So clearly there is a lot of uses for AI. But when it comes to SEO and AI, there is a clear use case. After all, if SEO involves creating a lot of useful content, then AI can only help, right?

Well, yes. But as always, it’s not that simple.

In this article we’ll explain how SEO and AI work together, and how you can use them in tandem when doing your digital marketing strategy.

Understanding AI and SEO

AI is a set of technologies that allows machines to perform tasks that are normally done by humans. In the case of SEO, this means that AI can be used to analyze data and make recommendations for improving your website’s rankings or even generating content.

AI uses machine learning algorithms to analyze large amounts of data in order to make predictions about future events or trends. These predictions are based on previous experiences with similar situations and known outcomes from those situations (i.e., if you do X, then Y will happen).

When it comes to AI content, the machine learning analyses language use and how it used, and puts together an article. This is not always ‘read to use’ and will often need tweaking, especially when it comes to usage for SEO.

Read more about the benefits of SEO and how to manage digital marketing.

Benefits of using AI for SEO

When it comes to using AI for SEO, there are some great usages that are getting better as the tools improve. For example, the benefits of SEO are:

• Improved content creation. AI can help you create better, more engaging content. It can also help you find topics that are relevant to your audience and create new ideas for blog posts or articles.
• Better keyword research. AI has the ability to analyze large amounts of data quickly, which means it’s able to find keywords that have high search volumes but low competition–which is exactly what you want when doing SEO!
• Personalization: When using AI in your marketing campaigns, you’ll be able to target specific users based on their behaviors and interests rather than just assuming they’re all looking for the same thing (which they aren’t). For example: If someone searches “how do I get rid of ants?” then an advertiser could show them an ad offering tips on how best deal with this problem; however if another user searches something like “what are the best ways keep ants away from my house?” then instead of showing them ads about getting rid of ants altogether (since this person doesn’t seem interested), we could show them different types products available instead such as sprays or baits etc..

How to use AI for SEO

AI is a tool that can be used in many different ways. It’s important to choose the right AI tools for your business and integrate them into your SEO strategy. Here are some best practices for using AI in SEO:

• Select an AI platform that’s compatible with your website or app. You’ll also want to make sure that it offers features like natural language processing (NLP), which allows computers to understand human language; conversational interfaces; machine learning algorithms; deep learning; computer vision technology; speech recognition capabilities–and more!
• Incorporate artificial intelligence into every aspect of digital marketing by integrating it into content creation, product recommendations, search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, social media advertising campaigns…the list goes on!

Potential Drawbacks of Using AI for SEO

There are several potential drawbacks to using AI for SEO. First, it’s important to note that while AI can help you find content ideas, it still takes human input in order to create valuable content. The more time you spend researching and writing your own articles, the better they will be, and the more likely they are to rank well in search engines.

This is where the use of a professional SEO agency in Devon can help you to improve your content strategy and search rankings.

Secondly, if your website doesn’t already have a strong user base (e.g., if it hasn’t been around for very long), then using an algorithm could actually hurt its rankings rather than help them. This is because Google prefers sites with high levels of engagement over those with low levels or no engagement at all.

So if nobody clicks on any links within one of your posts or shares it on social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter then those particular pages won’t receive as much exposure as others that do have lots of traffic.

Finally: If there aren’t enough backlinks pointing towards certain pieces of content then these might not rank highly enough despite being relevant enough otherwise since Google uses link popularity signals when determining how well each page performs within search results listings.

In summary

AI and SEO go together perfectly. Whether it’s planning a content strategy, creating content or looking for keywords or ideas. Even simple SEO can benefit from the use of AI content tools.

However, the tool also needs some human input meaning that AI isn’t replacing humans in the world of SEO… Yet.

The post Expert Tips to Use AI Content For SEO appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

We saw this day coming. But the fact is, advertising by promoting a post from your brand’s page remains reasonably priced. It’s very targeted, and it’s easy to set up. Don’t believe me? Spend $47 anywhere else to advertise and tell me if, for 65 cents a click, you reach nearly 15,000 targeted people as I did this past week for one of my clients. That’s an absurd return – OK, not absurd– but it’s pretty damn good for less than $50.

Not satisfied?

A colleague also ran a campaign for one of his clients. After several updates, he put up a direct call to action post. It was displayed to 53,214 people, received 1,844 post engagements at an average cost per engagement of 20 cents, all for $360. The idea was to run two posts to build awareness, then a direct call to action – a prototypical jab, jab, haymaker approach. Facebook has changed and it will continue to do so. Many predict Facebook will die. Perhaps it will someday, but not anytime soon. You can mope about change and you can wave the white flag. Not me. The way I see it, this is a great time to advertise, drive traffic and expose your brand to the right people no matter how big – or small – your budget. Don’t argue that it’s difficult to set up or that Facebook’s rules are too restrictive. Sure, Facebook has rules. You can’t promote a post that has an image with more than 20% text. If you’re running a promotion, make sure you’re compliant.  Still, with just a few clicks you’ve got a promoted post capable of reaching the largest pool of people on any single social network this world knows. Identifying the audience is easy and that’s on YOU. Facebook provides you the tools to reach the people you target. It’s on you to make it work. And now.

