Inbound Marketing Highlights

Over the past month, I took on my first formal teaching gig. I was recruited to teach Inbound Marketing Principles and Practices for the University of Nevada, Reno Extended Studies program. My course was a part of the curriculum for the Social Media Marketing Certificate.

I found this to be a really rewarding experience and I was grateful to the University for asking me to teach. When the dust settled the other night, the course was over, and I asked my students to give me some feedback as well as what they found most valuable. In the spirit of optimization (a good portion of the class revolved around search engine optimization), I was optimizing my course. I teach it again in the Spring and I want to make sure it's the best it can be. Below are a few of the takeaways/most valuable elements from my Inbound Marketing course. I also want to thank the students that participated in my class. Those who paid attention, completed assignments, engaged in conversation and were there to learn really stood out. The class was taught in a computer lab, which meant that strong eye contact was hard to come by at times. Thank you to those of you who showed you were listening and learning.

A few takeaways from my students:

- Importance of a content calendar. We discussed the value of creating a calendar for developing content. There is value in this practice to both keep you on task and in letting you be strategic.

- Emphasis on keywords and phrases. We discussed that the base of search engine optimization (SEO) and content creation is taking the time to begin with developing keywords and phrases that you want to compete for. Once those words and phrases are decided upon, they can guide your content creation and that dedication will help you focus on those terms. If that's what you want to be found for, to perform for - then focus and put your efforts into those terms.

- 52 ideas for content creation. I shared 52 ideas for content creation with my class. It's easy to freeze up with anxiety when you're staring at the blank slate. 52 ideas provided for an idea every week for a year.

- Importance of a clear call to action. If you want people to do something, be clear about it. Develop a clear call to action. This helps convert visitors to leads and leads to customers.

- Seeing the full cycle puts the efforts into perspective. I referenced the full inbound marketing cycle. I defined the stages of the cycle as the following: 1) Build your base 2) Create killer content 3) Monitor 4) Make it easy to discover and to share 5) Convert 6) Measure everything and evolve. Obviously, there's more to each stage than the simple title.

These are just a few of the takeaways. I got a lot of positive feedback and some great ideas for offering even more in subsequent courses. Look for an opportunity to join me in the Spring - I'd love to have you as a student.