It was the shot heard ’round the hipster blogging world on Monday when it was announced that Yahoo! was buying super-stylish blogging platform Tumblr for a cool $1 billion. For marketers bent on über visual blog creation, Tumblr has been tops for years. Unlike any other blogging channel, Tumblr caters to visual arts, design, memes, GIFS and, most importantly, that elusive younger demographic. So how will this deal effect Tumblr devotees and marketers? What changes can blogging-for-business experts expect? And how do Tumblr users feel about this mega branding blogging collision?

For its part, Yahoo! has loudly and proudly already vowed not to mess with Tumblr.

“Per the agreement and our promise not to screw it up, Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business,” Yahoo! said in a statement.

Yahoo! contends that everything users and brands love about Tumblr will stay exactly the same. The purchase, insiders say, had less to do with Yahoo! wanting to improve Tumblr and more to do with good, old-fashioned cash. Reports estimate that Tumblr brings in about $13 million in revenue annually, and for a sagging company like Yahoo!, this was a wise purchase.

“Tumblr in terms of users and traffic is an immediate growth story for us,” Yahoo! Chief Executive Marissa Mayer said in an interview with Reuters earlier this week.

For marketers currently rocking Tumblr for their clients, they too can expect things to stay the same. Or so Yahoo! promises. Tumblr lovers are not so sure. Longtime users/fans of the site certainly have their doubts about the merger and have naturally taken to the Internet to express their concerns. “The beginning of end” and “they’ll ruin our home” are just a few of the Negative Nancy comments left on Tumblr and Twitter regarding the news. While others compared it to the unpopular Facebook/Instagram merger of last year, some have already vowed to leave Tumblr immediately.

Regardless of how you feel, Yahoo!’s purchase of Tumblr is bound to be watched by users, blog marketing professionals and business reporters alike. So readers, you tell us: Tumblr and Yahoo — match made in blogging heaven or hell? Sound off in the comments!

Some say 400. Others swear up and down that nirvana exists at 750 and under. And still more claim that 500 is the magic number. But, honestly, when it comes to dynamic and interesting blog writing, is there such a thing as the perfect length? As usual, it all depends on who you ask.

According to Ben Austin of SearchEnginePeople, bigger might just be better.

“According to tests carried out by many a blog, rankings improve when the length of the content is increased. Anecdotal evidence seems to support this too, and if you look at the length of most posts on the more successful blogs they tend to be slightly longer and average around 700-800 words,” Austin writes. “It makes sense that Google would reward that bit of extra length too – for one it suggests an article that provides more depth and detail rather than just breezing over the topic, and at the same time it punishes content farms that almost always have a word limit of around 300-500 words (with writers almost always providing the very minimum amount of text). Apart from anything else, more content means more potential to capture the long-tail keyphrase.”

Yet others, like Susan Gunelius, blogging guide for About.com, thinks super-long posts might hurt brands rather than help.

“Most people who read blogs don’t have a lot of time or patience to read thousands of words of content,” she says. “They’re looking for quick access to information or entertainment. Therefore, you should try to write succinctly and use headings to break up long blocks of text. Make sure your blog posts are scannable and consider breaking posts that reach the 1,000 word mark up into a series of posts (which is also a great way to encourage people to come back to your blog again to read more).”

Gunelius believes that under 600 is the magical blogging sweet spot.

Personally, we think the perfect blog post length truly depends on the brand and audience. Some industries (like legal blogs, technical support blogs and medical blogs) do just fine with longer posts, while others excel with shorter, easier-to-read entries. Since we’re in a highly-scannable news industry, we like to stay under 700 words, as do most marketing blogs. Analytics are really helpful in this matter, actually. By watching what blog posts get more hits, become viral or flop miserably, we can gauge which of our blogging practices are working and which ones aren’t — and this includes post length.

But when all is said and done, it isn’t so much about how much we say but how we say it. Well-written, smartly-planned and creative content always wins readers and helps our search engine results, regardless of how big our posts are.