Maybe Facebook won’t work for some of you because you don’t have an advertising budget. If that’s your case, time for you to get out. What’s the point? Figure out which platform is best for your social media marketing strategy. Facebook will look different a year from now. Hell, it may change drastically in six months. But as online marketers, we’re nomads. Embrace change, see what’s valuable and act accordingly.

The post Facebook Doesn’t Suck, Your Strategy And Attitude Does appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Agencies Must Move to a Converged Media Strategy

It simply isn’t good enough to have a strategy for SEO, a content marketing strategy, another strategy for paid media, a separate email strategy, another strategy for social media and yet another strategy for public relations. These silos must be obliterated. The digital marketing agency of the future will have it’s eyes on every marketing channel and create strategies that are fully integrated and leverage the strengths of all of these channels.

“Adapting to a converged media model is easier said than done for the majority of today’s digital agencies. Growth has been the historic result of their ability to offer highly specialized services, such as public relations, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing and digital advertising. Originally thriving as ‘centers of excellence’ with separate departments and offerings, agencies need to rethink their model. In this new model, agencies must foster open collaboration, reduce costs, and jointly drive results for their clients.” – The Digital Agency of the Future

Customer Centric Delivery Model

According to the report, the digital marketing agency of the future will also have to make some drastic cultural changes. Where agencies today put the brand at the center of everything they do, the agency of tomorrow will put the brand’s end customer at the center. This will require agencies to be able to look through the lens of the brand’s customers to understand their needs and design strategies and implementation plans that will fulfill them.

“The successful agencies of tomorrow will require both a change in operational structure and a shift in cultural mindset. They need to evolve their approach from what Bob Collins, Content and Digital Strategy Director at Beehive Media, explains as ‘brand-centric to customer-centric.’ This transition to consumer centricity requires agencies to evolve centers of excellence, so that they foster expertise across all channels and functions, recognizing that customers aren’t searching for particular brands or companies, but looking to solve a problem, address a need or engage in an experience of interest or passion.” – The Digital Agency of the Future

New Talent and Skill Sets will be Required

The report highlights four new positions that companies need to start recruiting for including the data driven account owner, the conversationalist, the agile content creator, the customer insight specialist. These positions aren’t going to be easy to recruit for because in most organizations they simply don’t exist. Therefore, it will require agencies to recruit, train, and retain the personnel they put in these positions. Robert Murray, President of Skyward said, “the new team needs to have cross-functional understanding of all facets of marketing and specialize in a certain area under their framework.”

“Agency teams will need generalists, who understand the new world order of marketing, and specialists (e.g. strategists, content creators, writers, SEO specialists), to get it all done.” – Lora Kratchounova, Principal, Scratch Marketing + Media

The Future Agency Tech Stack

The digital marketing  agency of the future simply can’t ignore the role of technology in digital marketing. Agencies will become technology consultants for their clients from recommending 3rd party tools to building applications to fill the gaps. Ultimately, the agency could become the glue that holds multiple technology platforms together to serve the brands customers, the brands needs, and the agency reporting and collaboration needs.

“Agency technology stacks will include software development across the front-end, back-end and native operating systems.” – Perez Armendariz, Chief Digital Officer, CP+B

Clearly, this report has a heavy focus on the role that content marketing will play in the agency of the future. It says content will have to become a core offering for agencies to serve their clients. Being as the report is created by a company that has a heavily vested interest in the role content marketing plays you could argue that there is a certain level of bias. But it’s hard to argue that content is not going to become the center of the client and prospect relationship and that brands and agencies need to figure out how to create content that is compelling and inspires action. If that is the case, shifts in traditional agency models will become imminent.

What do you think the digital marketing agency of the future should look like?

Are you a brand? Does this model represent the type of agency you want to work with?

Are you an agency? What do you think of the model the report suggests?

Is it genius or esoteric fluff? Leave a comment and join the conversation.

The post Transforming into the Digital Marketing Agency of the Future appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

In the last year, I’ve moved from a multidisciplinary web agency to a small consultancy to a huge eCommerce retailer. In each of these business environments, I’ve noticed how discipline bias can show up in different ways to reduce the effectiveness of any business’ marketing efforts.

In an agency environment, discipline bias shows up in the form of stalemate and problems with prioritization. Without careful management, each team member approaches every project with the flag of their specialty firmly in hand, ready to plant on the hill of the project. Instead of looking for harmonious solutions, each individual seeks ultimate optimization for their own discipline, disregarding any adverse effects on interrelated disciplines and losing sight of the big picture.

