The week's hottest content marketing news No Images? Click here Your weekly marketing industry round-up: 3/2/17Hi there, In honour of the incredible ‘RoguePOTUSStaff’ Twitter feed, I’ve gone rogue myself for this week’s newsletter, lifting the lid on what really goes on in the Future Content offices. You’re the only person who knows it’s me, though, so don’t tell anyone, okay? Jokes aside, there are a couple of remarkable things about the rogue Twitter feeds being set up by US government agencies (side note, how cool does RogueNASA sound?). The first is how they’re using Trump’s favourite mouthpiece against him, lifting the lid on the government in a way that we haven’t seen before. The second, and more prescient message for all of us - agencies, brands, businesses - is the power of personnel. The individuals running these accounts are going completely off-brand and off protocol to spread their message. Trump’s policies are not ubiquitously popular (to say the least), but rarely do so many staff make a conscious decision to speak out in such a strident way. Trump is not helped by his arrogance, his ego, and his disregard for anyone who disagrees with him. The result? Disenfranchised staff. There’s a lesson here for businesses and marketers in particular. Obviously, don’t be a dick, for one. But, more subtly, a great as your marketing strategy may be, you cannot control all of the conversation around your business. Social media means anyone can say anything about you, and that includes employees. With so much focus on generating new business and delighting existing clients, you can sometimes forget about these most important of assets. As Richard Branson says: An organisation is only as strong as its people... Being friendly is a no-brainer, but what value add are you giving staff? Content can help. A great employee experience on day one can be backed up with personalised bits of content - perhaps a video or leather-bound, employee handbook tailored to them. Open communication is key so think about producing a monthly staff newsletter. Give staff the freedom to be a part of the content process themselves - encourage them to contribute to the blog, hold social media takeovers a la Bristol-based CRM agency, The Real Adventure. Feature them in videos or regular talks (if that’s their thing). Allow them to explore their passions within work and showcase that on your website. If someone’s into photography, for example, use that to your advantage. It’s not about controlling the conversation and demanding people fall in line, that sound far to Trumpian. It's about creating an environment where your staff want to talk about you for all the right reasons. You want rogues, but good ones, not bad. Let’s call them pro-gues. I’ll get my coat. Hey, ignore that awful compound-word, and get your viewing gear round the best of the week’s content, plus a couple of procrastinatory favourites from each of us, too. Enjoy. Essential readingRIP Instagram via Mashable How Much is Social Media Costing You Each Week? Via Inc P&G’s Marc Pritchard has made the biggest marketing speech for 20 years by Mark Ritson for Marketing Week Creative agencies, avoid the gimmicks and get to action in the next four years via The Drum 2017 Digital Trends Report via Adobe and EConsultancy’s (You’ll have to fill a form in. Totally worth it.) Additions to the five journalistic "W"s via the New Yorker The Data That Turned the World Upside Down via Motherboard No, Big Data Didn't Win the U.S. Election via Bloomberg Our personal recommendations92,000 articles are published every day*. Don't just add to the noise. Our Content Healthcheck will assess if your business is truly content ready *via Moz |