Instagram’s Superzoom Could be the Next Boomerang by @MattGSouthern

Instagram has a new effect for videos that could end up being one of its best features since the Boomerang.

The post Instagram’s Superzoom Could be the Next Boomerang by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google AdWords’ New Showcase Shopping Ads Can Display Collections of Products by @MattGSouthern

Google has rolled out a new shopping ad in AdWords just in time for the holiday season.

The post Google AdWords’ New Showcase Shopping Ads Can Display Collections of Products by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Quickly Respond to LinkedIn Messages With New Smart Replies by @MattGSouthern

LinkedIn is bringing smart replies to its messaging platform in an effort to help keep conversations going.

The post Quickly Respond to LinkedIn Messages With New Smart Replies by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Now You Can Share Links to Snapchat from Third Party Apps on iOS by @MattGSouthern

Snapchat updated its iOS app with a feature previously only available on Android — link sharing from third-party apps.

The post Now You Can Share Links to Snapchat from Third Party Apps on iOS by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google: Improving Low Quality Content is Better Than Deleting It by @MattGSouthern

Google’s John Mueller has cleared up any confusion around what to do with low quality content.

The post Google: Improving Low Quality Content is Better Than Deleting It by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

6 Reasons Why Some People Think Black Hat SEO Tactics Work by @benjarriola

Black hat SEO has a huge downside. Learn why some people can be fooled into thinking these risky tactics work.

The post 6 Reasons Why Some People Think Black Hat SEO Tactics Work by @benjarriola appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

One of Google’s Biggest Mistakes Was Naming Algorithm Updates by @askreinhart

Naming Google's algorithms gave them an inordinate amount of power. Instead of worrying about algorithm changes, do this instead.

The post One of Google’s Biggest Mistakes Was Naming Algorithm Updates by @askreinhart appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

8 Ways to Measure Social with Google Analytics by @coreydmorris

Here are eight Google Analytic reports and tools that can help us prove the value of social media marketing

The post 8 Ways to Measure Social with Google Analytics by @coreydmorris appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Weatherproof SEO: How to Stay on Top of Google Algorithm Changes by @https://twitter.com/semrush

Learn how you can keep up with Google's ever-changing algos at all times with the help of SEMrush sensor.

The post Weatherproof SEO: How to Stay on Top of Google Algorithm Changes by @https://twitter.com/semrush appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

4 Spooky Marketing Lessons from Classic Halloween Monsters

Halloween is objectively the best holiday of the fall-winter season. You don’t have to go broke buying people gifts. You don’t have to cook an enormous meal (then pass out after gorging on turkey). The only obligations for Halloween are to play dress up and eat candy!

Not to mention I’m somewhat partial to the holiday’s aesthetic. Give me skulls and bats over tinsel and garland any day of the week, and twice on Friday the 13^th.

Sure, there’s a horror/scary element to Halloween. But it’s a fun, safe kind of scary. If you’ve spent an hour on social media recently, you know there are scarier things than ghoulies and ghosties.

But Halloween isn’t just fun. It’s educational, too! I realized this year that some of my favorite Halloween monsters are hiding valuable lessons for marketers. For example…

#1: Dracula Rules Influencer Marketing

Count Dracula is often romanticized as a solitary figure, brooding in his castle. That image couldn’t be further from the truth. He’s constantly making new friends—and making those friends into vampires. The way Dracula builds a relationship is a solid lesson in influencer marketing.

Drac doesn’t just meet someone and immediately offer to make them immortal. He starts by getting to know them socially and paying them visits. Then he invites them to become a thrall, feeding on insects and getting a taste of the vamp life. Finally, when the relationship is mature, he converts them into full-fledged creatures of the night. It’s an easy sell by then, because he didn’t skip any steps in the relationship.

I don’t recommend making your influencers eat bugs, of course (unless they happen to enjoy doing so). But you should build relationships with influencers over a series of small, incremental steps. Start by socializing and promoting them, then ask for a small content contribution, and finally move on to co-creating together.

#2: Dr. Frankenstein Is Great at Repurposing

If you ask me, Dr. Frankenstein (the scientist, not his monster, of course) gets a bad rap. Yes, he took his research a little too far. Sure, he was a bit of an amoral lunatic. Okay, so he tampered in God’s domain a little. But you can’t deny that he got results!

