TopRank Internet Marketing News

The greatest content isn’t so great until people read and share it. That’s why social communities and networks are so critical for an effective content marketing program.

According to Eric Schmidt of Google, every two days we create more data and information than since the dawn of time to 2003.

Where is that data coming from? Think about this: Every 60 seconds over 1,500 blog posts are published, 72 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube, 100,000 Tweets are posted and over 700,000 status updates are made on Facebook. Google+ is gaining steam and Pinterest has had explosive adoption and growth.

Besides creating content that’s relevant to your target audience to guide them along your sales pipeline, it’s also important to consider how to spread that content. How can you help your content “pop” and stand out amongst the millions of new documents published, shared and included in search results every day?

LinkedIn has long been the social media tool of choice by many professionals.  In the past it was used mostly as a contact database of everyone you have interacted with on a business level.  Recently LinkedIn has added some additional features that make it easier for marketers to reach their target audience. What are some best practice approaches to using LinkedIn for engagement?

Update Your Status Frequently
Your LinkedIn contacts will be very interested to know what you’re doing professionally.  Why? The majority these contacts will most likely be colleagues, prospects, or networking contacts. Your LinkedIn personal profile is a great stage for sharing your professional development and sharing things that you think they will find to be of interest.

Optimize Your Posts
It’s very important that you are always providing great content.  In addition to great content you want to make your entries as searchable as possible.  Implement a strong keyword strategy for your LinkedIn strategy as you would any other online marketing strategy.

MarketingProfs University

In an ever-evolving age of interactive media, search marketers walk a tight rope.  Between paid and organic search, social media, optimization, search rankings and measuring success, it’s no surprise that this balancing act presents challenges.

MarketingProfs University is offering a 13-class course addressing popular questions on these topics to help search marketers find the perfect balance and be more effective in their careers.

Event details:
MarketingProfs University Search Marketing School
Modern SEO Strategy: Adapt or Die
Monday, Sept. 19, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.
Register and attend online classes live or access recordings

MarketingProfs University provides affordable, comprehensive online training across the disciplines that make up every business’ marketing mix. In addition to learning what businesses need to plan, build and measure successful marketing programs, course attendees have the opportunity to review best practices from peers, discover new tools and processes, and see what’s working in marketing today.  Search Marketing School is a live online presentation featuring several speakers throughout the day.

DreamForce Cloud Computing Event on SEO

Historically, the social media aspects of selling have been controlled by marketers.  Sales people traditionally are kept out of the loop until after a new lead is generated.  In today’s business landscape, successful sales reps are taking control of emerging social technologies to bring in new leads and close deals more quickly, marking the onset of a new era in social selling.

On Aug. 31, Dreamforce ’11 will host a session on tips and techniques addressing how businesses can effectively adopt the integration of sales and social media as a new norm.

Event details:

Dreamforce ‘11
Social Sales Revolution: 7 Steps to Get Ahead
2:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Moscone Center
747 Howard Street
San Francisco, CA 94103-3118

When it comes to a business’ online strategy, questions abound for social media practitioners about how to best leverage and integrate the many online marketing tools available.

The disciplines of search, social media and content marketing continue to intersect and often combine to create a powerful mix. Companies and individuals are creating competitive advantages as they adapt to shifts in technology and consumer behavior.  On Aug. 26, the monthly Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis/St. Paul (SMBMSP) will hone in on this integration.

Event details:
Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis/St. Paul
Friday, Aug. 26, 2011
8:00 – 10:00 a.m.
Cambria Suites Maple Grove
9655 Grove Circle North
Maple Grove, MN 55369

SMBMSP brings marketers, PR professionals, students, entrepreneurs, social media practitioners and enthusiasts together for a unique educational opportunity incorporating panel discussions, presentations, case studies, debates and breakout sessions.

One of the most common forms of online marketing for small businesses is to have a website. The problem is, with today’s increasingly social and mobile web, a web site just isn’t enough. To help website owners take full advantage of the most important online marketing opportunities, here are 3 things small businesses can do to attract and engage new customers.

1. Content Publishing & Marketing: Consumers are interacting with multiple content sources before purchase and businesses that provide useful information beyond product features and benefits can attract more traffic and referrals.

Tips, articles, videos and experts interviews provide customers with the information they need to buy and refer to others. Useful content optimized with keywords also attracts more search engine traffic and links. Solution: Content Marketing.

Loving Facebook fan pages for business?

Guess what, fan pages just got better – Whether you are a B2C or B2B company, Facebook has added new features and benefits that help you get the most out of your social media efforts.

Here are the top 10 Facebook changes TopRank Online Marketing team members think deserve a moment or two in the spotlight…

1. Engage with Fans More Directly – For the first time ever, Facebook fan pages can act as individual users with the ability to “Like” other Facebook pages – This feature allows brands to act essentially as an individual user. By “liking” other pages, you humanize your brand and show support for other organizations that are relevant to your fans.

2. Reach Your Audience with Sponsored Stories – Already using Facebook ads? If so, you can augment your existing ads with new Sponsored Stories.

When companies see the publicity of viral videos like Evian roller babies for consumers or BtoB successes like Cisco’s The Future of Shopping, they often get the urge to jump in to the video marketing game themselves. But where to start?

We get asked this kind of question a lot at TopRank and the ideal situation from a marketing performance perspective is when the company understands what they want to achieve through video marketing.  It’s essential to start with a position statement like: Company 123 wants to achieve X goal and thinks Y video marketing tactic makes the most sense because of Z research and observations.

It’s also important to describe expected outcomes and timeframes.  Is the video marketing effort focused on selling products? (Hint: that rarely succeeds at the start) Maybe video is a great way to communicate thought leadership, educate prospects, communicate with customers or provide content for bloggers and the media. Whatever the expected outcome is, try to describe it and be ready to adapt it.

So many business blogs suffer from tactical execution without understanding the power of search engine optimization and social media for attracting traffic and engaging customers. The following presentation outlines how TopRank Online Marketing worked with it’s own blog Online Marketing Blog and with a B2B marketing client to  achieve phenomenal increases in reach, traffic and a positive effect on the bottom line.

TopRank will be offering a new set of TopRank Guides specifically focused on B2B Social Media, B2B Blogging and B2B SEO. We’ll also be conducting several webinars to explain these guides and how best to use them.

The only way to hear about the guides being published is to be a recipient of TopRank’s Tips from the Top Marketing Newsletter. It’s free and you can subscribe here:  TopRank Online Marketing Newsletter.

Even though there is some criticism of the timeliness retained with books on fast-changing topics like search engine optimization and social media marketing, books continue to remain popular sources of information and insight for marketers.  Questions about recommended books on both topics, especially social media, continue to be popular on QA sites, forums and sites like Twitter. We’ve compiled the following list of useful books on specific SEO and Social Media Marketing topics you might find useful. Many of these books have been reviewed at Online Marketing Blog.

You can easily find any of these books by copying the title and author below and pasting into the search box on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Books on Social Media:

• Cluetrain Manifesto – Rick Levine, Chris Locke, Doc Searles, Dave Weinberger
• New Rules of Marketing and PR – David Meerman Scott
• Do It Wrong Quickly – Mike Moran