Raidious is hosting an open call for content correspondents. Our company continues to grow, and we need talented correspondents with broadcast journalism and social media experience.

Can you answer YES to all of these questions?

• Are you able to work independently with care?
• Are you patient and skillful with detail work?
• Fully adhering to well-defined processes to produce high quality results?
• Do you enjoy a steady pace, open environment requiring attention to detail?

If you can, then we have the position for you!

We are Raidious and we are an interactive marketing and communications company. We are purpose-built to produce content and manage dialogue for our clients brands. We have a casual, open work environment.

We have a position to join our team as a Content Correspondent. You will be responsible for delivering high quality content for Raidious clients. This content will be executed on time and on strategy at the direction of the Account Producer and Head of Publishing. This position will work out of our downtown Indianapolis, Indiana office.

Successful candidates will bring the following:

• Bachelor degree
• Minimum 1 year experience
• Strong writing skills
• Proficiency with web publishing tools
• Proficiency with image editing
• Ability to work a flexible schedule
• Ability to work independently
• Attention to detail
• Video editing a plus

Here is what you can expect in return as a Content Correspondent:

• Competitive hourly wage
• Business mileage and business expense reimbursement
• Opportunity to work for a successful, growing, casual company that rewards strong performance

If you are ready for the challenge and reward of our position, please fill out the form below.

Raidious has engaged ADVISA Hiring to identify the top candidates for this position. Per their request, please direct all communications about this position to the address above. As we will be communicating with you through this and other advisausa.com and advisahiring.com e-mail addresses, please be sure to take the necessary steps, such as adding this address to your address book, to avoid having correspondence caught in your e-mail filters.

Let’s face it… you are likely over capacity.

The online landscape has changed and so has the way we all do business today. If you are a marketer, you’re probably getting requests from the executive level DEMANDING that you get your multi-channel strategy together ASAP. To them, this is a reasonable request. But to you, the already stretched thin marketing director with a 3-4 person team, this request has just put a major kink in the marketing strategy you finalized a month ago! How do you scale your team to meet the demand?

The problem with the request is the misunderstanding of what it takes to run a multi-channel campaign. In the eyes of the “boss” it is as simple as setting up a few tools, slapping a logo on it, and letting the masses fill your pages with comments about how they love your brand….but you as a marketer know better. Oh, and by the way, there is no more budget. It’s ok though, because Facebook and Twitter are free… right?

If only it were that simple.

The questions going through your head are most likely

• Who is going to do all of this work?
• When we are at capacity, how will we scale?
• Where am I going to get all of this content?
• When will we find time to tackle this?
• What will our strategy look like?
• What will we write about?

If you are in this spot and feeling completely overwhelmed by this monstrous stack of tasks that have unknowingly been placed on your desk, you are not alone. But don’t fret, there are options. This scenario is the exact reason Raidious exists. In short, we can do all of this work for you.

We are structured and staffed to alleviate the capacity problem for your brand. Today there are many companies out there that can help you identify your strategy but few who will actually do the work for you. It sounds great in theory but it doesn’t solve the problem. You need doers. You need humans. We all know that the only resource for content is PEOPLE. But not just any people. You need professionals who understand how to write content. But it doesn’t stop there. You need people who can write content for the web, in the voice of your brand, in real time, in a way that marries your brand to your consumer, to the world. These people are not interns, junior level marketers, or friends of a friend who is good at Facebook.

It’s not rocket science. It is the simple truth. Employ the right people or partners to just “do the work” and you will look like a rock star to that executive team by growing your audience and bottom line. No sweat, no worries, just proper management…it is just that simple.

There seems to be a common misconception when it comes to the subject of analytics. Many marketers see this as “the boring stuff”. Not nearly as fun or sexy as making content and managing engagement initiatives. Unfortunately this kind of thinking can allow you to lose your audience. It’s a science experiment, folks. You have to experiment and measure results or you’ll never understand how your content is affecting your audience.

I understand that I’m one of  few individuals that actually enjoy spending the majority of my day elbow-deep in charts and graphs and spreadsheets – and as hard as it is for me to accept this, not everybody has their monthly bounce rate metric memorized. For some, analytics reports are confusing and many don’t understand how they connect to business objectives. These folks almost seem to dread analytics discussions (“Is this meeting over yet so I can get back to what I was doing?”). However, it never fails to save the conversation when I explain to them that this data is simply their audience telling them exactly what they think.

