With much of the business world abuzz about content marketing, smart marketers are taking stock of opportunities for their clients to use the power of story to convey a message and build stronger brands. Conspicuously absent from most content strategies, however, is the granddaddy of all content marketing: writing a book.

Google’s new emphasis on mobile-friendly search results doesn’t require just good mobile design, it requires great mobile copywriting–Content Marketing Institute.

Why Content Curtation Rocks SEO
The slide deck from @Scoop.it about how content curation impacts SEO is an excellent SEO & content curation primer (embedded in the post), but let’s do a deeper dive to understand how content curation ROCKS SEO and every site's Uber-Goal of creating sustainable online community.

This Curagami post creates an interesting comparison between Oprah and Amazon. One knows how to create online community one doesn't. Both have great tips to share.

Taking advantage of social media's ability to reach broader audiences is a staple in inbound strategies.

A look at the rise of curated newsletters and which of the best newsletters to subscribe to for finding awesome content to share.

The web + mobile + social means we are all about to be game developers. Those environments are so GAME FRIENDLY and game content so engaging in or out of the organization becoming game developers is in all our futures.

Tony Randall By now most internet marketers are familiar with the phrase "Content is King" but this really is nothing new. It always has been king and it always will be.

Content Curators Added To Curagami
Content curation may be the ultimate team sport. Together we are smarter than alone. As we changed our startup http://www.Curagami.com look and feel today we added a place to share 3 favorite content curators each month.

December's Must Follow Content Curators:

@Cendrine Marrouat - https://www.cendrinemedia.com

@Neil Ferree

@Brian Yanish - MarketingHits.com

Significant curators across every social net these special marketers sift a mountain of content daily so we their lucky followers are smarter, wiser and better informed. If you are NOT following Cendrine, Neil and Brian on Scoop.it, Twitter, Gplus and wherever else they contribute (blogs and company sites) you are missing the easiest way to learn content curation and Internet marketing we know.

Happy holidays to three of our favorite content curators, Scoopiteers and people. We will share 3 curators a month and won't have a problem filling up our 2015 content curation dance card.

Reorganize, Rewrite and Retire Content by Douglas Karr on Marketing Technology Blog

Over Planning Can KILL Your Content Marketing
We see a lot of experts, gurus and people who should know better sharing yesterday's advice. We've read thousands of words about the importance of goal setting, planning and objectives for content marketing.

People talk about creating content marketing calendars and planning everything to within an inch of your life. Good luck with that. Might have worked 3 years ago, but today's social / mobile / connected world means you need to become a NOWIST.

This Curagami post embeds the influential Joy Ito TED talk about becoming a Nowist by pulling from the network to meet demand. Your content needs to do the same.

AND You need to digitally listen. We riff a few paragraphs about what it means to digitally listen such as FOLLOWING those who follow you, Retweeting and curating content from your customers and brand advocates.

Next time you read 1,000 words on planning your "content calendar" STOP and read this Curagami post so you don't over plan your content marketing.

Over the past few years you may have noticed a change in the way you are consuming content. With more and more large companies looking to find ways to connect t(...)

Marty Note
Wait long enough, or in my case live long enough, and it gets to be YOUR TURN (lol). I loved this Justin Gray post on Forbes explaining that MARKETING is the last thing an online play needs.

Couldn't agree more.

I was trained in a different kind of marketing than we practice now at our startup Curagami. I was trained to invade Russia in the winter. THEN messages were few enough and far enough between capturing territory and holding it was possible.

Not so much anymore.

These days capturing hearts, minds and loyalty is the game and everything is happening all at once all the time. The skills needed to play this game, as Justin so astutely notes, are different. Here is an excellent summary of those skills from his Forbes post:

• Content creators. In an era of shrinking attention spans, the ability to craft compelling stories into engaging online content is key. That’s why marketers need the same skills as a journalist: ideation, writing and editing.

• Analysts. Marketers need to know how to extract insights from data and use it to make meaningful decisions. They also need to create models to collect data and feedback easily.

• Designers. Modern marketers must have an eye for aesthetics and be able to capitalize on trends in real time. Look for candidates who can create high-quality, consumer-facing assets at a rapid pace.

