Archives for May 2015

Online Marketing News: Search Shake-up, Mobile Reps Revenue, SERP Food

Social Media Adoption Top Brands

Why Do We Follow Brands on Social Media? [Infographic] – Did you know that social networking is the top online activity in the US, with the average American spending 37 minutes per day on social media sites? It’s also a fact that around 46% of web users look towards social media when making a purchase. Find out more about Why we follow brands on social. GO-Gulf

Google Confirms Changing How Quality Is Assessed, Resulting In Rankings Shake-Up – Earlier this month, many webmasters noticed significant Google ranking changes. Google has finally confirmed those ranking changes with us. Search Engine Land

STUDY: The Impact of Age Range on Facebook Ad Auction Price Tags – What effect does the age range selected during ad targeting on Facebook have on pricing in the social network’s ads auction market? SocialCode, a Facebook Marketing Partner, sought an answer to that question. SocialTimes

Online Marketing News: Search Shake-up, Mobile Reps Revenue, SERP Food

If You Want Your Content Marketing to be Great, Ask Influencers to Participate

participation marketing with influencers

Participation Marketing is at the Intersection of Content and Influencer Marketing

With ubiquitous internet connectivity and billions of people empowered to create and publish online, digital marketing competition is greater than ever. Companies are increasingly challenged to create quality content that can stand out to attract and engage new customers.

How can businesses grow their reach and improve content quality in such a market?

Through participation marketing with industry influencers.

Over the past year, the expression “influencer marketing” has exploded in popularity and many marketing communications professionals are continuing to see influencers in the light of “celebrity endorsements”.

There’s more to influencer marketing than advocacy.

But there’s more to influencer marketing than advocacy and all influencers are not created equal. With participation marketing, companies can take a view of working with influencers of different types to produce a variety of benefits – all through content.

If You Want Your Content Marketing to be Great, Ask Influencers to Participate

Why Digital Marketing Podcasts Belong in Your Learning Routine

woman-listening-to-podcast

Marketers are always looking for new and efficient ways to learn. As a marketer, I’ve recently begun working podcasts into my ongoing learning routine. I’ll admit, I resisted for awhile (which was dumb). I think it’s because I have an aversion to books on tape/CD, which comes from being forced to listen to children’s books on repeat during annual family trips up and down the Oregon coast.

A realization hit me one day when I was reading entertainment “news” and taking a quiz to find out my spirit animal. I spend an exorbitant amount of time consuming a lot of content-light when I’m on the go, when I should be using that time to keep up to speed with what’s going on in my industry.

Why Digital Marketing Podcasts Belong in Your Learning Routine

B2B Marketing Roundup: Resources, Trends and Case Studies to Prep for #BMA15

For nearly 900 B2B marketers, this week will bring a cornucopia of ideas, insights and networking opportunities to the BMA National conference in Chicago. There’s a lot going on in the B2B marketing space from the increase in humanization of business marketing content to the application of big data, the impact of video, mobile and ecommerce.

The need to innovate isn’t owned by B2B marketers of course – CMOs are looking hard at differentiating their marketing and digital marketers are always looking ahead to see what marketing trends are worth exploring, experimenting with and adopting.

Making sense of it all takes time, so as part of my prep for the event, I’ve curated a nice mix of helpful resources, thoughts about future B2B marketing trends and even some case studies.

B2B Marketing Roundup: Resources, Trends and Case Studies to Prep for #BMA15

Online Marketing News: Facebook Feed Buzzes Businesses, Promoted Pins Get Powerful, Twitter Shows Search

Influencer Marketing Golden Ticket

Is Influencer Marketing the Next Golden Ticket? [INFOGRAPHIC] – Influencer marketing is growing like crazy. Will it become the next golden ticket? Check out this infographic to find out. The Shelf

Google Webmaster Tools Rebrands To Google Search Console – Google aims to get more users on Google Webmaster Tools by renaming it to Google Search Console. Search Engine Land

Twitter’s Objective-Based Ads Are Now Available To All Advertisers – Company officially launches beta program that it says has helped improve efficiency and cut costs for advertisers who pay only for certain types of engagement, like website clicks, conversions, lead generation or video views. Marketing Land

Tweets Now Appear In Google Search – Twitter and Google announced that tweets now appear in mobile searches. They will make their way to desktop searches in the future. Find out more about how they’ll be appearing. Twitter

Online Marketing News: Facebook Feed Buzzes Businesses, Promoted Pins Get Powerful, Twitter Shows Search

B2B Content Marketing Playbook: Tips to Prepare You for the Big Content Game

B2B-CONTENT-PLAYBOOK

The 2015 B2B Marketing Report from Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs sheds a pretty bright light on the true state of B2B content marketing. While 86% of B2B marketers are using content marketing, only 8% rate their content marketing efforts as “very effective”. It’s not so different than teams participating in sports like football. Sure, everyone is playing, but who is actually really good at it?