Most companies would kill to be able to ask every single customer and potential customer what they want. Analytics is simply a window into that world. Looking at audience data month over month, year over year can paint a rich, detailed picture of what content connects with an audience, when they are most receptive to that content, how much content they want from different sources, and even how long they want to spend reading it. It’s all there.

All web analytics is the study of the effectiveness of content. Let me repeat that a different way:

Every online measurement is a measurement of how effective your content is – not how effective your platform is.

Without content there is no reason to engage, and thus no audience to analyze. However – content without analysis is like driving blind. Sure, you’re moving forward, but wouldn’t it be nice to know where you’re going, and how to get there? And if anyone else is coming along?

Spending just a little time each month with your analytics can allow you to fully grasp the effect of your content on your audience, and to be able to hear what your audience is telling you through their browsers. Despite all the technical jargon, it’s not any more complicated than that. Take a look. Who knows, maybe you’ll get as excited about declining bounce rates as much as I do!

Raidious can help with analytics for social media, email, websites, and more – contact us today and we’ll tell you exactly what your audience wants you to know.

Related articles

• 5 Vanity Metrics to Stop Measuring (And Better Alternatives) (hubspot.com)
• Measuring The Effectiveness Of Content Marketing and SEO (mediapost.com)
• 5 Things You NEED to Know About Your Website Visitors (bloggingtips.com)
• Why Your Audience Is More Important Than SEO (preciseinternetmarketing.com)

This week’s tip is for those of you struggling to manage your brand’s social media efforts on a daily basis, and finding that the work is time consuming, and monotonous. The solution is simple, “think campaign.”

In order to see the true benefits from managing your brand’s social media pages is treat it like any other marketing or public relations campaign. Start with research and planning. Learn where your targeted publics are located, and how they are using social media. Use that knowledge to create your plan.

Next, implement your strategy and measure along the way. Follow the strategy you set forth, but don’t be afraid to change directions when needed. Stick to your brand’s voice, but don’t be afraid to change your content strategy if you’re not getting the engagement or reach you’re looking for.

Once you’re into a solid strategy you’ll find that scheduling content in advance becomes easier, and if you’re campaign is done well, you’ll begin engaging with customers in an organized fashion that’s never been possible in the past.

If you’re current social media strategy is to turn on your computer and do a few posts each day, then it’s time to start focusing on developing a plan that looks out more well into your future rather than the next 24 hours.

REVIEW:

1. Research
2. Develop A Plan
3. Implement Your Strategy
4. Stick to Your Brand’s Voice
5. Don’t Be Afraid to Change
6. Measure

Static hurts. We’ve all experienced the shock we get when there’s too much of it. We actually had to buy a humidifier over at the Raidious Control because it’s like we’re one big magnetic force every time we move and every time we touch something in our new office. Anyway, without a doubt, static is not good. (Sidenote: We ARE still electric. *winks*)

Well, static electricity is comparable to static websites. We live in an ever-changing, fast-paced society, especially on the web – we’re all forced to go with the flow or get left in the dust. As the web has evolved, it saddens me to see static websites that haven’t. You know, the ones that just sit there and never change. The ones that have the exact same copy on all the same pages as they did in 2007. I mean, does that make you want to keep coming back to their site? My guess is probably not.  Been there, done that.

So, I pose the question…if you and your business are constantly changing, evolving, and growing, then why wouldn’t your content and website follow suit?

Now more than ever, businesses are looking to vertically-focused organizations like Raidious to help them. Content strategy and constant web change isn’t typically something they have time to do, nor are they fully aware of how content really shapes the web landscape. If you don’t have the knowledge or the time to do it, hire someone. But don’t just stay stagnant.  You risk falling behind, or worse yet, falling out.

Avoid the static flow:

If you were just beginning to look into this, the first step would be to go in and really take a look at the content on your site and make sure it is catering to your customer. Take a content audit. Is the content easy to understand? Is it relevant and valuable to the customer? Is it optimized for web searches? (In other words, do you have keywords in your content about your services and are the pages tagged correctly so Google or Bing or any other search engine can properly index them?) Is there too much content? Is there too little?

Create content that is helpful to people, that make customers or prospects want to come to your site to see what’s new and learn about things that can help them. If you’re their trusted resource, then the chances of them going somewhere else are slim. If you’re not giving them information and creating stories they can relate to, someone out there is.  Give your audience what they are looking for.

