Archives for June 2015

#CMWorld Infographic: 12 Marketing Box-Office Titans Share Tips For Creating Blockbuster Content Marketing

Content Marketing World Infographic Header

There’s a special kind of magic to behind-the-scenes photos from movie sets. You can see how a team of special effects wizards transforms a toy model into a spaceship hurtling towards an alien planet, or a lifeless doll into a skyscraper-climbing giant gorilla. Knowing how the trick is done somehow makes the finished product even more satisfying. That’s especially true if you’re a kid with a camera trying to bring your own dreams to the silver screen.

In the newest eBook series co-produced by TopRank Marketing and Content Marketing Institute, we asked content marketing wizards to take us behind-the-scenes and show us how they make their own brand of magic. Their advice is inspiring to anyone who wants to create great content that connects with an audience.

#CMWorld Infographic: 12 Marketing Box-Office Titans Share Tips For Creating Blockbuster Content Marketing

Web Analytics Tips: Getting More from Google Analytics with Jeff Sauer #MNSummit

Jeff Sauer

Google Analytics is used by more than 10 million websites, but the majority of digital marketers and businesses are merely scratching the surface of what this powerful free tool can do. As Jeff Sauer says, “any report that is one click away in Google Analytics isn’t worth your time”.

In his fascinating and super actionable presentation at MNSearch Summit 2015, Jeff shared some great tips to help marketers get more value from Google Analytics.

Google Analytics Custom Channel Groupings Jeff Sauer MNSearch 2015

Customize Your Content and Channel Groupings

Out of the box, Google Analytics comes with a default set of traffic channels, including organic search, referral, direct, paid, social and email. While technically these are inclusive of the range of sources which may drive traffic to your site, there is opportunity to break up these broad swaths of visitors into customized segments that are specific to your business by creating customized channel groupings. Doing this can help you efficiently track the performance of your site for visitors that really matter, your customers and prospects.

Web Analytics Tips: Getting More from Google Analytics with Jeff Sauer #MNSummit

Silverpop’s Loren McDonald Discusses 4 Top Email Marketing Trends – #MNSummit

Loren Mcdonald “Good morning Mumbai! Wait, I’m in Minnesota.”

Loren McDonald, VP of Industry Relations for Silverpop has been on a worldwide tour travelling from India to London and finally here to the Midwest. Loren was not shy about admitting that he feels a bit like a fish out of water, he’s an email-marketing guy, surrounded by search marketers at MNSearch Summit.

In Loren’s compelling presentation we found out why email still rocks, the difference between smartphone and tablet users and creating actionable data. Below are some of the highlights:

Trend #1 – Email Still Rocks

According to a recent study by Marketing Sherpa, 7 in 10 consumers have made a purchase influenced by email marketing. There is no denying that email is still very much alive, and has a significant impact on purchasing decisions.

Silverpop’s Loren McDonald Discusses 4 Top Email Marketing Trends – #MNSummit

Online Marketing News: Introduction From Instagram, DuckDuckGo Goes Past 10 Million, Pinterest Pins Partners

Social For Customer Acquisition

How to Utilize Social Media for Customer Acquisition – One of the biggest reasons we all do social media marketing is to find new customers for our products or services. Maybe it is the biggest reason. It comes before social customer service, because without finding customers in the first place, we’d have no one to serve. This infographic from Salesforce Canada gives some insight into the process of acquiring customers via social media. Salesforce Canada

Facebook Makes Ads Manager, Power Editor Easier to Use – Facebook Thursday announced significant updates to its Ads Manager and Power Editor tools to create and manage ads on the social network. SocialTimes

Online Marketing News: Introduction From Instagram, DuckDuckGo Goes Past 10 Million, Pinterest Pins Partners

Content Marketing: 4 Tips for Creating B2B Content When You’re at a Loss for Words

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Content marketing has rapidly become an essential piece of the B2B marketing puzzle. Buyers are more connected and more self-directed than ever before, and informative, engaging content is key to making sure your organization becomes part of the buyer journey.

Creating a steady stream of quality content can be challenging for any marketer, but especially for those in B2B marketing, where buyers expect to be informed and entertained at the same time. So it’s no surprise that Content Marketing Institute’s latest report found that 54% of B2B Marketers rated producing engaging content as a top challenge, and 50% said producing content consistently is a challenge.

