Blogs
Finding highly trafficked blogs for your target niche while trying to create the best possible long-term blogger relations plays an essential role in boosting up your search engine presence and authority. However, it doesn’t come easy; you have to invest time and effort in an outreach strategy.
Fortunately, you can do something about this regardless of your experience in the blogging field. Here you will find some of the most efficient tools and methods for successful blogging outreach:
Outreach through directories and blogging communities
Technorati
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The Barbican Centre in London played host yesterday to Digital Futures, Branded3′s one-day Seminar which encompassed expert talks on SEO, Digital and Social Media.
The day got off to a great start with Patrick Altoft‘s opening talk on The Latest Advanced SEO & Link Strategies. Patrick highlighted the challenge digital marketers face in being able to evolve strategies in time to keep up with Google’s algorithm changes. The key, Patrick says, is to align offline marketing strategies with online strategies, encouraging SEO teams to work closer with PR departments.
Our Head of Search Tim Grice reiterated Patrick’s message, telling the delegates that SEO can no longer be about manipulation, it’s about tying in links with real-world marketing.
Newly-appointed MD David Crawford took to the floor after a delicious lunch to talk about five digital trends to be aware of this year. David hammered home some interesting stats about digital usage, such as “96% of smartphone users have searched for local information on their phone” – demonstrating the emphasis marketers should put on social, local and mobile.
“96% of smartphone users have searched for local information on their phone”
Next up was social media hour, in which Head of Creative & Social, Andrew Machin and Social Media Strategist, Georgia Halston discussed best practices for brand social media behaviour, and just exactly how to gauge social media success using various tools.
“A brand is not a logo. A brand is not a service. A brand is an emotional feeling.”
“A brand is not a logo. A brand is not a service. A brand is an emotional feeling.” stated Andrew, as he made the point that being ‘likeable’ on social media is central to naturally growing an audience.
Georgia referenced the popular Dumb Ways to Die YouTube video and why it worked so well, then went on to explain how exactly you can attribute monetary values to social media goals.
You can find out a bit more about how the day went on our live blog, written and updated throughout the day by our Head of Content, Mark Bowering.
If you’d like to receive the slides from yesterday’s Seminar, simply fill out the quick sign-up form above and we’ll send them over to you and you’ll also be the first to hear when tickets go on sale for our next Seminar.
Thanks again to everyone who came to Digital Futures, we hope to see you again soon!
Branded3’s Digital Futures Seminar takes centre stage at The Barbican Centre in London today – and you can follow all the day’s talks and insight in our live blog.
Industry experts Patrick Altoft and Tim Grice will be speaking along with our newly-appointed Managing Director David Crawford, Head of Creative & Social Andrew Machin, and Social Media Strategist Georgia Halston.
Here’s a run down of today’s schedule:
10:00-10:15 - Introduction from David Crawford
10.15-11.00 – The Latest Advanced SEO & Link Strategies, Patrick Altoft – This session will focus on the newest aspects of SEO which are either driving results now or are going to help future-proof your SEO strategy.
11:15 – 12:00 - The Importance of an Integrated SEO Strategy, Tim Grice - Tim will delve into recent Google updates, advising on the many pitfalls companies may encounter.
12:00 – 12:30 - Q&A session
13:15 – 13:45 - Latest Google Algorithm Update
13:45 – 14:30 - Five Digital Trends for 2013, David Crawford - As we approach the end of 2013’s first quarter, David will take a look at how the top digital predictions for the year are shaping up and, more importantly, what we need to watch out for and concentrate on over the coming months.
14:45 – 15:15 - You’ve been invited to the party, Andrew Machin – Why do so many brand social media accounts act so anti-socially? Andy looks at how brands can discover how to build, engage and influence through social platforms.
15.15 – 15.45 – Getting ROI from Social Media, Georgia Halston - Georgia takes a detailed look at why investment in Social Media is a justifiable spend for your business and what return on investment you can achieve from effectively utilising its channels.
