Best Marketing Stories of April 2016

I wanted to share with you the best marketing stories of March 2016. The idea here is to collect the best marketing articles so that you don't have to do the hard work.

Now, I understand, this is a near-impossible–if not completely–impossible undertaking, as I can't read everything. But I've been in this game long enough to know who the respectable parties are and they are the sites I visit first and foremost and the bulk of the content I “roundup” here will come from a handful of trusted players.

And don't worry – I'll keep you from reading the crap in the internet marketing world. God knows there's a lot of it. And there are more than a few shady characters.

Without further ado, here are the best marketing stories I found in April 2016.

Google AMP vs Instant Articles

Tamas Torok is quickly becoming a favorite writer of mine. He wrote this post about the differences between Google AMP and Facebook Instant Articles. I didn't think they really had anything to do with each other, but they do.

They both are focused on the mobile user experience. It's a good idea to familiarize yourself with both these services. This is a great article to help you do that.

Source: http://blog.momentum.ai/comparison-accelerated-mobile-pages-vs-instant-articles

Web Hosting Services Explained

THIS is a great article (many parts, in fact) about choosing a webhost. But it's way more than that. It gets “into the weeds,” so to speak in a way that even beginners can understand.

The series covers all aspects when considering hosting, ranging from types of websites, to different hosting options (shared, VPS, or dedicated), to email hosting and forwarding.

It's really a must-read if you're just getting started. And, hey, I even learned a few things!

Who says you can't teach old dogs new tricks?

Source: http://firstsiteguide.com/web-hosting/

Content Is No Longer King

John Jantsch, the author of this post, says,

[su_quote]No matter what growth channels you decide to pursue, content is your ticket to entry.[/su_quote]

This statements seems to contradict the title, but it doesn't. Here's why:

John also says,

[su_quote]Now, before I go much further let me say that by content I mean, long, deep, dramatic, useful, dare I say epic, educational content. Again, in this regard – less is more. The days of writing 500-word wispy blog posts three times a week are over. They certainly served a purpose four or five years ago (hello SEO) but no longer. Today you are better off writing one or two epic posts a month and using them as a tool to power every channel. (That’s good news, right?)[/su_quote]

The point: Content still matters. But it's quality, not quantity that will make the difference.

There are some really great ideas in this post around promoting your content, which is the most important piece today when it comes to content marketing. Think 80/20 – spend 20% of your content marketing time creating the content and 80% of your time promoting the content.

Moral: Write great content. EPIC content.

Source: http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog/content-key-growth/

How to Get Your Ideas to Spread with Influencer Marketing

Use this one to piggyback onto the last article. Remember, content promotion nowadays trumps (ACK!) content creation. After all, if nobody consumes your awesome content, then what good is it doing you and your business?

Right?

One of the best ways (maybe the ONLY effective way) to get your content seen by the people you want to see it is through influencers.

This article, by Ash Read, over at the Buffer blog, is a great piece to learn how to apply this influencer marketing concept.

Source: https://blog.bufferapp.com/influencer-marketing

Top Social Media Trends That'll Change Your Business in 2016

First off, I'm a BIG fan of Post Planner! I love the service. It's really helping me with my social media marketing and engagement.

All that said, they are not only great for the above, but they also publish incredible content of their own. In this article, Rebekah Radice shares the top trends in social media for 2016.

This one is a doozy!

Video will only continue to grow, for one. And she talks at length about – guess! – influencer marketing. Read the article to get the rest of her knowledge about upcoming and emerging trends in social media.

Source: https://www.postplanner.com/blog/top-social-media-trends-that-will-transform-your-business/

That's it for the best marketing stories of April 2016. Look for another Best Marketing Stories Roundup at the beginning of June.

If you have a marketing story you want to share, send it to me on Facebook. Either post the link on my wall or hit me up on Messenger.