Top Marketing Blogs This Week: Eliminating Jargon, Updating Your Social Profiles And More

There was lots of good stuff floating around the web this week! I hope you’ve got a cup of coffee, tea or whatever you like to curl up with on a relaxing weekend morning because you’ve got some reading to do. Tons of good stuff about social, with some email and even a bit of web advice thrown in… you’re bound to find something good here, so learn, enjoy, be inspired!

Is Your Website A Jargon-Free Zone?

Written by Marty Diamond

Jargon is one of my pet peeves… kind of like the phrase “pet peeves”, but oh well. You don’t need to list any of the dozens of cliché words or phrases to know exactly what I mean: you visit a website, you read some long-winded sentence about leveraging profits for synergistic relationships and the only thing that goes through your mind is, “Whu?” Marty nails this with an added twist: he asks whether you realize that what you’re saying is jargon. Some jargon is obvious but some is a byproduct of the fact that we know what we’re talking about – but that doesn’t mean our customers do. Read this for an eye-opener about how jargon can be more than what you think it is!

Read the article at diamondwebsiteconversion.com and follow Marty’s company on Twitter @DWebConversion

A Social Media Profile Is Like A Direct Mail Piece – 4 Ways To Optimize

Written by Robert M. Caruso

Quite possibly my favorite quote of the week: “Friends don’t let friends be eggheads.” If you spend any time on Twitter, you know what that means! And how often do you follow and engage with eggs, hm? I can tell you that for me the answer is never. Robert makes a great comparison between social media and direct mail. It may not seem obvious, but we use the same visual cues to sort the mail as we do to “sort” people. Egg? Trash. Logo? Hm… maybe. Cute guy? Sure! That’s why it’s important to be sure that your social profiles reflect you in a way that will encourage and entice people to click/like/follow/take whatever other action you may want. Read this for some act-now ideas for getting your profiles up to speed and keeping your image out of the trash.

Read the article at steamfeed.com and follow Robert on Twitter @fondalo

Are You In Social Media Overwhelm? Of Course, You Are!

Written by Shelley Webb

I love social media but I’ll be the first to admit, it’s making me a little crazy. Check this, answer that, update this, respond to that… now! And now! And everywhere! GAH! Just writing that stressed me out. If you feel a little pushed-and-pulled by social media, you are certainly not alone. Shelly cracked me up with this post because she opened with something we’re all familiar with: the supermarket. Used to be, you could go and buy a box of your favorite crackers. These days there are the original crackers, the salted, the low fat, the oil-roasted, the garlic-flavored, the extra crispy, the whole grain… and all you wanted was a cracker! She makes a great point about finding “the thing” that works for you and sort of tuning out the rest. Read this if you want a chuckle and also some good advice for cutting down on the over-stimulation.

Read the article at onthewebbsocialmedia.com and follow Shelly on Twitter @ShelleyWebbCSO

Social Media ROI: It’s Possible With These 7 Metrics

Written by Kathi Kruse

Just this week I wrote a post about this very topic, so this one seemed like the perfect complement. So many people struggle with how to measure their social efforts. They jump onto Twitter or Facebook usually because someone told them to, then they get there and wonder, “Now what?” And then they post a lot of updates without really knowing why or to what effect. It’s understandable – after all, social media is relatively new and much of the information about using it for marketing is a lot of cheerleading without a lot of substance. But that doesn’t mean you can’t measure your return! In this post, Kathi gives you seven ideas for doing just that, in simple, straightforward terms that won’t overwhelm you with spreadsheets or big-corporate words like “cost per acquisition”. Read more if you want to start measuring your efforts today.

Read the article at krusecontrolinc.com and follow Kathi on Twitter @kathikruse

Infographic: Why Email Subscribers Unsubscribe

Written by Jim Dougherty

Infographics are awesome because they can aggregate a lot of information into a readable and fun format. After a lot of weekend reading, a bit of visual can be a welcome reprieve! And the good ones – like this one – have some great stats and tidbits you can really use. Here’s a tidbit: 50% of email subscribers think your content is boring! Ok, maybe not your content… but… maybe. Jim also adds that giving people an incentive can work wonders for your list-building efforts. Check out some of these interesting numbers and see if you have anything to add from your email experiences.

Read the article at leaderswest.com and follow Jim on Twitter @jimdougherty

Enjoy your weekend, and Happy Mother’s day to all the moms and moms-to-be out there!