The Thanksgiving Recipe for Digital Marketing Success #semrushchat

Liza Perstneva The Thanksgiving Recipe for Digital Marketing Success #semrushchat Liza Perstneva 57 10 2 4 57 10 2 4

Our recent SEMrush Chat fell on Thanksgiving Eve. Although Thanksgiving is a national holiday in the United States and Canada, your competitors probably won’t rest. Therefore, you need to always be prepared for action.

This time our chat participants helped us create the Thanksgiving recipe for digital marketing success. To know how to face all the challenges and take advantage of all the opportunities that the digital marketing world provides, check out our chat recap!

Q1. Without the right ingredients, stuffing doesn’t taste right. Which ingredients make content successful?

Regardless of the reason why you need content, and whether it’s for your business or your personal blog, you need to do it right. Our chat participants mentioned five essential ingredients for content marketing success.

Let’s check them out.

1. A clear goal and keyword research

First of all, your content needs to have a clear purpose. It’s important to understand why you’re creating it and who will read it. The better you understand your goal and know your target audience, the better your content will meet the needs of your target audience.

Another important ingredient that Martin Kelly mentioned is keyword research. It’s not always about getting as many visitors to your website as possible, but about getting the right visitors. Researching your market’s keyword demand is crucial for content marketing success. You can not only figure out which terms and phrases you should optimize your content for, but also learn more about your potential customers.

A1) The goal of the page, keyword research & conversion context are the essential ingredients to the content mix #semrushchat

— Martin Kelly (@MartinKSEO) November 23, 2016

2. Trust-building components

Another important ingredient is trust-building components. It’s important that users believe you. Otherwise, all your content marketing efforts will be pointless. To build trust with your readers, always offer accurate information and make sure that the sources you link to are trusted and authoritative. “Build trust and authority while being informative,” advised Steve Seeley ‏@SteveSeeley.

A1: Trust-building components. If the user doesn't believe you, all efforts will be almost pointless. #semrushchat

— Joe Martinez (@MilwaukeePPC) November 23, 2016

3. Authenticity and an original approach

If you create original content, search engines will help your website get more exposure. You must avoid copying other people’s content.

But original content means originality. Your ideas should be original, fresh and authentic. If you repurpose the same ideas or posts over and over again, your content won’t provide any value and no one will want to link to it

A1: Authenticity, original approach and, of course, SEO! Non-optimised content won't be visible enough as good as it is #semrushchat

— Meri Chobanyan (@ChobanyanMeri) November 23, 2016

4. Quality and relevance

I bet you have already read and heard multiple times that your content should be high-quality. This includes being the appropriate length, offering the necessary level of expertise, the value of your content, proper grammar and spelling. But your content should also be relevant to your niche and your target audience. “Stay focused on one topic,” Beth Kahlich ‏@BethKahlich recommended.

A1: Content needs to fulfil both your business needs and your audience's needs. Quality + relevance are at the top! #semrushchat

— Louise Dickens (@_LouiseDickens) November 23, 2016

5. Speed, readability, and focus on the answer the user is looking for

Arnout Hellemans also mentioned several important ingredients for content marketing success, like speed and readability. Page speed matters. Make sure that your webpage loads fast. Otherwise, your readers will leave it as soon as they can. Consider the readability of your content. Good readability helps you improve communication with your audience.

Finally, you need to provide the answers that your users are looking for. People want answers so they can gain knowledge. What’s more, they don’t just want answers, they want answers fast. Give them what they need and make your content easy to scan so your users can quickly see the most important bits of your page.

A1 Ingedients, Speed, Trust signs, readability, informative focus on the answer the user is looking for (oh and onpage SEO) #semrushchat

— Arnout Hellemans (@hellemans) November 23, 2016

Let’s sum up!

Make sure your content is original, useful, informative, actionable and engaging enough, and provides answers your readers are searching for.

Q2. Mashed potatoes are essential to your meal. What do you feel is the most important “success” factor in an SEO campaign?

Search engine optimization may seem like rocket science, especially to those who are new to the game, but it’s not! Below you’ll find a list of factors to consider for a successful SEO campaign.

• Defining your strategy and goals

First of all, you need to build a solid strategy and set clear goals for your SEO campaign. Sporadically changing things will get you nowhere. “Make sure you go in with a defined goal; it will shape everything you do!” tweeted Traffic Jam Media ‏@trafficjammedia. Without a well-defined strategy and goals, your actions will look as if you’re groping in the dark.