In real life, after the hullabaloo died down, scientist would be scrambling to corroborate and replicate his findings. Frankenstein’s monster 2.0 and beyond would be far less “shambling horror” and more “hey, we finally beat death!”

Where others saw a pile of discarded body parts, Dr. Frankenstein saw the potential for new life. When we’re looking at a content calendar, we should be following in his footsteps. Repurposing content—up to and including stitching parts of old posts into a new one—can bring your old content to a new audience with a minimum of effort.

#3: The Wolfman Is a Content Strategy Object Lesson

Quick: What’s the wolfman’s biggest problem? No, it’s not that he’s vulnerable to silver. It’s not even that he turns into a brainless monster every full moon.

No, what always gets the wolfman in the end is his failure to plan ahead. He always ends up roaming the countryside chowing down on rabbits, and then someone sees him, and then out come the silver bullets. If he were to approach the problem strategically, he could spend each wolf session safely locked in a basement somewhere. He could live a full life 28 days out of the month, and no one would ever know he had a lycanthropy problem.

If you’re creating content without a content strategy, you’re practically begging the townsfolk to load up on silver buckshot. You may score the occasional win—like the wolfman gets a rabbit or two—but on the whole, it’s counter-productive. Plan your content in advance, with a rationale, research, and an amplification plan, and your content is far more likely to have a long and prosperous life.

#4: Dr. Jekyll Is Extremely Empathetic

Just how far would you go to get inside someone else’s head? You might walk a mile in their shoes, as the cliché goes. But honestly, how much can you know about someone just by borrowing their footwear? By that logic, every time I went bowling I’d learn about hundreds of people.

Dr. Jekyll takes empathy to the next level. He transformed himself into Mr. Hyde to learn exactly how a monster thinks. Granted, the experiment didn’t end well, but the lesson is still valid.

Marketers don’t have to undergo a monstrous physical transformation to feel empathy, of course. But we should be striving to learn as much about our audience as we can. That means learning about them beyond their interactions with the brand. The more we can use data to truly know our customers, the more relevant our content will be.

Practice Frighteningly Good Marketing

Sociologists and anthropologists would say that the monsters we create in folklore and fiction survive because they are a reflection of our deepest fears. For example, the wolfman is about loss of control, fearing the beast within us all. Dracula is about the fear of death and disease—and of creepy old guys lurking in castles.

I would argue that these monsters have such enduring power because at the heart of each story is an eternally relevant marketing lesson. Stay tuned for my next horror story, “The Beast that Wouldn’t Stop Sending Boilerplate Sales Emails.”

Is your skill at creating awesome content almost paranormal? Are you terrifyingly good at account management? TopRank Marketing is hiring.

---

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2017. | 4 Spooky Marketing Lessons from Classic Halloween Monsters | http://www.toprankblog.com

The post 4 Spooky Marketing Lessons from Classic Halloween Monsters appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Instagram Lets Users Add a Friend to Live Broadcasts by @MattGSouthern

Instagram has made it possible for two accounts to broadcast together at the same time.

The post Instagram Lets Users Add a Friend to Live Broadcasts by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google is Among the Most Trusted Tech Companies [SURVEY] by @MattGSouthern

Compared to other top tech companies, research shows that Google ranks just below Amazon in terms of consumer trust.

The post Google is Among the Most Trusted Tech Companies [SURVEY] by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google Halloween Costume Quiz Easter Egg Found in Google Home by @MattGSouthern

An Easter egg found in Google Home can help you figure out what your Halloween costume should be this year.

The post Google Halloween Costume Quiz Easter Egg Found in Google Home by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

The 11 Best SEO Books You Should Read by @BrianHarnish

If you're looking to increase your SEO knowledge, here are 11 of the best SEO books you should read now.

The post The 11 Best SEO Books You Should Read by @BrianHarnish appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Why You Should Link to a Person, Not a Twitter Handle by @rollerblader

Here are five reasons you should consider linking to an expert or authority's website rather than their Twitter handle.

The post Why You Should Link to a Person, Not a Twitter Handle by @rollerblader appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

How Smart Speakers with Screens Are Advancing Search

The addition of a screen theoretically re-expands the answer universe beyond Position 0 on a range of smart speakers.

