Personally, public speaking scares the crap out of me. People staring at me for almost an hour, trying to not stutter or talk too fast, and striving to meet the expectations of a session description would turn me red and shaky for hours.
Apparently, none of the MN Search Summit speakers are subject to those nerves (or if they are, they hid it with the skill of a magician).
Since early this morning our team has been bustling around the University of St. Thomas listening to speakers from brands like TopRank Marketing clients LinkedIn and Dell as well as Moz, Distilled and several others. Each session was full of advice, tips, tools, and laughs—no shaking or red faces.
Our team ended the day feeling empowered to take our digital marketing to the next level; eager to get back to client work on Monday as you can see from this team selfie!
Below are some of the key takeaways from the afternoon speakers that we just couldn’t wait to share:
Rand Fishkin’s @randfish – Wizard of Moz
“Why Content Marketing Fails”
- If you forget about the community behind your content, good luck getting shares, traffic, and viral status! People share what’s close to their hearts, ignites passion, and/or lands within their personal interests. Your content, done properly, can reveal the community behind it. And that is what will buoy it to the top. –Brooke Furry
- “Good enough” content often performs well when a community is behind it. If you know your community and target them in your content, you will receive more likes, shares, etc. –Kate Heithoff
- Setting the bar for good content should be settled at “good enough.” Focusing content on an audience will slowly build a community. That community will then determine on their own which of the “good enough” posts, which could be 1 in 1,000, are worth going viral. – Andy Thomson
- Before you create content, ask the question “Who Will Share and Amplify This and Why?” Even great content marketing efforts fail if there is no community that is interested in and invested in sharing the content. –Alexis Hall
Jason Miller’s @JasonMillerCA – Senior Manager, Content Marketing at LinkedIn (TopRank Client)
“Welcome to the Funnel”
- “Take your content and treat it like leftover turkey. Slice and dice it and use it in as many ways possible.” Repurpose it! – Ryan Rutz
- If you’re not promoting your “Good content,” you’re missing the boat!!! The visual is the new headline!!!!! – Michael Bak
- You need to pay to promote your own “good content.” If you do not set aside money to do so in your marketing plan, your content will not do as well. Setting aside a budget to promote your content on social media channels can help it gain more visibility and reach a larger audience. – Kate Heithoff
- Think of your content as “Leftover turkey” . . . it can stretch for days into almost anything! – Michael Bak
- Encompassing the content lifecycle, Jason illustrated the process of creating a focused piece of content which, once it shows merit, can be sliced and diced like a turkey. Those pieces of turkey should be utilized over and over until no one wants the turkey anymore. – Andy Thomson
Adria Saracino’s @adriasaracino – Head of Content Strategy at Distilled
“How to Match Your Marketing Efforts with Customer Emotions”
- People are not robots. Don’t discount the role of emotions in content consumption and purchases. Consider where your prospects sit on the “consumption matrix” – do they love or hate the process? Is it a low or high investment? Is there potential for analysis paralysis somewhere along the way? Be a sensitive marketer. Appeal to emotions, happy or sad, because content that summons emotion performs better. – Brooke Furry
- People share because they want to feel involved, or they want to educate others, nourish the bonds they share with others, support a cause, or define oneself. How does your content help them do that? – Eliza Steely
- Some of the questions you have to ask throughout your efforts aren’t customer focused—they’re you or brand focused: what do you stand for? What problem are you trying to solve? What defines success? Why do you go to work each day? – Eliza Steely
- We feel before we think, so make content that triggers emotions – Kate Heithoff
Connie Bensen’s @cbensen – Global Social & Content Strategist at Dell (TopRank Client)
“Creating a Culture for Social Marketing”
- A social business integrates social into the workday. To do this, a company must provide the team with the resources, training and certification to do so. Connie Bensen describes the Dell Playbook for employee social participation to include not just brand guidelines, but also organic keywords, content optimization guidelines and value proposition messaging. This resource gives employees an opportunity to integrate social into their workday in a way that is very beneficial to the business. – Alexis Hall
- Companies should integrate social media into the workday and create brand advocates for yourself – Michael Bak
- We need real-time marketing! With intelligent technology, solid strategy, and bold marketers, maybe we can improve the rate of successful content. – Andy Thomson
- In order to embed social into the fabric of your company, encourage collaboration among your team. Connie Bensen describes creating a core weekly team to drive change at Dell. She also recommends using early adopters to share best practices. – Alexis Hall
Today was an incredible inaugural Minnesota Search Summit. The speakers were dynamic and insightful, the food was nice and summery (brats and burgers are wonderful even if the sun isn’t out) and the crowd was the expected Minnesota-nice.
A HUGE thank you to all of the volunteers, sponsors, and MN Search Board Members that put on the event. It was amazing, and you should be proud!
We definitely can’t wait to come back next year!