If your business is having a hard time making Facebook marketing work, take heart. Many companies, even many of the big guys, abandon Facebook efforts after a few months. The truth is this: Memorable Facebook-for-business campaigns take a lot of effort, creativity and time. The daily Facebook game can feel overwhelming, especially when even your best efforts are failing to yield results. Yet before you dramatically delete your page and log off of Facebook for good, here are three Facebook marketing rules that could change the way you use the social network.

Share: We’ve all ended up with “those brands” in our newsfeeds. You know, the ones who just blast us with boring advertisements and never really post anything worthwhile? The antidote to that is to share. Sharing cool images, relevant videos, important company milestones, new product photos and the like is far more interesting than just beating your followers over the heads with branded messages. Share the kind of posts you yourself would want to read and chances are your followers will want to read them, too.

Engage: “Engagement” is one of those buzzwords in Facebook management and marketing that we hear all of the time. And there’s a reason. Brands that can really get their followers engaged on social media have truly succeeded. Facebook posts that demand a response (like trivia questions or polls) get users involved, but that’s just the beginning. To dip your toes in the Facebook engagement waters, start with pictures. Photos are a simple and dynamic way to keep your users engaged. In fact, cool and talked-about pictures are 10 times more likely to go viral for a brand on Facebook than posts without images.

Interact: With social media, brands of any size have been given the golden opportunity to really reach out and talk to customers, critics and followers. Use Facebook to get consumers’ thoughts, to address changes in your business, to alert followers of last-minute deals and specials and mainly to find out what’s on their minds. Don’t have Facebook be a one-sided conversation. Use it as a tool to really get inside your followers’ minds and find out what is important to them.

Some of the best examples of blogging for business come from social media sites. Popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn use blogging to say what a million status updates and tweets could never say: more. Blogging is still the fastest and most comprehensive way to express daily the recent happenings and goings-on at your business. For example, Goodreads.com, the booklover’s social media paradise, uses its blog to keep members in the loop of all the nifty booktacular things happening on the site.

Part Facebook, part neighborhood bookstore, Goodreads users are passionate about reading, books and their favorite authors. On the site’s message boards, discussion threads and reviews users get in hot and heavy conversations about what they’re reading. Recently, the site made headlines when it was purchased by Amazon. Naysayers worry that Amazon’s corporate bent will put a damper on Goodreads open and lively discussion. Judging by the company’s blogging efforts however its hard to notice the regime change just yet. Infographics on Shakespeare, famous authors playing along in a short story game, and announcements of video chats with bestselling writers are the kind of posts Goodreads fills its blog with. The blog wisely stays on the topics of books and reading and invites users to weigh in and sound off. Letting Goodreads’ members in on the discussion is brilliant and very on brand as the sites users are famously opinionated.

But you don’t have to run a popular social media site to get folks talking. Opening the door for comments and conversations from your blog’s readers is a terrific idea any of us can do. By composing posts that ask for readers thoughts and ideas you’re not only getting your consumers thoughts but helping your blog post go viral by inviting comments. Provocative questions, opinion polls on new products and interactive trivia games using photos are just a few ways to get the comment love flowing. After all, your company is chatty and interesting in real-life so why can’t your blog be the same?

On today’s menu: a delicious Facebook meltdown, a sweet smash hit of online video creation and a delectable sampling of the best treats from the world of online marketing. So pull up a chair and enjoy a buffet we call Five Things You Might Have Missed!

1.) Kitchen & Facebook Nightmares: If you want crystal clear examples of how NOT to use Facebook marketing, how to get a reality television audience to turn against you and generally make the Internet explode, please direct your attention to Amy’s Baking Company in Scottsdale, Arizona. To say the restaurant has experienced negative backlash after an epically horrific appearance on Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares would be the understatement of the decade. Things went from bad to worse when the owners freaked out on their Facebook page and started insulting, well, everybody. It’s a branding train-wreck that must be seen to be believed.

