How to get more from your social media, site content and staffing at a time of rapid digital evolution.

1. 14 Ways
to Be a Better
Digital Marketer
in 2014.
David Griner
Founder, Ishmael Digital Content
Contributing Editor, Adweek

2. About Me
• Founder of Ishmael Digital Content
• Former VP/Digital Content, Luckie & Co.
• Contributing Editor, Adweek.com
@Griner
DavidGriner.net

3. 1.
Stop worrying that you're behind.

4. Marketers using social:
• Facebook:
• Twitter:
• LinkedIn:
• YouTube:
• Google+:
• Pinterest:
89%
87%
75%
72%
50%
40%
Only 34% have seen clear ROI from social.
Source: ExactTarget, "2014 State of Marketing"

5. Digital marketing is
increasingly about
prioritizing.
It's better to be great at one thing
than to be mediocre at lots of things.

6. 2.
Audit, then purge your sites
and social channels.

7. Unless your site and social are
brand new, they're likely
speckled with outdated info.
Now is a great time to poke every nook and cranny of
your sites to ensure they're up to date.

8. A checklist to start from:
• Visit your site as a new customer would
• Contact info up to date and prominent?
• Click every link
• How does it look on mobile? Tablet?
• Try sharing your content on Facebook, G+, Twitter,
LinkedIn. How does it look?
• Are all your active social accounts linked from the
home page? Any inactive accounts?

9. 3.
Drag yourself (and your business)
kicking and screaming onto Google+.
(I know. I'm not happy about this either.)

10. Search is changing.
Quickly.
Google has quietly been giving increased
search prominence to its own business
listing info (via G+) and reviews (via Google
Places).

11. Integrated
Google data like
business info
and reviews are
now almost 50%
of search result
real estate.

12. All signs point to Google
consolidating everything
into G+.
Whether it's YouTube or business listing
info, Google is nudging users toward G+ as a
primary hub for your personal and business
accounts. You might as well roll with it.

13. Here's Google's own summary of G+ for business:

14. So is Google+ replacing
Facebook?
No. In terms of generating traffic and
engagement from business accounts, G+ is
actually a somewhat lousy and expensive
social network by comparison. But Facebook
and Google are clearly evolving separate,
gigantic ecosystems.

15. "You're not really
selling it, Dave."
Well, no, but keep these in mind:
• Google+ "authorship" is fantastic for writers
• G+ is rolling out new ad units all the time,
including promoted content on other sites
• The photo integration is pretty stellar
• Google+ will definitely continue to grow,
which can't necessarily be said for Facebook

16. 3.
Double down on email.

17. Where are marketers
increasing investment in 2014?
• Email:
• Social:
• Search:
• Display:
52%
46%
41%
36%
Source: StrongView, 2014 Marketing Trends Survey

18. What are marketers prioritizing
in 2014?
• Integrating email with social:
• Expanding email loyalty programs:
• Optimizing email for mobile:
• Better segmentation/targeting:
59%
57%
55%
36%
Source: StrongView, 2014 Marketing Trends Survey

19. Unlike social media,
email is 'owned content'
Your list is yours to grow and maintain. And
it offers a level of customization and
segmentation social has never offered.

20. 4.
Stop running social promotions without
advertising and email support.

21. Fan Growth by the Numbers

22. Fan Growth by the Numbers
Giveaway w/
advertising
& email blasts
Contest w/ email blasts
(no advertising)
Giveaway w/
advertising
& email blasts

23. 5.
For great online content, look offline.

33. Discovering content is often
easier than creating it.
• Archived documents and video
• Vintage photography and ads
• Company history and publications
• Modern behind-the-scenes perspectives

34. 6.
Treat intellectual property seriously.

35. The Internet may not
care about such things,
but we have to.
It's just not worth getting sued over a
kitten photo.

36. If you didn't make it,
license it or get it released in
writing, don't post it.
• Memes
• Songs
• News photos
• Fan photos
• Animated GIFs

37. To post this one animated GIF
of Ryan Gosling, you'd need
permission from:
• The copyright holder of
the original film
• The creator of the GIF
• Ryan Gosling

38. Experienced licensing
is one of the best
reasons to work with
an agency. This inhouse ad was initially
pulled from YouTube
due to song licensing
issues.

