I'm on vacation this week, so today's news post is light and fresh for your reading pleasure. Enjoy! From the Social@Ogilvy Slideshare post: Every day people have millions of conversations about brands around the world. Many of these are advocacy mentions that help brands significantly amplify their marketing.
We've all heard "SEO is Dead" from alarmists, the uninformed, and in countless link bait articles (irony?). But is there any truth to it? While Search Engine Optimization may look completely different than it did even a year ago, I firmly believe that SEO is not only alive, but thriving.
Where to Start Your Social Media Strategy Whether you're a bricks and mortar mom and pop business or a 100% online digital enterprise, NOT participating in social media is no longer an option. In many ways today's social networks represent the new discovery engine.
Apple. Google. Disney. These are some of the most admired and in many cases, loved brands in the world. No doubt, many companies are envious of the connection these top brands have been able to make with their customers. A strong connection between brands and consumer manifest in many ways from retention to word of mouth to premium pricing.
The annual study of Fortune 500 company blogs and social media use by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has been published for 2013 indicating the largest increase in corporate blogs since 2008.
There's some serious momentum growing in the digital marketing world and companies world-wide are scrambling to figure out one of the most important pieces for success: content. What better way to close the gap between early maturity model stages and a path to greater profitability than learning from top experts who have already "been there, done that"?
The idea of making online content that is useful to people as well as easy to find and share applies to any organization whether it's a B2B software company, a non-profit association or a government organization. There's so much information being produced and promoted plus a growing array options for consuming content that standing out can be a real challenge.
Companies large and small are investing in content creation now, more than ever. Whether the investment in content marketing supports branding, sales, customer service, PR or recruiting, there are specific audiences and brand messages involved. Kudos to companies making the effort to create more useful content to help answer customer questions.
Social Media for Executives - Interview with Chris Brogan originally published on Tech Page One. With 27% of total U.S. internet time spent on social networking sites (Experian) and 55% of marketers spending more marketing budget on social media in 2013 (eMarketer), the momentum of the social web has clearly gained mass appeal.
Between major algorithmic updates to better filter content, links and aggressive tactics to removing several important signals SEOs use to improve marketing performance of their websites, the search engine optimization game isn't what it used to be.
When you spend time creating great content and being useful on the social web (as well as in the real world) it's inevitable that you'll be included on a list. Recognition is a powerful thing and when it comes to lists, the value of inclusion is in direct proportion to how objective and well curated the list is.
B2B Content Marketing Trends 2013 is a new report from Holger Schulze of the B2B Technology Marketing Forum on LinkedIn. According to this survey, what are the top 5 Content Marketing trends for B2B marketers in 2013? Here you go: Content marketing is going mainstream and is becoming more sophisticated to help marketers generate more leads and enable thought leadership.
There are certain books that I find myself recommending to folks on our team and to people I meet at conferences over and over again. These are books I purchase multiple copies of (I give them away and they also seem to disappear).
Companies eager to meet the digital information needs of customers are faced with the challenge of creating content on a regular basis and with few additional resources. Customers expect useful information that is easy to find, consume and share, but how can resource strapped marketers meet those expectations?
Today Google has retired Google Reader joining a long list of other Google products that have been discontinued. See a full list by clicking the Wordstream infographic to the right. The reason offered by Google: "usage of Google Reader has declined, and as a company we're pouring all of our energy into fewer products."
The CMO Council and NetLine have conducted a study (Better Lead Yield in the Content Marketing Field) that reports 87% of B2B buyers saying online content has a moderate or major impact on vendor selection. The most trusted BtoB content comes from professional associations, not vendors.
With 2.5 quintillion bytes of data created every day, marketers are challenged to stand out amongst the sheer volume of information confronting their target audience. At the same time, information overload drives consumers to filter their choices to those few who are most trusted, credible and meaningful.
Have you planned to start a company blog and aren't sure where to begin? Maybe you've created a business blog and haven't been able to attract the audience and exposure that you intended? Companies start blogging for a variety of reasons and things don't always turn out as hoped.
In today's age of ubiquitous connectivity, many small businesses have implemented a variety of online marketing efforts to attract new customers and increase overall sales. Unfortunately, results can vary significantly because tools are only as good as the expertise of the person using them.
As many tech industry news sites predicted, Facebook-owned Instagram launched it's video service this week. However as CNET reports, it's a bit of an apples to oranges comparison with the popular Vine, owned by Twitter. Instagram video offers 15 seconds, filters and no looping or touch manipulation.
In today's fast moving search and social web, content flows in every direction throughout a variety of platforms, formats and devices. With a global population of over 7 billion, there are over 2.3 billion internet users. More importantly, there are 6.7 billion mobile subscribers - 91% market penetration ( source).
I think our team has done a pretty good job on this blog of advocating internet marketing tactics according to their practical use over the years. Our goal: To help marketers put things in perspective and make informed choices. One particular area of focus has been on content marketing.
Is Twitter the right place for your social media investment? Whether you have time or ad dollars to spend, this is a question that marketers are visiting and revisiting as the demand for social media performance increases. According to Twitter, 35% of consumers that follow a brand are more likely to purchase from that brand.
The acceleration of social technologies along with continuously evolving consumer behaviors has many agencies in a state of flux and asking: Where to invest resources? Which positions to staff and how to structure the agency to be adaptable and to grow? For the past few years we've been modeling our agency at TopRank Marketing to better adapt and integrate.
As you know, we rarely run guest posts but today I’d like to welcome best selling author Jay Baer to TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog. Jay’s new book, Youtility, is lighting the bookseller charts on fire and has offered an excerpt for your reading pleasure.
After meeting Jay about 5 years ago at SXSWi, it’s been a pleasure to see his rise as a digital marketing powerhouse keynote speaker, consultant and all around great guy. Jay is a veteran agency owner going back to the very early days of the internet and an entrepreneur. He’s worked with numerous Fortune 500 brands and is one of the few marketing “celebrities” that walks the talks he’s giving. Enjoy!
