6 Things You Must Do Before You Ever Accept Guest Posts by @seocompanymiami

Thinking about publishing posts from guest contributors? Here are some tips that will set you up for success.

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Search Ad Revenue Up 19%, Now 48% of All Digital Ad Revenue [REPORT] by @MattGSouthern

According to a report from iab, total revenue from search ads has hit a new high.

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Digital Marketing News: 15 Reasons for Brand Advocacy, Email Priorities and Google TV Ads

15 Reasons Why Brand Advocacy is the Bedrock of Your Business [Infographic] Although brand advocates are important for brand marketing - with referrals, user generated content, and positive online reviews being just a few of the benefits of brand advocacy, this infographic shows over 80% of companies are not using advocates in their marketing strategy, and 58% don't even know who their advocates are. Social Media Today The Email Priorities of Brand and Agency Marketers in 2017 MarketingProfs reports: "Some 30% of brand marketers say personalization is one of the top three areas of email marketing they really need to focus on in 2017, up from 22% last year; 28% say they need to focus on automated campaigns, 25% on segmentation, and 24% on measurement/analytics." MarketingProfs Google Sees Another Chance to Get Programmatic TV Right In a bid reminiscent of their 2012 attempt at TV advertising, Google has again invested in offering TV ads for programmatic buying that marketers can choose as part of their digital video ad buys through their ad tech platform. Will this turn out better than their last attempt? Time will tell. Ad Age Goodbye, Like button Pinterest announced in a press release: "After doing a bunch of research with Pinners, we found Pinterest is easier to understand when we remove the Like button altogether." This will not affect the functionality of the Save button, and other Likes will be retained in a new board called "Your Pinterest Likes". Pinterest Mobile Captures More Than Half Of All U.S. Internet Advertising Revenue For The First Time Ever, Total Digital Ad Spend Hits a Landmark $72.5 Billion in 2016 IAB reports: "Mobile advertising accounted for more than half (51%) of the record-breaking $72.5 billion spent by advertisers last year [...] The total represents a 22 percent increase, up from $59.6 billion in 2015. Mobile experienced a 77 percent upswing from $20.7 billion the previous year, hitting $36.6 billion in 2016." IAB New: LinkedIn Launches Matched Audiences LinkedIn is launching Matched Audiences, allowing marketers to utilize website retargeting, account targeting and contact targeting. These new tools will be available for all of LinkedIn's ad platforms. Will this help LinkedIn ads beat out Facebook for B2B advertisers looking for more targeting? Search Engine Journal eMarketer Releases New Programmatic Advertising Estimates Despite controversy around programmatic advertising in recent marketing headlines, eMarketer found that nearly four of every five digital display ad dollars in the US will go to programmatic advertising this year. eMarketer Facebook Is Testing Video Cover Images for Pages Facebook has confirmed that they're testing giving Pages the ability to upload videos as cover images, as you can see if you look at the Narcos Facebook page. It's unconfirmed if and when this update will roll out network-wide. AdWeek What were your top digital marketing news stories this week? We'll be back next week with more top digital marketing news! If you have something to share, sound off in the comments or Tweet it to us @toprank.

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Paid Search: A Focus on Profitability With Maddie Cary [PODCAST] by @brentcsutoras

Find out how your paid search efforts can lead to bigger and better payoffs in this Search Engine Nerds episode.

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Facebook Tests Showing More Related Articles by @MrDannyGoodwin

Facebook is running a test that shows you related stories before you click on an article in your News Feed.

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More Than Just SEO: Running Content Departments Like Newsrooms by @sejournal

Learn how to execute a brand journalism strategy that makes you an SEO powerhouse weapon while fulfilling marketing goals.

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69 Questions That Will Improve Your Content Marketing Performance by @robgarner

A critical function in content marketing is translating data into actionable insights. Here are questions to help with the process.

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Squashing the Influencer Marketing Buzz(words): What You Really Need to Know

On Google, there are more than 14 million results for the phrase “influencer marketing”. And within those result, most of what you’ll find are “What is Influencer Marketing?” posts (P.S. you can find one from us here). But the problem is that most of these posts have a different variation of what influencer marketing is, who needs it and what you should do. Talk about confusing!

