It’s Day 2 of Content material Advertising World 2011, and fairly frankly I’m exhausted. Yesterday featured a full slate of top-notch shows, adopted by a enjoyable evening of dinner, drinks and a two-hour Q&A with movie maker Kevin Smith (I solely caught the primary half, however as you could already know, I can verify Kev isn’t any fan of Southwest Airways).

We’ll see how a lot gasoline is left within the tank for in the present day’s operating diary, with extra updates (hopefully) coming all through the day.

For a breakdown of yesterday’s excessive factors, take a look at my operating diary of Day 1 at Content material Advertising World.

Day 2

4:18 p.m.: The final session of the week simply obtained out (my apologies to Kevin Smith, who’s scheduled to shut the present. I like ya Silent Bob, however I’ve a airplane to catch.)

So only a fast replace to wrap issues up. I sat in on a session with Ann Handley (@MarketingProfs) and C.C Chapman (@cc_chapman), co-authors of Content material Guidelines. The 2 went excessive 10 excuses for not being prepared for content material advertising. “Content material isn’t for everyone – it ought to be, however you may not be prepared, and that’s OK,” C.C. stated.

The pair made some notably fascinating factors on the parable that content material advertising doesn’t apply to B2B organizations. (C.C. truly referred to this notion as “full crap.”) As Ann (appropriately) put it, B2Bs truly know extra about their prospects than anybody, and thus have a golden alternative to create content material that can really resonate with their respective audiences. So there!

It was an excellent present total, and I hope you loved the diary. See you subsequent 12 months!

3:04 p.m.: To start out off the afternoon, I made a decision to pop right into a session titled A Information to Social search engine marketing Technique for Content material Entrepreneurs. The presenter was Lee Odden (@LeeOdden), CEO at TopRank, who I’ve all the time been a giant fan of.

The session was virtually stymied by slideshow failure (PowerPoint stored shifting from slide to slip by itself accord), however Lee dealt with it like a champ and got here by means of with some superior information. (For instance, do you know that there are wherever from 50 to 200 completely different variations of Google’s search algorithm operating someplace on the ‘Internet at any given time? I didn’t.)

More often than not was spent trying on the connection between social media interplay and search engine marketing. Lee talked about how many individuals are likely to bounce forwards and backwards between social media and search, and the way content material entrepreneurs can make the most of this. For example, potential prospects might go on social media (LinkedIn, possibly) to ask their friends for product suggestions. Greater than seemingly, they’ll then take these ideas and plug them into Google to analysis them and resolve on which one to buy. After that, there’s a superb probability they’ll then return to LinkedIn to debate the product they selected and why.

As Lee famous, latest research present that 48% of shoppers use social media and search collectively when making shopping for selections – a main instance of why search and social methods have to be linked. All the pieces must be optimized for each, he defined. And by all the pieces, he means all the pieces. “If it may be looked for, it may be optimized.”

There was much more to cowl within the presentation, together with some nice stuff on how one can carry out an search engine marketing audit on your web site. Hopefully we are able to setup a podcast with him someday quickly to go over that matter in additional element, as I believe it might actually profit lots of corporations on the market.

1:45 p.m.: The lunch session for Day 2 was an fascinating one. A handful of audio system have been every given seven minutes to debate a content-related matter of their selecting. I assumed everybody did a wonderful job, although my two favorites have been segments on content material curation and the connection between content material advertising and the Muppets (sure, you learn that proper).

Barbra Gago (@BarbraGago), strategist at Left Mind DGA, gave a intelligent presentation on the worth of curating content material that was made up virtually fully of … effectively … curated content material. The day past she shot video of varied content material consultants discussing the alternative ways entrepreneurs can make the most of curated content material, which included OpenView’s personal Amanda Maksymiw, pictured proper. (Observe: The image doesn’t actually do justice to how large the screens have been. Quickly after the video ended, I posted a tweet asking if that was actually Amanda or the nice and highly effective Oz.) Barbra then edited the footage collectively to make a cool five-minute video on content material curation – comprised fully of commentary generated by others on the present. Get it?

As for the Muppet phase, simply go forward and speak to Andrew Davis (@TPLDrew) of Tippingpoint Labs for the main points. It’s value it.

11:16 a.m.: I made a decision to strive the chief monitor for the morning’s first breakout session. This one, titled Content material Advertising Metrics: Justifying Content material Advertising Spending, additionally featured a panel. A great a part of the dialogue targeted on the problem of getting firm buy-in and funding for content material advertising efforts.

Lynne Esparo, VP of Advertising with Nuance Communications, made the purpose that the ROI for content material needs to be actually buttoned as much as succeed, since whereas many senior managers haven’t any downside spending on buyer acquisition, they’re much much less more likely to make investments the identical sum of money into buyer retention. (Which is foolish when you consider it, because it prices a lot extra to acquire a brand new buyer than hold an present one.)