Content Marketing: 4 Tips for Creating B2B Content When You’re at a Loss for Words

Joe Pulizzi (The Godfather) Discusses the Content Marketing Revolution #CMWorld

Without anyone accusing me of exaggerating, I can safely say that Joe Pulizzi is a bona fide content marketing visionary. Joe started using the term “content marketing” in 2001, long before the rest of the industry caught on to its potential. In the past decade and a half, Joe has firmly established his thought leadership in the field, earning the nickname “The Godfather of Content Marketing.”

In 2007, Joe founded the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), which has grown into a vital resource for thousands of marketers worldwide. In addition to building a massive hub of marketing resources, classes, and training programs, CMI produces Content Marketing World, the world’s largest content marketing event.

Joe Pulizzi (The Godfather) Discusses the Content Marketing Revolution #CMWorld

Blockbuster Content Marketing Success: Xerox Marketing VP Jeannine Rossignol #CMWorld

Everything is bigger on the silver screen: hopes and dreams, heroes and villains, successes and failures. Simple human drama can become mythical when projected onto a giant movie screen. We go to the movies to laugh, cry, and gasp along with our fellow moviegoers, all of us sitting in the dark together sharing the experience. It’s a powerful example of how great content can create an experience that not only informs, but makes you feel. Creating those experiences is a whole crew of specialists, actors, director and producers, each playing their part.

Similarly, every successful content marketing program has a team of people working behind the scenes to create quality content that connects with customers. One trailblazing example of a marketing leader creating great content experiences is Jeannine Rossignol, VP of Marketing for Large Enterprise Organizations at Xerox.

Blockbuster Content Marketing Success: Xerox Marketing VP Jeannine Rossignol #CMWorld

Marketing Superstars Tell All: Measuring Content Marketing Box Office Success

“Show me the money. Show me the money!” – Jerry Maguire

In the summer of 2010, the Internet was abuzz about the upcoming movie Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World. It was based on a comic book with a rabid cult following and directed by the indie darling behind Sean of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. When the movie was released, the buzz intensified, dominating social media for its opening weekend. By almost every measurement, it was a blockbuster success. Unfortunately for the film, the one metric it missed was number of tickets sold. Scott Pilgrim was very good at generating excitement, but failed to deliver on the one metric that mattered.

Marketing Superstars Tell All: Measuring Content Marketing Box Office Success

Online Marketing News: Facebook Taking Time, More Moments, Google Unattributed

Improve Facebook Organic Reach

How to Improve Your Facebook’s Organic Reach [Infographic] – Since Facebook made the transition to pay-to-play, reports have shown consistent declines in organic reach for brands. A new infographic from Kissmetrics examines the problems brands are having on Facebook, and offers some possible solutions. Quick Sprout

Facebook Taking Into Account Time Spent on Stories – The goal of News Feed is to show you the content that matters to you. The actions people take on Facebook—liking, commenting or sharing a post—are historically some of the main factors we’ve considered to determine what to show at the top of your News Feed. But these factors don’t always tell us the whole story of what is most meaningful to you. Facebook

Online Marketing News: Facebook Taking Time, More Moments, Google Unattributed

Essential SEO Considerations For Any Website Migration

Website Migration SEO Considerations

Sometimes implementing a website migration an essential part of doing business in a digital world. There are a variety of reasons why a company may choose to migrate from one site to another. Regardless of the reason, it’s important to remember that your website is your virtual calling card to prospective customers and sometimes a website migration is a necessary step in providing your customers the best possible user experience.

Like botched plastic surgery, a poorly executed website migration can bring a host of SEO problems, including making your site difficult to find in search engines, confusing to use or filled with errors that make the searchbots run away.

To ensure that your website migration goes smoothly and leads to improved business, follow these essential migration SEO recommendations:

Essential SEO Considerations For Any Website Migration

How to Create Oscar-Worthy Content Marketing: Ann Handley of MarketingProfs #CMWorld

My pal Ann Handley has made it her life’s work to, in her words, “wage war on mediocrity in content.” Her best-selling book, Everybody Writes, is a practical guide to writing the kind of content that truly engages an audience.

As the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs (the world’s first Chief Content Officer, in fact), Ann advocates quality over quantity in all of her content ventures. She also spreads the gospel of good content at speaking engagements around the world, including the upcoming Content Marketing World conference September 8-11 in Cleveland.

To get a sneak preview of Ann’s Content Marketing World presentation, Good Content Vs. Good Enough Content: A Fight For Sore Eyes, I did my best to catch up with her during some pretty crazy travels. Along the way, she shared her journey on learning to write compelling content, the role of technology in content marketing, and the death of the marketing funnel.

How to Create Oscar-Worthy Content Marketing: Ann Handley of MarketingProfs #CMWorld