Friday 31 March 2017

55% Say AI Will Take Over SEO in Next 10 Years [SURVEY] by @rinadianewrites

Famous futurist Elon Musk said artificial intelligence will eventually replace most jobs and that to stay relevant, humans must merge with machines in this AI age. Given that AI is the future, when will it take over SEO? Check out what our SEJ community had to say.

The post 55% Say AI Will Take Over SEO in Next 10 Years [SURVEY] by @rinadianewrites appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

#AskanSEO: Index Counts, Fetch and Render With Google by @jennyhalasz

In this latest installment of #AskAnSEO, Jenny Halasz talks about index counts, Google Search Console's Fetch and Render tool, and more.

The post #AskanSEO: Index Counts, Fetch and Render With Google by @jennyhalasz appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Online Marketing News: The Age of Mobile, Cheetos Snackware & Twitter Expands Pre-Roll

Why Creativity Matters More in the Age of Mobile [Infographic] Based on Facebook's new 'Why Creativity Matters in the Age of Mobile' report, this infographic shows four big shifts that are driving the way that we consume media, including that consumption is no longer linear, our visual-first evolution and more. Social Media Today Goodbye Forever, Orange Fingers -- Eating Cheetos Could Get an Epic Upgrade Cheetos and Betabrand are coming together to solve a long-time snack crisis -- Cheeto fingers. The mix of brilliant understanding of the user experience from a product standpoint, and creativity in finding a resolution involving user-interaction, is an inspiration for marketers everywhere. Inc. Expanding Pre-Roll Ads to Periscope Video Twitter is expanding their pre-roll ads as their video viewership continues to grow. The platform is now giving publishers the opportunity to monetize content while allowing brands to advertise against that content with pre-roll ads on Periscope. Twitter Mobile now accounts for nearly 70% of digital media time [comScore] comScore recently released a report that shows 70% of digital media time is spent on mobile, with less than one third being consumed on desktop devices. 60% of that mobile time is spent within ads. However, while less than one third of digital time is spent on desktop, 80% of ad dollars are being spent there. Marketing Land Introducing Pinterest Propel for successful advertising Pinterest has announced a new program called Pinterest Propel to help train soon-to-be Pinterest advertisers from agencies and brands alike. In order to qualify for the benefits, like 30-day one-on-one phone support, advertisers must be prepared to spend $100/day or more on Pinterest ads. Pinterest More Ways to Share with the Facebook Camera On Tuesday, Facebook rolled out two new ways to share photos and videos: a new Snapchat-esque in-app camera that allows users to add effects and dynamic objects to their photos, and they've added Facebook stories to the main Facebook app. Facebook Google AdWords Rolls Out 3 Important Upgrades to Dynamic Search Ads Google AdWords has released three new improvements to Dynamic Search Ads. These changes include page feeds that allow advertisers to specify exact URLs within DSAs, expanded text ads and showing more relevant ads by default. Search Engine Journal What Consumers Really Think About YouTube’s Offensive Content Problem and Its Advertisers AdWeek recently commissioned a survey of 502 consumer respondents to show what they really think of the ongoing controversy of advertiser's content being shown prior to offensive content: "the questionnaire shows that enough people (36 percent) view ads as endorsements by brands to cause concern among marketers. At the same time, 55.1 percent of survey participants said their opinion didn’t change about such brands." AdWeek What were your top news stories this week? We'll be back next week with more top online marketing news. Have something to add? Share your thoughts in the comments to Tweet to @toprank.

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Twitter Unveils a New Look for Replies by @MrDannyGoodwin

Whenever you reply to an individual or a group of Twitter users, the user names of those people won't subtract from your tweet's 140 character count.

The post Twitter Unveils a New Look for Replies by @MrDannyGoodwin appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Google iPhone App Updated With New 3D Touch Controls by @MattGSouthern

Google has released an update for its iOS app which takes further advantage of 3D touch controls. In addition, it now comes with a widget and Gboard.

