Search PPC Is To SEO As Social PPC Is To Community Management
Most search marketers use inventory data from paid search platforms, as well as organic, to research and form SEO strategy. For instance, an SEO practitioner may use Google AdWords keyword tool (paid) in to identify keywords to target for organic page optimization. Paid research tools are essential because it’s the only place engines truly reveal granular search frequency. Engines must reveal the channel’s makeup, because they’re selling keywords to advertisers. SEOs also often run short burst PPC, in order to test conversion funnels, prior to deploying funnels organically. It’s reasonable, therefore, to say that PPC is often an important research and planning component of successful SEO campaigns.

Sharp SEO jocks also use organic tools. We look at analytics to see what keywords (those we can still see), drive traffic and how users behave post click. We also use search assist tools like Google suggestions to stem out synonyms, find geographic data, and other organic hacks.

Social is much the same to the savvy community manager, who uses both paid and organic social tools to research and set strategy. Paid inventory instruments, especially Facebook Ads “Create an Ad” tool, can be critical components of organic social campaign research and planning. Like search, social ad platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, must reveal the makeup of their community because they are in the business of selling targeted access to those demographic segments. If you really want to know the makeup of LinkedIn, head to the LinkedIn ad creation tool. Shrewd social media marketers understand this and look to paid inventory tools to understand a community’s makeup. Facebook’s sampling, over 850 million people globally, is so vast that it reveals as much about the general makeup of humanity as it does users on Facebook.

There are also terrific organic social tools that help marketers locate user clusters and conversations. Twitter advanced search is a great example, as is YouTube’s TestTube Comment search. Organic search can be a fantastic aid to social research. The classic “Site:” search operator is killer social research tool, which can be used to unearth deep multilingual social threads.

Data-Driven Outreach
Many community managers sit on the wall and wait for action to come to them. aimClear has been teaching clients for years to research and document where relevant conversations are taking place, and to join in. Such participation can often yield new friendships with potential brand evangelists, build community and (when appropriate) ultimately sales. We use paid and organic social inventory tools, as well as informed use of classic search tools to find these conversations. It is from these fundamentals that we’ve developed the concept of data-driven community outreach.

My keynote presentation will focus on immediately actionable paid and organic social tactics research and engagement tactics marketers can use for augmented demographic research and data-driven community outreach.

Attendees will:

• Learn techniques for mapping search to social. Discover how to identify socially plugged-in authority users along classic lines of search conversion semantics history.
• Explore organic and paid social mashup tactics to leverage the data.
• Investigate data-driven friending tactics: Life & career altering perspective shifts regarding how community managers (and everyday people) can undertake programmatic outreach to connect with personal & business authority users and collect them as friends for fun and profit.
• Probe killer social media paid tactics to target the “whole user” in social channels.
• Consider new KPIs for measuring social media efforts, including “friend leads” and conversion.

I’m humbled and excited to speak to this group. I hope to see you there. If you miss this event, you’ll find me and/or my aimClear brethren speaking over the next couple of months at PubCon Paradise (Hawaii), SEMpdx SearchFest (Portland, OR), aimClear Facebook Marketing Intensive Workshop (San Jose), SMX West, SES New York, SMX Sydney, PPC Hero Conference and eMetrics San Francisco, among others.  We hope to see you there!

But like many industry rockstars, Heather’s work goes well beyond that which she puts into speaking gigs and PowerPoint decks. She’s an accomplished author and SEO copywriting pioneer with well over a decade of professional experience under her belt. SuccessWorks, Heather’s SEO copywriting firm, cross-trains in-house copywriters from companies of all sizes and types– Fortune 50 retailers to travel destination sites. A keen focus on leveraging strategic content to increase online visibility makes the SuccessWorks team one-two-punch-tastic.

On the advent of SMX West, aimClear had the pleasure of sharing a candid Q&A with the lovely Ms. Lloyd-Martin. Discussion topics ranged from “Hi, who are you?” to Google Search Plus Your World (SYYW) to must-have online tools to amphibious childhood memories. Read on for the full scoop.

| aimClear: Welcome, Ms. Heather! Let’s get the formalities out of the way– who are you and how did you end up in the online marketing realm?

Heather Lloyd-Martin: I wanted to be a writer since I was a little girl. I didn’t think that you could make a living as a writer, so when I graduated college, I took all sorts of marketing jobs that allowed me to write – but I was stuck doing other things (like answering phones) that I really disliked.

One gig was working for a company that made industrial freezers for fishing boats – and I would write their marketing copy (it’s hard to make a “screw compressor” sound interesting, but that’s exactly what I did!). My then-boss loved to go online and surf around (this must have been about 1995,) – and I realized that there was more opportunity in the online world than there was in my current job. So, I quit so I could “become an online writer.” Did I have any freelance gigs lined up? Nope. Did I know anything about writing online? Nope. I just quit and figured that I could make a go of it somehow…

Fortunately, I was blessed to meet a lot of other first-generation search marketers who were just starting to get their online feet wet. Jill Whalen is one – and we started the RankWrite newsletter together in the late 1990′s. RankWrite was the first newsletter that discussed how to write good SEO copy, and people still mention that they remember reading it years ago. Things blossomed from there, I got on the SES speaking circuit…and here I am today. I’ve been doing this for about 14 years now – and wow, time has passed quickly. I feel so blessed that I get to have fun doing exactly the type of work that I love to do!

| aC: Inspired! So. You forged your mark in the industry about copywriting. There’s been some rumbling in the industry that on-page content will become devalued, if not minimized – in light of Google Search Plus Your World. What do you believe will happen? Has SPYW completely screwed the SEO pooch? (On the flip side of the coin: Are you excited about forming a community in Google+?)

