Search Industry Roundup – February 2014

We thought our Search Guide was pretty awesome, but so did wired magazine.  Do not miss out on the insights to optimizing your digital marketing for the “Semantic Web” -  grab your copy today!

3 Ways SEMrush Can Make SEO More Effective

 

In search, we love our tools. Ask anyone in the industry and they’ll tell you about their favorite (or a handful of favorites) they use on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Tools make our lives a whole lot easier and our search campaigns easier to assess and strategize.  Read More

King Content: How Google is Forcing the SEO Industry’s Hand

Google made a total of 15 changes to the algorithm that defines search results. While many of those changes have been minor, others have had a dramatic impact on websites and more specifically, on the content contained on the sites. With these changes, Google is forcing the SEO industry to change its focus and the way it creates content.  Read More

How to Make Sure Your Customer Finds You

 

 

It is no secret that mobile use and spend has exploded, and mobile search right along with it. In fact, 86 million people used a mobile device to search for local businesses in the past year, according to comScore—which means your potential customers are looking for you—on the go! Are you giving them every opportunity to find you?  Read More

Increasing Local Reviews: Integrating Offline Marketing Tactics

 

82 percent of local searchers follow up offline via an in-store visit (comscore/TMP), which means we also need to incorporate the offline visit as part of our integrated marketing strategy.  Reviews are ranked as one of the top five most important ranking factors for local SEO coupled with the fact that 88 percent of users are influenced by a customer review when making a buying decision.  Read More

The Stealthy Rise of Semantic Search

 

 

 

Millions of people are already using semantic search and they don’t know it.  Some of the world’s most popular search engines and social networking sites are using the technology to make it easier to make connections, learn, and explore interests. It’s quietly become a part of our lives, and innovative companies are pushing the technology and industry toward new horizons.  Read More

 

Facebook Acquires Mobile Messaging Company, WhatsApp for $19 Billion

In a previous article, Rumor Has it That College Age Adults Are Flocking Away From Facebook, we find the Facebook has been losing quite a bit of their younger demographic. 

Breaking into the mobile messaging space, Facebook announced that they have reached an agreement to purchase the five-year-old start-up, WhatsApp, a proprietary, instant messaging company.

The deal roughly breaks out to $4 billion in cash and $12 billion in stock for the company—plus $3 billion in restricted stock units that will go to vested WhatApp employees. Additionally, WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum will join Facebook’s Board of Directors, although the company will continue to operate independently and retain its brand.

You can see the appeal that WhatsApp would have to Facebook, with its current 450 million monthly users, and its continued growth of 1 million new registered users per day. (70 percent, of which, actively use it daily.) Furthermore, they have a high user base in Latin America, India and Europe. With these model attributes, this investment solidifies Facebook’s foothold in the mobile market.

Jan signs WhatsApp/Facebook paperwork at the welfare office where he got his food stamps as a teen.

"WhatsApp is on a path to connect 1 billion people. The services that reach that milestone are all incredibly valuable," said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO, said in an announcement. While from co-founder and CEO, of WhatsApp, Jan Loum, said, “Here’s what will change for you, our users: nothing.”

There are a lot of questions brewing with the announcement of this acquisition. We’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you think this was a smart purchase for Facebook? How do you think this will impact the consumer-tech industry?

Top 3 Ways Apps Can Monetize

The app market has exploded but only a few apps will survive in the long haul. The ability to monetize will be the defining factor. Fortunately, innovations in mobile technology have emerged to make monetization possible with in-app advertising and in-app purchase models.

Read More

Really, A Million Dollar Landing Page?

While there are no guarantees in the online world, we are confident that any online business can increase their conversions by reviewing the insights provided by the Conversion Rate Experts and Moz’sCEO, Rand Fishkin.  In the post, How we made $1 million for Moz, Rand details how his company applied the Conversion Rate Experts Methodology (CRE Methodology™) to their landing pages.

