OMS | Small Business Marketing & Business Acceleration

Better Content Marketing for Improved Social Engagement: Michael Stelzner

Posted on 14. Feb, 2012 by Ashley Zeckman in Blog, content marketing, marketing message, Michael Stelzner, OMS, Online Marketing Summit, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Examiner

Michael Stelzner's Help me launch campaign

Does your business need better content marketing like this Social Media Examiner contest participant?

In 2009 Michael Stelzner (@mike_stelzner) decided to run an experiment. He wanted to see if he could repeat his previous success in a new industry. That experiment led to the launch of Social Media Examiner in October of that same year. Michael had been well known in the whitepaper industry and joked “I went from the king of whitepapers to the joker of social media.”

I really appreciated Michael’s insight into today’s customers and the need for change in an industry that is constantly evolving. Below I’ve provided some highlights from what I learned from Michael Stelzner at the 2012 Online Marketing Summit.

In the World of Marketing Change is Essential

As industries advance, ideas begin to expand, products morph, and customers move on. With this change comes a series of questions:

Will my business survive?
Have I set the right trajectory?
What is coming?
Am I ready?

In the rapidly evolving Social Media Marketing industry there is one thing that is constant that business often overlook. People are the constant; at their core people don’t change. They will always be looking for great insight, access to great people, and recognition. If you can keep focused on people and their desires then half of your mission, as a content marketer is complete.

What is Wrong with Marketing Today?

One of the analogies that Stelzner shared is that we often treat our customers like fish. In order to better target these customers we must create better offerings and promotions than our competitors in order to get our customers to bite. Marketers should also keep the following tips in mind when creating a content strategy:

Don’t focus strictly on yourself, products and services
Instead shine the spotlight on others such as outside experts or successful peers
When you lift others up, they’ll return the favor

Channel Overload Syndrome

As customers receive marketing messages from multiple sources on a daily basis they begin to tune out and seek a sense of refuge from the marketing bombardment. If you are able to create a sense of trust between your company and your customers it is one of the biggest assets that you have working for you.

Customers as a rule will typically distrust companies. If you can manage to solve your customers initial problems at no cost you open up the possibility that they will look to you to solve their larger issues which could lead to increased revenue for your organization.

What is the Formula for Growth?

According to Stelzner the formula for a great and engaging marketing plan is:

Great Content + People – Marketing Messages = Growth

Great content is that stuff that everyone wants.
Other people, means it’s designed not for your purposes but for others.
When you throw your marketing messages out the window completely in relation to content marketing you can grow quickly.

Creating Great Content

Instead of investing your marketing dollars in ad space consider investing in the creation of quality content. That content will include personal experience and gathering information about topics customers care about, and identifying where they are spending time looking for answers. Stelzner also identified two types of content that marketers should be creating which includes:

Primary Content: The type of content that people consume on a daily basis that brings them back for more on a regular basis.

Nuclear Content: This type of content is harder to produce and includes things like industry reports and contests. Nuclear content can have a larger impact and draws people to your organization and can get you noticed as an industry leader.

What Have We Learned?

There are many elements to creating a great content marketing plan. First and foremost we must always remember who this content is for, what their preferences are, and what problems we are trying to help our audience solve. I also really enjoyed hearing Stelzner’s take on different types of content, when to create them, and the anticipated results when executed properly. What are your thoughts on adding “primary” and “nuclear” content to your online marketing strategy?

Be sure to tune in this afternoon to Social Media Examiner’s Small Business Summit with Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner, Joe Pulizzi from Junta42, Brian Clark from Copyblogger Media and TopRank CEO Lee Odden as they discuss blogging and small business success.

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. |
Better Content Marketing for Improved Social Engagement: Michael Stelzner | http://www.toprankblog.com

Innovative Search Features Drive Engagement – Paul Vallez #OMS12

Posted on 08. Feb, 2012 by Ashley Zeckman in B2C, Blog, content marketing, OMS, Online Marketing Summit, Search Engines, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing

"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.

Key Learning #1 – Enterprise Search is Ripe for Disruption

According to Vallez, Enterprise Search is constantly going through a cycle and that emerging companies and established companies alike should expect changes, be prepared to take action, and run for the opportunity. The different phases that were identified included:

Creation: In this phase organizations are experimenting with different platforms and their may be limited use or capability.
Survival: This phase shows some growth with a small community of partners and vendors.
Growth: At this point their is a solid value proposition in place as well as vendor consolidation.
Equilibrium: By this phase the vendor community can be leveraged, benefits and risks are known, and there is a flat growth.
Decline: The final phase presents an opportunity for other companies to begin working their way onto the Search playing field.