One of the number one ways to create content is through writing blog posts or articles that your customers can understand and relate to. Give them advice.  Write about life. You’re beyond your business, so this is a place for people to get to know you and your company better. This is a place to highlight, to talk, and to share new stuff on a “not-so-corporate” level.

That’s only the beginning and I hope you are starting to recognize where square one is. Look, this web stuff can be tricky but to Raidious, it’s all we know and all we do. If you have any questions, let us know, but whatever you do, don’t risk the static flow.

Creating content without a sound strategy is about as effective as entering into a feather throwing competition. No matter how hard you try and how sure you are you have the right methodology, everyone will still pretty much end up in the same place. Success and failure will be determined by things outside of your control.

Brands no longer simply have websites: they have an online presence. This is an important realization because at every point of that presence there is content. Even if there isn’t a company blog or a Twitter account, someone is probably writing and tweeting about them. Online, content is your product and how effective it is depends on the strategy.

Jeremy Baldwin breaks down a more holistic definition of content strategy into three parts:

• Editorial Strategy (themes and topics),
• Content Strategy (organizing and managing), and
• Content Marketing (drive conversation and engagement).

These require a cohesive group of people with different skill sets to guide and monitor the message at every point of presence. Think of your content as being the narrative of your brand. There must be a cohesive synergy between all platforms including interacting with people on social channels. There must be a consistent story or message being told at every step.

Janet Aronica has a great write-up on tracking metrics analyzing this narrative, as does our own Matt Chandler regarding Social Center. Feedback from these services will help answer the ultimate question of online content: are you giving the audience what they want? This isn’t a yes or no question. The answer must be to what degree is it effective and what can be done to make it better?

One thing that can greatly affect how far content goes is the medium by which it is presented. People can learn the same information in very different ways. If your posts aren’t seeing the traffic you think they deserve, try getting the message out in a different way. Try a short video or podcast, or turn it into a diagram. Don’t tie the message down to a single distribution method; it has to be free to move and grow through different venues.

It is a good sign that the industry as a whole is seeing how much value and time are lost when content is just thrown aimlessly around, hoping that it magically “goes viral,” and have instead embraced sound content strategy as a workflow. The more quality content being produced the better, and the better strategy there is for following and tracking the more people will learn from the bevy of knowledge being produced. This also means that the time for a comprehensive strategy is now, as more brands are implementing these ideas all the time.

I’ll be honest: I sometimes struggle with creating content dedicated to driving sales for business-to-consumer clients. Not that it isn’t fulfilling or that I don’t believe in what I’m putting out there; it’s just that finding the right voice to talk to the customer can be taxing and is particularly difficult when multiple companies are offering the same product.

For example, let’s say I’m writing for a retailer about televisions which the customer could buy from Best Buy, Target, Amazon, Walmart, and so on. It can be hard to create effective content when I’m living between two worlds.

There is one world that is the seller. They have a product or service that needs to be bought or they go out of business. They offer content as a marketing tool to reach a new breed of customer. This customer is doing research for themselves and using online content (reviews, blogs, etc.) to help make informed decisions.

The other world is that of the buyer. The buyer could be at any stage of the customer life cycle when they interact with a blog, a tweet, a status update or a video.

I really started thinking a lot about this when I wrote a recent blog post for Raidious, and I created this diagram:

Click to enlarge

That sweet spot in the middle is what I’m aiming for, producing for a customer that also takes into account the seller’s goals. But compare this to a website that isn’t as focused on driving sales but is instead solely focused on getting hits and being an authoritative voice in their field. Their content diagram would look something like this:

Click to enlarge

It seems like the deck might be stacked in their favor when it comes to creating engaging content. Their success or failure is measured in time, eyes and clicks; mine is measured in time, eyes, clicks and action/dollars. That means my content must be more focused, more engaging and more monitored to create more value because in the end we are asking for more from our customer.

In a fantastic article Are Sales Pitches Dead in the New Buyer Economy?, Tony Zambito writes that buyers are responding to four things that companies are providing online: Networking, Educator Role, Media Integration and Advisory Role. I particularly jumped on this Educator Role statement:

“…companies today must see themselves in the role of educators because buyers are expecting to learn a thing or two. And if they are not learning anything at all, well, you will have no value to them.”

Educating the audience is the key. In other words, focus on telling the buying message. Take an educational voice about the product or service you are marketing and give the buyer information that will drive them to you when they are ready to buy. Call it Brand Journalism if you want, but if you aren’t trying to educate about the brand as well then you are probably not creating content that is going to drive sales–at least not where you want them.

