• Background Information: SOPA, PIPA and the Internet Blackout

  By Laurel Miltner | Posted Jan 18, 2012 | 0 Comment(s) | Filed in: Internet Marketing

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  You may have some trouble navigating the web today, and it’s all driven by a an Internet blackout protest against proposed Congressional legislation intended to stop copyright infringementand privacy. Read on for a brief introduction to SOPA and PIPA legislation, where they stand in Congress, and why they impact every business andindividual with a web presence.

  SOPA

  SOPA, the Stop Online Privacy Act, or House Bill 3261, was introduced to the United States House of Representatives on Oct. 26, 2011 with bipartisan support. Its intent is to more heavily enforce copyright infringement across the web, holding severe consequences for any site owner whose property is found to be in disobedience.

  • Advocates, largely those in and supporting the entertainment industry, believe the bill is needed to crack down on increasing levels of online piracy, particularly from foreign websites.
  • Dissenters believe that SOPA goes against First Amendment rights, is a form of Internet censorship and would limit information accessibility on the web.

  SOPA hearings were held in November and December 2011. On Jan. 13, 2012, a provision that would have required service providers to block access to International sites accused of piracy was dropped.

  The following day, the White House announced its opposition to SOPA, stating that it “will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cyber-security risk or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.”

  Congress shelved SOPA on Jan. 14, until a strong consensus is arrived upon. On Jan. 17 it was announced that markup of SOPA will likely resume next month.

  SOPA background sources: Wikipedia | WashingtonMonthly.com

  PIPA

  PIPA, the PROTECT IP (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property) Act, or Senate Bill 968, is a similar measure in the Senate, intended to provide additional support for US government and copyright holders to restrict access to counterfeit and piracy-laded sites, again particularly targeting foreign sites.

  It was introduced on May 11, 2011, also with bipartisan support. There is a hearing scheduled today to discuss its potential impact. PIPA is scheduled for a vote in the Senate on Jan. 24. 

  Support and dissent against PIPA mirrors that of SOPA.

  PIPA Background Source: Wikipedia

  In Summary

  Both SOPA and PIPA want to eradicate online piracy and copyright infringement, but opponents believe they risk innovation, economic growth, information access and basic civil liberties. SOPA is a House bill; PIPA is a Senate bill. (And if you need some background on what this means ... Click.)

  Is there an alternative? A bipartisan group of Congressional representatives developed the OPEN Act, which “addresses many of the most glaring flaws in both SOPA and PIPA.” (Source) The group asks for community collaboration on the bill. 

  Today, in mass protest against SOPA and PIPA legislation, many web owners and tech giants tare taking a stand by blacking out their sites. A few examples:

  • Google blacked out its logo
  • Wikipedia blacked out all content (except information on SOPA)
  • Reddit and Copyblogger are going dark for 12 hours

  Read about how we’ve come to this point in the PR 20/20 blog post that follows the growth of the anti-SOPA movement. 

  Resources on SOPA & PIPA’s Potential Impact

  For additional information on what SOPA and PIPA may mean to you and your business, see the following resources:

  • What Would a Post SOPA Internet Look Like? by Nona Willis Aronowitz (@NonaWA)
  • The Problem with SOPA by Brian Clark (@copyblogger)
  • It's Time for the PR Profession to Join the Opposition to SOPA and PIPA by Shel Holtz (@shelholtz)
  • Everything Marketers Need to Know About SOPA by Pamela Vaughan (@pamelump)
  • Related: Fair Use: The Legal Use of Copyrighted Material Guide 

  For details on how the SOPA movement made its way across the internet, see Jessica Donlon's (@jessicadonlon) follow-up to this post.

  Are you moved to act? Visit americancensorship.org to contact your Senator, voice an opinion, and motivate change.  

  Laurel Miltner is the assistant vice president at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Laurel on Twitter: @laurelmackenzie.

  Stay updated: Subscribe to the PR 20/20 blog, check us out on Facebook or follow the team on Twitter.

• PR, Customer Service and Social Media Walk Into a Bar ...

  By Laurel Miltner | Posted Jan 17, 2012 | 3 Comment(s) | Filed in: Crisis Communications, Public Relations, Social Media

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  This is a variation of our standard Inbound Industry Report, taking a deep dive into one hot topic from the second week of 2012—the convergence of PR and customer service driven by social media. Stay tuned for an overview of last week's other big news: Google Search Plus Your World.

  

  In the wake of the N-Control customer-service-turned-PR disaster, last week shined light on three more companies that faced PR issues driven by social media mishaps. Quick overviews: 

  • Boners BBQ — Customer writes negative (but honest and well thought-out) review on Yelp. Restaurant reacts with derogatory postings about the woman on its Facebook page. Note: language and photos may be offensive to some. Boners eventually apologizes, but sincerity is questioned. Read the play-by-play commentary, along with some “food for thought,” from Scott Stratten (@unmarketing).
  • Papa Johns — Employee prints a derogatory “nickname” on a customer receipt. (Source) Customer posts picture of the receipt to Twitter. Papa Johns spends a few days apologizing to the Twitterverse, all for the actions of a single employee at one of its 2,600+ locations.
  • FedEx — Customer posts video on YouTube of delivery guy throwing a computer monitor over his fence, rather than ringing a bell to be let in. FedEx VP of US Operations responds within two days with a blog post and his own video, apologizing for the incident. (Source)

  As Gini Dietrich (@ginidietrich) pointed out, specifically in regard to the first two incidents above: “Neither one of these things are public relations issues. They both are culture, HR, and operations issues. But they both became public relations crisis because their customers now have this thing called social media at their disposal.” 

  And we can only expect to see more of this in the future.

