Comms 101 box - Enterprise Europe Network · 2018-11-30 · Comms 101 box Page 2 of 40 COMMS 101 BOX Brussels, December 2017. Another meeting of the Enterprise Europe Network’s

COMMUNICATION CHAMPIONS

een.ec.europa.eu

Comms 101 box

A guide with practical tips and

ideas for using communication

tools effectively

October 2018


Comms 101 box Page 2 of 40

COMMS 101 BOX

Brussels, December 2017. Another meeting of the Enterprise Europe

Network’s Communication Champions ends with a new task to

deliver: propose simple and effective tools for external

communication that every colleague can use. In the following

months, a group of nine communication experts delved into various

- more or less explored - communication tools in order to identify

current usages, future trends and best practices regarding effective

communication tools.

Brussels, October 2018. Inspired by the festive mood of the 10 years

of the Network, the group presents the “Comms 101 box”, a 10

tools X 10 tips guide, based on group discussions, individual

research, a survey among all Communication Champions and their

continuous feedback.

The Comms 101 box guide provides tips and tricks to Enterprise

Europe Network communicators who are looking to pick the perfect

communication options and make them work effectively. It offers

specific insights on how to use some of the most popular

communication vehicles today, including social media, e-mail

marketing, website, Google advertising, content curation and data

visualisation tools. The team’s aspiration was to develop a go-to,

handy guide with practical tips on tools used daily, from simple to

more advanced or creative ones. At the same time, the Comms 101

box serves as an “appetizer” manual for those who want to study

further.

We hope that you will enjoy reading it!

On behalf of the “Communication Tools” team

Maria Karatzia

Marketing & Communication Specialist

PRAXI Network, Enterprise Europe Network - Hellas



Communication Tools & Team

TOOL STUDIED COMMUNICATION CHAMPIONS

LinkedIn Mette Toft Christensen (Denmark)

Mylène Mesters (The Netherlands)

Facebook Agnė Jaraitė (Lithuania)

Mariusz Idzikowski (Poland)

Sigita Šušienė (Lithuania)

Veronika Somolanyiova (Slovakia)

Twitter Mariusz Idzikowski (Poland)

Mylène Mesters (The Netherlands)

Vladimir Blagojevic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

Instagram Ivana Vukotic

Veronika Somolanyiova (Slovakia)

Vladimir Blagojevic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

E-mail marketing /

Newsletter

Lenka Podzimková (Czech Republic)

Agnė Jaraitė (Lithuania)


Google My Business Ivana Vukotic (Serbia)

Google Adwords Ivana Vukotic (Serbia)

Maria Karatzia (Greece)

Website Lenka Podzimková (Czech Republic)

Agnė Jaraitė (Lithuania)


Mette Toft Christensen (Denmark)

Data visualisation tools Maria Karatzia (Greece)

Content curation tools Maria Karatzia (Greece)



Contents

Communication Tools & Team ..................................................................................... 3

Nail your LinkedIn performance with these 10 tips! ..................................................... 5

Follow these 10 tips for Facebook pages ...................................................................... 9

10 tips to help you gain great impact on Twitter society ............................................ 11

10 ideas that work for Instagram ............................................................................... 12

Make your news from spam to bam! 10 Tips for effective newsletters ...................... 14

How to Google Your Business in 10 easy steps ........................................................... 16

10 things you should know before starting Google Adwords ..................................... 17

WWW: What Will Work - 10 Tips for website improvement ...................................... 19

Become a master of data visualization with these 10 tools! ...................................... 21

10 Content Curation tips and even more tools to inspire you! ................................... 28



Nail your LinkedIn performance with these 10 tips!

1. Post on your own personal profile: to manage a LinkedIn Group can be a tough job and it requires a

lot of time and dedication to have the group running successfully. Therefore it can be a good solution

to post on your own personal profile, tag people and use hashtags (#). It gives you more visibility,

reach and interaction than in a group.

a. Click HOME at the top bar on LinkedIn to go to your LinkedIn news feed section

b. At the top of this page, next to your profile picture, you see the field ”Share an article, photo,

video or idea”

c. Add your text in this field and press ”Image” or ”Video” to include visuals

d. Press POST to publish your content

2. Be relevant and be professional – remember, LinkedIn users mean business: do not connect your

LinkedIn account with your Facebook or Twitter profiles so that your Facebook posts and Tweets

automatically get published on LinkedIn. What is right for one social network is not necessarily right

for another. Naturally, as a business networking site, updates on LinkedIn are generally of a more

serious nature than the fun things you might consider sharing on other social networks, so try to keep

it professional. That does not mean you cannot inject a bit of humour if that is part of your brand

personality, but bear in mind that people use LinkedIn to network, rather than to share the latest

memes.

3. Be aware of text lengths!: LinkedIn is not immune to character limits. It is different from other

platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, in that it is not as visual. According to online 2018-

studies on the subject, the maximum length of a post on your personal profile (status update) is 1,300



characters and the maximum length of a company update is 700 characters. But try to be as short and

specific as possible.

4. Create value and involvement - and encourage action: the recipient must benefit from your post – it

must give value to him / her, not only as knowledge. Value can also be inspiration, commitment,

motivation, innovation, new ways of thinking, help, advice and guidance. People want to be involved

and therefore, there is typically higher engagement in content that calls for action. So, ask for their

opinion or make them react in another way.

