Online Marketing News: The Olympics Get Social, Twitter Co-Founder’s New Publishing Platform, Which Tablet Reigns Supreme, #SESSF

Sadly the 2012 Olympics came to an end this past week.  These Olympic Games were by far the most socially shared to date.  This infographic from Acme Packet shared some very interesting information on everything from estimates for viewership and devices used, to predictions for the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

Twitter Co-Founders Preview Medium, A New Publishing Tool
Evan Williams a co-founder of Twitter describes Medium as “re-imagining publishing in an attempt to make an evolutionary leap.”  Medium takes submitted content like photos or text and organizes items that are similar into collections that multiple users and view, and add to.  Via Cnet.

Tablets Join the Long Race to the Bottom
These days when someone asks you what sort of tablet you have, there could be nearly 20 different responses.  Online marketers are being encouraged to optimize for tablets and make sites mobile and tablet friendly.  There is an option for everyone depending on price point and capabilities.  According to this article the marketplace is so saturated with low cost options that tablets are now becoming irrelevant.  What do you think?  Via TechCrunch.

The Klout Debate Continues
Many people are still debating the relevance and accuracy of Klout scores.  A large part of the skepticism comes from wanting to know how exactly this score is measured.  Some rely heavily on their Klout score to determine their online influence, while others want nothing to do with it.  Where do you stand?  Via Social Media Examiner.

Matt Cutts of Google surprised the audience with an unplanned flash keynote.

We were fortunate enough to have a group of our TopRank team members at SES SF over the past few days.  Lee Odden and Thom Craver were speaking, and Alexis Hall and myself have been tweeting, soaking up some knowledge, and live blogging sessions.  In case you missed them, I have provided links to the posts that we’ve published so far.  Over the next couple days be sure to keep your eyes out for the continuation of our SES SF experience.

Business Optimization in A Digital Age – Avinash Kaushik

Big Data: What Marketers Need to Know – Bryan Eisenberg

Keyword Modeling Analysis To Engage Your Audience – Bill Hunt

7 Things You Need to Know About Analytics – Thom Craver & Garry Przyklenk

Matt Cutts Stops By SES To Talk Google & Answer Some Difficult Questions – Matt Cutts

Optimize B2B Content Across the Sales Cycle – Lee Odden

Mike Yanke - Actual Humans? Bing Uses Them!
What is it that helps to determine where pages rank in Bing?  Per this article in Search Engine Land, actual humans are used in Bing’s Human Relevance System – each instructed on guidelines determining a webpage as ‘good’ or ‘bad.’  Read more about the history of this project in Matt McGee’s article.

Sam Giehll – Marketing is Dead
Mourn the death of traditional marketing as we step into a new era: one of social media, online interaction and the constant flow of information from one place to another. How do we stay afloat in such a dynamic age? Find out with this great article from Bill Lee of Harvard Business Review.

Sara Duane-Gladden
Instagram Officially Going Global with Top Brands
Has your brand jumped on the Instagram bandwagon yet? According to Simply Measured, 40 percent of the world’s top global brands are using Instagram as part of an online web presence strategy. That’s pretty good for such a young social network to boast such credentials, especially since it’s strictly for sharing images and it’s basically mobile-only.  Via MarketingMag.

Awaiting the Baby Boomer Avalanche
Increasing numbers of baby boomers own smartphones and have accounts on social networks, but according to a new eMarketer report, they still tend to be less engaged online than younger generations. While most boomers connect to the internet on a typical day, odds are your typical online audience is going to skew young.  Via eMarketer.

Time to Weigh In: What did you think of the way that this years Olympic Games were broadcasted? Did you follow and engage using your social platforms?  Do you think that Twitter co-founder’s new platform has legs, and is there a business application for this product? What was your favorite topic that TopRank covered at SES San Francisco?

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7 Things You Need to Know About Analytics: Thom Craver and Garry Przyklenk – #SESSF

Taking a deep dive into analytics with Thom Craver (@thomcraver) and Garry Przyklenk (@gprzyklenk) at SES San Francisco was the perfect way to kick off the Dicovery Channel’s Shark Week.

This team of knowledgeable online experts did not disappoint, and as promised, plunged headfirst into analytics and how to make them work for your organization.  In this article I have included 7 things that you need to know about analytics from the “Web Analytics Deep Dive” session on Tuesday afternoon.

Data and information are not the same thing.  Data is described as a seemingly unconnected set of numbers and values.  Information on the other hand provides context around the data, and labels or groups the content.

Data becomes information once it is organized in a comprehensive way that allows the user to make decisions based on what they see.

Whether your company is using a Google Analytics dashboard, or a in-house dashboard chances are you may not have all of the data that you need.  It is essential that your dashboards not only contain key metrics but tie those metrics back to revenue if at all possible.  Without this key piece of information you may not be able to determine which of your tactics are actually most effective.