The post Google iPhone App Updated With New 3D Touch Controls by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Bing Releases an iMessage Extension, a Potential Google Allo Competitor by @MattGSouthern

Has Bing one-upped Google with the release of an iMessage extension?

The post Bing Releases an iMessage Extension, a Potential Google Allo Competitor by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Bing Ads Will Stop Supporting Monthly Budgets as of April 30 by @MattGSouthern

Bing has announced it will stop supporting monthly budgets for all Bing Ads entry points by April 30.

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Google Implementing New Innovations for Measuring Store Visits by @MattGSouthern

Google has announced a series of new innovations which will improve how the search giant measures store visits in AdWords.

The post Google Implementing New Innovations for Measuring Store Visits by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Thursday 30 March 2017

Google AdWords Rolls Out 3 Important Upgrades to Dynamic Search Ads by @MattGSouthern

Google AdWords has introduced three improvements to Dynamic Search Ads (DSA), which are said to make them more effective than ever.

The post Google AdWords Rolls Out 3 Important Upgrades to Dynamic Search Ads by @MattGSouthern appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

7 Ways You Screw Up Your Email Marketing by @reshurathi

Tired of getting poor ROI from your email marketing campaigns? Make sure you're not making these seven email marketing mistakes.

The post 7 Ways You Screw Up Your Email Marketing by @reshurathi appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Increasing SEO Traffic by Updating and “Thickening” Your Old Blog Posts by @tomdemers

A step-by-step process for identifying your most popular older blog posts, and then updating those posts to help grow organic traffic to your site.

The post Increasing SEO Traffic by Updating and “Thickening” Your Old Blog Posts by @tomdemers appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

What’s The Value of a Top Search Ranking in Google? by @markdaoust

How much is a number one ranking in Google worth to your business? In this article, Mark Daoust explores how much value top rankings in Google add to the overall value of your online business if you choose to sell it.

The post What’s The Value of a Top Search Ranking in Google? by @markdaoust appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Rule the Room: 5 Tips for Facilitating Meetings that Generate Results

The work world is simultaneously in love and hate with meetings – from congratulatory mugs for surviving ‘another meeting that could have been an email’ to the mandatory ‘check-in’ meetings that seem to plague event the tightest of calendars. It is generally accepted that meetings are necessary for effective work to be done. However, not all meetings lend themselves toward empowering productivity. What’s an organization to do?

It all comes down to planning. There’s a specific formula that needs to be followed in order to push attendees toward action. The outline described below is tried and true. In fact, it has saved many of my own meetings from the pits of meeting despair. If you have a plan, focus on the actions required to carry it out and clarify tasks along the way, you’ll be on the road to great results in no time. Better yet, this framework can help you empower your team to become more effective, focused and productive.

#1 – Come Prepared

Always prepare for your meetings, whether they’re internal, with a client or with a vendor. To maintain control of the room, you must be prepared to address any and all topics that may come up. First, determine what the outcome of the meeting needs to be, and assemble those items into a list of actionable talking points. Next, determine what information needs to support that list of talking points. For example, if you’re meeting to discuss next year’s marketing budget, come prepared with the results of this year’s marketing efforts, recommendations for improvement and spend allocation, and a few discussion points to keep the room engaged.

This level of preparation prior to the meeting can help you gain valuable insights into next steps as well as build your credibility within the group of meeting attendees. If you put in the work ahead of time, there is much more time for discussion and decision making in session.

#2 – Set Your Agenda

Great meetings begin with an agenda. Using the talking points described in step one, make a list of topics to be covered and a key to describe who will lead that particular discussion. Creating your agenda before the meeting allows you to determine the length of time needed and will set the tone for the people involved.

Each agenda item should be action oriented, ‘review and approve design mock up’ vs ‘design mock up’, for example, to clarify the expected outcome of each discussion. At the beginning of the meeting, review the agenda with all attendees and ask if there is anything else to add. This ensures all necessary topics are covered prior to the meeting coming to a close.