  In fact, a recent report by customer care outsourcing provider Sitel found that:
  

  • Consumers—particularly those in Gen Y and beyond—demand customer service through social media. Fifteen percent of 16-24 year olds prefer the medium for customer service relations, and 7% of this demographic send social media complaints as the first step when facing a problem.
  • In addition, 57% of all consumers surveyed reported that when they have a problem, they first search for a solution online before reaching out directly to the brand for assistance.
  • Note: Data is based on a survey of more than 1,000 consumers in Great Britain, aged 16-64.

  Key Takeaway: Corporate social media savvy goes beyond marketing. Hold a social media forum, training session or workshop with key players in your organization across departments to discuss its impact on the entire business. Here are a few suggestions for your baseline corporate social media needs: 

  • Develop a social media policy with clearly defined rules, expectations and enforcement.
  • Use listening/monitoring tools to catch brand mentions, stay abreast of industry news and trends, and better understand your audience.
  • Define customer service policies and response times.
  • Develop a crisis communications/PR plan for social media.
  • Define ownership of the company voice through social media, including corporate accounts and employee representatives that can speak on the company’s behalf.
  • Don’t be robotic. While policies and procedures are necessary, remember that individual experiences are unique, and in some cases deviation from “the norm” is needed to make an impact or fix a sticky situation.

  For more on this topic:

  • See Janet Cho’s (@janetcho) article on how to manage a social media complaint before it turns into a crisis.
  • Check out this infographic on managing a corporate e-reputation by William J. Ward (@DR4WARD). Note: Though I don’t agree with every tactic mentioned here, it offers a solid overview and framework to launch discussions.

  Remember that it’s not just about the brand or corporate accounts. In The Rise of the Profersonal, Andrew Hanelly (@hanelly) discusses responsibilities of using social media for modern professionals.

  My favorite quote: “When you use social media, you forfeit the right to truly be yourself with no holds barred. Holds are definitely barred ... If you have a job, all of your social media activity is both personal and professional. It’s profersonal. It’s the era we live in.”

  So, let us know what you think about the convergence of PR and customer service. Will it continue? Who should "own" which channels? Where does customer service stop and PR start, and vice versa? I'd love to continue this discussion in the comments below. 

  Laurel Miltner is the assistant vice president at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Laurel on Twitter: @laurelmackenzie.

  Stay updated: Subscribe to the PR 20/20 blog, check us out on Facebook or follow the team on Twitter.

• Inbound Industry Report: Jan. 10, 2012

  By Laurel Miltner | Posted Jan 10, 2012 | 0 Comment(s) | Filed in: Marketing

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  Top marketing news, articles and tips from the first week of 2012.

  Blogging Tips: How to Grow Your Reach 

  Neil Patel (@neilpatel) shared tips to grow your blog's reach, using Seth Godin's (@sethgodin) Rule of 10 (that if you find and nurture 10 people who love what you have to offer, they'll tell 10 friends, and so on). Some of my favorite suggestions from Patel include: 

  • Go beyond your blog—expand your reach through guest blog posts and comments on other blogs, and social media engagement.
  • Build relationships with your "10"—thank them for their comments/retweets, comment on their stuff, and keep your posts consistent and relevant.
  • As traffic comes in, keep it coming—make it easy for people to subscribe to updates, and quickly release follow-up content to popular resources.
  • Never forget about your "10."

  2012: The Year of Coding?

  Code Year, an initiative from Codecademy, launched on Jan. 1 with a simple mission: help people learn to code in 2012 through simple, weekly lessons. At time of writing, 304,470 people had signed up. 

  Fred Wilson (@fredwilson) shared some thoughts on its success, including: It's a great idea, well-timed, and registrants are encouraged to spread the word through social networks. (I did.) In a comment on Wilson's post, Codecademy co-founder Zach Sims (@zsims) said "programming is finally being seen as it should be - as the literacy of the 21st century." 

  Wilson also credited the simple, user-friendly design of the Code Year landing page as an element of its success. Interestingly enough, the design was completely overhauled in one hour during its "final review," just over a day before launch. Money quote from the dedicated Code Year employee, Sacha Greif (@sachagreif), who spent her New Year's Eve Eve making CodeYear.com perfect: "You don’t always need weeks –or even hours– to create something. Sometimes you just need to stop over-thinking things and trust your creative impulses."

  For more on coding's role in professional development, see Boomsri Dickinson's (@boonspoon) Someday, Writing Code Could be as Common as Farming of Factory Work.

  Google Chrome Paid Link Scandal 

  Google Chrome was caught in a link-purchasing scheme, after SEObook's Aaron Wall (@aaronwall) found more than 400 results for the keyword search "this post is sponsored by Google." Why the fuss? Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) cites two reasons in his first overview of the situation: 

  1. Purchasing links for the manipulation of search results goes against Google guidelines. 
  2. Overall, the linking articles were of poor quality—disturbing because this is the type of content Google aims to fight. 

  Within 24 hours, Google acknowledged that "Yes, it was a Google campaign. No, it’s not what Google signed-up for." (Source) The search engine had contracted digital media agency Essence Digital for a video ad campaign, but had not OKed paid links. Essence Digital passed the blame torch on to Unruly, a video promotion company it had enlisted to run the campaign. Unruly then claimed it never required links to the Chrome site from participating bloggers, and that it encouraged nofollow links for any used to adhere to Google's paid-link guidelines.

  Sidenote: The cooking/baking nerd in me can't help but hope that the video linked in all these posts did good things for King Arthur Flour. Its products are awesome. 