2.) No. 1 in Twitter Marketing: Meet TweetPee, a Twitter-based alert that lets parents know every time their bundle of joy needs their diaper changed. This is either the grossest use of branded Twitter campaigns we’ve ever seen or one of the most genius. Either way, it’s Twitter for business that folks are talking about around the globe.

3.) More Social Google Goodies: This week’s Google I/O Developers conference saw a bunch of new, big-time social media stuff from the world’s most visited site. Lucky for us, Taylor Hatmaker from ReadWriteWeb breaks down the ins and outs of these innovations and what marketers need to know in a new blog post.

4.) Slingshots Never Disappoint: We’re not sure what produce wrapped in socks hurled at a wall of champagne glasses has to do with anything, but we do know that as a viral commercial for Hanes, the idea is a hit — and one worth watching. A couple of times.

5.) Snap, Crackle, WTF: On second thought, you may actually want to miss the noisy adjustments in the online commercial for Ryan Lee Chiropractic Center in Los Angeles. After all, the exaggerated snapping and popping of human body parts are just a tad disturbing. But regardless of how this ad makes you feel, it’s memorable.

Facebook marketing has produced all kinds of valuable lessons from the unlikeliest of sources. Take Hollywood lunkhead and action star Vin Diesel, for example. Not only does a guy who gets paid millions to mumble keep getting hired, he also is quite the master when it comes to selling his brand on Facebook.

Just ask him.

“What Facebook didn’t realize is something very big was about to happen, and that was — for the first time in history, and it’s kind of a fluke they didn’t see this coming — when I jumped on that page in April 2009, I started talking to people. In the realest ways,” Diesel modestly reports in a new issue of Entertainment Weekly. “Imagine if you could’ve been a Facebook friend to Marlon Brando, or whoever your role models are. Imagine, if you were able to Facebook Elvis, and talk to him, and hear from him without the Hollywood of it all. That was the Fast & Furious experience.”

While Diesel’s oversimplification might make marketing snobs snicker, the dude has a point. Facebook is still the fastest and most direct social media network for brands, politicians and celebrities. Naturally, many would argue that most celebs and brands on Facebook are having someone else create their posts. But Diesel maintains that every post on his page was created by him alone.

“Facebook used to ask me to come up to their office to explain what the f**k I was doing, and why I had so many fans,” he says. “What was unique was: I never let anyone do a post, I never let anyone post for me in the last four years. My audience knows me so well on the page that if my producing partner’s in the room when I post, they’ll know somebody was around me. That’s kind of cool, that’s how sophisticated they are. Facebook really owes me billions of dollars. But whatever.”

But let’s hear what you think, kids. Have celebrities hurt or helped Facebook marketing? Do you take to heart what a personality or brand posts on Facebook, or is it all juts a bunch of PR hooey? And lastly, what stars do you follow on FB? Sound off below!

Over the last few months, we’ve enjoyed tracking online coverage of Google Glass. Why? Well, if Google can convince the world to wear silly little computers on their heads, then the brand will have pulled off the online brand management coup of the year. And if not, the failure will give Google haters a never-ending supply of material. Either way, we loved that a reader brought this handy little infographic, which outlines everything we need to know about Google Glass, to our attention.

It’s hard not to snicker at the idea of wearable technology, so naturally Goggle Glass made for an excellent target during Saturday Night Live a couple of weeks ago. In it, Weekend Update tech reporter Randall Weeks (played by Fred Armisen) tried to illustrate how normal and easy the Glass works. Predictably, SNL’s version of the product was hilarious glitchy and hard to use.

Yet, as the infographic points out, we’ve been rocking some form of wearable technology since the 1980s heyday of calculator watches. And for all of its silly features and comedic possibilities, Google Glass does a lot of cool things, too.