Some of the types of definitions you’ll find include:

• Using influencers to spread your message on your behalf.
• A form of marketing that focuses on specific individuals.
• Promoting services through influencers that can have an effect.
• Incorporating influencers with a large social reach into marketing.

And while some of those definitions do describe the essence of influencer marketing, our CEO Lee Odden describes it as follows:

“Influencer Marketing is the practice of engaging internal and industry experts with active networks to help achieve measurable business goals.”

So here’s the truth: Expecting that you can simply tap the shoulder or fill the bank account of an “influencer” will not help you meet your business goals. In order to truly have an IMPACT with an influencer marketing program, it’s important to sift through the buzz and develop a program that has real intent.

Influencer marketing isn’t for everyone. If we’re being honest, influencer marketing may not be a fit for every company. While it’s true that there are experts in every field, your audience may not be particularly motivated by expert content.

Working with popular people does not make your brand popular. When starting your search for industry experts, it’s essential to align with influencers that can become an extension of your brand message and whose outlook already aligns with yours. A good mix of well-known experts or “popular influencers”, internal experts, up-and-comers and other expert types make for a well-rounded program to delight your audience.

Influencer marketing should not = compensation only. The real goal should be to develop mutually beneficial relationships with experts to co-create content that works for your audience, their audience and your mutual audience to build credibility. While it’s true that you may have to pay some influencers from time-to-time, a 100% pay-to-play model is not sustainable.

There’s more to influencer marketing than awareness. Many brands are investing hundreds, thousands or even millions of dollars into influencer driven marketing programs that are simply focused on building awareness. Now don’t get me wrong, brand awareness is essential, but expert content has a place deeper in the funnel as well. While the rules differ slightly between B2B and B2C, an integrated marketing strategy that includes influencers can be used to actually generate revenue.

Putting all the pieces together isn’t always easy. Access to influencer marketing tools and marketplaces absolutely make the process much easier. However, all the tools in the world are not a replacement for a sound strategy to incorporate influencers into your digital marketing mix. Your best chances for success are to have a dedicated team or agency help you build a strategy that is based on measurable business objectives.

My team at TopRank Marketing has actively been engaging experts to co-create content for own marketing and our client’s marketing for years. We know that the road to influencer marketing success isn’t always easy, but it is attainable and if executed strategically can create many benefits for your customers, your brand and your influencers.

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Google Adjusts Ranking Signals to Demote Fake News by @MattGSouthern

Google is making serious efforts to filter fake news, which the company says is its “most high profile” issue.

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The Ultimate Guide to Stress-Free HTTPS Migration by @ab80

Here are the best practices and common pitfalls you need to know before and after you switch to HTTPS.

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20 Awesome Healthcare Marketers to Follow on LinkedIn

Marketing is a challenging profession, full stop. But some flavors of marketing are trickier than others. Healthcare marketers have the same obstacles and issues other marketers do, and they have to contend with strict brand guidelines and stricter federal regulations.

It’s like the old saying: “Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, only backwards and in high heels.” These healthcare marketers may or may not know how to tango, but their hard work deserves our recognition.

Here are just a few of our favorite healthcare marketers.

Rob Birgfeld, AVP, Chief Digital Marketing Officer, Inova Health System

Rob is a talented marketer who came to the healthcare field four years ago, when he took on the CDMO role for Inova Health System. He’s a jack of all trades: From social media to blogging to product development, Rob keeps Inova’s marketing strategy sound in the short and long term.

Laura Boyd Desmeth, Director of Digital Communications, Medical City Healthcare

In the five years she has been with Medical City Healthcare, Laura has transformed their online presence, creating social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube for the institution. She shares a wealth of healthcare and marketing content on her LinkedIn feed.

David Edelman, Chief Marketing Officer, Aetna

David is a LinkedIn Influencer for health care and marketing, and it’s not hard to see why. He regularly publishes insightful posts of his own on LinkedIn, while also sharing other valuable content with his thousands of followers.

