Telling your story more visually is a compelling way to get people’s attention in an age of dwindling attention spans. Learn more here.
The post How to Attract an Audience With Visual Storytelling With Debra Jasper by @wonderwall7 appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
In this Pubcon interview Bill Hunt, President of Back Azimuth Consulting. sat down with Kelsey Jones, SEJ's Executive Editor, to talk about HREFLang, what it means for international SEO, and discuss some of the pitfalls SEOs face.
The post How to Use HREFLang Correctly: An Interview with Bill Hunt appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Those weigh differently in people’s minds, but both are important considerations in choosing a web marketing partner. Learn more about pricing factors, and how certain mistakes can be deadly, in this week’s top post.
The post Weekly Wrap-Up: October 28th, 2016 by @megcabrera appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
A report published by Reuters states that 75% of Internet use in 2017 will be from mobile devices.
The post 75% of Internet Use Will Be Mobile in 2017 [REPORT] by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
I think that 2017 is going to be the year when blogging is more sought-out than ever. The only problem? The unprecedented levels of content saturation and new material.
The post An Essential Guide to Writing Blogs That Win by @JuliaEMcCoy appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Jon Ball of Page One Power discusses his five key takeaways learned from building links for enterprise businesses, and how to meet the demand, quality, and documentation they expect.
The post 5 Lessons I’ve Learned Building Links for Enterprise Clients by @linkbuildingjon appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Q: What’s the ratio of a pumpkin’s circumference to its diameter?
A: Pumpkin Pi
All jokes aside, Halloween presents a huge sales opportunity for B2C (and even some B2B) brands. In fact, Halloween is only second to Christmas as the most commercially successful holiday. And a recent survey found that Halloween spending is estimated to reach $8.4 billion dollars this year, the highest in survey history.
Depending on your line of business, this presents an enormous opportunity for marketing departments to help generate a ton of cash over a short amount of time. However, the bar is incredibly high and competition is stiff, which means that consumers are looking for clever, creative and memorable marketing campaigns. The seven spooktacular campaigns below made their mark this year.
This spooky marketing tactic has been all over the news in the past few days. A Burger King in New York draped their building with a giant ghost and scrolled the word “McDonald’s” on it. They also updated their marquee for the holiday to say “Boooooo. Just kidding, we still flame grill our burgers. Happy Halloween”.
In just a few short days the video already has almost 500,000 views on YouTube.
Each year, Chipotle runs a promotion offering discounted food to customers who show up in-store wearing a costume. I will admit that I have personally partook in this promotion more than I’d like to admit.
Not only has this one Facebook post received over 7,000 reactions, but nearly 3,00 shares as well proving that followers (and their friends) are keen on the deal.
The latest Airbnb contest is not for the faint of heart. The travel giant offered two “lucky” people the opportunity to spend Halloween night in the Paris Catacombs. In case you didn’t know, the Catacombs are the final resting place of 6 million souls.
In order to win the full experience, followers were asked to share why they think they are brave enough to sleep in the Catacombs.
I absolutely love this post from Petsmart. In addition to offering pet lovers a clever idea for carving pumpkins, they’re also encouraging user generated content by asking people to create their own and use the hashtag #WickedCute as well as tagging the brand and the “pet celebrity” that they choose.
I was pretty impressed by this amazingly clever approach to showing how your energy consumption stacks up to the energy found in Halloween themed objects from Energy.org. Users can choose a number and energy type to find their output.
Additionally, the organization also created a special Energy Ghostbusters podcast that shares “scarily effective” ways to save energy.
This infographic from REI promises to supply you with the proper attire to survive a zombie apocalypse as well as “five critical skills to keep you from becoming a snack”. Not only is the release of this infographic timely for Halloween, but it also aligns with the premiere of the new season of the Walking Dead and will prove to be a piece of evergreen content for REI once the holiday has passed.
