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This is Episode 18 of This Old New Business weekly business podcast with Jeff Korhan.
Ian Cleary is best known as “the tools guy,” especially as it relates to content marketing and social media.
You’ll find this conversational episode to be an easy listen, especially if you are fond of the Irish accent.
The links to all of the tools will be listed in the show notes below, so just site back and learn as Ian reveals his go-to content marketing tools, and more important, his strategy for using them well to accomplish practical marketing objectives.
Our Featured Guest: Ian Cleary
Ian Cleary is the founder of RazorSocial, which helps companies become more productive and get results with content marketing and social media through the use of technology. He is a speaker, award-winning blogger, and a regular contributor to sites such as Social Media Examiner, The Huffington Post, and VentureBeat.
Start with Strategy
It is refreshing to learn that Ian starts with strategy as the foundation of his content marketing plan. Using tools such as Google Analytics, Google Keyword Planner, and Edit Flow, he carefully studies the web to determine what is the most relevant content for his community
These are not fancy tools, but are nevertheless vital to Ian’s daily content marketing workflow routine. One can usually trust tools and appplications from Google. However, Ian suggests being careful to learn the reputation of tool and app developers before committing to their use.
Invest Time to Learn
Choosing the best content marketing tools requires patience for learning how they work, as opposed to simply jumping in to give them a test drive. For example, Ian recently completed a detailed analyis of Hootsuite, a popular social sharing and scheduling tool.
The key to getting the most out of technology is a thorough understanding of what’s possible. Naturally, technology changes. This is why it’s important to update or freshen your content as Ian did with this article for using Hootsuite more effectively.
Set Goals and Test, Test, Test
Ian receives many inquires about tools that can best optimize content for search. Here’s his definition of SEO: Help Google find relevant content so it can properly index it for those searching for it. Thus, SEO is not necessary about traffic, but earning relevant traffic with trusted content.
Google determines what is relevant from keywords and backlinks, and you’ll find several tools in the Key Take-Aways below to help with that. The next step is simply to create quality content that is detailed, unique, and therefore, capable of earning links from other relevant sites.
Tools and technology are just a means for simplifying and helping us test what should come naturally – helping our community.
How is your business using content marketing tools and technology to accomplish its business objectives?
Lighting Round Tips and Advice
Ian’s Top Sales or Marketing Advice – Use webinars to introduce your valuable content and then convert interest into paying customers.
His Favorite Productivity Tip – Use SaneBox to regain control of your inbox. It learns to only put priority emails into your inbox, with everything that can wait going to the SaneLater folder. later.
A Quote that has Inspired Ian’s Success – “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” by Andre Gidé
Key Take-Aways
- Strategy is the logical starting point for any aspect of marketing, including the selection and use of content marketing tools
- Google Analytics – Free tool for learning more how your content is accomplishing its objectives.
- Google Keyword Planner – Free tool for determining the content your audience wants to learn more about.
- Edit Flow WordPress Plugin – More than a WordPress editorial calendar. Use it for team collaboration.
- BuzzSumo – Handy tool for discovering the popular content on your site and others. Use the backlinks tools to connect with influencers.
- Ahrefs – Analyze the source of valuable backlink sources to improves your SEO.
- Hootsuite – Well known tool for social media sharing. Learn how to get more from it from Ian’s recent article.
- BufferApp – Publish content with a click to be scheduled for peak periods for reaching your ideal audience
- Feedly – Content curation tool for subscribing to blogs and sharing to social media and additional applications for consumption and curation.
- Yoast SEO – Powerful free WordPress plugin for optimizing your content for search.
- Dlvr.it – Handy for automatically publishing content to every major social media channel.
- Zapier – Easy to use tool for connecting and automating web apps for accomplishing tedious tasks.
- Brand24.net – Social media brand monitoring and analytics.
- Talkwalker Alerts – Described as the best free alternative to Google Alerts. Use it to monitor your personal and professional brands online, as well as anything else that matters.
- Learn more about Ian at RazorSocial and connect with him on Twitter at @iancleary
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About the Author: Jeff Korhan, MBA, is the author of Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business and host of This Old New Business podcast.
He helps mainstream businesses adapt their traditional growth practices to a digital world. Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Google+