Terri Ann Fredette, Director, Marketing & Communications, UC Health

Though she is a data-driven, ROI-focused marketer, Terri still brings personality and heart to her position. Check out Terri’s profile to see the clever commercials UC Health has produced under her direction.

Scott Galbari, Vice President of Marketing and Portfolio, McKesson Imaging and Workflow Solutions

Scott is the conductor of the 500-piece orchestra that is McKesson IWS, working within strict regulatory guidelines to produce compelling content for the organization’s target audience of radiologists, cardiologists, and health system leaders.

Sven Gierlinger, Chief Experience Officer, Norwell Health

Chief Experience Officers go beyond individual marketing campaigns, beyond inbound, outbound, and the funnel, to create holistic, immersive experiences for consumers. For example, check out Norwell Health’s The Return, a short film highlighting a revolutionary prosthetic for amputee swimmers.

Dan Gingiss, Head of Digital Marketing, Humana

In addition to his daily duties at Humana, Dan is an author, podcaster, and frequent publisher on LinkedIn. We listed Dan as one of our 50 Social Media Influencers to Follow, and he’s been busy developing his thought leadership since then.

Kelly Jo Golson, Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, Advocate Health Care

With nearly 20 years of experience in marketing, Kelly Jo has the knowhow to direct marketing for one of the Midwest’s largest integrated healthcare systems. Her passion for her work, and genuine compassion for health consumers, makes her stand out in the industry.

Elaine Leavenworth, SVP, Chief Marketing & External Affairs Officer, Abbott

Named one of PR Week’s Health Influencer 50, Elaine has made her voice heard in the industry. Follow Elaine for original content, like her recent International Women’s Day post on LinkedIn, and insightful marketing and healthcare shares.

Diane Lofgren, Chief Marketing Officer, Sharp Healthcare

In addition to her leadership role at Sharp Healthcare, Diane is the author of Women I Want to Grow Old With. Make sure to follow her on Twitter @Dianelofgren, too – she curates fascinating content on healthcare, marketing, and more.

DeAnn Aston Marshall, MHA, Senior Vice President, Chief Development and Marketing Officer, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

In her high-profile position at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, DeAnn has spearheaded creative campaigns with the potential to make real difference in the lives of sick children. On top of that, she’s a clear and compelling writer – check out this post on Millennials and social responsibility.

Dawn McAvoy, Head of Branding and Advertising, Aetna

Though a relative newcomer to healthcare marketing—she came to Aetna in 2014—Dawn has a wealth of experience in marketing leadership, with a decade of experience in management at Citi. One of her special passions is content marketing to women, bringing value and relevance to an often taken-for-granted demographic.

Roymie V. Mimbiela, Chief Experience Officer (CXO) and Associate Vice President Marketing & Communications, University of Miami Health System

Roymie’s list of accomplishments are as long as her job title. She helped transform the patient experience at University of Miami Health System. She has won multiple awards, including the 2010 Hispanic Women of Distinction Award. And she is a speaker and facilitator, presenting on healthcare marketing, business development, and more.

Mark Mistysyn, Director, Interactive Marketing & Digital Strategy, Wake Forest Baptist Health

Mark has over 20 years of experience in the industry, managing digital strategy for some of the largest hospitals in Pittsburg and North Carolina. Mark’s background in web development combines with marketing knowledge and a passion for healthcare to make him a leader in digital healthcare marketing.

Mark Alan Phillips, Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer, Imaging, GE Healthcare

GE has been quietly killing the social media and content marketing game, with various branches of the business enjoying success on Instagram, Facebook, and even Pinterest. Mark orchestrates the global strategy for GE Healthcare marketing, a standout in a company that is bringing great marketing to life.

Shweta Ponnappa, Senior Director, Digital Marketing, Providence Health & Services

Digital marketing is a rapidly evolving field, and Shwetta is thoroughly equipped to match the right technology with the right message. After cutting her teeth at Amazon, Shwetta moved on to Providence Health & Services, where she specializes in building and running high-quality marketing teams.

Craig Premo, Director of Marketing, Methodist Health System

Content marketing is relatively new territory for healthcare providers. Craig and his team do excellent work managing content creation and curation across social channels for the Methodist Health System. In addition to content strategy, Craig oversees marketing campaigns, web presence, SEO, and monitors brand perception for the health system.

