Websites we follow
Innovation is key to keeping your marketing and communications fresh. Luckily for us, the culture in our team is very much ‘let’s give it a go’, which means we get to experiment all the time.
By Jenny Boden
Ahead of that — and to pitch new ideas — we have to really keep up to date with what’s going at the cutting edge of digital marketing. So from news and views to boosting click throughs, here’s what we read:
News
Mashable
Mashable is the go-to website for news on digital innovation, and has become one of the most engaged digital networks in the world with over 40 million monthly unique visitors and 19 million social media followers.
If you only have 5 minutes: Head of the Must Reads section, which picks the best, most shared, most impactful stories from the rest of the site. A quick scan of the headlines will tell you all you need to know.
Fast Company Labs
The Labs section focuses on tech-heavy news, so it can be a bit much if you’ve not yet had coffee. That said, content is always intelligent and digestible, and the design is beautiful. Getting sucked into the Create and Design sections will steal hours of your life.
If you only have 5 minutes: Pick one story to focus on, and in exchange for your 5 minutes you’ll come away with expertise in a totally niche tech hot topic.
Social media
Buffer Blog
Out of everything that falls under the digital marketing umbrella, social media is probably the area that moves the swiftest. The world has become more shareable and more connected, and Buffer gets that. Their blog concentrates on the newest social media experiments, successes and strategies, written by people who have actually put them into practice.
If you only have 5 minutes: Make more time. Reading their tried and tested content now could save you hours next week.
Hashtagify.me
If you’re looking to build a following, this website is a fantastic tool for making sure you’re tagging the right things. You can see what’s trending when, and double check tags before you launch a campaign.
If you only have 5 minutes: Sign up for a (free) account and set up My Hashtags, so whenever you log on you’ll get an instant infographic of where they’re up to.
Jeff Bullas
Want to hear from a guy who tripled his Twitter following over a couple of months? Though so.
If you only have 5 minutes: Reschedule. This is a blog for when you’re feeling fresh and inspired, and ready to write a social media strategy or schedule a month of posts.
Features and advice
Moz Blog
The Moz Blog’s roll of contributors are experts in their respective fields, which usually involve SEO, analytics, content strategies and content marketing. Great, tweetable content.
If you only have 5 minutes: Every feature is really well-researched, so I come here when I’m looking for advice on a particular topic, or want the stats to back up a change we’re considering.
Litmus Blog
As you can imagine, this blog focuses on email content and marketing. Worth subscribing to for inspired infographics, useful stats and emerging trends.
If you only have 5 minutes: Subscribe and check out the email, rather than scrolling through the blog.
Unbounce
Are your open rates in single figures? Click throughs in crisis? This is the landing page and conversion rate optimisation blog for you.
If you only have 5 minutes: There are a couple of articles you can get through while waiting for your CMS to load; some quick tips and tricks, but for the heavier stuff you need more time.
Originally published at studentcomms.wordpress.com on November 12, 2014.