HLM: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ve heard that SEO is dead, we’ll all be out of jobs soon, blah, blah. Here’s the thing: Good content is ALWAYS important, and has been since the beginning of content time. People don’t link to crappy content. People don’t share crappy content. Crappy content doesn’t convert. I’ve said it before – yes. the opportunities in SEO copywriting will change (for instance, we weren’t writing tweets 10 years ago). Content, however, will also rule. And if you want to maximize the ways that folks find your content, that means knowing how to create solid SEO copy.

I think that the last few Google changes have been wake up calls to those folks who haven’t focused on content. Having said that, I feel for the small business owner with a zero budget trying to keep up with Google+/SPYW. I’ve heard a number of folks complain, “I don’t have time to do this myself. I don’t have budget to outsource. I don’t have time keep up with all of these changes.” I definitely feel their pain.

(And yes, I’d love it if you added SEO Copywriting to your Google+ circles.):)

| aC: Noted . What is it that excites you about SEO copywriting in particular, more so than, say, reg’lar ole’ writin’?

HLM: I dig reg’lar ole’ writin’, too. But SEO copywriting is just…different. I think it’s because so much of my career has been wrapped around keyword-based writing. I watched SEO (and SEO copywriting) “grow up” – and it was a blast to be a part of it. Having said that, I find myself wanting to write about things that have nothing to do with SEO copy, marketing, or the search engines. That’s good – I think it’s healthy to shake things up and do different things.

| aC: Indeed. Guilty-pleasure time! Tell us 3 websites you visit daily… NOT work-related.

HLM: Ha! Great question! I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t been surfing for fun. But when I do want to kill some time, I love checking out…

• MindBodyGreen – Yoga and wellness tips.
• Budget Travel – For when I want to plan my next getaway.
• Facebook. If I’m bored, I’m here.

| aC: Groovy. Okay, now tell us 3 work-related websites, services, or tools you wouldn’t ever want to live without.

HLM:

• I love HootSuite – I love how easy it is to schedule tweets and track conversations.
• SearchEngineLand- Great writers, great information.
• GetItDone App- This app has helped me organize my entire life. Really. Considering all of the “stuff” in my brain, that’s a major accomplishment.

| aC: Right on. The morning of Day 3 at SMX West will find you on the The “New” Killer Content panel. Give the readers at home a sneak peek at what you’ll serve up!

HLM: So many marketing teams see changes like Panda, SPYW, etc. and say, “OK, I give up. I have no idea how to leverage existing content, or build new content.” So, I’ll be talking about ways companies can create quality, sharable content, leverage their opportunities and develop sustainable content strategies. The panel has a really great speaker lineup – I’m excited and honored to be a part of it.

| aC: Excellent! Looking forward to it. Now, last but most certainly not least: Favorite ethnic cuisine, foreign city, and amphibian, GO!

HLM: Fave ethnic cuisine: Indian. The spicier the better. If it’s not making my mouth burn and my eyes water, it’s not worth eating. Fave foreign city: It’s a tie between Amsterdam and London. I LOVE Amsterdam, but London always feels like home. If I can combine a London/Amsterdam trip, I am a happy girl. Fave amphibian: Um, never thought of this one. I did have a pet salamander named Sam when I was 5…

| aC: Well  now if that isn’t the cutest thing I’ve ever heard. Right on. Big thanks, Heather, for this special glimpse into your life & upcoming preso @ #SMX West. Let’s get some Gobhi Aloo and Chettinadu kozhi varuval while we’re out there. Safe travels!

Riiiiiiing!

You probably already know we have a plucked, squeezed and altogether revamped curriculum for our Facebook Intensive Marketing Workshop geared up for SMX West. We’ve shared some titillating details in the past few days, but not all. Don’t you slightly feel like a freshman on the first day of high school whose class schedule just got sucked into the tailpipe of a passing car? We can help with that.

aimClear’s taking you back to school, not before arming you with a comprehensive run-down of training modules. But first! A look at  your teachers for the day:

Marty Weintraub (@aimClear): CEO of aimClear. Speaker, author, world traveler, and your workshop host with the most.

Will Scott (@w2scott): Owner/CEO of Search Influence, longtime pal of aimClear.

Merry Morud (@merrymorud): Account manager at aimClear, all-around Facebook marketer extraordinaire.

Matt Peterson: (@Matt_Peterson): Account manager at aimClear, maybe the funniest / freakiest person on the roster.

Now that we have our introductions out of the way, it’s time to look at your day of fun-filled learning.

8:30 – 8:45 am | Welcome, House Rules, Introduction & Overview
Will Scott and our very own Marty Weintraub will kick things off with an overview of the day’s training modules, as well a few housekeeping items that will save you from a ticket to detention…. Fortunately, computer use and tweeting from your phone are not against the rules…

8:45 – 9:30 am | Facebook Demographic Research & Guerilla Targeting
Marty will lead the charge in all things demographic research, blending both traditional and not-so-traditional channels while offering up some key tips into how to best leverage search to recognize social users, investigate search history to cultivate social strategies, and target top-notch social segments that surpass literal targeting.

9:30 – 10:10 am | Establishing Facebook Marketing KPIs
By discussing how social resources, public relations, internal, and search engine optimization all work together, Marty will describe how to achieve realistic Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), all while focusing on how search affects social.

10:10 – 10:25 am | Coffee Break & Refreshments
Because we all know you’ll need a little brainpower recharge…

10:25 – 10:40 am | Curate & Aggregate! Industrial Strength Content Sharing For Powerful Community Managers
Straight from Marty’s mouth, learn advanced strategies for compiling free, non-competitive, third-party resources, and how to leverage your newfound cauldron of information to keep your community updated on the latest and greatest news.

10:40 – 11:00 am | Holistic Befriending in Facebook: 36 Ways to Make More Social Media Friends Who Matter
Marty will discuss various case studies about the best methods for keeping your stalking at an acceptable, non-scary level and how to make friends with authoritative social media users. Come prepared!