Landing Page Optimization Tips:

1. Create a page long enough to tell your story.

2. Infuse the headline with curiosity rather than overt “buy me” language.

3. Explain precisely what customers’ receives.

4. Showcase things that customers care about.

5. Augment the message with video.

6. Create a quick-start guide so customers get quick wins.
 

Download the full guide to get all the details, lessons learned and access to additional powerful guides and review Creating Effective Landing Pages.

We want to hear from you. What other tips do you have to share for creating effective and impactful landing pages? 

Online Video Stats You Can’t Ignore

(And if this does not convince you to add online video content to your content marketing strategy, I don’t know what will!)

 

 

Since the recent release of Google’s latest algorithm, Hummingbird, content is on the top of every marketer’s mind. It is the cry heard ‘round the world’ from marketing circles to agencies. Marketers are scrambling to create massive amounts of content. Not just any content, but good quality, relevant content, the type that Google’s new search algorithm will fall in love with!

Enter, video, the darling of content strategies—quick, easy to digest, and better yet, entertaining—this content strategy is on the rise—getting more popular year-over-year and, as you will see, demonstrated by the statistics below.

As a business, all these indicators point to the fact that videos need to be in your content marketing mix in some form. Even something as simple as short form videos from Vine or Instagram can add great value to your range of content.

What are you waiting for?! Are you ready for your close-up?

• 
  

  Online content videos have broken the record with 52 billion monthly views, and the number of video ad views totaled 35.2 billion. (comScore)

  
  

• 
  

  An overwhelming 91% of respondents find video to be equally or more effective than display, a response that has grown rapidly year-over-year. (BrightRoll)

  
  


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  The average American spent more than 20 hours watching online video per month. (Invodo)

  
  


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  93% of marketers used video for online marketing in 2013. (eMarketer)

  
  


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  While websites were the most popular destination for video content, used by nearly 84% of respondents, almost two-thirds tapped YouTube to host videos. Social media platforms were employed by close to 62% of respondents, while around 60% of those polled sent videos via email. (eMarketer)

  
  


• 
  

  As of 2013, more than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month. (YouTube)

  
  


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  Respondents who had used videos in their email campaigns saw real returns on their investments. These campaigns reported 55% higher click-through rates, 44% saw an increase in the amount of time subscribers spent with an email, and 41% reported an increase in the sharing or forwarding of emails. (eMarketer)

  
  


• 
  

  Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube—that’s almost an hour for every person on earth and 50% more than last year. (YouTube)

  
  


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  18-24 year-olds have emerged to be the heaviest consumers of digital video. (comScore)

  
  


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  86.9% of the U.S. Internet audience viewed online video. (comScore)

  
  


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  57% of consumers say that product videos make them more confident in a purchase and less likely to return an item, up from 52% a year ago. (MediaPost)

  
  

Learn how  Online Video Will Remake Advertising In 2014.

Data compiled by: Donna M. Young, Director of Social Media

How to Source New Leads for Your Business

 

(Photo credit: Examiner) 

Creating and managing momentum for leads (sales and/or consumers) is analogous to pushing a boulder to the top of a hill with a plateau. It requires great effort and patience, such as staying after work and possibly making time during weekends, all without the guarantee of immediate results—a fact that makes it all the more difficult.

 

In the sales, B2B or B2C, environment, the boulder represents lead sourcing or prospecting for consumers. The great reward for getting the boulder to the top of the hill is a cache of qualified leads. Those consumer prospects represent a certain amount of good activity (that amount is directly correlated to how much work one puts in) in the form of marketing efforts, site visits completed and most importantly, (dramatic pause) sales!

 

The question then becomes “Now, that I’m at the top of the hill, what next?”

 

There are two choices—let’s analyze the cause and effect.

 

1) Should you let the boulder roll down the hill because it is natural to take a break after all of the hard work that was put in to pushing the boulder there? After all, your prospective consumer numbers have spiked—they are yielding results and having the entire weekend to enjoy is an additional bonus! It actually begins to feel easy—why not let your marketing efforts go status quo?

 

As tempting as it may seem—don’t do it! You’ve spent a lot of time and effort building up your prospective consumer base.