Fundamental blocking and tackling are key for a winning football game. The same can be said for implementing a successful B2B content marketing program: mastery of the fundamentals is essential. With B2B content creation in particular, marketers must be prepared for everything from understanding the voice of the customer to developing the right mix of content assets.

B2B Content Marketing Playbook: Tips to Prepare You for the Big Content Game

Top Digital Marketing Takeaways From Authority Rainmaker

What does it take to become an authority in your industry? How can we make better sense out of an integrated approach to digital marketing?

According to the presentations we saw at Authority Rainmaker 2015, it takes the passion to learn and pursue knowledge, the expertise that warrants credibility and respect of your peers and the time and effort to earn your place as an industry thought leader.

While only in it’s second year, Copyblogger’s Authority conference brought the passion and expertise that will no doubt result in achieving authority status among digital marketing events in the industry.

Alexis Hall, Lee Odden and I had the pleasure of representing TopRank Online Marketing for this informative and entertaining event, which took place at the beautiful Ellie Caulkins Opera House in downtown Denver Colorado. We met interesting people, created great blog and social content and learned lots of great digital marketing tips to share with our agency team.

Top Digital Marketing Takeaways From Authority Rainmaker

Good Content Vs. Good Enough Content: A Fight for Sore Eyes with Ann Handley

Ann Handley Authority Rainmaker 2015

“Do you have any mustard?”

“Give me the mustard.”

“Pardon me: Do you have any Grey Poupon?”

These three statements mean the same thing, but each is a unique way of asking for the desired item. Often, it’s not what you say, but how you say it.

In her session at Authority Rainmaker 2015, Ann Handley shared the belief that brand voice is key to creating good content marketing that will set you apart.

There is this idea that as quantity of content increases, quality takes a nose dive. So how do you maintain or increase quality of content while increasing quantity?

It starts with being really good at the basics, like brand voice.

Not More Content…Ridiculously Better Content

77% of B2C organizations are using content marketing. (Source: CMI/MarketingProfs)

Good Content Vs. Good Enough Content: A Fight for Sore Eyes with Ann Handley

Danny Sullivan on the State of Search Marketing in 2015

Danny Sullivan Authority Rainmaker 2015

To say there have been major changes in search marketing in recent times would be a big understatement. From the increased complexity and intelligence brought about by several Google search algorithm updates to the meteoric rise of mobile device usage, search marketers have had plenty to keep them busy.

Founding editor of Search Engine Land, Danny Sullivan has been an authoritative voice in the search marketing industry for nearly two decades, so he’s certainly seen and weathered plenty of big changes since the inception of search.

In his presentation at Authority Rainmaker 2015, Danny educated and entertained the audience with insights into the current state of search and how businesses and marketers can prepare for the future.

There isn’t One ‘Front Page’ of Google Anymore

Danny Sullivan on the State of Search Marketing in 2015

Content Marketing: 6 Steps for Building a Massive Audience

Joe Pulizzi

Joe Pulizzi has been a content marketer before content marketing had a name. While working at a media company in the Custom Publishing department, he had dreams of starting a small business, which he eventually did in 2007 by starting a blog about content marketing.

Fast forward 3 years later and he had built Content Marketing Institute, which is well-known today as a source of content marketing thought leadership, training, events and consulting.

Today, Joe is joined by many other companies who built their businesses aided by the power of creating an audience first through content marketing, such as CopyBlogger Media, Social Media Examiner, Moz and even our very own agency, TopRank Online Marketing.

Content Marketing: 6 Steps for Building a Massive Audience

Stand Out or Don’t Bother: Sally Hogshead on Harnessing Your Fascination Advantage

Sally Hogshead Keynote

Why is Jägermeister the bestselling liquor brand that no one likes?

Because it’s toxic taste is what sets it apart from all the other liquor choices behind the bar. The worst it tastes, the more people talk about it. That creates a unique experience that people seek out.

This illustrates what Sally Hogshead suggested in her opening keynote at Authority Rainmaker – different is better than better. Sally is a best selling author, keynote speaker and marketer who has consulted for brands ranging from BMW to Target.

Sally says that the uniqueness of a brand is what can be translated into their competitive advantage. When you are able to put that competitive advantage into words, it translates into something people will evangelize and purchase.

Stand Out or Don’t Bother: Sally Hogshead on Harnessing Your Fascination Advantage