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What People want from Infographics

http://theantisocialmedia.com/people-want-infographics/

Essential Skills for Modern Marketers

Recently I gave a goals, vision, mission presentation internally at our agency and an important part of it centered around the marketing skills needed individually and collectively to reach our goals.

The basic analysis of the published skills of our own team in preparation for my presentation revealed we have a collective 700+ skills listed across nearly 30 marketers. While that is quite a robust array of skills, it is my belief that we can always do better.

The fast pace and changing nature of our industry is not for the faint of heart or for those that subscribe to mediocrity. What seemed advanced in marketing skills a few years ago has become 101 level today.

In fact, a lot of digital marketing is becoming commoditized with experienced practitioners having access to pretty much the same blogs, conferences and training, professional networks, tools and resources. The cost to access some of these resources is a factor, but the ability to plan and execute is an even greater differentiator.

Executing marketing at a competitive level means skills that operate at a high level. What are those skills? What differentiates high performing marketers? What are the differences between client side marketing skills and the skills marketing consultantsshould have?

For marketing consultants, it’s essential to have the right strategic and tactical skills, but soft skills really make the difference in level of service delivered:

Speak Agency and Client
Goals Focused
Understand Strategy vs. Tactics
Ability to Listen and Empathize
Skilled at Prioritization and Delegation
Ability to Work With Cross-Functional Teams
Professionalism
Effectively Communicate Good News and Bad

Tactical Marketing Skills: I’ve talked a lot at conferences about necessary skills for modern marketers that want to make the most out of the rising tide in content marketing. This is especially a focus as disciplines converge between PR and Marketing, SEO and Social, Content and Advertising.

There will always be a need for strategic generalists and tactical specialists when it comes to marketing skills. From the ability to dig through customer data to identify segments to creating integrated, multi-channel content programs to ongoing performance measurement and optimization, I think the bar is higher for what constitutes essential content marketing skills.

Of course, while content is the kingdom in marketing, there are many other channels and areas of focus from the skills needed for the various marketing technologies and growing areas like predictive analytics to specific channels like mobile.

LinkedIn (client) recently published the results of a new study “What LinkedIn Data Reveals About Modern Marketers” that offers a number of interesting insights about the stated and in-demand skills for modern marketers.

It turns out there’s quite a difference between the most often stated skills and the skills that are in demand by companies hiring marketers:

The five most common skills lists by marketers in 2015 in their LinkedIn profiles are:

Social Media Marketing
Digital & Online Marketing / Strategy
Marketing Event Management
Market Research & Insights
Database and Direct Marketing

The top five skills that are currently most in-demand are:

SEO/SEM Marketing
Digital & Online Marketing
Marketing Campaign Management
Channel Marketing
Marketing Demand Generation

I think it’s generally true that most people over-index on “social media” skills since so many people who use social networks consider that as qualification as the ability to market on social networks. What’s remarkable to me is that SEO isn’t anywhere in the top 5 of stated skills, yet it’s the number one skill in demand.

Whether you agree with the specific marketing skills needed or not, there’s no arguing that attention to individual and the collective skills of your marketing organization (internal or agency) need to be optimized on an ongoing basis.

http://www.toprankblog.com/2015/10/modern-digital-marketing-skills/

How to Teach Yourself SEO in 30 Days

Search engine optimization is complicated.

For many, it’s considered a dark art, peppered with unknowns and uncertainties. And while some marketers consider it an exciting challenge, others back away from it in fear that they'll simply never get it right.

However, the truth is, if you are doing any kind of online marketing, having even a basic understanding of SEO can help you deliver more successful strategies and campaigns.

So to help set you up for success, we've put together a 30-day plan designed to give you a better sense of how SEO works, how it fits into your strategy, and what tools you can use to measure and report on your efforts. While this post won't turn you into an SEO pro overnight, we promise it's full of resources that will make your life as a digital marketer just a little bit easier.

Let's get started.

Section 1: SEO Concepts

After completing days 1-4 you’ll have a basic understanding of how search engines work, a clear sense of the difference between on- and off-page SEO, as well as an overarching understanding of how Google's algorithmic updates have shaped how people approach SEO today.

Day 1: Learn about how search engines work.

Before you start digging into SEO concepts, you'll need to develop your understanding of how search engines work.

To ease yourself into your 30 days, sit down and watch this video by the former head of Webspam at Google, Matt Cutts. By the end of it, you should have a better understanding of how search engines work.

Day 2: Build out your SEO reading list.

SEO is a constantly evolving phenomenon. For this reason, a huge part of being “au fait” with SEO is reading. Thankfully, there are a number of really great SEO blogs out there that can help you keep on top of the ever-changing SEO landscape.

Here are some blogs you should bookmark right now. We encourage you to make some time each day to visit at least a few of them:

Day 3: Learn about SEO’s role in inbound marketing.

SEO and inbound marketing are part of the same ecosystem. The relationship between them is symbiotic -- SEO aids the success of inbound marketing by ensuring content is found, and inbound marketing enables SEO by creating relevant quality content that people want to link to.

