However, there is a line of thought today that Twitter is a dying cause for content marketers and that content marketers should move on to bigger and better things.

The major basis of this line of though is that Twitter growth has stagnated in recent years. Between 2015 and 2016, the numbers of monthly active Twitter users has remained relatively stable at between 304 and 310 million.

And even before that growth since 2013 has been slow. If new users are not joining Twitter, then many people think the next event to occur is that Twitter users will give up and move on to other, newer social media options that are more trendy and exciting.

The question is, will this happen? And should content marketers move on to a bigger and better cause?

The reality is more complicated than a simple predicted trend. While Twitter user growth may have plateaued, this does not mean that it is the beginning of the end by any means. In fact, Twitter and the NFL recently announced a streaming partnership for Thursday night football.

This exclusive partnership is a sign that Twitter is nowhere near finished and content marketers should not be so quick to dismiss the power that Twitter still has to disseminate content and build an audience.

Of course, there are some causes for concern that Twitter may be a problematic content marketing choice because it may put too much focus on engagement with irrelevant audiences.

Twitter has the ability to take a single tweet and make it go viral, meaning that is spreads all across the internet and reaches a huge audience.

The issue is whether or not this translates to an increase in sales. And this is where content marketers may have a problem.

The correlation between Twitter engagement and actual sales is difficult to track. You may have thousands of re-tweets on Twitter but only a slight uptick in sales (or even none at all).

Twitter can be a difficult content marketing option to justify spending time on for this fact alone. Other sites may offer better tracking metrics and a more tangible correlation between sales and engagement.

Now that you better understand the issues pertaining to content marketing and the use of Twitter, you can decide for yourself and your business whether or not Twitter is where you want to focus your marketing efforts.

Do you use Twitter to promote your work or your business? Let me know in the comments section below.

The post Twitter and Content Marketing: Dying or Holding Strong? appeared first on Crowd Content - Blog.

Instead of allowing yourself to be overcome by all of the online communities with no idea of how to discern one from the other, get to know the top three most important characteristics of a successful online community.

Only then, should you find and/or build an engaged and scalable online community.

Characteristic #1 : Excellent Content

The first vital characteristic of a successful online community is one that has excellent, relevant content.

Without providing the members of an online community, your audience, with consistently high-quality content, the community is dead in the water.

Be sure that when you’re creating an online community, have relevant, value-added content and update regularly.

For example, if your business deals with skincare, then you will want to regularly add content about new products and procedures that can help your community members keep up with the latest developments and changes in the industry.

You also need your content to flow, and have proper grammar and formatting to be taken seriously.

Characteristic #2 : Group Members Who Actually Care and Participate

Of course, high-quality content alone is not enough to make an online community successful.

You need community members who are able and willing to engage with that content, ask questions, and even post and promote their own content.

Your community members need to be passionate about the topic that the community is based on. If they are not active and passionate in the community, then you will not have the collaboration and discussions that you want from your online community.

There are a few ways you can ensure this. When people join your online community, you can have them fill out a type of application so that you have community members who are truly interested in the subject matter and who want to participate and be a part of it.

Why?

Because online communities are one of your best opportunities for membership and customer engagement.

Characteristic #3 : Content Variety and Community Features Will Make the Difference

You don’t want your online community to fall into the ranks of all of the white noise on the internet.

As such, you want to keep your content style fresh and unique. This means you cannot just post blog posts with bulleted lists every time you add content.

Instead, try varying your content with audio, videos, images, and charts and graphs to keep everything interesting and visually stimulating.

Additionally, offering unique community features for your online community can help bolster membership and success. Features such as badges and points for contributions can help encourage participation and improve engagement for any online community.

Now that you know the three most important characteristics of a successful online community, you can be sure that any community you join or create has these features and you get the best online community experience possible.

What are the important characteristics that you look for in an online community? 

Let me know in the comments section below.

The post What Are the Most Important Characteristics of a Successful Online Community? appeared first on Crowd Content - Blog.