Blogger insights this week: Content marketing and the new copywriter

YouTube … Tumblr … Instagram … Pinterest … What is to become of the copywriter in the rising tide of visual content?

It’s true, visual marketing is now the way of the Web. In response, the role of copywriters is evolving – as are the skills needed to succeed in content marketing.

Two of my favorite posts this week look at what copywriters need to bring to the party. They are in the spotlight.

Spotlight: Copywriting in the digital age

Attention grabbers: 5 essentials to make your marketing stand out via Crazy Egg

The first job of a copywriter today, writes Scott Martin, is to get attention. Words are just one of the tools in the toolbox. The modern copywriter must also be able to select images, direct the use of illustrations and write audio and video scripts.

His post elaborates on the copywriter’s role with examples and tips for using video, photos, sound and illustrations for the Web. Read the full post here to find out more.

Why the blogging experts are wrong about headlines via Pushing Social

Stan Smith bursts the bubble on some of the conventional wisdom on writing headlines for the Web. “I believe it’s time to seriously rethink the headline advice we are getting from the content marketing elite,” he writes. What to do instead?

He dissects headlines from viral BuzzFeed and Gawker stories and gives three tips to make yours stand out from the sea of me-too “how to” headlines everybody else is using.

Do the classics still work? Find out what Stan has to say here.

Best of the Web: Blogger highlights

Social Media Marketing

What type of content gets shared the most on Twitter? via Quick Sprout

5 ways to grow your blog community and readership via Top Rank

The science of emotion in marketing: How our brains decide what to share and whom to trust via Buffer

Content Marketing

Why spending big on extraordinary content marketing is a good bet via Marketing Land

What will content marketing look like in 2014? via Marketing Profs

9 brainstorming tools to help with your content generation strategy via Vertical Measures

How content marketing is changing and what we can do to be ready via Search Engine Watch

Scaling up the effort: The process behind great (contracted) content via Moz

The 5 benefits of lean content via Heidi Cohen

Response Marketing

What can you learn from looking at the data of over 100,000 sent emails? via KISS Metrics

Integrated Marketing

A true integrated marketing framework via Search Engine Watch

3 smart uses for video in email campaigns via Exact Target

Branding

How brands define their personality through social media via Socialnomics

How to nurture your leads to build your online brand via Webpresence

Newswire

Digital Marketing Weekly via JGO Digital

Top 10 digital marketing news stories this week: Twitter adds promoted tweets to search; Scientists develop social media lie detector; New Facebook tagging enables reach beyond page fans; Video ad views hit 27B in January; New Gmail unsubscribe option looks bad for email marketers; Plus more.

Visual Marketing