11:00 – 11:30 am | Facebook Crises Management! Dealing with Intra-Community Bloodshed
Arm yourself with an indestructible plan for when your social community erupts into madness. Attendees will learn several crowd-calming tactics and stress-reducing tips for when the going gets rough. Marty and Merry Morud will lead this discussion and share actionable advice from traumatizing experiences.

11:30 am – 12:00 pm | How To Buy Fans For Fun & Profit
Get ready for case studies on how to best “buy friends” and investigate the value of a CPF (Cost Per Friend) and what it means for you with Will. Don’t fret, lunch and recess are up next.

12:00 – 1:00 pm | Lunch Time

1:00 – 1:20 pm | Killer Facebook Ads: Account Structure & Optimization
In order to have a really killer Facebook Ads account, you have to start with the basics. Learn how to organize your account structure to best serve your needs as you start building campaigns, rolling out ads, and optimizing for superior performance. Merry will guide you through some of the best strategies and naming conventions that will help you achieve advanced account management.

1:20 – 1:45 pm | Killer Facebook Ads: How To Write Ads like a Rockstar
Merry’s at it again, offering up awe-inspiring tips on how to best utilize your 160 characters for headline and body copy. What can you do to make sure they get noticed? Learn proven techniques, from out-of-the-box brainstorming sessions to maintaining optimization for creating the most killer Facebook Ads you have ever dared to dream of.

1:45 – 2:15 pm | Killer Facebook Ads: Choosing Images That Scream
Now that you know how to create Killer Facebook ad copy, what do you do with it? Facebook’s gargantuan community likes to visualize everything, so it’s imperative to match an attention-grabbing ad image with awesome creative copy. Merry will walk you through A/B test case studies to demonstrate which ads work and which ads don’t, all while sharing bountiful best practices for selecting and optimizing your ads.

2:15 – 2:45 pm | Sponsored Stories & Other Fantastical Social Facebook Ad Unit
Sponsored Stories and their mysterious intricacies will be uncovered as Marty discusses the top-secret elixir and innovative strategies to help you utilize the tremendous advantages and powerful perks available—as well as best practices and shortcuts out there.

2:45 – 3:00 pm | Coffee Break & Refreshments

3:00 – 3:45 pm | Decoding Facebook’s EdgeRank & Organic Visibility
Facebook’s ranking algorithm, EdgeRank, will be exposed by Will as he shares newsworthy tips and insider tricks for increasing and embracing community engagement to elevate how your social assets are viewed organically.

3:45 – 4:20 pm | Digging Deep In Facebook’s Insights & Mining Organic Analytics
Will gives us a birds’ eye view of Facebook’s organic analytics platform—Facebook Insights—to see the assortment of combinations of metrics available, including engagement and demographic figures that can help convert insight into action, followed by a ten minute Q & A session.

4:20 – 5:00 pm | The Great Big Glistening Tremendously Tricked-Out Book of Tools
All together now! Marty, Merry, Will and Matt Peterson will plunge through a jam-packed session showcasing a plethora of tools ranging from conventional to borderline lunatic, complementary to enterprise-level, all while discussing the advantages and disadvantages of these toolsets and a standard framework to help evaluate them.

5:00 – 6:00 pm | Optional Extended Q&A in the Bar!
As a reward for your hard efforts throughout the day, we will move on to the bar for anyone who is interested in joining us. Not your average prize for a long day at school, huh?

That about sums up our workshop for SMX West! We hope to see you in sunny San Jose. Remember, you get a free copy of Killer Facebook Ads if you attend. Haven’t registered yet? There’s still time! Go get ‘em, tiger!

photo credit © Ingrid – Fotolia.com

Did you get the memo? With Google’s increased focus on content freshness and other social-laced algorithmic updates, marketers already keen on blogging and other recurrent content strategies have a definite leg up. But how far do SEOs need to go and at how great a cost for what results?

What results can churn-and-burn-puppy-mill SEO-laced assembly content attain? Are there advantages to going “high-end” and really making an ongoing content investment, and how might that affect results? Sure, we all know the objectives are to drive traffic, earn links, generate social signals, compel & motivate conversion… but what results are reasonably attainable for which types of content? Why are you looking at me as if I am speaking French?

Continuum Of Content Success
First, why do we create content, anyway? What are the ultimate objectives and how do we measure success? Here, marketers would say that content is successful when:

• Customers and potential customers are provided with valuable insights to demystify processes, lend perspective, solve problems, stimulate interest; pique emotions and serve needs. First and foremost, the objective is to serve and delight. Arguably, all results stem from this precept.
• Posts yield short-term concept-centric social media traffic to a businesses main website, social profiles (like Facebook, Twitter or YouTube). Social broadcast and rebroadcast results in surfacing the business website and social media profiles’ visibility in universal organic SERPs.
• Posts earn links on relevant anchor text that drive direct traffic and boost pages and profiles in organic SERPs, thereby driving long-term traffic. Links are not as important as they were before, but they are still essential to ranking algorithms.
• Associated traffic results in KPI conversions, which might include direct response, friendship, subscriptions, branding, other goals or whatever the KPI may be. At the end of the day, this is all about selling stuff.
• Posts spawn engagement and friendships for later remarketing, that is to say users are inspired to become friends to whom we can remarket to later. Friendship is like branding. Today’s branding is tomorrow’s conversion.

Various Levels Of Content Investment
Not every piece of content is link bait on a grand scale and not all content SEO is about home runs. In fact, sometimes link/social bait “happens” with a lower investment of time on an incredible idea. More often, great bait takes lot of research, can require cool graphics, lots of time other resources and production.

It’s prudent to budget the content mix investment, ranging between “good” quality content and truly outstanding link bait that requires a more serious investment of resources and time. You never totally know what will win, but as the saying goes, “Slow and steady wins the race.”