 

Those prospects will dry out if you don’t continue to fine-tune your marketing efforts to keep them warm. Remember the old saying, “it’s easier to keep a client once you get them through the door, than to go out and get a new one”.  This applies to prospective clients too. You’ve put in all the marketing efforts—paid search, social, and personal calls to get their attention. Now the goal is to keep their attention, and eventually drive them further down the conversion funnel.

 

2) Alternatively, now that you are at the top of the hill, the choice to make is to keep pushing the boulder, but this time across the ground levelly, rather than letting it slide away. It may take a little hard work and creativity, but the work will pay off. This is when you need to rethink how to engage the lead base you’ve built. To do this, you need to ask yourself, “What information can I provide that will be valuable to my prospects?”

 

Turning a prospect into a paying consumer requires finesse and eloquence. If you just think “sell, sell, sell” you won’t get far. You need to constantly be thinking “How can I provide value to my consumer by demonstrating the solutions we provide?” This can be the immense difference in pushing that boulder to the next level.  

 

As you can see, the obviously choice in the end, is that pushing the boulder is the only choice to generating more prospective consumers and converting them to clients—so keep on pushing.

 

The end game to this success is a satisfied consumer and your feeling of accomplishment, which in turn elevates the status of your company and affinity for your products and/or services, and ultimately, more money, is made.

 

Another great way to create new leads is by  Creating Effective Landing Page, lean how to create a compelling and adaptive landing page here!

 

Written by: Philip Rubinovich, Sales Executive, NTENT

7th Annual IAB Leadership Conference Recap

 

The 2014 IAB Annual Leadership Meeting was sold out and packed full of insightful and compelling content from industry experts. Whether you’re a small business owner or a big brand manager, the information that flows out of this event is extremely valuable. If you missed it, not worry. We’ve compiled a few highlights from the show.

 

The 7th Annual IAB Annual Leadership Meeting kicked off with a bang! With a focus on “Marketing 2020: The Digital Agenda,” Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB, hyped up the audience of more than 1,000 influencers by saying: “You are, by all definitions of the concept, defining the agenda for our industry.” Each day the IAB conference held true to the five enduring priorities:

 

1. Build a Trustworthy Digital Advertising Supply Chain



2. Make Measurement Make Sense



3. Support Publisher Transformation



4. Build Brands Digitally



5. Move Mobile Mainstream


 

The conference’s first keynote speaker, Nick D’Aloisio, Product Manager, Yahoo, set the tone of the event. At age 15, investors like Li Ka-Shing were investing in his work; at 17, Yahoo bought his app Summly, a program that algorithmically generates summaries of the news. He shared his perspectives an insight on where the digital industry is heading based on the insights he’s gathered through this experiences. Not surprisingly he stated that users want immediacy, particularly on mobile. He emphasized the need to create products that generate reliance, regularity, and transform habits. “There’s no point in designing a mobile experience if you don’t have in mind a daily habit,” he said. The demand for social everything is waning.

 

 

On day two the conference opened with a riveting welcome from Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB. “Nothing in history of mankind except the invention of writing has enabled more diversity of expression than the internet….Advertising has been the fuel of that freedom of expression,” he said, as he shared what drives him most deeply. For others he noted, “Digital advertising is the new Gold Rush” - both goals require that the same challenges be overcome between now 2014 and 2020.

 

Marketers let their voices be heard during an invigorating roundtable where Mike Perlis, President and Chief Executive Officer, Forbes Media, moderated a roundtable discussion with Jamie Moldafsky, Chief Marketing Officer, Wells Fargo, and Ann Lewnes, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Adobe Systems, about marketer transformation. The importance of omnichannel and data rose to the top. Moldafsky said, “The notion of omnichannel is the single biggest thing transforming our business…Our biggest opportunity and challenge is how to get the organization to think mobile first.” Lewnes emphasized how data today allows marketers to demonstrate their value, “If I can show you that I can measure exactly what you’re looking for and provide the best return on investment, how are you going to argue with me?…For the first time marketing can justify it’s really driving the business.”

 

For more conference highlights check out the IAB YouTube Channel.

 

Share your view with us in the comments section: What do you think the biggest takeaways were from the conference?