#3 – Discourage Multi-Tasking

It may seem counter-intuitive, but multi-tasking is a notorious productivity killer. The focus of all attendees is required to produce and efficient and effective meeting. Ask those attending in person to close their computers. Ask remote attendees to avoid checking email or other distractions. Ask questions that encourage interaction. The person facilitating the meeting should take notes as needed. The larger the meeting, the more opportunities for distractions, so don’t hesitate to politely rein in a wayward discussion when needed.

If closing computers isn’t possible, set your expectations right out of the gate. A simple statement like ‘For the next 30 minutes, I want us all to put our full attention toward solving this problem. Let’s focus on the task at hand and avoid multi-tasking so we can really make this meeting count.’ This will give all in attendance a shared sense of purpose and set a tone of collaboration and results-oriented problem solving right away.

#4 – Document Action Items

When you take meeting notes, be sure to document any action items that may arise. Make sure you are clear on the action needed, and then reiterate to the team after the action is discussed. For example, in a discussion about SEO, the idea of an analytics audit may come up. When it does, document the task, ‘conduct analytics audit’, and the person assigned, ‘analytics specialist’, then repeat to the room, ‘OK – I’m taking an action for our analytics specialist to conduct an analytics audit.’

When the meeting comes to a close, always end with a summary of actions. For example, you could say something like ‘Great, thanks for your time today team. I want to take a minute to run through our post meeting actions and answer any additional questions. For my team, the actions are to conduct an analytics audit…’ This gives the attendees their final marching orders on the way out the door, clarifies expectations for all involved and inspires immediate action once the meeting wraps up.

#5 – Send a Post-Meeting Summary

When the meeting concludes, always send a post-meeting summary to those who have attended. This email serves as a reminder of discussion topics as well as a documented assignment of tasks for the team involved. It’s often helpful to reference the same post-meeting email when preparing the agenda for your next meeting to keep progress moving forward.

Following this formula helps drive meetings toward an action-oriented conclusion.

Ensuring all attendees are aware of the purpose of the meeting, the desired outcome and the follow up tasks will provide a helpful framework for the meetings to follow. What are your tried and true meeting tips? Share them in the comments or Tweet to @toprank.


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© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2017. | Rule the Room: 5 Tips for Facilitating Meetings that Generate Results | http://www.toprankblog.com

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Wednesday 29 March 2017

What Most Companies Get Wrong With Content Audits by @IAmAaronAgius

By auditing your content, you can stop wasting your efforts on things that don’t produce results and put your energy into avenues that will drive your business forward. When performing a content audit, it’s important to do things correctly. Here are some common mistakes to avoid when performing a content audit.

The post What Most Companies Get Wrong With Content Audits by @IAmAaronAgius appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

64% of Marketers Attend at Least One Marketing Conference Each Year [POLL] by @rinadianewrites

Conferences are a great way to learn about trends, further improve your skills, and rub elbows with experts and colleagues. So how many marketing conferences do you attend each year? Find out what our Twitter community said for this #SEJSurveySays poll question.

The post 64% of Marketers Attend at Least One Marketing Conference Each Year [POLL] by @rinadianewrites appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

A Secret of SEJ Summit, or “Why We’re Not Your Typical SEO Conference” by @itsduhnise

Here's one of the things we do to be successful.

The post A Secret of SEJ Summit, or “Why We’re Not Your Typical SEO Conference” by @itsduhnise appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

The Death of Organic Search (As We Know It) by @beanstalkim

Columnist Dave Davies discusses the impact of machine learning, reduced and demoted organic space and voice-first devices on organic search. And if the title didn't let on, he's pretty sure there are some huge changes coming.

The post The Death of Organic Search (As We Know It) by @beanstalkim appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Twitter to Offer Paid Version of Tweetdeck? by @MrDannyGoodwin

Twitter is considering offering a paid version of Tweetdeck. The premium version would be geared toward marketers, brands, and other power users.

The post Twitter to Offer Paid Version of Tweetdeck? by @MrDannyGoodwin appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

YouTube Videos Losing to Facebook Native Videos by @MrDannyGoodwin

A new study finds that brands use Facebook native videos 3x more often than YouTube videos. Facebook native videos also get much higher engagement.

