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Interview: The Future of Cloud Marketing Software with Vocus CMO Jason Jue

Posted on 16. May, 2012 by BLarson in B2B, Blog, interview, interviews, Online PR, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Vocus

At TopRank Online Marketing, we are fortunate to provide consulting to quite a few innovative B2B companies that serve other marketers. A great example of that is PRWeb and parent company, Vocus, both long standing clients.

In late 2011 Vocus welcomed Jason Jue as Chief Marketing Officer. As Vocus & PRWeb’s Account Manager at TopRank, I was keenly interested in getting to know Jason better and learning his plans for the future – and what better way than through an interview for all readers of Online Marketing Blog to see?

In this interview Jason talks about the undeniable convergence of PR and marketing, what social media metric is most undervalued by many PR and marketing professionals, where marketers should invest for 2013 and his vision for Vocus.

Tell us a little bit about your background and what excites you most about joining Vocus? 

Prior to Vocus, I was Vice President of Marketing at Rackspace and had several executive positions at Dell in the US and Asia, marketing to businesses. Vocus offers cloud marketing and PR software to businesses in every market sectors and size that want to reach and influence buyers

I’m excited about sharing with businesses how easily our products work wonders for our current customers. Some of the leading marketing consultants such as Sirius Decisions and MarketingSherpa use our products to maximize their online publicity.

For some people, Vocus is synonymous with Public Relations software. Can you speak to how and when Vocus first expanded to offering marketing solutions?

We have always believed PR to be a core part of “promoting a product or service” or marketing. Many customers who buy our PR software have a marketing title, and we’ve recently seen faster growth in this group. These customers use our social media and PRWeb news release features of our PR software. For them, we created a cloud marketing suite which integrates search, publicity, and social media marketing. Our cloud marketing suite was the most successful product launch in Vocus history, and will be even better when it includes email later this year.

Do you see PR and marketing professionals as two separate audiences? Or are they converging disciplines?

In marketing teams that have PR and marketing professionals, we continue to see them as two audiences with different product needs, although their roles are converging, especially around social media. PR professionals are using social media for brand positioning. Marketing professionals use social media for lead gen. Meanwhile, for the millions of businesses who have few, if any marketers at all, the marketing functions blend together.

Use your crystal ball and give us a glimpse into the future. How will the Vocus offering change over the next 2 years? Where do you see the most opportunity for growth?

The future of marketing is simple and powerful integrated campaigns. Every marketing team realizes that when working together on unified and integrated campaigns, lead generation and brand perception results are much better than working alone.

I know that sounds like a pipe dream as marketing complexity has increased to address the everywhere all the time customer. Today’s customers are constantly switching back and forth from website, news, social, search, email, and mobile. To add confusion, each specialty has their marketing tools resulting in silos and disjointed communication.

In the near future, marketers will be able to buy cloud marketing software to easily manage integrated campaigns. It will incorporate the trendy with the tried-and-true tactics of marketing The essential elements will work together for better results in lead generation and brand perception. And, it will recommend how and when to engage with prospects and customers.

Seem unbelievable? I think it’s unbelievable that it hasn’t already happened. In the past 15 years, every corporate function, from marketing to sales to HR, has seen a proliferation of technology tools. Marketing is the only function without a major product suite. IBM is doing it for large enterprise marketing. We are integrating all the important marketing tools into a cloud marketing suite so every business, large and small, can easily achieve big results .

Staying on social for a moment, what is one social metric that you think may be most overlooked by PR and marketing professionals alike? On the flip side, any stat that you view as overvalued?

The most important social media metric is how many people actively recommend your product or service. I think the most overvalued metrics are fans, followers, and likes.

As 2012 is well underway, what is one investment you think marketers must make in order to succeed the rest of the year and into 2013? (i.e. invest in mobile marketing)

Focus on marketing fundamentals that will dramatically accelerate growth. Who is your target customer? What product or service should you develop for them? How should you promote to them? Why should they buy from you?

Then, find the best product for you that simplifies all the marketing tactics and trends. This product will then let you focus on the marketing fundamentals.

Thanks, Jason!

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

© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. |
Interview: The Future of Cloud Marketing Software with Vocus CMO Jason Jue | http://www.toprankblog.com

Interview: The Future of Cloud Marketing Software with Vocus CMO Jason Jue

Posted on 16. May, 2012 by BLarson in B2B, Blog, interview, interviews, Online PR, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Vocus

At TopRank Online Marketing, we are fortunate to provide consulting to quite a few innovative B2B companies that serve other marketers. A great example of that is PRWeb and parent company, Vocus, both long standing clients.