The post How Smart Speakers with Screens Are Advancing Search appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Be the Best Answer: 5 Steps to Grow Influence for Your Brand

“Be the Best Answer” is an expression my team and I have used many times in client strategy planning, training, presentations, webinars, blogging, and in my book Optimize about the intersection of search with owned, earned, paid and shared media.

Being present in a relevant, credible and useful way on all the channels where buyers are looking is a powerful (but often difficult to execute) way to provide the kinds of customer experiences that greatly differentiate one brand from another.

---

Influence plays an important role in a “Best Answer” marketing strategy.
Click To Tweet

---

Influence plays an important role in a “Best Answer” marketing strategy as buyers pay less attention to ads and brand content, and more time listening to peers and industry subject matter experts.

While many companies are experiencing increased competition and waning interest in their marketing, brands that infuse influencers into their marketing initiatives do not suffer this decline of attention.

For example, Adidas maintains command of customer attention by boosting credibility with advocates via dark social. Our client SAP grows their influence and reach in specific areas of interest by co-creating content with industry experts in a variety of formats including video, blog posts, ebooks and interactive experiences.

Both of these brands build their own influence with audiences they’re trying to reach and engage by partnering on content with influencers that already have customer attention.

---

Brands can build influence by co-creating content within influencers that customers already trust.
Click To Tweet

---

So how can your company take advantage of growing brand influence by working with industry influencers?  Here are 5 guidelines for building brand influence you can follow:

1. Audit your brand’s influence, advocates and influencers

Establishing a benchmark for your brand’s current level of influence is essential. But you must first ask, what are you trying to be influential about? Whatever idea pops into your mind needs to be reconciled with what customers actually care about.

Assess your brand’s share of voice for the topics you want to be influential about on social channels, in search and anywhere else customers discover, consume and engage with solutions content. These are the places where you’ll be co-creating content with experts to be the best answer and build your brand’s influence, as well as grow leads and sales.

Identify the gap between the quantity, quality and sentiment of conversations happening around your brand and the topic currently and where you want to be. Closing that gap will be a key driver for your brand influence program.

Determine who is already advocating for your brand in relation to the topics you have in mind. Whether those fans are customers, partners or users, they can be activated to be advocates. They can also help define an advocate persona for recruiting more advocates.

Who are the best influencers for your topics? For your industry? For your brand? Identifying potential influencers to collaborate with takes time, technology and expertise. Leaving it to anyone with an opinion about who is an influencer could create some major mis-steps. Influential experts are not the same thing as influencers, for example.

It can seem overwhelming, but there’s good news: there are specialty influencer marketing tools and platforms you can use for auditing your share of voice, identifying advocates and finding influencers – just like there are experts (like TopRank Marketing) who can be your guide.

2. Identify internal influencer candidates

Growing brand influence from the inside is often forgotten with campaign driven influencer marketing. Besides industry influencers, customers and community members, one of the most significant and powerful sources of growing brand influence can come from within. Everyone has some degree of influence from the CEO to front line employees interacting with customers on a daily basis. Especially front line employees.

---

Someone with expertise is not automatically an influencer. Influence is the ability to affect action.
Click To Tweet

---

Influence is the ability to affect action. Many internal subject matter experts can have credibility and respect but not have any idea or interest in “behaving like an influencer”. Developing SMEs into influencers takes time, but it can be well worth it.

Some companies already have internal influencers to work with. Being an influencer means creating and sharing content amongst an interested network that engages and takes action. Brands that can effectively connect to relevant internal influencers can create a symbiotic relationship and value exchange of exposure.

Internal subject matter experts and established influencers are valuable. Both need to be approached differently. Together, they can amplify brand influence in meaningful ways at scale.

3. Map topics of influence to content marketing and communications plans

Content is what closes the influence gap using the right topics, resources and industry/internal influencers. Once the influence topics are identified, they can be incorporated into content marketing plans.

A best answer strategy maps a connection between influence topics and content for PR and media relations as well as marketing tactics like content, social, SEO, advertising and influencers. Information hungry customers interact with numerous touch-points, ignoring overly salesy content and advertising, so including credible voices in marketing and PR communications increases reach and engagement.