Part 2: Time to Fall Back in Love with Email

We hope Part 1: Time to Fall Back in Love with Email  got you thinking about your mobile email strategy for 2014, but we have some more things for you to consider…

Be Responsive with your Email (and Website)

Responsive Design hit the scene back in 2010, making it easy for anyone to have a mobile presence.  The good news is; it is now available for email!  In a nut shell, it dynamically renders and optimizes your content for the device it is being viewed on.  So if your customers are on a PC/Mac, then go to their favorite tablet or hit the road with their preferred mobile device; your message is always optimized.  An additional benefit is that responsive is future proof, so if a new device hits the marketplace, you will be good to go from day one.

 

Email

Depending on how you currently deliver your mail (more on that later) you may have options that are native to the platform you are using.  In some cases you may need to “break up” with your current email solution, so that you can take full advantage of all the benefits of responsive mail.  We would recommend that you start with a seasoned list of well nurtured contacts and bring them over to the new platform for a test.  An excellent vendor is ExactTaget (recently acquired by Salesforce), as they provide both templates and deliverability.  For additional options, Website Magazine recently published a list of vendors for your consideration.

 

Website

If you currently do not have a mobile website or responsive design, then 2014 is certainly the year to make this happen.  A Forbes article on online marketing trends for 2014 stated.  “Whether it’s creating an alternate mobile version of a website or utilizing responsive web design, it’s important to provide a positive experience” for mobile users.  If your current Content Management System (CMS) does not provide these options; it is definitely time to make a move to something prettier.  Are you using WordPress as your CMS?  GREAT, because your move could be as simple as choosing a responsive theme.  We recommend you hit the dating scene at ThemeForest to view vendors vying for your attention.

 

Consider the Cloud

This may be the biggest break up you need to make and may hurt the feelings of those closest to the heart beat of your organization – your IT department!

As we have mentioned, some of these changes do require the latest in technology and the support needed to execute your vision.  We have worked with many small to medium sized businesses (all the way to large brands) and we often hear; “I checked with my IT guys and they said “it” couldn’t be done.  Well that may be true in the environment they have set up, but you do have options.

 

Question:  Can your current infrastructure support your mobile and email goals for 2014?

 

If you are not sure, we would recommend you get educated by evaluating a few vendors that offer web based platforms that specialize in email, databases, deliverability, mobile and responsive design.  Here is a short list to get you started:

 

• ExactTarget



• Responsys



• iContact



• VerticalResponse



• MailChimp


 

All have videos, demos, articles and free trials that will allow you to experience how easy it can be to fall back in love with email and achieve your vision for the future.

 

Download our most recent guide:

 

Search Today and Beyond - A Guide to Optimizing Digital Marketing for the “Semantic Web”

 

Written by: Greg Gossler, Director of Marketing, NTENT

Home

Part 1: Time to Fall Back in Love with Email

 

You have probably fallen in and out of love with the options available to grow your business.  Maybe you were hurt by certain channels not meeting your expectations or maybe you just got bored.  Then newer, more attractive options hit the scene to turn your head, steal your attention and appeal to your desires to try something new.  While we have nothing against exploring new relationships,  it may be time to recommit to a relationship that has always delivered and approach it with a fresh pair of eyes and an open heart. 

 

Email marketing remains a very important sales driver for online businesses.  A recent study by Custora, a predictive analytics platform for e-commerce, affirms that email is one of the top ways to get new customers (beating out Facebook and Twitter).  Most importantly for business selling their products and service online, customers that come to you via email, rather than social media, tend to shop more and spend more, as stated in the Forbes article, “Why Email is Still More Effective Than Social Media Marketing.”  That’s a big win for email and a great reason to start the romance all over again!

 

Email, as a channel to acquire new customers, grew considerably during 2013 and the trend appears to be in place for 2014.  So now that the verdict is in, what can you do to add some spark and make the most of your email marketing efforts for 2014?

 

Mobile Devotion

 

Mobile, mobile, mobile.  That should be the voice inside your head!

