yes you can! making seo with social work for your b2b brand
TRANSCRIPT
Yes You Can!Making SEO With Social Work
For Your B2B Brand
Marc Engelsman @marc_engelsman
Director, Strategy & AnalyticsDigital Brand Expressions 1
Reasons You Should Belong to SEMPO• Expand Your Knowledge• Engage With Industry
Leaders• Maximize Your Career Growth• Grow Your Business• Save Money
3
Sponsors and Partners
Housekeeping
What We’ll Cover Today
• Getting on the same page about SEO• Why SEO with social is the way to go• How to make SEO with social work for your B2B brand
Getting buy-in and collaboration from your marketing, content, sales and technology teams
Establishing measurable goals (and how they will be tracked and measured)
Creating and curating engaging content• A few case studies
How Many of You Are…
• Working at B2B companies?• Working at agencies?• Not doing any real (ongoing) SEO or social?• Doing SEO but not social?• Doing Social but not SEO?• Doing both?
SEO 2013: More Complex Than Ever
Published in:
SEO 2013: Ongoing Offsite is Key
On Website SEO
OffWebsite
SEO
Technical adjustmentsCompetitive researchKeyword researchDomain researchKeyword mapping
Content CreationContent CurationContent Distribution:• Directory listings• Traditional link
building• Social engagement• Social link building
Links Are Still Important…
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SEOmoz 2011 Search Engine (Google) Algorithm Ranking Factors
…But Social Is Important, Too
Published in:
Togetherness is a Win
Top 2 Sources—Perfect Together
Social Use By Companies
B2B Marketers Social Media Preferences
Benefits of Social for B2B Marketers*
• Over 56% of B2B marketers acquired new business partnerships through social media (compared to 45% of B2C marketers)
• Nearly 60% of B2B marketers saw improved search rankings from their social efforts (compared to 50% of B2C marketers)
• B2B marketers are more able to gather marketplace insights from their social efforts (nearly 69% vs. 60% of B2C marketers)
• The one area where B2B marketers significantly lag behind their B2C counterparts is in developing a loyal fan base. 63% of B2C marketers found social media helped them develop loyal fans, compared to only 53% of B2B marketers.
*Source: How B2B Marketers Use Social Media: New Research, Phil Mershon, SocialExaminer.com 4/24/12, see links in Resources section
So What Is SEO With Social?
• Strategically leveraging social media marketing to support SEO goals
• Controversial: see the comments following Veronica Fielding’s Fast Company post on SEO with social
• Why the uproar? It’s still early, difficult to draw direct conclusions Still possible for SEO to succeed without social
• Though getting increasingly difficult to generate search-engine sanctioned links without it
It’s A LOT of work• Takes time, $, and persistence
It requires teamwork
SEO with Social Isn’t Easy…
• You will need to work hard to unite your resources and manage through silo-ed objectives and plans SEO team Social media team PR/Communications Analytics Internal funders and supporters
And So Most Companies Are Not Integrating
B2B Lags Behind B2C On Integration
Internal Stakeholders & Social
• Convincing people that social is worth their input will be a challenge in most organizations Still relatively new Quantification and connection to bottom line almost impossible
• Social isn’t “sales” channel (at least not for most) Demonstrating success will be key
• Agreeing on success measures, even qualitative ones, is critical
• Convincing the money people to fund it will be challenging, too HiPPO = Highest Paid Person’s Opinion If they don’t believe, check out your competition
Important!
• If you focus on the search engines, you will annoy and alienate people (and lose search engine attention)
• Stay focused on connecting and engaging with people, and the search engines will follow
Comparing B2C & B2B SEO With Social
B2C• Large # potential customers• Channel is direct interaction
with consumers • Small % of audience makes
engagement #s look great• Engagement #s high, lots of
activity• Engagement easier, sharing
constant and fluid—personal decision to participate
• Wide variety of appropriate offers
B2B• Defined, limited # customers• Sales people = intermediary
between social channel & buyers• #Fans, #Followers smaller• Engagement harder to come by,
fewer people available to “socialize” from work
• Opinions shared reflect on organization, more cautious in sharing with brands in channel
• Offers need to be appropriate to biz decision makers
How Do You Create Social Signals?
1 Create (and curate) unique, relevant, shareable content
2 Identify “distribution” channels: blogs, social media, websites, etc.
3 Create interest and excitement around the content, get many others to share it and talk about it, too
What Content Works Best?
Integrating SEO and Social—The Right Mix
Integrated Them = Inbound Context Marketing
And Context Marketing Helps Pick Metrics/KPIs
X
SEO with Social/Context Marketing Metrics
SEO With Social/Context Marketing Metrics
Find/Explore/Research
Buy/Act Now
Welcome/Welcome Back
Relevant Info
(Other)
Latest News/Promotion
Share
Improved Usage Stats
Revenues/Downloads/Contacts
New vs. Repeat Visits
Landing Pages
(Other)
Clicks/Actions
Shares/Referrals
SEO With Social/Context Marketing Metrics
SEO With Social Context Marketing Metrics
Some Case Studies For Consideration
• Ecommerce Edmund Optics AP Images
• Thought Leadership/MembershipSEMPO
• Sales Leads• Q Center
Edmund Optics: SEO With Social Early Adopter
AP Images: Changing Awareness
AP Images: Changing Awareness
It takes only one night for Santa Claus to travel around the world, but he has to stop every five minutes on the way home.
MAN, I'LL BE GLAD WHEN SANTA GETS HIS HYBRID NEXT YEAR.
Did anyone see where he fell out?""
Guys.... I think I dropped my antlers somewhere in THIS area!
"No I won't ask for directions, Vixen, we aren't lost, OK!?"
SEMPO: Expanding Reach
SEMPO: Expanding Reach
SEMPO: Expanding Reach
Q Center – Leads and Engagement
Other Helpful Resources
• Report of social media usage by B2B companies via Phil Mershon/Social Examiner 4/24/12 and links to great research results of 3,800 social media marketers surveyed: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/b2b-social-media-marketing-research/
• Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2012/7986/b2b-social-marketing-growing-linkedin-top-channel#ixzz26ZnYCqGv
• Fast Company article: http://www.fastcompany.com/3000283/seo-isnt-what-you-think-it
Thank You!
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DBE is a leading digital marketing agency for middle market marketing decision makers who need a trailblazing partner to increase sales in quantifiable and cost-effective ways. DBE’s innovative mix of context-driven SEO, PPC, and social media marketing connects buyers and brands and delivers results that make our clients heroes.
Marc [email protected]
609-462-3925