To really understand how to create a successful inbound marketing strategy, inbound marketers must understand where SEO fits with inbound marketing.

HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing Certification is a free and comprehensive way to learn the basics of SEO and how it fits within Inbound Marketing.

Here are two other great resources for helping you understand this important relationship:

Day 4: Learn the basics of on-page SEO.

For most, on-page SEO is the easiest part of SEO to understand because you can actually see and control it. On-page SEO refers to what search engine crawlers can discern from the content and structure of your site. These elements include the following:

Content (both design and words)
Title Tags
URLs
Image Alt Tags
Internal linking
Schema Markup
Site architecture
XML sitemaps

To learn more about on-page SEO, check out this comprehensive guide from the folks at Moz.

Day 5: Learn the basics of off-page SEO.

This is the side of SEO that breaks people out it a cold sweat. It shouldn’t.

Off-page SEO factors largely revolve around links. They encompass anything that affects your search engine visibility outside of the information that can be read on your website.

At this stage, you just need to develop an overarching understanding of what’s involved in off-page SEO. (You’ll learn more about link-building later on.)

This handy resource from Search Engine Land lists all the factors related to off-page SEO.

Day 6: Become familiar with the Google zoo.

Google algorithm updates are a headache for search engine optimists. In fact, they are a headache for all digital marketers.

That said, it's helpful to become familiar with the major updates: Google Penguin, Panda, Hummingbird, and Pirate. Again, Moz has a great resource which documents and details all known algorithmic updates since the year 2000.

To better understand if and how these updates affect your website, try checking your site using Baracuda Digital’s Panguin tool.

Section 2: SEO Tools

Before you get your hands dirty with SEO, you need to have your analytics tools all set up and ready to go. At the end of this section, you’ll have done just that.

Day 7: Set up your analytics.

Take the time to set up your analytics package of choice. Google Analytics tends to be the most popular choice of in terms of analytics packages. (If you're a HubSpot customer, you can integrate Google Analytics with your portal.)

For more on how to configure your Google Analytics for SEO, follow this guide.

Day 8: Set up the Google Search Console (formerly Webmaster Tools) for your site.

If you’re serious about wanting your website to rank in Google, the Google Search Console is essential. Essentially, this tool helps you see your website as Google sees it by giving you insights into pages that have been indexed, links that are pointing to your site, popular keywords, rank positions, click through rates, etc.

Take some time to set up your Search Console and dig into the data. Once you become familiar with it, you can also go ahead an install Bing's Webmaster Tools for further insights.

This beginner’s guide to the Google Search Console from Moz has everything you need to get started.

Section 3: Competitor Analysis & Keyword Research

Competitor and keyword research is an essential ingredient for implementing successful SEO strategies, as well as overall content or blogging strategies. For this reason, you should spend ample time developing your skills in this area. This will take some time, so have patience. The goal here isn't to copy or replicate what the competitors are doing, but rather, it's to make sure you're doing more, doing it more effectively, and providing a better solution for your visitors.

Follow the steps below and you’ll have the basic skills required to execute successfully.

Day 9-15: Turn yourself into a keyword research pro.

There’s nothing quite like learning how to do keyword research on the fly. However, a really great resource to help you do so is Nick Eubanks' one-week course on mastering the skill.

After signing up to this course, you will receive one email per day for seven days explaining how to implement different stages of keyword research. It’s very practical -- so much so that at the end of the seven days, you’ll have completed your first keyword research project for your business.

The course does cost $127 (you can get a starter version for $67), but if you have the budget, it’s an investment that’s totally worth it.

If you don’t have the money to spend on the course, check out this really great 50-minutekeyword analysis tutorial from Matthew Barby. It brings you through a full process for carrying out extensive keyword research for blogs, along with all the different tools that you can use -- both free and paid.

Day 16-19: Run a competitor analysis.

Running a competitor analysis is an essential part of defining an SEO strategy. Competitor and keyword analysis go hand in hand, and in many ways, they provide the basis for a solid SEO strategy.

During your SEO analysis, you’ll need to uncover answers to the following:

Who are your main competitors?
What do their traffic levels look like?
What keywords and phrases are they ranking for?
What does their backlink profile look like?
What kind of social media presence have they got?
What does their content strategy look like?

Here are some resources that will help you to get started:

Section 4: Link Building

Link building remains at the heart of SEO. At the end of this section, you should have made a start on developing your own link-building strategy.

Day 20: Develop an understanding of link building.

Link building - a term synonymous with off-page SEO -- refers to the practice of acquiring links from other websites to your own.

The number of high-quality links linking to your website remains one of the most important ranking factors in SEO. There are many techniques for building links, but it is by no means an easy job. It's both challenging and time-consuming. However, by creating great content you’re likely to attract many links organically, without actually having to spend time looking for them.

This ebook by Paddy Moogan of Aira explains the importance and art of link building.

Day 21-23: Start developing a link building strategy.

This does not mean finding out where you can purchase a million supposedly high-quality links to your blog.