 

Last year mobile opens increased by 24% (from 41% to 51% of total opens); officially beating all other ways your prospects and customers use to view and read your marketing messages.  Here are a few more important stats:

 

• 66% of Gmail opens occur on mobile devices, with only 19% opened in a web browser (Source: Litmus)



• More than a third of all adults own a tablet device (Source: Pew)

 

Question:What do your emails look like on mobile devices?

 

Two important factors would be legibility and actionability.  Mobile users will abandon emails they can’t read or find frustrating to interact with.  This means that bigger fonts (minimum 16px) and clear, tappable calls to action (minimum 44px x 44px) are crucial.  In addition, choosing a mobile strategy that balances the needs of your team and your audience is a must.  Analyze your email opens and trust the data, not your heart.

 

Stay tuned for part two, coming soon!

 

P.S. – In case you missed our guide, “10 Tips for Effective Email Marketing”, download it today to get even more insights.

 

Do you use email marketing? Do you have any tips? Share them with us in the comments. 

 

Also learn how you can use email to get customers to return to their abandoned online shopping carts in this article 6 Ways to Make the Most of Shopping Cart Abandonment 

Written by Greg Gossler, Director of Marketing, NTENT

Did Online Video Steal the Super Bowl Show?

Online video played an immense role in the 2014 Super Bowl bonanza. Many brands launched teaser campaigns leading prior to the main event. Did online video ads steal the show? That’s debatable but online video viewing has certainly changed the game – pre, during and post event. 

 

While 100 million fans tuned in for the game, millions more began to discover, watch, and share their favorite 2014 Super Bowl commercials on the YouTube Ad Blitz channel back on January 16th and it will continue until February 14^th.  Last year, YouTube’s data revealed Super Bowl ads generated over 265 million views for over 3.2 million hours!  This year’s stats are even more staggering. Pre-game data from YouTube indicated that video ad views were up about 2.2 times above last year. The day after the Super Bowl, YouTube reported that there were over 212 million views of Super Bowl commercials and that video ad content jumped from 50 to 100 Super Bowl related commercials.

 

Just who will come out on top? Well we’ll have to wait another week to find out. On Monday the leaders were:

 

1. Budweiser Super Bowl XLVIII Commercial — “Puppy Love” with 37 million views.



2. Duracell: Trust Your Power - NFL’s Derrick Coleman, Seattle Seahawks with 16 million views.



3. Hyundai Elantra | Big Game Ad | “Nice” with 12 million views.



4. 2014 Volkswagen Game Day Commercial: Wings with 11 million views.



5. Sorry, Coke and Pepsi. (Uncensored) with 10 million views.



6.  

You might be asking yourself why brands chose to release their spots ahead of the game when they had paid $4 million for 30 seconds during game time. The answer doesn’t seem obvious at first but this shift reflects that brands are embracing consumer viewing habits.  In fact, Tubular Labs reported that the 15 worst performing Super Bowl spots on YouTube were all held off the Web until they aired during the Super Bowl. The element of surprise seems to be far less valuable these days than the element of hype.  

 

This year, brands that weren’t official Super Bowl sponsors still made a big splash online. For example, Newcastle stole headlines with their “Behind the Scenes” ad featuring Anna Kendrick which the company stated has been viewed over 9 million times.  Brands don’t need to spend $4 million for an ad or to wait until Game Time to score a touchdown with consumers. In fact, they can’t wait, with over $6.8 billion in consumer spending at stake, according to eMarketer, brands are going head to head to capture as much revenue as possible. 

 

To do this, brands have to entice consumers early on, across a multitude of platforms – online, mobile, and social.  Savvy marketers recognize that they can get more buzz with less money online by employing economical digital marketing tools. “Big time brands” also used some “small time marketing tactics” to get ahead.  Socially, brands used a myriad of hashtags (#BrandBowl, #SuperBowl) to engage consumers Super Bowl conversations, i.e. Intuit’s Small Business Big Game promotion with #TeamSmallBiz. Many brands, official and unofficial, used pay per click campaigns to target football fans on AdWords at an average cost of $7.50 (that sure beats $4 million!) and/or they leveraged flat rate online contextual advertising platforms to target their ads alongside relevant content and reach football fans at scale.  And last but not least, they used 15 and 10 second video ad teasers on Vine and Instagram to help drive views and generate shares of their content. What this all comes down to is brand engagement: early and often on through a plethora of digital platforms on consumer terms.