In the example below you see that site traffic appears to have made a significant jump and is actually up 100% from the previous month.

When analyzing this data you cannot always take it at face value.  There are some important questions you must ask yourself to determine the true value of your data including:

Is this a normal seasonal trend?Are your competitors also seeing increases?Are you filtering out internal IP addresses?Did this make the company any money?

Everything that is measured must be tied back to business objectives. Have you identified your company mantra and business plan?  If conversion is your goal then you must identify what your customer’s intent is when they visit your site.

Thom shared an example of a past client whose only goal in analytics was that of a generic conversion. Because there were not specific conversion goals identified the client had no way of separating their data based on the different actions that their customers took through the site.

If your company is simply measuring the number of aggregate visitors, your data isn’t worth much.  However, if you begin segmenting your customers based on their habits and other identifying preferences you’re on the right path.  Customer segmentation will allow you to:

Create groups or subsetsTest goals and conversions against visitor subsetsMore meaningful information

To get started with visitor segmentation Thom recommended identifying the following items:

Origin of Visitor Organic Search/Direct Traffic/CampaignsIndividual DomainsTerms: Branded/Generic/RegionalOn-Site Behavior Landing page, path through siteMicro conversionsVisitor intent (survey)Goals and Conversion Macro conversionsRevenue generated

No matter which web analytics platform you’re using, it will never be perfect.  Because of this a certain level of  filtering and grouping is required.

Filtering can be used to: Clean up data integrity issuesMove beyond the top 10 or top 50 entriesGrouping can be used to: Simplify extremely granular dataBuild complex segments effectively

Web analytics can be complex.  But there is a solution.  You must get closer to your customers in order to truly identify what it is that they are looking for.  For example: Do your customers prefer mobile or desktop?  To some this may seem like a no brainer, but often times marketers and analytics are so laser focused on the data that actual customers take a back seat.

I was very impressed with the level of detail that Thom and Garry provided while still presenting information in a way that the audience could absorb.  I’m curious to know your thoughts! Does your company focus on data instead of information? Do you think that approach hinders your ability to service your clients?  What did you find to be the most compelling in the 7 takeaways from the session?

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Keyword Modeling Analysis To Engage Your Audience – #SESSF Bill Hunt

Keywords are the core of your search engine marketing strategy. Most of us know the basics when it comes to brainstorming, generating and finalizing a list, but how can your company get beyond the basics and focus on advanced keyword analytics. The main focus of the presentation by Bill Hunt (@billhunt) at SES San Francisco focused on moving beyond data and focusing on consumer intent.

When we type in a specific inquiry we expect to find what we are looking for, but often paid search results fail us. In order to capture the user who may be disappointed by search results, marketers can better use keywords leveraging advanced keyword modeling.

Advanced Keyword Modeling

Understand the ‘voice of the customer’Effectively map your content with query and query intentIdentify new products and servicesCreate and influence PR & social media opportunities

There are many opportunities for marketers to move beyond Keyword Research 101 and leverage analytics which will maximize keyword strategy. Potential strategies include identifying missed opportunities or finding “needle in a haystack” keywords.

We may make excuses for not updating our keyword strategy and continuing to leverage a keyword strategy which is less than optimal. Most common reasons why we are not updating our keyword models:

Not enough timeToo complicatedCan’t make changes to strategyManagement won’t listenIf manager knew how bad current list was we would get fired

Despite the excuses, Bill expands on the realized benefits of updating the your keyword strategy. For example, an electronics retailer that was able to find significant traffic for end of life products which had no representation on their website. Or a travel site that was able to swap top ranking, outdated pages for the current, optimal version of an offering.

Optimize Better Using Advanced Analytics

Optimize for different states in the product cycle or user intent. Create content which is optimized for user searches targeted to specific stages in the sales funnel. Optimize for users looking for:

Product to use or informationSpecific features or functionsComparing brandsDiscountsCustomer services inquiries

Understanding Keyword Qualifiers

Target keywords which will help you isolate specific opportunity, interest, audience or need. Using a  keyword worksheet, which includes description and buying cycle stages, in order to segment by features, functions, types and anything that allows you to understand searchers’ mindset. For example, analyzing current keyword usage is social media and analytics can allow the marketer to segment keywords by buckets. Keyword buckets will allow you to highlight the opportunities to target the topics which are most important to consumers.

Highlight Missed Opportunities  and Underperforming Keywords

Based on market data you can determine how many clicks you have the potential to receive for a keyword, and in turn, the amount of clicks which you are missing. By honing in on the missed opportunities, you can emphasize the words where you should be ranking better organically.

On the other hand, there are some cases, where you are already ranking well for keyowords, but not receiving the clicks which you would expect. These keywords highlight an opportunity to optimize the snippet appearing in the description to make it more compelling to the user.

Both of these analytics models reveal opportunities to better refine your keyword strategy in order to capitalize on additional visitors and revenue.