The London Dungeon offers a truly unique theatre experience that features special effects, rides and the opportunity for patrons to hear, touch and smell the whole experience. Their latest campaign features the use of high-end Mac cosmetics to create an authentic (and truly disturbing) tutorial for turning yourself from fresh faced to wicked witch with some clever contouring.
This post would be incomplete without including halloween insights from some of our TopRank Marketing team members. Below you’ll find a glimpse into halloween of years past as our team reflects on their fondest childhood halloween memories.
Alexis Hall – Director of Client Accounts
When I was in first grade I was at the school Halloween party. And for three tickets you could place someone in jail for like 10 minutes. And my brother put me in. It had bars and I cried after 30 seconds so he changed places with me and served my time. It was traumatizing at the time.
Leila de La Fuente – Account Manager
When I was 6, I dressed up as my favorite disney Character, Nala from the Lion King. I walked around all day saying “get your paws off me” because it was my favorite line from the movie.
Caitlin Burgess – Content Marketing Lead
Every Halloween night my grandpa would come over for dinner. My mom always made baked spaghetti from a family recipe. After dinner my dad and grandpa would hit the streets with my sister and I, as well as the neighborhood kids, for trick or treating.
Kevin Kotch – SEO Analyst
When I was a kid, I remember trying to find the “best” houses which of course were the ones with the full-sized candy bars. Throughout the night while we were trick or treating, my neighborhood friends and I would have silly string wars. Things got pretty messy.
Evan Prokop – Digital Marketing Manager
I remember the thrill of running around in the dark causing mayhem. And, there was nothing better than coming home with a full sack of candy!
Tell us what you think! Which marketing campaigns did you find extra spooky and impactful this year?
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.
© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2016. | 7 Spookily Successful Digital Marketing Campaigns for Halloween | http://www.toprankblog.com
The post 7 Spookily Successful Digital Marketing Campaigns for Halloween appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.
Do you ever get a sinking feeling as you open your paid search account? You don’t know exactly what you’re going to see, but you have a feeling that something has gone horribly, horribly wrong? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. If you’ve managed a paid search account for long enough, you know that sometimes, things just inexplicably go awry. Clicks stop converting…keywords stop performing…campaigns suck your budget dry. And you don’t know why. Well, guess what? If you’ve ever felt like your paid search account is being attacked by forces beyond your control, you just might be right… Is Your […]
The post Paid Search Advertising: Happy Ending or Horror Story? by @jakebaadsgaard appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Whether you’re looking after your own site or a customer’s you need to use tools for the best results. Here are 7 that we’ve tried and tested and would strongly recommend.
The post 7 SEO Tools We’re Thankful For by @antonymesser appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Social media nurturing has to be a requirement for all businesses. Businesses have turned social media automation into something that seems to resemble broadcast radio by posting large volumes of tweets and updates occurs fast with automation tools. Now imagine every business, regardless of their industry, doing the exact same thing. Automated postings have inundated social communities to a point that no one is listening anymore. Unfortunately, businesses have over-used social media automation tools to be the end of their marketing efforts. They are seeking efficient (not necessarily effective) ways of getting their message out as fast and as low […]
The post How Social Media Nurturing Gets You More Results by @smartfinds appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Harley Quinn, Star Wars, and Deadpool are among the most searched for costumes this year, search data from Google and Bing reveals.
The post Google & Bing Reveal the Hottest Halloween Costumes of 2016 by @DannyNMIGoodwin appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
There are three updates that are going to make an impact on user/business experience with Google Maps.Here are three ways to leverage these updates.
The post 3 Ways to Take Advantage of Google Maps Ads by @ProvenData appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Adjusting your bids on AdWords can be tricky if you're new to the game; especially when your budget is on the line. Learn how to be successful here.