 

While the post-game Ad blitz has yet to conclude and the final stats have yet to come in, digital marketers can still learn a few lessons from this year’s Super Bowl advertisers and apply them to any big event:

1. Start promoting your brand early and often.  In this age of digital and social media, the volume of content digested by the average consumer is much higher, so get ahead of the pack by starting promotions early.



2. Recognize the power of online video and use it to engage your consumers pre, event day and post event.  The best part about online video content is that people can more easily engage with it, re-play it, and share it with friends instantaneously. 



3. One video isn’t enough. Create different teasers from your video ad that will work for you leading up to the event and post to platforms like Vine and Instagram to generate buzz.



4. Use cost effective advertising methods to reach consumers. Million dollar brands tap into pay per click advertising, like Ad Words and NTENT. Be creative and tease out your campaign over the course of the event.



5. Join a conversation on social. Use common event hashtags to engage fans. And if Oreo’s, JCPenny and Doritos taught us anything, it is that it is ok to engage in brand to brand conversation on social. Don’t be afraid to tweet big spenders during the next event when you are trying to reach an audience and step into the limelight. Just be very tactful and creative about how you do it.



6. Embrace the trifecta – digital, social, mobile. As consumers’ attention becomes divided across multiple screens and platforms throughout the day, post your video to this trifecta to ensure you’ve reached your audience.

Take a look at these  Online Video Stats You Can’t Ignore.

 Written by: Kerstin Recker, Head of Marketing at NTENT

 

What other lessons do you think we can learn from this year’s Super Bowl advertisers? Share them in the comments below. 

Brands Score a Touchdown with Social Media in Super Bowl XLVIII

There were countless predictions that this was to be the most social Super Bowl (#SB48) ever. Twitter’s records were broken, but not by much, surprisingly. There were 24.9 million tweets sent versus 24.1 from last year’s game. Facebook’s reported stats were staggering—more than 50 million unique people joined the conversation to chat about the game, with a total of approximately 185 million interactions, which included posts, comments and “likes” related to Super Bowl.

 

Savvy advertising brands, believing social media would garner a larger audience, started early, releasing a record number of pre-game videos on social channels. Their proactive efforts paid off. Some advertisers had as much as six times their average daily number of social mentions, on Super Bowl Sunday (Adobe). It didn’t hurt that after halftime, fans’ attention shifted even further toward social media channels, which, in turn, fed these statistics—perhaps due to the Seahawk’s dominance in the game.

 

Twitter and Facebook, being the most popular platforms, were heavily utilized, but Vine, definitely made its presence known this year during the game. It was interesting to see the number of brands getting very creative by using Twitter’s flirty, yet effective six-second short video platform as a medium to promote their products or services. 

 

One brand in particular, Tide, had a very Vine-centric campaign, which had close to twenty short videos, each one playing off other brands’ Super Bowl ads.

 

Priceline also tapped into Vine, their riff making “express” versions of other brands’ commercials plays of the game, and the halftime show, done with sock puppets.

 

The creativity shown in short video formats such as Vine and Instagram video will only inspire brands to push the creative boundaries of the medium further—expect to see them play a larger marketing role in other events such as the next Super Bowl and Olympics.

 

Now that the numbers are in for the Super Bowl, there’s no doubt social media is a tour de force, and that brands taking advantage of multi-platforms, creatively combined with their TV buy, will reap the rewards of a well-engaged audience.

Come see how  Advertisers Score Big with Online Videos Leading Up to Super Bowl 2014.

 Written by: Donna Young, Director of Social Media, NTENT

How Local Chains and Small Businesses Rode the Super Bowl Wave

Every year when the NFL Super Bowl rolls around it seems that the entire country focuses on the big brands.  But don’t discount opportunities that Game Day brings for small and local businesses across the country. Sure it might be hard to cut through the clutter, but we’ve done some work highlighting how savvy marketers have been effective at stealing a little piece of the Super Bowl pie. From newsjacking, to mobile marketing, to in app promotion, these marketing tactics may inspire you to take on the big game in 2015.

