Lex Russell
Why do content marketers constantly feel cold? They’re surrounded by drafts.
Joined March 2021
About
I am currently a Digital Marketing Specialist at AQUILA Commercial in Austin, Texas. In this role, I act as the in-house content manager producing, editing and managing content for the AQUILA Learning Center. I also lead AQUILA’s social media campaigns, social advertising, I coordinate all corporate and client events, and so much more!
We are in the process of hiring a content manager (early stages.) One thing I want to make clear is that reading books is an important part of the job. If you were to put together a list of books that would help a content manager thrive in the first year, what would they be? Maybe one book a month. So, give me your top 12.1. They Ask, You Answer (Obviously.)
Lex Russell
More reference than reading: Strunk & White's Elements of Style and a subscription to the AP Stylebook (if you're using AP Style)
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AQUILA is looking to hire a new video producer to join our TAYA-focused marketing team.The right candidate for this position will be a skilled video producer and editor with the ability to find and create stories across a variety of topics. You’re comfortable with different types of video - from property and neighborhood spotlights, to tenant and influencer interviews, to educational content for the AQUILA Learning Center. You will be...
I'm curious about everyone's thoughts on this Reddit thread: Tell me why I'm wrong: Organic social media is a waste of time (B2B)Our team (we are in the commercial real estate industry) has been doing a lot of restrategizing for 2022 and we keep getting hung up on our organic social media strategy.I've spent a lot of time analyzing our audiences, engagement, etc. on each platform and have (kind of) come to the conclusion that our social...
Hey Content Managers,I'm working on a new lesson for IMPACT + and I would love some input from you all.The lesson will be about how to proofread and edit blog content before publishing.I want to hear some of your tips and suggestions for a smooth process that helps your content go from the messy first draft to the polished, educational gem that wows your audience.Here are a few questions I have:
- What does your process look like between your...
Agree with Hemingway but I don't use it as much as I should! I also always use Grammarly but I've noticed that Grammarly only really works for people who already know grammar and AP Style basics (you have to know when Grammarly is wrong).
Hello! Not sure if this is the right place to post this but here we go!
I've been at my current company for about 2.5 years. Since I've been there, WordPress updates and WP Plugin updates have never been prioritized. I've been trying to fight to get them updated as I know it is a security risk and I understand it could break our website if they get TOO out of date.
I'm now in a position to make recommendations on how to move forward. The...
I've been at my current company for about 2.5 years. Since I've been there, WordPress updates and WP Plugin updates have never been prioritized. I've been trying to fight to get them updated as I know it is a security risk and I understand it could break our website if they get TOO out of date.
I'm now in a position to make recommendations on how to move forward. The...
Hello all!My name is Brittany and I have recently became the full time marketing assistant and Videographer for Vermost Insurance Agency. While creating content is something I've done for a while now, marketing is a whole new challenge that I am learning as I go.I am looking for a program that can help me schedule social media posts across multiple platforms, that also has capabilities to track KPI's, website clicks and anything else that...
We use Hubspot for Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn and Later for Instagram and I have no complaints. At my previous job at a marketing agency, we used eclincher, hubspot and tweetdeck. Hubspot is always the easiest for me to use and track with.
I will say some things we do post natively on LinkedIn just because it's easier. And we have been using the LinkedIn curated post feature a lot to get our sales team to share our posts.
I will say some things we do post natively on LinkedIn just because it's easier. And we have been using the LinkedIn curated post feature a lot to get our sales team to share our posts.
This could be a huge SEO consideration moving forward for YouTube and video creation.Are you utilizing chapters in your videos? How can you optimize your strategy to implement this? Would love to check out your channel or examples you have seen that are using chapters well!
Lindsey Auten
We actually haven't been! We talked about it before but just haven't had the bandwidth to really do it. But, I sent this article to my team members today and am hoping to start testing it out!
I've always used dark mode in all my apps, email, google sheets etc. and it has rarely been an issue (although, I do use outlook's switch to turn on light mode in emails often).But, I know Google Chrome has been rolling out dark mode for their browser to users (my fiance had it before me so I thought it might be user testing) and now with my update this morning, all the websites I visit are in dark mode and I honestly prefer it this way.So...
Interesting report out recently about Spotify's podcast revenue. Spotify has been gaining more and more market share in the podcast realm for years now — and it seems to be paying off: ad revenue jumped by 627% in Q2.
As listeners, subscribers, podcasters, and marketers, what's your take?
Are ads ruining podcasts?
Is marketing on podcasts something you're exploring?
Connor DeLaney , I know you're a podcast lover. How about you, Liz Murphy...