“Glass is a step toward the dream of ubiquitous computing in which the Internet is available everywhere at all times without the need for interrupting the task at hand,” the infographic notes. Eye-level Internet means real-time flight status at the airport, checking the weather without glancing at a phone and turn-by-turn directions. The bumps and glitches of Google Glass are currently being worked out, thanks to a team of lucky fans who forked over $1,500 each to help in “shaping the future of Glass.” The rest of us will be able to get our mitts on Glass for a lot less dough — and right in time for the holidays.

One thing is certain: Google Glass is highly buzzed about, parodied and blogged on. From an online marketing viewpoint, Google has already won. Thousands of the devices will fly off the shelves just out of sheer curiosity. Whether Glass can outlast the calculator watch, however, remains to be seen.

This is a Guest Blog post by Emma-Julie Fox. To submit a guest blog post to Brandsplat, click here.

With the popularity of social media and its prominence in SEO today, one wonders if email marketing is still useful when social media seems to be a one-stop shop for PR, marketing, SEO and traffic generation.

People also have a general aversion to spam lurking within their email, and the abundance of it is frightening. Besides, who still reads email when they can get in touch with their friends through social media sites? Actually… a lot of people!

The fact that people need to have email addresses for work, means that a majority of paying consumers are very accessible via email. In fact as per a 2010 study, 94% of online users access and use e-mail! A more recent 2013 report suggests that 55% of marketing professionals agree that e-mail marketing is one of the most effective marketing tools.

It is agreed that social media has its own statistics to boast of, but when it comes to B2B marketing, most marketers swear by the quality of leads they get through e-mail marketing! As per a Software Advice Survey, 40% of B2B marketers said they got high quality leads through e-mail marketing.

Email Marketing – How does it work?

Before email marketing can begin, a website needs to acquire email addresses from potential clients or customers. How they get them is up to the website. Some would offer visitors the chance to receive monthly newsletters. Others offer a free E-book to download, but only if the visitors fill out a form and give their email address.

The website or the business behind it will then design an email that’s basically also an advertisement for the website. These emails usually contain graphics, images, calls to action, all combined to make an attractive package.

E-mails can also include attachments, like the promised newsletter or limited-offer discount coupons. Whatever it is that’s contained in the email, it is there to invite people to click on the links provided and visit the main website.

The emails are sent by bulk and sent to every email address gathered. Needless to say, that email list needs to be large enough to justify the entire email marketing effort.

The goals of email marketing, among others, are:

1. To make consumers become aware of their products and services.
2. Make the business and the website a thought leader.
3. Do PR.
4. Generate traffic.
5. Gain conversions.

Email Marketing’s Place in SEO Today

Email marketing is very helpful for businesses that sell merchandise and services. You’ll find, for example, that many websites selling general merchandise like clothes, furniture, gadgets, and services like SEO and virtual assistance invest time and resources for email marketing.

They are very straightforward with their message and there’s no deception. If they are selling something or offering a promo, they state it immediately in their email. In fact, as per a 2012 Blue Kangaroo survey, 7 in 10 people admitted that they had used a discount coupon offered through a marketing email!

There’s little worry that these emails will be flagged as spam because the recipients have been given the choice of whether or not to receive them. They have, in effect, asked for these emails, and the fact that they did sign up is a concrete demonstration of their interest in whatever the website is offering.

Unless a website steals the recipient’s email address, the marketing emails should be welcomed. This is one of the best things about email marketing.

Skipping Steps in the Conversion Funnel

For the consumers’ part, email marketing is useful because it lets them skip several levels of the conversion funnel and go directly to the final stage of purchase. They are presented with product information, service description, and business background. If they are interested in what’s being pitched, all they have to do is click on the link and continue with the actual purchase.

Normally, online shoppers would go to search engines and look for websites that sell items they are interested in buying. Many would go directly to online market websites like Ebay, Amazon and CafePress. Since there are many online sellers on social media sites, consumers also look for sellers there.

By contrast, email marketing presents the merchandise to the consumers and saves them the time and effort of scouting for suppliers. They don’t have to look anywhere else, and that’s very convenient.

