Let’s start with a promise that this isn’t some braggadocious blog post showing off our top performing blog posts of the year. We wouldn’t do that to you. We do, however, want to share a few content marketing lessons learned from looking at our top blog posts in 2021. You may (or may not, if you’re familiar with SEO) be surprised that some of our greatest hits were written years ago but remain among the top traffic drivers to our blog. Playing the SEO Long…
Read MoreIt was the week before Christmas 2008, and to give you a sense of just how long ago that was… The Dow opened that day at 8,606. (If you haven’t checked lately, it’s above 34,000.) Facebook had a measly 100 million active users (vs. 2.9 billion today). Instagram, Uber, Groupon, Pinterest, Slack and Venmo (to name a few) had yet to be created. The Hodges Partnership launched its agency blog. While that last event may not measure up in historic significance to the others, for…
Read MoreIn one of my other lives, I’ve been co-hosting a podcast on Rutgers Athletics for almost four years. It’s been a blast, and we’re about to hit our 100,000th download mark. We’ve also learned a great deal, and I’ve tried to apply those lessons to conversations with clients who are interested in starting their own podcast efforts. I’ve boiled podcasting best practices down to the four P’s: planning, preparation, production and promotion. Planning One of the most fundamental podcasting best practices is planning. A lot…
Read MoreLet’s start with a conversation I have more often than not with folks calling us about helping them raise their profile and enhance their expertise position in their industry. Caller: I want to raise my profile and enhance my expertise position in the industry [or something like that]. Josh: Well, that’s what we do, so let’s see if we can help. Let me ask you some questions. What kind of content marketing are you doing? Caller: Content marketing? You mean like using Facebook and LinkedIn?…
Read MoreIf you’re creating content for an editorial calendar in 15 minutes or less, you’re not doing it right. Full stop. The fact is, when you’re curating third-party stories, crafting posts to support your key messages and value propositions and finding ways to transform long-form content into smaller, digestible chunks – that takes time. We’re incredibly lucky to have a melting pot of talent at Hodges when it comes to content creation – whether it’s crafting craft quippy social media content or delving deeper on more…
Read MoreBrands are multifaceted. Communicating their stories requires attention to detail and often an intrepid willingness to implement nifty marketing techniques in the hope of attracting consumers. More and more, PR professionals are using social media campaigns as an essential element of a marketing strategy. Also trending is integrating an influencer into your campaigns, a tactic that can reap big time dividends. Influencer marketing is a $6 billion industry. A trend in online marketing is to partner with local influencers rather than national celebrities. Micro or…
Read MoreTwo years ago when I spent 30 minutes writing an article about the Skarsgård family being the Swedish Kardashians, I would have never dreamed it would still be getting website traffic. And not just single views, I’m talking multiple thousands of views with ZERO promotion. But that’s the long game – and payoff – of a solid content marketing strategy. Back in 2015, we helped our client at Swedish Match North America launch a storytelling platform to help share Swedish-American stories and news. For four…
Read MoreDid you know Instagram is no longer a photo-sharing app? That’s what its CEO declared in a move to push Instagram into a land that more resembles TikTok. Today, the social media platform has a whopping 1 billion active monthly users, a base that is second only to Facebook and about twice as large as LinkedIn and more than three times bigger than Twitter. And like TikTok, it tends to be a platform generally fueled by young people. Three in five Instagrammers are between 18 and…
Read MoreThere’s a lot that goes into content creation: writing, sourcing visuals, assembling graphics and videos and so much more. And all while keeping in mind best practices to ensure your blog posts make it to the top of a Google search and your social media posts are seen in users’ feeds. But even with best practices and an ever-flowing stream of content in play, if your content lacks accessibility, you could be excluding key audiences. The fact is, at least one billion people, or 14%…
Read MoreIt’s hard to plan for virality. Yet, it is the thing that every content creator – and brand – chase. The viral moment that skyrockets them to consumer relevance, sales and success. When I was little, I staged a video for America’s Funniest Home videos, where on a snow day, my best friend, her little brother, and I stood on the same sled at the top of a hill in her backyard. Video camera rolling, we shoved ourselves down the hill and purposefully wiped out…
Read MoreEarlier this month, we released the first in a monthly series of video discussions between pairs of THP staffers recorded from an online meeting. Inspired by the medium and the content of the discussions, we’re calling this new series Teaming Up with The Hodges Partnership. Since we’ll be recording and releasing a new episode each month for a few months, we decided also to release each edition as a podcast episode. While neither a recorded video call nor a podcast is a brand-new idea, both…
Read MoreAs an agency, Hodges tries to stay ahead of the most effective communications tactics, especially those that align with content strategies driving engagement. It’s important to focus on communications strategies that are not only effective but also efficient, that offer the best return on time and money. Along those lines, we’ve heard from some organizations who are debating whether webinars or podcasts are appropriate tools to enhance communications outreach. Not surprisingly, we have some thoughts. Podcasts and webinars are great ways to provide multimedia content…
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