In late 2011 Vocus welcomed Jason Jue as Chief Marketing Officer. As Vocus & PRWeb’s Account Manager at TopRank, I was keenly interested in getting to know Jason better and learning his plans for the future – and what better way than through an interview for all readers of Online Marketing Blog to see?

In this interview Jason talks about the undeniable convergence of PR and marketing, what social media metric is most undervalued by many PR and marketing professionals, where marketers should invest for 2013 and his vision for Vocus.

Tell us a little bit about your background and what excites you most about joining Vocus?

Prior to Vocus, I was Vice President of Marketing at Rackspace and had several executive positions at Dell in the US and Asia, marketing to businesses. Vocus offers cloud marketing and PR software to businesses in every market sector and size that want to reach and influence buyers.

I’m excited about sharing with businesses how easily our products work wonders for our current customers. Some of the leading marketing consultants such as Sirius Decisions and MarketingSherpa use our products to maximize their online publicity.

For some people, Vocus is synonymous with Public Relations software. Can you speak to how and when Vocus first expanded to offering marketing solutions?

We have always believed PR to be a core part of “promoting a product or service” or marketing. Many customers who buy our PR software have a marketing title, and we’ve recently seen faster growth in this group. These customers use our social media and PRWeb news release features of our PR software. For them, we created a cloud marketing suite which integrates search, publicity, and social media marketing. Our cloud marketing suite was the most successful product launch in Vocus history, and will be even better when it includes email later this year.

Do you see PR and marketing professionals as two separate audiences? Or are they converging disciplines?

In marketing teams that have PR and marketing professionals, we continue to see them as two audiences with different product needs, although their roles are converging, especially around social media. PR professionals are using social media for brand positioning. Marketing professionals use social media for lead gen. Meanwhile, for the millions of businesses who have few, if any marketers at all, the marketing functions blend together.

Use your crystal ball and give us a glimpse into the future. How will the Vocus offering change over the next 2 years? Where do you see the most opportunity for growth?

The future of marketing is simple and powerful integrated campaigns. Every marketing team realizes that when working together on unified and integrated campaigns, lead generation and brand perception results are much better than working alone.

I know that sounds like a pipe dream as marketing complexity has increased to address the everywhere all the time customer. Today’s customers are constantly switching back and forth from website, news, social, search, email, and mobile. To add confusion, each specialty has their marketing tools resulting in silos and disjointed communication.

In the near future, marketers will be able to buy cloud marketing software to easily manage integrated campaigns. It will incorporate the trendy with the tried-and-true tactics of marketing The essential elements will work together for better results in lead generation and brand perception. And, it will recommend how and when to engage with prospects and customers.

Seem unbelievable? I think it’s unbelievable that it hasn’t already happened. In the past 15 years, every corporate function, from marketing to sales to HR, has seen a proliferation of technology tools. Marketing is the only function without a major product suite. IBM is doing it for large enterprise marketing. We are integrating all the important marketing tools into a cloud marketing suite so every business, large and small, can easily achieve big results .

Staying on social for a moment, what is one social metric that you think may be most overlooked by PR and marketing professionals alike? On the flip side, any stat that you view as overvalued?

The most important social media metric is how many people actively recommend your product or service. I think the most overvalued metrics are fans, followers, and likes.

As 2012 is well underway, what is one investment you think marketers must make in order to succeed the rest of the year and into 2013? (i.e. invest in mobile marketing)

Focus on marketing fundamentals that will dramatically accelerate growth. Who is your target customer? What product or service should you develop for them? How should you promote to them? Why should they buy from you?

Then, find the best product for you that simplifies all the marketing tactics and trends. This product will then let you focus on the marketing fundamentals.

Thanks, Jason!

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

© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. |
Interview: The Future of Cloud Marketing Software with Vocus CMO Jason Jue | http://www.toprankblog.com

Blogger Relations: Push or Pull? How to Get Bloggers to Mention Your Brand

Posted on 01. Feb, 2012 by Lee Odden in Blog, blogger relations, Online PR, seo pr, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing

Is Your Blogger Relations Using Push & Pull PR Tactics?

