Google is constantly testing and updating its algorithms in pursuit of the best possible searcher experience. As the search giant explains in its ‘How Search Works‚ documentation, that means understanding the intent behind the query and bringing back results that are relevant, high-quality, and accessible for consumers.

As if the constantly shifting search landscape weren’t difficult enough to navigate, content marketers are also contending with an increasingly technology-charged environment. Competitors are upping the stakes with tools and platforms that generate smarter, real-time insights and even make content optimization and personalization on the fly based on audience behavior, location, and data points.

Set-it-and-forget-it content optimization is a thing of the past. Here’s what you need to know to help your content get found, engage your target audience, and convert searchers to customers in 2023.

AI automation going to be integral for content optimization

As the content battleground heats up, SEO insights will continue to grow in importance as a key source of intelligence. We’re optimizing content for humans, not search engines, after all – we had better have a solid understanding of what those people need and want.

While I do not advocate automation for full content creation, I believe next year – as resources become stretched automation will have a bigger impact on helping with content optimization of existing content.

CHATGPT

ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, is a powerful language generation model that leverages the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) architecture to produce realistic human-like text. With Chat GPT’s wide range of capabilities – from completing sentences and answering questions to generating content ideas or powering research initiatives – it can be an invaluable asset for any Natural Language Processing project.

The introduction on ChatGPT has caused considerable debate and explosive amounts of content on the web. With ChatGPT, content marketers can achieve an extra edge over their competition by efficiently creating and editing high-quality content. It offers assistance with generating titles for blog posts, summaries of topics or articles, as well as comprehensive campaigns when targeting a specific audience.

However, it is important to remember that this technology should be used to enhance human creativity rather than completely replacing it.

For many years now AI-powered technology has been helping content marketers and SEOs automate repetitive tasks such as data analysis, scanning for technical issues, and reporting, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. AI also enables real-time analysis of a greater volume of consumer touchpoints and behavioral data points for smarter, more precise predictive analysis, opportunity forecasting, real-time content recommendations, and more.

With so much data in play and recession concerns already impacting 2023 budgets in many organizations, content marketers will have to do more with less this coming year. You’ll need to carefully balance human creative resources with AI assists where they make sense to stay flexible, agile, and ready to respond to the market.

It’s time to look at your body of content as a whole

Google’s Helpful Content update, which rolled out in August, is a sitewide signal targeting a high proportion of thin, unhelpful, low-quality content. That means the exceptional content on your site won’t rank to their greatest potential if they’re lost in a sea of mediocre, outdated assets.

It might be time for a content reboot – but don’t get carried away. Before you start unpublishing and redirecting blog posts, lean on technology for automated site auditing and see what you can fix up first. AI-assisted technology can help sniff out on-page elements, including page titles and H1 tags, and off-page factors like page speed, redirects, and 404 errors that can support your content refreshing strategy.

Focus on your highest trafficked and most visible pages first, i.e.: those linked from the homepage or main menu. Google’s John Mueller confirmed recently that if the important pages on your website are low quality, it’s bad news for the entire site. There’s no percentage by which this is measured, he said, urging content marketers and SEOs to instead think of what the average user would think when they visit your website.

Take advantage of location-based content optimization opportunities

Consumers crave personalized experiences, and location is your low-hanging fruit. Seasonal weather trends, local events, and holidays all impact your search traffic in various ways and present opportunities for location-based optimization.

AI-assisted technology can help you discover these opportunities and evaluate topical keywords at scale so you can plan content campaigns and promotions that tap into this increased demand when it’s happening.

Make the best possible use of content created for locally relevant campaigns by repurposing and promoting it across your website, local landing pages, social media profiles, and Google Business Profiles for each location. Google Posts, for example, are a fantastic and underutilized tool for enhancing your content’s visibility and interactivity right on the search results page.

Optimize content with conversational & high-volume keywords

Look for conversational and trending terms in your keyword research, too. Top-of-funnel keywords that help generate awareness of the topic and spur conversations in social channels offer great opportunities for promotion. Use hashtags organically and target them in paid content promotion campaigns to dramatically expand your audience.

