By Lindsay Bell
The Spin Sucks content theme for June is about customers and clients, the most important element to any business. Let’s face it, without them, you’re pretty much toast.
And it’s not just a look at customers and clients – it’s a look at everything and anything in between that helps drive customer experience.
Our webinar this week, featuring Jeannie Walters from 360Connext, is an excellent starting point if you’re wondering how – or why – employee engagement is one of the most powerful attributes your organization has when it comes to the customer experience.
Because I get to see our guest blog content well in advance, I can tell you it’s going to be a fun month, and I think there will be some great discussions – and differing opinions – in the comments section.
Speaking of comments, we would be toast if it weren’t for our amazing community. I know you’re not customers or clients in the traditional sense of the word, but we value you just as much. Your brains (and sometimes snark!) help us expand on the information and learning we share daily.
Many of you have already been guest bloggers. If you haven’t, and are interested in being among our guest blog posts, contact Jess Ostroff.
The insight and experience brought to the Spin Sucks table with your content is invaluable. We couldn’t do what we do without you. And we want to celebrate that.
So, without further ado, let’s give a special tip-o-the-hat to five of our top guest blog posts so far in 2014.
Oh, and there’s one honorable mention.
Because nothing says honorable mention like finding your name attached to an adult film!
The Top Five Guest Blog Posts of 2014 (so Far!)
- The Fathead PR Crisis Transformed by Reddit by Jesse Aaron. Take a bow, Jesse Aaron, because you nailed the number one spot! Wayyy back in the first week of January, Jesse wrote about Fathead. They made what might be called one of the greatest missteps in customer service history. They messed up an order from a sports fan, by sending…well, I’ll let you go and read all about it. It was hilarious, and Fathead rolled with it, turning what could have been a fail for the record books into a PR touchdown.
- Social Media and Brand Relationships: The Big Lie by David Jones. In the second of guest blog posts, David Jones stirred the pot a little on April 7th. He took to task one of the cornerstones of social media marketing: That people want to form relationships with your brand. As Jones wrote, relationship is kind of a creepy term and would certainly turn a few people off. The word is very personal and denotes a closeness few of us are comfortable sharing beyond a chosen few people in our lives. He maps out how brands should aspire to create connections with their customers, using a system he calls CRAVE.
- Personal SEO: 14 Ways to Polish Your Google Search Results by Andy Crestodina. April was a good month , with Andy Crestodina in to the number three spot! On April 2nd, he wrote about the importance of knowing your personal SEO; of being aware of what people see when they Google you. He lays out 14 easy ways you can take control of your Google search results. This isn’t black hat stuff, this is just making sure you aren’t getting confused with someone with a similar name (*koff* Sean McGinnis). And he provides simple tips to help you increase your Google search rankings. Your reputation is all you have. Go and read this article, and start owning – and improving – yours.
- Niche Networks: The Future of Social Networking by Leslie Campisi. Facebook is dead! Twitter is dying!! LinkedIn is changing!!! The sky is falling!!!! It seems every other day we read about the demise of one or the other of the big boy social networks. In today’s digital age, it’s possible for things to sometimes change in the blink of an eye. Leslie Campisi took the number four spot of guest blog posts on March 27th about the rise of niche networks, which take a second chair to the big guys, but are just as valuable.
- Social Media Humor: Brands, Beware by Bob LeDrew. The frustratingly long and bone shatteringly cold winter most of us just suffered through brought out some serious creativity in people. Bob LeDrew snags the number five spot on our top five guest blog posts list with his March 5th look at the dangers of using humor in your social media marketing efforts. There have been some hilarious social media campaigns these past few years, and when a brand nails it, they really nail it. But what happens when your funny Facebook update ends up rubbing your customers and community the wrong way?
- Honorable Mention: Online Reputation Management and Adult Films by Sean McGinnis. We couldn’t let this list go without a nod to Sean McGinnis’ Google search, personal SEO nightmare. He landed at a respectable number six, and working on the honorable mention of guest blog posts was the most fun I’ve had in a very, very long time. Read this . You’ll be Googling yourself in no time.
So, there you have it folks. A handy, dandy cheat sheet of our most popular guest blog posts of the year, so far.
I want to offer a huge congratulations to all of our contributors, and a massive thank you to all of you who write for us.
We couldn’t do it without you and we appreciate you!