When we reach the “Equilibrium” phase of the cycle what you will typically see happen is the beginning of the decline. At that point there is the opportunity for other organizations to disrupt the cycle and begin rolling out their own Search solutions.

Are you prepared for this disruption?

“By the end of 2012 over 90 percent of information flowing through the internet will be reach media (audio, images, video)” – Cisco

Search today is largely commoditized. Companies will feature a product page that contains images, pricing, and product specs but not much more. What these pages wont show you is what the product is good for or what problems it will help consumers solve. When we talk about content we need to start talking about which content will better engage our customers. At this point the majority of us know that if they can’t find it from you they WILL look elsewhere.

Key Learning #2:Enterprises Need to Facilitate User Research

Facilitation of user research is key. After all the internet is all about information. How it is consumed, shared, and what affect it has on our prospective clients. The question we were urged to ask ourselves was: What is the right information for your customers? Vallez encourages us as marketers to make our information less about the product and more about the customers needs, stressing that customers also need to understand why your product is right for them. A 2010 DMA Study found that 43.7% of buyers admit that they are taking more time to research purchases while 66% of buyers say that vendor content/website influences their purchasing decisions.

Key learning point #3: Deliver the Right Balance of Content and User Experience

It is recommended that we focus on search results that bring up the right TYPE of information for our customers. It should be as easy as possible for customers to find anything related to your products so they know if they are making an informed buying decision. An example of some objectives that you may want to set forth to target your consumers could include:

De-commodotize the search experience
Better engage user
Faciliatate research
Increase Conversion Rate

What Did We Learn?

Prepare for a deeper level of engagement beyond text
Segment your audience and develop customer centric content and experiences
De-commoditize your search experience
You should spend at least 75% of your time being open to new ideas

After the presentation I asked Paul Vallez the following question: “With a shifted focus on providing customers with a combination of targeted content and user generated content how do you handle negative feedback while still presenting a real picture of your products?” Vallez shared that obviously no brand wants to see anything negative being said about their products. However, customers can tell when something is too curated or moderated. HP has implemented a response button so that if customers don’t like the results they can send feedback to the company. He has found that you will consistently get a more positive reaction from your customers if you take an open and honest approach.

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. |
Innovative Search Features Drive Engagement – Paul Vallez #OMS12 | http://www.toprankblog.com

#Optimize This: Online Marketing Summit 2012 Presentation

Posted on 06. Feb, 2012 by Lee Odden in Blog, content marketing, Marketing PR Conferences, OMS, Online Marketing Summit, Other Events, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media

Optimize This OMS

I’m headed to (hopefully) sunny San Diego today for the annual Online Marketing Summit conference where I’ll get to present on one of my favorite topics: Optimization. Of course, if you read Online Marketing Blog very often, you’ll know my definition of optimization is a bit different that traditional SEO. My post last Thursday “Are You Optimized?” touched on this.

The competition for attendance during the breakout sessions at OMS is really tough during the time slot I’m scheduled for. SAP, Wider Funnel and SAP are all presenting at the same time as I’m giving the all new “Optimize THIS: Integrating Social, SEO & Content presentation”. This post is a bit of a preview on the presentation so if you’re at OMS this week, make sure you check it out.

In Optimize THIS, I have about 45 minutes (including Q & A) to help attendees learn the principles and best practices of optimizing content and social media participation for better marketing performance. Most marketers and even consumers face a deluge of information as they look for answers online. Google has morphed itself into an entirely new type of social search engine and the state of flux has many businesses facing new challenges that are difficult to keep up with.

There’s plenty of speculation that businesses like Google that have attracted a huge user based because of their ability to organize and provide useful, relevant information see free or organic information as a problem to the advertising solution. In other words, SEO is aeen a bug, not a useful way to modify websites so search engines can crawl and index them more effectively to the benefit of all: user, brand, search engine.

Google Dominates search, but should they dominate your online marketing? What would happen if Google disappeared tomorrow? What if your business disappeared from Google tomorrow? What would that mean to your marketing? What would it mean to your business? There are numerous stories of companies devastated as collateral damage to algorithmic updates.