5. Always include visuals: If you want to increase your commitment, it is important to use images.

According to LinkedIn, the use of images gives 98% more chance for comments. Of course, when using

images on LinkedIn or other social media, it looks nice and professional if the correct formats are used.

In addition to images, video is also extremely efficient and generates 1200% more sharing than text

combined with image. So, always include an image or video if possible. If you do not have a relevant

or useful image, you can create something in Photoshop yourself or you can use online tools such as

Canva, Pixabay or Stock Snap.

6. Use hashtags!: hashtags work on LinkedIn too! Use the Network hashtag #EENCanHelp whenever you

publish content about the Network. Why not add it to your profile too? The search on LinkedIn allows

to search for people or content, jobs and groups. In 2018, for the Network’s 10th anniversary, you can

also use #EENis10.

7. Don’t hesitate to tag people and companies: to spred your message faster, tag people and companies

in your post. To do this, type @ and then start typing the name; LinkedIn will automatically suggest

people to tag in your network. When you tag people, they will receive a notification so it’s more likely

they will see and react to your post: it’s like a tap on the shoulder!

8. Ask colleagues to like and share: some of the best to help you with your efforts on LinkedIn are your

colleagues. Your colleagues can boost your posts by commenting or sharing the posts from their

personal profiles. When colleagues engage in your postings, the message gets a greater organic reach,

and you reach out to people you would not otherwise be able to hit as your post is spread in your

colleagues' network. So, when you have published a post on your personal LinkedIn profile, click the

3 dots in the top right corner of your post. A dropdown menu will appear. Click ”Copy link to post” in

order to copy the link to an email to your colleagues where you encourage them to share. In this way

your message will spread much faster.

https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/company-pages/best-practices

https://www.canva.com/

https://pixabay.com/

https://stocksnap.io/



9. Novelty of content: make sure to post relevant content that is current. Try to post from whereever

you are or whatever situation you are in (at events, on trips, at work…). On the spot-posts work quite

good – especially, if the subject is current and you tag people in your post.

10. Be active and build your network: the great thing about LinkedIn is that you can get lots from it and

reach potential new customers without even paying for advertising. LinkedIn is primarily a networking

site, so make the most of it for making new contacts within your industry. With the right approach you

can convert your connections to leads and position yourself strongly in your connections’ awareness.

Extra tip: Write POD profiles in your own language and share them on LinkedIn (or combine your post with

Twitter). Then the post is also recognisable as ”partner search request/offer”:





Follow these 10 tips for Facebook pages

1. Publish different types of posts – texts, videos, graphics, links, live streams. Live videos should be no

more than 10 minutes length.

2. Use various types of visuals (photos, infographics, gifs, videos) related to the subject of your post.

Visuals should be of high quality. Especially for posting photos, try to use tools provided by Facebook:

slideshow, carousel. When posting videos from YouTube, it looks better and is more convenient to

download it first by using an online converter and then post it on Facebook. In this way, viewers remain

on Facebook to watch the video instead of switcing to YouTube.

In all visual cases, pay attention to copyright issues: credit the source by linking the creator. E.g.:

3. Be consistent with the postings: the Facebook page should be active and informative on a daily basis

(but do not publish too much and too often). If possible, plan your posts (weekly or monthly) in

advance, taking under consideration dates, themes, posts or even promotion ads. Get to know your

audience: make profiles for different people using Facebook insights. It will be easier then to choose

what kind of posts might be more gripping.

4. Be creative and mix hard news with soft news: share your partners’ content, publish events, success

stories, quotes, testimonials and tips and mix it with the "inside" life (consortia meetings, teambuilding

activities, meetings with clients). Make collages of photos and do not post hundreds of them, save

time for your audience.

5. Consider how the posts look on mobile phones - it should not contain too much text and the first lines

should be catchy. Consult pages with updated images dimensions for uploading (e.g. The Latest

Facebook Image Dimensions 2018: Infographic)

https://louisem.com/120414/facebook-image-dimensions

https://louisem.com/120414/facebook-image-dimensions



6. The posts have to be inviting: talk to the audience by avoiding specific vocabulary, keep it simple

(ideally no more than 250 characters) and understandable, use questions, keep a warm tone of voice

and invite people to share and participate – let them know they are free to contact you if needed.

7. Use the relevant hashtags (#EENCanHelp, #EENis10) and emojis to make the post more interactive.

Even though, there is still a discussion between marketers if this is working or not on Facebook, if used

wisely - especially with a story - it can help. You can always check if your hashtag is going to work or if

it is relevant by using HASHTAGIFY. Simply type in a word and see the analysis.

8. Always respond to the comments and private messages providing accurate information - except

comments that are offensive or absolutely off the topic - and be the last to write something (to have

the mark, you answer fast).

9. Check Facebook statistics and insights to consider which posts have the biggest reach, which are the

most popular and when it is best to post.

10. Use closed groups if possible - some kind of extra information for participants (and keep it alive).

https://hashtagify.me/



10 tips to help you gain great impact on Twitter society

1. Followers: decide who your target audience is and where your clients / potential followers are.

Follow, share and comment the accounts that can bring you more followers (the right ones).