Conversational keywords are a good opportunity for enhancing that content’s visibility in search, too. Check out the ‘People Also Ask‘ results and other featured snippets available on the search results page (SERP) for your keyword terms. Incorporate questions and answers in your content to naturally optimize for these and voice search queries.

It’s important that you utilize SEO insights and real-time data correctly; you don’t want to be targeting what was trending last month and is already over. AI is a great assist here, as well, as an intelligent tool can be scanning and analyzing constantly, sending recommendations for new content opportunities as they arise.

Consider how you optimize content based on intent and experience

The best content comes from a deep, meaningful understanding of the searcher’s intent. What problem were they experiencing or what need did they have that caused them to seek out your content in the first place? And how does your blog post, ebook, or landing page copy enhance their experience?

Look at the search results page as a doorway to your “home”. How’s your curb appeal? What do potential customers see when they encounter one of your pages in search results? What kind of experience do you offer when they step over the threshold and click through to your website?

The best content meets visitors where they are at with relevant, high-quality information presented in a way that is accessible, fast loading, and easy to digest. This is the case for both short and long form SEO content. Ensure your content contains calls to action designed to give people options and help them discover the next step in their journey versus attempting to sell them on something they may not be ready for yet.

2023, the year of SEO: why brands are leaning in and how to prepare

Conclusion

The audience is king, queen, and the entire court as we head into 2023. SEO and content marketing give you countless opportunities to connect with these people but remember they are a means to an end. Keep searcher intent and audience needs at the heart of every piece of content you create and campaign you plan for the coming year.

The post Five things you need to know about content optimization in 2023 appeared first on Search Engine Watch.

Source:: searchenginewatch.com

B2B marketing will be more digital, customer-focused this year [Data]
Marketers will spend $6.16 billion on influencer marketing in the U.S. alone during 2023, which would be an increase of 23.4 percent over 2022, while 54 percent of B2B marketers have said that they plan to spend more on customer marketing during 2023 — two of several findings of interest to digital marketers contained in newly-published B2B marketing research. Insider Intelligence

[bctt tweet=““Organizations have not been nearly as focused on measuring customer health as they should have.” — Ross Graber @RossGraber“ username=“toprank“]

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Plus, starting at $20 per month
The OpenAI artificial intelligence (AI) research organization, fresh off its recent multi-billion-dollar expanded investment from Microsoft, has rolled out a premium $20 per month version of its popular ChatGPT service — short for chat generative pre-trained transformer, featuring priority access to the generative AI service including updated features and speedier response times, OpenAI recently announced. TechCrunch

CMOs Look to Hire Growth Marketers Amid Market Pressures
Customer marketing, social customer care, and social media managers top the list of expected job areas that chief marketing officer (CMO) have said they are planning to hire for, with 64 percent of marketers also noting that they expect to hire paid media professionals, according to newly-released survey data. MarketingCharts

Google Publishes A New SEO Case Study, This One From Vimeo On Video SEO
Search giant Google has published its first industry case study in some 18 months, with its latest effort taking a look at the particulars of search engine optimization (SEO) relating to video search at digital video firm Vimeo, Google recently announced. SEO Roundtable

Instagram Adds Lead Forms as CTA Button Option on Business Profiles
Meta-owned Instagram has begun offering new lead form options to some of its user-base, including an array of call-to-action (CTA) features, presently limited to creator and business profiles on the platform, including custom question data collection along with standard fields, Instagram recently announced. Social Media Today

Marketers Are Leaning Into Podcast Advertising: Study
65 percent of U.S. marketers have said that they expect to spend more on podcast advertising, with 83 percent of previous podcast ad buyers noting that they expect to increase their budgets, while programmatic podcast advertising is expected to nearly triple by 2027, according to newly-published survey data of interest to digital marketers. MediaPost

Instagram’s co-founders are mounting a comeback
The co-founders of Instagram have been putting together plans for a forthcoming new social media platform, as it has begun accepting early applications to beta test its new Artifact platform, which seeks to explore the merging of AI, articles, and facts, and Platformer recently took a look. Platformer

Which Social Media Channels are Gaining and Losing Steam? [New Consumer and Platform Data]
Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and LinkedIn have been singled out as the social media channels that are likeliest to achieve the highest return-on-investment (ROI) during 2023, according to newly-published social media marketing channel survey data. HubSpot