Educational content for brands has to be more than one call to action and a name drop hidden inside block of text that is not successful for the client.

I find myself fighting against the desire to create content like the second diagram but justifying it by throwing in a shout-out for the client as an afterthought. The problem with doing that is the content runs the risk of becoming indistinguishable from other brands selling the same product. I call this the Interchangeable Void; if your information is too generic it becomes relevant to all brands and is much less effective.

Content should be organized by a strategy that revolves around multiple customers at the same time. The customer who is in the early stages of buying is part of an audience that is scattered around multiple sites researching a lot of content from different sources at the same time. Then they begin to narrow their focus to a few sites offering specific and relevant information. Being able to produce content that fits both of these stages greatly increases the effectiveness of it in terms of end sales. If your content is too generic and interchangeable they might be using it solely as information gathering. If you are not educating the customer into the next step, you could simply be helping someone else make the sale.

You have to educate not only the product but your brand as well. What makes your brand so special? What do you offer that no one else does? These are the questions you must answer. Educating and informing across the customer life cycle is the key.

There are many different perspectives on social media marketing. Everyone has a unique strategy, or theory when it comes to communicating your brand message online. We at Raidious are no different.

Raidious broke social media into three main categories that describe exactly what you need to be doing for a successful social media campaign.

#1. Content

At Raidious we believe that content is king regardless of the platform. Content is anything you post on your pages in order to interact with your customers. This could be a Facebook post, a tweet, photo, video, link, etc.

Developing the content strategy that works best for your brand takes time, and it requires plenty of listening. In order to know what your followers want you to talk about, you must first listen to them. Create content, and then track it using tools like Social Center. If no one is interacting with your content then try something else.

#2. Monitoring

Monitoring means listening. Put simply as possible, it’s listening to the internet. Create search terms and monitor them for mentions of your brand. This includes blogs, social, forums, news sites, etc. Any time your brand is mentioned on the internet, you should know about it.This is how you find out what is being said about your brand, whether positive or negative, in order to know how to manage your online presence.

#3. Moderation

Moderating could also be called Monitoring Plus. The whole point of social media is the ability to interact with your constituents. You create a piece of content with the goal of getting your followers to comment, like, retweet, and reply. Your ability to continue the conversation is key, so post responses to comments and thank your supporters for retweeting and being great advocates for your brand.

If you’re only doing one of these processes for your brand, then your social campaign needs some tweaking. Remember, social media is social. Engage in the conversation to create advocates.

I have been noticing a little phrase being thrown around a lot recently, and that is Context is King. Many seem to feel it is the next evolutionary step for the Content is King adage. The distinction they are trying to make is that content is meaningless if it exists outside of a well-defined and implemented context.

Really? This is Earth-shattering news? Isn’t that the same as saying “Content isn’t King. Complete sentences on a meaningful topic in the right location is King.”

The truth is if you aren’t concerned with context then you aren’t creating content … you’re simply typing. If content creation isn’t taking into account context from the beginning then it has already lost. Sort of like the tree falling in the forest question: Is it content if no one reads, sees, follows or (most) importantly) is engaged by it? Content creation doesn’t exist outside of its context; they are intimately linked, one directly impacting the other.

Context and content need to be created with the goals of both the reader or viewer and the creators taken into account, making sure both are adequately represented. This is done by first deciding what you, the creator, wish to achieve. Do you want to sell, educate, inform, market, differentiate, etc.? Then you must take into account what your readers want. Do they want information on your company or products? Do they want to learn about the industry? Do they even want to be sold to right now?

In other words proper context is created when the goals of the creator meet with the goals of the reader/viewer/follower. And inversely, good content is created when you know what context the reader/viewer/follower is looking for and create to that need.

They both work toward the same end; how effectively or ineffectively they work depends on understand the relationship they have with one another. This comes from planning, review, research and a quality system of writers and editors who understand this dynamic and work to implement it, not work to try and dismiss one element in favor of another.

If you’re in marketing, odds are good that this week’s issue of Ad Age is sitting on your desk, in your briefcase, or in your mailbox. It’s the annual Digital Issue, a special (and  widely-read) edition of Ad Age, focusing exclusively on the fast-moving world we live in every day, known as interactive / digital / web / online marketing.

Raidious put a special message in this year’s Ad Age Digital Issue: just a little reminder for all you CMOs, VPs of Marketing, Social Media Managers, eMarketing Managers, and other digital marketing junkies. Turn to page six please. Then contact us!