Social PR and SEO Chicago Social Media Marketing Group FEB 2015 I knock down walls create brand belief systems and design performance plans that deliver Former journalist internet pioneer and entrepreneur thought leader chief executive with vision and execution chops ID: 129636
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Slide1
Using Communication Strategy to Align Social, PR and SEO
Chicago Social Media Marketing
Group – FEB 2015Slide2
“I knock down walls, create brand belief systems and design performance plans that deliver.”
Former journalist, internet pioneer and entrepreneur, thought leader, chief executive with vision and execution chops
Dana Todd
Digital CMOSlide3
Outline
How Communication
Strategy
is natural and strategic convergence platformMy “Bucket Framework” in excruciating detail
Case Study@
danatoddSlide4
CONTENT WITHOUT CONTEXT & STRATEGY =
NOISESlide5
SEO-Forward Strategy Limits Opportunity
“Be found for X” is narrow focus, bottom of funnel
People search for nouns, but their decision processes are based on adjectives and emotion
Misses opportunity to mesh with brand communication strategy
Promotes commoditization in search results and brand communications
@
danatoddSlide6
Social-Forward Strategy Ignores SEO
Focuses on short term attention, not long term links and searchable content
Many social conversations & impacts aren’t indexed
Can easily become chaotic and unfocused
Keywords are an afterthought, hashtags are dominant
@
danatoddSlide7
SEO-Forward Workflow
KW Research: “car insurance”
Write blog post “how to buy car insurance”
Make an infographic
Optimized video
Socialize & Syndicate (spray, pray)
Measure ranking & NBOTSlide8
Social-Forward Workflow
Promotional Plan: “Valentines Sale”
Creatives
and calendar
Outreach to influencers & email
Post on site/blog (
SEO’d
? Maybe)
Repeat for reach & frequency
Measure engagementSlide9
SEO is not Dead, but it’s Different Now
SEO is not just links and keywords, BUT the right kind of links and link signals are still crucial
“Author” tag is sort-of dead
Social signals are somewhat important, variably, primarily around authority of signaling “entity”
Hummingbird and semantic search are influenced by CONTEXTUAL KNOWLEDGE
Your brand in context of conversations is VITALLY important
@
danatoddSlide10
Convergence: Impact in SERPs
SERP for product query “shoes”:
Google seems to be testing “Authority
”
of
social
on first
page
results – older
“news”
content ranks if highly shared or from authority site w/social clout. Found this in US and Canada results.Slide11
Converge @ Communication Strategy
Usually defined and used by the PR department
Aligned to brand strategy, it’s “
what do we want
whom to believe and say about us?” And, “In what media or channels do we play?”Values quality over quantity
It’s all about evolving belief systems, aligned to market share
and
reputation goals
@
danatoddSlide12
Dana’s Easy Bucket Framework
Flexible and fast to set up
Automatically builds in participation from PR, social and SEO teams
Primary Buckets should be in place for 3 years to get the best possible return and impact
Why? Belief systems, like change management or grief cycles, take 2-3 years to move beyond “sprout stage” into entrenched outcomes and thought patternsYou’ll need time to build relationships with the most impactful influencersYou are enacting wholesale changes to the SERP if successful
@
danatoddSlide13
Step One: Beliefs
What do you want the public to believe?
About your company
About your products
About your competition
About your industry or market
About time and urgency
About risk and rewardsSlide14
2. Build Strategy Buckets from Beliefs
No more than 5
!
(3-4 is better)
Business decision maker buy-in: align to
big business
goals
– prioritize
beliefs
that will impact sales or traffic the
most
Examples:
“Company X is the most trustworthy car insurance company”
“Buying this product provides shoes to poor people”
Research review sites
& forums to
hear “voice of the customer” and emotional triggersSlide15
3. Fill the Buckets
All Play! Social, SEO and PR
For each bucket, brainstorm the campaigns or content storylines that can best help “prove” the belief statements:
“Pays Auto Insurance Claims in Full”
(claim satisfaction)
Research & facts
Anecdotes / human stories
Humor
Applications / use cases
Controversy
Celebrity endorsement
Testimonials / reviews
Altruism / corporate social responsibility
Data streams / Knowledge Graph
ASlide16
Your SEOs should help on this one!
