How Content Takes the Stage to Change Brand Perception [Example]

Editor’s note: Beverly Jackson is a finalist for 2018 Content Marketer of the Year. We’ll share insight from CMY finalists in the blog before the winner is announced at Content Marketing World in September.

When was the last time you went to a casino? When was the last time you went to Las Vegas just for the gambling?

Though plenty of people do, a much larger set of people don’t put gambling or Las Vegas at the top of their what-to-do-for-fun lists.

How to gain recognition in a larger market – while keeping existing customers clamoring to return – posed a challenge for MGM Resorts International. With its flagship property, MGM Grand, associated so closely with Las Vegas, few people realize how many properties the company operates (in Las Vegas and around the world), let alone what MGM Resorts offers apart from a casino experience.

Shifting the market’s perception of the company from gaming is the goal of the digital, organizational, and cultural transformation the company is going through. Instead of simply gaming, MGM Resorts wants its 28 global properties to be known for something with a near universal appeal – entertainment.

Content stands center stage in this effort. But it isn’t just any content.

“You don’t say you’re going to compete with Disney and then put out content that looks like Firestone,” says Beverly Jackson, vice president of social strategy at MGM Resorts International.

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Don’t say you compete with Disney and put out content that looks like Firestone, says @BevJack
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Beverly’s work as head of the team that strategizes, conceives, creates, and distributes the social content promoting these experiences earned her a nomination for Content Marketer of the Year. And it offers several lessons for other marketers.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Build a Smart Yet Simple Social Media Marketing Plan [Template]

Help individual voices work within an ensemble

MGM Resorts International operates many well-known destination brands including Aria, Bellagio, MGM Grand, The Mirage, Circus Circus, and others in Las Vegas. Many of these properties have distinct brand characteristics and audience segments. Aria, for example, touts smart-technology experiences like tablet-controlled services, while Circus Circus focuses on family-friendly, theme-park-style experiences.

When Beverly joined the company in 2015, one of her challenges was to create a social strategy and presence for the parent brand, MGM Resorts International. Although people knew individual properties’ brands, the parent brand only mattered on Wall Street as investors evaluated the company’s overall inventory.

Beverly first brought together all of the brands’ social and content strategists and creators into one central department. Though they now work together, the teams preserve the tone and approach that make sense for each property.

Consider the difference in tone between this tweet from Circus Circus:

There’s nothing like this feeling…RT if you agree. pic.twitter.com/uxow81DruB

— Circus Circus (@CircusVegas) June 30, 2018

And this one from Aria:

Embrace the sights of spring. https://t.co/OINWT2Skjx pic.twitter.com/fBT7wsNac0

— ARIA Las Vegas (@AriaLV) April 10, 2018

Though the experience on display differs, the theme of entertainment unites them. In fact, the idea that entertainment is a human invention ties together the brand content.

thank you for a record-breaking year, @goldenknights. because of you, the city stands #vegasborn. pic.twitter.com/4lnrsG6RB1

— MGM Resorts (@MGMResortsIntl) June 8, 2018

And that emphasis on entertainment extends to properties far beyond the Strip. Social content counting down to the August 2018 opening of the  MGM Springfield in Massachusetts, for example, highlighted the range of entertainment available.

Gaming gets a plug. But so do wining and dining.

The countdown has begun which means @ChefMichaelMina‘s Cal Mare culinary delights are that much closer. https://t.co/cwPHkQ7dmo pic.twitter.com/SgLM159MlW

— MGM Springfield (@MGMSpringfield) August 14, 2018

… and even quietly reading.

Relax, unwind, and let your imagination wander in 4 days. 08.24.18 https://t.co/ek5eqWrtDv pic.twitter.com/tq3GSK3O9g

— MGM Springfield (@MGMSpringfield) August 20, 2018

The content ties the new property to many Vegas staples, but also shows what the property offers regardless of your interest in gambling. The Boston Globe took note, calling it “as un-Vegas as Springfield itself.”

Create a 360 experience

MGM Resorts owns 400 restaurants and nightclubs, and hosts thousands of events each year featuring some of the biggest names in entertainment: Bruno Mars, Cher, Rickie Martin, Lady Gaga, and Aerosmith. It also owns a WNBA basketball team (Las Vegas Aces) and Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena, which is the home of the NHL team the Golden Knights, Stanley Cup contenders in its inaugural year.

Much of the related content created and promoted by Beverly’s team rolls out on social channels (as in this example):

thank you for a record-breaking year, @goldenknights. because of you, the city stands #vegasborn. pic.twitter.com/4lnrsG6RB1

— MGM Resorts (@MGMResortsIntl) June 8, 2018

But the MGM Resorts team also looks at creating experiences that bring people along the customer journey. When Beverly talks “content,” she’s talking about content for social channels and marquees, in-room or mobile devices, and the company’s app.

“We have to be able to tell amazing stories in 60-, 45-, 30- and 15-second increments and on a 4-inch by 2-inch screen,” she says.