Yesterday digital PR maven Adam Vincenzini pinged me about a post he was researching on how brands could make it easier for bloggers to talk about them. It’s a great question because mentions and links from influential content sources are priceless for credibility, awareness and in particular, social SEO.

This is a topic close to home because after 8 years of blogging here at Online Marketing Blog attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors, nearly 50k RSS subscribers, 13k blog Facebook Fans and 16k blog Twitter followers, I’ve had the opportunity to be pitched, schmoozed and numerous other tactics to get me to talk about companies that want exposure. After all that, I can say I think I’ve found the magic formula that will almost guarantee bloggers will talk about a particular brand.

Are you ready?

I know, the suspense is killing me too.

OK, here it is.

It’s not about you. It’s about them.

Yeah, that’s it.

Bloggers don’t really care about your brand’s agenda.

What DO bloggers care about? That’s exactly the question PR and Media Relations professionals should be asking themselves. The problem is, most media relations people still think of bloggers as if they operate like journalists.

A great example is sending an email pitch (with no previous correspondence or social web interaction) with a press release attached as a MS Word document offering a chance to set up a meeting with some corporate executive to talk about the thing being pitched.

Really?

For comparison, imagine someone coming up to you at a party and introducing themselves, suggesting a great new drink and that you’ll need to arrange a time to talk to the bartender for more information about the drink and maybe you’ll like it and maybe you’ll talk about it to others.  I don’t think so.

What about introducing yourself, asking about favorite drinks and then getting one of those favorite drinks to try – right then and there?  If it’s great, that drink will get talked about, right then and there.

The problem with many blogger relations efforts is that PR pros tend to pitch based purely on serving the brand’s need for exposure instead of thinking about what would make the blogger interested and even excited to use a brand’s information in a blog post. That’s the challenge for PR professionals – reconcile brand needs with those of the media or bloggers.

How to be useful to bloggers as an information source is the key to getting more brand mentions. Dig into what hooks or triggers motivate a particular group or segment of bloggers and then package useful content in compelling and interesting ways that PR can use to engage them. Think about how those bloggers discover new content. Do they search? What do they search for? Where do they search? Do they ping their social networks for sources and information? Which social networks?

Besides optimizing brand stories for easy discovery on search engines and social networks, think about how to get on the blogger’s radar by appealing to their ego – in a relevant way.  Create content that is special, that is unique, relevant and timely. Bloggers love to be first. They love to share.

Once you’ve created compelling and useful content, make it easy for bloggers to share on the social networks where they spend their time. Beyond generic social sharing widgets, it might mean the ability to Tweet an individual data point, image or video. easy + useful + relevant = win.

Don’t stop with an infographic, monster list of industry statistics or entertaining video – keep producing interesting content and you’ll not only get on the radar of influential bloggers, you’ll stay there.

Push tactics like media relations pitches to bloggers need to empathize with bloggers’ needs and then package brand content in an interesting and useful way. Pull PR tactics to get on bloggers’ radar means optimizing content for search and social media discovery as well as making it easy to share the the content that has been found.

That’s how you make it compelling for bloggers to talk about brands online.

If you’re a media relations and PR pro, what have you done to become more successful at increasing blogger mentions of your company or your brand clients?

For even more great insights, check out Adam’s article on Ragan. You can also get Blogger Relations 101 here and some useful SEO tips for PR in Optimize.

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

© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. |
Blogger Relations: Push or Pull? How to Get Bloggers to Mention Your Brand | http://www.toprankblog.com

4 Things Lady Gaga Can Teach Us About Social Media PR & Online Influence

Posted on 19. Jan, 2012 by Ashley Zeckman in Blog, Influence, Online PR, public relations, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, Social Media, social media pr

Photo Credit: Flickr gjkooijman

Lady Gaga is the definition of an influencer offline and online; her music, fashion sense, and passion for social causes have spread around the world in only a few short years.  Love her, like her or hate her, you know who she is and you’ve probably heard more than one of her songs.

When searching for a way to improve your online PR strategy or increase your social reach, who better to learn from than one of the most influential celebrities in the world and on the web?