Align Keyword Strategy to Social Media

Social media provides a rich opportunity to identify and leverage keywords in order to better target customers based on intent. Bill offers tips in order to align your keyword strategy with social media:

Add Tier 1 keyword to social media monitoringUnderstand the sentiment of keywordsUnderstand the context of the wordsCompare search volumes – conversations to conversionsIdentify influential social media sites including blogs and forums for link building

Keywords are vital to an online marketing strategy. Bill compels us to move beyond the basic “broad” match strategy to focus on keywords which are going to help companies realize maximize benefit from resources. In order to leverage advanced keyword analytics you must understand the intent of user queries, focus on the real performance of keywords and understand the context of queries.

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Online Marketing News: Map Your Content Marketing Mix, Search Undervalued – But Critical, Square Partners with Starbucks, Gmail Results in Search, Google+ Ghost Town

This recent infographic from First 10 and Smart Insights provides recommendations for different content types depending on the stage of the buying cycle that your customers are in.  Some of the content types include:

Search Undervalued, Critical to Brand Campaigns
Search helps companies build strong bands by bettering their brand-health metrics.  While the majority of B2C marketers now believe that search affects brand building, digital executives sometimes still find it thought to prove that search is a critical ingredient in branding.   Via eMarketer.

40% of Top Brands Are on Instagram 
In early 2012 Instagram had 15 million users and was only availabile on the iPhone.  Now there are nearly 80 million users, and Instagram is also available on Android.  Looking for a glimpse into how the top brands are fairing on Instagram?  Read more to find out.  Via Mashable.

Square Partners with Starbucks
Beginning this fall, Square will begin processing all U.S. credit and debit card transactions at participating Starbucks stores across their 7,000 locations. Square users will also be able to find a nearby Starbucks in the Square Directory from their smartphone.  Via TechCrunch.

Study: 50% of Mobile Queries In Travel, Restaurants, Autos Result In A Purchase
Over the past two years studies have confirmed the importance of mobile optimization, and advertising.  A recent study looked at the mobile path to purchase in three verticals, adn the differences between smartphone and tablet usage among US adults.  The results were a bit unexpected, read on to find out more.  Via Marketing Land.

Google Tests Showing Gmail Results in Search Queries
Google announced on Wednesday that they are looking for beta testers for a new feature they are rolling out.  The search giant is testing showing Gmail results in Google search queries.  Gmail results will be displayed separately, and users will also have the option to turn of their personal information. Via Mashable.

Mike Yanke - Google Not The Center of the Universe For A Change
Could it be that there is one demographic that does not consider Google to be at the center of its world?  According to a study conducted by Nielsen, mobile users are increasingly going directly to websites or apps, rather than starting on a search engine.  This is especially true in the hyper-competitive travel, auto and restaurants category.  Learn more about his study in this coverage on Search Engine Land.

Shawna Kenyon - Why Google+ Is a Ghost Town
The UK based research firm Umpf recently released a study that shows activity on the fledgling social platform pales when compared to its more popular counterparts Facebook and Twitter.  The study revealed that only 6 G+ users out of 100 million are likely to share a story. This article includes an infographic illustrating this comparison.  Via Mashable.

Sam Giehll – How to Build A Successful Google Campaign From Scratch
Working successfully with the big beast that is Google isn’t easy – but it can be easier when you take into consideration these tips on how to build a successful Google campaign  from the authors of The Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords, 3rd Edition.  Via Entrepreneur.

Brian Larson - Google+ 1 Year Later
It’s been over a year since Google initially rolled out the often polarizing social network Google+. So what have been the results? Mixed to say the least. While the number of user is reportedly still growing, the activity level for those users seems to be rather flat. Steve Beatty, of Search Engine Watch, shares some interesting stats and data to commemorate Google+’s 12+ month anniversary.  Via Search Engine Watch.

Sara Duane-Gladden – Research Online / Purchase Offline a Bigger Phenomenon Than Previously Thought
Though we track online marketing success differently than traditional marketing methods, perhaps we should be paying a bit more attention to statistics other than web traffic and click-through rates. Analytics firm RapidBlue has determined that Google AdWords campaigns increase visits to retail stores.  Via CNN.

Time to Weigh In:  It appears that Google+ didn’t fair too well in their first year.  What do you think G+ can do to increase use and engagement?   Is your company optimized for mobile, and have you considered the benefits of mobile advertising? Do you think that B2B companies have an opportunity to use a platform like Instagram?

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Business Optimization in a Digital Age – #SESSF Opening Keynote @Avinash Kaushik

Focus on the Micro and the Macro!

When Avinash Kaushik (@avinash) is giving the opening keynote you know that you’re in for a treat.  SES San Francisco was no exception.  Even with a few minor technical issues, Avinash rolled with the punches and jumped right into what is wrong with online marketing today, and how it can be fixed.