And the stories need to do more than just entertain. “Social and content are designed to hit people where they are and move them along the journey,” Beverly says. “Someone in the exploration phase (can) see beautiful pictures of suites and videos to get them excited about the trip. If someone’s in town, they may be looking for things to do. We’ll look to conquer their attention and get a larger share of voice.”

That’s why her team uses content to highlight experiences rather than focusing on hotel rooms. On MGM Resorts social channels, you’ll see plenty of content about specialty drinks at a cocktail lounge, poolside activities, and tips on booking spas at one of the properties.

This content comes from Beverly’s team of strategists and “makers,” who create and execute stories across every touchpoint at every experience. Most of the team can shoot and edit video plus create content and lay out the strategy for how it can be used across channels.

For example, Beverly charged the staffer who handles the WNBA team with creating a narrative through the content he captures. They’re working on an approach that models a 24-second shot clock, during which they take players through a series of rapid-fire questions during a long, continuous shot.

“We find this kind of approach is captivating because it stops viewers and they engage with it on social,” Beverly explains. “That person plans everything from how we shoot it, how we edit it, and what music we use. Our social team has final say in what content looks like because they’re engaging people with it online.”

Caught up with The Rook @_ajawilson22 right before today’s final game at The House. pic.twitter.com/jabuTWjphF

— Las Vegas Aces ♦️♠️ (@LVAces) August 19, 2018

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Measure returns based on priorities

Content clearly plays a big role in the transformation the company’s undertaking. Of course, behind the scenes, numbers do count. There are tickets to be sold and rooms to fill.

To show how her team’s efforts contribute, Beverly reports on three sets of KPIs. Though she can’t share results publicly, she describes the expectations around each.

Brand awareness and preference, which leads to share of wallet and voice. This area is in transition because of the shift from gaming and hospitality brand to an entertainment brand.

Traffic to brand websites. Beverly’s team tracks where the traffic comes from on social channels as well as how social moves people through the MGM experience. Some site visitors explore their options before they get to their destination. Some are looking for things to do while they’re in town. Over the last two years, the company has experienced double-digit growth in website traffic referred from social channels.

The mobile app. The MGM app lets people book hotel rooms, make reservations for events, get tables at a night club, and reserve cabanas by the pool. They can bet on a game from the pool or the nightclub and get their winnings in a mobile wallet. “The app is a newly launched product, and I stepped in because they were going to launch it with a poster campaign,” Beverly says. “Social is a big channel to download the app now.”

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: How to Establish the Best Social Media KPIs for Your Content Marketing Goals

Pick the right collaborators

Beverly’s team serves as an internal agency to the properties as a whole and partners with various external agencies and the visiting performers’ teams to find and create the right content.

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.@MGMResortsIntl #content team serves as internal agency to all its properties, says @BevJack.
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She’s adamant that when you build a social media team, you need to find people who can work closely together. And these people need to be a blend of creators, strategists, and community managers. “This is the combination of people who get the party started, help people have fun, and then make sure it keeps going,” she says.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Team? 14 Skills for New, Growing, and Mature Programs

To find out live who is named the 2018 Content Marketer of the Year (and lots of things to help your content marketing program), register today for Content Marketing World Sept. 4-7 in Cleveland, Ohio. Use code BLOG100 to save $100.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post How Content Takes the Stage to Change Brand Perception [Example] appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

5 Psychological Principles You Can Use To Convert More Website Visitors Into Customers

Have you ever made a purchase without wanting to?

Sure. We all have. That’s why “Buyer’s remorse” is such a collective human experience. People buy. Then they wish that hadn’t. Naturally, that leads to regret about the decision to buy in the first place.

Which raises an important question: Why the heck would anyone buy a product when they’re going to feel guilty about it afterward?

The answer is simple: someone or something psychologically influenced them to do so. In fact, that influence was so powerful that they did so when they didn’t even want to.

Now, I’m not recommending that you create a terrible product and try to sell it to people who don’t want to buy it – that can hurt your business in the long run. But there’s a greater implication here. If it’s possible to convince uninterested people to buy your product, then it’s definitely possible to convince interested people at a much higher rate.

The trick lies in understanding the hurdles that your target market needs to jump before buying and then helping them make those leaps.

Here are five psychological principles that will do just that.

1. Priming

Let’s play a game.

Fill in the blank spot on the word next to the pictures below.

Image Source

If you’re like most people, you used the letter “U” to make the word “Soup.”

Why?

Because of how the exercise was framed. The pictures are all of other foods – butter, bread, and juice – so it’s only logical to create a word that fits into a similar category.

Still, you could have made two other words with that prompt: “Soap” and “Sopp.”

In fact, if I were to show you the below images instead, what letter would you choose?

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That’s right. “A” for “Soap.”

And yet, nothing changed about the letters themselves. You made a different decision because of the way the decision was framed. In marketing, this is called priming.