  In response to the ordeal, Google docked Chrome's ability to rank in search engine result pages for at least 60 days. After that time, a Chrome representative can submit a request for reconsideration, along with documentation that it has cleaned up the issues, according to Matt Cutts (@mattcutts). 

  Key Takeaway: If Google can find itself in a less-than-ethical SEO scheme, no one is impervious. When working with external partners/providers, discuss specific tactics in detail, ask questions, and if something doesn't sound right, seek additional guidance. 

  In the News... 

  • Digital music sales surpassed physical album/record/singles sales in 2011. "According to data released by Nielsen SoundScan, digital sales were up by 8.4 percent from 2010, while physical album sales declined by 5 percent."
  • Kodak is preparting to file for bankruptcy, and attempting to sell a slew of patents in what may be the company's only saving grace. For a look at what went wrong, see Jordan Weissmann's (@jhweissmann) What Killed Kodak? 

  What were your top marketing stories of the week? Comments are open for your opinions.

  Laurel Miltner is the assistant vice president at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Laurel on Twitter: @laurelmackenzie.

  Stay updated: Subscribe to the PR 20/20 blog, check us out on Facebook or follow the team on Twitter.

• Moises' Commandments: Lessons from the N-Control PR Disaster

  By Laurel Miltner | Posted Jan 6, 2012 | 2 Comment(s) | Filed in: Brand Marketing, Crisis Communications

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  On Dec. 27, 2011, N-Control, a company that makes video game controller adapters to improve play for handicapped users and hardcore gamers, almost lost everything. 

  A simple customer service email chain spiraled out of control and into a PR nightmare after a company representative responded in a rude and hostile manner, which led to the emails being published on a popular gaming blog, Penny Arcade. In case you missed the Ocean Marketing / N-Control debacle over holiday break, here’s a quick recap: 

  • Customer Dave emails N-Control for an update on a late shipment of Avenger controllers. (Important note: Despite frustration, it’s clear that Dave is very interested in the product, with potential to be a superfan/brand advocate.) 
  • Dave receives a curt, not-at-all-helpful response from N-Control representative, Paul Christoforo (@_oceanmarketing). (Who, as we learn later, is actually an external PR/marketing consultant.)
  • After exchanging a few emails, in which Christoforo is less than helpful and downright rude, Dave gets upset. In his fifth email to Christoforo, 10 days after the first, Dave copies contacts at major gaming blogs to fill them in on the situation and N-Control's poor customer service.
  • Christoforo starts talking a big game and name-dropping. At the mention of his event, PAX, Mike Krahulik of Penny Arcade chimes in. Christoforo clearly doesn’t know who he is, which makes his situation worse.
  • After exchanging several heated emails with Christoforo, Kahulik published the full string of emails on Penny Arcade.  

  The gaming community was outraged, which led to hateful messages to Christoforo, tons of negative online chatter about N-Control, and even an Amazon-bombing of the Avenger controller that dropped its ratings to one star. (The X-box model is back up to three, although some issues have come to light about early, five-star reviews having been planted.)  

  Enter Moises Chiullan (@moiseschiu), a “public-relations disaster specialist who took it upon himself to get in touch with N-Control’s founder through a mutual friend after he learned about the disaster the same way everyone else did—online.” (Source)

  World Wide Web, Indeed

  I felt like my personal and professional worlds collided, and followed this story all over the Internet—from advertising and marketing news sites, to gaming blogs, to IMGUR memes, even to the blog of another Avenger customer that had similar customer service issues with Christoforo months earlier.

  It was fascinating to see this covered from so many angles, but what I was most impressed with was the swift response from Chiullan. In one week, he helped N-Control regain control of its marketing, rebuild the trust of its customers, and re-establish a positive brand experience. Honestly, he probably saved the business.

  How to Save a Brand in Seven Days 

  Following are some of the activities that Chiullan employed:

  • Quickly released a brief statement from Avenger inventor and N-Control president David Kotkin. "We apologize for our poor representation from Ocean Marketing. We wanted to give Paul a chance. He was rough around the edges, but he had drive and enthusiasm. However, his behavior was unprovoked, unnecessary, and unforgivable. We are no longer represented by Ocean Marketing." (Source)
  • Christoforo had control of many accounts, including Twitter, email and GoDaddy. So, Chuillan shut down AvengerController.com and began work on a new website. [Note: N-Control has since “regained control of all assets through alternative, legal, and fully sanctioned means within N-Control's rights.” (Source)]
  • He launched a new Twitter handle for the Avenger Controller (@AvengerControl) and used it to send regular updates and direct responses to customer queries. He also kept followers updated from his personal account.
  • Chiullan set up a Reddit AMA (ask me anything), encouraged community members to ask questions, and responded to all of them—even when, in true Internet fashion, commenters went off on tangents ranging from Pulp Fiction quotes to multi-lingual puns. He also made regular updates to the main feed, keeping people abreast of major activity when he wasn’t responding as quickly as they may expect. [Why Reddit? It’s one of the most popular social networks for the gamer demographic, heavily dominated by American males in their 20s. (Source)]
  • Avenger distributed a comprehensive press release the following day that officially announced the dismissal of Christoforo and Ocean Marketing, addressed and apologized for his actions, distanced the company from him, and laid out plans to “move forward and take care of Avenger’s customers.” (If you're in PR, I recommend reading the release. Though it's lengthy, it's a great example of what releases can and should be—free of jargon, strategic and honest.) UPDATE: On Jan. 6, Chiullan distributed another release, announcing that N-Control donated $10,000, and pledged up to $50,000 worth of product (after backorders are filled) to Child's Play, a charity started by Krahulik and his Penny Arcade partner, Jerry Holkins.
  • Set up media interviews—both with himself and with Kotkin—to talk candidly about the ordeal, how it was handled, and in some cases (amazingly) the product itself.  

