Here are 4 ideas I found especially intriguing:
1. Hire journalists.
He said journalists are his favorite people because we can “blend the art of storytelling (literature) with the science of reporting (journalism).” Amen brother. I could not have said it better.
Beyond that nice pat on the back, the craft of gathering information through interviews and other sources, preparing it and sharing it with targeted digital audiences is essentially New Media.
2. Focus on your target audiences.
This is standard practice. McCracken divided this category based on the primary audience, secondary audience and tertiary audience. I was interested in his advice to set objectives for your content, such as "getting revenue or generating excitement." My goals for this blog are to generate sales, especially for my consulting services, and to educate my audiences.
3. Use visuals.
Video and photos generate more interest, McCracken indicated. Check out this Yahoo! eye-tracking study about the way people browse webpages: http://goo.gl/pxzO. It will be helpful in developing your content.
4. Promote your content.
McCracken touched briefly on search engine optimization and social media for promotional purposes. He said he planned to delve deeper at the next Meetup.
Some practices I found beneficial are: sharing content on Twitter and other social sites, paying attention to the uniqueness of each platform and speaking the lingo accordingly. Another tactic is to use highly searched keywords.
More Resources
The Zen of Social Media Marketing by Shama Hyder Kabani
I heard Shama speak at a Social Media Club of Dallas event on 4.22.10. I bought and quickly devoured The Zen. It's a must-have because it's practical and filled with effective case studies.
World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers That Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories by David Meerman Scott
This summer my brother turned me on to this book and it's a gold mine because David's ideas are fun, first of all, and unique. He, too, says "hire a journalist." Yay!