39. 7.
Recognize that "social media" has now broken
into three jobs.

40. 1. Content Creation
• Writing
• Photography
• Design
• Videography
• Captions, summaries, metadata

41. 1. Content Creation
2. Content Management
• CMS oversight
• Traffic and trends
• Rights management
• Content strategy and planning
• Freelancer coordination

42. 1. Content Creation
2. Content Management
3. Community Management
• Daily content posting
• Customer response and trafficking
• Page moderation and oversight
• Metrics: audience growth and engagement
• Staying current on best practices
• Sharing results/insights with content creators

43. How Content Strategy Flows
Content Strategy
Topic Expert
Identification and
Coordination
Traffic and
Trend Analysis
Content
Development
Community
Management
Editing, Proofing
and Fact-Checking
Content
Management
SEO and Social
Optimization

44. 8.
Get serious about creating (and maintaining)
monthly content calendars.

45. Writing social content in
advance ensures accuracy,
quality and buy-in.
It also makes social a more buttoned-up endeavor and
opens the process to other departments.

46. 9.
Stop drinking from the social media fire hose.

47. Feel like Twitter and Facebook
are mostly just noise?
• Use Twitter lists to sort and follow accounts specific
to your professional interests, client categories, etc.

48. Feel like Twitter and Facebook
are mostly just noise?
• Use Twitter lists to sort and follow accounts specific
to your professional interests, client categories, etc.
• Facebook lists are an under-used way to keep tabs on
competitors and news sources for your industry

49. Feel like Twitter and Facebook
are mostly just noise?
• Use Twitter lists to sort and follow accounts specific
to your professional interests, client categories, etc.
• Facebook lists are an under-used way to keep tabs on
competitors and news sources for your industry
• Customizing subreddits can actually make browsing
Reddit more productive and less NSFW

50. 10.
Stop complaining about tactics that
used to work but don't anymore.

51. Digital marketing rewards
evolution and experimentation
When you start seeing diminishing returns, it's not
always because Facebook is a jerk. Sometimes it's a
sign that you're on autopilot.

52. 11.
Get to know your metadata.

53. Metadata determines how your
content is searched and shared.
If you don't code, tags can look convoluted,
but understanding them can be vital to increasing
your traffic and SEO.

54. Meta tags help
tell social
networks how to
share your site's
content.

55. Metadata is evolving rapidly
Tags used to be simple: headline, summary, etc.
Now they enable high-res image sharing, link site
content to social media accounts and much more.

56. Site content shared on Facebook
used to look like this:

57. So publishers
started doing this:

58. Facebook
compromised
with this:

59. Which is great,
unless your
metadata is
outdated:

60. Facebook Open Graph (OG)
tags worth knowing:
• Image (go horizontal, as large as possible)
• Article: Publisher (links your site content to your
Facebook page)
• Article: Author (links content to a user profile)

61. Other metadata to fall
in love with:
• Twitter Summary Cards w/ Large Image
- Makes your content look great on Twitter
• Schema.org
- Universal set of tags preferred by Google+

62. 12.
Experiment with new ad units.

63. Facebook, Google and Twitter
always give preference to their
newest shiny objects.
Ad units are often at their cheapest and most effective
when they're brand spanking new. Invest early.

64. 13.
Tell your leadership to start
getting their hands dirty.

65. Despite the mainstreaming of
social, executives still aren't
the faces of their businesses.
Mid-level employees and anonymous business
accounts just aren't enough.

66. Source: Weber Shandwick, "The Social CEO: Executives Tell All" (2013)

72. 14.
Have fun with it.

73. Yes, we're professionals.
But no one benefits
when we're boring.
If digital feels like drudgery, you're doing yourself,
your company and your customers a disservice.

74. Some parting thoughts:
• Stay active and engaged personally, not just
professionally
• When something's working well, tell your leadership
and make sure they understand it enough to brag
• Don't just measure. Create incentives. Make success
fun.
• Don't be afraid to experiment and fail. It sure beats
doing the same old thing...and still failing.

75. Thanks for your time.
David Griner
@Griner
DavidGriner.net
Slideshare.net/Griner