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Archive for the ‘Conferences and Events’ Category
The Familiarity Effect: PPC vs Organic Search
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Dave Underwood of Topspot Internet Marketing spoke on “Improving Website Measurement & Analytics” at the HiMA luncheon last week in Houston, Texas.
He offered useful insight for successful marketing, some of it surprisingly simple. For example, recording and listening to phone calls: if your sales people give inaccurate information or fail in some other way to appropriately respond to potential customers, it really doesn’t matter if your marketing campaign generates 100 leads from Fortune 500 companies – the sales people are not converting the leads.
He also touched on the hot topic of Organic vs. Paid advertising. Agreeing with a study by Google showing that 89% of the clicks generated by paid ads would not be generated by organic search*, he recommends maintaining a PPC campaign even when your Organic rank is high.
The idea is explained by the basic psychological principle that humans prefer familiar things – the more times customers see or hear about a product or company the more likely they are to trust or prefer it.
Think of Billboard charts: the average song increases in popularity for about 6 or 7 weeks, meaning that people like it more as they become more familiar with it. For brands and companies familiarity drives brand equity: the recession resulted in a 30% earnings decline for companies overall, whereas familiar, trusted Best Global Brands saw only a 4% decline in earnings.
In other words:
People need to see your company lots of times, in lots of places (PPC and search lists), and they need to keep seeing your company show up over time.
* Clearly Google is incentivized to present their findings in a way that encourages companies to pay for advertising, and indeed analysts point out the limitations of Google’s interpretation of their results (Google presents an average rate of Incremental Ad Clicks unique to PPC, and doesn’t explicitly talk about the fact that lower IAC means your PPC is “cannibalizing” more of your organic clicks). In general though, there’s over half a century of robust research demonstrating the familiarity effect, so shelling out for those paid ads is probably worth it for your company.
Brian Wheelis of Facebook at SchipulCon on Facebook Ads & New Facebook Features
Friday, October 7, 2011
SchipulCon is in full swing! We were thrilled to see Brian Wheelis of Facebook speak Thursday on Facebook Ads. Below are our notes:
On Facebook Fan Pages
Your page represents who you are, similar to an individual’s profile page. The page is the concert, the ad is the ticket to that concert. That concert may be Kenny Chesney or Lady Gaga – the ticket is the same, but the experience will be completely different. Pages connect people, ads help us reach their friends. When businesses are connected, they win.
On Facebook Engagement Success
“Very little happens on the Facebook platform that wouldn’t happen off the Facebook platform” – Brian Wheelis
Your store experience is not created on Facebook, it’s replicated. Movements are amplified on Facebook, not created.
The more you create compelling content, the more your fans share. Storytelling is key (this has been a theme throughout SchipulCon).
ComScore did a recent study on Facebook Fan Page metrics:
- People are 50% more likely to buy from brand they are a fan of
- People are 60% more likely to recommend after becoming a fan
New Facebook Features (This is the Juicy Stuff!)
- Improved Fan Page Insights will be rolling out in the next few weeks (Brian admitted that Facebook hasn’t done the best job sharing metric data with Fan Page admins)
- Facebook will be adding the ability to create Ads directly from your Page post. You can take a post that’s been proven effective and push it out as an ad.
- Open Graph actions – instead of just “Like” you’ll get a button for any verb you want. Defaults will be: Listened to, Watched, Read. People will be able to add any word with Facebook approval.
The Latest Facebook Update – The Ticker & Timeline
- Timeline is designed to be a curated representation of you – designed to deliver deeper connections. You decide how much you put on Facebook as a representation of you.
- 12-18% content on Facebook is seen on newsfeed – ticker is meant to increase visibility and allow you to see more newsfeed content
On Ad Targeting
Ad targeting is the main reason to use Facebook ads over other online advertising. According to Brian, targeting on Facebook is 90% accurate vs. 35% on industry sites – people don’t lie because there are social consequences. Interestingly, as you get more targeted, accuracy improves further.
Tips on Improving Facebook Ad Conversions
- Ads with friend interaction included has a double CTR.