Social Media is Going Gaga

• Lady Gaga Facebook Fan Page Followers – 46,608,220
• @LadyGaga Twitter Followers – 18,198,577
• Lady Gaga Google+ Followers – 20,852 (only 4 days after signing up)

#1 – “The Fame” is Only Half the Battle

Photos from @charliesheen & @ladygaga

Social influence involves much more than a popularity contest.  Actual influence is composed of the ability to influence opinions, outcomes, and actions. While other celebrities like Charlie Sheen are popular on sites such as Twitter, his social popularity didn’t help him get his job back on Two and Half Men or sell out his nationwide “comedy” tour.  You may notice in the photos above that Charlie Sheen’s profile still reads “unemployed winner”.  Looks like he could do with a little less popularity, and a lot more influence.

#2 – A “Poker Face” is Bad For Business

Photo from Lady Gaga's Facebook Fan Page

If you are responsible for online PR for your company, or are interested in promoting yourself on the web, it is essential that you are as transparent as possible.  While it may be tempting to stretch the truth in a crisis, honesty is key.  Transparency and messaging are also important to give your audience a sense of who your brand is and what you stand for in ways that will inspire your community to engage and take action.  Understanding why people buy is essential when marketing a product or individual.  People become fans and buyers when they can relate to or form a connection with the spokesperson or can apply meaning to what they stand for.

#3 – “Little Monsters” Receive Recognition

Photo from Lady Gaga's Official Google+ Profile

If there is one thing that cannot be debated about Lady Gaga it is her adoration for her fans.  Her music has influenced millions of people, but she is quick to thank her audience for influencing her life.  In fact a Tweet that I saw just the other day on her Twitter profile said:

“Can’t believe I have 18,000,000 TwitterMonsters, really rad, was just a few years ago I had barely any.”

Even a small comment like this shows her appreciation for the fans that helped her get to where she is today.  A good PR professional should always remember to give thanks where thanks is due.

#4 – Playing More Than Just A “Love Game”

Photo from www.ladygaga.com

A Press Release last year from gaming giant Zynga announced their partnership with Lady Gaga to promote her new album.  When fans visited a unique farm called GagaVille in the popular game FarmVille they were given exclusive access to new tracks and unreleased songs from her upcoming album.  This was a win win situation for both Zynga and Gaga.  The promotion increased Zynga’s gaming popularity, and sold gaming cards that included additional promotional activities such as winning a day on the set with Gaga.

What Would Gaga Do?

Let’s face it, not every client will experience the popularity and influence of Lady Gaga.  However, there are many practical applications that can be gleamed from what we’ve learned about the pop music mogul’s online and social media presence.  I urge you to take some time and ask yourself the following questions about your brand.  While we may not all be a target of the “Paparazzi”, there are steps we can take to improve our social influence and make more “Money Honey”.

Influence vs. Popularity

• Is your brand popular, influential, or both?
• Do you have a plan in place to improve influence and grow your online community?

Honesty & Transparency

• What causes do your customers care about?
• What is something personal that could be shared to further connect your online customers and those who influence them?

Showing Gratitude

• Who helped your organization get where it is today?
• Is there a public opportunity to thank them for their contribution?

Additional Opportunities

• What are some partnerships or promotions that you can form on behalf of your brand?
• How much is this type of media exposure worth to you?

If you are looking for additional tips and tactics for Public Relations or improving your social influence be sure to check out the additional posts below:

• Importance of Social Media & SEO for Public Relations
• 5 Tips on Creating Video Content for Public Relations
• Boost Your Digital PR & Marketing Skills with Social Media Optimization

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

© Online Marketing Blog, 2012. |
4 Things Lady Gaga Can Teach Us About Social Media PR & Online Influence | http://www.toprankblog.com

5 Tips on Creating Video Content for Public Relations

Posted on 15. Dec, 2011 by Ashley Zeckman in Blog, Online PR, public relations, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing

Lights, Camera, Action. Video puts a new spin on traditional Public Relations.

If you are  Public Relations professional (or online marketer), the time has come to implement new tactics that will keep your audience excited, engaged, and encouraged to share.  While optimized press releases, case studies, and white papers are great forms of online content, it’s time to take advantage of one of the hottest media formats on the web.  A study done by Forbes stated that 75% of senior executives surveyed said that they watched work-related videos at least weekly, and 52% watched work related videos on YouTube at least once a week.

I will warn you that implementing a video marketing campaign is not always easy and not always successful, but there are some practical tips that can improve your chances of #winning with an online video strategy.

