SearchCap: Local Marketing Automation Tools, App Indexing May Change SEO & Mars Google Doodle

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. The post SearchCap: Local Marketing Automation Tools, App Indexing May Change SEO & Mars Google Doodle appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

How To Create A Content Brand

Thanks to the explosion and the proven value of content marketing, it seems like every brand these days has its own publishing house and an elaborate content marketing strategy to boot. They’re creating content on dedicated websites to target their demographic, convert visitors, increase their exposure, and establish themselves as voices of authority within their industries.

However, like much of the content out there on the internet, most branded content is not exceptional. Some brands just don’t get their customer base, while others recycle articles, photos, and videos instead of producing original pieces and are too pushy trying to sell their products.

If you’re gearing up to start your own branded content website, and want to get the most content marketing ROI, you should research what the best-of-the-best brands are doing. We spoke to four of them — Casper,GE, Barneys, and Williams-Sonoma — about how they built their sites and consistently put out excellent content.

These content creators discuss about their content marketing strategies, their methodologies, and their goals when it comes to building a branded content site.

Casper: Focusing on awareness, not conversion

Van Winkle’s editor-in-chief Jeff Koyen does not consider himself to be a marketer. Instead, he’s a journalist who manages other freelance journalists. Like traditional reporters, they strive to tell good stories and raise awareness about certain issues. For Koyen, that issue is sleep.

“We are not converting people to Casper.com, which is what makes Van Winkle’s unique,” he said. “We are not measured by conversions or mattress sales.”

The goal is to invent a new vertical, sleep, and try to have “more eyeballs on Van Winkle’s. If we do create the sleep category, ultimately, Casper will benefit from it. They will get people to say ‘Gee, we need a better mattress.’ It’s my job to create cultural awareness. My competitors may benefit from it too, but it’s ultimately up to Casper to position themselves in a way that they will be there when customers want to make a purchase.”

So, what has Koyen found that his readers are most interested in when it comes to sleep? “Not surprisingly, posts about boners perform well,” he says. “I did one on morning erections. Another one is about how to wash your sheets. Those two posts had a far reach on social.”

Koyen’s advice for other brands hoping to start their branded content websites is this: Don’t be too cautious. “It takes bravery to let an editorial entity launch and run on its own,” he says. “When most people get to launch day, they think someone on the brand side will blink and say, ‘I don’t know if this story is on message for the brand. They may overthink it to death. If you want something that’s publishable, you need to be brave and trust your editor. If you just want to convert eyeballs or sell Red Bull then don’t do this. If you want to do higher level real journalism, you have to find the right editors and make sure they answer to themselves.”

Barneys: Provide exclusive content

Your brand has a unique perspective and access to individuals and information that other brands don’t. OnThe Window, which is the branded content site for Barneys, the staff knows this.

The content that does the best on the site, according to editorial director Marissa Rosenblum, is interviews with Barneys’ designers and “things you could only get from visiting The Window,” she says. “This is because of the access we have at Barneys. You can’t read about the exclusive collaborations we’re doing elsewhere.”

The Window has a plethora of this kind of original content, from written pieces about their designers, to pictures from Barneys’ photo shoots, and videos of their runway shows.

If brands want to succeed, they need to stick to the old advice and write what they know, says Rosenblum. “Tell the stories you’re an expert on, and people will care about your brand’s point of view. They’re interested in what we have to say about emerging designers, fashion, and style. We’re still trying to sell them something, but it doesn’t change the fact that our point of view is well respected and regarded.”

Williams-Sonoma: Aim for return visitors 

Success cannot simply be defined by how many visitors your branded content site converts. Don’t forget that loyal, returning customers are crucial to your brand.

Merritt Watts, the senior manager of content at Williams-Sonoma, says that with their website, Williams-Sonoma Taste, they want to keep people coming back for more content. “A return visitor means we’re truly connecting with our customers. They may not be purchasing every time they visit the blog, but when they do they’ll come to a trusted place — a place that’s already successfully shown them cooking techniques, offered inspiration for hosting a memorable holiday brunch, and recommended some restaurants to visit on their trip to Austin. That’s the kind of long-term success we are after.”

To encourage customers to return, Watts and her team of in-house and freelance writers produce content that adds value to their customers’ lives. “Our main target is the home cook,” she says. “They don’t have to know how to sous-vide or be able to whip up a soufflé without a recipe (though we have a hunch that plenty of our customers do!) (editors note: Seamless?!) but they are people who want to be inspired, who love getting their kitchens a little messy, and setting a table for friends and family with a meal they’re excited to serve.”

Some recent pieces for their demographic cover planning a spicy cookout, how to construct ice cream sandwiches, and making homemade pasta by hand.

GE Reports: Find the scoop

In creating GE Reports, Managing Editor Tomas Kellner (read a full interview with him here) says that the brand wanted to tell their own stories and appeal to a B2B audience. They also hoped to be seen among influencers as more than just an appliance company.

To do this, they report on innovations in technology. They find out the latest on topics like 3D printing, medicine and science, and information technology, and then aspire to have it distributed by other publishers like Gizmodo and Fortune, which have large readerships.

“With one of our stories on 3D printed jet engines, we got hundreds of thousands of views on the site, and it got picked up by other sites, which generated another large universe of impressions,” says Kellner. “Ultimately, the impression is more important than the traffic you bring back to the site.”

Since GE produces technology, Kellner has access to these stories in innovation. He looks inward at what stories he thinks would be a hit among his readers, and then he assigns them. “If I just try to sell to my readers, they’re just going to walk away,” he says. “You have to be authentic and tell the truth, but also be informative, newsy, and useful.”

This article originally appeared on the NewsCred Blog. 

The post How To Create A Content Brand appeared first on B2B Marketing Insider.