The post A Beginners Guide to Adjusting Bids on AdWords by @seocompanymiami appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
How to Improve Blog Writing Through the Art of 'Stealing' [Infographic] Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or at least that's the rumor. So, how can you (legally and ethically) 'steal' the high-performance content mojo from a fellow writer to help improve your work? This infographic explains how. MarketingProfs Important News about Vine Twitter announced on Thursday that they'll be discontinuing their Vine app. The platform, which just announced a round of layoffs last week, says they'll be 'doing this the right way' by keeping the website online so users can continue to access their content. Vine on Medium 4 chatbots to help you analyze ad campaigns right in Slack, Facebook Messenger & Google Sheets The life of a digital marketer is always on the move -- from platform and algorithm changes to juggling multiple campaigns at once. The good news? There are now chat bots inside frequently used apps like Slack, Google Sheets and Facebook Messenger that can give you the insights you need, right when you need them. Marketing Land Facebook Launches a Big Ad Campaign for Facebook Live, With User Videos at the Core Facebook Live, for how powerful it is, is still relatively unknown by the Facebook user community at large. This week, Facebook launched an international campaign to gain awareness, featuring a combination of TV ads and digital billboard creative using footage of actual user videos. AdWeek Blogging Report: How to Drive Results From Your Company’s Blog "A new report reveals that when blogging for business, companies are producing more content with less impact. It also uncovers specific tactics marketers can use to combat content overload and outperform their competitors," Reports TrackMaven. The average number of posts published by brands has increased by over 800% in the last five years, while shares have gone down. TrackMaven 
PayPal Announces New Integration with Facebook Messenger On Wednesday, PayPal announced an integration with Facebook which allows users to use PayPal as a payment option within messenger. This fits with Facebook's recent push to become more competitive with the business market. Social Media Today New Occurrences of SEO Spam Discovered: Hacked Subdirectories on WordPress Sites Sucuri released a statement this week about new occurrences of SEO spam which are secretly installing subdirectories on WordPress sites. Search Engine Journal reports: "The idea behind this black hat scheme is to abuse the server resources and storage by installing spammy sites within a WordPress subdirectory." Search Engine Journal Client-side ranking to more efficiently show people stories in feed Facebook announced in a blog post last week, "we redesigned the architecture of News Feed to allow stories to be re-ranked on the client after being sent from the server. We avoid spinners and grey boxes by 1) requiring stories to have all necessary media available before rendering them in News Feed and 2) being able to optimize the content in News Feed for each session." Facebook What were your top online news stories this week? We'll be back next week with more online marketing news. Have something to share? I'd love to hear it! Drop a note in the comments or tweet your thoughts to @toprank.
The post Online Marketing News: The Art of Stealing, Twitter Closes Vine & Helpful Chat Bots appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.
Peter Leshaw and Brent Csutoras discuss marketing automation: process flow, personalization, and how to go over and above what your clients need. Peter also shares his favorite tools to automate his processes.
The post Marketing Automation Best Practices with Peter Leshaw [PODCAST] appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Twitter has announced that Vine, which is known for its looping 6-second videos, will be discontinued in the "coming months."
The post Twitter Cuts Off Vine by @DannyNMIGoodwin appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Reddit CEO Steve Huffman held an AMA style update through a self-post on /r/announcements yesterday, October 26, 2016, to announce a handful of new things they are working on, and also answer some questions. One particular update was worth noting, as they appear to be launching ‘Interest Targeting’ into Reddit Ads, which would “allow advertisers to target audiences based on a handful of predefined interests (e.g. sports, gaming, music, etc.), which will be informed by which communities they frequent. A targeted ad is more relevant to users and more valuable to advertisers.” It doesn’t appear to be available in the Ad […]
The post Reddit News: Interest Targeting Coming to Reddit Ads and Spoiler Tags by @brentcsutoras appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Bing has made it easier to set daily budgets for advertising campaigns. Now, Bing Ads advertisers can automatically assign a single daily budget across all campaigns or a subgroup of campaigns. Shared Budgets is available as of today in all Bing Ads applications. In the web UI, Shared Budgets is available as a Shared Library. Sharing budgets across campaigns saves time that would otherwise be spent manually setting budgets, and it can also result in higher performing campaigns. Let’s says you have two campaigns with a shared budget of $50 per day. That means each campaign can spend from the […]
The post Bing Ads Update: Share Budgets Across Multiple Campaigns by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
A new feature added to Google My Business allows Google users to edit attributes for businesses.