2. Administration: do not asign too many administrators to the account in order to be consistent in

the tone of your posts. Post your content regulary, plan it, post it at the right time and check how

it worked in previous tweets.

3. Texts: think carefully before publishing the post and remember to act as a human, not a robot.

Use the right format: remember the 280 character limit, #hashtags and @mentions. Do not use

jargon - people do not understand it.

4. Responses: monitor and respond to all social media conversations / messages and comments

that you recevie or are tagged in. Answer as fast as you can. You do not have to comment only

offensive and absolutely off topic posts.

5. Hashtags #: use hashtags to enlarge the range and categorise the content, but do it smart. Check

if the hashtag is already in use, who uses it and how. There are tools to find adequate hashtags

like Hashtagify or RiteTag. Remember to include the leading hashtag in the Network, like

#EENCanHelp and #EENis10.

6. Images and videos: use content related images and videos. Tweets with images bear better

results than tweets without, and tweets with videos usually keep the attention more compared

to images. You may use humor as well, but do not exaggerate - it is a business account. Use short

videos, no longer than 10 sec. You may also tweet about a live streaming from important events.

7. Links: do not use external links too often. Research shows that tweets without links provide

much better results than tweets with links. Twitter wants you to stay on Twitter, not go to

Facebook. By limiting the number of links that you share, you increase the reach. Nevertheless,

you may link your Twitter account to your website, so all your posts are visible there.

8. Content: Benefit from material prepared for other purposes (e.g. case studies / videos) and

reshape them for Twitter. Share content from your key business partners, your community,

suppliers, and partners in keeping with the EEN brand. You do not necessarily have to create

your own content to sound authoritative and interesting. Retweet the content that is useful for

your audience, keeping the balance. Use Twitter to inform what is going on live (at the moment),

e.g. “We are here / We do that / Join us now on…”

9. Types of posts: publish different types of posts - graphics, links, movies, texts that will make your

account not schematic.

10. Inspirations: be inspired from other brands and experiment with their tactics on your own

account. Use also other manuals (e.g. H2020 social media manual) to deepen your knowledge.

https://hashtagify.me/

https://ritetag.com/



10 ideas that work for Instagram

1. Followers and how to collect them

Weather you use Instagram to sell a product or promote a business service, you need to have followers

and create your community. You do not need dozens of them, but it is important to target the right

ones, make the necessary interactions and eventually convert them to true buyers / users. How to

build your future community? Connect with partners, stakeholders and future clients - follow them

and draw their attention - look at their followers and follow some of them as well - spot the hashtags

they are using and start using them too.

2. Message is what represents you

Know your statement and always have a clear message when you post. Stick to the ultimate

communication strategy and key messages. Whether you share a photo from a B2B event or a video

from a company mission, always use #hashtags (3 per post is enough) that will raise the visibility of

your story. Use existing hashtags that relate with your organisation or story and create one or two

yourself. Post content daily and the followers will come. Bigger visibility increases the chances to

achieve your goals.

3. Connect with companies / stakeholders and promote your services through affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is a marketing tool for product / service promotion that can lead to success if done

correctly. Connect with stakeholders, companies and entrepreneurs, mention and tag them to your

posts and the result will be multiple. You can even promote the address of your or someone else’s

website through a link in an account bio. Share someone else’s content that corresponds to yours

through repost application. Share stories from other people or organizations and ask them to share

yours.

4. Present your services with sponsored posts

If you create an Instagram sponsored post, make sure you use Business Manager application (the same

is also used for Facebook advertising), so you can monitor analytics later. Always do the Instagram

campaign separately from Facebook and create separate visuals due to the format differences. Make

sure that you follow the rule for allowed text: 20% of the surface of the photo / visual /video

thumbnail. Use hashtags, tag companies or individuals and be innovative and unique with the text.

The goal of sponsored posts is to make followers believe that you are already successful in providing

business services in real time.

5. Promote the human part of the organisation

Besides promoting services, be aware that followers love to find out more about the organisations

and who the people behind them are. Followers love to read their stories, inspirations and challenges

from everyday business life. This way you will be able to connect with the community and build the



positive image of your brand. Showcase your services through people and their small everyday

captions. Share photos from internal meetings, B2B events etc.

6. Be innovative, but careful

Follow the trends in content management, design and video editing as well as campaign management

and test them in your own case. Do not use everything, only those apps and tools that go well with

your personal / corporate communication and do not jeopardise your reputation.

7. Combine photos to turn them into stories

If one photo stands for 1000 words, then you can imagine how powerful several (max. 10) connected

photos are for a good storytelling.

8. Instagram is art

Do not forget that the ideal format for your Instagram posts is square. Always put your object of

interest (logo, message, person…) into the central position and the effect will be great! If it is possible,

use “nice” high quality photos.

9. Rule of a good perspective

The rule of sharing a photo on three vertical and three horizontal unities is as old as the art of painting.

When you learn how to apply it, it will help you point the view of the spectator in the right way. Master

this tool and your message will be conveyed in great success!