Jacob Mcmillen, a professional copywriter and the Head of SEO for Consulting.com, said,

“As a copywriter, priming is a pretty core part of my process. Everyone knows you need to focus your marketing on how the product/service will directly benefit the consumer, but priming takes that concept to the next level. When possible, I like to really trigger people’s emotions related to the challenges a product/service is designed for. We want them actively feeling frustrated, annoyed, or even angry when we present the solution because it’s going to then trigger more positive emotions surrounding the solution.”

In other words, you can prime your website visitors to buy before they even see the CTA button. By preparing the prospect’s brain to be receptive to your solution, you can quickly and easily increase the conversion rate on your website.

Here are a few practical ideas to help out.

1. Write sales copy that frames the problem before discussing the solution  – Don’t introduce your solution too early. You want prospects to feel the problem before you explain your solution. People are far more likely to buy a solution if they’re in the midst of a problem versus having forgotten what that problem is like. Remind them as best you can.
2. Introduce a high price before showing the actual price  – If you’re selling your product for $500, first show website visitors that the product is actually worth far more ($2,000 or $4,000, for instance). They’ll get a bit nervous about how much you’re going to charge, but when they see the actual price ($500), they’ll perceive it as much lower than they would have if they hadn’t seen the $2,000 or $4,000 number first.

2. Reciprocity

Robert Cialdini tells a shocking story in his book, Influence, at the beginning of his chapter on reciprocation:
“A few years ago, a university professor tried a little experiment. He sent Christmas cards to a sample of perfect strangers. Although he expected some reaction, the response he received was amazing – holiday cards addressed to him came pouring back from the people who had never met nor heard of him.”

As it turns out, giving a little goes a long way.

Not just because people appreciate it, but because they have a psychological need to return the favor. Clearly, this is a marketing goldmine ready for exploitation on your website.

Ryan Peck, the founder of Care Ultima, credits his success to the rule of reciprocation: “This rule is one of the driving forces of my success. It elevates me above my competition. When everyone is trying to ‘sell,’ I merely provide free value. Part of our human nature is that when we receive a free benefit from someone, we are significantly more likely to return that gift and become a loyal customer.”

So how can you use this principle to convert more visitors on your website?

One of the most common ways is by using lead magnets – whether it be a free eBook, webinar, or downloadable checklist.

For instance, this…

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Or this…

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Or this…

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Why are so many marketers giving stuff away for free? Because it pays. When someone downloads one of these resources and you provide honest value for them, they will naturally feel a tug to do business with you once you ask.

After all, you’ve already helped them out, the least they could do is help you out – or so the logic goes.

Here are a few different types of lead magnets you can create to take advantage of the rule of reciprocation.

1. eBook – It doesn’t have to be nearly as long as a normal book. Aim for 5,000 or 10,000 words, even. Just make sure you provide plenty of value.
2. Webinar – The big mistake that people make on webinars is not providing enough honest value for their audience. Instead, the whole thing is just a sales pitch. Don’t do that. Start with providing value, and pitch your product at the end.
3. Podcast – Focus on providing value for your audience. Help them connect with you and learn to trust you. Then, they’ll likely buy from you later.

3. Social Proof

If you’ve ever watched a sitcom and laughed during the show, then you’ve probably been a victim of social proof’s influence on your actions. As Robert Cialdini points out in Influence, that canned laughter is intentionally placed to help the viewer understand what’s funny.

As you and I have both experienced, laughter is contagious. Certain kinds of laughs make us uncontrollably giggle, regardless of how funny the actual content or situation is. This is exactly what sitcom marketers intend to do when they use canned laughter on a show.

Regardless of how funny the show is, these marketers want you to laugh. When you laugh, the show becomes funny, whether there’s a good reason for it or not.

Why? Because other people are laughing, so, your brain thinks, something must be funny about this.

This is only one example of social proof in action. There are, naturally, many different ways to apply this principle to your website’s conversion rate.

It’s less important how you do it and more important that you do. As Katie Melissa, entrepreneur and e-commerce superstar, said when I asked her about this, “On any website, it’s important to establish a major trust factor. Trust is key when influencing people (online or offline) and creating that sense of comfort increases conversions.”

Which is why websites like Carrot put a testimonial at the top of their website.

And it’s why BalingWireDirect put a trust-building credibility bar at the top of their website.

Testimonials and credibility bars alike use the psychological principle of social proof and encourage prospects to purchase by showing them that other people have purchased and been satisfied.

And it’s why WikiJob increased its sales by 34% after changing from this…

To this…

Image Source

Okay – testimonials and canned laughter. But how else can you use social proof to increase the conversion rate on your website?

A few ideas.