  Most importantly: Chiullan understood the people he was trying to reach, and gave a voice, a face, and a likeable personality to a brand that so desperately needed it. And, he certainly got over the lazy—Chiullan even admitted that he didn’t sleep for his first two days on the account, devoting himself 24-hours-a-day to saving his client’s reputation.

  Takeaway for Corporate Marketers

  If you hire an outside provider, work with an agency you trust. Ensure that you have control of—or at least access to—all digital assets, including those set up on your behalf. And remember: some things are best kept in house.

  For a collection of articles exploring the many angles of this story, see my Scoop.it collection on the topic. 

  Did you follow the Ocean Marketing / N-Control story? How would you have handled the situation? Share your thoughts on the comments below. 

  Laurel Miltner is the assistant vice president at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Laurel on Twitter: @laurelmackenzie.

  Stay updated: Subscribe to the PR 20/20 blog, check us out on Facebook or follow the team on Twitter.

• Inbound Industry Report: December 27, 2011

  By Laurel Miltner | Posted Dec 27, 2011 | 0 Comment(s) | Filed in: Marketing

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  Top marketing news, articles and tips from the second and third weeks of December, 2011. Or, cool stuff you may have missed in the holiday frenzy. 

  Content Marketing  

  Pamela Vaughan (@pamelump) pairs new research (the Presenter’s Paradox) with Google’s Panda updates to answer one of the most popular questions in content marketing: What’s more important, quality or quantity? The answer: Content Quantity Diminishes Quality.

  Vaughan offers the following tips to help you ensure a focus on quality content:

  • Analyze content performance, using metrics like views, leads and social shares, to determine what resonates best with your audience.
  • Set benchmark goals for future content based on your analysis (e.g. each blog post should receive X views and Y shares).
  • Develop editorial guidelines, and talk to your entire team of content contributors about quality expectations, revisions and processes to ensure adherence.
  • Be willing to “sacrifice quantity for quality.”
  • Think like your audience, and ask yourself if you’d find the content valuable as a reader/viewer/consumer. See the “5-minute guide” article below for more on this.

  For tips on how content freshness can impact its quality—at least as far as Google sees things these days—see Freshness Factor: 10 Illustrations on How Fresh Content Can Influence Rankings by Cyrus Shepard (@CyrusShepard).

  Furthering the discussion on content quality, A 5-Minute Guide to More Persuasive Copywriting by James Chartrand (@MenwithPens) offers a simple but powerful article on how to write compelling copy. In short: don’t write for a demographic; write for a person. Chartrand makes the case perfectly by comparing “a 60-year-old female retiree who’s confused about her insurance options” and “Dorothea.”

  In addition to the benefits of better reaching your target reader, this approach can help drive a strong content-driven SEO strategy.

  Social Media

  In Six Social Media Trends for 2012, David Armano (@armano) shares his thoughts on where social will take business (or vice versa) next year. And if you're still thinking about social media in terms of simply having a Facebook page and Twitter account, Armano’s predictions may surprise you. Among them:

  • Convergence across channels, with social media as a single element of a more integrated strategy.
  • Gamification, or adding “game-like qualities” to websites, apps, devices and more. When integrated strategically, these elements can attract, entice and engage audiences.
  • Emergence of the micro economy, driven by companies like Kiva, Kickstarter and Air BnB. See more on this in the story on Louis C.K. below. 

  Innovation

  Louis C.K. (@louisck) seemed to all but take over the Interwebs recently when the comedian released his latest special as a download available only from his website, at $5 a pop.

  As of December 21, the show had generated revenue of more than one million dollars, to be split in four pieces: pay back production costs, give bonuses to staff and others involved with the special, donate among five charities, and direct to Louis C.K.

  See Some Thoughts on the Louis CK “Experiment” by Fred Wilson (@fredwilson) for interesting perspective on this business model, and how it may pave the way for success for others. As Armano mentioned in the social trends article referenced above, Wilson also gives a nod to Kickstarter, and discusses the potential power of “the business model of going direct to fans.”

  And if that’s not enough validation for you…

  

  Productivity

  At PR 20/20, productivity is critical. Without a keen focus on efficient use of time, our profits—as well as our personal and professional lives—suffer. For a few tips on becoming more productive in your workday, see 7 Things Highly Productive People Do by Ilya Pozin (@ilyaneversleeps). Some of my favorite tips:

  • Break large projects into smaller chunks.
  • Don't multitask.
  • Schedule your email (we actually set ours to refresh only every 30-60 minutes to keep pop-ups from breaking our focus).
  • Make, and work from, your own agenda.

  In the News …

  In our last Inbound Industry Report, we mentioned that Facebook Timeline would soon be rolling out to U.S. users. It has. If you haven’t enabled Timeline yet, see this post from Mashable for tips and instructions on how to get started with Timeline.

  Money tip: After you set up your Timeline, review it carefully. Use the dates to scroll down through each year to see the featured stories, and delete, promote or shrink posts and updates as you see fit. Note: After you enable Timeline, Facebook gives you a 7-day grace period before it automatically goes live, or you can publish it after you’re done reviewing.

  Facebook also announced that beginning next month, it will start showing sponsored stories—AKA ads—in users' news feeds. In an interesting move, to make this more palatable to Facebook users the network released this informational microsite.

  Google announced several enhancements to Google+ profiles and brand pages including:

  • Ability to prioritize your circles, so updates from those most important to you are shown more frequently.
  • Improved photo navigation.
  • Support for multiple managers/admins for Pages.

  Just for fun …

  In case you missed it, Google Zeitgeist 2011 is out, showcasing the year’s top search terms from around the world, in multiple categories.

