It’s Day 2 of Content material Advertising World 2011, and fairly frankly I’m exhausted. Yesterday featured a full slate of top-notch displays, adopted by a enjoyable evening of dinner, drinks and a two-hour Q&A with movie maker Kevin Smith (I solely caught the primary half, however as you could already know, I can verify Kev isn’t any fan of Southwest Airways).
We’ll see how a lot gasoline is left within the tank for as we speak’s working diary, with extra updates (hopefully) coming all through the day.
For a breakdown of yesterday’s excessive factors, try my working diary of Day 1 at Content material Advertising World.
Day 2
4:18 p.m.: The final session of the week simply bought out (my apologies to Kevin Smith, who’s scheduled to shut the present. I really like ya Silent Bob, however I’ve a airplane to catch.)
So only a fast replace to wrap issues up. I sat in on a session with Ann Handley (@MarketingProfs) and C.C Chapman (@cc_chapman), co-authors of Content material Guidelines. The 2 went excessive 10 excuses for not being prepared for content material advertising. “Content material isn’t for everyone – it ought to be, however you may not be prepared, and that’s OK,” C.C. stated.
The pair made some notably fascinating factors on the parable that content material advertising doesn’t apply to B2B organizations. (C.C. really referred to this notion as “full crap.”) As Ann (accurately) put it, B2Bs really know extra about their prospects than anybody, and thus have a golden alternative to create content material that can actually resonate with their respective audiences. So there!
It was a terrific present total, and I hope you loved the diary. See you subsequent yr!
3:04 p.m.: To begin off the afternoon, I made a decision to pop right into a session titled A Information to Social search engine marketing Technique for Content material Entrepreneurs. The presenter was Lee Odden (@LeeOdden), CEO at TopRank, who I’ve at all times been a giant fan of.
The session was nearly stymied by slideshow failure (PowerPoint saved shifting from slide to slip by itself accord), however Lee dealt with it like a champ and got here by with some superior information. (For instance, do you know that there are wherever from 50 to 200 totally different variations of Google’s search algorithm working someplace on the ‘Web at any given time? I didn’t.)
More often than not was spent trying on the connection between social media interplay and search engine marketing. Lee talked about how many individuals are likely to bounce backwards and forwards between social media and search, and the way content material entrepreneurs can make the most of this. For example, potential prospects could go on social media (LinkedIn, perhaps) to ask their friends for product suggestions. Greater than seemingly, they’ll then take these solutions and plug them into Google to analysis them and resolve on which one to buy. After that, there’s a great likelihood they’ll then return to LinkedIn to debate the product they selected and why.
As Lee famous, current research present that 48% of shoppers use social media and search collectively when making shopping for selections – a chief instance of why search and social methods have to be linked. All the things must be optimized for each, he defined. And by every thing, he means every thing. “If it may be looked for, it may be optimized.”
There was much more to cowl within the presentation, together with some nice stuff on the way to carry out an search engine marketing audit on your web site. Hopefully we will setup a podcast with him someday quickly to go over that matter in additional element, as I believe it may actually profit a variety of firms on the market.
1:45 p.m.: The lunch session for Day 2 was an fascinating one. A handful of audio system had been every given seven minutes to debate a content-related matter of their selecting. I assumed everybody did a positive job, although my two favorites had been segments on content material curation and the connection between content material advertising and the Muppets (sure, you learn that proper).
Barbra Gago (@BarbraGago), strategist at Left Mind DGA, gave a intelligent presentation on the worth of curating content material that was made up nearly totally of … effectively … curated content material. Yesterday she shot video of assorted content material consultants discussing the alternative ways entrepreneurs can make the most of curated content material, which included OpenView’s personal Amanda Maksymiw, pictured proper. (Word: The image doesn’t actually do justice to how huge the screens had been. Quickly after the video ended, I posted a tweet asking if that was actually Amanda or the good and highly effective Oz.) Barbra then edited the footage collectively to make a cool five-minute video on content material curation – comprised totally of commentary generated by others on the present. Get it?
As for the Muppet section, simply go forward and call Andrew Davis (@TPLDrew) of Tippingpoint Labs for the main points. It’s value it.
11:16 a.m.: I made a decision to attempt the chief observe for the morning’s first breakout session. This one, titled Content material Advertising Metrics: Justifying Content material Advertising Spending, additionally featured a panel. a part of the dialogue targeted on the problem of getting firm buy-in and funding for content material advertising efforts.
Lynne Esparo, VP of Advertising with Nuance Communications, made the purpose that the ROI for content material needs to be actually buttoned as much as succeed, since whereas many senior managers don’t have any downside spending on buyer acquisition, they’re much much less prone to make investments the identical amount of cash into buyer retention. (Which is foolish when you concentrate on it, because it prices a lot extra to acquire a brand new buyer than preserve an present one.)