1. Use someone-just-bought notifications – When choosing a restaurant, you want to go where everyone else is going. It must be good if everyone else is going there, right? These social-proof-packed notifications do the same thing for online sales.
2. Show one of your target market’s influencers on the landing page – Influencers are one of the quickest ways to build trust with your target market. Pay them to endorse your product and put their picture on your landing page in place of the hero image.
3. Testimonials – We already talked about this.
4. Case study – Interview some of your best customers and create a blog post or video about their success with your product. This will help prospective customers understand how you can help them in a similar way.

4. Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)

Does being in a committed relationship make you more attractive or less attractive to onlookers?

ConversionXL reports on one surprising study. A group of women, split into two groups, were shown a picture of their “dream man.” The first group was told that the man was single, but the second group was told that the man was in a committed relationship.

Then, the women were asked whether they would pursue the man or not.

59% of the first group said they would and a staggering 90% of the second group (those who were told the man was in a relationship) said they would pursue him.

Yikes.

Morals aside, this study reveals something remarkable: people want what they can’t have and they’re afraid to miss out on favorable opportunities.

In fact, this Fear Of Missing Out pattern is so prevalent that dictionary.com has officially defined FOMO as “Anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on social media.”

Why is that important for your website conversion rate?

Because when people are anxious about missing out on a sale or buying opportunity, they’re far more likely to go digging in their wallets.

But how, exactly, can you use FOMO to your advantage when trying to increase your website’s conversion rate?

Well, Dmitriy, the Co-Founder of Influex, recommends,“When creating your email opt-inn headline, list the number of subscribers, then have your best customer testimonials visible right below the opt-in fields. For example, a headline can be: ‘Join 150,000 Subscribers In Downloading The Facebook Profit Playbook’ with 3 testimonials below that verify winning results.”

Here’s a few more ideas:

1. Use a sales countdown timer.
2. Show the number of products left in stock.
3. Limit free shipping to the first “X number of items” purchased.

5. Commitment and Consistency

Robert Cialdini, in Influence, tells the psychological story of people who bet on horse races. It all starts with a struggle to determine which horse to bet on. Should they bet on the up-and-comer or on the tried-and-true? To start, it’s a difficult choice – one that the interviewed gamblers weren’t so confident about.

Up until they actually placed their bet, that is. Once these risk-lovers put money down on a horse, suddenly, confidence in their decision increased exponentially, regardless of the horse they chose to bet on.

Why?

Because of a psychological principle termed “Commitment and consistency.” Here’s how Security Through Education explains this phenomenon: “People have a general desire to appear consistent in their behavior.” And for better or worse, “Compliance professionals,” or marketers, “can exploit the desire to be consistent by having someone make an initial, often small, commitment.”

In fact, Shopify recommends using exactly this strategy in their article regarding multi-channel marketing:

“Whether visitors are coming to your site through organic search, social media, or paid advertising – each channel tells a slightly different story. Unfortunately, few sites take advantage of that story by leveraging a psychological principle known as ‘consistency and commitment.’

Rather than treat all visitors the same, you can start building your strategy around identifying customer intent via their traffic source. The best course is to serve up custom content so that a visitor’s first impression aligns with where they came from.”

In other words, people want to be consistent with their past decisions. So, if you help them make a small commitment to you now, they’re far more likely to make a big commitment to you later.

Here’s a few ways you can apply this to your website and its visitors:

1. Give away a free book but ask for the person to pay shipping on it – This strikes the perfect balance between generosity on your part and building commitment on the prospect’s part. By having them pay shipping, they’ll be more likely to purchase bigger-ticket items from you in a few months.
2. Ask for the visitors email address – Today, people try to protect their email inboxes from spam religiously. If you get the prospect to enter their email, then that small commitment might be enough to get them to purchase from you later on.
3. Have several small-step forms during your checkout process – Try starting the buyer’s checkout process with just an email address and name. Then, move them to entering their address. Then, the shipping method. Then, maybe a form that says, “How excited are you to change your life with this [item]?” with a scale of 1-10, or something to that effect. Finally, send them to the payment information page (the most difficult page for people to fill out). The point is to help the potential buyer make small commitments before buying so that they’re more likely to follow through with their purchase in the end.

Wrap up

Sometimes, people buy a product even when they don’t want to.

And they likely do it because one or several of these five psychological principles are at work.

1. Priming
2. Reciprocity
3. Social Proof
4. Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)
5. Commitment and Consistency

Of course, I’m not saying that you should try and force uninterested people into buying your product. Down the road, that would only hurt your business and destroy trust with buyers.

Instead, use these principles to encourage your target market to convert – the people who would benefit from your product, but might just need a bit more convincing before they do.

Guest author: Lover of all things communication – speaking, writing, and listening – Mike helps businesses create significant, consistent and valuable pieces of content. You can join his email list for entrepreneurs at Booktrep.

The post 5 Psychological Principles You Can Use To Convert More Website Visitors Into Customers appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.

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Ok, Google: How Do I Optimize My Content for Featured Snippets?

More people are making their voices heard when they need to search for something. They’re ditching their keyboards for the convenience of “OK, Google.”