  What were your top marketing stories of the week? Comments are open for your opinions.

  Laurel Miltner is the assistant vice president at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Laurel on Twitter: @laurelmackenzie.

  Stay updated: Subscribe to the PR 20/20 blog, check us out on Facebook or follow the team on Twitter.

• Inbound Industry Report: December 11, 2011

  By Laurel Miltner | Posted Dec 11, 2011 | 0 Comment(s) | Filed in: Marketing

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  Top marketing news, articles and tips from the first week of December 2011.

  Search Engine Marketing

  In An SEO Playbook for 2012,Tom Schmitz (@tomschmitz) shares some practical tactics to improve search engine rankings, each falling into one of the following three categories:

  • Use straightforward, easy-to-follow code.
  • Simplify navigation to provide a logical, linear path for visitors.
  • Increase your online engagement, focusing on peers (read: competitors) rather than buyers.

  For more on search from this week, check out:

  • 7 Sure-fire Signs Your SEO Sucks by Corey Eridon (@corey_bos), which offers some common SEO issues and tips to remedy them.
  • An Ode to the Organic Link (and How Google Made them Irrelevant), a guide to the history of inbound link relevancy based on changes Google has made over time, from the folks at SEO Book (@seobook).

  Social Media ROI

  Explaining Social Media ROI Again. And Again. And… Again is Olivier Blanchard’s (@thebrandbuilder) response to those who say the bottom-line business value of investments in social media is irrelevant, or impossible to track.

  Blanchard is obviously passionate about the topic (he wrote a book called Social Media ROI), and this comes across in his somewhat heated article. But, he offers some excellent guidance on how to understand, explain and measure the ROI of social media activity for business.

  Key takeaway: It’s not wrong or impractical to ask about the ROI of social media. Business leaders need to know why they should invest in this area over another, and what benefits they can expect. The problem is that the question is too broad. To properly address it, you need to ask the right question: “What is the ROI of [insert activity here] in social media?” For example: “What was the ROI of shifting 40% of our digital budget from traditional web to social media in 2011?” In other words, “don’t think of ROI as being medium-specific. Think of it as activity-specific."

  For more on the topic, check out (and bookmark!) this excellent 2009 presentation from Blanchard, The Basics of Social Media ROI.

  Social Media Platform Updates

  Twitter, Facebook and Google+ all announced or launched some fairly major platform updates and enhancements. 

  Twitter rolled out a complete site redesign aimed to make it more user friendly for new tweeters, and to offer better functionality and organization for all. It added a way for users to grab the code from individual tweets and embed them on any webpage. And, Twitter launched new brand pages that provide additional customization, extended taglines and tweet promotion to highlight a company’s most popular, relevant or important content. (See a list of sample brand pages in a post from Twitter.) 

  For a complete overview of all new Twitter updates, see The New Twitter: Everything You Need to Know by Peter Pachal (@petepachal).

  Facebook will launch subscribe buttons for websites, which will allow visitors to subscribe to individuals' public profile updates direct from his or her website, offering similar functionality to Twitter follow buttons. 

  In addition, the long-awaited Facebook Timeline has started to roll out to the public. For details on this complete profile revamp, including a step-by-step slideshow that explains the information included in Timeline, how to fill it out, and how to set privacy restrictions, see Facebook Timeline: The Complete Guide by Christine Erickson (@christerickson).

  Google+ added Gmail integration features, making it easier for users to find, connect and organize contacts across Google, and to share photos directly from Gmail. The platform also announced plans to roll out facial recognition features for enhanced photo tagging. 

  What were your top marketing stories of the week? Comments are open for your opinions.

  Laurel Miltner is the assistant vice president at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Laurel on Twitter: @laurelmackenzie.

  Stay updated: Subscribe to the PR 20/20 blog, check us out on Facebook or follow the team on Twitter.

• Inbound Industry Report: November 29, 2011

  By Laurel Miltner | Posted Nov 29, 2011 | 3 Comment(s) | Filed in: Marketing

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  Top marketing news, articles and tips from the fourth week of November 2011. Or, some great stuff you may have missed while stuffing the turkey and/or your tummy.

  Content Marketing

  In Content Marketing Hubs Deliver ROI, Ardath Albee (@ardath421) discusses how marketers can solve two major pain points—creating relevant content, and creating enough of it—using Content Hubs.

  "A Content Hub is a content marketing program that takes full advantage of a bigger content asset to combine lead generation with lead nurturing and gain optimal value from your investment in content development," says Albee.

  Using a webinar as an example, she first covers a standard marketing campaign, from sending email invitations to following up with registrants after the event with a link to archived video. Albee then expands upon the typical program with suggestions for additional content creation and outreach—using multiple formats, media and locations—to better reach and engage target audiences. Some examples: 

  • Publish a series of related blog posts prior to the webinar to spur interest and registrations.
  • Discuss relevant topics in LinkedIn Groups, and invite fellow members that join discussions to attend the webinar.
  • Spruce up the slides after the webinar, and post the presentation on Slideshare.
  • Transcribe the audio recording and turn it into a whitepaper or ebook.

  Key takeaway: Expand your content's reach and impact exponentially—and get more for your time and monetary investments—by thinking more strategically about how to remix and repurpose the information over time and across the web.

  Search Marketing

  Rand Fishkin (@randfish) discusses how email marketing can be used to drive inbound links in this installment of Whiteboard Friday, Using Emails to Build Links. 