A2: At a very basic level, u need a strategy. Nothing is more wasteful than sporadically changing things & crossing fingers #semrushchat

— Rachel Howe (@R8chel_Marie) November 23, 2016

• Understanding your audience’s needs

The more you know your audience and their needs, the more powerful your digital marketing efforts will be. It’s important to identify your users’ specific characteristics, including their demographics, location, and buying behavior.

To learn more about your audience, you can conduct market research, create a survey and research social networks. The Web Themes Plus team pointed out that your copy should match users’ intent. This will help you make sure that when users see your webpage, they will instantly understand that it is likely to help them.

A2: Understanding your audience's needs + matching your copy to fit intent. Relevance, clarity + quality is key! #semrushchat https://t.co/Sx8ZutTu70

— Web Themes Plus (@webthemesplus) November 23, 2016

• Personal invitations for your customers

Bill Slawski dug deeper and made a great point, saying that you need to understand where your ideal customers hang out and communicate on the Web. When you learn where, you can meet them there and invite them to visit your webpages.

A2 Learn & understand where your ideal audience likes to talk and gather on the Web; meet them & invite them to your pages. #semrushchat

— Bill Slawski (@bill_slawski) November 23, 2016

• Technical aspects of your website

Unfortunately, great content and a large number of backlinks are not enough for SEO success. The technical aspects of your website are no less important than other aspects. You need to make sure that search engines can properly crawl your website. Google Search Console allows webmasters to check their site’s indexing status and optimize their site’s visibility. In fact, this is how Google communicates with webmasters.

A2 the most important in a SEO campaign is the technical aspect in your site. Is so important how the bots can crawl your site #semrushchat

— Obed M. (@MrClics) November 23, 2016

• Education

Shawn Harding said that we work in a fast-changing environment, which means that you have to keep learning. Shawn recommended knowing where Google is headed in advance and planning your SEO strategy accordingly. He also suggested sharing the information you have with other teams. For example, copywriters may not think from an SEO perspective, but by working together, an SEO specialist and a copywriter can achieve better results. Communication is very important.

A2: Education. This is a fast-moving environment we work in. Know where Google is headed and plan accordingly! #semrushchat

— Shawn Harding (@shawnbandv) November 23, 2016

• Exceeding your customers’ expectations

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. This means that different businesses need different SEO campaigns. Patrick Stox believes that it’s important to exceed your clients’ expectations. Try to go the extra mile. Think about the best customer service experience you’ve ever had. Provide your clients with instant solutions to their problems.

A2: Not all campaigns are the same. In the end you just want to exceed the client's expectations. It's not always about the $$$ #semrushchat

— Patrick Stox (@patrickstox) November 23, 2016

Build a solid strategy for your SEO campaign and don’t forget about the technical aspects of your website. Understand your users, their needs, and where they spend their time online, and try to exceed their expectations. And always continue learning about new things that are happening in the industry.

Take into consideration these aspects when developing your next SEO campaign.

Q3. Green beans are bland on their own, but when made right, you want to share them! What makes a social media post shareable?

If you’re not regularly sharing social media posts that resonate with your audience, it means you’re missing out on a great opportunity for more user engagement. Although it’s difficult to predict whether or not your content will go viral, you can still increase the shareability of your posts.

Our chat guests shared five tips that will help you do that.

• Deliver the right message to the right audience

What’s good for LinkedIn might be inappropriate for Pinterest, Twitter, or other social media platforms. Don’t try to post on every possible platform, especially if you’re a newcomer to social media marketing. You can start with just one or two of them. First, you need to familiarize yourself with the major social media platforms your target audience uses and then focus on the platforms where you have the highest chance of engaging with them.

a3.Right message.Right channel. Right audience. One size does not fit all. What's good for Linkedin likely not so for Pinterest #semrushchat https://t.co/Z8K6whaKl4

— Marianne Sweeny (@msweeny) November 23, 2016

• Make your posts useful

We’ve already mentioned that useful content is crucial for effective digital marketing activities. The same goes for social media. People share useful posts. These can be checklists, infographics with statistics or data, behind-the-scenes photos of your product or a link to a case study to name just a few options. By consistently posting useful content, you can establish yourself as an expert in your industry.

Patrick McKeown suggested making your social media posts useful in every possible way. If your users want to learn, educate them. If they’re looking for entertainment, try to entertain them with your content. Make your content beneficial to your specific audience.