The post Bulk Edit Attributes for Google My Business Listings by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Know your social media audience, and follow their social media lifestyle in this infographic by AddPeople.
The post What’s The Best Time Post Ads and Content on Social Media? [INFOGRAPHIC] by @megcabrera appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Following a successful trial run of expanded text ads, Bing is now making them available to all advertisers.
The post Bing Expanded Text Ads Now Available to All Advertisers by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
At Vegas Pubcon 2016, Brent Csutoras, Chief Social Media Strategist at SEJ, sat down with Annie Cushing, the ultimate go-to person about analytics and founder of Annielytics, to talk about the power of analytics.
The post The Power of Analytics: An Interview with Annie Cushing appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
SEO can be tough so we can't blame some of these major companies for making mistakes, but some are so scary they just won't die. Check out some of these SEO horror stories here to make sure that your business doesn't make the list next Halloween!
The post SEO Horror Stories to Scare You This Halloween by @ADiSilvestro appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
It’s well past time for marketers to get serious about comedy. The best way to connect with an audience is by authentically appealing to them on a human level. Adding humor to marketing is one of the most powerful ways to make that appeal.
Telling a joke does more than provide a moment’s diversion. When people share in a joke, it creates a sense of belonging. If you’ve ever sat around trading in-jokes with your friends, you know what I mean.
Humor can be a way to draw a circle around a group and pull them in—to say, “If you understand this joke, we’re in the same tribe. You get me and I get you.” That’s a powerful message to send to your potential customers. And it’s a good way to get the less relevant folks to opt out, too.
To underscore this point, I wrote 20 brand-new jokes that only marketers will get. If any of these jokes make you laugh, groan, or smirk, you’re in my tribe. Matching T-shirts are optional.
What I’m trying to say is, there’s nothing like a good joke. And believe me, everything you’re about to read is nothing like a good joke.
20 Jokes that are Just for Marketers:
Q: Why couldn’t the marketer sell his baking equipment?
A: He had a leaky funnel.
Q: What’s a pirate’s favorite content format?
A: WebinARRR! Preferably one that’s B2Sea.
Q: Why can’t the marketer go see live musicals anymore?
A: He keeps trying to capture the leads.
Q: Why did the marketer get fired as a tap dancer?
A: She wanted to get paid per click.
Q: What kind of marketing does Dracula do?
A: a-COUNT based marketing!
Q: Why did the marketer fail at honey harvesting?
A: Instead of tapping the hive, he insisted on going B2B.
Q: Why did the woman dump her marketer boyfriend?
A: Lack of engagement.
Q: Why did the marketer burn his initials into a leather jacket?
A: He was working on his personal brand.
Q: What do black hat SEO’s put in their Thanksgiving turkey?
A: Keyword stuffing!
Q: Knock, knock!
A: Who’s there?
Q: Remarketing!
A: Remarketing, who?
Q: Knock, knock!
A: Who’s there?
Q: Remarketing!
When I was getting my marketing degree, I had a 4.0 GPA. There wasn’t a B2C anywhere.
Q: Did you hear about the email marketer who started an ape breeding business?
A: He failed because all he had were MailChimps.
Q: What’s a social media marketer’s favorite kind of cracker?
A: Insta-Grahams!
Q: Why did the social media marketer get kicked out of the bowling alley?
A: She kept trying to sponsor the pins!
Q: What do you call a cow with a blog post stamped on its skin?
A: Branded content!
Q: Why should you never get sushi with a marketer?
A: They insist on showing pre-roll ads.
Q: Did you hear about the new tactic where you co-create content with ill celebrities?
A: It’s called influenza marketing. It’s really going viral.
Q: Why is Joe Pulizzi great at binge-watching TV?
A: He’s enjoyed a lot of success focusing on one channel.