New Google Ads Feature: Account-Level Negative Keywords
Google has updated its popular Google Ads platform with the addition of account-level negative keywords, strengthening marketers‘ ability to use the search term exclusion features and making campaign management more efficient, the search giant recently announced. Search Engine Journal

What Data Do Marketers Use for Personalization – And How Much Access to It Do They Have?
When it comes to the types of data that B2B and B2C marketers use in personalization efforts, customer service history, email activity, interests, transactional history, and location were among the top types being utilized, according to newly-published survey data of interest to B2B marketers. MarketingCharts

ON THE LIGHTER SIDE:

A lighthearted look at the “Evolution of Smart Products” by Marketoonist Tom Fishburne — Marketoonist

Wayback Machine: 5 Alternatives To Try — Search Engine Journal

Elder Emo Desperately Tries Coding New Fall Out Boy Single Into His Microsoft Teams Homepage — The Hard Times

TOPRANK MARKETING & CLIENTS IN THE NEWS:

• Harry Mackin — This Week in Marketing: Big Changes, Thoughtful Responses — LinkedIn (client)
• TopRank Marketing — 40+ Top Influencer Marketing Agencies in 2023 — Shane Barker
• Lee Odden — 50 Inspiring Marketing Quotes to Motivate Your Marketing Team — ShareThis

FRIDAY FIVE B2B MARKETING FAVORITES TO FOLLOW:

Amisha Gandhi @AmishaGandhi
Ashley Faus @AshleyFaus
David Meerman Scott @dmscott
Jason Miller @JasonMillerCA
David Berkowitz @dberkowitz

Learn more about TopRank Marketing‘s mission to help elevate the B2B marketing industry.

Have you come across your own key B2B marketing news item for the week that we haven’t yet mentioned? If so, please don’t hesitate to drop us a line in the comments below.

Thank you for taking the time to join us for the Elevate B2B Marketing News, and we hope that you will return again next Friday for another array of the most up-to-date and relevant B2B and digital marketing industry news. In the meantime, you can follow us on our LinkedIn page, or at @toprank on Twitter for even more timely daily news.

The post Elevate B2B Marketing News: B2B Gets More Customer Focused, Instagram Adds Lead Forms, Personalization Study, & ChatGPT Plus Launches appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

Source:: toprankblog.com

Is recession-proof marketing genuinely possible in the uncertain headwinds of 2023, and — if not — what can B2B marketers do instead to best weather the storm?

Recession-proof B2B marketing may sound reassuring, however blindly buying into it could at the very least cause unwanted surprises, and at the worst end up proving disastrous.

Thankfully, there are marketing tactics that persevere better than others during uncertainty, however none will be quite the digital panacea that some have been recently touting.

97 percent of chief marketing officers and brand managers have said that inflation and recession concerns were a top concern when it comes to what keeps them awake at night, according to the most recent “Marketing on My Mind” survey — concerns that were new to the 2022 edition of the list.

“Marketers must make the case to the C-suite that a recession may actually be the most opportune time for brands to double-down on ad spending and seize market share,” Chuck Kapelke recently observed in the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) look at “How Marketers Avoid Potholes in the Road Ahead.”

[bctt tweet=““Marketers must make the case to the C-suite that a recession may actually be the most opportune time for brands to double-down on ad spending and seize market share.” — Chuck Kapelke for @ANAmarketers“ username=“toprank“]

Let’s take a look at three helpful things B2B marketers can do to positively address economic shifts while placing the downturn in its proper long-term context.

1 — Tap Trust & Authenticity

One straightforward way to armor your B2B marketing against recession-derived threats is to tap into the fundamental power of trust and authenticity.

Building trust with customers has seen an increased focus among B2B marketers.

“B2B marketers see this time as an opportunity to invest in building relationships and trust with customers (28%), and a chance to stay relevant and rethink their brand story (22%),” Tequia Burt, editor-in-chief of the LinkedIn* Collective and the LinkedIn Ads Blog, observed in “Companies Focus on Building Brand to Drive a Faster Recovery After the Downturn.”