Of course, the flip side is that each discipline has a passionate voice speaking on its behalf. It’s rarer for any important element to be completely ignored, unless the “designated representative” for that discipline doesn’t speak up, or is routinely ignored or dismissed. That’s a whole other organizational problem better addressed elsewhere.

In a consultancy, the problem of discipline bias is more nuanced. If your USP is subject matter expertise, then of course you’re expected to provide recommendations within your wheelhouse. However, being focused doesn’t mean being unaware of the fundamentals of other disciplines, or the dependencies, conflicts and halo effects different tactics can create between different marketing approaches. Focus doesn’t mean you operate in a vacuum. The most successful consultants develop complementary relationships with other service providers, and make informed recommendations that don’t assume their particular skillset is the sole solution.

In a corporate environment, the problem of discipline bias shows up when someone moves up from the ranks into an executive role. Search engine marketers tend to approach every marketing problem as an SEO problem. Social media geeks approach every problem from the perspective of “how can social tools address this?” Public relations folks tend to skew towards attaining earned mass media coverage. Which is fine, when you’re only responsible for that particular department. Once you’ve been promoted to a role tied to P&L, it’s important that you don’t disregard the other levers that can contribute to moving that balance sheet more deeply into the black.

Regardless of your current role, or your career plan, it’s important to have a comprehensive understanding of what tools and disciplines are best suited for which kinds of marketing problems. That isn’t to say you can’t try unexpected or unconventional approaches. But you should start with fundamental best practices and a healthy respect for what other disciplines bring to the table.

Otherwise, you might end up the frustrated guy or gal at the end of a hammer, in a situation that calls for a power drill.

The post Everything isn’t a nail. appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Blogging software has settled down quite a bit, but it can still be daunting to new bloggers. Choosing a blogging platform is one of the first decisions you’ll make (right after deciding whether you should be blogging at all). It’s a choice that can set you up for success or frustration. There are many things to consider when choosing where to blog. All of the major platforms have their particular strengths and weaknesses. Each blogger has his or her own priorities and needs. Finding the best match between them can take a lot of time and energy.

Even those who’ve been blogging for a while need to periodically review their tools to make sure they still make sense. If you started a blog years ago, you might be wondering if there’s a better new solution out there than your current platform. You might wonder if your platform is getting in the way of greater success with your blog. Or you might just be ready for a change. It can be a time consuming process, figuring out what’s available now, and then sorting out if it’s worth making a switch.

Because we’re all about providing helpful advice, we’ve just written a white paper, sponsored by OverBlog, which reviews eight of the most popular blogging platforms across the nine most important criteria for blogging success.

The white paper takes a “start with the end in mind” approach by first clarifying why you want to blog. It looks at the different types of blogs, ranging from personal and hobby blogs to corporate blogging. It reviews a number of free, commercial and “hybrid” blogging platforms according to their strengths and weaknesses in areas like SEO, social integration, customization, cost, and ease of use.

There’s no “perfect” blogging solution out there, but there probably is a best fit solution for you. This white paper is there to take some of the time and effort out of figuring that out.

Check it out at How To Choose a Blogging Platform. We hope you find it useful.

The post How to Choose a Blogging Platform appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

• How many web searchers see your content in search results?
• Which keywords and content get a lot of eyeballs, but relatively few clicks?
• What topics could you add to your editorial calendar to exploit strong search interest?

Today, we’re going to continue our exploration of data-supported content decisions. Most digital marketers have added Google Analytics to their business websites and blogs. However, the complementary Google Webmaster Tools is often overlooked. It’s quite simple to set up, and once you do, you have access to a useful set of pre-click data on how your content is performing in organic search.

Webmaster Tools integrates with Google Analytics, so you won’t be adding another dashboard to check. Once you connect the accounts, the new data will show up under the Traffic Sources > Search Engine Optimization report. Since digital marketers are always busy, if you’re manually checking your visibility in Google, this will save you time.

Setting Up Webmaster Tools

You’ll first have to sign up for Webmaster Tools at www.google.com/webmasters/tools/. Be sure to use a Google Account that has administrative access to your Google Analytics account. That will make it easier to connect them later.

Once you’re signed in, click the red “Add Site” button to verify that you control the site. Enter the URL of your business blog or website, and Google WMT will create a unique verification code for you.

This might be the point at which you’ll need a little developer help if you don’t have FTP access to the site, but it’s very little help. Download the HTML file (which is empty, it just needs to exist on your web server as proof that you control the site). Then you or a developer will need to upload the file to the root directory (the same folder as your home or index page) on your hosting server.

There are alternate means of verification, like adding the code as a meta tag to the header of your site, or having it look up your Google Analytics account, but I’ve never had good luck with these methods. Also, if your site is on WordPress and you change your theme, you might lose the verification code (and your data till you figure out that you’ve done it.) So if at all possible, stick with the recommended method. It’s recommended for a reason.

Once that’s done, return to Webmaster Tools and verify the site. Once it’s verified, you can connect it to your Analytics account.