Hijinio Reynoso, Manager, Digital Media at El Camino Hospital

In his four years with El Camino Hospital, Hijinio has achieved impressive results, including increasing the hospital’s Facebook following by over 237%. Make sure to check out his articles published on LinkedIn, including this informative guide to tracking conversions.

Amanda Todorovich, Director of Content Marketing, Cleveland Clinic

Named 2016 Content Marketer of the Year by Content Marketing Institute, Amanda is an inspiration to every content creator longing to add personality and passion to their work. For example, this piece she published last Thanksgiving – it’s got attitude to spare, but is also honest, transparent, and ultimately valuable.

Arra G. Yerganian, Chief Marketing & Branding Officer, Sutter Health

Arra is a graduate of the Harvard Business School for Executive Education and recipient of the 2016 Chief Marketing Officer Award from the International CMO club. He’s also a gifted writer with personality to spare, as evidenced in this article he published last year.

Marketing in Good Health

We all want our marketing to make a difference in people’s lives. Healthcare marketing goes one farther—good marketing of a great health product or system can literally save lives. So it’s a good thing we have these 20 marketers, and many more, on our side.

To fill out your LinkedIn feed with great marketing insights, read 20 Talented Brand Marketers to Follow on LinkedIn.

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© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2017. | 20 Awesome Healthcare Marketers to Follow on LinkedIn | http://www.toprankblog.com

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The Epic Rise of SEO: How, Why & Where to Invest by @Jasmine_Sandler

SEO plays a critical role in your digital marketing program. Learn how to invest in SEO and measure your ROI.

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52 Local SEO Strategies for SMBs by @bhartzer

Local SEO is getting increasingly competitive and the best practices keep changing. Here are 52 local SEO strategies for SMBs.

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A Day in the Life of a Content Marketing Manager at TopRank Marketing

These days, workplace culture is becoming a defining characteristic for most companies—as well as a marketing tool to retain and attract top talent. As a result, I’m often asked by industry peers and hopeful job seekers what it’s really like to work at TopRank Marketing.

The honest truth? It’s hard work. But, that’s the nature of the marketing agency beast. But at TopRank Marketing it’s also in our nature to nurture—and that’s evident in the culture we’ve built; a culture of support, understanding and teamwork to help ensure every individual and every client thrives.

Of course, things aren’t always perfect. But as author, researcher and speaker Brené Brown once said: “Imperfections are not inadequacies; they are reminders that we’re all in this together.”

With that said, below I dive into how I came to be part of the TopRank Marketing team, as well as give you a little glimpse into my daily life as a Content Marketing Manager.

My Journey to TopRank Marketing

Before making my debut in the digital marketing world, I was a journalist living out her days at coffee shops, city council meetings, ribbon cuttings and community gatherings. The daily grind was grueling at times, but it was also exciting.

But after about four years of keeping up with a 24-hour news cycle (and a company restructuring), I felt some work-life balance may be in order. Luckily, I was given the opportunity to enter the world of digital marketing, starting as a Digital Marketing Specialist at a small web development firm. This experience was eye-opening, challenging me to look at content differently and expand my digital skillset.

Fifteen or so months later—as I was heads down planning my wedding—TopRank Marketing came calling. While I wasn’t actively looking for a new opportunity, I was intrigued. Based on my initial research, I could see TopRank Marketing was a fast-growing, respected company—so I threw my hat into the ring.

The interview process of thorough but quick—two phone interviews, a writing test, and an in-person session with three of the company’s top leaders. Throughout this process, the thing that stood out to me the most was TopRank Marketing’s emphasis on workplace culture. While it was a given that you had to have skills and the desire/ability to grow, the people I spoke with spent a lot of time trying to learn if I could thrive in the environment.

After my day of in-person interviews, I got the offer that evening—which was just five weeks before my wedding. Stating that I needed to give proper notice to my current job and make it through my big day, TopRank Marketing was beyond understanding and let me set the start date.