Tip #1: Take Storytelling to the Next Level

A press release can only say so much.  Sure you can offer statistics and anecdotes to motivate action but is it really enough?  For example, lets say that you have a non-profit client that raises money for the homeless.  How moving would it be to capture what your client is doing to help the homeless on video?  I’m not talking about a video news release of course, but a true life account of not only what they are doing on an ongoing basis to help those in need, but showing the face of the audience they are trying to help – priceless.  Consumers, businesses, and the general public can be inspired to take action based on the emotional connections that see once a story is presented visually.  I for one nearly burst into tears each time I see the ASPCA videos speaking out against animal cruelty featuring Sara Mclaughlin’s “Arms of an Angel”.

Tip #2: Short, Sweet, & To the Point

One of the reasons that many people enjoy, and interact frequently with video is because it enables them to consume more information without much effort.  The last thing you want to do is spend countless hours creating a video that will simply be skipped over.  Think in terms of sound-bytes.  Give a top level overview and stick to the topics and tactics that you believe will have the largest impact on your audience.  Also short videos have been proven to get more views according to testing done by video management service, Wistia.

Tip #3: The Power of Video Testimonials

Testimonials are critical for generating new business.  The willingness of your current and former clients to speak favorably about their experience with you is priceless.  In addition to posting and emailing testimonials in their standard format, consider adding video testimonials for increased effect.  It may take a little extra effort to coordinate the recording of testimonials, but just about any point and shoot camera offers decent video recording capabilities as do many smart phones.  An article released earlier this year by our SEO client PRWeb provides a great case study on video testimonials, as well as some tips on creating your own videos.

Tip #4: Re-purpose Content in a New Format

Perhaps you have a press release that did exceptionally well when originally released.  Why not take the opportunity to repurpose your original information as a news story using video?  You could also create a video that is a compilation of multiple stories as a news update aimed at keeping your audience informed.  For more ideas, check out this post on 5 Ways to Repurpose Content.

Tip #5: Improve Video Sharability

Video is an opportunity to promote branded content that is both entertaining and engaging.  With sharing widgets embedded, videos can be shared with multiple social networks in a few clicks.  The easier you can make it for your audience to share, the broader the reach your video will have.  Consider embedding YouTube videos on your website to improve ease of viewing and sharing for your audience.

According to YouTube’s social statistics:

• 17 million = the number of people that people have connected their YouTube account to at least 1 social service.
• 12 million = of those connected and auto-sharing with at least one network.
• 150 years = number of years of YouTube videos that are watched each day on Facebook.
• Over 50% = the number of videos that have been rated or include comments from the community.

Whether you’ve implemented a video campaign before or are simply testing the waters, video can have a large impact on engagement and separate your news from your competitors.

What are some of the video campaigns that have had a large impact on you personally?  Anything funny, controversial or compelling?  Are there video tactics that you have tried before and would recommend to our other readers?

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

© Online Marketing Blog, 2011. |
5 Tips on Creating Video Content for Public Relations | http://www.toprankblog.com

Mastering The Content Workflow

Posted on 17. Oct, 2011 by Lee Odden in Blog, content marketing, Guest Posts, Online PR, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing

[Note from Lee: While I fervently pursue the home stretch of writing my own book "Optimize", I've asked a few friends to share their thoughts on topics such as Content Marketing, SEO and Social Media. This post comes from Rebecca Lieb, who I've known since her days at ClickZ, then Econsultancy and now she is digital advertising and media analyst at the Altimeter Group. Her new book, Content Marketing: How to Think Like a Publisher to Market Online and in Social Media comes out this week.]

Content workflow is the point at which content marketing gets tactical. It’s nuts-and-bolts process: content calendars, creation, approvals, style guides, templates, and tools.

Get this part right and you’ll be ready to run a newsroom.

At the core of a content workflow is creating an editorial calendar to establish what content will be created, when, in what format, and for which content channel. A digital editorial calendar also tracks connections for that content, including how content will be repurposed and amplified in social media channels.

The editorial calendar should list of all content approved for publication. It addresses how much content is created, how often, and when it will publish. It includes content requirements, responsibilities, and a schedule.

An editorial calendar should be governed by a master calendar that takes into account key dates and events. It not only provides an overview of what content publishes by day, week, or month, but ties that broader schedule together with specifics, like holidays, trade shows, company announcements, events, or product launches. Don’t forget to take international holidays into account if content is targeted to foreign countries. These key dates also help inform the editorial calendar with ideas for content themed for the Christmas season, perhaps, or a major industry conference at which you’re releasing a whitepaper.