  After covering a few best practices for gathering email subscribers, improving list quality and keeping recipients happy, Fishkin dives into specific link-building tips driven by your list. A few favorites:

  • Review domain names of email recipients—for example: the "pr2020.com" part of "laurel(at)pr2020(dot)com"—and prioritize the list based on site authority, relevance, etc. Then, see if there are opportunities to reach out to your contacts and request links to your content.
  • Consider sending individual emails to notify users activity related to their engagement on your site (ex: "someone responded to your blog comment").
  • Geotag your list, and segment it for localized outreach. This is particularly useful to promote events, speaking engagements, etc. 
  • Find the people on your email list on social networks, and start building more meaningful, one-to-one relationships with them. This will likely encourage more shares your content.

  The full video clocks in at about 13 minutes, but cleverly combines creative strategy and practical tactics. It's well worth the time.

  Analytics

  Avinash Kaushik (@avinash) literally wrote the book—a couple of them, in fact—on web analytics. His article, Smarter Data Analysis of Google's Https (Not Provided) Change: 5 Steps, is an excellent resource to help you more deeply assess the impact of Google's recent data encryption upate on your site analytics intelligence.

  Kaushik offers step-by-step guides for creating custom reports in Google Analytics to dig into your (not provided) traffic, and find some otherwise "hidden" information about these visitors. He then shares how to analyze the information found in these reports, so you can understand the kind of traffic you're losing insight on, and in the least make some inferences that can improve marketing efforts. 

  Bonus: Kaushik's reports all reflect the updated Google Analytics interface, so if you haven't had enough time to play around with that, following his tips can serve dual purposes. 

  Marketing Strategy

  In Quick Thought for a Short Week [the Jobs Book], Matt Bertuzzi (@mattbertuzzi) offers an idea so simple it's facepalm-inducing: 

  1. Find out what books your buyers are reading.
  2. Read them. 
  3. Use the information you learn, and the topics that you know are relevant and familiar to your buyers, to develop related content, share your own opinions, and engage candid, high-level conversations. 

  Note: This is particularly useful for leads who are early on in the decision-making process (AKA, those at the top of the funnel). 

  
  

  PR Industry 

  
  

  Deirdre Breakenridge (@dbreakenridge) shares predictions for the future of the industry in What Will PR Look Like as we Approach 2015? A few of her thoughts include: 

     

  • There will be further integration between PR, marketing, advertising and customer service.
  • PR professionals will be expected to deliver more measurable outcomes with business impact—continuing the move from clipbooks to ROI.
  • As technology and communication continue to fuse, PR pros will seamlessly understand and integrate the two in their daily activities. 
  • There will be little if any differentiation between bloggers, journalists and other influencers; it will all just be "media."

  What were your top marketing stories of the week? Comments are open for your opinions.

  Laurel Miltner is the assistant vice president at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Laurel on Twitter: @laurelmackenzie.

  Stay updated: Subscribe to the PR 20/20 blog, check us out on Facebook or follow the team on Twitter.

• Inbound Industry Report: November 20, 2011

  By Laurel Miltner | Posted Nov 20, 2011 | 0 Comment(s) | Filed in: Marketing

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  Top marketing news, articles and tips from the third week of November 2011. 

  SEO

  Duplicate Content in a Post-Panda World is Dr. Peter J. Meyers’ (@dr_pete) attempt to offer “a complete discussion of what duplicate content is, how it happens, how to diagnose it, and how to fix it”—particularly with Google’s Panda algorithm updates in mind. In the article, Dr. Pete explains: 

  • Why you may have duplicate content on your site without knowing it.
  • Common instances of duplicate content.
  • How to find duplicate content on your site.
  • How duplicate content impacts a site’s ability to rank in search engines.
  • Different types of duplicate content—true duplicates, near duplicates and cross-domain duplicates.
  • How to fix duplicate content issues using redirects, coding, Google Webmaster Tools, Bing Webmaster Central and smart linking practices.

  SEO & Content

  In Mapping Keywords to Content for Maximum Impact, a Whiteboard Friday video, Rand Fishkin (@randfish) explains why keyword analyses, on-page SEO and content strategy must go hand-in-hand. He offers a step-by-step guide to get your team and keyword strategy in line.

  • Start with a complete list of target keywords.
  • Map keywords to existing content, considering: relevance, user intent and conversion goals.
  • Determine when multiple keywords can effectively be targeted on a single page, versus needing multiple pages.
  • Finally, use your map to go off and create the content that will be valuable to users, and findable through search.

  Media & Business Strategy 

  Newspapers’ Digital Apostle is a New York Times feature on John Paton, chief executive officer of MediaNews Group (by circulation, the second-largest newspaper chain in the United States). In this look at the business of news, reporter David Carr (@carr2n) explores how Paton intends to turn his collection of papers into viable, profitable publications once again.

  Driven by a belief that “if newspapers are to survive, they will all but have to set themselves on fire, eventually forsaking print and becoming digital news operations,” Paton is focused on profitability, efficiency in operations and quality content development. Following are some of the changes Paton has implemented to help move MediaNews properties from print to digital. 

  • Digital advertising is offered without a required investment in print.
  • Centralized production of  “common content”­—such as that from wire services and national reports—rather than having editors at each individual publication dedicated to the task.
  • Community members, bloggers, etc. are invited to contribute content to their local papers.
  • Reporters have been given Flip cameras, and traditional publishing software has been switched out for web-based publishing tools, to streamline digital content production.

  What’s fascinating about this article is that even though it’s specific to the publishing industry, I believe that this kind of overhaul is needed for nearly any business to thrive in our digitally driven business world. 

  In the News… 

  Google revealed a new version of Analytics, complete with a new interface and easy access to additional reports. One thing that stuck out to me was its heavy focus on social engagement, bringing this aspect of visitor behavior to the forefront. For tips on integrating the on-site tracking you’ll need to take advantage of this insight, see Google Analytics Gets Social Engagement Reporting by Daniel Waisberg (@danielwaisberg).