As always Avinash’ presentation was a unique mixture of stand up comedy, and expert advice from one of the only people who can truly call themselves a guru in the online marketing industry.

“I got into the web through the path of data.  As it turns out the problem is very rarely lack of or bad data.” – Avinash Kaushik

Influence: How do we find people at the right time with the right message?Experience: How can we deliver any amazing experience to our customers?Value : How can you provide the most value possible?

If you have an awesome web strategy chances are that roughly 2% of visitors to your site convert.  For everyone else that number is 1% or less.  Marketers have a tendency to think “if you aren’t going to convert immediately, then get out.”  Companies then begin optimizing their business for the 1-2% that are converting.  What we should be doing is focusing on the 100% of visitors, not just the 2%.

Each marketer must ask themselves this question: What is the most important thing that we want our website to do?

The majority of the time focus is on utilizing the website to generate revenue.  Avinash suggest that instead of laser focusing on revenue, we should focus on economic value.  This seemingly slight shift can allow companies to take a much more organic approach to optimizing their strategy.

Discover: Study the Micro and the Macro

One of the examples of companies that do a good job of focusing on the right type of data is Discover.  It is clear that Discover wants visitors to sign up for a credit card.  However, they allow users a variety of options to either save their information and submit later, recommend friends, etc. By focusing not only on the immediate conversions, but the long term value of their visitors Discover is able to encourage interaction throughout the customer journey from discovery to purchase and beyond.

What are additional ways to provide value?
Value comes from not only knowing your audience, but understanding how to effectively measure, adapt, and scale your approach. 

Measurement: comes from computing the economic value per conversion.Integration: tying all of the marketing we do to the value we deliver to the business.Intersection: marketing is a two way street that requires integration

We’re reporting on stupid crap.  According to Avinash, marketers are obsessed with the wrong metrics.  He related measuring “likes” to walking down the street and marking down each person that smiled you as a lover.

Traditional marketing is shifting to social marketing.  If Facebook isn’t working for you, it’s not Facebook, it’s you.  An example of a brand engaging on social media in the right way is Priceline.  The travel giant provides a great combination of questions to their audience, interesting factoids, and fantastic imagery of top travel destinations.

Conversation Rate: The number of audience comments per social contribution.Amplification Rate: The number of re-tweets per tweet and the number of forwards per social contribution.Applause Rate: The number of favorite clicks per tweet, likes per Facebook post, +1 per Google post, and the number of +1 and likes per blog post or YouTube video.Economic Value: Sum of the long and short-term revenue your company makes from social channels.

In the short hour or so that Avinash was presenting I was furiously typing, trying to get down each and every word, so as not to miss any nugget of wisdom.  A few of the things that really stood out to me were:

Optimize for your customers (as Avinash pointed out this topic is covered extensively in Lee Odden’s new book Optimize)Measure for complete economic value and for all of your audience, not just revenue from the 2% that convertIntegrate, integrate, integrate

To learn more about integrated online marketing, especially for BtoB Marketers, be sure sit in on Lee’s presentation tomorrow at 9am in room 2011 “B2B Optimization Across the Sales Cycle with Content”

What can you share for brands looking to gain organic influence?

I have always found that when it comes to organic search rankings that the rule of god is just to put out a lot of content that is of incredible value.  In the end, my over arching SEO strategy to determine what is incredible and unique about what I’m doing and what I can say that I know a lot about.

It doesn’t matter if I contribute every day but the content that I am creating must be of incredible value.  If I can create content daily I will, but I have not let go of that rule of consistency and quality.

Say for example that we are going to open a cake shop.  My first goal would be to determine what we know about making cakes and what we can say about our products.  From there we can being building an audience by sharing a tweet a day on creating great gates, tips for making cakes, etc.

In addition to creating exceptional content you have to optimize that content for your customers.  Whenever I write a blog post I run a series of searches on Google and Bing before I create my blog titles, as well as some additional tools to make sure my tags and descriptions are appropriate.

How can companies begin to make that shift from focusing on the 2% of visitors that convert, to 100% of visitors that come to their site?

Companies have to determine what the most important action visitors can take to best benefit their end business goals.  Next they must figure out what other things will lead to a deeper relationship with their customers.

A good example is that of OfficeMax.com.  They have 2 very important goals.  They want people to sign up for their catalog, and share their email address.  Why?  When customers sign up to receive the monthly catalog they expect to receive communication from Office Max on a regular basis.  Once Office Max receives a customers email address they are able to send targeted promotions based on the last items in their cart, or the most recent pages they have visited.

Amazon recently shared that if you have more than 8 or 9 reviews on a product the conversion rate increases by a statistically larger amount.  The fact that customers are taking the time to write a review shows an investment on their part.

In your presentation you shared that many companies are reporting on “stupid crap” instead of the metrics that matter.  What should we be measuring and who is a good example of a company that takes a customer centric approach to social media?

