Instagram Guides Best Practices – How to Turn Your Posts into Articles Worth Sharing

Oh, Instagram guides. 

One more content opportunity to showcase your knowledge in the field and highlight your community. This time, free of all the SEO pressure. So you can write as naturally as possible and finally focus on educating without other restrictions.

From now on, you’ll want to consider how your Instagram posts will look like as you add them to a guide as well. Solid branding and similar topics are now key to reusing content within Instagram. 

So if you’re already repurposing your articles or lists and turning them into social media posts, I’ve got good news. It’s that much easier and logical to create Instagram guides.

Whether you’re already running a successful blog or currently rely on your social channels alone, I’ll show you exactly how you can turn your Instagram guides into articles and resource lists people will want to share.

Create a series

If you already have a solid social media strategy in place, you might stick to some themes or series of posts. For example, Monday could be “Tip Day” while Tuesday is used for a product feature and weekend days are dedicated to showcasing customer stories. If you’ve been posting Monday tips on the same or similar topic, you can easily turn that into a guide.

The Parents Instagram account is doing that by referencing their posts on distinct topics like anti-bullying, back-to-school, or thriving as a family:

With this in mind, you’ll want to have multiple of your next Instagram posts around the same idea. Use Friday to share 6 new fashion trends, tips on coping with loneliness, or just a couple of productivity hacks. Then add them all up to put together your unitary guide.

How Often Should You Blog? – Blog Post Frequency Recommendation

I’ll just start by letting you know this is going to be a rather long post [and lots of images!] compared to its on-point findings.

I will take you through multiple blogs from all kinds of industries so we can identify primary trends and preferences when it comes to how often we publish articles on our company blogs.

Spoiler alert: There’s no common rule that says companies from the same industry need to opt for the same post frequency.

I’ve chosen my own approach to analyze hundreds of blogs that are actively publishing content in order for us to get a realistic look at what a successful content schedule should look like.

The short version on how often you should blog

Yes, I know you don’t have time to read it all. So if you just want the key ideas of this post, here they are:

👉 Every company has a different content publishing pattern so relying on what your competitors are doing is not a solution. Find your own goals to define exactly what types of posts you’ll incorporate into your content strategy.

👉 Most brands have adopted a blogging schedule based on the resources they have. More in-house and freelance writers = more content.

👉 Companies who are not able to produce written content on a regular basis turn to filling their blog with other media such as podcasts and videos.

👉 Blogs and writers with evergreen content pieces that rank for several years regularly update their articles and even republish their posts to bring more attention.

👉 Blog post frequency remains one of the least important factors to take into account when crafting a long-term content strategy. Consistency, CTAs, quality of research, promotion, and freshness are just a couple of the elements to pay extra care to.

Read on to see exactly how often other blogs post and what kinds of content they prefer to focus on in their strategies. [Plus, a couple of my own secrets. 😉]

So how many blogs should you post every month?

How to Create an Editorial Calendar For Your Startup – A Quick Guide

While medium and large companies often have a complete marketing team to backup their content research, startups often have to start their content strategy on their own. 

One of the hardest feats to achieve when creating an editorial calendar without prior experience is to maintain consistency while also catering to your readers’ needs and using content to reach your various goals.

So I’ve used my own expertise and reached out to other content professionals to help you create a winning content editorial calendar from the moment you set up your blog.

I’m taking a systematic approach so you won’t just guess what topics you need to cover and how to create an editorial calendar.

Expectations for creating your first editorial calendar

These are the goals you have or, in other words, what you want to get out of putting effort into content creation. Marketing and business targets in general are closely related. But different startups have different goals so going with the approach your competitors have taken isn’t always the best path to take. 

B2B and B2C Case Studies – Who Does Them Right [Tips Included]

I’m here to speak only the truth:

Most case studies out there suck.

Even professional case study writers seem to create them just for the sake of delivering something to their clients.

What does a bad case study look like?

It’s just that type of article or PDF file that’s literally a boring interview with your client. Always the same questions, never any true insights.

That’s why most people don’t read case studies anymore. They simply lack value while they focus on shooting their features and services forward all too often instead of educating and teaching readers how to use a product or service. So readers just drop the case study halfway through without even getting to the important part: the results.

I’ve literally gone through all B2B and B2C companies I could think of and selected the ones that nail their case studies.

The guide will focus both on the business and client segments since the mistakes case study writers make are roughly the same. I’ve also included customer success story examples and other unique ways of promoting a client’s results. The goal is the same in all cases.