Log in to the dashboard, click the Traffic Sources tab and then Search Engine Optimization > Queries. It will tell you that you need to enable Webmaster Tools. Click “Set up Webmaster Tools data sharing” and you should see your new WMT account as an option to connect at the bottom. Apply those changes, and you’re off to the races.

There’s a slight data lag with Webmaster Tools, so don’t be concerned if it takes a day or two for your new data to show up. Once it does, you can see how your content performs before a visitor clicks through to your site.

More Information > Better Content Decisions

You can quickly look at your site’s performance in terms of impressions, clicks, average position, and click through rate (CTR). The Queries report will tell you which keywords or topics are generating the most visibility and clicks. The Landing Page report look at the individual posts or pages on your site, and how they’re performing in search.

You can filter these reports on the fly using the search bar or the advanced filter tool, which is just above the list of top keywords (Query view) or content (Landing Page view). Filtering will let you drill down to see your average ranking, which is called “position” in this report, for specific content or keywords. A little digging around should show you topics and keywords that have strong search interest (lots of impressions).

You can create a running list of “opportunity rich” keywords and topics, and use that list to inform your editorial calendar. Additionally, you can investigate content that is getting high impressions, but low clicks or CTR. If the average position for that page or post is >10, it’s not showing up in the first page of search results.

These pages might be good candidates for spending a little extra time beefing up the SEO.  Small adjustments in the title, URL, or description might deliver more site visitors. (No, search engines don’t rank based on the description, but visitors do click based on it, and those clicks are what you’re after anyway.) Alternately, you might create new content on that topic, and link between the two posts, improving overall authority for your site on the subject.

Once you can take a peep behind the curtain at what is happening with your content when people are previewing it in search, you can make any adjustments you need to make sure you’re offering them what they want.

To a certain extent, content marketers will always be guessing at what their audience wants. But if data from Webmaster Tools can provide good clues, why not make it a more educated guess?

The post What Happens Before The Click appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Most marketers associate Google Analytics with periodic reporting of traffic. Those who are responsible for tracking revenue or media buys may look at conversions or traffic source performance. But the data in Google Analytics can help content strategists, community managers and others in a more editorial role, too.

Aside from looking at how many pageviews your last post got, content strategists can use Google Analytics’ data to guide content planning. However, since content strategists are usually grammar geeks instead of numbers nerds, we’re often too intimidated to give it a serious look. It’s actually not that hard to use Google Analytics to find great opportunities and ideas for your content strategy and editorial calendar.

Let’s look at how you can use the data from your back catalog of posts to plan a kickass editorial calendar for the future.

Join me in the Wayback Machine, Sherman.

Here’s our use case: You’re a new hire responsible for content strategy on a popular blog that has been churning out daily weekday content for five years. The blog is a lead generation tool for a business, so the categories align with your service set. Over the years, the content has had some hits and some misses. Now, you’re working on a content strategy for the next quarter.

You’ve decided to create an “onboarding” page to orient new visitors, giving them a feel for the site’s voice, perspective and “editorial beat.” You hope the links will also help bump up the SEO value of those posts for important keywords. The onboarding page will have links to the “Top Ten Can’t Miss Posts” for your website.

Since the blog has been around for a while, its purpose (and content) has evolved over the years. The original blogger didn’t start with a cohesive plan to build “cornerstone content”– or else the business model changed and the original cornerstone content may not be as relevant as it should be.

So how do you go through a backlog of five years of at least five posts a week to find the ten you need to set the tone for new visitors? (And for the rest of you grammar geeks, the math for that works out to 1,300 posts. Even if the use case was three posts a week for three years, that’s 468 posts. Way too many to read all of them individually.)

Sorting the Haystack into Smaller Haystacks

So as our intrepid hero(ine), you’ll log into analytics. If you don’t have analytics access — get it. Now. You need it. If you’ve looked at analytics at all, you’re used to just looking at the most recent month of data. For this exercise you’ll need to go to the Standard Reporting dashboard and change the date range. Set the beginning date as far back as you’ve got data, up to the current date.

Now, you’re going to move to the Content tab. Click the subsection called “Content Drilldown.” If your mission is to find the needles that are the top ten posts in a haystack of 1,300 you’re going to need to start sorting and filtering.  The Content Drilldown assumes your folders are categories. If you click the link for the Category folder, voila! You’ve gone from looking at the highest traffic posts to the highest traffic posts for that category.

Adjust the number of rows to something manageable, but probably larger than the default of 10 rows. You might make the break point the top 25 or 50 posts in terms of pageviews. You might decide the break the list at a particular number of pageviews, for example, anything that generated more than 100 or 500 or 1000, depending on the typical traffic to your site.

Download this report into a CSV file. Now you have an editable “short list” for the category.