After enjoying my wedding and a mini honeymoon, I joined the TopRank Marketing team Oct. 5, 2015 as a Content Marketing Lead. And after 18 months of support and learning, I’ve grown into a Content Marketing Manager role—allowing me to further spread my digital and content marketing wings.

A Day in the Life

My day typically begins with a cup of Cinnabon-flavored coffee and a pour of sugar-free vanilla creamer. (Public Service Announcement: If you haven’t had the pleasure of indulging in this delicious amazingness, put it on your bucket list. It sets the day off right.) As I sip, I dive into any emails that came in after “closing time”, check out my meeting schedule, and then jump to our project management system to take a look at what my day and the rest of the week looks like. From there, I prioritize the day’s task list based on own timeline knowledge or engage my account managers for a little help if things are looking precarious.

Once my tasks are set, it’s time to dive in. As for what I’m typically diving into, there are about five core themes on any given day:

1. Content Strategy & Execution

As a member of the content team, it stands to reason that content strategy and execution often take up a large part of my day. When it comes to my client programs, my work is not siloed to just one step in the process—I’m responsible for the entire content lifecycle, from research and concepting to writing and analyzing results.

To keep me on track, I set benchmark goals. For example, if I know that a blog post typically takes me four hours to write, my goal is to have the introduction nailed down in the first hour and the entire post completed in three and half. Then, I set it aside and let it marinate for a bit. Later, I’ll use that final 30 minutes to go over it with a fine-tooth comb, before sending it off for internal review.

2. Cross-Discipline Work Sessions

TopRank Marketing believes that an integrated digital marketing strategy is key. As a result, I’m often sitting down with my account management, social, paid or SEO mates to pick their brains about how to align content with other tactics, program goals and low-hanging opportunities.

Since there’s no assigned seating at TopRank Marketing, my neighbors are made up of paid, SEO and social experts—allowing for incredibly agility in gaining instant insight and feedback that I can use to craft the best possible content.

3. Mentoring

Since the turn of the new year, we’ve been lucky enough to add nearly a dozen talented marketers to the ranks across all disciplines. Since then, I’ve been working with some of our newest content team members to get them up to speed on client programs, provide strategic advice, and review their work and provide feedback.

While this often happens in quick one-off chats, we also have weekly one-on-one meetings. This time is often spent live editing content, identifying training opportunities, and learning how I can help them hone their skills.

4. Client Consultation

TopRank Marketing’s client portfolio is incredibly diverse—from healthcare technology to women’s fashion jewelry. As a result, each team member is tasked with gaining deep knowledge of the unique nuances of multiple industries and their respective audiences. From my perspective, this diversity is part of our secret sauce, allowing us to coach our clients with a range of insights.

When it comes to consulting on content, I go back to my journalism days and ask a lot of questions to draw out information. Based on the information I get, then I’m able to make recommendations for how to approach the content; a blog post doesn’t have to be the only solution.

5. Team Bonding

I have the privilege of working with some of the brightest, kindest and wittiest people I’ve ever met. From a quick chat while we’re brewing our third cup of Joe to deep happy hour conversations, every day I learn something new and interesting about someone I work with. (I could take this opportunity to embarrass a few folks, but I won’t.)

In addition, every other Friday the entire team gets together for a few hours of knowledge sharing—something we call Mantra. Last week we did a working session to craft awesome client case studies and to nail down step-by-step processes for some of our newer service offerings. A few weeks before that, we turned our marketing brains off for a couple hours and watched Guardians of the Galaxy.

Want to Join the TopRank Marketing Team?

The beautiful green space surrounding the TopRank Marketing offices isn’t the only thing in bloom this spring. As I mentioned above, our team is growing, too. If you think TopRank Marketing may be the place for you, check out our Careers page to see all the positions we’re hiring for.

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© Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®, 2017. | A Day in the Life of a Content Marketing Manager at TopRank Marketing | http://www.toprankblog.com

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Bing Shopping Campaigns Adds Search Term Reports at Product Level by @MattGSouthern

Bing Ads is rolling out new features to Bing Shopping Campaigns designed to enhance feed management and optimization.

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Google to Automatically Display Local Reviews in Your Native Language by @MattGSouthern

Going forward, Google will automatically translate local reviews into your native language.

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