As promised, here are some more insights and one-liners from my recent Content Marketing World (CMW) conference!

The movie Finding Nemo decimated the global clownfish population.

Formally known as “The Nemo Effect” (no, I’m not joking), studies have found evidence that the hit movie caused such a demand for clownfish, the wild population drastically reduced and even reached extinction in some areas. On the flipside, along with the demand for every child to have his or her own “Nemo,” came the demand for everything Nemo needs to survive (tanks, food, rocks, more fish, etc.). What’s the point? According to conference speaker, Andrew Davis, valuable content increases demand for the products and services you sell. “The Nemo Effect” – that’s the power of valuable content. To succeed, create valuable content to create needs for your business.

Content is fire. Social media is gasoline. Use your social to promote your content first and your company second.

‘Nuff said. Conference speaker, Jay Baer, says it all.

Never exit the metrics train at the consumption depot.                 

Here’s another one-liner from Jay Baer (can you tell his session was a lot of fun to attend?). Knowing the amount of people who have read your content is great, but don’t stop there when you’re riding the research train! Knowing a piece of content generated 3,000 page views should prompt even more questions (not stop you dead on your tracks): Do people consuming that content engage in other, more desirable behavior on the site? Do they do so at a ratio different from site visitors overall? Do people consuming that content return to the site?

If your mom won’t share your content, it’s not good enough!

Some more practical, blunt wisdom from Jay Baer (last one, I promise!). If you’re not creating content that’s worthwhile to someone who has to love you no matter what, it’s time to create better content. We can’t complain about content that our consumers don’t find valuable if we don’t give it any value!

Hard work and enthusiasm. Work hard and love what you do.

Jack Hanna, Animal Planet TV personality and zookeeper, was the last keynote speaker at the conference, and made one of the biggest impacts on me. I have never seen someone talk about his or her job with so much unbridled, genuine passion. Let’s all hope we can channel that same passion into our jobs and lives everyday!

Oh, PS, did I mention that I met Rick Springfield? Pretty cool!