 

Small Businesses Take Advantage of a Big Brand Promotions

 

Intuit decided to do something different with their $4 million spot this year. Instead of talking about themselves, they gave one small business an opportunity to take over their :30 spot on game day, with the Intuit Small Business Big Game Contest.

 

Holding true to their mission of championing small businesses, their contest gave a voice to the 29 million small businesses across the country through #TeamSmallBiz.  Over 15,000 small businesses submitted their ads and were featured on the contest hub page. Fans voted on their favorites, narrowing the videos to 20 final contenders. 8,000 Intuit employees parsed it down to four finalist: Dairy Poop, Barley Labs, Locally Laid and GoldieBox.  GoldieBox stole the show had their spot featured to over 100 million viewers!

 

Small businesses can take advantage of big brands that are spending millions to reach consumers by participating in opportunities like the Small Business Big Game Contest. Be on the lookout next year!

 

 

Take a Tip from Papa John’s Pizza Promotion in Local Markets

 

Leading up to Game Day, Papa John’s gave fans an extra incentive to make them their go-to option for Super Bowl parties. The week leading up the Super Bowl, NFL fans could use promo code “PJMVP” on PapaJohns.com when ordering pizza to get a code to receive a free pizza the day after the Super Bowl! With over 3,800 locations in all 50 states, the local chains scored big adding additional revenue to $2.6 billion a year franchise.

 

Small business take a tip from their promotion strategy. While they did run a national campaign, it’s what they did in the local markets that counts. They tapped into social media conversations using hashtags like #SuperBowl, geo-targeted pay per click marketing efforts to reach local consumers online and on mobile, and leveraged local signage to generate awareness.

 

Throwback to 2013: Local Restaurants Promote on EatNowNOLA.com

 

(This demonstrates an excellent way that small businesses can take advantage mobile apps to promote their businesses pre/post Game Day)

 

Every year when the Super Bowl rolls around some restaurants are packed, while other are totally deserted. Last year, local restaurants that had seats to fill promoted seat availability to fans in search of food on EatNowNola.com. Real-time updates told hungry fans if they had seats and how long the wait was while using location based software to allow fans to locate the closest restaurant.

 

The 500 participating restaurants that used this to promote their business on game day scored big – saving hungry local consumer’s time and the frustration of struggling to find a seat to watch. Get your information updated on Yelp, Seemless and other local based apps so that you are well positioned to take advantage of hunger fans next year!

 

Check out the  Super Bowl Ads that Score Big!

Photo: Hubspot

 

What other companies out there did an awesome job stealing some thunder and/or newsjacking the Super Bowl? What did your business do? Share it with us in the comments!

Semantic Search

Since the recent release of Google’s latest algorithm, Hummingbird, content is on the top of every marketer’s mind. It is the cry heard ‘round the world’ from marketing circles to agencies. Marketers are scrambling to create massive amounts of content. Not just any content, but good quality, relevant content, the type that Google’s new search algorithm will fall in love with!

Enter, video, the darling of content strategies—quick, easy to digest, and better yet, entertaining—this content strategy is on the rise—getting more popular year-over-year and, as you will see, demonstrated by the statistics below.

As a business, all these indicators point to the fact that videos need to be in your content marketing mix in some form. Even something as simple as short form videos from Vine or Instagram can add great value to your range of content.

What are you waiting for?! Are you ready for your close-up? Social Media Predictions for 2014

• Online content videos have broken the record with 52 billion monthly views, and the number of video ad views totaled 35.2 billion. (comScore)


• An overwhelming 91% of respondents find video to be equally or more effective than display, a response that has grown rapidly year-over-year. (BrightRoll)

- See more at: http://verticalsearchworks.tumblr.com/#sthash.lVncqH5f.dpuf

Since the recent release of Google’s latest algorithm, Hummingbird, content is on the top of every marketer’s mind. It is the cry heard ‘round the world’ from marketing circles to agencies. Marketers are scrambling to create massive amounts of content. Not just any content, but good quality, relevant content, the type that Google’s new search algorithm will fall in love with!