The post YouTube Videos Losing to Facebook Native Videos by @MrDannyGoodwin appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

10 Effective Ways to Increase Your Facebook Page Fans by @krisjonescom

The more Facebook Likes, the better social signal you will provide to your customers, prospective customers, and also industry associates. Here’s how to garner more Likes on your Facebook page.

The post 10 Effective Ways to Increase Your Facebook Page Fans by @krisjonescom appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

6 Ways to Increase Soft Conversions Before the Sale by @LEHoneycutt

All too often, marketers focus solely on the hard conversion -- making the sale. There are ways to get customers to soft convert or show interest in your products and services. Check out this list to help you get started.

The post 6 Ways to Increase Soft Conversions Before the Sale by @LEHoneycutt appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

46 SEO Job Interview Questions to Assess a Candidate’s Knowledge by @stoneyd

Use these questions to assess the knowledge of any potential SEO you are interviewing.

The post 46 SEO Job Interview Questions to Assess a Candidate’s Knowledge by @stoneyd appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Behind the Marketing Curtain: An Interview with Influencer Marketing Wiz Amisha Gandhi, SAP

From emerging social media channels to the rise of artificial intelligence, the exciting cyclone of change often drops us marketers into unfamiliar territory—and we have to find our way home.

Thankfully, the marketing industry is flush with talented marketers leading the way, and we often look to them for tactical insights to navigate the winding road and avoid fields of deceiving poppies. However, in our thirst more knowledge, we often don’t get to see who these leaders are in full living color.

To bridge the gap between person and marketer, we’re kicking off an exciting new “Behind the Curtain” interview series—which, if you haven’t guessed, is inspired by Dorothy Gale and the classic film, The Wizard of Oz.

In this series, we’ll take a peek behind the curtain to get know some marketing industry wizards on a more personal level, as well as gain insights that can help other marketers use their brains, hearts, courage and creativity to improve their marketing efforts and drive business value in the changing digital landscape.

Our first featured marketer is the brilliant and incredibly nice Amisha Gandhi, Head of Influencer Marketing at SAP.

Enjoy!

The Woman Behind the Curtain

Amisha was born in Bombay, India, grew up in New York, and now lives in San Francisco.

“New York is my Kansas,” Amisha said. “I’m definitely a New Yorker at heart—which is probably where most of my personality comes from.”

But Amisha didn’t always plan on being a marketer. Actually, Amisha studied both theater and biology/pre-med.

“One [degree] was for me and the other was for my parents,” she said. “I’ve always loved theater, and I think that’s where I honed the artistic part of my brain … which I definitely get to bring into marketing, especially influencer marketing.”

Amisha is also a working mom and avid traveler.

“I love to travel,” she said. “But wherever I go, I like to be a local—to be immersed in a different world and see it from a local perspective. When my son is older, I want to go to the Galapagos Islands.”

She’s also a huge Sci-Fi fan. Among some of her favorite films and TV shows are Blade Runner, Star Wars (leaving out Episodes 1, 2 and 3, of course), and Battlestar Galactica.

Battlestar Galactica is an all-time favorite,” she said. “It’s such a great story.”

Some of her other favorite flicks are Casablanca and anything by Alfred Hitchcock.

Following Her Yellow Brick Road

Amisha has had an interesting career path, starting her professional career working in a research lab for a pharmaceutical company.

“I really didn’t like it, so I quit my job and actually got a temp job as a data entry clerk at MCI,” she said.

Since then, Amisha has worked at startups, PR agencies such as Burson-Marsteller, and been a consultant to companies such as Accenture, Google, Merrill Lynch, GAP, HP and Time-Warner. Today, she’s well-known for bringing her mix of social media, communications and marketing skills together for creative campaigns and elevating executives profiles such as former CIO of SAP, Oliver Bussmann. She joined SAP team in 2010.

What was your Twister event? What moment or event put you on a path to a career in marketing?

While I working at a company that produced local market books, CitySearch.com—an online city guide and community—wanted a partnership. And I thought that was a really cool concept, and just in passing I mentioned that I’d love to work there, and ended up getting an interview.