A3. Make it useful in one way or another. Fun, educational, entertaining or beneficial in some way. Or why bother? #semrushchat

— Patrick McKeown (@pjmckeown) November 23, 2016

• Grab users’ attention and add value

We live in an environment overloaded with information. There’s too much content on the Web, and brands have to fight for users’ attention. Don’t forget to create a catchy headline that’ll people’s attention. If you’re going to post your content multiple times, it’s worth creating more than just one title and even doing A/B testing to see which variant is more effective.

Another important element of a successful social media post is an eye-catching image. Make it creative and original, and choose the right size for your image. ‏”Compelling titles, images and "engageability" – keep a finger on your audience’s pulse, reach out and touch your target market,” advised Martin Kelly.

Finally, make sure your post provides value.

A3: Shareable social media posts need to add value, grab attention, and contain an eye-catching image! #semrushchat

— Express Writers (@ExpWriters) November 23, 2016

• Appeal to people’s emotions

The Traffic Jam Media team agreed that it’s important to add value to social media posts and mentioned another effective technique – appealing to your users’ emotions. Try to create an emotional connection with your audience using valuable content that answers their questions and solves their problems.

A3: Like all content, it needs to add value by being helpful, entertaining, etc. Also, try to appeal to people's emotions! #semrushchat

— Traffic Jam Media (@trafficjammedia) November 23, 2016

• Use humor

Laughter is a universal language. Using humor in your content can significantly increase the shareability of your posts. But only if you have a really good sense of humor and your jokes don’t go too far. “[Create] personable, humorous, creative and inspiring posts that present the opportunity for positive commenting/conversation,” tweeted Corey ‏@CoreyW85.

A3 Useful, original and surprising content is more shareable. If you can add humor is better #semrushchat

— Obed M. (@MrClics) November 23, 2016

You can get inspiration and fresh ideas from the post “Be Funny: The Amazing Power of Humor in Social Media Marketing.”

A3: #semrushchat I often find humor and things that make people smile + handy tips and facts share well. Also @hitRECordJoe . pic.twitter.com/YiYylLjYok

— Colt SebastianTaylor (@ColtSTaylor) November 23, 2016

I would like to sum up this discussion with Debi Norton’s @BRAVOMedia1 tweet: “An awesome message that resonates with the audience combined with a beautiful image that reinforces the message.”

Got any other killer ideas for social media content? Share them in the comments below! We would love to hear your thoughts.

Q4. Without the turkey, there is no Thanksgiving dinner. However, why, as some say, is social media taking over e-marketing?

As a digital marketer, you have probably already asked yourself which marketing channel is most worth your efforts. Is it email marketing or social media marketing? Both of them have their strengths and weaknesses.

Some people think that social media is taking over email marketing. We asked our chat guests why this is happening.

Express Writers believe that social media provides brands with an easy, powerful way to connect with their audience.

Obed M. suggested several reasons for this. Social platforms are better for segmenting audiences. And with the right segmentation, you can reach out to the right users and make your budgeting process more effective. Also, social media advertising has come a long way in quite a short period of time. Its advanced targeting opportunities provide a level of personalization. What’s more, social media helps your content gain more exposure.

A4 b) Also, social media can give you the exposure that you need with good content and interactions with your audiences #semrushchat

— Obed M. (@MrClics) November 23, 2016

We live in the era of mobile devices and instant gratification, especially when it comes to millennial consumers. They’re busy and looking for a unique experience. They don’t want to know what you sell, they want to know what’s in it for them. Joe Martinez believes that social media makes it easier to satisfy the needs of modern society.

A4 b) Also, social media can give you the exposure that you need with good content and interactions with your audiences #semrushchat

— Obed M. (@MrClics) November 23, 2016

Shawn Harding said that it’s all about instant feedback. You can quickly figure out whether or not your activities resonate with your audience on social media.

A4: Instant feedback. You'll know very quickly if things are resonating with your audience on social. #semrushchat

— Shawn Harding (@shawnbandv) November 23, 2016

Social media enables brands to stay in touch with their clients on a daily basis. It helps you keep the conversation with your audience alive. What’s more, word of mouth is one of the most valuable forms of marketing. Some people say that SMM is digital word-of-mouth marketing. “Trust. I trust my social/friends (sometimes) more than I trust a company yelling at me. Word of mouth goes a long way,” tweeted Patrick McKeown .

A4: People will naturally trust friends and influencers they're already connected with, better, than some random campaign #semrushchat

— Val Vesa (@adspedia) November 23, 2016

Louise Dickens pointed out that social media has become a form of everyday communication. People use different social media networks on a daily basis. According to Statista, there are 2.34 billion social network users around the globe. This number is expected to reach 2.95 billion by 2020. Louise thinks that communicating through social media is more natural than via email.

