Facebook remains the king of social media with over a billion daily active users worldwide.  It remains the world's biggest social network. So it should be utilized as a part of any marketing strategy.  Check out 8 new and creative ways to reach your audience using Facebook in the Infographic below.

In this digital age, consumers have information at their fingertips and the ability to research products and services on their own.  In addition, they are being bombarded by marketing messages continuously.  It can be tough for marketers to build a sound strategy that will not only rise above the noise, but will also effectively message the right people at the right time, in the right way.  Marketing Automation can help segment your audience so you are able to personalize your content to them.  By having the tools to target your audience, and by using those tools effectively, you can ensure that your marketing automation efforts are successful.  However, trying to get your marketing automation strategy right can be tricky.  Jamie Lewis at Marketo has written a good article listing 4 pitfalls you should avoid when building your strategy.

Images are a powerful tool that you can incorporate into all forms of your content.  Images are powerful because they evoke emotion.  Those emotions can then motivate desired behaviors by your audience, such as registering, downloading, purchasing, or any other behavior you are trying to drive your audience towards.  This month's Inbound Lunch Bunch discussed how to use images in different formats and across multiple channels in the most effective ways.  So if you missed our July Inbound Lunch Bunch: Using Images To Attract Customers, and would like to learn more, it is now available On-Demand through HighRoadU.

The infographic below, created by our partner Salesforce, answers common questions about the returns companies are getting from their marketing automation investment.  Take a look at some marketing automation statistics from industry analysts and a quick overview of features and benefits of automation tools.

Marketing automation software is being utilized today by a growing number of organizations.  This is because they have come to realize that implementing marketing automation allows them to more effectively market on multiple online channels including email, website, and social media.  So if your organization is considering the move to automation we have a great article, written by Lynn F. Anderson at Act-On, that you should read.  The article suggests 6 steps to take first, to help ensure the smoothest implementation and the quickest success with your marketing automation transition.

Are you making the most use out of the contacts that are stored in your database?  If you don't yet have marketing automation software, you probably aren't.  By having automated email workflows set up, you can get more out of your current contacts. You can set up more personalized email workflows based on information you already have about your contacts.  Email automation can help convert leads into customers and continually engage existing customers, promoting growth for your company.  If you would like to increase engagement and activation with your current contacts this article, written by Pamela Vaughan at Hubspot, lists 13 email marketing automation workflows you should try.