After the interview, I showed up constantly. I brought the sales team doughnuts one day. Another day I stopped by with thank you notes. Finally, they just said “OK. Come on in and join our team. The other guy wants this job, but you want it more.”

It was a startup at the time, and when you work at a startup you wear many hats. I had a variety of jobs there and learned about marketing, sales operations, advertising, editorial, even movie promotions—you name it. But that’s how I got my start.

Dorothy found dear friends in the Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion and Tinman on her journey down the yellow brick road. Who are some of the people who’ve helped or inspired you during your career?

I have been so fortunate in my career to have worked managers, mentors and clients who’ve pushed me, guided me and inspired me.

While working at a political PR firm, I worked with an incredible PR executive named Barbara French, who taught me so much about storytelling.

Barbara was always pushing me to find that “so what” story. To this day, I still think about that. How do you tell stories that really excite and engage people? How do you find that really compelling, juicy story that people want to know about, read about or even care about? What’s the so what?

Also, one of my clients while working there was Kamala Harris—who is now Sen. Kamala Harris. Back then she was working in the city attorney’s office. She was trying to change the world, and it was so inspiring to watch.

Some others that I have to mention are Jim Dever and Penny Delgadillo Valencia here at SAP, who are great leaders and without whose support I would not have been able to build out the influencer marketing program.

It takes a community to help you build your career. I believe in nurturing talent and I’ve found it fulfilling to give back, especially to those who are early in their careers here at SAP.


It takes a community to help you build your career. I believe in nurturing talent. - @AmishaGandhi
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Meeting the Wizard

At TopRank Marketing we believe in taking a smart, creative and results-focused approach in everything we do for our clients, as well as our own personal growth. Amisha is someone who certainly exemplifies these qualities in her work as an influencer marketing wizard, being a source of insight and inspiration in the field.

Good witch or bad witch? What’s a bad influencer outreach habit marketers should drop?

I think one of the worst habits is approaching influencers with a “What can you do for me?” attitude. Instead you should be approaching them with a “What can I do for you?” mentality.

If they’re a good influencer, everyone is hitting them up. So you have to be coming from a place that offers real value—and I’m not talking about money. I’m talking about personal and business value.

Influencers are trying to raise issues. They’re working to bring awareness around topics that are important to them. They’re not just there to sell your product. I’m interested in building mutually beneficial relationships for the long-term.


Influencers are not just there to sell your product. - @AmishaGandhi #influencermarketing
Click To Tweet


The Wicked Witch was defeated with a just pail of water. What’s one effective influencer marketing tactic that marketers often overlook?

I think that marketers often overlook the fact that you’re building something together with influencers. Collaboration is key, so I collaborate a lot.

Pick their brain. Ask them what value they see. Ask them what they think their audience wants to see. Ask them if they’ll help you build something amazing. When you treat them as a partner, rather than a participant, you’ll be able to create something more effective and meaningful.


Treat influencers like partners, not participants. - @AmishaGandhi #influencermarketing
Click To Tweet


Dorothy’s ruby slippers were the key to achieving her end goal of returning home. What are a few tools you believe are key for influencer marketing success?

You should absolutely have a good influencer identification tool; it’s worth the investment. We use Traackr, and that not only helps with identification, but also tracking and measurement—which is important for seeing your results beyond social media activity.

We also use VoiceStorm for the employee advocacy, and Sprinklr for social media amplification. Of course, not everyone has the resources to invest in these tools, but there are some good free tools like FollowerWonk, Klout and Hootsuite.

In the end, it’s all about being able to tie all your efforts together to show success and how that contributed to real business value—which is kind of like clicking your heels and getting you home.

What’s one thing you would ask the all-powerful marketing wizard for? (More budget, more resources, better data?)

I’m always looking for ways to drive and find better data. The better the marketing insights we have, the better our results will be. So, I’d ask the marketing wizard for a tool that can bring together influencer data, insights, identification, tracking and measurement linking it back to sales—something that can bring all the external tools together.