A4. SM has become a genuine form of everyday comms. It's more 'natural' than email (which is just for work & invoices, right?) #semrushchat

— Louise Dickens (@_LouiseDickens) November 23, 2016

However, Aamina Suleman @thinkdesignvis reminded us that email still allows people to interact on a more professional level. “Email definitely still has its place! I think marketers realize the 'shift' though – email is formal, social media is less formal,” tweeted Louise Dickens.

Let’s sum up these key points.

What do you think about email marketing and social media marketing? Is there a winner? Can marketers effectively use both of these channels? Let us know in the comments!

Q5. Your Thanksgiving dinner isn't complete without the seasoning. What's the secret ingredient to a successful campaign and why?

Just as a Thanksgiving dish isn’t complete without the seasoning, your marketing campaign needs a secret ingredient to be successful.

Check out these five ingredients for the secret sauce for digital marketing success from our chat guests.

• Consistency across all the platforms you use

You need to maintain consistency across multiple channels, including search, pay-per-click advertising, email, social media, video, and mobile apps. Creating consistency on every channel you use improves your customers’ experience.

A5) Consistency across all your platforms is key, social, ppc, video, app. Are they all going hand in hand? Remember the goal!! #semrushchat

— Martin Kelly (@MartinKSEO) November 23, 2016

• Identifying and targeting your ideal customer

One of the most important elements of any marketing campaign is identifying an ideal target customer profile. If you know who your perfect user is, you can better build your business, product and message.

First of all, you should have a solid understanding of your product or service. Who can actually benefit the most from it? You need to know your business from your client’s point of view. Analyze your past interactions with your previous and existing customers in order to understand your major successes and mistakes. This information will also help you build a customer profile. Do research and try to find out as much as possible about your particular users, including what influences their purchasing decisions.

A5: Targeting appropriately to your ideal audience. Without this is has very little chance of being successful #semrushchat

— Indigo Evolution (@indigoevstudio) November 23, 2016

• Thinking big and staying agile

‏”Think big and be agile. Who can you reach out to, what posts are worth promoting, and can you react quickly to current events?” asked Shawn Harding. Businesses have to be nimble to cope with fast-changing environments and to keep up with competitors. Companies must think ahead and be aware of all current trends, changes, and innovations in their industry to be able to quickly react to them. “My ‘secret’ is flexibility – being able to react to real-time data and pivot at anytime,” tweeted Steve Hill (ステブ ヒル) ‏@epiclysteve.

A5: For #DigitalMarketing success, you need to stay agile. Stay aware of changes in the industry and be quick to get on board. #semrushchat

— Miles Technologies (@milestech) November 23, 2016

• A unique idea

To grab your audience’s attention, you need to deliver a message that really matters and resonates with your users. Be creative and challenge stereotypes.

Val Vesa reminded us of the Oreo tweet that became a phenomenon. In 2013, a power outage caused some of the lights to go out for more than 30 minutes during the third quarter of the Super Bowl. The Oreo social media team quickly reacted and created an image, which they posted on Twitter. Their tweet said: “Power out? No problem. You can still dunk in the dark.” Their idea was outstanding, and their tweet went viral. The team has even won awards for marketing.

Q5: As much as this gets more&more difficult, to have a unique angle, idea. And inspiration. Aka @Oreo's briliant Super Bowl? #semrushchat

— Val Vesa (@adspedia) November 23, 2016

• Planning, hard work and attention to details

Patrick Stox also shared his secret ingredients of a successful marketing campaign. We’ve all heard the famous quote from Benjamin Franklin: “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” No matter how talented and knowledgeable you are, you need to always plan ahead and work hard.

Paying attention to details is vital to accomplishing your tasks with fewer mistakes and communicating the right message to your specific audience. A person who pays attention to details is much more aware of their situation, because they can analyze their every action and control every situation.

A5: Just like with a meal, the secret sauce is planning, hard work, and attention to detail. #semrushchat

— Patrick Stox (@patrickstox) November 23, 2016

Once again, Joe Martinez pointed out the importance of building trust with your audience: ”Trust again. Stop being Wikipedia and telling what you do. Prove why your company is better than the competition.”

That was our final question!

Now that you have the Thanksgiving recipe for digital marketing success, you can build a powerful online campaign for your business.

Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to answer our questions and share their digital marketing experience and expertise.

Don’t miss our next SEMrush Chat this Wednesday!

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