15:45 – 16:15 - Q&A session
That’s a flavour of the day ahead – and you can join the conversation even if you’re not here at the Barbican by using #B3Seminars on Twitter.
Get involved and join the digital debate!
Facebook’s latest overhaul is an important one for marketers to be aware of, and should influence the content they’re including in an engagement-driving Facebook content plan.
Currently, about 50% of News Feed content is visual content, so with this in mind, the latest changes are primarily to the interface and functionality of the News Feed. However, we’re now (at last!) also going to enjoy an improved and more unified user experience across desktop, tablet and mobile.
These new design changes will be rolling out slowly over the coming weeks on web and mobile – first on iPhone/iPad, then on Android – however, you can get on the waiting list here to be one of the first users to try out the new interface. Read on to find out what these updates are and what they mean for social media marketers…
Last week saw two of our talented Social Media Strategists hold Brunch with Branded3, an expert Google+ Hangout focused around customer service on social media.
We had fantastic interaction from fellow Google+ users and some great questions came in. The session kicked off with a question about how to effectively deal with a customer query or complaint in just 140 characters on Twitter.
Strategist Fi Dunphy emphasised that the key thing to remember here is to deal with the query as quick as possible and to ask them to send you a direct message with their email address, remembering that both you and the user must be following one another.
Branded3’s Digital Futures Seminar is just around the corner and we can’t wait for what is guaranteed to be a fun, insightful and valuable day. We’ve only got a few tickets remaining, so we thought we’d help you out in making up your mind and convincing you that our Seminar is well-worth the small investment.
Taking place on Thursday 14th March at The Barbican Centre in London, the Digital Futures Seminar promises to teach you everything you need to know about future-proofing your online strategies. Covering SEO, social media and digital; the day is a must-attend for anyone working within online marketing and is sure to equip you with all you need to know to develop strategies which stand the test of time.
So, if you still need a bit of encouragement to peel yourself away from the desk and venture out in the cold, here are five reasons why you should buy a ticket right now:
- Value for money: The cost for a ticket is just £95, when you compare this to the price of many other industry conferences, you’ll see that ours is by far the cheapest. But this certainly doesn’t reflect a dip in presentation quality, the very opposite in fact. You see, this isn’t a money-making exercise for us, we just believe that in an ever-evolving industry like ours, it’s key to encourage transparency and knowledge transfer between experts so everyone can stay one step ahead of the game. We enjoy what we do and we just want to share it.
- We’re in London: To celebrate the launch of our new London base this year and provide a much more accessible location, we’re holding the March Seminar at The Barbican Centre in London. This is a fantastic venue which plays host to a whole heap of creative events and better still, it’s really simple to find!
- Get advice from experts: With the likes of Patrick Altoft and Tim Grice speaking, you know you’re getting the highest-quality advice. Not only have Patrick and Tim founded and ran two of the most successful blog in the Search industry, Blogstorm and SEOwizz, they’re both regularly invited to present at the biggest marketing events around the world. As well as this, you’ll gain Social Media insights from our Head of Creative & Social, Andrew Machin, who has years of brand experience having worked with the likes of John Lewis and Energizer Group. Our newly appointed Managing Director, David Crawford will also be sharing his digital insights for the future. Having worked alongside brands like Bentley, HSBC and UPS, it’s fair to say you’ll be listening to the voice of experience.
- You’re in good company: We’ve hosted a few Seminars now which have proved really popular amongst in-house brand teams. Take a look at who’s attended before:
- Good food and good chat: Don’t worry about forgetting breakfast before you leave home to grab the tube, we’ve got it covered! When you get to The Barbican Centre, we’ll have coffees and pastries waiting for you. All of this, plus lunch, cakes, refreshments and drinks is covered in the price of the ticket, so leave your wallet at home! Couple this with a bit of networking with interesting people on the side and you’ve got yourself a cracking day out of the office.
So, what else do you need? Get tickets booked for you and your team today, you won’t regret it. See you there!
Customer service on social media
If you head over to Branded3’s Google+ page tomorrow at 11:30am, you’ll be just in time for Brunch with Branded3, a free Google+ Hangout led by two of our expert Social Media Strategists.