By mapping the internal and external voices to collaborate with in marketing and PR content, you can facilitate the credibility of your brand as the best answer for the topics of focus.

4. Build executive influence with content and influencers

Executives are not automatically influential – at least not in a useful way. It is often assumed that company executives are influential by the nature of their position. To some degree that is true, but those senior business executives that create content and engage with industry influencers become far more influential. That influence can be leveraged for more significant media coverage, more credible engagement with customers and employees.

Operationalizing influence best practices amongst brand executives can be very rewarding for all. Recently I’ve observed companies make organized efforts towards building their executives’ profiles through content, social and events as well as by interacting with industry influencers. The boost in credibility and top of mind consideration as a result is impressive.

5. Build influence of internet subject matter experts through brand channels

Investing in influence can be more powerful than renting it through association. Besides identifying external influencers and advocates for content collaboration and building executive influence, there is an opportunity for brands to grow influence in a way that is almost counterintuitive.

Brands associating with known industry influencers gain influence themselves. It is also very powerful for the brand to help up and coming influencers grow. When brands can help their niche subject matter experts transition from simply possessing influence to learning how to behave as an influencer, the resulting content, reach and engagement can outperform the effect of external celebrity influencers, or “brandividiuals”.

Our client LinkedIn Marketing Solutions does a great job of showcasing their employees in marketing materials as well as co-creating content with their internal subject matter experts. By doing so, LinkedIn provides more credible content and builds the credibility of their team members at the same time. More credibility can translate to more reach, engagement and sales.

By incorporating these 5 steps your brand can begin to benefit from being a source of content that customers actually want to consume and from the people they trust and want to hear from. In the process, your brand will earn credibility and trust points that can extend influence to the brand, but only if the brand learns from why customers favor creators and adapts those practices itself. At the same time building internal influencers while helping external micro-influencers build their influence will result in even more influence for the brand.

Are you ready to get started?

Be sure to check out the influencer marketing services we provide at TopRank Marketing. Hey, that’s what makes this blog possible and if we can help your brand become more influential, everybody wins!

Of course we’re also hiring talented influencer marketing professionals with community management, content marketing and social media experience. So, be sure to check out our careers page as well.

Upcoming Influencer Marketing Speaking Events:

Nov 7: Dreamforce, San Francisco
The Confluence Equation: How Content & Influencers Drive B2B Marketing Success

Nov 9: Pubcon, Las Vegas
In Search of Influence

Nov 15: SMXL, Milan
Content Marketing & Influence Integration

---

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2017. | Be the Best Answer: 5 Steps to Grow Influence for Your Brand | http://www.toprankblog.com

The post Be the Best Answer: 5 Steps to Grow Influence for Your Brand appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

How to Create Consumer-Centric Content by @infobrandz

Creating content for your target audience is essential. Here's how to start creating consumer-centric content.

The post How to Create Consumer-Centric Content by @infobrandz appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

7 Reasons Solo Bloggers Outperform Company Bloggers in Influence by @WebDevEtc

Here are seven reasons why solo bloggers outperform company bloggers when it comes to influence.

The post 7 Reasons Solo Bloggers Outperform Company Bloggers in Influence by @WebDevEtc appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google Search Will No Longer Use Domains to Indicate Country Service by @MattGSouthern

Google search will no longer use country code top level domains to indicate where you’re searching from.

The post Google Search Will No Longer Use Domains to Indicate Country Service by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google AdWords Introduces Ad Unit for In-Store Products by @MattGSouthern

Google has announced plans to introduce local display ads for highlighting in-store products and sales.

The post Google AdWords Introduces Ad Unit for In-Store Products by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Faceted Navigation: Best Practices for SEO by @natalieannhoben

Read on to learn more about SEO best practices when it comes to faceted navigation.

The post Faceted Navigation: Best Practices for SEO by @natalieannhoben appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

How to Use Facebook Page Insights Like an Expert by @AdamHeitzman

Make the best out of your Facebook business page with the help of Facebook Insights. Here's how.

The post How to Use Facebook Page Insights Like an Expert by @AdamHeitzman appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

The Complete Guide to Testing Your Accelerated Mobile Pages by @overthetopseo

Use these tools and resources to monitor, identify, and fix common Accelerated Mobile Page errors.