10. Instagram Stories

Use stories on your business and personal account, hashtags, mentions, location tagging, gifs, videos,

photos and everything that will help you to create interesting and dynamic content, shareable to

Facebook stories and downloadable as video as well. Use highlights to remember the most successful

stories on your account. Livestreaming directly on Instagram - from events, matchmaking, B2B

meetings etc is another useful functionality. Use sponsored content in Instagram stories – that is a

good advertising space to invest your money in!



Make your news from spam to bam! 10 Tips for effective

newsletters

1. Sending rules

Send the newsletter regularly (at least once a month or once a week, but do not send it more often).

Always send it at the same day and if possible at the same time, so that the recipients can expect it.

Always send the newsletter from the same email address - people remember it.

2. Check before sending

Check the newsletter several times before you send it (check also the links) and if possible ask a

colleague to check it as well, because you may not be able to see all the mistakes after creating the e-

mail / newsletter.

3. Look of the newsletter

Use the “corporate“ look (visual identity) so that readers can associate your e-mail with the EEN brand.

Additionally, use suitable visual content that will make your newsletter attractive.

4. Coherent communication

Communicate via newsletter in the same way you communicate via other channels to ensure

consistency. Choose inviting and informative headings, use links, avoid difficult and specific language.

Inform not just about your services, events etc., but also about other interesting, important and

related topics.

5. Tools for sending the newsletter

From the recipient’s perspective, use a tool that is appropriate for mobile devices because more than

50% of people read e-mails on their smartphones or other mobile devices. Links have to be big enough

to allow to click on them easily, whereas pictures should not be too big or too many.

From the sender’s perspective, use a tool that enables you to record statistics so you can evaluate the

result / impact of the newsletter.

Before drafting your newsletter, always ask: “Whose attention am I

trying to keep? What would they be interested in seeing from me?”



6. Structure of the newsletter / e-mail

Keep it as short as possible, divide it into categories (e.g. events, news, etc.) and always use the same

structure and the same order of categories, as people tend to get used to it.

7. Using pictures

Pictures grab more attention than text. Remember to describe the pictures (ALTs) - it is about the text

that is shown if the picture is not downloaded or shown properly. If it is not possible to use your own

photos from Network events, use similar and high quality photos from free image banks or photo sites,

such as PEXELS, Unsplash, Pixabay, etc. You can make your own creative layouts using various design

programs or online tools, such as Canva.

8. Placement of the registration form

Put the newsletter registration form on the homepage of your website. There are many tips about

where best to place the form e.g. on the right side of the site, at the top just under the logo, right

under every article and many more. You have to choose the most suitable one for you.

9. Compliance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

Always allow your recipients to unsubscribe easily from your newsletter. Remember to follow all other

GDPR rules regarding data processing and mass mailing.

10. Dynamic content

Include GIFs in your content but not overdo it, since too many GIFs in one

newsletter may be distracting. An excellent source of GIFs is provided in

EEN dropbox. However, given that in some smart devices dynamic content

is not displayed properly, you should always use a strong alt-text or design

your GIF in such a way that the first image of the GIF is informative for the

reader. In addition, there are users who do not allow their e-mails to be

displayed in HTML format since they can pose a security risk. You can still

lead both types of users to your elaborately designed content by adding a

link to the newsletter in the e-mail.

https://www.pexels.com/

https://unsplash.com/

https://unsplash.com/

http://www.canva.com/

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/55zenheklph3r2b/AADAih0HxhrorSek4KIqARhra/Social%20media/GIFs?dl=0&subfolder_nav_tracking=1



How to Google Your Business in 10 easy steps

A “Google My Business” (GMB) profile which is updated on a daily basis sends signals to Google that it is

relevant for users who search your services / products and that it should make it appear in 3 chosen search

results. You need to follow certain steps in order to optimise your GMB profile.

1. Insert the GMB address into your search and click Start Now. You have to apply via your Gmail account

that you will also use for your GMB account at the same time. Start inserting the data into a page that

will be opened and accept terms and conditions.

2. Make sure you check all the information first. It is very important that the information is correct and

updated. Check your working hours as well, and the category you have marked for the description of

your business. Information about your organisation should be the same as on other spots online:

website, social media etc.

3. Upload the photos of your organisation that can actually show who you are and what you are offering.

Show the people and always use photos in high resolution.

4. Pay attention on reviews and critics. Online reviews and critics are very important for potential clients.

They will distinguish you from your competitors. Do not forget to point out the review stars together

with other info about your organisation on your GMB profile.

5. Use high resolution photos with good dimensions (avoid automatic cropping) and visuals. A headline

should describe your offer in only 4-5 words. Even though you are free to use 1500 characters max.,

make sure that you limit the text to 150-300 characters.

6. Your post should always contain a certain call-to-action: Contact us! Apply! Join us! Organise a

meeting…

7. Posts are visible for 7 days to potential clients. An exception can be a post about a certain event that

will continue to be visible after it is finished.

8. Engage in conversation with your users via messages. Answer their questions, give them a certain

input and create a connection.

9. Google will not show your mobile phone number but it can give you the opportunity to send SMS

messages or to use its own application called Allo.

