BI Revolution

Crowdfunding's real explosion will come at the enterprise level when combined with advanced loyalty and gamification.

I'm so excited to announce that my next book, The Freaks Shall Inherit the Earth will be out very soon (March 17thEarly April in the USA, and not sure for other countries). This book is quite diffe...

You Are What You Measure
The old cliché is true - in content markeitng you are what you measure. This morning my friend Phil Buckley (@1918) shared a nice compliment on G+:

"I'm always impressed by the different ways +Martin W. Smith slices and dices his data to find the actionable nuggets."

Appreciate the compliment and thought I would share a view into how my content marketing brain works (scary I know LOL). This ScentTrail Marketing Post does two things. First it shares how I created the post Phil was referring to: Content Mentions Social Mentions Study (http://martinmartysmith.com/content-marketing-social-mentions-study/ ).

AND

The post shares 5 New Key Performance Indicators I use to watch our content marketing at Atlantic BT (and my personal brand content under the @ScentTrail label).

5 New Content Marketing KPIs
* Daily Mentions.
* Content Type.
* Tools.
* Top 10.
* Link Efficiency Index (LE().

Use these 5 new content marketing KPIs to know if, what kinds and what tools matter to your content marketing.

What about you? Do you have cool new content marketing metrics? Share them and I will curate in and share across my social net.

Thanks and happy Friday to my Scoop.it tribe :). M

We created Curagami to answer a single vexing question. What content should you create and why? Our Curagami Reports answer that question for you.

David Edelman for McKinsey

David's (@davidedelman) post on HBR is still my favorite discussion of the new conversion funnel. Turns out the new "funnel" is more filter than funnel. Edelman explains how buyers move through cycles.

Each cycle tightens (or loosens) loyalty and buying intention. The other thing Edleman's article got SO RIGHT is how the "funnel" doesn't end with a purchase. I love how David explains how purchases begin a new and almost more important buying phase - advocacy.

Most marketers build campaigns to achieve the sale. David points out that kind of thinking is old school and dangerous. In a connected and social time a sale should be the beginning of a much deeper and more rewarding relationship (for both parties). Think of conversion as a series of loops that don't END as much as intensify.

Also read David's Aligning With The Consumer Decision Journey (CDJ) to get the full force of these important ideas:
http://hbr.org/web/ideas-in-practice/aligning-with-the-consumer-decision-journey

Regular readers of my content will recognize another proof in David's work. Faith Popcorn's, "People don't BUY brands they JOIN them," has never felt more true. David's CDJ illustration (above) shows purchase = advocacy.

As Internet marketers we need help. No one climbs our new marketing Everest alone. We need the advocacy of others in the form of links, likes and shares. Even if you HAD enough money to force your products and ideas on others, and no one does anymore, spending that kind of money would NEVER be called for or pay for itself.

Advoacy comes when your customers "join" your brand and continue Edelman's loop. String enough of those "magic loops" together and you win :).