We obsess about metrics that simply do not have business impact.  Business impact means we make more money, and can pay more salaries to our employees.  A good example of that is when I go to a Facebook page it is simply a list of posts begging visitors to click the “like” button.  It is clear that their measurement system relies on their number of likes.  The best you can hope for when begging for likes is that people click once, and never return to your page.

Seventh Generation is a company in Burlington, VT that sells natural and healthy household products.  When you go to their Facebook page it is clear that the company’s incentive structure is not to get likes.

What they want is to have a deeper and more meaningful relationship with people on Facebook.  This becomes evident when you see that Seventh Generation has a mixture of meaningful quotes, information on why certain fruits are good for you, tips for recycling and repurposing old household items.

The company is not concerned with pimping their products and begging for likes.   The incentives they’re measuring is the number of re-shares or comments per post. Seventh Generation can see which types of content people seem to react to and will draw upon that when deciding which content to share.

In the end, I like metrics that matter.

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Trackur: 5 Clever Ways You’re Probably Not Using Social Media Monitoring

[Sponsored Post: Trackur is an online reputation management and social media monitoring tool.  This post is from Andy Beal, CEO of Trackur.]

When it comes to social media monitoring, I’m going to assume that you’re already monitoring your brand name, the names of your key executives, and, perhaps, your most important products. If not, you do not have permission to read the remainder of this article, until you have these set up at Google Alerts, or your favorite social media monitoring tool.

OK, for the rest of us, I want to show you 5 clever ways of using social media monitoring that you’ve probably not considered.

1. Find your industry influencers

As a reader of TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog, you’re already pretty well versed in many tactics for building your journalist and social media contacts list. I suspect each time you issue a press release, you also send it by email to the biggest name reporters covering your industry. But, are you sending it to the most influential people in your industry?

Using social media monitoring, you can keep track of not just industry trends and competitor announcements, but you can also start to compile a list of those journalists, bloggers, and analysts that have the most influence in your industry. For example, with Trackur’s InfluenceRank metrics you can quickly determine which bloggers have the biggest audience or which Twitter user has the strongest influence. With that kind of knowledge, you can tailor your media outreach not just to the biggest “name” journalists, but to the ones who are going to help spread your message the most.

2. Build better back links for SEO

Go to any large search engine optimization (SEO) conference and the most discussed topic will be that of link building. Social media monitoring gives you a couple of advantages in your link building efforts.

First, you can monitor for any blogger that’s discussing your industry on a regular basis (see above). With that knowledge, you can reach out to them and seek opportunities for either a standard back link, or offer yourself as a guest writer for their blog. Either way, you’re getting a new link from a site that is highly relevant and highly active in your industry.

Secondly, you can look for opportunities to get a link on a brand new site, before anyone else. For example, Trackur’s InfluenceRank will show you which blogger’s have the least amount of influence and traffic. That would normally be a site you’d avoid–especially for PR purposes. However, it can also mean that the site is brand new. It’s yet to receive any link requests, because it’s under the radar of most SEOs. Submit your press release, guest post, or blatant link request to a virgin site and you’ll find them far more approachable than the superstar blog or news site.

3. Discover new keywords

When we first launched Trackur, the social media monitoring space was still very much a cottage industry. We (wrongly) assumed that our target users would be searching for “online reputation monitoring” and so that’s what we optimized our SEO efforts towards. However, after weeks of monitoring conversations about our industry and competition, we learned that most potential customers were searching for “social media monitoring” tools, software, dashboards, etc. So we changed our focus.

We’re glad that we discovered those important keywords, but it was not easy identifying them. So we decided to provide Trackur customers with an easy way to discover new keywords. Now, in our dashboards, we show frequently discussed keywords that customers are not already monitoring.

4. Kick content scrapers to the curb

If you’ve ever written a blog post or article, you’ll know that it’s a thrill to see it published. You’ll also know that it’s not quite a thrill when you see that same article ripped-off by some scumbag scraper site. Your hard work is now providing AdSense revenue to some cockroach that doesn’t care about simple things like author attribution or linking back to the original source.

With social media monitoring you can take a unique string of text from your article, and monitor for any mentions of it on the internet. Not only is this a great way to see where it’s legitimately syndicated–which is also great for your press release tracking–but you can see where it’s being scraped. Once you’ve identified the scrapers you can decide which type of action you wish to take–leave it be, request a link, or report them to Google.

5. Protect your intellectual property

Along the some lines, you should be using social media monitoring to watch out for trademark or patent infringement. I have first hand experience with this, having discovered that a new start-up was set to launch in our industry with the word “trackur” in its name. The cheek! Fortunately, I was able to approach them amicably and point out our trademark–as well as the confusion it would generate–so they ended up changing their company’s name.

In the same vain, your own personal name should be treated like a trademark. Should someone start impersonating you, it could be very bad for your reputation, unless you nip it in the bud.