For brands, this raises an important question: How do you become the default answer for a voice search query?

You know the recent buzz around “featured snippets” – the boxes that appear at the top of some Google search result pages, providing a brief answer that, brands hope, leads the user to click for more detail.

Featured snippets are an opportunity to quickly leapfrog your competitors and land that premium zero spot even when your page doesn’t rank in the traditional search results.

Featured snippets appear prominently in both mobile and voice searches. In the future, these types of searches are only likely to increase, so optimizing your content for mobile and voice search should be a priority.

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Optimizing your #content for #mobile & #voice search should be a priority, says @SSpencer. #SEO
Click To Tweet

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Here’s what Google says about featured snippets:

“We display featured snippets in search when we believe this format will help people more easily discover what they’re seeking, both from the description and when they click on the link to read the page itself. It’s especially helpful for those on mobile or searching by voice.”

Before I get to voice search, let’s take a look at the anatomy of a featured snippet in more detail.

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What exactly are featured snippets?

Featured snippets can take a number of forms, depending on the type of information they are trying to convey.

Featured snippets are text-based but can include images. A featured snippet usually includes the page’s title and URL (along with a link) with some combination of:

• A paragraph
• A list
• A table
• A chart or graph
• An image

The type of snippet that appears generally depends on the question (or implicit question) asked in the search query. For example, a search on “email marketing” may return a paragraph of text with a definition:

A search for “how to tie shoes” may return a numbered list of step-by-step instructions:

By understanding the answers people are looking for when they perform a search and formatting your content with the featured snippet in mind, you can often easily snag a featured snippet.

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Understand which answers searchers are looking for & format #content w/ snippet in mind. @SSpencer #SEO
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HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Google’s Featured Snippets FAQ: How to Get More Traffic From Search Engines

How to optimize for featured snippets

To avoid wasting time, optimize strategically for featured snippets. The best approach is to target terms where your content already ranks on the first page of results and where your competitor provides the featured snippet on that page.

You can do this via a tool like SEMrush, which lists featured snippets that a particular site ranks for. Start by targeting the low-hanging fruit, for example featured snippets that don’t give the correct answer or those drawn from poorly formatted or low-quality sites.

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Use @SEMrush to find featured snippets a site ranks for, says @sspencer. #productivity
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Once you’ve decided on a list of terms to target, you can set about optimizing your content.

While this article isn’t long enough to cover every scenario, there are a few general rules:

• Repeat the question (e.g., the search query or the question implicit in that search query) clearly and prominently on the web page.
• Provide a short and direct answer.
• Answer the question as fully as possible. For example, include a list of instructions, images or diagrams, data, or rankings.
• Structure your page in a logical way so both users and search engines can quickly and easily find the information they need.
• Remove all extraneous information, anything off topic.
• Concentrate on providing the clearest and most thorough answer to the question posed by the searcher.
• Format content using basic HTML elements like lists and tables – don’t use fancy CSS or Javascript.

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Structure page in a logical way so users & search engines can easily find the information. @sspencer #SEO
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Much of this is simply common sense. For example, imagine you run a food blog and are trying to land a featured snippet for your blueberry and kale smoothie recipe.

Writing a 1,500-word intro about a local café that makes delicious smoothies and inspired you to come up with your own recipe is largely irrelevant to the person who searched for “blueberry kale smoothie recipe.” The question implicit in this query is, “How do I make a blueberry kale smoothie?”

You should aim to answer that question immediately with a list of ingredients, and a numbered list of instructions at the top of the page:

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• Google’s Featured Snippets: How to Get Your Content to Appear
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Getting ready for voice search

You might ask what this all has to do with voice search.

A recent Backlinko study found that 41% of Google voice search results came from featured snippets. Hence, ranking for a featured snippet gives you a better chance of appearing in voice search results.

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41% of Google #voice research results come from featured snippets, according to @Backlinko. #SEO
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As searchers move into a more voice- and mobile-centric era, targeting featured snippets should become a key part of your SEO strategy.

While featured snippets are obviously a large factor, according to the Backlinko study, several other factors should be considered when trying to rank for voice search, including:

• Page speed – the average voice search result loads in 4.2 seconds
• HTTPS – make sure your site is secure
• Concise answers or explanations – the typical voice search result is only 29 words
• Domain authority – obtain high-quality backlinks
• Social engagement –the average voice search result has 1,199 Facebook shares and 44 tweets
• Easy to read – the average voice search result is written at a 9th-grade reading level
• Long-form content – the average count of a voice search result page is over 2,000 words

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The average #voice search result has 1,199 #Facebook shares & 44 Tweets via @Backlinko. #SEO
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• Voice Search: Is Your Content Prepared for the Verbal Revolution?
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Conclusion

It takes constant work to maintain your Google rankings and keep abreast of changes to Google’s algorithms. The introduction of featured snippets is part of a larger shift in the way searches happen. Reviewing the opportunities and threats featured snippets represent, preferably via a thorough audit of your site, is the only way to keep ahead of the competition and maintain or increase your current levels of organic traffic.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Simple Tips to Make Better Use of Your Content Audit

Get more insight on SEO from Stephan Spencer at Content Marketing World. Register today for the Sept. 4-7 event in Cleveland, Ohio. Use code BLOG100 to save $100.

Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski

The post Ok, Google: How Do I Optimize My Content for Featured Snippets? appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

How to Get Your Content Featured in SERP Features

Google’s SERP is always changing as the search engine is getting better and better at answering user’s queries which affect the content and how we optimize it.

In order to enhance user experience and make data easily accessible right on the spot, Google reinvents its own SERP and continues to do so faster than online marketers can catch onto the trend. Which means that online marketers and website owners should constantly monitor all new Google’s SERP features to stay abreast of the changes and react to them accordingly.

In this article I will cover the most important SERP features and plenty of tips on how to optimize your content strategy to get there.

1. Featured Snippets

The mission of the Featured Snippets is to provide an instant and summarized answer to a specific question in an accurate and clear way. In most cases, they take a “position 0” result and lead immediately to the source domain. Getting your content in the Featured Snippets is an excellent way to increase conversions and improve your website authority.

Featured snippets are usually shown in one of the three formats: lists, tables or paragraphs (“what is”, “how-to”, “who is”, etc).

If you want to find out whether you are listed in a featured snippet, you can use tools like SE Ranking.

• Just enter your URL and click the Rankings section:
• Choose “Customize the table” -> “SERP features” on the right side:

• See the web pages that appear in the Featured Snippets.

How to get Featured Snippets on Google

• Figure out what people are interested in and view questions they usually ask. You can use Twitter, Quora, Reddit to figure it out. If you want to ask real people for answering questions on a topic, MyBlogU will be a good fit for your needs.

• Create a separate web page answering each specific question. Neil Patel says “Your content needs to answer questions, otherwise, you won’t grab the featured snippet. That’s all there is to it.”
• Build cracking FAQ pages. You should give relevant and well-formatted questions with complete answers. That will allow your visitors to quickly get the best answers to their questions. Here is a good example of an FAQ page on Amerisleep:

• Optimize your content for each targeted query. Add keywords to headings and use paragraph tags.

• Use bullet and number lists, step-by-step directions in your content, or a separate paragraph to respond to each question. Keep at no more than 50 words.

2. Google’s Local 3-Pack

Earlier, Google grouped the top 7 results to show online businesses in local search. Now Google displays only three results to better serve mobile users. This new feature shows Google Maps results, reviews, working hours, a physical address and a link to a company’s website. The Local Pack depends on the user location and sits at the top of the page under the AdWords results. For example, “best coffee in London”, “coffee near me”, etc.

If searchers are looking for certain local businesses, first of all, they need to get their direct contact information. Obviously, this feature is essential for local companies to provide accurate details about them. Local businesses listed in Local Packs can increase conversions and find plenty of potential customers.

How to get Local Packs on Google

• Optimize your website for Local SEO.
• Improve your business page in Google My Business.
• Add your site to local directories like Yelp, YP.com, etc.
• Create Great Schema Markup for your local business.
• Optimize your site for mobile search.

3. Knowledge Graph

Knowledge Graph is Google’s realistic way to put all facts, places, organizations, and people together in a separate box to provide a relevant answer to a question on the SERP.

Google’s Knowledge Graph results are drawn from different trustworthy sources with a link to a certain page and sit at the top of the SERPs. For example, let’s see the result for “Bach”. It provides some data on his date of birth, a bio, images, family, scores, and quotes.

How to get Knowledge Graph on Google

• As I’ve mentioned above Knowledge Graph shows information about places, brands, people, celebrities, data, etc. Try to optimize your content for informational queries. You can also include long tail keywords to improve your SEO rankings, get more traffic and exclude the competition. The SE Ranking keyword research tool can do it best.

• Use branded keywords to give potential customers some information about your company before clicking through to your site. Getting listed in the Knowledge Graph will increase trust to your website.

• In most cases, Google takes data from Wikipedia. Having your Wikipedia page really increases your chances to be featured in the Knowledge Graph.
• Add your local business to Google Maps. Include only true information about your company. Here’s how LawRank sits in the Knowledge Graph. The company provides its location, images, operation hours, phone and the website link.

• Use your sites’ schema markup. Customize phone numbers, the logo and social media links through schema.org. View the example from Pegasus:

4. Sitelinks

Sitelinks are an expanded pack of all the necessary website’s pages on the SERP that improve your site’s navigation. Sitelink is aimed at displaying branded search queries. Here is how Work Examiner gets good sitelinks:

These sitelinks sit below your domain URL and description, and they are linked to your web pages. Sitelinks help generate a lot of traffic, increase conversions and improve your credibility and authority.