The post The Complete Guide to Testing Your Accelerated Mobile Pages by @overthetopseo appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Digital Marketing News: Pinterest PPC, Facebook Sets, Online Beats Offline Shopping

Need help understanding Machine Learning? We now live in an age where machines can teach themselves without human intervention. Sound scary? It should. Scary amazing that is. Applications for machine learning extend from marketing to medicine to interstellar space travel. Find out what Machine Learning is, how it works, and how it will change the world.  Infographic.

Google’s New AI Is Better at Creating AI Than the Company’s Engineers. Google CEO Sundar Pichai says his team has achieved “AI inception” with AutoML. AutoML is an artificial intelligence that can assist in the creation of other AIs. By automating some of the complicated process, AutoML could make machine learning more accessible to non-experts. Futurism

Survey: 37% of online retailers started holiday preparations earlier this year. How early you ask? 1 to 4 months earlier than 2016 according to a survey by BigCommerce. Along with early, retailers are optimistic. 88% expect an increase in holiday revenue.  Marketing Land

Oh joy (sarcasm) Facebook is bringing paywalls to Instant Articles in your mobile feed. Since more people than ever before are getting their news from social media, it makes sense that Facebook wants to help publishers by introducing subscriptions for content on its platform. And it’s starting on mobile.  The Next Web

Digital Video Marketing Is A $135 Billion Industry In The U.S. Alone, Study Finds. Video capturing, creation, hosting, distribution, analytics and staffing is big business! In contrast, advertisers are expected to spend $83 billion on digital ads and $71 billion on TV commercials (a total of $154 billion) in the U.S. this year. Forbes

Businesses can now sign up to add booking buttons to their Google local results. Google has finally added a feature to let you easily add a ‘book online’ button to your local business on Google Maps or Google Search. Soon, some businesses might not even need a website. Search Engine Land

Snap is turning to programmatic ads for Snapchat shows. Advertisers can make programmatic buys on Snap Ads — 10-second vertical video units — across the app’s public user stories, Snapchat-curated live stories and Discover publisher channels and Snapchat shows. Digiday

As Amazon Prime Hits 90 Million, Online Holiday Spending To Surpass Brick-And-Mortar. Deloitte predicts people will do 51% of their holiday spending online, making it the first time it may surpass in-store spending. Among high-income families that number jumps to 57%. Headed to the mall anyone? Pass. MediaPost

Facebook officially rolls out its discovery-focused ‘Explore Feed’. The Explore Feed is now fully rolled out on mobile and beginning to show for desktop users. In case you didn’t know, the Explore Feed is to help Facebook users discover more content across the social network, beyond posts from friends and Pages you already follow.  TechCrunch

Google Attribution Rolls Out To Thousands Of Marketers. Google is rolling out an attribution model it introduced in May, powering the platform with machine learning. Google Attribution is to help marketers analyze how top and middle funnel clicks and interactions impact conversions across channels. MediaPost

Facebook Is Testing a Pinterest-Like Feature Called Sets. Oh look, Facebook has taken a break from imitating Snapchat and LinkedIn to imitate Pinterest. Facebook is now testing Sets, Pinterest-like themed collections that include status updates, photos, videos and links, and that can be shared with all friends or specific friends. AdWeek

Snapchat dangles referral traffic with link sharing from other apps. This is such foreign territory for me, but go ahead, read on anyway: You now can share links from other apps via the iOS share sheet, allowing you to send a private message with the link to one or several people. And rather than just turning live location sharing on or off permanently, you now can opt to hide in “Ghost Mode” for 3 or 24 hours. TechCrunch

Pinterest moves into paid search: What you need to know.  Pinterest Ads Manager is now open to all businesses who have opened an account and uploaded at least one Pin. It’s time to fire up those experimental paid search budgets.  Search Engine Watch

The B2B CMO’s Growth Strategy Turns Audience-Centric Over Product-Centric. B2B CMOs around the world are focusing on new buyers and new markets over new offerings when it comes to their growth strategies, a new study from SiriusDecisions has found. An enhanced customer experience is seen to have the biggest influence on growth strategies in the next 2 years.  MarketingCharts

This morning I will be joining a sold out crowd to celebrate the 100th Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis St. Paul (SMBMSP #100) event. The plan is a panel with Greg Swan and Jennifer Kane moderated by Mykl Roventine. We’ll be talking about what has changed since the event started in 2008 (founded by Rick Mahn) and what lessons we’ve learned as well as thoughts looking forward. I have a feeling it will be a great collection of stories about successes, failures and the crazy world that social media has become.  If you’re reading this post early on Friday, you can follow the event from 8-10am CT on Twitter with the hashtag #smbmsp100

What was the top digital marketing news story for you this week?

