Get on the Fast Track with RSS-Driven Automation.

Get on the Fast Track with RSS-Driven Automation. Streamline your content delivery program through RSS, email, and social media. Maximize reach, increase engagement, build customer trust and, ultimately grow your business. Email Marketing + Social Delivery www.streamsend.com 1 \\ Get on the Fast Track: Streamline your content delivery program through RSS, email, and social media. www.streamsend.com

Through it all, content is STILL king 91% of Business-to-Business (B2B) and 86% of Business-to-Consumer (B2C) marketers are using content marketing. - Content Marketing Institute Because 61% of consumers say they feel better about a company that delivers custom content, they are also more likely to buy from that company. - Custom Content Council 2 \\ Get on the Fast Track: Streamline your content delivery program through RSS, email, and social media. www.streamsend.com

Marketers everywhere are relying on content to build trust and grow their business. It s crucial to have a content delivery strategy that makes sense! RSS-driven automation helps you maximize reach and engagement by posting your content to the web, email, and social media every time you publish - automatically. 3 \\ Get on the Fast Track: Streamline your content delivery program through RSS, email, and social media. www.streamsend.com

Marketing automation is no longer a luxury. Smart RSS With new channels and communication options continually unfolding, it s essential that marketers adapt and implement scalable strategies for content distribution. Reach Sell Support Integrating RSS-driven automation into your content delivery plan is easy when you ve got the right tools. This guide will show you how. 4 \\ Get on the Fast Track: Streamline your content delivery program through RSS, email, and social media. www.streamsend.com

Table of Contents RSS-Driven Content Automation Page 6 Content Marketing + Marketing Automation = Powerful Results. Page 9 Automatic Publishing: Combine the Power of RSS with the Ease of Email Page 11 Increase Your Share with an RSS-Driven Social Media Plan Page 13 5 \\ Get on the Fast Track: Streamline your content delivery program through RSS, email, and social media. www.streamsend.com

RSS-Driven Automation: Maximize your content, grow brand awareness and increase your ROI 81% of respondents said they will have strong or complete adoption of marketing automation systems by 2014. - BtoB s 2013 Marketing Automation Study Companies, on average, spend 12% of their marketing budgets on content. That s 1 out of every 8 marketing dollars! By streamlining the distribution of your content using RSS-driven automation, you ll maximize its reach by having it post to the web, email, and social media, every time you publish - automatically. There are many benefits to using RSS to automate your content distribution: Simplicity Efficiency / Segmentation Scalability Intelligence Brand Awareness Targeting Revenue 6 \\ Get on the Fast Track: Streamline your content delivery program through RSS, email, and social media. www.streamsend.com

Publish once, deliver it everywhere! Simplicity: Create your content once and automatically distribute it through multiple channels - enewsletters, social pages, micro-sites, and more. Even your social posts can be leveraged as content and distributed automatically! Efficiency / Segmentation: By using RSS to streamline and automate your content delivery, fewer resources are required, saving you time and money and increasing your ROI. Scalability: RSS syndication is a true one-size-fits-all model. Once you ve put your RSS-driven strategy in place, it will scale to meet increased readership and the growth of your list. Brand Awareness: By delivering fresh content on an ongoing basis, you will build trust and loyalty, convert your audience into brand advocates, and keep your company (and its capabilities) top-of-mind. 7 \\ Get on the Fast Track: Streamline your content delivery program through RSS, email, and social media. www.streamsend.com

Intelligence: By monitoring the content your readers click on, you can understand their interests and leverage that information for future marketing. Targeting: RSS allows content to be tagged in your existing CMS, then easily segmented and distributed according to channel, topic, and audience. The right information goes to the right people, increasing engagement. Revenue: A growing audience presents the opportunity to offer targeted advertising, allowing you to monetize your existing channels without a significant increase in resources. While this may not be appropriate for all, for some companies, such as publishers, it can introduce a new revenue stream. 8 \\ Get on the Fast Track: Streamline your content delivery program through RSS, email, and social media. www.streamsend.com

Content Marketing + Marketing Automation = Powerful Results. Content marketing, when paired with marketing automation, can be very powerful. Whether your goal is relationship building, brand awareness, lead generation, or monetizing your content, it s vital to keep best practices in mind. Below are ways to maximize your content strategy: Define your goals: What is the purpose of your RSS-driven content automation strategy? Brand awareness? PR? Lead Generation? Advertising Revenue? Plan your distribution channels: Define how much and what type of content you need. Then define the distribution channels you want. Email? Social? Engagement and usage: Determine how your customers and prospects will consume your content and what reasons they will have to share it. Targeting: Pick a few broad topics that can be used to create multiple RSS feeds. This will give you the flexibility to display all topics in one place or keep them separate. For instance, you may want all of your topics displayed together on your social media pages, while offering a dedicated enewsletter for each topic. Beforehand, you might consider sending out a survey to your database to determine their interests. 9 \\ Get on the Fast Track: Streamline your content delivery program through RSS, email, and social media. www.streamsend.com