How to overcome the difficulties of copywriting for the Chinese market

Whether it's for a regional website, direct response marketing or a content campaign, international copywriters have to find the difficult balance between brand guidelines, linguistic standards and marketing performance.

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SearchCap: User Science Behind Long-Form Content, Bid Boosting On Bing & Google’s Customer Match

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. The post SearchCap: User Science Behind Long-Form Content, Bid Boosting On Bing & Google’s Customer Match appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

Fascinating takeaways from Digital Cream Sydney, 2015: Part two

Digital Cream Sydney was held on Thursday, September 17 and dozens of brand marketers came to discuss their issues, concerns, triumphs and even blunders with one another at our hosted roundtables.

Here's part two of what was discussed.

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Everyone Has A Story To Tell

Everyone has a story to tell. This was the idea that inspired Dave Isay to start StoryCorps, the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered in history. In his TED Talk, Dave shared the story of how his inspiration came about.

When he was 22 years old, he found his calling for radio broadcasting. Around the same time, Dave also found out his dad, who he was very close to, was gay.

He was crushed by this news, and it strained his relationship with his dad. However during one of his conversations with his dad, Dave learned about the Stonewall riots, which inspired him to start his journey in storytelling.

The Stonewall Riot Story

One night in 1969, at a gay bar called “The Stonewall Inn” in Manhattan, a group of young black and Latino drag queens fought back against the police during one of the frequent police raids.

The riot made a lasting impact on the gay and lesbian community, and marked the beginning of the modern gay rights movement.

It was a story that intrigued Dave, and he set out to find out more about the people behind the Stonewall riots. With the help of an archivist, they tracked down those who were at the Stonewall Inn that night. When interviewing and recording those individuals, Dave realized the power the microphone gave him: he was able to go to places and meet people he otherwise never would have the opportunity to go and talk to.

Dave’s radio documentary on the Stonewall riots was the first time the story was told to a national audience. It spawned a feature film called The Stonewall Uprising.

The program changed his relationship with his dad, and it changed his life. Over the next 15 years, Dave continued to make more radio documentaries, aiming to capture the voices of people who were rarely heard from in the mainstream media.

During this process, Dave observed how the simple act of interviewing people had touched those being interviewed. Being heard and listened to meant a lot to these people, especially those who did not think their stories mattered.

Helping Other People Tell Their Stories

This inspired Dave to begin StoryCorps, a project to inspire and give people the opportunity to record and listen to each other’s stories. A booth was set up in Grand Central Terminal, where anyone could go in with someone they wanted to honor, to interview and talk with them about their life.

The interview was almost seen as the last intimate conversation people would have with that individual. The experiment took off, and the project eventually expanded to other cities, capturing hundreds of thousands of unheard or ignored voices, all in people’s own words.

The Power of Authentic Stories

I’ve already covered The Significant Objects Project to show the value of stories on seemingly insignificant objects. With StoryCorps, Dave found that a lot of people cry when they hear StoryCorps stories. Dave doesn’t think it’s because the stories are sad. In fact, most of them aren’t.

He thinks the real reason why people cry is because people are hearing something authentic and genuine at that moment. In a world like today’s where it’s sometimes difficult to tell if something is real or not, this was significant.

Another key take-away for Dave from the StoryCorps project was the power of listening. He believes we can all learn something new about people and the world if we simply take the time to stop and listen.

What’s The Lesson Here For Marketers?

To truly understand our customers and their needs, we need to stop selling and start listening more. Talk to them. You can even interview them like Dave did.

Taking the time to learn more about their stories and pain points will help you create more authentic and meaningful content that your customers actually want to see.

In today’s world, it’s not easy to capture people’s attention when there’s so much content being created every day, all competing for the same eyeballs. To make your content stand out and cut through the noise, you need to stop selling and start listening to your customers.

By building this one simple step into your content strategy, you can and will be able to create content that your customers want, and start building deeper customer relationships that will truly drive sales and business results.

Please follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook and Subscribe here for regular updates.

The post Everyone Has A Story To Tell appeared first on B2B Marketing Insider.

#92: Episode 92

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Mars Google Doodle Posted Shortly After NASA Shared Evidence Of Water Flowing On The Red Planet

Google says it felt compelled to honor such an exciting discovery. The post Mars Google Doodle Posted Shortly After NASA Shared Evidence Of Water Flowing On The Red Planet appeared first on Search Engine Land.

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.

The Art of SEO – Book Interview

Eric Enge and Stephan Spencer, acknowledged experts in search engine optimization, share guidelines and innovative techniques that will help you plan and execute a comprehensive SEO strategy. This third edition prepares digital marketers for 2016 with updates on SEO tools and new search engine optimization methods that have reshaped the SEO landscape

The post The Art of SEO – Book Interview appeared first on Heidi Cohen.

Google Announces Customer Match: Upload Email Lists For Search, Gmail, YouTube Ad Targeting

Customer Match marks the first time advertisers will be able to set bids and create specific ads tailored to customer audience segments built with first-party data. The post Google Announces Customer Match: Upload Email Lists For Search, Gmail, YouTube Ad Targeting appeared first on Search Engine...

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How brands can build brilliant customer relationships

Gone are the days when a marketer could say that a boosted bottom line was the only end goal.

Today, brands are competing within crowded markets to win consumer affinity and awareness, and to do that in an era of heightened digital communication, it’s necessary to connect.

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Desktop Search: Google May Have Peaked Last Year According To comScore

Late this afternoon comScore released its monthly report on US desktop search market share. Google controlled 63.8 percent of all PC search volume in August. Microsoft (Bing) had 20.6 percent and Yahoo saw 12.7 percent. Bing was up a fraction of a point at Google’s apparent expense, while...

Please visit Search Engine Land for the full article.