Be sure to stay tuned until next week when we’ll be sharing all new marketing news stories. Also check out the full video summary with Tiffani and Josh on YouTube.

---

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2017. | Digital Marketing News: Pinterest PPC, Facebook Sets, Online Beats Offline Shopping | http://www.toprankblog.com

The post Digital Marketing News: Pinterest PPC, Facebook Sets, Online Beats Offline Shopping appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Google: We Won’t Tell You When the Mobile-First Index Has Fully Rolled Out by @MattGSouthern

Google’s Gary Illyes stated that it will not be announced when the mobile-first index is done rolling out.

The post Google: We Won’t Tell You When the Mobile-First Index Has Fully Rolled Out by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

The Top Challenges SEO Professionals Face in Their Career [POLL] by @A_Ninofranco

What's the biggest challenge SEOs have faced in their career? Discover what our Twitter community said for this #SEJSurveySays poll.

The post The Top Challenges SEO Professionals Face in Their Career [POLL] by @A_Ninofranco appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

13 SEO Experts Share Their Tips for Newbies by @TaylorDanRW

Here are actionable and insightful tips for aspiring SEO professionals from 13 industry experts.

The post 13 SEO Experts Share Their Tips for Newbies by @TaylorDanRW appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

2 New AdWords Features & 1 Awesome Strategy You Must Know by @LisaRocksSEM

Here are two important AdWords features you need to know about, and a fabulous bid strategy to test.

The post 2 New AdWords Features & 1 Awesome Strategy You Must Know by @LisaRocksSEM appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

7 Ways to Boost Your Conversions Through Social Media by @malleeblue

Here are seven strategies you can develop for your own industry in order to boost conversion through social media marketing.

The post 7 Ways to Boost Your Conversions Through Social Media by @malleeblue appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Intelligent Search: Optimize Your Business for Local, Mobile & Geo Data [PODCAST]

Yext's Raj Nijjer shares insights on why and how businesses should optimize for local, mobile and geo data.

The post Intelligent Search: Optimize Your Business for Local, Mobile & Geo Data [PODCAST] appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Content Marketing Tactics for Search Marketers – International Edition #SMXLmilan

Content is both king and kingdom in a digital world full of stories. Brands and consumers alike are experiencing and publishing content on a daily basis. Between information overload, increased complexity of search engines and changes in consumer search behaviors, many marketers are less than confident about how to optimize their content marketing.

How can marketers best use content marketing to improve search marketing? How does search inspired content affect content, PR and marketing programs across channels?

At SMXL in Milan, Italy this November 15th, that’s exactly what a panel of experts will be answering. I will be moderating Content Related Strategies for Search with Ken McGaffin, Lexi Mills and Jey Pandian where we’ll be discussing strategies to help identify new opportunities to develop content based on business intelligence, competitive research and historical performance.

As a teaser for the panel, I’ve asked each speaker to share a preview of their talk with practical insights and tips.

Ken McGaffin @mcgaffin
Online PR and Link Building Strategist at Audiential 

4 Rich Sources of People Stories
“If you’re reading this at 3 am, chances are that James Proud wants to put you in a deep slumber.”

That’s a great opening to an article on insomnia in the NYTimes.com. It paints a vivid picture, intrigues the reader and draws them in.

That’s the power of story – it elevates your content and makes it unique.

Content Marketing is a competitive business and your pitches have to be top notch to succeed. Stories make yours stand out – to the delight of your target publishers and their readers. Here’s some things we’ve discovered at Audiential:

1. There’s no such thing as a ‘boring’ industry – every business involves people and people are inherently interesting.
2. Don’t expect your clients to give you stories – they rarely know what makes a great story. You’ve got to seek stories out – and polish them into inspiring content.
3. You only need 4 sources to systematically mine for stories:
   · customers
   · staff
   · founders
   · influencers

4. You must encourage people to open up and that means you have to listen. There’s an old saying, “We have two ears and one mouth, and we should listen and talk in the same proportion”.