Whatever mix of content you settle on for the results you seek, it’s best to work from an editorial calendar. Each month, schedule the amount of time available for research, writing, vetting images, etc. Then, allocate those hours across a healthy array of investment in posts.

We typically advise clients to budget time for a mix of high-investment “Link-Bait” and solid production grade “SEO/Social Content.” Here’s a high-level list of a handful of content varieties to consider, or not. We’ve separated them by how much time investment it takes on overage for each grade and expected results. The following table is, of course, an over simplification but we think you’ll get the picture.

Of course, there are many other types of content out there at various levels of investment. To name a few:

Serialized vanity bait conventions, such as link roundups, ping mid-authority bloggers and often yield social broadcast and engagement. Content that results reputation alerts being sent, to those you link to and cite, are inherently viral and can often be quickly created to good results. The “Weekly This” or The “Monthly That” can lend a tone of credibility and longevity to a content strategy. This is especially effective when you cite people and publications systemically by saying their names or linking to their work. One of my favorite examples is SearchEngineLand’s “Daily Search Cap,” curated by Matt McGee and Barry Schwartz.

Rewritten press releases can introduce a social spin to repurposed content in social channels and leverage work-in-the-can. There is usually a human side to even the most technical of industrial offerings. Find it.

Publish news with an editorial spin that adds value when you’ve got something important to say. Summarize, put things in easy terms, or elucidate to enhance your readers’ understanding of an important news item. The news may not still be brand new, but your insights are evergreen.

Be a curator. Call it what you want, “custodian,” “keeper,” “steward,” “guardian” or “overseer,” curating is about the adding value to content by how its aggregated. Create lists and aggregate resources to make the whole greater than the sum of parts.

With Google’s swollen emphasis on fresh content and other social signals, marketers already dedicated to quality content have a definite advantage. However, it’s never too late for recurrent content. It’s important to invest enough sources to reach the goal, without over-investing. As such, an informed content mix is advisable. Take time to consider what types of content can yield various result-sets and budget accordingly.

photo credit: fotolio © Fantasista

You heard it here first! The Duluth Chamber of Commerce is about to announce an ambitious three track social media marketing conference. “Zenith Social Media Marketing Conference 2012, Tips, Tools, Tactics, & Beyond,” will be held May 23, in multiple locations in our beautiful city. (Registration Link) Here’s a cool secret: The agenda was sequenced by aimClear and we’re importing a number of our accomplished colleagues to set the speaking roster’s tone. You’ll find the agenda here.

Yep, we’ll have an impressive sampling of the illuminating panelists you’ve see us presenting aside at international conferences over the years, and now they’re coming to the Zenith City.  Watch aimClear Blog in coming days as speakers are announced.  All proceeds go to benefit Duluth’s Chamber of Commerce’s business outreach programs. Local businesses are digging deep to sponsor this event, including incredible hotel room offers and other perks. Get it?

OMG, The Speakers!
The conference will feature local experts and experienced speakers from around the world, representing B2B and B2C companies of all sizes and agencies including Siemens, SEOmoz, 3M, Mall Of America, Dorsey and Whitney and Channel Intelligence. Panels will be manned (and wo-manned) by marketers with extensive experience working accounts of all sizes including Martha Stewart Omni, The Washington Post, Angie’s List, Local.com, SecondLife, Victaulic, John Wayne Cancer Center and many others- SMBs to Fortune 500 clients. The illustrious roster of orators will also sport multiple major label authors whose credentials include current best sellers in online marketing business book space.

For a local conference, the quality is high.  There’s something very valuable here for social media marketers at all levels. Registering for the conference amounts to a great value, a program designed to empower Duluth and Twin Cities business folk. Northern Minnesota marketers, time to represent! Twin Cities marketers: Let’s burn up 35W North and have a serious tweetup!

There are many other reasons to come other than aimClear. Attendees will be treated to cutting-edge-relevant social media marketing curriculum. We’re proud to announce that the “Advanced Track” will be hosted in aimClear’s beautiful Superior St. office and there will be networking opportunities galore.

Full Contact Keynote
The day will kick off with a spirited keynote, “Gut Check! Setting Realistic Social Media Marketing Goals.” Join our panel of battle hardened social media experts representing businesses of various sizes, from local-guerilla SMBs to humongous multi-nationals, as our panelists discuss business social media marketing initiatives in realistic terms. Learn what social media marketing channels and tactics are worth investing in (as evidenced by revenue & failure), what the “real” social media ROI is, and how to avoid classic money-pit disasters.  This keynote, promises to cause ripples in your morning coffee, with takeaways for all comers.

Three Awesome Tracks
Attendees can choose from offerings and move between three kick-butt tracks. The “Boot Camp Track” will nourish the ambitions of enthusiastic social marketing newbies, covering crucial fundamentals like, “How Does Social Media Fit & What Should We Do First?,” “Fundamentals Of Reputation Monitoring & Community Management” and “Tools Of The Trade: The Social Media Marketer’s Toolkit Essentials.” Wow!

The “Channels ”Track” will take a deeper tactical dive into Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube marketing. This track also covers essential social media analytics and “SloMo,” the explosive mashup of social, local and mobile online marketing. “Measuring Social Media & Other Haystack Needles!” will take a comprehensive look measuring the ROI of social media.

Don’t miss the Social Media & The Law Round Table. Uptight about social media? In a regulated industry? Are you afraid of getting sued because employees are effectually running your public relations?  If you are, it’s with cause. The social media road is paved with potential legal danger. Though it’s still the Wild West out there, case law is quickly being made. Join our attorney panelists for an informal round table to discuss these and other pressing legal issues of the day. IMHO, this one’s worth the cost of admission in itself.

The Advanced Track, as mentioned, will be hosted at aimClear’s stunning new office.