How to get Sitelinks on Google

• Build a clear site structure. Go with a well-planned and intuitive navigation layout. All site links should be active.
• Create and submit a sitemap file to Google Search Console in order to show Google how your site is laid out.
• Make internal links. They are important both for SEO and Google. Monitor all internal links from Google Webmaster Tools.

• Create good page titles for your website’s internal links. Google always looks at the page titles to show sitelinks. For example, I love how appealing sitelinks look on SlideModel:

5. Ratings and Reviews

Google shows some organic results that go with a star rating. These ratings come from Google Reviews. Ratings and reviews make your snippets rich, catch more users’ attention and get a higher average CTR.

This feature also increases a brand’s reputation via social proof right on the SERPs. Google has a strict policy about reviews, and you should carefully check the faithfulness of the reviews.

How to get Reviews and Ratings on Google

• Convince a customer to leave a product review.
• Include a post rating form to rate your blog posts. For WordPress, you can use the WP-Post Ratings plugin.
• Test how the markup works on your site with the Structured Data Testing Tool.
• For local business, it is important to use the schema review markup.

6. Twitter Packs

Due to an agreement between Google and Twitter, from time to time, you see organic results that display trending and recent tweets from a company or a person with clickable links and images. Twitter packs show how a particular company or a person are active on Twitter and prove additional information to the SERP.

How to get Twitter Packs on Google

Little is known about Twitter Packs. Statistically, only 5% of tweets are indexed. Probably, only the most popular tweets fit into this 5%. Anyway, you go on increasing your Twitter account and get a lot of followers.

7. Videos

As we know, Google owns YouTube which means it makes sense to find more featured videos on the SERP. Video results usually come with a large thumbnail, an eye-catching title, the description, upload date, a link, and the duration. Some video results appear from Vimeo or Dailymotion.

 How to get Featured Videos on Google

• Use the schema markup for your video content.
• Create how-tos, entertaining, informational and video tutorials.
• Optimize your videos. Provide more details in the titles, meta description, thumbnail image, hashtags, etc.
• Create a video strategy, and optimize all your videos.
• Improve your video profiles on video hosting platforms.

8. Top Stories

This block known as Top Stories displays the most trending news search queries for a topic. They usually come from trustworthy magazines and newspapers. The block shows the top three stories on the SERP.

How to get Top Stories on Google

• To be featured in Top Stories, you should always provide updated and consistent articles on your site. Follow the guidelines to get into Top Stories.
• For the mobile version, use news articles Schema Markup for AMP.

9. Images

Images are displayed in different ways on Google. An image pack is a horizontal column of high-rated results from Google images with a link that will take you to a Google Images search. They usually appear among other organic search results once Google defines these images as relevant to the query.

You can also see a mega-block of images that show more than 7 image results on the SERP.

There are thumbnail images that can be shown up next to a description and a link to the page the image comes from.

From time to time Google includes images in Featured Snippets. But if you want to be on an image pack, your images should rank really high.

How to get Featured Images on Google

• Create and include high-quality images in your content.
• Follow the image best practices: use descriptive alt-tags and file names, a quality size and an SEO-friendly URL.

10. Shopping Results

Similar to an Image Pack, Shopping results include a horizontal section of products that directly provide searches with prices, a thumbnail image, a link to the product, special offers and review ratings. These results are usually placed at the top either in the right or in the left column.

How to get Featured Shopping Results on Google

• All your products should be in Google Merchant Centre. Register an account and connect with your Google Adwords.
• Make a list of products you are selling, along with the price and availability.
• Add the feed and wait for moderation.

The Bottom Line

Google is always in search of different ways to provide a quick answer to a user’s question. I’m sure in the near future we’ll see more special features. Keep watching and react accordingly.

Do you find these SERP features helpful? Do you have any tricks you are using to get in one of them? Let me know in the comments below!

Guest author: Diana Ford

The post How to Get Your Content Featured in SERP Features appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.

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4 Signs You’re Using Outdated Marketing Techniques

Relevancy is everything in today’s marketing landscape. Things move at lightning speed in the digital world, so what worked for your business last year may not be very effective anymore.

Failing to adapt to change and sticking to the status quo can bring certain death to a business. For example, Kodak was once a powerful brand that controlled 90% of the United States’ film market in the 1970s. However, they never adjusted their marketing message and relied on old strategies to keep them afloat. Kodak failed to realize that customer’s priorities change. Today, consumers are interested in the actual story of a business, in addition to their product. Kodak failed to adapt to the changing priorities and nearly had to shut its doors after it declared bankruptcy, giving a whole new meaning to the phrase “Having a Kodak moment.”

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Unfortunately, many marketing teams can get stuck in their ways when it comes to tactics. Only six out of ten marketers believe that their strategies are actually effective, and a quarter of teams report that their organization is resistant towards change, especially when it comes to embracing technology.