So there you have it. Five different uses for social media monitoring that you may not have considered. However, these aren’t the only clever ways to use social media monitoring. I bet you have a few of your own tricks up your sleeve, so please share one or two in the comments below. I’d love to read them!

Author Bio

Andy Beal is the CEO of Trackur, one of the largest social media monitoring services in the world. With plans starting at just $18 a month, Trackur offers audience measurement, sentiment analysis, and influence metrics without the high price or steep learning curve.

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Big Data: What Marketer’s Need to Know – #SESSF Bryan Eisenberg

Big data is definitely a buzz word within the industry right now, but as I headed to Bryan Eisenberg’s (@thegrok) session at SES San Francisco, I wondered how the average company would be able to leverage the complexity of big data in a way that is meaningful and profitable.

Target made headlines last year when it inadvertently announced to the father of a teenager that his daughter was pregnant, by sending her coupons targeted to her pregnancy. Target knew that this young woman was pregnant before her father did, through the collection and analysis of data related to her past purchases. Although Target would later refine their coupon targeting strategy, this is a powerful example of a company using data in order to speak to the needs of their consumer.

We are all aware that the Internet has facilitated an explosion of data. We are creating and consuming more data now than we ever have in the past. So what exactly do we mean by big data? In order to be considered big data, it must meet three criteria:

VolumeVarietyVelocity

The classic example of a company which has used big data well is Amazon. In the very early phases Amazon used big data, sometimes badly, for personalization recommendations. Now their big data model is quite sophisticated. They still leverage data for personalization and recommendations, but also for coupon offers, warehousing, and shipping decisions. One of the main advantages Amazon has over other companies is their agility. On the day Michael Jackson passed away, they reconfigured their whole MP3 store within 2 hours. Think of how much revenue they were able to capture in those first hours, while other companies were still figuring out how to react.

Companies are concerned about the data explosion. As CMOs try to figure out how to deal with all the data at their fingertips, there are three big challenges they are facing:

PeopleProcessTools

Since there are already many great tools out there which will help companies leverage big data, Bryan suggests that finding the right people and processes in order to use big data will be the biggest challenges for companies moving forward.

According to Bryan the four main types of big data marketing tools include:

Analytics toolsPredictive analytics toolsData driven automation toolsAdaptive learning and automation tools

1. OneSpot

50% of people who are online are looking for more content. OneSpot targets these users by offering targeted content banner ads based on user data.  This tool offers sites the opportunity to use third party content in order to engage audiences and drive traffic to their site.

 2. DataPop

There are 50,000 ways to advertise your inventory. DataPop aggregates all this information in order to create relevant ads, which according to their site, people love to click on. The foundation of success for these ads is that the data links customer intent to content, in order to ensure users land on the right content.

3. BloomReach

BloomReach is a marketing tool which uses big data in order to dynamically route and optimize landing pages in order to target what the user is looking for. For example, a user submits the query pink lace dress and a category page is dynamically created titled ‘pink lace dress’ ensuring the user finds exactly what they are looking for.

4. Runa

Looking at over 90 variables, like mouse clicks, time spent on site, buying history etc., Runa determines which special offer will create maximum benefit for a company’s profit margin.  Tests show site-wide offers, lost 10% + in margins to achieve 8% increase in sales, whereas Runa’s personalized offers gave up ~3% in martins to achieve ~19% increase in sales.

With the tools available today, any company, both large and small, can begin to use big data the way that Amazon does, in order to deliver extremely targeted, contextual results to consumers.

Before you get started leveraging big data, let me leave you with 7 tips for big data success from Bryan Eisenberg.

Don’t get caught up with the hype and jargonIdentify the questions and problems you need to solveMap valuable data inside & outside your organizationPrepare your organization to see the new landscapeShare case studies of other successful uses of big dataLooks for updates around automation and “Black Box” technologyAlways remain open to experimentation

The old marketer’s motto was: “The Money is in the List!” This motto becomes less relevant today as it becomes less realistic for companies to keep track of all their customers and prospects the way they once did. Instead the marketer’s motto is evolving to be “The Money is in the Data.”

How is your company leveraging big data now? And how can it use it more effectively in order to generate revenue?

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21 Essential Gadgets to Boost Conference Content Creation & Travel Productivity

This week I’m in San Francisco for the SES conference. I’m really looking forward to this event because TopRank has a great team in attendance with my Marketing Manager @azeckman, Account Manager @Alexis5484 and Senior Technical SEO @thomcraver who will be speaking on Deep Dive Analytics.

If you’ve read our blog for any period of time, you know I attend a lot of conferences. I couldn’t or wouldn’t do that if it wasn’t productive and in the past I’ve shared many ways to get more value from attending conferences and events. But that’s not all there is.

One of the best ways to gain business value from attending conferences and events is by creating content. I’ve been liveblogging and doing interviews at conferences for many years and so have many of the team at TopRank Online Marketing. We’ve created hundreds of blog posts this way, providing our readers with useful tips and information that gives event speakers and interviewees with exposure while expanding the search and social visibility of Online Marketing Blog.