- 60% better engagement for Facebook ads if you stick to three lines – the less you say, the better
On Facebook Apps
It’s not a “built it and they will come” situation. There are costs in marketing and promotion. Consider an app, but don’t feel like you need to create one. If you do, some tips:
- Focus on people
- Enable great storytelling
- Create good experiences
- Use sponsored Stories
Does Facebook Increase ROI?
Brian showed case studies on liquor brands, & AMEX Small Business Saturday. He admitted that it’s more difficult for industries like Finance, Pharmaceuticals,etc. where data is more protected.
His tip was to be about something to make it social. i.e. Chase had a Facebook campaign rallying around nonprofits that brought them success.
More SchipulCon!
SchipulCon continues today (Friday 10/7). Photos are posted and will continue to be posted at schipulcon.com/photos.
Follow along at SchipulCon.com, or follow the tweets at the hashtag #SchipulCon.
And if you’re here at SchipulCon, come say hi to one of our Schipul SEM team Schipulites!
SchipulCon 2011 – The Web Marketing Conference
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
SchipulCon is October 6th and 7th and if you haven’t registered yet time is seriously ticking. Don’t miss out on everything geeky and awesome!
The two day conference will be full of amazing speakers flying in from around the country and has three main topics – profit, reach and create.
Picture yourself here this October 6th and 7th, the Norris Conference Centers at CityCentre in Houston.
For the SEM & SEO Enthusiasts…
Schipul’s fearless SEO leader, Caitlin Kaluza will be speaking at two different sessions:
- Metrics for the Real World: A look at the ins and outs of the metrics world and customizing your analytics program and expectations for your business and demographics.
- Beyond the page: Optimizing your website ‘stuff’: The best ways for adding and sharing content strategically and how to learn from your site’s traffic patterns
Other speakers include Carter Cole from BrandExtract, the creator of the popular Chrome extension SEO Site Tools. Carter will be speaking about just that – creating Google Chrome extensions! Brian Wheelis from Facebook may also touch on SEO and Facebook.
The Must See SchipulCon Speakers
- Dries Buytaert, the founder of Drupal…need I say more?
- Nicholas Skytland & Steven González with NASA, yes seriously, NASA!!
- Brock Wagner, the founder of Saint Arnold’s Brewery, the most delicious beer ever to come out of Texas.
- Brian Wheelis, Manager of Agency Management Operations for Facebook
The list doesn’t end there. Check out all of the SchipulCon speakers and register today. There are even one day tickets for those who can’t make it to both days. If that’s not cool enough, tickets will also be sold at the door!
Just for reading this entire blog entry The SEM Blog would like to offer you a sweet discount off of SchipulCon tickets with this promo code: schipulpal
We look forward to seeing you!
SEO for PR Professionals – Speaking to PRSA Tampa
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Last week, I was privileged to go speak for the Public Relations Society of America Tampa Chapter on Search Engine Optimization for PR Professionals.
The group was fantastic with great questions, and it was an added bonus how beautiful the surroundings were!
A special thanks to the PRSA Tampa President Missy Hurley MacFarlane, APR & PRSA Tampa President-Elect Angela Walters for their hospitality & inviting me to come out. (And John Siebenthaler for designing the graphic at right!)
View more presentations from Caitlin Kaluza
Presentation Recap
- Search Engine Basics
- Identifying Your Audience
- Optimizing Your Website
- Measuring Success
1) SEARCH ENGINE BASICS
- How Does a Search Engine Work? – 1. Spider crawls content, 2. Catalogs in index, 3. Algorithm determines what shows for any search
- Search Engines are deaf & blind
- Search Engine Relationships
2) IDENTIFYING YOUR AUDIENCE
- Establish a Baseline - Set Up Google Analytics Tracking
- Research Your Target Market – Brainstorm, Keyword Suggestion Tools, Select 3 Key Phrases
3) OPTIMIZE YOUR WEBSITE
- What do Search Engines Look For?
- Content is King
- Logically Incorporate Keywords while Keeping Your Message – in text, in alt tags, in fancy words, in links
- Keep Your Site Fresh
- Optimize Across the Web – Local Listings, Online Advertising
4) MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS
- Visits vs. Conversions
- Is the phone ringing?