Cam Brown (@CamBrown1), CEO at King Fish Media, famous that the explanation for this (as ordinary) is that it’s so tough to measure the success of content material methods for present prospects (the place as measuring success primarily based on the variety of new prospects is clearly a lot simpler). A few of the metrics he makes use of to find out content material worth embody issues like elevated cart dimension (“Did we get them to start out shopping for extra?”) and the speed of product returns.

The panel additionally included content material guru and creator of The NOW Revolution Jay Baer, who shared his personal really helpful metrics:

1. Consumption metrics (readership measurements)
2. Sharing metrics (social media, backlinking)
3. Lead era metrics
4. Gross sales/retention metrics

He added that corporations which are simply getting began with content material advertising ought to begin with a targeted strategy to make sure they get essentially the most worth and finest outcomes. “What I discover with corporations that haven’t traditionally embraced content material, they usually fall within the entice of, ‘We obtained to be publishers!’ So that they find yourself placing all their eggs in that one basket,” Baer defined. “However nobody desires to learn your large whitepaper and stuff like that. Content material success isn’t about considering large, it’s about considering small.” Liked this quote, because it echoes the identical theme many have argued this week —  do one factor very well first, then transfer on to the larger stuff.

He continued by citing the significance of getting your content material on the market on different websites, since extra widespread spots like SlideShare or YouTube definitely have a higher attain than your personal weblog. “Don’t be a content material Grinch,” he stated to these of us who get queasy on the considered setting their content material free outdoors of their very own websites. I’ve struggled with this myself, however from a pure branding perspective, I’ve grown to simply accept that sharing is essential. Simply be sure you institute methods for getting folks to come back to your website finally, even when the very first thing they see from you is hosted someplace else.

9:36 a.m.: I’ve been to lots of occasions like these, and attendees are all the time dragging a bit of bit on Day 2. CMW ’11 isn’t any completely different, as lots of the of us listed here are struggling to match the passion of Day 1 after a protracted day of classes (and a fair longer evening of partying, for a lot of). The sluggish begin was not misplaced on our host Joe Pulizzi as he welcomed the attendees to the primary panel of the day. “Congratulations all of you for getting up so early to see this superior presentation!” he hollered to the sleepy eyed plenty.

Thankfully, the opening panel was a superb one, that includes Brian Clark (@copyblogger) of Copyblogger fame and Michael Stelzner (@smexaminer), founding father of SocialMediaExaminer.com. The 2 chatted about among the methods they’ve used to construct profitable companies on the again of content material. When requested about their components for achievement, Brian burdened the significance of staying “reader-focused and reader-friendly” when placing collectively your content material roadmap.

“We’re in an consideration struggle,” he defined, citing the necessity to research reader behaviors and eye research to assist hold that spotlight targeted on you. Brian famous the low-attention spans of readers, which is why usability is such a essential a part of the content material creation course of. Michael agreed, saying {that a} high quality visible design and format is important to their technique as a way of serving to the content material, website and model stand out and entice readers and potential prospects.

The idea of design has truly come up fairly a bit on the occasion, as many session leaders have pointed to the significance of being visually interesting when competing for consideration. This definitely pertains to website design, however from a content material perspective, creating articles which are simply digestible usually comes right down to using good format and design practices. Brian talked about how easy ways like subheads and bulleted lists inside the textual content go a good distance towards making your content material easier to eat. It additionally helps to keep away from what we former journalists check with as “an excessive amount of grey” on the web page (i.e. large blocks of textual content with nothing to attract the reader’s eye – form of like this diary entry).

The 2 additionally mentioned among the methods they use for deciding what to jot down about. Brian made the case that social media is without doubt one of the best advertising instruments at our disposal with regards to studying what persons are desirous about. Michael mentioned his crew’s desire for reader surveys as a way of producing concepts and matters. For these desirous about surveys, one tip each panelists really helpful was to incorporate open-ended questions – a a lot better solution to study one thing new about your readers than should you merely present a number of selection solutions for them.

It was a superb begin to the day from two of the perfect within the biz, and On-line Advertising Institute’s Aaron Kahlow (@AaronKahlow) did a wonderful job moderating for a crowd that was clearly in want of a second cup of espresso.

For a breakdown of yesterday’s excessive factors, take a look at my operating diary of Day 1 at Content material Advertising World.

Yow will discover extra data on content material advertising and editorial practices on the OpenView Labs web site. You too can observe Brendan on Twitter @BrenCournoyer and discover extra from the OpenView crew @OpenViewVenture.