Are there any warning signs that your brand’s marketing methods are in need of a modern makeover?

Let’s talk about the big ones to look for.

1. You don’t back up decisions with self-curated data

Most marketers understand the need for data to drive their strategies. Whether it’s researching the best time to post on social media or identifying the topics that are trending in the industry, some level of data is necessary to make the right marketing decisions. However, the quality and source of this data can make all the difference.

Relying on generalized information that may or may not be totally relevant to your niche can lead to mistakes and misguided efforts. For example, if your team uses data reports that collect market research from the entire country, the results may not be totally accurate for the state in which your company does business. And yet, 88% of companies still rely on third-party data, rather than gathering their own insights.

Instead, your brand should be placing emphasis on self-curated data that comes directly from your own customers or specific niche. While 59% of marketing teams understand the importance and benefits of data, only 39% are actually using insights collected from their own customers to drive their strategies.

Machine learning business intelligence systems can be of great assistance here. Not only can they help you understand your customer’s better by gathering important datasets, but they can also support better business decisions. For instance, when you are building the marketing team itself, recruiting tool Harver uses AI technology to determine the essential qualities and skills needed to ensure the success of a new hire. It creates analytical reports based on personalized assessments for each candidate. These assessments are designed to gauge things like situational judgment, communication skills, problem-solving ability, and more. From here, the system uses predictive analytics to determine company match potential.

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Throughout the entire scope of marketing, data-driven decision making is essential for eliminating the guesswork and helps drive better results.

2. You only offer blanketed personalization

The idea of personalization is fairly straightforward: it’s creating a unique experience that is specific to the individual based on their preferences and needs. However, lots of brands seem to miss the mark when they try to offer personalization to their audience.

Customers expect personalized experiences with every brand interaction. The level of personalization must be deeper than the surface level. 44% of customers react negatively when a brand’s website makes no effort to personalize for them. They are far more likely to buy from businesses that do make this effort, either by recognizing them or providing personalized recommendations.

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If your business relies on generalizations or offers no personalization whatsoever, now is the time to change. Again, self-curated data is the key to providing this kind of experience. However, integrating it does require a smart technology system. Once more, AI assistance is especially helpful for not only gathering the personal information needed to provide customization but also seamlessly integrating it into your team’s marketing strategies.

For example, AI enabled POS systems can gather data on customer shopping habits to send personalized shopping recommendations, cross-sell items, or special offers based on the customer’s previous purchases. A little personalization can really go a long way with a customer, as long as it’s relevant. By using AI tech, you ensure that everything is tailored exactly to your customer’s preferences.

3. Your social media is only promotional

Social media is a great way to connect with customers, but it can be an instant turn off for them as well. Sadly, many brands treat social media platforms as another advertising space, like a billboard or TV time slot to blast their marketing messages. While social media advertising is certainly effective, promotion should never be its sole purpose. In fact, nearly half of social media users will unfollow your brand if the messages are overly promotional.

Customers tend to have a totally different perspective on social media. It’s a place for them to express themselves and communicate with their friends and family. Therefore, they expect brands to be more human-like. 35% of customers have reached out to brands through social media to voice a concern or ask a question, and businesses who engage in social conversations report up to 40% higher revenue.

Design your social media strategies around engagement, rather than promotion. For example, ask your customers their opinions, invite them to participate in polls or contests, or share interesting content about your business that isn’t just an ad.

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Today, social media is about engaging and conversing with your audience in a personal way. Using it solely as a channel to spout promotions and flashy deals will make it incredibly tough to build real relationships that lead to sales.

4. Your content marketing is text-heavy

While long-form articles are certainly necessary to supplement a hearty content marketing strategy, a constant barrage of super textual pieces can be quite disengaging to some customers. The thing is that many customers don’t have the desire (or the time) to read these long pieces.

Most brands focus on text-heavy content in their strategies. 82% produce case studies, 81% post blog articles, and 79% write content pieces for their website. Of course, these are excellent for SEO, but that does not necessarily make them the most engaging.

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The truth is that your audience doesn’t want text content only. 80% of consumers would prefer a video to a blog post about a product, and infographics have 54% higher engagement rates than long articles.

Remember, content marketing does not refer specifically to written content. Videos, visuals, infographics, and even podcasts can be excellent additions that will boost engagement.

Conclusion

An outdated marketing strategy can have an adverse effect on your efforts. Ignoring the trends and shifts in the market will lead to the kind of irrelevancy that may be impossible to bounce back from. If your brand is guilty of any of these old-school mistakes, make it a point to adjust and get with the times before it’s too late.

Guest author: Manish Dudharejia is the President and Founder of E2M Solutions Inc, a San Diego Based Digital Agency that specializes in Website Design & Development and eCommerce SEO. With over 10 years of experience in the Technology and Digital Marketing industry, Manish is passionate about helping online businesses to take their branding to the next level.

The post 4 Signs You’re Using Outdated Marketing Techniques appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.

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