Content Strategy

Pubcon Vegas 2013 Loren Baker, VP, Foundation Digital

About Me

Loren  Baker  

15 Years of SEO, Paid Search, Social Strategy, Media Buying, Wordpress Development

& Content Publishing Experience.

•  Search Engine Journal

•  Alpha Brand Media

•  Foundation Digital

•  Client Focus on Integrated Content Solutions for Cross Channel Growth

•  Focus – B2B, Consumer Targeted Marketplaces, Finance & Insurance

Define Your Goals

What  is  Your  Project’s  Big  Picture?  

SEO alone is not a sustainable goal for a content strategy, instead that content must

live on its own, which in turn will assist your SEO. Google wants to serve the best

content possible for the user experience, not vice versa.

•  SEO Rankings, Links & Organic Traffic

•  Social Conversation & Brand Advocacy

•  Lead Generation – Funnel into Marketing Automation

•  Sales and Conversion Collateral [Online & in the Field]

Define Your Goals

Content  Should  Never  Serve  One  Master  

All stakeholders must be at the table in order for the content strategy to be a true

success. The beauty of content marketing is that it is beneficial to:

•  SEO

•  PR

•  Branding

•  Paid Media (Amplication & Retargeting)

•  Communications (Pharma Example)

•  CMO / CEO / HR (Recruiting)

Content Initiatives, Not Pieces

Everyone  Processes  Content  in  a  Different  Way  

B2C very dependent on blog posts, B2B very dependent on eBooks. Look at the big

picture.

•  eBooks -> Full of Digestible Nuggets that can be lost

•  Blog Posts -> Great for Breaking Down Chapters and Thoughts

•  Infographics -> Still a lot of Love

•  Infograms -> Not everyone has time to scroll.

•  Video -> I learn with movies.

•  MicroVideo (Instagram, Vine, Mixbit) -> Teens & Social Friendly

•  BONUS -> Consolidated Design Efforts

Content Ideation

Plan  What  Works  vs.  Seeing  What  SDcks  

Based on Goals, determine themes that support the goals.

•  SEO Targets -> Semantic Modifiers of Keyword Buckets that Drive Context

•  Outreach Targets -> What Resonates with Publishers in the Target Verticals

•  Social Sharing -> What Kinds of Content or Topics Get the Most Interaction

•  Social Influencers -> Who is Sharing What Kind of Content in this Vertical

•  Ad Enhancement -> Opportunities to Grow Content Amplification in Paid Channels

•  Content Lifespan -> Can this Content Live and Breathe on its Own?

Build Your Content Nucleus

The  On-­‐Site  FoundaDon  

Your on-site goals may be different than content syndication or lead gen.

•  Syndicated content should not link directly to money pages [not natural or

trusted], it should link to an on-page source

•  Once on-page source attracts links and value, equity can be routed

•  Infographic image files are great for syndication, but not on-site w/o supporting

content

•  HTML 5 is a preferred and indexable way to support graphic assets and still be

SEO friendly, blog posts or HTML content pages are good too.

Working with Publishers

Trusted  Voices  &  Warm  IntroducDons  

Turn loyal audiences into your own brand evangelists.

•  Blogger Outreach -> Target publishers during the final stages of design and offer

them an exclusive to be first to publish

•  Leverage Relationships with Publishers -> Can you invite them in the ideation

process?

•  Repurpose Content -> What’s worked for them in the past and how can you put

your own twist on it?

•  Leverage Your Audience -> Remember, this is a joint effort.

Syndicate Your Infographics

Get  Your  Work  in  Front  of  Who  MaNers  

Precise targeting is more important than numbers alone.

•  Slideshare -> Most Underutilized Infographic Channel. Comes with LinkedIn

Integration and Lots of Google Love. People Share & Embed SlideShare.

•  Visual.ly -> Set Up Branded Channels for Link Juice Purposes. Bloggers turn to

Visual.ly for Content. Extends the Life of Your Content.