Making an effort to better understand customers and their 2023 obstacles is another way to make the most of economic uncertainty.

“Retention rates are softening, conversion rates are lessening, and there seems to be an increase in discount seeking and a more frugal mindset,” Joanna Lord, industry chief marketing officer and advisor recently noted in “The State of Consumers in 2023: The Great Disconnection.”

“This will require us to deeply understand our customers — their fears, concerns, upcoming challenges and find news and authentic ways to speak to them,” Lord added.

To help strengthen trust and authenticity in B2B marketing efforts, the following articles we’ve published feature tactics that can also prove especially helpful in 2023:

• 5 Ways Influencer Marketing Builds Trust for B2B Brands
• How B2B Content Marketing Can Build Trust that Stands the Test of Time
• Trust and the Search for Answers: How Influence Optimizes SEO Performance
• 10 Ways Trust Creates Standout B2B Marketing Experiences
• The Real Thing: 5 Ways Authenticity Inspires Vibrant B2B Marketing

[bctt tweet=““Retention rates are softening, conversion rates are lessening, and there seems to be an increase in discount seeking and a more frugal mindset.” — Joanna Lord @JoannaLord“ username=“toprank“]

2 — Hone In On A More Human Touch

Another way that B2B marketers are successfully dealing with recent shifts in the market is by honing in on a more human touch.

“Economic uncertainty has made people more discerning about how they spend. And hybrid experiences have changed the way people connect,” the team at Google’s “Think with Google” recently observed as part of a look at its annual “Year in Search” report.

When it comes to the people who are creating the human touches in B2B marketing, we can glean some insight by looking at which jobs chief marketing officers are hiring for.

Growth and customer marketing, social customer care, and social media managers topped a recent Forrester list of expected CMO hiring.

The marketing professionals in these roles are in demand partly due to an increased demand for people who can create personalized digital experiences that humanize B2B brand experiences, and achieve both new customer and subsequent revenue growth.

32 percent of global business decision-makers have said that they are considering increasing marketing and sales activity over the next six months in order to help counteract economic uncertainty, according to recently-published survey data.

Our always-on digital work life has led increasingly to burnout for marketing executives and B2B customers alike, and fueled a shift to valuing fewer but closer brand relationships.

“There’s an increasing desire among customers to have fewer relationships and deeper relationships with brands — and relationships that are more tailored to their specific wants and needs,” Andrew Frank, research vice president at Gartner recently observed.

Being able to persevere through challenging times is a hallmark of successful B2B marketers, which has led some to embrace the term „all weather marketing.“

„‚All Weather Marketing‘ is about having the resolve to remain steady and committed to your investment for the longer term, even as outside circumstances change,“ Ty Heath, director of market engagement at LinkedIn’s B2B Institute recent examined in „Want to Drive Growth Next Year? Embrace All Weather Marketing.“

[bctt tweet=““’All Weather Marketing‘ is about having the resolve to remain steady and committed to your investment for the longer term, even as outside circumstances change.” — Ty Heath @Tyrona“ username=“toprank“]

In the face of record levels of content created either partially or entirely by artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot and related technology, the importance of human touch-points in B2B marketing is likely greater now than ever, and we’ve published several looks at humanizing efforts that marketers can make:

• What Recent Data Shows About The Rising Importance of Human Touch-Points in B2B Marketing
• Standing Out From AI: Why Humanizing B2B Marketing Is Key In 2023
• The Prompt Whisperer: ChatGPT’s Rising Reach In B2B Marketing & The AI Revolution
• 5 Steps For Aligning B2B Brands With Customers‘ Changing Needs
• How to Create Memorable B2B Experiences for When Your Prospect Is Ready to Buy

3 — Invite Influence & Lean Into Purpose

The third key element that transcends the notion of recession-proof marketing comes when we invite greater purpose and make a conscious effort to lean into purpose.

“Over the past few years, we’ve seen an uptick in more purpose-driven marketing,” Chris Byrne, president of marketing strategy and brand at UPS recently noted.

“However, today’s uncertain economic environment has many brands balancing tightening budgets with the need to drive growth. My prediction is that brands that stay the course with their purpose-driven marketing efforts will see dividends paid once we weather today’s economic storm. Purpose and profitability don’t need to be at odds with one another – in fact, when executed together, they can create an even bigger impact,” Bryne added.