Measurement: Track the content that resonates with your audience. You can then fine-tune your content, which will increase engagement. Your opt-in form: Include one or two questions that will provide important information about the people opting-in to your list. For example, you may ask for demographic information and/or a job function. Or, you might consider requesting important dates, such as birthdays, giving you a reason to communicate on a personal basis in the future. Or, you might ask them to select areas of interest, so you can deliver content that is targeted and relevant. But don t ask too many questions. It could hurt your opt-in rate. Gain valuable insight into your audience: Based on your audience s content choices, you can determine how to address the needs of customers and prospects. Content choices provide a window into customer decision-making. These insights will give you an advantage once people are ready to begin the sales process. Authenticity goes a long way: Keep your content fresh, relevant, and engaging. And remember, authenticity builds trust. If your content is too salesy you ll lose credibility with the audience. 10 \\ Get on the Fast Track: Streamline your content delivery program through RSS, email, and social media. www.streamsend.com

Automatic Publishing: Combine the Power of RSS with the Ease of Email 74% of adults prefer email as a method of commercial communication. - Merkle Inc. Email is used by over 2 billion people worldwide. And it s easy to embed your RSS feed into your email template to create an automated enewsletter. Create and send branded and customized enewsletters that automatically pull RSS feeds and go out on a pre-set schedule. Once you ve selected an ESP to partner with for your RSS-automated emails, it s a very easy process: Select the template that best fits your needs Update it with your logo or any other imagery Select the RSS feed you want to pull from Define how many posts you want to display in your enewsletter Determine how often it should go out Choose the criteria for receiving your enewsletter Voilà! Your email will go out automatically on a regular basis with fresh content every time! 11 \\ Get on the Fast Track: Streamline your content delivery program through RSS, email, and social media. www.streamsend.com

Below are ways to maximize your RSS in Email strategy: Appearance matters: Your enewsletter represents your brand. Customers will feel more comfortable if there s a visual tie between your brand and your content. Take advantage of all of the tools available to customize your email template so it supports your brand. Keep your content fresh: Make sure your content production schedule keeps up with your enewsletter delivery schedule. You don t want to repeat material. Let content strategy shape your enewsletters: If you offer RSS feeds for multiple topics, and your opt-in forms capture reader preferences, then consider creating an enewsletter for each topic. One and done: Consider how your template will be repurposed as a Facebook Tab and/or embedded into a blog post. Create your message once, and deliver it everywhere with the click of a button. This saves time and money. Give reasons to share from email to social: A person needs a reason to pass along and recommend your content. Motivate them with engaging imagery, questions, coupons, etc. Pay attention to metrics: When possible, track what your readers click on and their actions once they ve clicked-through. Armed with this information you can refine your content strategy. Set it and forget! Check-in from time to time: Periodically, be sure to revisit each enewsletter and adjust your RSS-driven email automation strategy based on the metrics you ve gathered. 12 \\ Get on the Fast Track: Streamline your content delivery program through RSS, email, and social media. www.streamsend.com

Increase Your Share with an RSS-Driven Social Media Plan Some 70% percent of US online adults trust brand or product recommendations from friends and family. - Forrester Research An RSS content delivery plan lets you automatically publish fresh content to social media pages, increasing your reach, growing your following, and building trust. Seventy percent of consumers trust brand recommendations from friends, compared with 32% who trust the information found on a company s website. Spreading your content through social media and among peers builds a connection with customers. While integrating RSS into your social media strategy will ensure you always have fresh content on your social media pages, it is important to incorporate a social strategy that works hand-in-hand. 13 \\ Get on the Fast Track: Streamline your content delivery program through RSS, email, and social media. www.streamsend.com

Below are proven tactics to keep in mind: Encourage sharing: The goal of a successful social media plan is to have your content passed along to a wider audience. Be sure to give your fans reasons to share your content. Integrate: Your social media outlets should be an extension of your brand and seamlessly integrated with your overall content strategy. Pay attention to likes and forwards: Likes and forwards should never rule your social media strategy. However, tracking your most popular content will give you valuable insights. Remember, it s a conversation: Candid conversations with fans should be encouraged. It builds trust and gets you free honest feedback. Lead generation: Don t miss an opportunity to get fans to opt in to other content channels, especially email. Convert social engagement into email subscribers by embedding an opt-in form everywhere you can. Be sure to include a benefit-driven call to action to give them a reason to opt in. 14 \\ Get on the Fast Track: Streamline your content delivery program through RSS, email, and social media. www.streamsend.com

Email Marketing + Social Delivery The bottom line: An RSS-driven email and social strategy is a powerful way to automatically maximize the reach of your content, build trust, and grow your business. Find out how easy it is to develop powerful integrated campaigns with StreamSend. Call 1-877-788-7577, or visit www.streamsend.com/rssautomation StreamSend offers all the tools you need for an effective RSS-driven content automation strategy, and much, much more! A wide selection of customizable Email, Social, Video, and RSS email templates Easy Automation Smart Message Delivery Video Email Marketing Fully Integrated Social Media Tools Custom Landing Pages and Sign-up Forms Fully Customizable Scheduling Tools Track Email, Social, and Video from one central location Retarget your most engaged subscribers