The editorial calendar also serves as an invaluable map for repurposing content. Say you’re publishing a whitepaper or research report. How and when will that information be broken down and funneled into other channels, such as a blog, press release, or an update on a social network? It should also act as a reminder to collect appropriate graphic elements like photos, charts, graphs, or multimedia content to enhance the written word.

The editorial calendar funnels “real-world” content into digital channels. Perhaps an executive is speaking at a conference or has made a media appearance. Capture the presentation and share it on SlideShare or YouTube.
Holiday reminders should be taken seriously and leavened with common sense. Seasoned editors don’t publish their best material late on a summer Friday afternoon when their target audience is beach-bound, just as a financial services company shouldn’t publish on a bank holiday Monday. It’s common sense; content should have the maximum possible impact.

Editorial calendars track what kind of content is created, when, and how often. A calendar might show you post twice daily to Twitter, blog three times a week, and send newsletters twice monthly, on Wednesdays.

Editorial calendars are critical tools in tracking ideas for content. A company striving to post four times per week on its blog might shoot for one originally authored piece, one commentary on industry news, a guest post from an outside expert, and one round-up of curated links on topics related to the business. Having specific goals helps to alleviate that “blank page” syndrome when you know you have to create something, you just don’t have a clue what that something should be.

Many editorial calendars incorporate the production process into the mix to ensure content creation is on track. This can include who’s responsible for individual content elements, when a first draft is due, who conducts the copy edit, and when (often, with a specific time) the final draft will be received, proofed, entered into the CMS (or newsletter template, or blog platform), and be published.

A follow-up process can be designed to promote and disseminate content on social media: tweeting, linking to, and otherwise amplifying the content. Whose job is that, and when will they do it? The editorial calendar should address this aspect of connect-the-dots content.

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TopRank® Online Marketing Newsletter.

© Online Marketing Blog, 2011. |
Mastering The Content Workflow | http://www.toprankblog.com

How Public Relations Can Avoid Failing at SEO

Posted on 03. Aug, 2011 by Lee Odden in Blog, FAIL, Online PR, PR, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing

Our Online Marketing agency at TopRank has been providing practitioners in the Public Relations industry information and insight on Search Engine Optimization for nearly 10 years.

Starting with adding SEO to our media relations services in 2001 to providing SEO consulting  to PR industry leaders like Vocus, PRWeb and The PRSA, we’ve been in the thick of SEO and PR for some time.

The demand for smart Social Media and SEO information from PR agencies and corporate communications organizations has amplified significantly this year. We’re talking with numerous companies, helping them get up to speed with strategy, road mapping and training. One of the most useful insights we can provide is guidance on what to avoid when it comes to incorporating SEO and SMO (social media optimization) into PR content strategies. No one likes to #fail, so here are several things to avoid:

Shiny Object Keyword Syndrome

SEO advice is easy to find online including suggestions of doing keyword research using tools like Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool.  There’s a temptation to focus only on the most popular words and phrases even if they aren’t 100% on target. Or worse, if the website that PR staff can contribute to and edit isn’t anywhere near deserving of being known as THE authority for a highly competitive topic.

Those high popularity count keyword phrases are like shiny objects that distract from the language that is most relevant and realistic to achieve. It’s fine to have highly popular (and competitive), relevant keyword phrases as targets, as a long term goal and contingent that there’s a commitment to creating the content and attracting the links necessary. In the meantime, go after phrases that reflect the intersection of the topic your promoting and the most relevant queries being made. In fact, extend that search keyword research to social topics for more long tail concepts to optimize for.

Many journalist inquiries are pretty niche. They’re often looking for something very specific, and if you’re chasing high popularity keywords that will take a year to achieve, you may be missing out on a lot of search visibility that could inspire media coverage in the meantime.

One-Off SEO

Another temptation is to approach SEO very tactically and try new SEO knowledge on a single web page or press release. There’s nothing wrong with experimentation, but optimizing a single or a handful of documents isn’t what drives significant search traffic.

An extension of that would be to optimize a newsroom or website  without planning to revisit keyword lists and whether refinement is necessary.  I’ve heard comments like this many times, “Oh, we optimized our site already. In 2004.” SEO, like Social Media and Content is a journey – not a destination.

