In my blog a few weeks ago, I discussed some of the pros and cons of running a distributed company—a way of doing business that is becoming more common than not. Having been in a remote working scenario for a number of years, I’ve learned which tools are required to ensure daily operations run smoothly.
There are plenty of reasons to include social media in your marketing and content marketing strategies. We’ve published blogs about the topic (it’s true, social media IS more than cat videos), and this Hootsuite article shares 23 short synopses as to why a social media strategy is more than smart business.
However, having a reason why doesn’t necessarily mean you get the job done—or at least done in the most effective way.
He was one of our greatest digital visionaries, but when Bill Gates released his “Content Is King” essay in 1996, I doubt he could have forecast just how vast content’s presence would be 22 years later. We’ve transitioned from Gates’ view of online content as a burgeoning entertainment and news medium to its permeation into every aspect of our online experience—including marketing.
White Space Marketing Group is a “fully-distributed” company. A term coined in 2010, a distributed company is one without a centralized office and with staff working from a variety of regional, national, and even international locations. What used to be a Silicon Valley trend, is now a common occurrence for companies of all sizes and in a wide variety of industries. Whether based in small Missouri city or bustling New York City, distributed companies are here to stay.
Prolific Automattic, the makers of WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Jetpack, Simplenote, VaultPress, Akismet, Gravatar, Polldaddy, Cloudup, and more, boasts 694 “Automatticians” in “63 countries speaking 80 different languages.” White Space isn’t nearly that large (yet) but we have the same advantages and challenges all other distributed companies face.
Running a successful company sometimes requires priorities that actually conflict with one another. Time and again I’ve encountered a current of tension between processes that generate creativity and those that build efficiency. If the tension isn’t mitigated, one will dominate, slowing the drive to the overall goal.
Tomato, tomahto; potato, potahto is one thing, but the Yanny/Laurel debate took us to a whole new level of social dichotomy.
By the time it had hit its viral peak, celebs were cat-fighting. Age-old friends were battling. Marriages were in danger of dissolution. New York Magazine editor Madison Malone Kircher summed up her thoughts in a telling tweet:
The concept of blogging has had a relatively short history when compared to other forms of content, but its rapid growth is impressive nonetheless. What started as a lone college student’s “personal homepage” in 1994 has become a standard content vehicle, with the total number of blogs in existence estimated to surpass 440 million worldwide.
No, that’s not the headline of my Tinder profile.
Fast, good, and cheap is my wish list of every deliverable I’ve ever asked for, and will continue to ask for. Get it to me fast. Get it to me good. And don’t make me pay a lot for it.
Blogging is a key part of a company’s content marketing strategy, at least it should be. From the effectiveness of compounding content to sales enablement perks, a business blog wields powerful influence for success.
In one of my other career lives, I was responsible for helping to curate the company’s monthly newsletter. Not an e-newsletter, but a hard-copy piece of paper that went into customer’s billing statements—an indication of how long I’ve been in the game.
One of my tasks was to proofread each version per market. If a mistake weaseled its way through, there wasn’t much that could be done retroactively. E-newsletters have eased that worry considerably. How many times have you received an “oops” email in your inbox?