Did you hear about the marketer who imitates celebrities? He’s quite the bargain. He only charges per thousand impressions.
Q: Knock, knock!
A: Who’s there?
Q: A/B testing!
A: A/B testing, who?
Q: Would this joke be funnier if it were about screwing in a light bulb?
Humor brings people together. The corniest of puns can serve a valuable purpose if it tells your audience that you’re part of their tribe. If you enjoyed these jokes, I hope they inspire you to add more humor to your content.
What’s your favorite marketing joke? Let me know in the comments.
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.
© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2016. | 20 Jokes Only a Marketer Could Love | http://www.toprankblog.com
The post 20 Jokes Only a Marketer Could Love appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.
Learn 5 actionable uses of RLSAs that will allow you to influence your search network targeting and modify bid strategies on AdWords based on audience lists created within Google Analytics.
The post 5 Remarketing Lists to Boost PPC Ad Performance by @iambenwood appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
YouTube has added a new feature, End Screens, that lets you add a thumbnail overlay to promote your videos and playlists, encourage subscriptions, and more.
The post YouTube End Screens Feature Now Available to All by @DannyNMIGoodwin appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Sucuri, a company that cleans over 500 hacked sites a day, has discovered a new form of SEO spam which involves maliciously installing subdirectories on WordPress websites. The idea behind this black hat scheme is to abuse the server resources and storage by installing spammy sites within a WordPress subdirectory. The spammy sites are usually promoting products, designer sunglasses for example, with the intent for the attacker to make affiliate income. What sets this tactic apart from other SEO hacked spam, such as malicious redirects or defacements, is that it doesn’t change the appearance of the original site. The hackers […]
The post New SEO Spam Discovered: Hacked Subdirectories on WordPress Sites by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
At Vegas Pubcon 2016, Brent Csutoras, the Chief Social Media Strategist at SEJ, sat down with Aleyda Solis, International SEO Consultant & Founder of Orainti, to discuss the challenges specific to international SEO.
The post Tackling International SEO Challenges: An Interview with Aleyda Solis appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Mark Traphagen discusses SEO and how authority, relevance, and trust are important factors.
The post Mark Traphagen Talks The Three Pillars of SEO by @wonderwall7 appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Whether it is making projects run more smoothly, getting everyone on the same page, or promoting a healthy company culture, collaborating is important.
The post 10 Tools for In-Team Marketing Collaboration by @seosmarty appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
Learn impactful, actionable takeaways from industry thought leaders at SEJ Summit New York!
The post A Glimpse of #SEJSummit New York by @jrdoog appeared first on Search Engine Journal.
For most brands and marketers, social media is an important and necessary component of their overall digital marketing strategy. Not only does social media help build brand awareness, but it also provides a conversational space for brands to engage their audience outside of their company website or brick and mortar stores or offices.
But let’s face it, competition for audience attention and engagement is stiff. With nearly all brands and marketers using social media, coupled with frequent platform changes to improve user experience, brands are fighting for organic visibility. In fact, 40% of marketers say social media marketing has gotten more difficult for them in the last 12 months, according to Social Media Examiner’s 2016 Industry Report.
While it may be more difficult to grab attention these days, the good news is that your target audience is still there, ready to be inspired by your company’s story and creativity, as well as some of your product or service promotions. According to survey findings from MarketingSherpa, 85% of U.S. consumers said they used social media, with 58% all respondents saying they follow brands on social media.
And the success of your social media efforts boils down to one thing: Likeability. People will follow your brand because they just plain like you and they like what you have to offer on social media, such as quality and entertaining content, discounts and special promotions, or customer service.
So how can your brand be more likeable on social media and stand out from the competition? Below we offer a few tips and examples that can help.
If you want to grow meaningful connections—as well as your number of page likes and follows—the importance of authenticity cannot be overstated. Social media gives brands the opportunity to show their target audience who they are, not just what they sell.