As listeners, subscribers, podcasters, and marketers, what's your take?
Are ads ruining podcasts?
Is marketing on podcasts something you're exploring?
Connor DeLaney , I know you're a podcast lover. How about you, Liz Murphy...
I'm always curious about how effective podcast advertising is because I always skip the ads/commercials on podcasts.
We briefly explored the option of advertising on local podcasts but ended up going a different route. I'm interested to see everyone's thoughts!
We briefly explored the option of advertising on local podcasts but ended up going a different route. I'm interested to see everyone's thoughts!
Ever since the core web vitals Google ranking update was announced, I have been trying to get our website up to speed (pun intended). In the beginning, I did a lot of research, tried to find out if I could fix things myself, and then ultimately found that the outside website team we use would have to perform updates.
This website team has been working since March to try different fixes for our website to improve our LCP and CLS scores. They...
This website team has been working since March to try different fixes for our website to improve our LCP and CLS scores. They...
One of the things I find to be equal parts fascinating and completely frustrating is the "inside baseball" side of SEO. There's this whole world of seemingly super technical stuff that influences how well our ideal buyers are able (or not able to) discover the content we're creating for them.And yet these stories are often shoved aside or dismissed as being irrelevant.This story is just one example. It's easy to think that stories about...
This is my first time hearing about this so nice job jumping on the topic
Liz Murphy
! Honestly, at this point, I am overwhelmed by this info and its implications. But, surely if the links are relevant and you aren't putting wayyyy too many it's fine, right? Hmm might need to come back to this later.
Liz Murphy
! Honestly, at this point, I am overwhelmed by this info and its implications. But, surely if the links are relevant and you aren't putting wayyyy too many it's fine, right? Hmm might need to come back to this later.I'm someone who loves to read business, leadership, marketing, and overall Professional books 24/7 however I've been challenging myself to read other books recently to try to balance things out and not burn myself out on professional reads.
The two books that I've been really enjoying are Billy Martin: Baseball's Flawed Genius & The Bomber Mafia.
So I'm curious, what books have you been reading that are moreFunreads vs. Professional? How...
The two books that I've been really enjoying are Billy Martin: Baseball's Flawed Genius & The Bomber Mafia.
So I'm curious, what books have you been reading that are moreFunreads vs. Professional? How...
I'm guilty of reading too many books at once but right now most of my focus is on:
"Don't You Know Who I Am?": How to Stay Sane in an Era of Narcissism, Entitlement, and Incivility by Ramani S. Durvasula.
The book is super intriguing but she also has a super interesting YouTube channel as well where she explores narcissism and other issues.
We've been doing a book club within our marketing team at my company but tbh it's been feeling more like a chore since books usually aren't one size fits all for differing roles. We just finished The Power of Moments and I have mixed feelings about it!
Search Engine Journal did an awesome round-up of what to expect in GA4, with new reporting features and updates that are especially useful for marketers using the tool!From this quick recap, it seems like it's bringing a lot of helpful tools that users have been asking for! Have you read the article? Check it out and share what you're excited about :)
I'm curious if anyone is actually using GA4? From what I've read (mostly on reddit tbh) most people hate it, but maybe these new features will help that. I tried it out but was honestly a bit lost. I might need to refresh in some of the GA courses I guess!
I'm looking for a talented Content Manager to join my team!
It's the perfect opportunity for someone who loves writing, editing, optimizing, and watching your content efforts drive sales.
Check it out if you or someone you know may be interested
https://www.ziprecruiter.com/jobs/accent-computer-solutions-inc-b747a890/content-marketing-manager-67b94ab8 P.S. this job description will look VERY familiar to those who've watched the "How to hire...
https://www.ziprecruiter.com/jobs/accent-computer-solutions-inc-b747a890/content-marketing-manager-67b94ab8 P.S. this job description will look VERY familiar to those who've watched the "How to hire...
Is there a remote option? I know someone that might be interested if so!
We recently ran into an issue where we had to completely rebuild our lead scoring (somehow we had 181 filters in our Hubspot Score property and for some reason, it only now said we could only have 100).
I built out our new scores based on categories and it is now much more insightful. But, since we are a B2B company, I was wondering if it could be useful to create a lead company score?I know you can add/subtract points based on a company's...
I built out our new scores based on categories and it is now much more insightful. But, since we are a B2B company, I was wondering if it could be useful to create a lead company score?I know you can add/subtract points based on a company's...