This track is recommended for experienced marketers who want to sharpen their social skills.  You won’t want to miss, “Killer Social Ads! Research, Test, Measure, Dominate” For cutting-edge marketers, Facebook, LinkedIn & YouTube represent fertile fields for deadeye contextual advertising, display ads, branding and conversions. Join our panel of front line speakers for a crash course in social PPC marketing focusing on each channel’s fundamental strengths, “whole user” demographic targeting, and advanced campaign management hacks.

Other Advanced Track offerings include “Progressive Content Marketing In Your Face” and “Social Copywriting Secrets!  The Incredible, Edible Snippet.” The “Social Media Marketing “Live” Clinic” will provide attendees with the opportunity to interact directly with speakers to mine panelists’ immediate feedback on attendees’ social media profiles, real-time.

Academic Ties
Conferences passes will be given to professors and worthy students, representing all of our regions fine academic institutions, as well as our storied Center for Economic Development (CED).  The Zenith Social Media Conference is dedicated to empowerment over profit. aimClear has six employees that were educated locally. We can vouch for the fact that supporting the marketing education programs of our universities is a great investment.

Be There Or Be Squared
It’s hard to believe but the Duluth Chamber has set early bird pricing for this this gem of a one-day educational shindig at $149 for Duluth Chamber members and $199 for non-Chamber members. Don’t delay, because the price goes up substantially after the early bird expires. Group discounts are available and registration includes continental breakfast, lunch and admission to the after party! So if you’re ready to go, head on over and Register to cash in on the early bird. We’re proud to be associated with such an important effort, and our grateful to the conference’s other Premiere Sponsor, Charter Communications and Creative Partner, Swim Creative.   This is truly national fare at local-opportunity pricing. We hope to see you there! Stay tuned for additional announcements.

Duluth Images Courtesy Of: www.northernimages.com

At a valuation of about $50 Billion Dollars, with oodles of advertising revenue marching through its doors every day, we’re concerned that Facebook is not effectively servicing advertisers. We think the newly launched “Facebook Global Marketing Solutions Team” is a downgrade-wolf in the suit of a buzzwordy-sheep. From our own experience, we can vouch for that fact that speaking for millions of dollars of media spend does not rate a dedicated account rep’ any more. WTF? Read on for the gory details. 

Where did the account reps go? What happened to familiar support teams for a platform sprinkled with subtle imperfections?  Dear Facebook, ad spends  are precious, no matter whether you’re a mega-corporation or the trusty SMB next door. Dear Facebook, we’re TRYING to spend our clients’ money here.

Disruption in timing can be a huge problem.  That’s why roadblocks thrown up from FB’s recent account rep’ structure changes are so infuriating. aimClear works for some of the largest companies on earth, as well as guerrilla entrepreneurs. As monolithic as Facebook has become, we respectfully request that we be treated as if we speak for millions in ad spend. Read on to find out why we’re mad.

Marketers, I have a dream, a dream that in this depressed economy where well-educated, hard working citizens are unemployed, Facebook will come to the rescue with it’s billions and employ much needed account reps for Facebook Advertising. No longer ignoring the little guy. No longer only catering to those with deep pockets.

aimClear has long been an outspoken evangelist of Facebook Marketing, specifically Facebook Ads. We champion the power of the targeting tool and it’s unparalleled might to target users in groups, macro or micro. We encourage businesses to spend money with Facebook Advertising whether we handle the account or not.

The truth is, we couldn’t be as powerful when it comes to Facebook Ads without the help of our great Facebook Reps over the years. These trusted partners come to our aide when anomalies occur, when we need to raise spend caps to the thousands per day and have assisted us in saving face with clients when inexplicably the system locked us out of a brand new Business Account.

The Thorn in a Facebook Advertiser’s Side:
Back in early 2011, Facebook quietly released Business Accounts, Facebook accounts that could be set up solely for advertising and other business-specific ventures in the event that the advertiser didn’t have or want a true Facebook account or the ads linked to their personal account. Brilliant. We had been waiting for Facebook to provide us with a solution that wouldn’t force us to violate their TOS.

Setting Up a Facebook Business Account for Ads
Business Accounts are set up by visiting Facebook.com/Advertising, selecting “Create an Ad,” and following the process of, well, creating an ad. Next Facebook asks if you have an account— if not, advertisers can create an account simply by entering an email, name and finally, credit card information for the ad that was just created.

It was a simple and hopeful concept: Advertisers were no longer violating TOS or required to tie their personal account to what could be their clients’ ads.

The Agency Rub
As an agency Facebook advertiser, names and credit cards are tied to multiple accounts on behalf of clients. Same names, same credit cards, multiple accounts, whatever Facebook has as Spam or fraud triggers, Facebook’s protection system is triggered and locks down the account after a credit card has been entered and verified. And I mean LOCKED DOWN, like there was a fight in the prison yard and they’re still looking for the suspects.

Account Lock Down
After creating an ad, entering in an email address and credit card information, Facebook locked the account down the past two times I attempted to create Business Accounts. (For my privacy and protection of course. COUGH)

Mind you, I was at work, not scrambling around to different computers. If you’ve ever been locked out of a personal Facebook Account before, you’re aware an option to verify is identifying friends in images. Sorry, Business Account user, this option is not available to you (for obvious reasons).

Beware, Facebook… if I didn’t know better and was just beginning to use Facebook for advertising I’d think it was a terrible phishing scam. (Yikes!) They have my credit card information and left me locked out in the cold. Oh, and with the ads turned ON, as you can’t create ads that are paused after review.

The only way Facebook will let you unlock your account is to simply scan and upload your Passport or Driver’s License. SAY WHAT? Where’s the part where we protect MY privacy and identity?