Enter, video, the darling of content strategies—quick, easy to digest, and better yet, entertaining—this content strategy is on the rise—getting more popular year-over-year and, as you will see, demonstrated by the statistics below.

As a business, all these indicators point to the fact that videos need to be in your content marketing mix in some form. Even something as simple as short form videos from Vine or Instagram can add great value to your range of content.

What are you waiting for?! Are you ready for your close-up?

Semantic search

• Online content videos have broken the record with 52 billion monthly views, and the number of video ad views totaled 35.2 billion. (comScore)


• An overwhelming 91% of respondents find video to be equally or more effective than display, a response that has grown rapidly year-over-year. (BrightRoll)

- See more at: http://verticalsearchworks.tumblr.com/#sthash.lVncqH5f.dpuf

 

How to Achieve Amazing content marketing

Every New Year brings new marketing opportunities, a chance to refresh old ideas and build upon your old strategy.  At first glance, preparing your marketing plan can seem like a daunting task But, with the right tools even the most overwhelming task can be simplified. That’s why we've created this easy to follow 2014 Must Do Marketing Checklist. In this guide we have provided you with information on mobile, SEO, PPC, Social and Video must do lists for each of the categories.

Optimize Sites for Mobile Devices through responsive design. 

Responsive design is the hot new trend for building effective websites. Why? Because it allows you to build one website that’s optimized for all devices (desktop, mobile and tablet).  It’s hard to ignore how crucial this is as the number of searches performed on mobile devices has increased by 26% in less than a year[1].  By 2015, analysts predict that mobile search queries will overtake desktop queries as smart phone market penetration increases. these facts make it extremely important that every user gets the perfect experience no matter the device they are working with. 

Take a look at some Website Checklist and Tips here:

- See more at: http://gdnjcnzsfv.prev.app.compendium.com/resources/january-2014#sthash.XtTdlI6v.dpuf

Search Today and Beyond: Optimizing for the Semantic Web

 Search has changed dramatically over the past year and semantic technology has been at the center of it all. Consumers increasingly expect search engines to understand natural language and perceive the intent behind the words they type in, and search engine algorithms are rising to this challenge. Read More

Advertisers Score Big with Online Videos Leading Up to Super Bowl 2014

As football fans across the country gear up for Super Bowl 2014, advertisers have been busy releasing ad teasers online. In fact, YouTube has already attracted 44 million views, up from 20 million at this time last year. Online video and social are playing a starring role as advertisers, large and small, recognize the need to move beyond TV to reach consumers on a massive scale and entice them to engage with their brand. “What advertisers have realized is that Super Bowl advertising doesn’t just take place on TV, with your 30-second or 60-second spot that you paid millions of dollars for,” said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst for research firm eMarketer. “You really need to have a broader presence.”

 

Which advertisers have the viewership advantage going into the game? Sodastream, Doritos, M&M, Butterfinger, Alex and Ani, Intuit, Volkswagon and Dannon Oikos Super Bowl ads have the highest YouTube views so far. Take a glance at some of the best pre game ads that have been released. 

 

Tim Tebow’s T-Mobile Super Bowl Spot

 

Alex and Ani –Local Super Bowl Ad

 

2014 Volkswagen Game Day Commercial: Wings

 

Budweiser’s “Coming Home” Ad

 

M&M’S Super Bowl Commercial 2014

 

Bud Light “Don” Super Bowl XLVIII Teaser

 

Intuit’s Spotlight on Small Business Super Bowl contest!

 

Budweiser Super Bowl XLVIII Commercial — “Puppy Love”

 

Dannon Oikos Greek Yogurt Super Bowl Commercial 2014 Full House Reunion “The Spill

 

KIA’s Matrix-Inspired 2014 Super Bowl Commercial

 

Butterfinger Super Bowl 2014 teaser

 

Also take a look at the article  Did Online Video Steal the Super Bowl Show?

Written by: Kerstin Recker, VP of Marketing, NTENT