From over 1,000 brands reviews, only 40 made the cut. Without further ado, here are the case studies that won’t make you yawn:

Mailchimp

Case study tips:
• Stick to sharing only information and details that are necessary.
• Pair everything with a video.

They were my first case study “idols” so I had to start with them.

Customer success stories are everywhere on Mailchimp’s website and social media platforms. On their blog, videos [with their very own original series on YouTube], Facebook page, and other resources.

Let’s take a full look at one of their case studies:

• 

Short. Sweet. Straight to the point.

Your Go-To Guide To Email Marketing For Hotels

82% of all travel bookings are made online.

This is all you need to know to understand how important your online email marketing strategy can be for your hotel business.

While you might already be familiar with how important doing hotel email marketing is, it’s now more imperative than ever that you know how to do it right too.

Through this guide, I’ll help you put together a step-by-step guide to creating your next hotel industry newsletter.

The benefits of doing email marketing for hotels

To establish your own goals for your hotel newsletter, you must first consider each benefit of email marketing. This will help you create your first list of elements to include in the next email series you’ll send to your future guests.

Here are the top 4 main benefits of email marketing in hospitality:

Drive revenue, profit, and awareness 😍 for your hotel

An email marketing campaign immediately extends your hotel’s online presence. By starting an email list you’re already creating a straight path to possible guests who are genuinely interested in your hotel or destinations. An email is in many ways similar to a one-on-one advertising experience. You’ve got your potential guest (commonly referred to as a lead) and your offer.

A perfect chance for you to put your best foot forward, highlight unique experiences, and differentiate yourself. All this results in extra revenue and possibly higher profits if you’re able to showcase your top-tier facilities. Add in a couple of contests or just an article that’s worth sharing and you’re instantly boosting the awareness of your hotel.

Some hotels even keep their hospitality newsletters online so you can check any updates at all times if you’re interested.

Note: For an optimal brand awareness campaign, combine your email and social media marketing efforts. Spread the Instagram love!

Showcase unique experiences or accommodation opportunities you offer

There’s a very slim chance that your future guests will check out every nook and cranny of your website for fun events, exclusive offers, optional trips, and all the like. Even more so when guests are working with an agency. They might now even know about that gorgeous room you offer with a private pool and seaside view.

Sending regular emails as a small reminder will help you get all these in front of them.

Are You Pretending to Love Work? – The Hustle Culture and False Expertise

Disclaimer: The comments below don’t apply to all workplaces and life situations. Change your tab if you’re a die-hard hustle supporter and come back in a couple of years.

A while ago I started a Reedit thread on how inhumane the hustle culture was.

Here’s what someone wrote:

My friends and I were talking about this today. Someone at his company committed suicide just last week and he’s still processing it.

We’re all working in tech in various fields and we were noting how fragile everyone’s mental health was. My UX designer is constantly in tears. My senior PM is often in the toilets crying.

I don’t think the picture is clear black and white, but I’m finding times much more stressful and when I look around me there’s a lot of anxiety and depression.

I hear news of workers committing suicide at work or on the basis of work at least weekly. But they happen DAILY if not hourly. Here’s a list of suicide rates by industry.

This alone without all the stress-related stats is enough to open our eyes to how huge the problem is. But are we aware of this?

I don’t have any numbers, yet from what I’ve seen, most of these people are over 30 which could mean they’ve been stuck in a rut for years and haven been postponing it. That’s just an assumption though but worth thinking of.

What we need to remember though is that these “numbers” and “percentages” are real people. Like you. Like me. Like us.

Low pay.

No job security.

Long work hours.

No free time.

Workplace bullying. [Yes, it’s still a thing.]

Overexertion.

High workloads.

Burnout.

All issues which start with management, specifically poor leadership. Not counting the 12.5/100,000 managers who are just slaves to the culture. I’ll get to this later.

It starts with a global system

Unfortunately, the current life system is keeping people stuck in jobs they don’t like and don’t want to do just because they need money. Simply put, they’re afraid they’ll go broke. In turn, they’re too scared to quit, too scared to say anything, to scared to keep living.

This also creates a false illusion that people are just obsessed with working.

A world where everyone is busy and everything they need to do at work is important. By nature, humans don’t value work alone. You love other things too, not just proactively contributing to the business world.

Life Advice, or How You Can Use It for Your Career

Or how everything you’ve ever been told is tied to your work.