  What were your top marketing stories of the week? Comments are open for your opinions.

  Laurel Miltner is the assistant vice president at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Laurel on Twitter: @laurelmackenzie.

  Stay updated: Subscribe to the PR 20/20 blog, check us out on Facebook or follow the team on Twitter.

  
  

• Inbound Industry Report: November 13, 2011

  By Laurel Miltner | Posted Nov 13, 2011 | 0 Comment(s) | Filed in: Marketing

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  Top marketing news, articles and tips from the second week of November 2011.

  Content Marketing

  

  Marty Weintraub(@aimclear) shares 26 awesome tips for content marketers in Content Marketing Essentials: Tactical Advice from A to Z. Here are a few of my favorites:

  • “A - Bring A-list writers. You get what you pay for so using $14 a page writers or automated software won't yield the level of content that will matter.” Quality always mattered to your readers and credibility, but after Google’s Panda algorithm update(s), it matters to the search engines, too. 
  • “J - Just remember that 25 visitors a day is over 9,000 a year.” I love this. It can be so easy to think that your content isn’t useful if you don’t see huge audience numbers, but taking a step back to see the impact of smaller numbers over time—especially if you’re in a niche industry with a small audience to begin with—is truly powerful and inspiring.
  • “P - Think of your feeds as a publication, not a website.” What blogs, magazines, columns or papers do you have to read regularly? Think about what makes them so valuable, and how you can make your company content that useful to your audience.
  •  “T - Allocate enough time.” Good writing, particularly when research is involved, takes time. So does reacting to pieces that spur conversation; joining networks of interest to share your work, and debate and discuss ideas; and other activities that help to share and spread your content.  

  Chris Penn (@cspenn) offers A Simple Content Value Test in an effort to help raise the bar on content quality. Before publishing a new piece, Penn recommends that you ask yourself if in its creation you learned or laughed, and if you love the end result. If it doesn’t hit the mark in at least one of these areas, your content is likely in need of some additional work.

  Social Media Policy

  Can A Twitter Account be a Company Trade Secret? Jeff Roberts (@jeffjohnroberts) reports about a San Francisco court case that is exploring this very question. Background: former PhoneDog employee Noah Kravitz used a Twitter account, @PhoneDog_Noah that reached about 17,000 followers. After leaving the company, Kravitz kept the account and changed the account handle (AKA the account name) and PhoneDog sued, claiming ownership of the account.

  Lawyer Venkat Balasubramani examines the legalities for Ars Technica. In, Who Gets Custody of a Twitter Account When an Employee Quits? he explains the court’s stances on key claims of the lawsuit, ranging from economics to data ownership to the economic advantage of the Twitter account’s contact list.

  Money quote from Balasubramani: “The takeaway is that there needs to be a written agreement that governs this issue.” In other words, if your company doesn’t have a social media policy that addresses this issue, it should—especially if you have any “high value” social media employees.

  In, Are Twitter Followers a Company Asset? Cynthia Boris offers some practical examples and advice, both from the company and employee points of view. These are worth a look, and might offer a good starting point for that policy if you need it.

  SEO 

  Rand Fishkin (@randfish) shares easy-to-digest advice in 4 Graphics to Help Illustrate On-Page Optimization. He covers:

  • Keyword use and density on page
  • Use of the keyword outside of page copy
  • How search engines determine page quality 
  • Strategy in targeting multiple, related keywords on one page or more

  In the News

  LinkedIn

  LinkedIn launched a new Group Statistics dashboard, which provides details on the demographics, growth and activity of a given LinkedIn group. The information can be found by clicking the “Group Statistics” link in the right-hand column of any group’s main page, or through a bar graph icon underneath the group in the “Your Groups” list.

  Use Group Statistics to help you identify which groups are most worth your time commitment, particularly if you’re considering several for the same interest. Or, if you manage a LinkedIn Group, start checking the statistics to monitor group activity levels, spur conversation when there are lulls, and track and report group success over time. 

  Google

  Google opened Google+ Pages for business. Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) wrote a great overview, which includes details on setting up a page and their functionality. Note to brand owners and marketers: at this time, the verification process to set up a branded page is limited, if not non-existent, so if you haven't secured your page yet, go here now and follow the setup instructions.

  The Think With Google team launched Think Insights, a website that houses information on consumer trends, industry research and marketing insights. There are multiple categories and search options, providing marketers—or anyone with a paper to write or presentation to create—with the tools to identify trends, dig into mobile usage data, view real-time information on what people are publishing and consuming, and more. (Source: The Next Web)

  I admit that in my first few searches I was a little disappointed with the results, or lack thereof, that the site provided. But, after playing around and understanding its organization and navigation, I see its promise. One thing I noticed: If you’re searching for data on a specific topic (e.g. social media adoption in business), it helps to make your search more broad and sift through results (e.g. “social media business”) rather than using a highly specific search as you might use in standard Google searches (e.g. “twitter adoption rate among executives”). 

  What were your top marketing stories of the week? Comments are open for your opinions.

  Laurel Miltner is the assistant vice president at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Laurel on Twitter: @laurelmackenzie.

  Stay updated: Subscribe to the PR 20/20 blog, check us out on Facebook or follow the team on Twitter.

  Image updated from takomabibelot

• What is "Not Provided" in Google Analytics?

  By Laurel Miltner | Posted Oct 26, 2011 | 2 Comment(s) | Filed in: Search Marketing

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  Last week, the online marketing community was rocked by Google’s announcement that it is Making Search More Secure by encrypting search queries of signed-in users.  As stated in the post,“Websites you visit from our organic search listings will still know that you came from Google, but won't receive information about each individual query.”