10. If you receive a negative comment from your client on your GMB profile, write to Google, report it,

and ask them to erase it.

https://allo.google.com/



10 things you should know before starting Google

Adwords

1. What is Google AdWords?

Google AdWords is an online advertising service where advertisers pay to display brief adverts,

advertise service offerings, product listings, and video content within the Google ad network to web

users. Google AdWords' system is based partly on cookies and partly on keywords determined by

advertisers. Google uses these characteristics to place advertising copy in Google's search results and

on pages where they think it might be relevant. Advertisers pay when users divert their browsing to

click on the advertising copy. Partner websites receive a portion of the generated income.

2. Does AdWords work?

Depending on the competitiveness of the keywords you are bidding for and the relevancy of that

keyword to real conversions for your company, AdWords may or may not work for you. Google

AdWords can be extremely effective for many kinds of businesses, as long as they do not waste their

money on the wrong keywords.

3. How to advertise with Google AdWords, and how much does it cost?

Businesses can advertise on Google by opening a Google AdWords account and following a step-by-

step process and guidance. The cost of a Google Adwords campaign depends on a variety of factors,

such us bidding strategies, organisation goals, type of industry, keywords. Whenever a user conducts

a search on Google, AdWords runs an auction to determine which search ads are displayed on the

search results page as well as the ad's position.

4. How does AdWords bidding work?

The actual position of your ad is determined by your ad rank (Maximum Bid times Quality Score). The

highest ad rank gets the 1st ad position. Your actual CPC (Cost Per Click) will be determined by the ad



rank of the next highest ad below you divided by your Quality Score. The only exception of this rule is

when you are the only bidder or the lowest bid in the AdWords auction - then you pay your maximum

bid per click! AdWords bidding heavily penalises advertisers who bid with low quality scores.

Conversely, those with high Quality Scores get higher ad ranks and lower CPC.

5. How does the Google auction work?

Once advertisers identify keywords they want to bid on, Google enters the keyword from your account

that it deems most relevant into the auction with the maximum bid you have specified, as well as the

associated ad. The search engine processes the request and runs the auction which will then

determine the ad positions and each advertiser's CPC.

6. What is CPC and CPM?

CPC, or cost per click, is the amount an advertiser pays each time someone clicks on their AdWords

ad. Your CPC is determined by the competitiveness of your keywords, your maximum bids, and your

Quality Scores. CPM (Cost Per Mille) is the cost for an advertisement based on how many impressions

it picks up. Both methods can be used simultaneously.

7. What is Google Quality Score?

This is a metric Google uses to determine how relevant and useful your ad is to the user, based

primarily on your ad's CTR (Click-Through Rate), keyword relevance, and the quality of your landing

page. The higher your Quality Score, the better: high Quality Score keywords will save you money and

earn you better ad rankings.

8. What is Google ad rank?

Google ad rank is the position of the company's advertisement on the search engine page based on a

combination of the company's maximum bid and quality score.

9. What is ad position in AdWords?

Ad position is the position on the search engine page results where the advertisement appears in

relation to all of the other advertisements.

10. What are AdWords keywords?

Keywords in AdWords are the words and phrases that advertisers bid on, in hopes that their

advertisements will appear on the search engine results page (SERP) when people are searching for

those products or services. Keyword research is the process of using tools and data to determine which

keywords are most likely to drive relevant traffic to your ads and your site.

Sources

https://www.google.com/adwords - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AdWords

https://www.wordstream.com/articles/what-is-google-adwords

https://www.google.com/adwords

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AdWords

https://www.wordstream.com/articles/what-is-google-adwords



WWW: What Will Work - 10 Tips for website improvement

1. Make it clear what the website is about

Visitors must quickly understand what the website is about and who is behind it. It is important to be

honest about who you are and what you stand for as it gives credibility to the website. This is ensured,

among other things, through the visual identity and design.

2. Assure user-friendliness

User-friendliness is essential for your website to be good. Browsing the website should be easy and

the visitor should quickly find the information needed. Information should only be maximum 3 clicks

away.

3. Provide a responsive design

Having a responsive website, in line with the explosive spread of mobile devices, has become more

important than ever before. The website is designed with the purpose of being viewed and used on

both smartphones, tablets and ordinary desktop computers. The idea is that the website should

automatically adjust to the screen size so that text, images, tables, menus, graphics, etc. are scaled

either up or down, depending on which device the user uses to view the page.

4. Always place your main message on your front page or on your landing pages

You only have a few seconds to make visitors interested in your website. The most important message

should therefore be served interestingly and clearly where most people look first: at the top left of

the front page or on your landing pages. Note: we do not recommend that the landing page should be

used as an "About" page. On the contrary, we advise you to place your ”About”page as the last menu

item in your top menu.

5. Regularly control the content

Regularly go through your website (all pages which you do not visit often) and check if all information

is updated and that the links work. Keep the contact and EEN data information (business offers /

requests profile templates) updated. Do not forget to update the news and upcoming events. Dead

links and old information make your website appear unprofessional.

6. Use a pitch format - short, sharp, informative

Always start with the most important things in the articles / texts - details can be mentioned or

explained further. Overload of the information and details can discourage the visitors before they get

to the core. It is important that the text is written for the target audience, easily understood, clear and

optimized for the most important keywords.