But first:

A case against the 9 to 5

Live life your own way.

Do what you love.

Take time to spend with your friends.

Control your success.

All of these are crumpets of wisdom we’ve heard at some point, but how well do they apply for most of us?

We’re all ultimately caught up in a rat race for life or death, resorting to the typical 9-to-5 job that will make our rent and put food on the table.

So where can you fit in some freedom?

Truth is we’re all essentially different human beings. And it’s already a common fact that the same work schedule or environment does not work for everyone. I’ve previously tackled the issue of different career paths you can take in life and the same diversity applies when it comes to your schedule and life choices that gradually add up to help us fulfill our dreams.

⛅️

The original vision around the 8-hours of work/day was proposed to bring in balance (equal time for work, downtime, and sleep) and, believe it or not, it was much welcomed considering people were working 10+ hours. And in physically demanding jobs.

If we take a quick look at the past we can make a simple presumption that if people where working 10-18 hours/day during the Industrial Revolution, it’s really about time for a change to happen in today’s age too.

What kind of change?

Tilting the balance towards people’s wellness. No more trying to put work in perfect equilibrium with the rest of our lives. For many people, there just can’t be such a thing. 8 hours + a few more for commute and errands drains us day by day, leaving you with literally zero time to actually do something worthwhile for the remainder of the day.

There’s More Than In-Office and Remote Career Paths to Choose From

The general debate when talking about career paths is always around remote and regular office work.

But there are so many other opportunities people have already taken advantage of to improve their work lives.

Freelancing, entrepreneurship, side gigs, book writing, dog walking, recording audiobooks, volunteering, research studies, or just simply crafting something and selling it occasionally.

Just think about this yourself for a second or ask a couple of your friends. Most of them will have some kind of an idea as to what their ideal “way of making money looks like”:

“I want to work on an island.”

“I am a nomad at heart so I want to spend each year in a different country.”

How to Save Money When It Comes to Your Digital Marketing Efforts

The thing I like talking about the most is saving money. But instead of writing a boring post on how you can set aside 60% of your income, I decided to put together a quick guide to reduce the costs when creating your digital marketing budget plan.

Here are my best tips for reconsidering how you allocate your budget for marketing this year:

Do you really need that tool?

Everyone’s paying for editorial calendar tools, social media monitoring software, and even writing optimization or reporting add-ons. A small or medium business website won’t need to spend money for these.

There’s honestly only a few tools you’ll really require to run your marketing campaigns. Google Analytics (free), Google Docs (free), Google Sheets (free), an email marketing platform like Mailchimp (free up to 2,000 contacts), the MozBar (free), and a tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush. You can even do without the latter ones if you mix a bunch of other free tools like LSIGraph, Google Trends, AnswerThePublic, and SEO analyzer software like SEO Site Checkup, Alexa, SEOptimer, NeilPatel’s SEO Analyzer, PageSpeed Insights, Pingdom, or the Google Search Console.

Did you know that a larger percentage of the marketing budget for most companies goes into paying for software and not paying the employees?

The key is to pair them all together. Don’t worry though. You only have to do SEO audits every now and then to stay updated so this won’t take away much of your time.

You can also check out my visual guide to SEO if you’re not yet familiar with the field.

Or you can just use the default SEO audit option under your browser’s Developer tools:

Cool, so where do I keep my editorial calendar?

AI in Digital Marketing? It’s Already Well Beyond Reality

Artificial intelligence will inevitably be all around us one day. At work, at home, on the street, maybe even in our dreams.

Heck, it’s already everywhere.

So should marketers be preoccupied with learning all about it?

To a certain extent, definitely!

“But AI is so, you know, for techies.”

🙄 No. You’re already using it actively to begin with. So I’m sure you have some kind of understanding of how it works. You just don’t know it yet.

Fancy buzzword or not, it’s definitely not something that should intimidate you.

I don’t even need to list a bunch of benefits. Just keep this in mind: Google’s algorithm is AI itself.

Making recommendations – Nearest neighbor classifier

One central use of AI ( data mining and machine learning in this case) is for creating predictions and recommendations for your clients (done using the nearest neighbor classifier if you want a fancier term).

This type of system is commonly used to select songs, videos, movies, items, or other types of content that’s already similar to what one user is commonly searching for. The principle behind this system is that a user is more likely to click on items that are similar to previous searches, thus matching his/her interests.