•  IMGUR & Minus.com -> Imgur gets more traffic than Reddit. No natural links but

great for social sharing, view count & influence. Minus.com is up & coming.

•  Pinterest.com -> Especially for B2C, perfect format and paid ad options.

Syndicate Your Infograms / eCards

Get  Your  Work  in  Front  of  Who  MaNers  

These should be your site & blog post featured images.

•  Facebook & Instagram -> Where the masses share, comment, engage & link. Don’t

upload images, share image from the page level on your site.

•  Google+ -> Like Facebook, page shares result in page level signals.

•  Flickr.com -> Yahoo!’s sleeping giant. Still relevant, highly trusted w/ embed

links.

•  Twitter -> If your site uses Twitter Cards, default on blog posts. Twitpics. More

page level signals.

•  Tumblr -> Reblogging leads to links, views and brand interaction.

Syndicate Your Videos

Get  Your  Work  in  Front  of  Who  MaNers  

Everyone loves video and YES it can drive signals to your site if done right.

•  YouTube.com-> World’s 2nd largest search engine. 40% of traffic is mobile. Google

loves promoting its own videos in SERPS.

•  Joost SEO Plugin -> Rank your site hosted video in Universal SERPs rather than

YouTube.

•  Vine.com & Instagram -> 2 minutes is too long for most attention spans. 7 seconds

or 16 seconds is perfect. Behind scenes / Previews … link to source & syndicate.

•  Mixbit -> Launched by YouTube’s founders, addresses every issue YouTube has with

editing, annotations and mobile upload. Wonder who will acquire this?

Syndicate Your Coverage & Blogging

Get  Your  Work  in  Front  of  Who  MaNers  

These should be your site & blog post featured images.

•  Guest Blogging -> Find people who write and syndicate their own work to use you

as a source

•  Do your homework here. Guest blogging is being abused. Look into authors,

where they write, who they link to and how they link.

•  Paid targeting & sponsored stories -> Facebook.com, LinkedIn, Twitter ..etc.

•  Fans of Wordpress & Blogging who like your company, competitors and

vertical.

•  Advertise Slideshare & Visual.ly, not just your site. Bloggers will pick those up

Syndicate to Your Customer

Get  Your  Work  in  Front  of  Who  MaNers  

Your established lists are your true brand ambassadors. Expand the perimeters.

•  Email -> Tastefully bring your content to your customer inboxes

•  Industry bloggers, influencers, social users follow and love your brand

•  Social Media -> Mobilize your audience by giving them the means to become your

brand advocates and spread your message to their connections

•  Press Releases -> Good (even Bad) PR gets better with Visual Assets

•  Ad Retargeting -> AdRoll and other retargeting tools can serve a custom message

to the users who visited your site or clicked on relevant Facebook ads

Build Upon Your Foundation

Less  Pages,  More  Rich  Content  

Develop pages that have the best, most relevant content in your vertical

•  Your on-site resource page can now start including the collateral that you have

just syndicated.

•  Include Slideshare hosted eBooks or Infographics

•  Include Video

•  Include Embeds to Others who have Tweeted About You

•  Include Instagram Embeds

•  Make your resource / glossary / hub the best user experience possible

Never Stop Innovating

Don’t  Let  the  Lights  Dim  on  a  Great  Idea  

Even evergreen content needs an update, and new channels equal new opps.

•  Update content if and when needed. HTML content is easily changed.

•  Issue new updated collateral to publishers who featured you before.

•  If a new channel appears or becomes popular, create content for it.

•  Seasonal & event content can peak year after year after year.

•  How long has DC been telling the Batman story and how as it changed each time?

•  Don’t think Short-Term … that’s what gets people in trouble.

•  Impatience in marketing is what fuels bad decisions

Thanks!

@lorenbaker

loren@foundationdigital.com gplus.to/lorenbaker