Where’s the privacy for advertisers, Facebook? What if these are not available to you? No worries, upload your social security card and birth certificate! Wait… what?!

So what gives, Facebook? There is a massive valuation of the company, unemployment is rampant and a gaping void exists for something your advertisers desperately need. This is not to say Facebook could alleviate all the country’s unemployment woes, but with billions and a need, something could be done. When will you stop treating advertisers as second-class instead of a hand that feeds?

Businesses: Raise your hand if you barely cared about Google+ until your SEO consultant called to say now you just have to. While the disproportionate weight Google is placing on + driven results may be unhealthy for SERPs in the short term, opening a relatively easy + door to bomb Google SERPs serves the function of enlisting SEOs to goad businesses into participating in Google’s fledgling social community.

Google’s strategy is brilliant, sort of like a sardonic dominatrix forcing her ambivalent quarry to capitulate with promises of immediate pleasure, ultimately resulting in long-term frustration for the poor S.O.B. that surrendered. Trust me, it won’t stay this easy to participate your way into SERPs via + as businesses flock to grab their share and mega authority profiles are grown by brand gorillas. Long term, true socialization will likely benefit SERPs. For now, one thing is sure: The SEO world is changing in radical ways. While (of course) we’d love you to hire a specialized consultant to counsel you on what to do next, here’s an awesome start without having to fork over mucho-sheckels. Read on as SEO industry pundits weigh in with gobs of actionable insights and tactics.

Google has tried to go social before. From the ill-conceived “Wave” to the “Buzz” debacle, they’ve failed  and gloriously to impel its throngs of users to take the leap to socialization in a Google environment. Conventional wisdom is that Google users don’t traffic Google to be social. At first, + was interesting but looked like it could be another ho-hum. That’s all changed now. SEOs like you and I are giddy lemmings, flocking and falling all over our feet, telling businesses that they too should participate in the land rush. Sadly, it’s true! “Calling all businesses! For the next 15 minutes Google organic prominence is easier than usual!”

Here are 32 totally free Google Plus Your World SEO Resources. From the greatest minds in the industry to niche trade pubs, have a gander:

• Google’s Results Get More Personal With “Search Plus Your World”, Danny Sullivan, SearchEngineLand
• Why Every Marketer Now Needs a Google+ Strategy, Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz
• Rank for Anything You Want on Google Search Plus Your World, Miranda Miller, Search Engine Watch
• When Search & Social Act Like Children, Users Lose, Lisa Barone, Outspoken Media
• Webmaster Reaction Towards Google Search, Plus Your World, Barry Schwartz, SearchEngineRoundTable
• Google Introduces ‘Search, Plus Your World’: Is Your Business Ready to Get Personal?, Jessica Bates, MasterGoogle
• How Google Search+ Your World Influences SEO Laurie Sullivan, MediaPost
• Real-Life Examples Of How Google’s “Search Plus” Pushes Google+ Over Relevancy, Danny Sullivan, SearchEngineLand
• What does Google’s social search mean for SEO? We ask the experts,  Nancy Messieh TNW Blog
• Twitter: Google+ Integration In Google Search Is “Bad” For Everyone, Matt McGee, Marketing Land
• Google+ for Business: 5 Things Marketing Professionals Should Know About Google+,  Ashley Zeckman TopRank, Online Marketing Blog
• What Google Personalized Search plus Your World Means for Marketing – SEO Tips, Lee Odden, TopRank Online Marketing Blog
• How Google Search Plus Your World Affects SEO, Sean, SEOHacker
• 5 Ways Google Search Plus Your World Impacts SEO, Jacob Stoops, Agent
• SEOGoogle’s “Search Plus Your World” Gets Personal, SEOHaus
• Google+ SEO AJ Kohn, Blind Five Year Old
• How Google Search Plus Your World Will Impact SEO, Marcus Taylor, SEOOptimise
• How Does Google’s Search Plus Your World Impact Adwords and Other Forms of Online Marketing?, Joe Mangum, SEOmoz
• How To Rank On Page One Of Google’s Personalized Search, SEO Philosophy5
• §  Harsh Truths About Google’s ‘Search Plus Your World’ Update, Obaidul Haque, SearchEngine Marketing Group
• Google Search, Plus Your World: Where Google Plus and SEO Converge, Jannette Pazer, Dragon Search
• Search Plus Your World: Google’s SEO Game Changer, Stephanie Cain, The Right Click
• ‘Google Search, Plus Your World’ – An SEO’s Perspective, Mike, Digital Marketing Blog
• Google+ for SEO? Don’t Focus on Your Brand Page!, Eric Wittlake, B2C
• Building Authority and Influence in Google, Kaiserthesage
• Three Reasons Google Search Plus Your World Will Change Your World, Vocus Blog
• Google Rocks SEO With Search Plus Your World, OptimizeThis
• Get Yourself Featured in New Google Search Plus Your World Personalized Search, Mark Traphagen, Virante Orange Juice
• Google ‘Search Plus Your World’ Brings Google+ Into Search Results, Michael Liedtke, HuffingtonPost

Additional Resources, Added “Post” Humously

• 30 Hands On Google Search Plus SEO Techniques for Getting Personal, Tadeusz Szewczyk, OnReact
• eBook from our friends at SearchInfluence, Using Google Plus For Business

My content marketing mentors were marvelous gray-haired men and woman, who cut their teeth during the Mad Men era. They trained me to develop story headlines first by brainstorming quickly through numerous theory statements, choosing the appropriate concept to develop, and then taking time to build out a polished headline.

The timeless premise is that it’s important to fully understand what needs to be communicated before attempting to package it in a headline. Otherwise, time may be wasted on spin and tone without a clear vision of what needs to be imparted. When one attempts to shred numerous ideas at the same time, as flashy finalized bytes for every idea on the table, it puts way too much pressure on the creative process and slows things down.