Use KW research to find best target sites and influencers:
JD Powers
Consumer Affairs
Forbes
Autoinsurance.org
DMV.org
Edmunds
CNBC
Investopedia
4. Map the Influencers across Buckets
A
B
“Is Financially Fair with its Rates”
“Pays Auto Insurance Claims in Full”Slide17
5. What Content Type to Use Where?
Get your PR group involved here – they can often help you identify what works best with a publication or author/journalist/blogger.
“Pays Auto Insurance Claims in Full”
Supporting
Content
What assets can we make
?
Influencer + preferred content,
channel
Research study
comparing us vs. top competitors for customer satisfaction with claims process
Charts,
full study, press release, infographic, video
Forbes
– Jim
Gorzelany
– wants full study, graphs, images
Autoinsurance.com – press release, video
Reviews and testimonials
“My hero” FB and Twitter campaign, submit user testimonials and photosAngie’s List – customer list + $ ad campaignConsumer Affairs – submitted testimonials
ASlide18
Consider all the possibilities…
Graphic / photo
Animated gif
InfographicRaw data feedResearch study / chart
Instagram picVideo :30 spotGoogle Hangout on Air
Blog post
Interview Q&A
Tweets
FB events, posts
Polls
Game / quiz
Article /
longread
White paper / application paper
Press release / press kit
**Many of the above can end up in search results easily!Slide19
Add a column for methods of contactSlide20
6. Synthesize, Prioritize and Calendar
Short-list the most useful assets that can best prove the belief statements and are most likely to connect with influencers
Connect with a large “theme”, rather than random bits!
Identify secondary resource needs: chopping up, create variants, or support with other assets
Compare to your marketing calendar: events, product launches, etc.Decide if you’re going to play linear, one bucket at a time, or cross multiple buckets simultaneouslySlide21
7. NOW THE SEO FULL COURT PRESS!
Before you start producing any asset, involve the SEO teams
Fully understand the keyword priorities, localization and other SEO goals
Get lists of top keywords and a copy of the page-level strategy (what pages are targeted to what keywords, so you can plan effective link requests and content placement)
Let them help tag blog posts and assets, name image files and write captions, write YouTube headlines, suggest hashtags, and build pages with appropriate <h1> and other important markupDiscuss advanced tactics like creating data feeds and mashups that can be utilized for powerful partnering and link buildingSlide22
Quick case study
Original
brainstorm
doc for
ideas, rationale & targetsSlide23
Details on Two Buckets & Campaigns
Campaigns
Assets
Targets
Aftermath Cares charity
program
Press releases, charity
golf and law enforcement events
, K-9
contest in custom FB app,
photos, FB
posts
Consumer, press, police,
police press, police social, local news
Meet our
techs
Videos, blog
posts, FB,
InstagramLocal news, Google Local“Aftermath is a compassionate and caring company” (TRUST)CampaignsAssetsTargets“3 Rs: Risks, Rights & ResponsibilitiesInfographics, health
risk data, long form articles, research, slideshare deck, downloadable safety posters and brochuresConsumer, schools, national news, safety blogs, police, police press, police social, cleaning industry trade press“How Would Aftermath Clean…?”Seasonal infographics (Halloween, Valentines)Consumer press (Huffington Post), bloggers“Blood is a high risk to anyone exposed” (FEAR)ABSlide24
Results: Press Impacts + Links + SEO
Most of the pickups above included social amplification (Twitter, FB, blog pickup)
#1
Multiple listings reflecting compassionSlide25
Outcomes
Any new ideas can be filtered for value: do they pass the bucket test?
Everyone gets to measure what they want to meet tactical metric goals
Links, rankings, engagement, traffic, followers etc.
BUT, they’re automatically aligned for long term brand benefitThink like a CMO: perform baseline market research to understand impacts on recall, awareness and belief statements; re-check annuallySlide26
Thank You!
Dana.todd@gmail.com
Twitter: @
danatodd