Cam Brown (@CamBrown1), CEO at King Fish Media, famous that the rationale for this (as ordinary) is that it’s so troublesome to measure the success of content material methods for present prospects (the place as measuring success primarily based on the variety of new prospects is clearly a lot simpler). A number of the metrics he makes use of to find out content material worth embody issues like elevated cart dimension (“Did we get them to begin shopping for extra?”) and the speed of product returns.
The panel additionally included content material guru and creator of The NOW Revolution Jay Baer, who shared his personal really helpful metrics:
- Consumption metrics (readership measurements)
- Sharing metrics (social media, backlinking)
- Lead era metrics
- Gross sales/retention metrics
He added that firms which might be simply getting began with content material advertising ought to begin with a targeted strategy to make sure they get essentially the most worth and finest outcomes. “What I discover with firms that haven’t traditionally embraced content material, they usually fall within the entice of, ‘We bought to be publishers!’ In order that they find yourself placing all their eggs in that one basket,” Baer defined. “However nobody desires to learn your large whitepaper and stuff like that. Content material success isn’t about pondering large, it’s about pondering small.” Liked this quote, because it echoes the identical theme many have argued this week — do one factor rather well first, then transfer on to the larger stuff.
He continued by citing the significance of getting your content material on the market on different websites, since extra in style spots like SlideShare or YouTube definitely have a larger attain than your personal weblog. “Don’t be a content material Grinch,” he stated to these people who get queasy on the considered setting their content material free exterior of their very own websites. I’ve struggled with this myself, however from a pure branding perspective, I’ve grown to simply accept that sharing is important. Simply remember to institute methods for getting folks to return to your website finally, even when the very first thing they see from you is hosted someplace else.
9:36 a.m.: I’ve been to a variety of occasions like these, and attendees are at all times dragging a little bit bit on Day 2. CMW ’11 isn’t any totally different, as most of the people listed here are struggling to match the passion of Day 1 after an extended day of classes (and a good longer evening of partying, for a lot of). The sluggish begin was not misplaced on our host Joe Pulizzi as he welcomed the attendees to the primary panel of the day. “Congratulations all of you for getting up so early to see this superior presentation!” he hollered to the sleepy eyed lots.
Luckily, the opening panel was a great one, that includes Brian Clark (@copyblogger) of Copyblogger fame and Michael Stelzner (@smexaminer), founding father of SocialMediaExaminer.com. The 2 chatted about a number of the methods they’ve used to construct profitable companies on the again of content material. When requested about their system for fulfillment, Brian confused the significance of staying “reader-focused and reader-friendly” when placing collectively your content material roadmap.
“We’re in an consideration warfare,” he defined, citing the necessity to research reader behaviors and eye research to assist preserve that focus targeted on you. Brian famous the low-attention spans of readers, which is why usability is such a important a part of the content material creation course of. Michael agreed, saying {that a} high quality visible design and structure is important to their technique as a way of serving to the content material, website and model stand out and entice readers and potential prospects.
The idea of design has really come up fairly a bit on the occasion, as many session leaders have pointed to the significance of being visually interesting when competing for consideration. This definitely pertains to website design, however from a content material perspective, creating articles which might be simply digestible typically comes right down to the usage of sensible structure and design practices. Brian talked about how easy ways like subheads and bulleted lists inside the textual content go a good distance towards making your content material less complicated to eat. It additionally helps to keep away from what we former journalists consult with as “an excessive amount of grey” on the web page (i.e. large blocks of textual content with nothing to attract the reader’s eye – type of like this diary entry).
The 2 additionally mentioned a number of the methods they use for deciding what to put in writing about. Brian made the case that social media is likely one of the biggest advertising instruments at our disposal with regards to studying what persons are all for. Michael mentioned his workforce’s choice for reader surveys as a way of producing concepts and matters. For these all for surveys, one tip each panelists really helpful was to incorporate open-ended questions – a significantly better option to be taught one thing new about your readers than when you merely present a number of alternative solutions for them.
It was a great begin to the day from two of the perfect within the biz, and On-line Advertising Institute’s Aaron Kahlow (@AaronKahlow) did a positive job moderating for a crowd that was clearly in want of a second cup of espresso.
For a breakdown of yesterday’s excessive factors, try my working diary of Day 1 at Content material Advertising World.
Yow will discover extra data on content material advertising and editorial practices on the OpenView Labs web site. You may also observe Brendan on Twitter @BrenCournoyer and discover extra from the OpenView workforce @OpenViewVenture.