Sure, occasionally blow-away final headlines do come stream of consciousness, and no matter how hard we try and best the first idea, it can’t be topped. However, to many advertising writers, flashpoint creativity in the form of immediately conceiving a perfect headline, is the exception rather than the norm.  Start with a headline theory, develop the meaning that needs to be communicated first and then reduce the concept to a powerful snippet.

Get Started With Headline Theories
Start by writing out exactly what you want to communicate in as long a sentence as necessary, without worrying about style, syntax, vernacular, or length. Like an attorney planning the essence of a court case, spend some time blocking and tackling concepts, or as we call it, “crafting the headline theory.”  Express the theories as one or two sentence statements or comma-delimited strings. They do not even need to be grammatically correct.

Let’s use this blog post as an example. I know I want to write a short feature about headline composition techniques and headline theories. My first move is to quickly brainstorm various theories as to how the post might be approached. What’s cool is that there is no pressure whatsoever to think in flashy sound bytes because the only one who will ever see the raw theory document is me, prior to spending more focused time fleshing out a final headline. This enables me to speed through several ideas without stopping to smooth out rough edges. Here are four theories that took less than two total minutes total to write.

1. Discuss 8 different tips we use at aimClear for creativity in composing amazing headlines
2. Boiling down the fine art of writing headlines, to a technique, not always cut and dried but many similarities
3. Explaining the need for, meaning of, and specific technique of crafting headline theories and developing finished headlines therefrom to maximize creativity
4. Different brainstorming processes our team uses to flesh out headline ideas, how the group dynamic can totally affect the outcome

The theory I choose is in bold, far from a finished headline but clearly spelling out the concept of the post about to be written.  When deciding which theory to use, look for ideas that have multiple layers embodied in a sentence or two. The theory now becomes the blog post’s mission statement.

The next step is to build a more polished headline. Pretty much every blog post or ad I ever write has a list like the one that follows below, moving through numerous ideations of a title before landing on the final.  This process is different for each writer, but I prefer to type line after line quickly, worksheet style, developing many permutations on the headline until I find one that I like. Then I return to it over and over during the post writing process. For blog posts, I’ll usually leave 5-10 possibilities at the top of what I’m writing, add and subtract options, and finalize it sometime during the writing process. Here are the working titles for this post. The winner is in bold:

• Harnessing Creativity! Headline Theory To Polished Headline
• Harnessing Creativity! Headline Theory To Inspired Headline
• Harnessing Headline Creativity! Theories To Inspiration
• Harnessing Brainstorming Creativity! Following Theories To Finished Headline
• Harnessing Brainstorming Creativity! Theories To Finished Headline
• Harnessing Brainstorming Creativity! Theory To Polished Headline
• Harnessing Brainstorming Creativity! From Theory To Polished Headline
• Harnessing Headline Creativity!  Theory To Polish
• Harnessing Headline Creativity!  Brainstorming Theories To Final Polish
• Harnessing Headline Creativity!  Brainstorming, Theories, & Polish
• Harnessing Headline Creativity!  Brainstormed Theories To Final Polish
• Harnessing Headline Creativity!  Brainstorming Theory To Final Polish
• Harnessing Headline Theories!  Flashing Ideas To Final Polish
• Harnessing Headline Theories!  Flashpoint Ideas To Final Polish
• Harnessing Headline Theories!  Flashpoints To Final Polish
• Harnessing Headline Creativity!  From Theory To Polish
• Harnessing Headline Creativity!  From Theories To Polish
• Harnessing Headline Creativity!  Jamming Theories To Finished Polish

Look for the final headline to capture and boil down the true meaning of the content. We want it to be long enough to communicate the crux but short enough to have some bite. Sometimes the theoretical essence changes a bit during the writing process and the headline needs to be adjusted at the end, right before publishing.  Other times the mission statement offered in the initial theory holds steady all the way through writing the post. It’s usually a good idea to look over the final content that the headline theory inspired, in totality, for adjectives and concepts that could not be envisioned. In this case the word “flash” in the post inspired the final headline that I completed just now, right before publishing.

Team Work Puts The “Fun” In Fundamental
These concepts work really well for teams, especially working in a non-linear environment and even with virtual teammates.  Often times we’ll bandy ideas about via Google Chat, from thousands of miles away, exchanging theories and final options back and forth. This can take place at any time in the process. We believe that involving other creative teammates really adds energy, brevity and wit.  Also headline theory technique works really well for nearly any type of content that has a headline, from AdWords to Facebook Ads, SEO title tags to YouTube video names, and LinkedIn DM and email campaigns.  Happy headline writing folks!

Image: © Konstantin Li – Fotolia . com

A new year calls for a new look… at least, that’s what any hot-blooded fashionista will tell you. Here at aimClear, we’re embracing that concept and mapping it to, among other things, our Facebook Marketing Intensive– just in time for it’s one year anniversary, to boot.

Yes, it was one year ago we unveiled our full-day workshop on the stage of #SMX West. The aimClear team is stoked to return to sunny San Jose, armed with an exciting new curriculum brimming with even more hot, juicy, actionable takeaways in a radically revamped agenda. This is one Facebook Marketing Intensive workshop not to be missed.

Mark your calendars for Monday, February 27 if you’re interested in joining the party. Our panel of accomplished international Facebook marketers are ready to rock it from breakfast til happy hour, tackling everything from “free” organic optimization tactics to paid “Facebook Ads” advertising best practices, in-depth demographic research and tips for harnessing Facebook’s massive online community to achieve well-established KPIs.

This is a ticketed event, so be sure to register today for a seat at mama’s table. Read on for a closer look at our newly remodeled workshop agenda, along with descriptions of each crowd-engaging module.