The better the #marketing insights we have, the better our results will be. - @AmishaGandhi
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We’re Off to Meet More Wizards

I’d like to sincerely thank Amisha for taking the time to open up about who she is, where she comes from and how she approaches influencer marketing. Thank you, Amisha.

Of course, TopRank Marketing’s journey to Emerald City is just getting started. In the coming weeks, we’ll be bringing you more exclusive interviews and insights from industry wizards to add some smarts, heart and nerve to your marketing efforts.

Stay tuned for our next installment!

What would you ask the all-powerful marketing wizard for? Tell us in the comments section below.


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© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2017. | Behind the Marketing Curtain: An Interview with Influencer Marketing Wiz Amisha Gandhi, SAP | http://www.toprankblog.com

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Supercharge Your Marketing at Digital Summit Los Angeles #DSLA

DSLA 2017

DSLA 2017 Coming off the supercharged sun, surf and sand themed social media extravaganza of SMMW17 in San Diego last week, I am now literally sitting on a beach. Beach Costa Rica Here on the West coast of Costa Rica, with the waves crashing, birds singing their songs in the trees and the distant sounds of kids laughing as they play in the sand, it's a great time to reflect and look forward. Before I completely check out of the digital world for the week, except for an occasional photo on Instagram of course, I wanted to share some of the things I'm looking forward to most at my next conference April 4-5: Digital Summit Los Angeles. Last month was my first Digital Summit experience in Phoenix. DSPHX was an event of firsts for me: meeting the force of nature that is Beverly Jackson plus the legend and co-founder of Apple Steve Wozniak. I also had a chance to see several really impressive speakers for the first time including Mack Fogelson and Eric Yale. I was impressed! I can imagine Digital Summit Los Angeles being a great experience too. DSLA Keynote Speakers The speaker list for DSLA is an amazing collection of thought leaders including Woz and Beverly, industry experts like Michael King, Jim Boykin and Michael Barber and a huge group brand and publisher speakers from companies that include: Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Adobe, Forbes, IBM, The Economist, BET Network, Inc Magazine, Wells Fargo, GE Digital, BMC Software, BusinessWire and MIT. Over more than 40 sessions, the topics covered include everything from data informed marketing to visual storytelling and purpose driven marketing to content marketing with influencers. Of course, I'm a fan of that last topic since it is what the focus of my closing keynote presentation will be about: How to Supercharge Your Content with Influencer Marketing. Supercharge Your Content with Influencer Marketing Confluence rules. Content Marketing with Influencers is an area of deep focus for me that I've been experimenting with for many years and that our agency has been implementing for clients that range from a $180Bn Fortune 5 company to mid-market companies like ClickSoftware to small companies like Pandora Mall of America. The fundamental message of my keynote presentation is that marketing with content is harder than ever and if your company doesn't do something to break through information overload and distrust of brand content, you'll lose the ability to attract and engage customers. The solution is a content marketing framework for strategically engaging with influencers to increase content quality, quantity, reach and engagement across the customer journey. At the same time, I'll talk about how to build relationships with internal, industry and community influencers to increase advocacy. Influencer 2.0 Cover To back up the best practices, I'll share trends and insights our influencer marketing research that we partnered with Influencer Relationships Marketing platform, Traackr, on. Brian Solis of Altimeter analyzed the findings and wrote up an impressive research report, Influence 2.0: The Future of Influencer Marketing that attendees will be able to see. The Influence 2.0 report delivers crucial findings and covers important insights about the maturity of influencer marketing within large enterprise companies, budgets, top goals and areas within the organization that are most impacted. Brian also shares the intersection of influencer relations with customer experience and digital transformation. If that wasn't enough, he includes a 10 step framework for implementing an influence 2.0 approach. My keynotes are "inspractical" = Inspiration + Tactical. Overall, I'll touch on the best parts of the research report, include trends, best practices and share successful B2B and B2C examples of influencer driven programs to inspire attendees going forward. If you're a marketer in Southern California, this is a can't miss event! Skirball Cultural Center Los Angeles Event Details: Digital Summit Los Angeles April 4-5, 2017 Skirball Cultural Center Registration, Agenda, Speakers and full conference information here.