I'm re-reading Discover Your CliftonStrengths by Don Clifton and think it could be cool (for those who have taken the assessment or not) to share what your strengths are and how you feel they factor into your day-to-day success!Here are my top five strengths:
1. Strategic2. Achiever3. Significance4. Competition5. Command
I always need a goal to be working towards and a reason to get there sooner than later, I love to lead and play an...
Is purchasing the strengths finder test alone (without the book) worth the $20 for the top 5? You made me want to know what mine are!!
I remember taking it in college but of course I can't find my results now :(
I remember taking it in college but of course I can't find my results now :(
If you've read They Ask, You Answer before, then you know the importance of writing comparison articles for your prospective buyers.As I work to put together an upcoming comparison article, I want to get some inspiration (and give you the opportunity to flex your They Ask, You Answer muscles) by sharing some examples you and your team have created!When you share, feel free to include interesting info about the article, including:
- What did...
Not sure if you’re looking for purely comparison articles or best of articles. So why not both?
We don’t have a lot of purely “comparison/versus” articles when it comes to our services.
Here are a couple that may be slightly relevant:
- No, we don’t sell office furniture. But, this is mostly a search play for people looking for office space. We appear to be on the first page for “commercial furniture leasing” but there are a lot of keywords we should be better optimizing for. (Adding this one to my list to audit this week!)
- Since we are a local firm, a lot of our content is focused on the city of Austin. If companies move here, we potentially get business. So sometimes we are selling our city rather than our services - but this supports our goal of being the people who know Austin best and our tagline - No One Knows Austin Better.
We have quite a few “best of” articles based on our different service lines/specialties, all linked at the bottom of this main article: 8 Best Commercial Real Estate Companies in Austin, Texas
I can’t speak to their initial creation since most of them were created before I was hired.
But, one of my big goals this year is to audit all (lol) of our blog posts and I actually check in on a few of these last week.
8 Best Commercial Real Estate Companies in Austin, Texas: this one is ranking for pretty much everything we want to be on the first page for in regards to people searching for firms and is #13 on our most-viewed article list!
The rest of our “best of” articles linked in that one aren’t really ranking for anything and don’t have many views, I probably need to play around with the titles!
Hi!We've been making a lot of videos that require us to purchase voiceovers for each one - which can get expensive.Does anyone know of any voiceover websites that offer subscriptions (similar to what you can find for background music, photos, etc.)?Or, does anyone has experience finding one voiceover artist to become your company's voice? Or know where to look for one?We're open to any and all ideas if anyone has run into this same...
I've been on a bit of a reading binge and wanted to share some books that I've been reading in May. Yes, by binge, I mean borderline craziness!
What books have you been reading this month? Any recommendations we need to pick up? Let's hear it!
Professional
What books have you been reading this month? Any recommendations we need to pick up? Let's hear it!
Professional
- [In Progress] - Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall Rosenberg
- Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko Willink
- Marketing Made Simple: A...
Professional:
Our marketing team has been doing a book club and we're currently reading The Power of Moments by Chip & Dan Heath. (We read their book Made to Stick before this one.)
Besides that, I just bought The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People but haven't made it past the intro.
I also started re-reading How to Win Friends and Influence People. I read it in college for a class and told myself I was going to re-read it once a year because, even though it was originally published in 1936, the concepts are still so valuable today. But, it's been at least three years since I last read it...oops!
For Fun:
I use the term "fun" very loosely for this one but I've made it about a quarter of the way through Crime and Punishment recently. It's supposed to be one of the best books ever written but I am struggling through it to be honest. It's definitely a change of pace from my usual fun reads.
I also had a friend recommend The Silent Patient and plan to knock that one out one weekend hopefully!
Our marketing team has been doing a book club and we're currently reading The Power of Moments by Chip & Dan Heath. (We read their book Made to Stick before this one.)
Besides that, I just bought The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People but haven't made it past the intro.
I also started re-reading How to Win Friends and Influence People. I read it in college for a class and told myself I was going to re-read it once a year because, even though it was originally published in 1936, the concepts are still so valuable today. But, it's been at least three years since I last read it...oops!
For Fun:
I use the term "fun" very loosely for this one but I've made it about a quarter of the way through Crime and Punishment recently. It's supposed to be one of the best books ever written but I am struggling through it to be honest. It's definitely a change of pace from my usual fun reads.
I also had a friend recommend The Silent Patient and plan to knock that one out one weekend hopefully!
I noticed a new (at least new to me) feature on our company LinkedIn page that lets you recommend curated content for employees at your company to share on their personal profiles.In the analytics for your page, I believe you can see who shared these posts, which of their connections interacted with those posts, etc.One of my big goals has been to try to get our brokers (we are a commercial real estate firm) to share our articles, resources,...
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