One way to improve your productivity while traveling, attending conferences and creating content at events is to have the right tools. But it can be a pain in the rear to carry a lot of equipment. I’ve been “optimizing” my gear for travel and conference attendance for a while and thought I’d share.  Below is a photo of what I bring to conferences to help me get the most out of the time I spend there.

I’ll describe each item, how I use it and a link to where you can get it. (some of the links from the images are affiliate links). Clockwise starting from the bottom:

1. Incase laptop bag: As you can see I have a 13? MacBook Pro and after trying several great laptop bags including a very fine one from Tumi, this bag is the right combination of light, useful and roomy for what I need to bring on any trip. It’s pretty basic with one large pocket in the middle with a sort of faux fur lining inside. There is one large outside pocket with a velcro closure (perfect size for a copy of Optimize) and on the other side are two more pockets for all of the accessories and gadgets you see pictured above. There is only one zipper for both pockets which is minimally inconvenient.  About $38.00 on Amazon.

2. Apple Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter: If you own a Mac then there are a number of adapters you’ll need for compatibility with other devices. It’s a bit annoying but you get used to it.  I speak at a lot of conferences and some require you to bring your own laptop. I bring the adapter to make sure there is no issue with connecting my laptop to conference projection hardware.

Once when I gave the opening keynote at a conference, the organizer put the wrong presentation (from a USB stick) on the event laptop. I was able to connect my MacBook Air quickly with no issues because of having this adapter. About $29.00 on Apple Store.

3. Apple USB Power Adapter & Qmadix cord – A must cord if you want to charge your iPhone, iPod or iPad devices. I lost my original Apple cord and replaced it with a generic one which has little clever blue lights on it. Adapter is around $10.00 on Amazon and the dock connector to USB cable is around $19.oo on the Apple store. Those are crazy prices, just buy a generic one for $2-10 on Amazon or at the airport.

4. Apple USB Ethernet Adapter – I rarely need this since wireless is the way to go, but on occasion, the only internet access of substantial quality is wired. And that’s important when you’re on the road and need to do Skype video interviews, Google Hangouts or transfer large files quickly, like video interviews uploaded to YouTube.  About $29.00 at the Apple store.

5. Square Credit Card Reader – I never thought I’d need one of these, but when you’re an author, there are situations while at conferences where people want to buy books without waiting for delivery from Barnes & Noble or Amazon. I don’t always bring books with me to events so I’ve rarely needed it, but when I did, having it was extremely convenient for all involved. Free when you sign up for a square account. You can buy extras from the Apple store for $10 each.

6. MagSafe Power Adapter for MacBook Air – A must have if you want to keep your MacBook Air charged. About $46 on Amazon to replace.

7. Apple Magic Mouse – This is an extra mouse I carry with for travel.  The built-in trackpad has never been very convenient for me and I need every little bit of productivity gain I can get when traveling. This mouse works great plus its slim form factor works great for travel. About $69 from the Apple store.

8. Philips 3-Outlet Travel Power Strip – After buying one of these, I’ve purchased extras and given them away. It’s been getting a little better lately with airports installing more charging stations and some conferences doing the same. But overall, finding power when traveling can be a problem. That’s why a small power strip like this can be both an essential means to provide power access for multiple people and it can become a bit of a IRL social networking tool too.  I didn’t have it with me for the photo above and Amazon no longer carries them. But you can pick one up for about $7 at Drugstore.com.

9. Tumi Mesh Accessories Bag – This came with the previously mentioned Tumi laptop bag that I used to use for my older MacBook Air computers. The Tumi bag didn’t make the cut (heavier than the Incase bag). But this mesh accessories bag is essential for carrying most of the gadgets and accessories in the picture above. The’re not for sale individually, but you can find small mesh bags at Target or Amazon.

10. Samsonite WoldWide Adaptor Plug – Most of my international travel has been to Western Europe and the Asia Pacific region (Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong) so I haven’t needed any exotic power adapter devices. This one in particular I picked up about 5 years ago and I’ve not been able to find another just like it so I’ve included a picture of the one that’s most curent. It can be used in Australia, China, US, Europe and UK. It’s just one piece that folds out different configurations based on what country you’re in. Very handy. About $24.00 on Amazon.

11. New Trent iCarrier 12000mAh 2A&1A heavy duty Dual Port Charger – This is a very large external battery, but when you’re on the road for 12 hours without access to power, this thing is priceless. It will charge your iPhone and iPad many times. You wouldn’t carry it in your pocket but in a laptop bag, it fits fine and is quite useful. About $80.00 on Amazon.