Missing Links

Google PageRank introduced the online marketing world to the importance of links beyond those that simply drive direct traffic. Today, PageRank isn’t as much of a focus, but links are still very important. Especially links from social networks and media sharing sites.  Many PR professionals consider the keyword optimization of web pages, press releases and digital assets all that is necessary – discounting the need to attract links.

Links are like electricity and help search engines discover new content. They also serve as a signal for use in assigning importance for ranking. PR professionals are in a unique position to attract some of the most valuable links possible – from online media websites. Asking journalists to link back to a website takes little effort and might result in a highly valued link that can send the most significant kind of signal or link juice to what it is that you’re promoting.

Additionally, sending out press releases through a news release distribution service like our client PRWeb, that are properly optimized with links to content that is being promoted can result in link acquisition as well. Sometimes it’s 5 or 10 links and sometimes 100′s of them.  Optimization with keywords is just the start. Link building and social promotion are what create awareness to journalists and bloggers directly as well as through improved search visibility.

Falling Short on Measurement

Improved search visibility is often measured with a ranking report.  With personalization, those reports are not as useful as they once were. Web analytics tracks visitors to a website and where they came from, like from a search engine. That’s about as far as most PR and Corporate Communications pros will go when it comes to measuring the impact of their SEO efforts.

However, there’s a lot more. Especially since increased, relevant traffic to the corporate website or news content can not only reach the media but end consumers looking to buy. If the content can warrant a link to a “buy page” where a conversion or inquiry can occur, PR practitioners would do well to make sure web analytics tracking is setup so that new business inquiries can be attributed to optimized PR content when appropriate.

How powerful would it be to show not only media coverage, but improved web traffic and new business inquiries as a direct result of PR’s SEO efforts?

Waning on Training

You don’t just flip a switch and become SEO savvy, I’m sorry to say. Achieving SEO competence takes training, practice and persistence. At TopRank Marketing, we have a consulting service but we’re in the business of helping PR firms and corporate public relations staff get up to speed with SEO and Social Media SEO skills. But there are many other places to get useful knowledge ranging from the upcoming SES conference in San Francisco to the online training provided by Market Motive you see in the right side bar of this blog.

The key thing is to understand that to gain momentum, providing SEO skills training to those in your organization in a position to create content online will be especially helpful. Going it alone as the sole SEO savvy person in a  large agency is tough to scale. However you get that training is up to you, just be sure to get it for yourself and for your team.

Frugal SEO Tooling

I’ve noticed there’s a tendency with many PR agencies and departments to be a bit conservative on paying for tools. It’s true that there are many free tools out there, but over time and without a business model to fund them, they get neglected and can become irrelevant or go away altogether. Then you’re up a creek without a paddle, scrambling for some other free tool, not knowing what really works and what doesn’t.

That’s why I like to pay for tools. I know they’ll be around and will have an obligation to provide some kind of service level and support. Whether its paying for WordStream for keyword research or SEOMoz Pro or Raven Tools for a host of SEO functionality and campaign management, don’t skimp on the tools. The impact of great SEO, especially SEO and Social Media Optimization, can have a tremendous impact and maybe even a multiplier to online media relations efforts. Tools will help you do quality work and more importantly, scale!

To Be Optimized, You Must Socialize

A big part of today’s optimization for better search performance means active social media content creation, curation and engagement. Building networks that you can share links with and inspire link propagation is essential for the social link and content signals being increasingly considered by Google and to some degree, Bing. Optimizing social media content improves the search visibility of brand content on the social web. The social network participation on sites like Facebook, Twitter, Quora and Google+ that goes along with brand social media efforts also provides Google with signals that can be used for ranking content on Google.com. Optimize and Socialize!

Conclusion

There are many more ways than this to fail at SEO and SMO for Public Relations, but as a foundation, these tips can serve to help PR Agencies and Corporate Communications avoid some of the pitfalls and become more productive, more quickly with their SEO efforts. Realistically, these tips are appropriate for any industry, but the boost in inquiries we’re getting from PR firms and business Comms pros, motivated me to create this post just for you

If you work at a Public Relations firm or in Corporate PR, have you hit on any of these areas to avoid? How did you get back on track, or did you?