7. Include call-to-actions

What would you like the visitors to do on the website? What does it take to make them click? Call-to-

actions can be much more than just a click to another page on your website. It can also be an invitation

to a phone call, text message, forms, sharing on social media, etc.

8. Consider the headlines

Use the headlines (H1, H2, H3,…) that would show the structure of the text. It helps people to quickly

find the information they need. Be aware of keywords used - it helps Google to position your website

in the search engine.

9. Use different type of visual content

Use pictures, infographics, videos etc. They grab attention more than text and bring visitors to what

you want to inform them about. If you want to show the visitors a lot of pictures, do not put them into

text, rather use links to a gallery. Avoid too big pictures so that the website can load faster. If using

videos, do not use automatic playing - let the visitors decide what they want to watch.

10. Make it easy-to-find contact information

If the visitor finds the website interesting, the next step from his / her side may be a desire to contact

you for more information. Therefore, it is important that the contact information is easy to find. On

many websites it is still the contact information page and the list of employees that are the most

visited pages.



Become a master of data visualization with these 10

tools!

Data visualisation is the art of presenting quantitative information in a graphical form, making large and small

datasets easier for the human brain to understand and process. Good data visualisations are created when

communication, data science and design collide. Data visualisations done right offer key insights into

complicated datasets in ways that are meaningful and intuitive. It equals “meaningful storytelling”.

But how do you create an engaging visualisation for your data? Apart from the known Microsoft Office tools

(Microsoft Powerpoint and Microsoft Excel), here is a review of some of the best data visualisation tools

currently on the market.

Adobe Creative Cloud

http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud.html

Adobe Creative Cloud is a professional set of applications and services entailing graphic design, video editing,

web development, photography, along with a set of mobile applications and some cloud services. With Adobe

Creative Cloud you can sync and organise your creative assets across multiple devices, track comments, build

and publish websites, apps, and more.





Canva Infographic Maker

https://www.canva.com

Canva is a powerful and easy-to-use online tool that is suitable for all types of design tasks, from brochures to

presentations. It is among the most famous online image creation tools that also comes with a stock photo

library. It also offers users a vast library of images, icons, fonts and features to choose from. So you can create

graphics for your blog, social channels, website and much more. It is used by non-designers as well as

professionals. It features a dedicated infographic maker that you can use for free, with hundreds of free design

elements and fonts at your fingertips, and many more premium elements that you can buy.

Datawrapper

https://www.datawrapper.de/

With its clean, minimal interface, Datawrapper is very user friendly. You can simply upload CSV data and

produce plain charts and maps which can be easily integrated into reports, interactive, responsive and

https://www.canva.com/create/infographics/





embeddable in your website. Datawrapper offers a range of pay versions. Its free version is good for one user

and is a viable option if you are just looking to supplement a presentation or report.

Easel.ly

https://www.easel.ly

This free web-based infographic tool offers a dozen free templates to start off - all of which are easily

customisable. You get access to a library of things like arrows, shapes and connector lines, and you can

customise the text with a range of fonts, colours, text styles and sizes. The tool also lets you upload your

graphics and position them with one touch.

http://www.easel.ly/

https://www.easel.ly/



Google Charts and Google Data Studio

https://developers.google.com/chart & https://www.google.com/analytics/data-studio

Google Charts tools are powerful, simple to use and free. You can choose from a variety of charts and configure

an extensive set of options to perfectly match the look and feel of your website. By connecting your data in

real time, Google Charts is the perfect infographic generator for your website.

Google has their own data visualisation program, Data Studio, that is free and of the quality you would expect

from Google. Also, since its Google, all their properties (AdWords, YouTube) can connect with Data Studio. If

you have a Google account, setup with Google Data Studio in just a few clicks. Google Data Studio turns your

data into informative dashboards and reports that are easy to read, easy to share, and fully customisable.

https://developers.google.com/chart/

https://www.google.com/analytics/data-studio/



Infogram

https://infogram.com/

Infogram lets you link their visualisations and infographics to your own big data. A simple 3-step process lets

you choose among many templates, personalise them with additional visualisations like charts, map, images

and even videos, and you are ready to share your visualisation. Infogram supports team accounts for media

publishers and for journalists, branded designs for companies and classroom accounts for educational

projects.

Raw Graphs

https://rawgraphs.io/

Raw’s interface is easy to pick up. You drag and drop, then click on the kind of visualisation you want to make

from a chart. Among these free data visualisation tools, Raw may win the “best user interface” award for how

easy they make it to choose a chart and turn your data into a visual.

https://infogr.am/

https://infogram.com/

http://raw.densitydesign.org/

https://rawgraphs.io/



Timeline

https://timeline.knightlab.com/

Timelines are a great way to enliven reports. Timeline is an open-source tool that enables anyone to build

visually rich, interactive timelines. Beginners can create a timeline using nothing more than a Google

spreadsheet. Just make a Google Spreadsheet using a template Timeline provides, embed it on your website,

and you have a nice timeline ready.

Venngage

https://venngage.com/

Venngage is a great tool for creating and publishing infographics because it is simple and easy to use. You can

choose from templates, themes, and hundreds of charts and icons as well as uploading your own images and

backgrounds, or adapt a theme to suit your brand. You can animate them too.