And Then There Were Ten

Congratulations. You’ve gone from 1,300 potential choices to maybe a dozen or so for each category. Now, start culling the short list. Eliminate anything that’s not “evergreen” right off the bat. You can probably quickly get rid of several posts this way. Posts that focus on a hot news item of the day often get big short term boosts, but they aren’t likely the best representatives of your editorial focus. In fact, anything time-sensitive can go. Or anything that got an “unnatural” boost in traffic.

At this point, you’re scanning the headlines and getting a sense of what the topics of the posts are. Aside from pageviews, look at the Average Time on Page to see which posts kept the readers’ interest longest. Think like a book editor. If you were trying to turn the blog into a book, which posts headlines would be the most obvious chapters to include?

If any headline or URL piques your curiosity because you’re not sure what it’s about, pull it up and spot check it. Read through it quickly to see if it’s a hidden gem that might have gotten better traffic with a clearer or more compelling headline or stronger keywords in the URL. You might be able to refresh and optimize that post to get a second life out of it.

At this point, you’re now using your best analytical tool: your own brain. It may take a while of reading through the top contenders, but you’ll quickly get to a short list of 2-5 posts that represent the best evergreen content in that category. Then lather, rinse and repeat with the other categories.

You may want to weight certain categories by importance: for example, if you have one primary focus for the site, that category may have 5 of the top 10 posts, and the other categories will divvy up the remaining five.

Also, question the writers. What posts of theirs are they most proud of? Which ones got memorable feedback? Using analytics data doesn’t mean ignoring anecdotal information. It just gives you a manageable starting place for human analysis.

Back to the Future

At the end of this exercise, you’ll notice something interesting. You not only have a good overview of the most resonant posts from the past, you’ll have a much clearer and more specific sense of the site’s editorial focus, point-of-view and past coverage.You’ll have digested way more than you think about what kinds of posts work at driving readership, and which ones don’t.

Now you’re much better prepared to start planning content for the future. Our use case was a new hire, but often people who’ve been working with the same site for years get burned out. This exercise can help you get a little much-needed distance and perspective.

Aside from the winners, you’ll also have noticed the gaps.  The gaps are the key to your editorial calendar for the next period.

Certain categories or topics will have either been missed, or at least not had that “must-read, bookmark and revisit” contribution. Anytime you find yourself thinking “Wow, I would have expected to find a post on X,” write down those missing pieces. Look at the posts you rejected from your short list. What was wrong? Why was it a near miss instead of a hit?  Could you use the original idea as the basis for a stronger piece? Did you rule out a good, high traffic older post whose content is outdated? Could it be fixed with an update, refresh, or “2012 edition”?

You can use what you learned in this exercise to reinforce the foundation of the site’s content. That stronger foundation will give even more peripheral or experimental content a better chance of being seen.

Many marketers find Google Analytics intimidating, but it’s well worth digging into. Writers often resist the idea of letting numbers guide their words. I got into SEO originally because it was “copywriting with a scoreboard.” My competitive nature pushed me to learn analytics so I could see how well my writing performed against similar content. Once you start digging into the information, you’ll see the numbers start to tell a story. Understanding that story can help you create better content, seen by more people.

Who doesn’t like that?

The post Using Analytics to Plan Great Content appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

For show notes including links to everything discussed in this episode of the SoLoMo Show go here.

SoLoMo Show Links:

• SoLoMoShow.com
• Subscribe: iTunes, Email or YouTube
• Twitter: @SoLoMoShow, @CoryOBrien and @SecretSushi
• Email: SoLoMoShow@gmail.com

The post SoLoMo Show Ep 33: What’s New in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and How Social Affects Your Page Rank appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Ranking well, whether it’s in a search engine or in Facebook’s mysterious Edgerank algorithm, is critical to the success of many brand’s online activities. The better you rank, the more you’re seen. The more you’re seen, the more clicks, conversions and so on. It’s not the only way you can be successful online, but it is probably the most impactful determinant of online success.

For the last decade or so, many an expert has emerged to teach us how to rank well in search engines. Respected thought leaders like Danny Sullivan, Rand Fishkin and the like have built businesses and careers out of it.

We’re probably entering a time in the maturation of digital marketing when new experts will emerge to help you figure out the same ranking problem for Facebook. Folks like Jeff Widman and Dennis Yu are already making names for themselves in the “figuring out Facebook” realm. And we’re all better marketers for paying attention to them.

And while the advice of the above and many others in how to rank well on search engines and on Facebook is mostly sound, trusted advice, there’s one glaring gap in all this rank rancor. For you really and truly only need to do one thing to rank well on either platform:

Write amazing content

If you write amazing content, people will link to you. If you write amazing content, people will share it. If you write amazing content, people will comment on it. If you write amazing content, people will visit it.

Yes, you need to know all that other stuff, too. But the hard part of all this is that writing amazing content is not easy. Everything you write won’t be amazing. Everything you write won’t get attention … or links … or traffic. So having some technical tricks up your sleeve can help on those days when the content isn’t amazing, or the world is busy paying attention to something else.