12. USB to Mini USB Cable – This came with one of the many gadgets or devices I’ve purchased and instead of carrying 5 of them, I carry just one to use for charging several other items on this list including the Verizon Jetpack MiFi, Bluetooth lavalier microphone and others.  It works with the New Trent battery or with any laptop with a USB port. Get a generic one on Amazon for $1.00-5.00 or at a Best Buy store.

13. 13-inch MacBook Air - This is a fantastic computer, particularly for travel. It’s loaded with 2.0GHz Intel Dual-Core Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz, 8 GB of memory, 512 GB of Flash Storage, a ton of battery life and it’s both super sturdy and light. Basically, it’s like a MacBook Pro in an Air form factor. About $1700 from the Apple store. I wish that was an affiliate link, but alas it is not

14. Olloclip 3 in 1 iPhone Lens - This is the best lens I could find for enhancing the iPhone 4s camera. During my 5 hours in Paris, I captured some amazing shots because of the wide angle and the fish eye lenses. Same for my many photos of audiences before I give a presentation.  When I was last in New York, I took some great photos with the macro lens as well. It easily snaps on by pressure and stays on. The only downside is that if you use a case, this lens doesn’t fit.  I don’t use a case so it’s perfect for me. About $70 on Amazon.

15. iPhone 4S White 32 gb – Once I purchased an iPhone for my partner, I was hooked and I’ve been buying the newest model since. This one was a “meh” since Siri is a pure waste of time for me. However, I have become very efficient with email, social networking, news and photos / video with the iPhone 4s. It is the device I use most often every day. Get it at Apple Store, Best Buy, AT&T stores or Amazon. Prices vary.

16. Scosche Wireless Bluetooth Microphone for Video Recording – The video quality on the iPhone 4S is pretty great, but the microphone isn’t good at all, especially if you’re at a noisy conference. This wireless mic works like a lavalier and can be clipped on to the lapel of the person you’re interviewing while you hold the iPhone.  You can also have someone else shoot the video with the iPhone while you use the Scosche as a microphone for both you and the interviewee. I tested it up to 25 feet away and it works great.  The audio is about like what someone sounds like when they call in to a radio show. It’s not great audio, but it’s a lot better than the iPhone and gives you the option to capture video and audio in some interesting scenarios. About $62 on Amazon.

17. Verizon jetpack 4G MiFi – I used to have AT&T USB WiFi devices which worked OK when they worked. Connectivity was always an issue more than the devices. I cancelled 3 of those accounts and purchased one from Verizon using this MiFi device. Being able to share the internet connection from this one device with several of my co-workers at a conference when the conference wifi is a crapshoot, can be very useful for filing liveblog posts on time. The 4G speed with this thing has been fast enough for me to do Skype video interviews while traveling. It’s also enough to stream Netflix but watch the GB transfer.  Check the Verizon site for prices.

18. Shure Headphones – I’ve had these for a while. They fit and sond great and really have nothing to do with creating content while traveling or when you’re at a conference. But they do make it easy to “check out” on the plane when you don’t have the MUCH better noise canceling Bose Quiet Comfort 15's with you. About $120 on Amazon.

19. Two Kingston 16 GB Data Traveler Flash Storage USB Fobs – If you’re giving presentations, you must have a USB stick or more. AV people will take them and not give them back. You will forget them in the computers too. I like these because they are one solid piece of metal with a ring on one end so you can attach them to a keychain like the kind found inside good laptop bags. About $13.00 each at Amazon.

20. Two Cuflinks – Nothing to do with creating content at conferences, but I’ll take a stab: If you bring a French cuff shirt and forget the cuff links, it looks pretty bad. Or at least incomplete and distracting. When you’re holding a camera up to your face to do a video interview with someone, the interviewee could be distracted by the fact that you’re wearing a French cuff shirt. Instead of paying attention to you or giving clever answers, they may be wondering if you forgot the cufflinks or maybe you’re making a fashion statement. Or more likely you forgot them and if you are capable of forgetting the cuff links, what else will you forget? So pack extra cufflinks to improve your video interview content.  That’s a reach I know, but I tried. All I know is, I’ve been saved numerous times by keeping a pair of cuff links in my laptop bag. $30 on Amazon and various prices at department and jewelry stores.

21. Logitech Wireless Headphones h800 – These folding headphones sound fantastic and are priceless for Skype calls when you’re on the road. The small USB receiver stores inside one of the ear pieces when not in use. It can connect wirelessly or through a USB to mini USB connection cable to your computer. The sound quality is quite good and I prefer it over my Yeti microphone for audio-only recording sessions. Here’s a video I did with Kevin Hunt of General Mills while wearing these headphones so you can hear what they sound like. About $75 on Amazon.

So, is that really it? Is this all I bring while traveling and to conferences to create content? Two things not pictured are my Sony NEX 5n camera and a small, mini charger attachment for the iPhone.  Other things come and go, but at the moment this is about all I can fit in my laptop bag!

What are some of your favorite travel gadgets and accessories? What tools make you more productive at conferences?

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