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Today’s brilliant content idea is to stay away from branded content, that is, content that is thinly veiled advertising, and instead create content that is focused on the needs of your ideal customer community.

One of the growing entrepreneurial trends is to start a social enterprise. According to social entrepreneurship organisation Social Traders, In Australia, the number of social ventures has grown by 37% in the past five years. If you’re in business to be a force for good in the world but you’re drowning in social media sea amongst every other company out there, you’ll probably feel massive internal pressure to raise your profile and attract the right people to your cause. But just like every other business out there, you still need to bring your ideas to market and that means employing strategies that will help you stand out and attract attention in a crowded online marketplace. One of the key things I’ve been talking more about lately is leveraging your influencer ecosystem and the more I dig into this, the more I see huge benefits for focusing on this aspect of marketing. In this episode, I give you four steps to get you started on building your own influencer ecosystem so that you can make a bigger impact with your business.

If you haven’t already heard the buzz, Periscope that enables you share a livestream video with others on the platform and it enables people to have real time chat conversations with you as you are sharing your stream. The app then also shares your stream on Twitter live. This has the potential to be an incredibly powerful tool and marketers are already catching on and using it in innovative ways. In this episode I share with you some of the things I’ve learned by participating in Periscope sessions and by my fumbled attempts to create them as well.

Many social media marketers have shied away from China, thinking that because mainland Chinese can’t access Facebook and Twitter, Google Plus, Podcasts and Google search, social media doesn’t exist. That view couldn’t be more wrong. China’s social media industry is thriving, and savvy businesses are capitalising on China's platforms-of-choice for the young, hip and wealthy. This episode gives you well-researched and timely tips on how to break into this burgeoning market by using powerful content!

Getting your podcast set up right is vitally important. You don’t necessarily have to have the latest microphone or the fanciest mixing desk but if you can do just one thing from the outset, make sure that you link your podcast to iTunes through podtrac.com. Today’s Brilliant Content Idea is to use podtrac.com to track the stats on your Podcast Show. Podtrac will give you detailed information on your audience and help you build a case for show sponsors. **Highlights From Today's Show** -Podtrac enables you to gather an incredible amount of data on your podcast show. -You can see how many people have downloaded your show, how many people have subscribed to your show, where they come from, which shows are performing best and what the listening stats are over time, what browsers and devices your listeners are using to tune in to your show and you can even use podtrac’s survey function to get even more information on your listeners. -One of the primary reasons to gather stats on your show is so that you can make a case for potential sponsors who may be interested in advertising on your show. The information can also show you what your listeners are most interested in. You can start to pinpoint trends in your show data based on the style of episodes you feature. -There is a right way to do it and it is crucial that it is done before you submit your show to iTunes or Stitcher. -On Soundcloud you need to apply for your RSS feed. You must have at least one active show on your channel. You will probably need a pro account on Soundcloud to store your shows as there are limits on how much you can feature on the free version. -Soundcloud can be a little slow to approve podcast RSS feed applications but there is a work around. Simply join the Soundcloud forum, search for the term Podcast and create a thread asking the Podcasting fairies to approve your feed. -Once you have your feed, you can set up your Podtrac account. Go to Podtrac.com and fill out your publisher information. You can add more than one show so make sure that your publisher website is your primary domain. -Select Enhanced Feed and Podtrac will give you an Enhanced Feed link. You will use this link to submit your show to iTunes. Next, you go to iTunes to submit your feed. -If there are any issues, you may need to do some trouble shooting. One trick is, if your feed is working but not submitting, do a search for your podcast show by title on iTunes. Sometimes that magically reboots iTunes into action. -Once your podcast is approved for iTunes, Podtrac will start collecting stats on your show. Over To You If you need more help with getting set up on your Podcast, please do reach out. Helping business owners get their Podcasts up and running is just one of the many things we do at Brilliant Content. What are some of your brilliant content ideas, apps or plugins you've used? If you’d like to be featured on the show, catch me on Twitter @casmccullough and also, don’t forget to check out my other podcast show, Your Brilliant Un-Career. And, if you like the show, please do leave a review! Every review helps the show reach more listeners! http://bit.ly/ybucpodcast and http://bit.ly/brillcontent

If I had a dollar for every time a business owner or marketer said they’ve tried Facebook Advertising but it didn’t work, I’d be a millionaire. In most cases businesses have done things like boost posts or advertise directly from their Facebook Page. The thing is, if these are tactics you are using, you may be paying more for your Facebook Ads than necessary. In fact, the strategy I am going to spell out for you today will completely put you off ever boosting a Facebook post again.

A recent survey by the Content Marketing Institute showed that 63% of marketers thought that live events were more effective than other content marketing methods in terms of a return on investment, including social media. Today's episode digs a little deeper into how you can use live events in your content marketing mix and what the benefits could be for your business.

One of the best tools for tapping into the thoughts and feelings of the people you most want to reach is also one of the most under-utilised when it comes to content marketing. So, today I want to explore this under-utilised tool, and that tool is music. Specifically today's brilliant content idea explores how to use Spotify to enhance your brand, particularly if you don't have a big advertising budget.

One of the key sensitivities people have when it comes to product marketing is that feeling of being sold to. Nobody likes feeling like they’re under pressure to buy, and when you’re marketing something, it also doesn’t feel very good to put the hard sell on others. As consumer tolerance shifts away from hard sell techniques, marketers can often be at a loss as to how to effectively promote their products through inbound marketing methods like blogging, podcasts, social media etc. If you are struggling with how to articulate the value of something you sell without coming across like a used car sales guy, today’s episode may be just for you. Today I’m going to give you a step-by-step template for how you can launch a product or service with a blog post.

One of the often overlooked factors in social media marketing is the incredible power of influencers. Influencers aren’t necessarily experts. They are just people with massive, and highly engaged followings. Your reach is largely governed by your community’s reach, so connecting with key influencers is key to getting ahead of the game in your niche. How do you find key influencers in your niche? Find out in this episode.

Zippy Courses is a plugin co-created by none other than Derek Halpern from the website Social Triggers. In today's show I share my roadtest of Zippy Courses and give it an honest review. If you want to add online courses and digital products to your content arsenal, listen in as I walk you through the ins and outs of this new WordPress plugin for online courses.

How do you create enticing subscriber offers that are highly relevant to the people you want to reach when they all have different needs and problems? Today's brilliant content idea is to create a subscriber call to action specifically for different needs by integrating it with a blog post. Today's episode walks you through the process.

Find out why content marketing is like backing up a trailer, why your brand should be carefully and skilfully manoeuvred into position for optimal reach, engagement and sales. In this episode, the very first in this series, you'll find out why selling directly on social media without warming people to your brand first may be counterproductive. You'll hear practical examples of how you can put the un-selling process into practice in your social media marketing and content marketing and you'll be inspired to slow down and nurture your community before pitching to them.