But let’s not get lost in the busy-ness of SEO and Edgerank too much. Spend half the time you’ve spent studying ways to game the system and just produce content that games it for you.

The post The Ultimate Guide To Ranking Well appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

And nothing will get eyes to glaze over more effectively than “yet another list post.”

“Top 10 lists are a tool of the Devil.”

“They’re usually bite-size chunks of nonsense.”

“List posts are now a big red warning for me that I’m being suckered.”

Everyone must hate list posts. Or so the echo chamber would have you think.

But deep beneath the eye-rolling and exaggerated sighs is a tender love for list posts that most people won’t admit they have (even though they likely read, learned from and loved a list post in the last 30 days).

Here’s why people secretly love list posts:

Bullet points run the world.

Everybody reports to somebody – whether it’s a boss, a client, or a board. Those reports usually include a PowerPoint, a word document or at least a succinct email with a series of arguments. And the common element in all of these are listed items.

People need to summarize complex information into pithy soundbite-ish content that the person they report to can easily consume. Bullet points do this. Writing a list post for your audience pre-creates these bullet points and saves them the step of formatting a word document (physically or metaphorically).

People actually scan. Even the ones who say they don’t.

Sure, tablets are causing a rebirth of reading long-form content on the web. But for the most part, people are quickly scanning content to see if they should invest their next, precious 5 minutes.

List posts allow a reader to quickly run their eyes down a page, see what the crux of the message is, and see if they’d like to invest in the context.

List posts provide a clear benefit.

Just like terrible infographics have given rise to the anti-infographic movement, terrible list posts give list posts a bad name.

The ones that don’t deliver, or the ones that have a cop-out last item (i.e. “Have fun!” or “Add your own tip!”) have made a mockery of the list industry.

But the ones that have a list of items with each item carrying it’s own weight provide the reader a benefit in the headline, and deliver in the post.

People don’t always need “a story”

It’s true that great content tells a story, but sometimes you just need a primer – or a series of facts or a collection of resources – to help solve a problem.

The art of communication is perfected when one person relates to another person a bit of information. Lists do that in an incredibly efficient way. Instead of worrying that you’re devaluing the written word by breaking your content into digestable chunks of information, focus on serving your reader.

Content, done right, can be customer service. And lists are all about serving your reader. Need proof?

Try Googling some things in your industry. I’ll bet a list post is ranked competitively.

 For example:

And lists tend to do pretty well in social media.

For instance, here’s the trending topics box from Twitter at the time this post was being written:

And here are some sample posts I found while quickly scrolling through my Facebook feed a few minutes later:

(Note: These examples were selected sort of at random by scrolling through my news feed. They aren’t necessarily the best examples, but they are indicative of the overall trend of acceptance.)

Some of the best-performing posts on the dozens of sites I’ve worked on over the years have been lists. Like this one (below), which is viewed thousands of times a month, has a top 3 search ranking for “online video stats” and enjoys a second wind on social media fairly regularly.

101 Online Video Stats to Make Your Eyes Glaze Over

Not glamorous, not a tough post to write, and working hard every single day for a website.

Not every post needs to be a list – and a healthy balance of content types is actually key to a well-balanced content program – but lists are a worthy arrow in the quiver that we shouldn’t be ashamed to let fly.   Besides, people (not so) secretly love them.

Related articles

• Make Your Content Pop with These 5 Bullet Point Basics(contentmarketinginstitute.com)

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• The Foolproof Formula for Writing a Solid Blog Post [Template](hubspot.com)

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• **How to Write Compelling Online Content with Wide Appeal(blazingminds.co.uk)

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• You’ll Regret Reading This Lousy Blog Post(radian6.com)

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The post In Defense of Lists: Why People (Secretly) Love List Posts appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

Today’s silos include three types of optimization experts.

1. Search

SEO experts dominate the search bar implementing a keen knowledge of algorithyms and generating content, specifically important keywords and links.

2. Social

Social experts top the social streams on Twitter, Facebook and other social platforms by implementing expertise like Edgerank and more through sharing likes, photos and more.

3. Mobile

Mobile experts provide not only mobile sites, but develop apps and other technologies needed for the 1.2 billion mobile users.

As online usage continues to grow, people are using search, social and mobile more now than ever, but online brands won’t benefit from the online optimization techniques from these silos of experts. Successful brands require a holistic approach to optimization.

Solution: Optimization Beyond the Silos

Lee Odden understands today’s evolution towards a global need to optimize. No matter what we do, we all seek to optimize, to make better, perfect and continue to improve. Lee, author of Optimize: How to Attract and Engage More Customers by Integrating SEO, Social Media, and Content Marketing clearly articulates a new approach for modern marketing optimization need as we implement strategies that successfully “connect customers with brands along the full sales cycle of the customer journey.” The ultimate customer journey begins with an awareness and interest and leads to consideration to purchase, then to sales, retention and advocacy.