This is an advantage that marketing officers should be able to convey to website visitors. By showing how much they can benefit from signing up for regular emails, a website can encourage consumers to volunteer for it. (It won’t hurt to hint that surprises and discount offers are in store for email subscribers.) If you can achieve that, your website’s email marketing can be very successful in fulfilling its goals.

About the author: Emma-Julie Fox writes for Pitstop Media Inc, a top rated Vancouver SEO company that provides services to businesses across North America. If you would like to invite the author to guest post on your blog please contact www.pitstopmedia.com.

Some of the most powerful companies in the world use blogging for business to reach out to new customers, communicate with employees and help create powerful web content. And every Monday, we profile one of these bigwigs in hopes of inspiring you to start an amazing blog marketing campaign of your very own. This week, we look at how outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia elevates blogging into something pretty amazing.

The byline at Patagonia’s blog simply reads, “The Cleanest Line: Weblog for the employees, friends and customers of the outdoor clothing company Patagonia.” Yet this company blog is more than a corporate newsletter or boring product pitch disguised as a blog. The Cleanest Line transforms our old ideas about corporate blogs by creating an online magazine that reads more like NPR or GOOD then a commercial for hiking boots. Journalistic in style, the writing at The Cleanest Line is high-quality, interesting stuff. By blogging about the things that are important to them — like mountain climbing, responsible clothing manufacturing practices, independent documentaries and environmental causes — Patagonia tells us more about itself as a brand in a few posts than a billion press releases ever could. While the blog does feature images, clearly the point here is to read and get Patagonia’s message.

In addition, the simple design and layout make it easy to kick back and read several posts. Again, this is surely intentional. The Cleanest Line is company blogging built on a brand’s message and philosophy and, best of all, it’s actually interesting to read and enjoy.

Marketing magazines and SEO blogs have long shouted the praises of The Cleanest Line and Patagonia’s blog creation innovations. We can easily see why. What Patagonia does so brilliantly is use its blog to provide a company narrative. This smart move is something all of us can use blogging for. Try not to think of daily entries as “Ugh! Another blog post!” but as more opportunities to using blogging to spread your ideas and beliefs. Let The Cleanest Line inspire you to take blogging to new heights.

Which brand is headed back to the drawing board? And who’s turning to their fans for hot online video creation We’ve got the answers to these questions and so, so much more in today’s Five Things You Might Have Missed!

1.) Original Recipe: We’ll never know what the Colonel would think about KFC’s new boneless chicken… but thanks to a new video campaign, we’ll soon know how fans feel about it. #IAteTheBones is the chain’s new campaign which calls for fan-created videos that show reactions to the new boneless chicken. Video entries are posted on Facebook until June 8; weekly winners will be chosen to receive prizes like t-shirts and gift cards. Five grand prize winners will also be selected to receive $1,000 and a chance to be included in an online or social media advertisement within the next year, KFC says.

2.) Curves Ahead: If you missed the hubbub over H&M’s new swimsuit campaign, don’t worry. We’ve got a feeling we’ll be talking about this photo shoot featuring a normal-sized girl for quite some time. Size 12 model Jennie Runk became an accidental hero this week when her campaign for the global clothing brand was released, drawing applause and accolades from fashion industry and marketing insiders alike.

3.) The Facebook PR 411: Lisa Buyer at Search Engine Watch published a fascinating blog post this week entitled “22 Facebook PR Secrets Every Community Manager Should Know.” Must-read tips include why you should market on Saturdays, the benefits of a positive attitude and why less is more.

4.) Watch What Happens: Sci-fi films and tech gurus alike have long predicted a super smart watch that acts like a phone, computer and social network. But according to Read Write Web, the smartwatch revolution might not happen for a while. Still, with big brands like Apple, Microsoft and Google toying with the idea, the smartwatch might be the next tech branding story to keep our eyes on.

5.) Social Media Meh: Is social media marketing lost and no longer valuable? Are we wasting our time? What brands are doing it all wrong? Kipp Bodnar ponders these concerns in a fantastic article on social media marketing that you may have missed.