The post Supercharge Your Marketing at Digital Summit Los Angeles #DSLA appeared first on Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

The Queen of Facebook Tells All on Generating Facebook Marketing ROI

True to form, Mari Smith kicked off her presentation at Social Media Marketing World last week by sharing her full bio in the form of emojis and poking fun at her own mixed accent which immediately put the packed room at ease. When someone with experience like Mari takes the stage, you perk up and get ready to have a deluge of knowledge dropped on you in a short amount of time.

Her session (which seemed like mere seconds) was packed with helpful information and actionable insights that marketers can begin implementing on Facebook now. Below are some of the actionable highlights from Mari’s session. 


Caring is scalable. You can care about a lot of people. - @MariSmith
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#1 – It’s Time to Rethink…Everything

One of the biggest issues that Mari has seen with social media marketing is that many brands (even large ones) are siloing their social efforts. Often, brands will have an organic social and paid social team that do not collaborate at all.

But the question we should be asking is: What if we were to implement social media company wide?


Social media is not just a business experience, it’s an emotional experience. @MariSmith
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All businesses (no matter their size) have an opportunity to delight their customers by providing a great experience.

#2 – The Facebook Algorithm Struggle

Facebook makes an average of $6 billion in ad revenue per quarter and is quickly ‘running out’ of ad space to show users in-stream.

Because both paid and organic Facebook reach are becoming more difficult, it’s important that brands focus on what they really want to get out of it. Some examples might include:

  • Growing fans (Likes)
  • Getting exposure in the News Feed
  • Optimizing reach (paid & organic)

#3 – The Power of Video

According to Mari, Facebook is moving in the direction of television and tv advertising. In fact, they are following a model similar to Netflix or Hulu where they’re trying to encourage users to binge watch Facebook videos.  

Video ads that perform well are ones that empathize with the audience and tell a great story. A prime example is the video below from Chatbooks which is an ad that Mari originally saw as an organic post from a friend that shared it. Just let that marinate for a second. Facebook users are sharing video ads.

Characteristics of great video ads:

  • Quality from the first frame
  • Authentic
  • High energy
  • Entertaining
  • Evoke emotion
  • Personable and relatable
  • Useful to the audience
  • Designed to be played with the sound off
    • Add lower third highlights
    • Add captions

In June of 2016, Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook’s Vice President for EMEA predicted that Facebook will probably be all video in the next five years. However, a recent study by Buffer found that video is largely underutilized on Facebook. Even though video gets 3x’s the engagement of other posts.

Mari’s Pro Tip: It’s Hip to Be Square
Even with Facebook’s addition of portrait and landscape video, square video still reigns supreme. In fact, square videos receive almost 30% more views, more shares and has almost a 70% higher view completion rate.

The team that manages the Jane Goodall Institute Facebook page ran an A/B test of landscape versus square videos and experienced a significant increase in the number of views, shares and likes on the square video.

 

#4 – Real-Time Shopping

The ability to shop for items in real-time has been talked about for years. But now, it’s finally real. Amazon for example has incorporated a camera into their mobile app that allows users to hover over an item in the wild and receive suggestions for a similar product from Amazon in mere seconds. Even as an avid Amazon shopper, I wasn’t aware of this feature until Mari shared an example on stage. Below is a test that I ran by scanning a photo of my watch:

Recently, Facebook partnered with Shopify to develop a similar approach where users can purchase items in real-time while watching a video. It’s unclear as to when this feature will be available to all users but the fact that it exists offers many exciting opportunities for marketers.

 

What Does the Future Hold?

The evolution of Facebook’s approach for brands is beginning to cover many opportunities for the modern marketer. Just imagine the ability to provide real-time customer service via messenger. The good news is that the possibility of providing that service isn’t far off.

What other updates would you like to see Facebook make for marketers?


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© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2017. | The Queen of Facebook Tells All on Generating Facebook Marketing ROI | http://www.toprankblog.com

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