By now, you have realized that you need to have a web site, a site that can be found online. You also understand how your customers need to have proper capabilities to share and engage with your online brand. And, with mobile commerce expected to reach one in eight U.S. consumers by 2015, the need to be optimized for mobile usage is critical.

Before you run to your nearest Smartphone to ask Siri for help to optimize your online brand holistically, here are three tips on how to take the first steps in changing the out-dated silo approach into true optimization for today’s digital era.

Optimization: Strategy Over Tactics

C-Level executives understand the importance of being found online. With the 12 billion Google searches per month that lead to 89% of purchasers to buy, there is no doubt that the science behind search is a necessary component to B2B and B2C business growth. Understanding the algorithms is critical, but combine the social sharing and mobile interactions that drive online behaviors and move customers to act beyond the clicks, and suddenly there is a concoction of customer touch points that must be considered.

Today’s marketing strategy requires an understanding of the online user behavior and how it relates to the overall customer activity and multiple touch points. Online optimization must begin with the marketers identifying and executing appropriate activities based on a customer lifecycle model that includes the full range of the customer touch points:

Awareness > Knowledge > Consideration > Selection > Satisfaction > Advocacy > Loyalty.

Remember, search optimization doesn’t end on the first page of Google. Considering the strategy over the tactics is the key to ultimate optimization that digital marketers need to be searching for and implementing.

Optimization: Longevity Over Linkbait

Online optimization has evolved from measuring just the click and traffic results. Once the full lifecycle of customer behavior is understood, the value of online engagement is found in the longterm relationship.

While many online experts are using linkbait strategies that salivate for that one click, Lee describes this approach as “a one-night stand” of online optimization. This sort of online jack-in-the-box traffic management does not build trust and conversion that really meets the needs of anyone except the linkbait SEO developer. An accumulative collection of results that impact the end results has more of an impact on the overall success and growth.

Ask yourself, what are the real results our online brand is seeking? Is it in the one-time click, or a long term relationship? Seek and reward the results from your online optimization experts accordingly.

Optimization: Quality Over Quantity

Jason Falls, founder of Social Media Explorer and co-author of No BS Social Media agrees that true online opimization for search, social or mobile technologies cannot be found be creating more content alone, “With eight trillion text messages sent in 2011, your online message must be intentional, it must “wow” the customers you are seeking to reach and keep.”

Although a press announcement published on your website, or placed on a free newswire service may be helpful to boost SEO results, it lacks the social luster as users won’t likely recommend a company’s press release to their friends on Facebook. A press announcement is informational and can help with search, but limits the spreadability factor. To take advantage of the social sharing and mobile viewing that increases exposure, today’s online optimizer must be producing content that is more infotaining in nature and publishing the social sound bytes through a variety of social and mobile technologies.

Publishing infotainment in addition to press announcements is an example of how to mix the search with social and mobile to gain the highest potential of online optimization. This is one example of how online brands can optimize their online optimizing for optimal success.

Go Optimize

As brands continue to grow online, today’s leading digital marketers will look beyond the silos of search, social and mobile for solutions that will meet the user’s needs and behaviors of the full sales cycle. The online leaders will be successfully implementing holistic optimization techniques, all others will be left behind. Will you be optimized for this digital era? 

Will the real optimizers who have stepped out of the silo, please share one area of optimizing you are implementing for the online brand you represent?

Have You Registered For Explore Minneapolis?

Don’t miss two days of intensive learning with some of the leading thinkers and practitioners in the digital marketing and social media marketing space. Join SME’s Jason Falls and Nichole Kelly, The Now Revolution co-author Jay Baer, Edison Research’s Tom Webster, Ad Contrarian Bob Hoffman, Scott Gulbransen, Kevin Hunt, Kipp Bodnar and more at one of the leading digital and social media marketing events of 2012, August 16-17 in Minneapolis, Minn. DON’T WAIT TO REGISTER! Seats are filling fast! Reserve yours today!

The post Search. Social. Mobile. Optimized! appeared first on Social Media Explorer.

What if Social Media ROI was really simple, but we let a bunch of excuses get in our way of measuring it? Unfortunately, I think our judgment has been a little clouded because we’ve seen social media experts give one reason or another as to why we can’t measure social media ROI. To be successful we have to separate our ability to measure ROI from our personal views on whether or not we should measure social media ROI. So let’s take a look at some of the excuses that are being used to convince us that we can’t or shouldn’t measure social media ROI and remove our preconceived notions to determine how we can get the metrics we need.

Excuse #1: Social Media Lacks a Standard Framework for Measurement

Surveys have shown that marketers believe they lack a standard social media ROI metric. We’ve decided that social media is new and different than every other marketing channel and therefore we have to measure it differently. We are struggling trying to show the ROI of every conversation or think the experts who tout social media measurement have a secret formula. We’ve created way too much work for ourselves here.