Facebook Demographic Research & Guerilla Targeting: Tally-ho! We’ll kick off the day getting down ‘n dirty with demographic research that incorporates both traditional search and emergent social channels. You will learn to leverage search to find and mine social users by conversations, tap into search history to develop deep social strategy, as well as create and target killer social segments advised by fertile watering holes identified by search. Are we noting a trend here?

Establishing Facebook Marketing KPIs: Our classic look at the art of attainable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), with an intensified focus on how search affects social (there it is again!). This is an end-to-end journey, from understanding to establishing to achieving marketing KPIs that span Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, PR, SERPs, blogs and more.

Community Management: We start with kindergarten principles (e.g.: why sharing is important!) and escalate to DEFCON 1 (dealing with intra-community bloodshed and brand reputation crises). Along the way, we’ll take a look at holistic friending best practices and case studies, as well as tips for cross-channel promotion that won’t irritate your fans. #UsingHashtagsOnFacebookMakePeoplePuke #DoNotDoIt #FunFact

Specific modules include:

• Curate & Aggregate! Industrial Strength Content Sharing For Powerful Community Managers
• Holistic Befriending in Facebook: 36 Ways to Make More Social Media Friends Who Matter
  
• Facebook Crises Management! Dealing with Intra-Community Bloodshed
  

How To Buying Fans For Fun & Profit: Feast on a wealth of case studies on “buying friends” and explore the real meaning and value of a CPF (Cost Per Friend).

Killer Facebook Ads: Full Contact! This is where we went seriously nip/tuck-tastic. In addition to a keen emphasis on how Facebook Ads impact search, we’ll also tackle:

• Killer Facebook Ads: Account Structure & Optimization
• Killer Facebook Ads: How To Write Ads like a Rockstar
• Killer Facebook Ads: Choosing Images That Scream

Sponsored Stories & Other Fantastical Social Facebook Ad Unit: Saddle up for a look at Facebook Sponsored Stories– the perks, the possibilities, and everything in between.

Decoding Facebook’s EdgeRank & Organic Visibility: We’re cracking open the black box known as EdgeRank, Facebook’s ranking algorithm… to the best of our ability. Expect useful tips and insider advice for how to inspire and harness community engagement, effectively increasing organic visibility in search and social.

Digging Deep In Facebook’s Insights & Mining Organic Analytics: You can’t achieve goals unless you set them, and you can’t know to what extent you’re #winning or #sucking without some form of analytics. We’re going to dig into Facebook’s organic analytics platform, Insights, exploring various combinations of metrics including engagement and demographic statistics that will help transform insight into action.

The Great Big Glistening Tremendously Tricked-Out Book of Tools: We’re rounding out the day with a filled-to-the-gills guide sure to be your definitive resource for marketing in the social space and calculating ROI. Listening tools to page management tools, mainstream to maniacal, free to enterprise-level, you’ll come away with a rich understanding of how to construct a social analytics toolkit, pros and cons of toolsets, confidence about what is measurable and what is not, and a common framework to evaluate different tools.

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Remember to register lickity-split for Early Bird rates on your pass for #SMX West and aimClear’s Facebook Marketing Intensive.

Did we mention workshop attendees will each win a free copy of “Killer Facebook Ads” (Wiley/Sybex 2011)? Sweet deal

Already signed up for the main event? Keep your eyes peeled for our own Marty Weintraub, Merry Morud, and Manny Rivas, set to storm the stage during #SMX speaking on a slew of savory top-shelf topics.

Yes, we know. This is not a “landing page” landing page. That’s because, in this case, a “Conversion” means simply to have an opportunity to meet you on this page. You seem pretty intelligent. We’re sure you can find the “Contact” links on the page if so inclined. Welcome! As aimClear celebrates its five year anniversary, following August’s much anticipated move to our incredible new office, In January we’re unveiling a branding campaign, mostly for the fun of it.

The campaign’s KPI is brand awareness, centered on aimClear’s social media marketing strengths:
-Brutally Focused Demographic Targeting & Message Testing
-Holistic Multi-Channel Community Management & Training
-Killer Creative, Seasoned Content Marketers
-Best-In-Class-Social PPC. Literally, We Wrote The Book
-Holistic Integration With Paid & Organic Search
-Multi-Channel ROI/CPA Tracking
-Strong B2B & B2C PR Roots
-Enterprise Grade Scalability, Proprietary Methods
-Fanatical Devotion To KPI-Motivated, Data-Driven Online Marketing

The Über-groovy banners were created by artist Rachel Stene with support from Manny Rivas and Joe Warner.

We rarely advertise. aimClear’s clients, ranging from humongous multinationals to guerrilla entrepreneurs, typically come to us after seeing us speak, reading our blog posts or by referral. Now with our fantastic growth, we’re letting our hair down to let the world know what we’ve been up to and make new marketing pals. Well at least most of aimClear’s staff can let their hair down.

It’s gratifying that we’ve gotten so much done over the last five years and there’s still a lot more to do. In addition to our dream-team client credits, recent & upcoming conference appearances include MediaPost Search Insider Summit, SMX, SES, eMetrics, Conversion Optimization Summit, International Search Summit, BlueGass, OMS and others.

In 2012 you can catch aimClear team members speaking in London, Sydney, Jerusalem, Las Vegas, New York, Portland,  Chicago,  Minneapolis, Seattle, San Jose, Honolulu, San Francisco & other cities around the world. (Contact aimClear)

Numerous team members have written extensively for respected Internet marketing trade publications including SearchEngineWatch, SearchEngineLand, SearchEngineRoundTable, SearchEngineJournal & been quoted in many others. aimClear Blog was cited as a Technorati Top 10 Small Business Blogs, Cison Top Ten Social Media Blogs & PRWeb’s 25 Essential Public Relations Blogs You Should Be Reading.

So, if you’re taking first social media steps, are in over your in-house-head or the current consultant is just not getting the job done, give us a shout and let’s talk.

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