Online Marketing Blog - TopRank®

The Key to Social Media Success is Understanding Your Audience

What are customers saying about your brand?

I recently attended a great presentation by Taylor Pratt of Raven Tools at OMS in San Diego.  He focused on the importance of using content marketing for improved social engagement.

TopRank has been a long time and well-recognized advocate for the notion of customer centric content marketing.  Over the years we have seen SEO, social media, and content marketing industry change and grow at a rapid rate, so now more than ever marketers must create content to meet customer needs in order to execute a successful online strategy.  The social media game is not only evolving but the way that our audience consumes this information is constantly changing.


The Key to Social Media Success is Understanding Your Audience

Video Interview: Social Media Marketing at GM – Charlotte Blank, Manager of Social Media

Optimize Digital Marketing Interview Charlotte Blank GM

At the recent Online Marketing Summit in San Diego I caught up with Charlotte Blank, Manager of Social Media at General Motors to talk about digital marketing.  In this short interview I asked Charlotte a few fundamental questions about digital and social media marketing related to customers:

1. How does GM segment digital marketing activities between customer acquisition and retention?

Follow up: Does GM follow a social media editorial calendar according to customer buying cycles and personas?

2. With all the shiny objects of social media in the world, how do you go about deciding what to test and what to implement?

Take a look at the video and I think you’ll be interested in the customer-centric approach GM takes with social media and how time is allocated towards new customers, activating current customers as evangelists and their approach to filtering shiny social objects.


Video Interview: Social Media Marketing at GM – Charlotte Blank, Manager of Social Media

Good Content Marketing vs. Great Content Marketing: Learn the Difference From Joe Pulizzi #OMS12

If you are part of the online marketing or content marketing industry you have undoubtably heard of Joe Pulizzi and his company the Content Marketing Institute (CMI).  Joe has been a member of the content marketing community for over a decade, and has made it his mission to help brands create quality content and distribute that content through multiple online channels.   This was my first time seeing Joe speak and he made it a great interactive experience, and was of course wearing his trademark Orange.

I enjoyed the history that Joe shared with the audience as well as his practical tactical tips that can be implemented by an organization of any size.  However, I think the true takeaway is determining a way to differentiate yourself from your peers and your competition.


Good Content Marketing vs. Great Content Marketing: Learn the Difference From Joe Pulizzi #OMS12

Innovative Search Features Drive Engagement – Paul Vallez #OMS12

"Google taught us how to search." - Paul Vallez

Paul Vallez admits that when he started at HP less than a year ago he had just come from Ask.com and was pretty cocky about what he knew.  Vallez also shares that he wasn’t very open to new ideas and wanted to step into his new position at a big brand and immediately demonstrate value. What was his approach?

  • 75% Cocky
  • 25% Open to new ideas

In Vallez’s presentation he identified what he called “3 Key Learnings” that he shared with the audience for improving the way that your search strategy is implemented for improved engagement.


Innovative Search Features Drive Engagement – Paul Vallez #OMS12