Content Marketing: Have You Read

Last night, Oreo hit it big with a real-time marketing effort that became the talk--and tweet--of the Super Bowl. The "you can still dunk in the dark" tweet was retweeted almost 15,000 times. Oreo's Twitter following, meanwhile, increased by about 8,000. The blackout post garnered nearly 20,000 likes [...]

You've no doubt heard the term "native advertising" in the past few months -- possibly far too often for your taste. Internet Week, most recently, teemed with native-ad mania; I counted at least half a dozen panels entirely devoted to the subject last week in New York.

Social media is just like ... boxing? That's the latest gospel out of Gary Vaynerchuk, the two-time bestselling author and the man known to many as the king of social media. In his latest book, he breaks down social media strategy into five simple words: Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook.

The pressure to constantly push out content can be high, but publishing for its own sake is a recipe for disaster. Communications consultant Craig Badings explains how a methodical, quality-first approach can win respect and clients. I've been involved in corporate communications for 25 years and still see companies treading the path of mediocrity with what they say and how they say it.

" 6 TITANIC SURVIVORS WHO SHOULD HAVE DIED." " THESE 9 NAZI ATROCITIES WILL MAKE YOU LOSE FAITH IN HUMANITY." " 5 INSANE PLANS FOR FEEDING WEST BERLIN YOU WON'T BELIEVE ARE REAL." These are just some of the lists that the comic strip " XKCD" recently joked would result from retrofitting the twentieth century's most newsworthy events with modern, Internet-style headlines.