After reading Paddy’s ebook, you should have a thorough understanding of the importance of link building, as well as a good idea of how to do it. Now it’s time to take that to the next level.

Jon Cooper of Point Blank SEO, has put together a comprehensive list of link building tactics. You should take the time to familiarize yourself with them (there are lots of them), and figure out how you can go about implementing some of them into your own strategy

Section 5: Local SEO

Day 24-26: Educate yourself on local SEO.

Local SEO is something that more and more people have started to speak about and specialise in over the last couple of years. It’s different from organic, traditional SEO, as it is focused on providing results that are relevant to a searcher based on their current location.

For example, if I search for ‘best pubs’ on my desktop right now, Google would provide me with results that are nearest to me.

The best place to start with local SEO is Google My Business, where you can begin by claiming your page.

Once you've done that, check out our Introductory Guide to Improving Your Local SEO.

Other great resources include this guide from eConsultancy and all these SlideShares by Local SEO expert, Greg Gifford. Here's one of my favorites that presented at BrightonSEO earlier this year:

Section 6: Measuring SEO

Measurement is essential for implementing successful SEO strategies. You’ll need to track data around things like rankings, referrals, and links in order to analyze your SEO strategy and optimize it for success.

Day 27-29: Learn what you need to measure.

The first step towards successful measurement is finding out exactly what you need to measure. Here’s what we recommend you start with:

Search engine share of referring visits
Search engine referrals
Visits referred by specific search engine terms and phrases
Conversion rate by search query term/phrase
Number of pages receiving at least one visit from search engines
Rankings

Another really important thing to note here is that you should try to align your SEO metrics against business objectives. If your goal is to generate more email signups from blog content, then the search visibility of long-tail keywords coming through to your blog content should be high on the list. Having such clear objectives will make it very easy to deem the success or failure of your SEO strategy.

To get started, follow Neil Patel’s guide to measuring SEO success.

Day 30: Relish your newfound knowledge.

http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/teach-seo-30-days

5 Psychology Tips to Improve Your Social Media Posts

Are you struggling to create social media engagement?

Do you want tips to improve your posts?

To get more social media engagement, you need to tailor your content to appeal to your audience on an emotional level.

In this article you’ll discover five psychology tips to improve engagement on your social media posts.

Discover five psychology tips to improve your social media posts.

#1: Images Speak to Viewers

Your image is your first call to action in your social posts. It’s the front door to your content, so it needs to make an impact.

It’s important to choose an image that expresses what you’re trying to say in your post. For example, Red Bull’s Instagram images inspire their followers to enjoy life and seek new adventures.

For your social posts, choose images that tell a story.

Good social images also stand out from the crowd and command attention in people’s news feeds. The image in this Coca-Cola post draws the audience’s attention with its use of vivid colors and an interesting pattern.

Select images that will draw your audience’s attention.

Your images should also be relevant to your target audience. In this Facebook post, Zappos uses an image that appeals to their audience: women who are fashion-conscious and love to buy shoes.

Look for images that will appeal to your target audience.

#2: Color Communicates

Brands that make the best color choices are the brands that get the most engagement on social media.

Before you start sharing your content on social media, you should choose a color that is synonymous with your brand. Your color choice not only represents your business but also impacts your followers on a psychological level.

Rob Russo’s visual branding stands out in his followers’ news feeds and draws attention to what he’s saying. That’s the strategy you want to apply to your visual marketing.

The right brand colors can make your posts stand out in people’s news feeds.

The Honest Company’s signature color is used prominently on all of their social channels and in their posts. The color makes their posts instantly recognizable to their fans.

Use your brand colors in your social posts.

Think about whether your brand color speaks to your target market. If you’re using a consistent color for your brand but not getting the engagement you want, you may need to rethink your color choice.

#3: Words Trigger Action

After creating your first call to action with an image, it’s time to focus on the description.

The law of attraction states that “like attracts like,” so start your description with words you know people want or like to hear. Six words that typically work well are who, what, when, where, why and how. These words spark an emotional response that grabs a person’s attention.

You can also try these trigger words to engage your audience.

#4: Emotion Connects

Connecting with readers on an emotional level, especially when it’s something happy, can impact your social media posts.

In this Facebook post, Adidas connects with their fans by sharing Flavia Pennetta’s exhilaration at winning her first Grand Slam singles title.

Connect with your audience on an emotional level with your posts.

Whether you know it or not, you’re prompting some sort of emotion with all of your social posts. Even if it’s boredom, readers are feeling an emotion when they see your post.

To make the most of this opportunity, share good things with your followers. Portray a friendly, happy brand that is helpful and generous, and people will be drawn to your posts.

On Oreo’s Facebook page, their posts project a fun and lighthearted personality.

Oreo projects an upbeat, friendly vibe with their Facebook posts.

#5: Conversation Engages

How you introduce conversation into the mix of your social media posts helps determine how much people will open up to you.

The easiest, most effective way to spark communication is to ask for it. You might begin your post with a question or end with a question or a statement that prompts people to engage.

In this post, Threadless engages their followers by asking them to submit a quip to use in one of their t-shirt designs.