Snappy title eh? Here are a few others I was considering: “Fall Into Search & Social Media Smarts at SES Chicago”, “Leaf the Competition Behind at SES Chicago”, “No Cold Ideas at SES Chicago”, “Remember December SES Chicago?”. You get the idea. As a long time attendee, speaker and media sponsor, here’s the good news and more good news about the upcoming Midwest Search and Social Media Marketing conference held in the windy city.
First, the lineup of keynotes is pretty impressive and includes 3 TopRank Online Marketing Blog interview alumni:
Avinash Kaushik – Co-Founder of Market Motive Inc and the Analytics Evangelist for Google talked to us about Storytelling & Web Analytics. At SES Chicago Avinash will be giving an opening keynote presentation that promises to help attendees rethink their online marketing, better present analyses, and enthuse their peers.
Jeffrey Hayzlett – Former CMO at Kodak and author of “The Mirror Test: Is Your Business Really Breathing?” discussed Social Media, ROI and being a CMO Cowboy. Jeff’s SES Chicago keynote will share his “Buzz is not sales!” perspective and he’ll share insight into what you should know before jumping off on any new initiative or project. Jeff “tells it like it is” so be ready for a direct, colorful and entertaining presentation.
Maile Ohye – Developer Programs Tech Lead at Google working extensively with Google Webmaster Central, Webmaster Central Blog and recently with Google TV, shared her thoughts on Webmaster Central, unusual SEO problems and her perspective on SEO and Social Media. At SES Chicago, we’re looking forward to hearing Maile talk about Google’s philosophy on real time search – buzz and social media sites, as well as the latest on website performance.
Second, the conference itself is sandwiched (Oct 18 and Oct 22) between all-day training opportunities for those that would like a 7 course meal of content as well as the tasty smörgåsbord of sessions available from 5 tracks that cover everything from basic to advanced in SEO, PPC, Social Media and Analytics.
Third, on Wednesday, Oct 20th at 3:45pm, I’ll be giving a solo presentation on Content Marketing Optimization that serves as a perfect intersection between the full / half day training sessions and the 15 minute presentations during the main conference. This means about 45-50 minutes for me to provide a quick overview and then drill down deep into models for content marketing that provide the perfect intersection of SEO and Social Media. Content is the glue that brings search and social together making the combination an extremely powerful marketing mix. We’ve proven this out with our own marketing at TopRank Online Marketing as well as for our B2B and B2C clients.
I’ll be sharing practical insights, examples and tips on: setting goals, developing buyer personas, search and social keyword research, digital asset optimization, editorial planning, content marketing and SEO workflow, social network and offsite content development, socializing content, promotion of content and link building then things will wind up with social media and SEO analytics. There will be time for Q & A as well.
Here’s the official description:
Content Marketing Optimization:
The core of any search or social media marketing program centers on content. Digital assets, rich media, web pages, MS Office and PDF docs as well as content created and shared by consumers all offer opportunities for optimization. If it can be searched, it can be optimized!
Online marketing is increasingly competitive and brand marketers world-wide are seeking real advantages that will improve the efficiency and impact of their Social Media and SEO efforts. This session provides unique insight into content based optimization strategies and processes as well as tactics for sourcing, creation and promotion of optimized content on the social web.
No more snow for SES Chicago
Last but not least, SES Chicago is scheduled for Oct 19-21, NOT December! Being from Minnesota and a past resident of Alaksa, cold weather isn’t a problem for me, but the thousands of attendees that come from other parts of the country now get the opportunity to experience the great city of Chicago in the Fall instead of the bone chilling and windy winter. This affects the experience at the conference, especially where many of the sessions are held. I need only to remind longtime SES Chicago attendees of what a hit the green Omniture scarves were one year, because it was one of the few ways to stay warm.
I guess another title option for this blog post might have been, Four Great Reasons to Attend SES Chicago, but I’m sure you get the message without me having to say say. Oops, I just did. 🙂