Lexi Mills @leximills
Managing Director at Marquis Communications

Design for Trends and Play the Long Game with Research Content
Many media are using new technology to tell them what subjects they should be covering. In some cases over 50% of the content they produce has to align with the trends these tools show. Making sure you are designing your content inline with an anticipated trend or pitching it in a way that allows them to cover a current one will significantly improve your media relationships, coverage and inbound link profile.

Don’t plan to win on round one. Media are so busy these days that the likelihood of winning on the first point of contact is significantly lower than ever before. I have a strict rule with my team that they are not allowed to send an email or make a phone call without pre-planning what their follow up will be.

This can be anything from new images, interview slots becoming available to book or highlighting an emerging trend or event that the content fits in with. Not only does this ensure that they follow up in good time but it also feeds into the structure of campaigns.

Instead of releasing all research in one go we might decide to release it in phases or at a time when we know there will be a relevant event this allows for a more constructive follow-up. It also helps eliminate anyone tormenting a journalist with their pet hate…..an email that says “I just wanted to check you received my press release”.

Jey Pandian @jeypandian
Chief Digital Officer & Founding Partner at ONWARD Agency

Storytelling in the Age of the Omnichannel
Since the internet first started, the way people communicate has continuously evolved. Within each Search vertical, there are different types of content that need to be built out in order to meet customer demand. Jey will present a content framework that goes beyond search content to help lay the foundation for an omnichannel content play.

1. Analyze – Identify out where your audiences spend their time online on Social Media Platforms and Search Engines on a 24-hour timeline to figure out “moments of receptivity” and to ensure that content will be built and surfaced at the right time and place, in the right context.

2. Design – Study UX design patterns against each Search Engine design feature; whether infinite scroll, voice, mobile, and/or swiping patterns e.g. scrolling up and down or sideways to figure out how to design your asset for optimal consumer consumption.

3. Create – Understand your algorithmic limitations as it pertains to content consumption across each Search Engine; whether image, video, voice search and/or virtual reality to help figure out how to design your asset for optimal search visibility and in turn, consumer consumption.

This will be the second time I’ve presented at SMXL Milan. Last year I gave a keynote presentation on influencer content collaboration. There were several speaker dinners and I think we counted 15 different countries represented at one of them. This really is an international search marketing event.

Whether you’re simply trying to increase organic search visibility for the great content you’ve been publishing or if you want to create an advantage in a competitive market, leveraging search data can produce insights that are impactful for everything from storytelling, to media relations to omni-channel marketing. This panel with Ken, Lexi and Jey on Content Related Strategies for Search Marketing is ambitious and will cover many of these topics with plenty of time for audience Q and A.

I will be giving a solo presentation about content marketing at SMXL Milan on November 15th:

Photo of Lee Odden via Laura Caldarella? @LaSagitta

Content Marketing Integration – Without content, there wouldn’t be any search engines and yet most marketers treat content as if it were simply a tactic for SEO. Content is the fuel that powers all forms of media on all digital channels where customers engage. The most successful marketers approach digital marketing with a customer and content-centric approach that integrates with SEO, social media and advertising in a way that helps the brand become “the best answer” wherever customers are looking.  This presentation provides an overview of how to plan, produce, promote and optimize content as a marketing approach that works with or without search engines. But definitely better with search engines.

SMXL Milan features a truly impressive roster of speakers including Bill Hunt, Rand Fishkin, Michael King, Aleyda Solis, Gianluca Fiorelli, Hana Abaza, Bryan Eisenberg, Kristjan Mar Hauksson, Larry Kim, Nichola Stott, Jon Myers, Phil Nottingham, Cyrus Shepard and many more international search and digital marketing professionals. If you’re a reader of our blog based in Europe, I hope you can make it to Milan in November!

Be sure to check out the conference website for more information.

---

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2017. | Content Marketing Tactics for Search Marketers – International Edition #SMXLmilan | http://www.toprankblog.com

The post Content Marketing Tactics for Search Marketers – International Edition #SMXLmilan appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.