While doing some analysis on a client website traffic in order to form a baseline for an online marketing campaign I started reviewing some of the sources of information on digital marketing I rely on. Over the years I've subscribed to many newsletters and followed many experts on Twitter and other platforms. In recent years I've trimmed things down and have settled on a few sources. I like newsletters because it allows me to passively receive daily, weekly or monthly summaries of content that I can ignore, or quickly scan, or click through and read a full article or blog post. Twitter is too scattered to absorb passively. Instead I have to actively segment sources in to lists. Or do searches. It takes more work to glean what's important to me.
Here's a list of my favorite newsletters. Even if you don't do the marketing for your own site, you might want to subscribe to one or more of these sources so you get an idea of what the buzz is about, learn the lingo and learn about how to talk to a marketer you might be working with.
Social Media Examiner: This is a terrific source for all kinds of online marketing. Some articles are short and concise. Others are long, fairly in-depth tutorials. It's quite amazing the amount of information Social Media Examiner offers for free. As in so much on the Internet, they also offer a professional, or paid service that has even more content and interaction.
Social Media Today: This site publishes several articles daily. News and updates to various platforms as well as how-to articles are often quite good. Thee email newsletter also often highlights articles from other sources which makes it a great nexus for discovering new sources of information.
HubSpot Marketing Blog: HubSpot is a well know marketing service that sells its system and services. But its blog is free and often has valuable information, not only on marketing but productivity and other helpful topics.
Search Engine Watch: Unless you're actively using social media for marketing, and even if you are, most traffic to your site is probably still coming from search engines. It's good to keep up on what's Google and Bing are doing. Well, mostly Google. This newsletter not only covers help with making your site more findable, but sometimes provides insights into how you can make your own searches more useful.
Search Engine Guide: I've been a subscriber to this one for many years. It's only a monthly, but each article is written by an industry expert, so it's well worth reviewing. The site has interesting resources.
Not wanting to overwhelm anyone with too much information, I have left out a few scattered sources for great information. But these are quite good, and any one would keep you busy. I'm sure there are others of great value. If you have favorites, let me know.
The online world changes so rapidly, if you're actively involved in trying to expand your constituency you really have to find a systematic way to stay on top of the news, tools and strategies. Still with all this, I have yet to get a good handle on using Snapchat for marketing. I am determined! At least before it's supplanted by the next social media darling.