Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business / Edition 2

by Ann Handley, C. C. Chapman

Overview

The guide to creating engaging web content and building a loyal following, revised and updated

Blogs, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and other platforms are giving everyone a "voice," including organizations and their customers. So how do you create the stories, videos, and blog posts that cultivate fans, arouse passion for your products or services, and ignite your business? Content Rules equips you for online success as a one-stop source on the art and science of developing content that people care about. This coverage is interwoven with case studies of companies successfully spreading their ideas online—and using them to establish credibility and build a loyal customer base.

• Find an authentic "voice" and craft bold content that will resonate with prospects and buyers and encourage them to share it with others
• Leverage social media and social tools to get your content and ideas distributed as widely as possible
• Understand why you are generating content—getting to the meat of your message in practical, commonsense language, and defining the goals of your content strategy
• Write in a way that powerfully communicates your service, product, or message across various Web mediums
• Boost your online presence and engage with customers and prospects like never before with Content Rules.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781118232606
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	05/22/2012
Series:	New Rules Social Media Series , #13
Edition description:	Revised and Updated Edition
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Ann Handley is the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, a training and education company with the largest community of marketers in its category, and co-founded ClickZ.com. She is a monthly columnist for Entrepreneur magazine, a contributor to LinkedIn's Influencer program, and Amex's OPEN Forum. There's nothing more fun than following her on Twitter, where she has 170,000 followers, or subscribing to her own site at AnnHandley.com.

C.C. Chapman is a media creator, entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and online marketing consultant. He is the founder of DigitalDads.com and the host of PassionHit.tv. For more information, please visit cc-chapman.com.

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Table of Contents

Foreword xi

Acknowledgments xv

Big Fat Overview (Sometimes Called an Introduction) xvii

Part One The Content Rules 1

Chapter 1 The Case for Content 3

Chapter 2 The Content Rules 13

Chapter 3 Insight Inspires Originality: Who Do You Want to Attract? 21

Chapter 4 Who Are You? 31

Chapter 5 Reimagine; Don’t Recycle: Anatomy of a Content Circle of Life 55

Chapter 6 Share or Solve; Don’t Shill 69

Chapter 7 Stoke the Campfire 95

Chapter 8 Create Wings and Roots 101

Chapter 9 The Care and Feeding of Fans 115

Chapter 10 Attention B2B Companies: This Is the Chapter You Are Looking For 121

Part Two The How-To Section 141

Chapter 11 A Blog as a Hub of Your Online Content 143

Chapter 12 If Webinars Are Awesome Marketing Tools, Why Do Most of Them Suck? 155

Chapter 13 What’s the Difference between an E-book and a White Paper? (And When Should You Use Them?) 171

Chapter 14 The Single Biggest Secret to Creating a Compelling Customer Success Story (Formerly Known as a Case Study) 183

Chapter 15 From Dumpy to Sexy: An FAQs Makeover 189

Chapter 16 Video: Show Me a Story 197

Chapter 17 Podcasting: Is This Thing On? 207

Chapter 18 Photographs: The Power of Pictures 211

Part Three Content that Converts: Success Stories (with Ideas You Can Steal!) 219

Chapter 19 Reynolds Golf Academy: 221
Greensboro, Georgia

Chapter 20 The Cool Beans Group: 227
Greensboro, North Carolina

Chapter 21 U.S. Army: Fort Knox, Kentucky; 231
Fort Monroe, Virginia

Chapter 22 AskPatty.com, Inc.: Thousand 235
Oaks, California

Chapter 23 Qvidian: Lowell, Massachusetts 239

Chapter 24 HubSpot: Cambridge, Massachusetts 243

Chapter 25 Kodak: Rochester, New York 251

Chapter 26 Boeing Company: Chicago, Illinois 257

Chapter 27 Indium Corporation: Clinton, New York 263

Chapter 28 PinkStinks: London, England 267

Part Four This Isn’t Goodbye 271

Chapter 29 This Isn’t Goodbye, and a Gift for You 273

About the Illustrator: Sean Tubridy 275

Index 277