This month, we’re talking customer service on social media, so you’ll receive plenty of free advice and tips on how to best engage with your customers on this platform.
If you’ve struggled with this topic or you’d simply like to know a bit more about it, make sure you get involved with our Hangout and ask the Strategists any question you like.
The first nine to join the Hangout will be able to participate in the discussion, but as many people as possible can watch the session and leave their questions and comments on the live video.
Google+ Hangouts are really simple to join if you have a webcam and even better if you have a mic! But they’re a pretty new feature, so head over to the Google+ support page to learn more about how to join a Hangout if you’re unsure.
Don’t forget, you can always tweet us any questions you have whilst watching the session live too, just remember to use the hash-tag #B3Brunch and we’ll pick it up and ask the Strategists to answer it.
So pop over to our Google+ page now to follow us and we’ll see you there tomorrow at 11:30am!
Join two of our expert Social Media Strategists a week today at 11:30am for Brunch with Branded3, a Google+ Hangout where you can receive free social media advice.
This month, our Strategists will be talking about how to effectively utilise social media for customer service and indeed, how not to!
Our social media team manage and grow the social accounts of some of the country’s most well-known brands and with plenty of experience, they certainly know a thing or two about how to successfully engage with customers in the social world.
If you’re hooked up to a mic and a webcam, feel free to join in the discussion and ask our experts anything you like about social media.
If you’re not one of the first nine to make it to the Hangout, don’t fret, you can still watch the Hangout live as it happens on our Google+ page and you can leave your questions in the comments section for our Strategists to answer.
There’s no limit as to how many people can watch the Hangout so make sure you put the date in your diary, it’s sure to be an informative and insightful session.
So head over to our Google+ page now and follow us to join the event and we’ll see you next Thursday!
This is a follow up piece from Head of Strategy Matthew Jackson’s previous post - Comet & what to do with digital assets during administration.
Since the high-street fashion brand Republic’s HQ is neighbouring to our own, I thought I would take the time to revisit the digital asset issue, but this time focusing on social media.
After reading Econsultancy’s post on Friday (5th Feb) in which a disappointed stance was realised in reference to how the issue had been dealt with in terms of e-commerce, I was all ready to jump on the brand and give an equally scathing report in terms of social, but this was not to be the case.
In Econsultancy author Mike Essex’s original post, he quite rightly claims that:
“Every day that passes by they (Republic) are losing money and brand equity, as well as wasting one of their strongest assets. For a business in need of recovery, the best thing they could do right now may be to switch the website back on.”
It turns out that Republic had not just done that, they seem to have changed their whole online presence into a massively sales driven environment.
Considering how fast Google is at doing most things whether it’s indexing new pages or updating rankings for breaking news the whole process of merging Blogstorm into the Branded3 site has been an eye opening demonstration of just how slow a domain migration can be.
We migrated the content on blogstorm.co.uk into the Branded3 website with 301 redirects and a change of address notice in Google Webmaster Tools on 20th November 2012 and here we are almost 2 months later with 1200 pages still indexed according to a site:blogstorm.co.uk query and 687 according to Webmaster Tools.
Along with Branded3’s Head of Content Mark Bowering, I attended the #SocialBrands Conference in London last week, for what was an insightful day into the world of social media.
For those of you who were unable to attend, myself and Mark took away these shiny nuggets of social media gold with them for you your enjoyment:
The main issues associated with ROI in social media
How do we define ROI?
Despite what you might have heard, conversion rate optimisation is rarely about changing the colour of your checkout buttons. In most cases the way to improve conversion rates is by making sites more user friendly to remove customer pain points as well as figuring out potential reasons why customers might not buy a product from you and making sure that all those reasons are addressed on the site.
For example if a customer is worried that a product might not arrive in time for an occasion you would have a detailed delivery page explaining what options are available. If you offer free next day delivery that should stop anybody being worried about delivery speed – if you only offer delivery in 3-5 working days this will mean people who are in a hurry might go elsewhere. Continue reading »
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