provide their names
• Provide their phone numbers

1. Click the link to read more: Tell readers exactly what they’ll find out—and the benefit of the information. This is also better internal linking strategy. Instead of writing, “Click the link to find out more,” write: “Click the link to find out how to improve conversion with a strong call-to-action.”
2. Provide their names: Rather than “sign up for my newsletter,” you might tell readers, “Get exclusive savings when you sign up for my newsletter.”
3. Provide their phone numbers: A phone number is a valuable piece of information that people don’t want to give up if they’re not getting something good in return. Offer a free eBook, Webinar access, or something equally valuable (and let readers know just how much it’s worth). Again, share the benefit in your call-to-action.

Measuring and Testing to Improve Conversions

Of course, it’s important to have tools installed on your website so you can measure these micro-conversions. And it’s equally important to test different pages to see which ones get the best conversions at every step of the way.

Dawn Allcot is a full-time freelance writer and blogger. She frequently writes about technology, business, parenting and paintball.

Image from loft965.com

So in that spirit, this Wednesday’s Round-Up is focused on getting (and staying) ahead of the game. Yes, you could just keep moseying along, doing what you’re doing.  But in the highly competitive world of marketing, it pays to sit in the front row, to get overly excited about going to the library, to be constantly thinking about how you can do more. Hopefully these posts will help you be the best content marketing nerd you can be:

Be a social media smarty-pants. In addition to offering expert advice in your blog, you can further establish yourself (or your company) as an authority in your field by becoming a go-to resource on certain social media sites. In  “3 Social Sites for Demonstrating Your Business Acumen,” Jennifer Van Grove highlights three cool sites that make it easier than ever get and provide answers within your own community of contacts.

Locate your content libraries. To find ideas for quality content, you have to know where to look. In her post, “Sourcing Quality Content…Continuously,” Georgina Laidlaw presents her strategies for where and how to search for sources of content for blogs. I especially like the distinction she makes between “internal” and “external” content, and how to go about gathering sources for both.

Break out the ruler. How you present your blog’s content is just as important as the content itself. Is your header taking up too much space? Are you taking full advantage of the magical right-hand corner? Check out Chris Brogan’s  layout advice in “Value Your Blog Real Estate” to start thinking about how you are utilizing your blog space.

Don’t skim this one. It’s easy to just skim over lists of tips or only read the first one or two and move on. But Sonia Simmons’s “101 Ways to Make More Sales Online” is worth actually reading, right now, all 101 tips. Each tip offers a very useful, doable way to increase conversion rates.

Know what’s hot: Who says nerds can’t be up on the newest trends? “The 4 Hottest Social Media Marketing Trends Explained” will get you up to speed on the most popular utilizations of social media on the market right now, and provide insight into why people like them so much (so that you can be next on the success list).

Marcella Vieraitis is a summer intern at ideaLaunch. She loves writing and editing, and is soaking up all there is to learn about the world of blogging, social media, and content marketing.

The What Am I Doing Twitter Badge

Sure, you can’t be in front of your computer 24/7 churning out quality web content. This widget showcases your active twitter feed in real time , letting readers know that you’re still active and giving them a sneak preview of what you might blog about later!

Flickr Flash Photo Stream

If you have a photo-heavy blog, this showcases your recent uploads to Flickr, or a specific gallery of your choosing. Feed the piqued interest of your viewers by steering them to another outlet for your creative expression!

Del.icio.us link Rolls

Display a list of other web pages you’ve visited and bookmarked using the web-based bookmarks service. A smart blogger would have a delicious feed chock full of content relative to the topics on which they write. It’s all about sharing. If other delicious users with similar pages see you’ve shared their page, they may do so in kind.

Find great widgets at sites like widgetbox and widgetoko.

Lou Perseghin lives in Providence, RI and works for a non-profit managing volunteers, recruiting members and handling marketing efforts.

Image from handsonblog.org