All companies already have a standard framework for measuring business success using three core metrics: sales (units), revenue, and cost. We’ve figured out how to correlate almost every other marketing channel into its impact on these three metrics, but are trying to keep social media separate. We don’t need a standard framework for measuring social media; instead we need to show how social media impacts the standard framework for measuring business success: sales, revenue and cost.

Excuse #2: We Don’t Measure the ROI of (insert something)

I’ve seen this argument all over the place. We don’t measure the ROI of email, our phones, even our pants so why should we have to measure the ROI of social media? The argument is that measuring social media ROI is hypocritical because we aren’t measuring the ROI of other types of business tools, platforms, or technologies. While we may not measure the ROI of email or our phones, in actuality, companies are measuring the ROI of other marketing channels like TV/Radio advertising, public relations, online advertising, and search engine optimization (SEO) so why wouldn’t we use similar metrics to measure the ROI of social media?

The truth is we can actually leverage the metrics we use in these marketing channels to demonstrate the value of social media while we are collecting the data points to ultimately calculate an apples-to-apples ROI comparison.

All of the metrics can be effectively collected and calculated for social media and compared across marketing channels to see where social media is delivering value.

Excuse #3: We need to Redefine ROI for Social Media

There have been some really intriguing posts written about trying to create new metrics for social media like Return on Influence and Return on Engagement that more accurately demonstrate where social media is delivering. I have a huge amount of respect for marketers who are trying to find ways to measure social media in an innovative way. The challenge is when we create “new” metrics we have to spend a lot of time and energy educating our management teams on what these metrics are, how they correlate to existing metrics and ultimately what they mean for the bottom line. Therefore, I recommend that you focus on using metrics that have history in the organization first.

If you are spending your time trying to train an executive on what a “follower,” “fan,”  or “retweet” is you could be wasting valuable time that could be focused on conversations about how to scale and grow the results you are seeing from social media. Compare this conversation to other marketing channels. Can you imagine trying to explain the intricacies of trying to increase search engine rankings by unraveling the pieces we think impact the Google algorithm to your management team? You would definitely see a lot of faces that look like a deer in the headlights, right? If you can transform your dialogue with social media to how it impacts the bottom line you will be far more successful in getting new projects and investments approved.

Excuse #4: Tools Don’t Exist to Measure Social Media ROI

There is a lot of confusion between measurement tools and monitoring tools in the social media space. This is further confused as monitoring tools are saying they measure social media ROI in their marketing materials. I’m a huge fan of monitoring tools and use them for clients. However, I haven’t seen one that provides end-to-end measurement. Why? Because social media is only one marketing channel, but its impact has to be measured across other marketing platforms. There are four pieces that need to be connected to measure the full impact of social media: the social media channel, the company’s website, the email platform, and the customer relationship management (CRM) system.

Sound impossible? Instead of looking for the answer in a social media tool, look at the tools you already have. What do you use to measure web analytics, online advertising campaigns, your email campaigns and revenue? Then ask how you can incorporate social media into the data these tools provide. This is my social media measurement recommendation for under $20 a month. It’s not perfect, but it gets you really close and is the best value I can find on the market.

Excuse #5: ROI Doesn’t Demonstrate the True Value of Social Media

Again, there is a difference between the ability to measure social media ROI and deciding whether or not it demonstrates the value of social media. I would agree that the financial metric of ROI may not tell the full story, however it is a metric that management teams live, eat and breathe. While it may not show the whole story, it certainly can tell a compelling one.

Keep in mind that you can’t measure social media ROI unless you can show the impact on revenue. Connecting to the CRM system is the missing link that is required for true ROI calculations. Companies who collect revenue through an e-commerce system will find it easier to get to revenue than other companies, however it isn’t impossible and I’ve done it with as few as 8 development hours. However, while you are finding a way to connect to revenue focus on costs. Social media typically costs much less than other types of marketing efforts and cost metrics will show a positive impact to the bottom line, while you build the connections you need to demonstrate traditional ROI.

What are your thoughts on social media ROI? Do you find yourself getting in your own way to measuring? What other excuses have you seen marketers use to avoid ROI? Please leave a comment and let’s start a healthy debate on social media ROI.

Have You Registered For Explore Dallas-Fort Worth?

Don’t miss a day of intensive learning with some of the leading thinkers and practitioners in the digital marketing and social media marketing space. (Including me!) AT&T’s Chris Baccus, Radio Shack’s Adrian Parker, Copyblogger’s Brian Clark, Edison Research’s Tom Webster, Edelman Digital’s Zena Weist and more headline one of the leading digital and social media marketing events of 2012, next Friday, February 17 in Dallas, Texas! DON’T WAIT TO REGISTER! Seats are filling fast! Reserve yours today!

Related Content:

• No Fluff Social Media Measurement: Social Media Measurement Boot Camp
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• How to Integrate HootSuite with Google Analytics Campaign Reporting
• 8 Social Media Metrics You Should be Measuring

The post Get Out of Your Own Way: 5 Excuses Marketers Use to Avoid Social Media ROI appeared first on Social Media Explorer.