[bctt tweet=““Brands that stay the course with their purpose-driven marketing efforts will see dividends paid once we weather today’s economic storm.” — Chris Byrne of @UPS“ username=“toprank“]

“We know that recommendations from people we know, and trust directly, influence how we spend our time and money,” Doug Frisbie, vice president of global business marketing at Snap suggested recently in the same piece as Byrne. “Brands that capitalize on that influence successfully through their marketing strategies stand to win new customers and market share,” Frisbie also observed.

Leaning into purpose during economic uncertainty can help B2B brands share the type of personal digital stories that stand out in 2023.

“Building trust with neighbors is a key part of brand storytelling today. Ads no longer say it all; a company’s actions say much more,” Sadie Thoma, director of U.S. ads marketing at Google recently observed.

Brand purpose is poised to see growing importance in 2023, with 72 percent of B2B buyers having said that they are more apt to purchase from socially responsible companies, as we covered in our Friday Elevate B2B Marketing News.

[bctt tweet=““Brand purpose is no longer something you just message. It’s how that purpose is activated by the people inside the brand and received by people who buy it.” — Max Lenderman @MaxLenderman“ username=“toprank“]

Purpose and influence go hand-in-hand, and in the following articles we’ve explored how to make each work better both separately and in tandem:

• The Sweet Spot for Getting to Know B2B Influencers
• How Influencer Marketing Can Drive a Full Funnel Content Strategy
• 20+ Reasons B2B Brands Are Increasingly Moving To Influencer Marketing
• Turn Influential Fans Into Brand Ambassadors With B2B Influencer Marketing
• LinkedIn #B2Believe and The Playbook for Promise Making in B2B Marketing with Jim Habig

[bctt tweet=““Brands that capitalize on that influence successfully through their marketing strategies stand to win new customers and market share.” — Doug Frisbie @DougFrisbie“

B2B Marketers Can Armor Up During Digital Downturns

via GIPHY

By tapping into trust and authenticity, honing in on a more human touch, inviting greater influence and leaning into brand purpose, B2B marketers may not be able to craft 100 percent recession-proof work, however they will have the important digital armor necessary to positively address economic uncertainty and become all weather marketers.

Our current social media poll asks B2B marketers which business marketing tactic will be closest to recession-proof during 2023, and you can vote on both our LinkedIn and Twitter profiles.

We hope our myth-busting look at recession-proof B2B marketing will help with your own efforts in 2023 and beyond.

More than ever before, creating award-winning B2B marketing that elevates, gives voice to talent, and humanizes with authenticity takes considerable time and effort, which is why more brands are choosing to work with a top digital marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing. Reach out to learn how we can help, as we’ve done for over 20 years for businesses ranging from LinkedIn, Dell and 3M to Adobe, Oracle, monday.com and many others.

* LinkedIn is a TopRank Marketing client.

The post The Myth of Recession-Proof B2B Marketing & 3 Things To Do Instead appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

Source:: toprankblog.com

Are the human touch-points we use everyday as B2B marketers taking on greater importance in the face of record levels of digital content touched only by artificial intelligence (AI)?

Facing increasing automation from ChatGPT and other AI-infused tools, B2B marketers are taking a closer look at our truly human touch-points to differentiate in the unique year that 2023 is shaping up to be.

While savvy B2B marketers are sparingly using the power of AI to do more with less, some less sophisticated strategies have turned solely to AI-generated content, making differentiation between human and AI service more important than ever.

Let’s take a look at what recently-published data from industry reports and surveys can tell us about the rising importance of human touch-points in B2B marketing.

[bctt tweet=““Facing increasing automation from ChatGPT and other AI-infused tools, B2B marketers are taking a closer look at our truly human touch-points to differentiate in the unique year that 2023 is shaping up to be.” — Lane R. Ellis @lanerellis“ username=“toprank“]

Touch-Point 1 — Growing B2B Influence

During 2022 some $27.51 billion was spent on online influencer activities, which was a 20.4 percent increase year-over-year, while influencer advertising represented an impressive 4.1 percent of total digital advertising spending during 2022 — a rise of 4.6 percent year-over-year — with 71 percent of brands having said that they expect influencers to play a bigger role in 2023, according to newly-released data from Meltwater’s annual Digital 2023 Global Overview Report.