Develop a brand voice and marketing strategy that brings a human element and some personality to your social media pages. This means it’s time to lose the jargon or sales pitch, and talk to people on their level. In addition, ask thoughtful questions and be timely in your responses to keep the conversation going and to show your audience your dedication.
Ben & Jerry’s, the makers of some of the most delicious ice cream on the planet, have blended their brand with creativity and humor, as well as some tongue-in-cheek references from time to time, into their Instagram postings.
Providing your audience with a mix of quality content is key for raising your likeability factor and showing your value.
Share links to helpful content on your website, but also make sure you’re calling their attention to other relevant and helpful pieces of content or news items that are out there. This will show them that you’re in the know and that you’re dedicated to providing them with something useful, even if it doesn’t have your name on it.
In addition, do not forget to include visual content as part of your mix. Humans are visual by nature and research shows that visual content can seriously boost engagement on social media.
Also, consider posting content natively within your platforms to eliminate the barrier between your audience and your content. While you give up some immediate website traffic, native content—especially native video content—allows your audience to interact with your content in the moment and can also boost engagement.
If your brand is only posting promotional messages, you need to stop. That’s not what your audience is looking for and you’re probably not seeing much ROI. Your audience wants to know who you are, what you stand for and what you can offer, which goes well beyond your line of products or services.
Social media is all about giving people a place to share their thoughts and experiences with one another. As mentioned above, ask your community engaging and thoughtful questions to get the conversation going and tap into their insights.
If you’re sharing industry news, ask them for their thoughts on recent developments. If you’ve recently launched a new product, ask for their feedback. HubSpot is constantly asking their audience for their thoughts on a variety of related topics, encouraging conversation and prompting shares. Here’s an example of a recent Facebook post.
If you’re on Twitter, consider posting a weekly poll on a relevant topic to inspire engagement. Here’s an example from our very own, Lee Odden.
If you really want to become a more likeable brand, you have to invest in social media community management. While your social media marketing efforts help drive your brand toward specific goals—such as increasing brand awareness or engagement—social media community management is all about nurturing your audience to grow a stronger, larger and more engaged following.
One great way to do this is to leverage the unique conversations and engagements happening across your social pages. As an example, use the information you extracted from a Twitter poll as fodder for a Facebook or Instagram post. This not only gives you the opportunity for additional discussion and engagement, but also reminds your audience that they can follow and engage with you on multiple platforms.
Every brand and business dreams of complete customer satisfaction, but that’s rarely the case. Things happen and social media is often an easy place for your customers to air their grievances. While it can be scary to allow mistakes to be visible for the whole social media world to see, use any negative feedback as an opportunity to show humility, understanding and your drive to take care of your customers.
Sun Country Airlines has this down. On Twitter, the company is on-top of what their audience is saying about their services—good or bad.
Here’s a recent example from a disappointed customer. The brand responded promptly and offered their assistance.
But here’s another example of someone who’s happy to be flying with them. Not only was this a quick response, the purple heart was sweet and spoke to the customer’s whole reason for flying.
The bottom line? Take the bad with the good to show your value and up your likeability factor.
As previously mentioned, social media is not the place for being salesy. It’s the place where you let your followers get a deeper look at who you are and what value you offer.
IBM does a fabulous job of company storytelling. The company’s Facebook page is filled with inspiring videos, articles and quotes that showcase the amazing innovative technology they’re bringing to the world and how’s transformed over time.
On Instagram, the company provides its audience with a deeper looking inside the company and the people who work there.
The beauty of social media is that it give brands the opportunity to put themselves out there and create meaningful interactions with their audience. But in order to be a likeable brand, you need to provide good, quality content and be smart about how you engage with your audience. Hopefully these tips and examples can help you on your way.
What have you done to increase your brand’s likeability on social media? Tell us in the comments section below.
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.
© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2016. | 7 Tips for Making Your Brand More “Likeable” on Social Media | http://www.toprankblog.com
The post 7 Tips for Making Your Brand More “Likeable” on Social Media appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.