Visme

https://www.visme.co

Visme provides a wide selection of visualisations. It lets you turn your business content and data into engaging

presentations, infographics, charts, widgets and videos. There is a ton of templates available, catering for areas

such as business, health, education, science, marketing and non-profit. You have the ability to customise the

templates and make your graphics interactive by adding buttons and links, before turning them into files and

publishing online.

Sources

http://bigdata-madesimple.com/review-of-20-best-big-data-visualization-tools

https://blog.capterra.com/free-and-open-source-data-visualization-tools

https://www.business.com/articles/top-seven-data-visualization-tools-2018

https://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/free-graphic-design-software-8134039

https://www.techradar.com/news/best-data-visualization-tools

https://www.visme.co/pricing/

https://www.visme.co/

http://bigdata-madesimple.com/review-of-20-best-big-data-visualization-tools

https://blog.capterra.com/free-and-open-source-data-visualization-tools

https://www.business.com/articles/top-seven-data-visualization-tools-2018

https://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/free-graphic-design-software-8134039

https://www.techradar.com/news/best-data-visualization-tools



10 Content Curation tips and even more tools to inspire

you!

These days, content curation is common practice and forms part of the content marketing plan. For the

uninitiated, content curation consists of finding material relevant to your audience from a variety of sources

and sharing it strategically through your communication channels.

What is content curation?

In simple terms, the process of content curation is the act of sorting through large amounts of content on the

web and presenting the best posts in a meaningful and organised way. Content curation does not include

creating new content; it is the act of discovering, compiling and sharing existing content with your online

followers. [Definition by https://blog.hootsuite.com/beginners-guide-to-content-curation]

What we want to achieve?

● Discover relevant content: find news, insights, trends and analysis, positive mentions and other highly

relevant third-party content that employees want to share and customers want to consume

● Produce read worthy content and provide extra value to your brand’s audience and customers

● Become a sought after resource by sharing only the most relevant and helpful content with our

followers

How to be successful in content curation?

Tip 1: When you curate content, look for content to gain inspiration from, not to copy, and enhance your own

individual content strategy for your clients. Instead of just rounding up the most generally popular things on

the web, pick the ones that are going to be the most relevant and interesting to your audience, and then

provide the context around them that makes your site a destination.

Tip 2: Content creation vs curation: the ideal mix. According to up-to-date research, and depending on the

industry, the ideal ratio between created and curated content is 65/35. That means 65% created content and

35% curated content.

Tip 3: Curation should be focused more on your social platforms than on your own blog / website, which is

where only your original content should be featured.

Tip 4: Launch an employee advocacy program. Employee advocates put a trusted human face behind your

content and messaging. When employees share news and information about your organisation on social

media, they extend your marketing reach and boost recruiting – all while becoming more engaged. Build a

robust content library for your employee advocates and supply pre-approved content and messaging.

http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-measurement/new-research-finds-the-curation-vs-creation-sweet-spot/



Tip 5: Look for trending topics. When a particular topic starts to gather a great deal of attention on the social

media it is categorised as a ‘trending topic’. If it relates to your topics, it could be a nice idea to capitalise on

and convert into quality content. Finding the content that is creating the buzz is the key to create engaging

content.

Tip 6: Make it your own by adding commentary. Personalise the content with commentary, insights, or quotes

from curated content to develop your own unique content (with ample citations, of course).

Tip 7: Content curation should build value. Providing personalised content to customers presents a huge

opportunity for brands to build a relationship with their audience. If you can deliver a curated experience that

saves your customers time in getting the information they need, you have taken a major step on the path of

building trust and loyalty.

Tip 8: Streamline your content curation efforts. News sites, your social media platforms and your favorite

sites are the first step to start. Quite huge, though. So, identify the most suitable tools for you and schedule

accordingly, e.g. for weekly curated posts or editorials or email newsletters.

Tip 9: Publish only content you have thoroughly read. You should know what you are promoting before you

hit that promote button.

Tip 10: In the marketplace, there is a wide variety of content curation tools, including free, freemium, paid and

enterprise-level software. So, you have to do your homework to decide which one(s) is best for you. If you

are a beginner, you might start with a free or freemium tool. If you are an advanced user and you are looking

for a proven platform that is capable of working with a team of users, you might consider an enterprise-level

solution that provides users with advanced algorithms, a centralised publishing platform and the ability to

customise content, teams and publishing channels.

To help you start with, we have picked some of the best-known content curation

tools. Enjoy the reading and experimenting!

Sources

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/content-curation-tools

https://expresswriters.com/17-of-the-best-content-curation-tools

https://optinmonster.com/best-content-curation-tools/

https://www.cloohawk.com/blog/5-tools-identify-trending-topics

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/content-curation-tools

https://expresswriters.com/17-of-the-best-content-curation-tools

https://optinmonster.com/best-content-curation-tools/

https://www.cloohawk.com/blog/5-tools-identify-trending-topics



Ahrefs Content Explorer

https://ahrefs.com/content-explorer

Ahrefs assists you to identify the most popular content in your industry or from any website. Its front page will

give you a list of top 10 topics that were trending in the last 24 hours. You just have to put a keyword of your

interest and it will throw a list of popular articles based on social shares and organic search traffic. You can

apply filters such as language, word count and traffic on your searches to get precise search results. You can

also sort the topics based on metrics such as relevance, search traffic and total shares.

https://ahrefs.com/content-explorer



AllTop

https://alltop.com

AllTop aggregates all of the top news and information in real time from around the web. It is a useful source

of inspiration and a great resource to use, especially if you are looking for content in a specific niche. It contains

publications of top sites and keeps them categorised by topics such as Technology, Culture, Sports, Science,

Business etc.