Google’s market position over-influences SEO practitioners to develop keyword glossaries, create, promote and optimize content solely focused on Google. That’s a reasonable approach, but I for one, am not a big fan of putting all my marketing eggs in one basket. The perceived reward of single stop marketing is also a risk.

Diversification or “Un-Googling” your online marketing isn’t just good for mitigating risk, it’s also a better approach to meeting customer needs, especially when optimization is viewed holistically with the way a business communicates digitally with its customers.

A more customer centric approach to online marketing is the catalyst for integrating content marketing, SEO and Social Media. The icing on the cake of customer centric online marketing diversification is even better organic performance on Google vs. focusing solely on traditional keyword popularity and links.

Optimize for customers

The road to Social, SEO and Content Marketing integration is through understanding the fundamental shifts in how consumers discover, consume and share information online. Search behaviors are not just inspired by a consumer need, but by paid, owned, earned and share media. The consumer journey online for solutions weaves its way through search and social interactions finding, interacting, reacting, buying and sharing.

Online commerce and content are increasingly a social experience and content is the key to helping companies Attract, Engage and Inspire their target audiences to act: purchase, interact and share with their networks.

What does a customer centric optimize content marketing approach look like? Start by identifying common customer characteristics. Segment that data and develop consumer profiles or personas that describe: Search Keywords, Social Topics, Pain Points, Triggers and Goals. Figure out what information would be most meaningful during the stages of your customer segments’ journey through the buying cycle. Essentially, find out what customers care about and leverage that data in a way that allows you to target your “best” customers as a group.

Translate what you now know about your customers into a content plan that addresses pain points, triggers and consumer goals with brand content optimized for search keywords and social topics. Implement website, blog, social content and engagement marketing to meet your target customers needs with the right context, relevant language and meaningful topics that will inspire them to take action.

Structure your content marketing plan with optimized and socialized channels of distribution. We like the hub and spoke model that can scale to a “constellation” of hub and spokes.

Monitor social channels for community response and engagement with socialized content. Use web analytics to monitor search and user experience impact of your content on engagement, fueling social network growth and of course, inspiring sales.

By formulating a content plan based on consumer segment information needs as they move through the buying cycle, optimization can be more in tune with customer interests than generic keyword popularity. Content is more helpful, usable and likely to be shared socially. For customers prone to use search, you’re visibile. For those that focus on social channels, you’re there too. For those that use both: even better.

There’s a lot more to say on this topic (as I’ve done in Optimize) but you can expect to see plenty of screen shots and some examples in my presentation tomorrow. If your’re ready to get optimized for 2012 and beyond, I hope to see you there.

2/7 OMS – San Diego
Hilton San Diego Bayfront
Optimize This: Integrating Social, SEO & Content
Learn the principles and best practices of optimizing content and social media participation for better marketing performance
11:45 AM–12:30
Room: Sapphire H

Gain a competitive advantage by subscribing to the
TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. |
#Optimize This: Online Marketing Summit 2012 Presentation | http://www.toprankblog.com

#Optimize This: Online Marketing Summit 2012 Presentation

Posted on 06. Feb, 2012 by Lee Odden in Blog, content marketing, Marketing PR Conferences, OMS, Online Marketing Summit, Other Events, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media

Optimize This OMS

I’m headed to (hopefully) sunny San Diego today for the annual Online Marketing Summit conference where I’ll get to present on one of my favorite topics: Optimization. Of course, if you read Online Marketing Blog very often, you’ll know my definition of optimization is a bit different than traditional SEO. My post last Thursday “Are You Optimized?” touched on this.

The competition for attendance during the breakout sessions at OMS is really tough during the time slot I’m scheduled for. SAP, Wider Funnel and SAP are all presenting at the same time as I’m giving the all new “Optimize THIS: Integrating Social, SEO & Content presentation”. This post is a bit of a preview on the presentation so if you’re at OMS this week, make sure you check it out.

In Optimize THIS, I have about 45 minutes (including Q & A) to help attendees learn the principles and best practices of optimizing content and social media participation for better marketing performance. Most marketers and even consumers face a deluge of information as they look for answers online. Google has morphed itself into an entirely new type of social search engine and the state of flux has many businesses facing new challenges that are difficult to keep up with.

There’s plenty of speculation that businesses like Google that have attracted a huge user base because of their ability to organize and provide useful, relevant information see free or organic information as a problem to the advertising solution. In other words, SEO is seen as a bug, not a useful way to modify websites so search engines can crawl and index them more effectively to the benefit of all: user, brand, search engine.