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How Public Relations Can Avoid Failing at SEO | http://www.toprankblog.com

8 Social SEO Questions Public Relations Pros Need the Answers To

Posted on 23. Jun, 2011 by Lee Odden in Blog, Online PR, public relations, seo for pr, SEO Tips, Small Business Internet Marketing, Small Business Marketing, social SEO

In the course of providing expertise and advice, I’ve really come to believe that it’s more important now than ever for Public Relations professionals to accelerate their knowledge of SEO and Social Media. The storytelling business is a competitive one and great messaging isn’t realized until it connects with influencers and those in a position to propagate it. Both SEO and Social Media facilitate discovery of news and information, so PR pros can boost reach and impact by becoming Social SEO savvy.

Thanks to an invite from Justin Goldsborough and Heather Whaling, I participated in a #pr20chat chat this week to talk mostly about SEO and PR with a hint of social media. For Twitter chats, I prepare by getting the questions to be asked in advance and then I answer them in a “tweet ready” format so I can be as useful as possible during the chat itself. That prep makes for a good blog post too

What are some simple, basic principles of SEO that PR ppl need to understand/implement?

• I’d like to start with: Social is hot, but Google handles 10 billion+ queries /mo, so SEO is far from “dead”
• For a good foundation, check out these 10 SEO tips for PR Pros
• SEO Basics: Search results vary for users based on location, logged in, history – ranking is an iffy metric
• SEO Basics: Research keywords & focus optimization efforts: 1-2 topics per page
• SEO Basics: Use keywords & variants in titles, headings, body copy & links to the page
• SEO Basics: Create, optimize, socialize & promote for links. Track web analytics, social monitoring
• Also, check out this SEO Guide for PR (pdf)

When it comes to PR & SEO, what do PR people do wrong? Tips for improvement?

• #fail: Focusing solely on press releases for SEO. If it’s searchable, it can be SEO’d
• #fail: Only writing press releases AP style. Also try an article format & send via @PRWeb (client)
• #fail: Overuse keywords, ignore link building, discount impact of social on SEO
• Tips: Create keyword glossary & train writers on basic SEO copywriting & linking
• Tips: Include web pages, releases, images, video, PDFs, MS Word Docs
• Tips: ID a destination page as a topic target & build content, links around it

What are some tips & tools to help PR people discover the best/most relevant keywords?

• Keywords should empathize with the intended audience: journos, bloggers, consumers
• Think about keywords for search and social topics for conversations. Sometimes they’re the same
• Keyword Tools: Google Keyword Tool (includes mobile)
• Keyword Tools: wordtracker.com wordstream.com keyworddiscovery.com & semrush.com (for competitors)
• Keyword Tools: Übersuggest (via SEJ) leverages Google Suggest
• Once you have keywords, you’ll need: Keyword Glossary & Editorial Plan

What are some SEO best practices to ensure the *right* people (not just more ppl) find your site/content? (via @kaczynski)

• Attract the “right” people via search to PR content through relevant keyword selection & optimization
• Knowing your target audience means knowing their keywords. Optimize for the “pull”
• Understand what keywords & topics reflect your target audience interest & focus on that

Google recently intro’d Google Instant Pages. What does this mean for SEO? PR?

• Google Instant Pages only speeds display of SERPs you click. Very little impact on today’s SEO

How should PR pros balance social media vs SEO? Should one “lead” and the other support/follow?

• Optimize & Socialize based on customer centric search keywords & social topics. It’s yin/yang
• Social Media & SEO work together, but the lead tactic depends on intended outcomes
• Both SEO & Social affect info discovery. Social media facilitates engagement & influences SEO
• Marketing often owns SEO, PR owns Social. Cross-training is essential

Explain the process you follow to create & promote content marketing initiatives. How does SEO fit into that?

• Content Marketing starts with my magic 8-ball. I just do what it tells me
• Oh wait, here you go: 10 Steps to Better Content Marketing & SEO
• Content plans are aided by keywords & social topics so creators can be inspired

Fill in the blank: _____ is the #1 thing all PR ppl need to start doing to improve SEO

• That kind of question is trouble. There’s no #1 thing anymore. But then again …
• If you focus on just one thing, you’ll get burned when that one thing changes
• It comes down to relevance and network. The right keyword & content mix + social network for sharing = the WIN

We have some of the smartest marketers and public relations pros on the web reading this blog. What Tweets would you post in response to these questions? What questions along the lines of PR and SEO would you like answered?

Thanks to @prtini for her roundup of the chat, which you can find here: “14 PR & SEO Tweetable Tips“.

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© Online Marketing Blog, 2011. |
8 Social SEO Questions Public Relations Pros Need the Answers To | http://www.toprankblog.com