BuzzSumo

https://app.buzzsumo.com/research/most-shared

BuzzSumo is a content analysis tool that helps identify the trending topics. By typing in a phrase, you can

quickly find the most shared content on any topic and share it yourself, either within Buzzsumo or via its Buffer

integration on your website or social media. In a single feed, you can monitor the trending content that is

posted across all social media. It also has options to create your own customised feed based on various

interests. By using filters you can further narrow your search. Buzzsumo lets you find the content shared by

influencers, and track content created by particular authors. Additionally, it sends automated alerts every time

new content in your industry is published.



ContentGems

https://contentgems.com

ContentGems is a content discovery tool, allowing you to search for and follow topics and keywords to build

your own on-screen digest of shareable content. You can add topics, subtopics and sources to pull a list of

your favorite subject.

Feedly

https://feedly.com



Feedly is one of simplest free content curation software solutions around. It is a tool that helps you keep up

with the trending content from multiple sites or topics that your customers are interested in and label your

groups of feeds for easy reference. It consolidates or aggregates the RSS feeds into one single location that

can be opened in a web browser. To start, you should add the feeds from the various websites, add keywords

and relevant topics that you want to see in your feed. When your feed is ready, you will get to see the content

from all feeds that you can further filter by publications and topics. Feedly helps you to curate content that

can be used as resources for future posts or give you great ideas for upcoming content. It does not pull images,

but the lack of visuals does not diminish the importance of this tool.

Flipboard

https://flipboard.com

Flipboard is a news aggregator and social network aggregation company. It lets you create your own digital

magazine by combining updates from social feeds and news sources, so you can read it whenever you want.



Google alerts

https://www.google.com/alerts?#

Google Alerts is a content change detection and notification service, offered by the search engine Google. The

service sends emails to the user when it finds new results—such as web pages, newspaper articles, blogs, or

scientific research—that match the user's search term(s). It is useful for many reasons, such as monitoring the

web for specific information about your company, your online content's popularity or your competition. You

can also use it to keep up to date with new advancements or current trends. If you already have a Google

account, all you need to do is type in a keyword that is relevant in your niche and click “Create Alert”.

Paper.li

https://paper.li

Paper.li is one of the best-known content curation tools, as it has been around for quite a while. The app

collects content related to the topics you choose and collates them into an online newspaper. You can add

your comments and share this digest on social media. You can even send out your content digest via email.

https://www.google.com/alerts?



Pocket

https://getpocket.com

Pocket is a great place to get into the habit of accruing content to save and share later. Pocket installs a button

on your browser, so when you come across an interesting article, video, or image, you just hit the button and

put it in your “pocket” for later, instead of creating a list of bookmarks or sending countless emails to yourself

with links. You can also group articles with tags and access your content offline. Another feature is that when

you sign up to Pocket, you get daily emails showcasing the most “pocketed” content from around the web.

PublishThis

https://www.publishthis.com

If you are looking for multi-purpose content curation tools, PublishThis is one option. The tool curates content

to help businesses create email newsletters quickly, share relevant content to social media sites, and curate

content digests and lists for publication. It is largely powered by what it calls Big Content. In addition to

customising curated content to specific audiences, PublishThis also helps users manage and distribute original

content, as well as adding conversions.



Scoop.it

https://www.scoop.it

Scoop.it has been one of the major content curation tools for some time. It lets you create a topic page and

suggests content based on the interests and news sources you specify, such as RSS feeds. Scoop.it allows you

to search for content according to keyword, share curated content directly to your social channels and embed

everything you find on your page. What’s more, the platform offers predictive insights and a measuring tool

that helps you get the most from your curated content.

Storyful

https://storyful.com

Storyful curates user-generated content to help brands tell better stories that engage their customers. This

includes a library of exclusive social video content, which Storyful users can licence.



Twitter Lists

https://twitter.com

Twitter lists are curated groups of Twitter users that you can categorise and follow separately from the rest of

your feed. You can create your own Lists or subscribe to Lists created by others. Using Twitter Lists can help

you monitor content from influencers, news websites and other relevant companies, which can be resources

for real-time marketing. Set up lists for different categories so you can check the conversations under a topic

in an instant.

WayWire

https://waywireglobal.com

WayWire is a video content curation platform which automatically identifies videos matching your keywords

or interests and lets you know as soon as new content is published. It allows you to manage both your own

and external video content in a single dashboard and provides video analytics so you can tweak your strategy

as needed.



Comms 101 box - Enterprise Europe Network · 2018-11-30 · Comms 101 box Page 2 of 40 COMMS 101 BOX Brussels, December 2017. Another meeting of the Enterprise Europe Network’s

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