• Planners. Marketers engineer a brand’s interface with the buyer, including when, how and where they’re interacting. That means creating workflows and campaigns based on buyers’ behaviors while paying attention to other messages and campaigns.

AGREE and not just because I'm benefiting from such an analysis. I imagine EVEN if I was still working for one of the largest Consumer Products companies as I did a lifetime ago (P&G, M&M/Mars) we wouldn't be invading Russia in the winter anymore.

UNLESS, we were invading with a tribe of brand Sherpas, telling the story as we went and watching our analytics and pivoting based on what we learn in near real time.

Thinking Different = Hardest Thing
Web marketing is different, powerful and transforming. If you can adopt these 5 "Secrets" and shift thinking accordingly you can win BIG online:

* Hedge and Diversify.
* Over and Under.
* Card count & DOUBLE DOWN.
* Become a NOWIST.
* Hit 4 out of 10 = Hall of Fame.

Stop wasting time on content marketing tactics that don't deliver. This infographic reveals which types of content work best, and the metrics you should track.

Marty Note
At our startup Curagami (http://www.curagami.com) we had an epiphany. Most valuable content is THEIRS not YOURS. Testimonials rock. We knew that :). M

There is a new invisible giant using 5 "tricks" so the "new seo" is getting harder and harder to see and understand. This Haiku Deck and Curatti blog post is about how to see the invisible giant. How to win hearts and minds online.

Why New SEO So Hard To See
* Google Float & Filter Bubbles.
* Social Media Marketing's Disappearing Act.

* Friends of Friends Marketing.

* Multi-channel Marketing.

* Web's "Fabric" Like Space/Time.

Adding a Curatti blog post at midnight tonight too.

Jeff Fromm in a great post for TBJ makes Curagami's tactical marketing is dead argument beautifully. Social Media Marketing is dead & here's what's next.

The New New Marketing
There was a time before the web when "digital marketing" was somethign you did with your fingers. Then everything changed. Change came fast and furious thanks to Moore's Law - Integrated circuit POWER goes up exponentially even as costs plummet.

Once our digital world got to a certain point, let's call that point X, acceleration accelerates. Mobile throws gasoline on the social fire and gets answered by social media marketing with rocket fuel on the fire.

The resulting explosion in a kingdom called BRANDING in a land far, far away once upon a time...

Read the Curagami Story and worry less :). M

Google plus is one of the most unknown, under-utilized internet marketing tools available on the internet right now. It contains magical powers, like the ability to get your face to appear next to your search result listings in Google Search and the opportunity to network with thousands of like-minded individuals.   Many whisper that Google Plus holds the secret to future Google Search organic rankings.   At the very minimum, Google Plus is a vibrant community full of engaged users that are ready to become a part of your online audience.  It also has so much potential to become intertwined with every aspect of Google’s multiple prominent platforms.

To read the full article, click on the title or image.

Get your Free Business Plan Template here: http://bit.ly/1aKy7km

After Google's algorithm changes content is KING, context QUEEN. Online merchants who "match the hatch" of content to customers create advantage. Winning this advantage takes courage.

Courage because when one revolution happens things get crazy. When three revolutions are happening simultaneously its time to get in the basement with water and a year's supply of canned goods.

Instead of doing that we suggest reading about how content, commerce and social media can contribute to one another on CrowdFunde our startup dedicated to helping websites, brands and companies tap wisdom of crowds.

If you are going to create #contentmarketing these days it better be EPIC. There is way too much noise. Only Epic Content will do. Here are 5 Easy Steps To Create Epic Content Marketing:

* Get your C-level executives to BELIEVE.
* Think Mobile First.
* Work with customers and creating a "commons".
* COPE (Create Once Publish Everywhere).
* Write a Content Marketing Mission Statement.

Set the stage with those easy steps and EPIC is possible, epic content marketing is probable IF your commitment is strong, you learn fast and you don't mind failing a little. Remember the content you write is NOT about you.

Epic content marketing is always about CUSTOMERS. Answering questions, solving pain points and finding innovative ways to be "of service" are all great ideas for your EPIC content marketing.