  Non-signed-in users can also encrypt their searches by manually typing in the secure Google web address, https://www.google.com. The “s” after http means you’re on a secure page, as is also indicated by a secure-connection icon in the browser window, usually a lock. (If you’ve never noticed this before, it’s a good thing to look for if you’re ever doing online banking, paying bills, etc.)

  What does this means for marketers? Visitors that come to your site via encrypted, organic search will register as an organic visitor, but you won’t see what keywords got them there. 

  Google’s Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) says that even after full rollout, the encryption would only impact “single-digit percentages of all searches on Google.com.” (Source) 

  What Does the Update Look Like?

  Within Google Analytics (GA), you’ll see the token “(not provided)” to notate encrypted search visits. I jumped into our GA account to see what organic traffic (under "traffic Sources" > "Keywords") looked like in the first week following the announcement. UPDATE 12/28/11: Google has since updated the GA interface. This report can now be found in Traffic Sources > Sources > Organic. 

  

  “(not provided)”  has been one of the top referring “keywords” to our website (through midday Oct. 25), falling only behind our brand name. However, from a percentage point of view it accounts for less than 3% of all organic traffic. SEOmoz and Search Engine Land report similar figures, around 2-3%.

  UPDATE 12/28/11: "(not provided)" now accounts for nearly 17% of our Google-driven, organic search traffic. See this post by analytics expert Avinash Kaushik for details on understanding the full impact of Google's encryption update on your site, and how to run analyses like this one. 

  Rand Fishkin (@randfish) recommends measuring the amount and percentage of lost keyword data over time to have a clear understanding of encryption’s lasting impact. Google initially stated that the complete rollout will take place “over the next few weeks.” Personally, my searches are not yet encrypted—I still see an http address (no “s”).

  Solutions for Marketers

  Though the data is hidden, it isn’t completely lost. As shared on the Google Webmaster Central Blog, site owners can still access search query data on a macro level, including:

  • The top 1,000 search queries that drove site visitors, and the top 1,000 landing pages on the site, from the past 30 days.
  • The site’s average position on search engine result pages (SERPs) for top queries, and related impressions, clicks and clickthrough rate (CTR).

  Danny Sullivan’s (@dannysullivan) thoughts: “It is good that the Google Webmaster Central data is there. However, the search data won’t be tied to visitor activity. You’ll be able to tell that someone found your site in various ways, but what they did next—if they converted in some way and so on—won’t be shown.”

  In addition to tracking lost keyword data and reviewing Webmaster Tools, Fishkin recommends that SEOs and marketers continue to review and analyze remaining Google keyword data, and potentially pay more attention to Bing, Yahoo and internal search queries, in their analytics.

  Not Affecting Google Advertiser Data

  Of course, you can always pay Google for enhanced access to keyword data.

  Oh yes, there is a caveat: Search data from paid advertisements within Google itself (i.e. AdWords) isn’t blocked. The update “prevents anyone but Google’s own advertisers from doing keyword-level conversion tracking,” said Sullivan. This factor, which seems to negate the emphasis on privacy Google is surrounding the announcement with, has some in the industry calling foul.

  Thoughts From the Experts   

  Says Sullivan: “It specifically—and deliberately—left a gaping hole open to benefit its bottom line. If you pay-to-play, Google will share its search data with you.”

  Joost de Valk (@yoast) takes Sullivan’s explanation a step further: “The real reason that Google might have decided to stop sending referral data is different [not about privacy]. I think it is that its competitors in the online advertising space … are using search referral data to refine their (retargeted) ads and they're getting some astonishing results. In some ways, you could therefor [sic] describe this as mostly an anti-competitive move.”

  Ian Lurie (@portentint) agrees in an open letter to Google: “You've done this for one reason, and one reason only: To shut out competing ad networks. By removing this data from the referring query string … you've made it far harder for third-party ad networks to measure and quantify traffic quality.”

  Brian Whalley (@bwhalley), in a post outlining key marketing implications of the update, offers a more Google-friendly explanation behind the change: “Google's actions here likely come as a result of its recent congressional hearings about how the search engine handles user privacy, security, and advertiser relationships. Google's end to referrer strings demonstrates how it is providing more tools and functionality to protect user data instead of sharing it broadly.” 

  You? Google’s motto is “Don’t be evil.” So what do you think? It this truly a user-privacy-driven move, or is Google simply acting like the publicly traded company it is and trying in incentivize advertising to increase its bottom line, and damage competitor capabilities in the process?

  Either way, this is a major shift by the top search provider, and its marketing implications have yet to become completely clear—at least until we see how far-reaching the impact is, and if others follow suit. 

  Key Details for Marketers 

  At a very basic level, here are some at-a-glance takeaways:

  What’s impacted:

  • Analytics data, no matter what tool you’re using.
  • Reporting to managers, executives, clients, etc.
  • Landing page optimization and search-driven content targeting, including keyword research and accuracy of conversion rates.
  • Search-driven advertising outside of Google’s network.
  • Note: As a HubSpot partner, we know a lot of our readers are HubSpot customers. See how the update will impact you.

  What isn’t:

  • Paid search data for Google advertisers, and related targeting.

  Your Turn

  We’d love to hear what you think. The comments are open for discussion.

  Laurel Miltner is the assistant vice president at PR 20/20, a Cleveland-based inbound marketing agency and PR firm. Follow Laurel on Twitter: @laurelmackenzie.

  Stay updated: Subscribe to the PR 20/20 blog, check us out on Facebook or follow the team on Twitter.

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