Increasing focus on influence was listed as one of the top four digital marketing trends in the new 465-page report, which forecast a sizable shift to brands using nano-influencer with smaller niche followings, along with a resurgence of utilizing the digital communities of these influencers to increase ambassadorship.

To learn more about the growing power of B2B influence in the face of both economic headwinds and increased use of exclusively AI-created content, check out our comprehensive free 59-page B2B Influencer Marketing Research Report, rich with survey insights, case studies from B2B brands, predictions from top B2B marketing experts, a list of 20 top influencer marketing practitioners from major B2B brands, and much more.

Touch-Point 2 — Standing Out From B2B Chatbots

According to Hootsuite’s most recent annual Social Media Trends 2023 report, some 26 percent of organizations surveyed said that they used chatbots on social and messaging apps, with 53 percent of those who do having implemented the technology during the pandemic.

Hootsuite’s report points out that businesses focusing on digital customer service hold an advantage over those that don’t, however in the B2B sector in particular — with longer buying cycles and generally more touch-points than in the B2C world — brands can also run the risk of relying too heavily on chatbots and other AI technology.

Recent data enforces past findings showing that larger organizations are more likely to work with influencers, with Hootsuite’s latest report showing that 42 percent of organizations with more than a thousand employees work with influencers, while 35 percent of organizations with between 100 and 999 people utilize influencers, with only 28 percent of businesses with under 100 employees work with influencers.

Touch-Point 3 — Putting The Human In B2B Humanization Strategy

Over the years it’s been said countless times that B2B marketing is less about business and more about human-to-human relationships, and if there’s one thing that the early portion of 2023 has shown us it’s that there’s never been a greater opportunity for brands to differentiate from AI-generated content — whether it’s through shining a light on employee influencers or elevating thought leadership through executive influence, as we’ve explored in „Inside B2B Influence: Sarita Rao of AT&T on Growing B2B Executive Influence with Social Media.“

[bctt tweet=““Working with credible B2B influencers helps to build brand authority through real, human conversations and interactions.” — Sarita Rao @saritasayso“ username=“toprank“]

A leading 91 percent of consumers have said that they trust co-workers, family, and friends for brand advice at purchase time, with some 47 percent noting significant trust, while an organization’s own employees were also seen as trusted sources of brand recommendations, along with those from subject matter experts, according to report data we covered in our Friday B2B marketing industry news and as we’ve explored in detail in „Inside Influence 10: Ryan Bares from IBM on Influence Inside B2B Brands with Employees.“

In that interview, our CEO Lee Odden took a look at the universal nature of influence and how that can benefit B2B organizations. „I have always believed that everyone is influential about something and that sentiment is certainly true within B2B companies,“ Lee explained.

„In the B2B marketing world, we’ve all come to understand that buyers trust individual voices more than formal marketing and advertising messages, so finding ways to optimize influence internally is becoming a key area of focus,“ Lee added.

[bctt tweet=““I have always believed that everyone is influential about something and that sentiment is certainly true within B2B companies.” — Lee Odden @LeeOdden“ username=“toprank“]

Elevate B2B With Human Touch-Points in 2023

via GIPHY

In 2023 B2B marketers can benefit from AI technology, and it presents a prime opportunity to keep innovating as the technology matures, however the need for genuine human touch-points is rising, and those businesses that use them to stand out will be poised to elevate their efforts in the coming months and years.

We hope that the various aspects of human touch-points we’ve explored here will help as you navigate your own B2B marketing efforts.

More than ever before, creating award-winning B2B marketing that elevates, gives voice to talent, and humanizes with authenticity takes considerable time and effort, which is why more brands are choosing to work with a top digital marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing. Reach out to learn how we can help, as we’ve done for over 20 years for businesses ranging from LinkedIn, Dell and 3M to Adobe, Oracle, monday.com and many others.

The post What Recent Data Shows About The Rising Importance of Human Touch-Points in B2B Marketing appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

Source:: toprankblog.com