SMX East 2014 was a thrilling roller coaster ride — Musings by SEMP.com
SEMP.com: Search Engine Land’s SMX East was a gratifying experience, where we saw, heard and met the best in SEM.
“Content may be king, but content marketing is Game of Thrones — it’s a constant struggle to stay ahead.” – Scott Brinker, co-founder & CTO, ion interactive at SMX East 2014.
The world’s largest search engine marketing conference, SMX East 2014 in New York City, was a complete package of enlightenment, loaded with a treasure trove of SEM information and tactics. It is crucial for publishers and ad networks like us to understand the mechanism behind SEM, especially when the field is a rigorously evolving one.
The conference, held during September 30-October 2, 2014, helped in numerous ways in dispelling misconceptions and rearranging our to-do list. We are sure that the SEM fuel we chugged down here will last us and our clients a long, long time.
We highlight some of the best talks handed down to us.
“Social is the new Search”
Most marketers may have been led to believe that with the rise of numerous platforms such as video, mobile, e-mail, display, search is obsolete. Not true! We believe it has just evolved and transcended certain platforms.
The session by Tami Cannizzaro, Global Director of Marketing, Social Business, IBM emphasized on the above lines with the fact that search is becoming increasingly crucial to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, which efficiently connect users, smartly intertwining them with an array of targeted content and activities.
In ‘All Search is Now Social’, Cannizzaro portrayed social and search as the opposite sides of the same coin, appealing marketers to adopt new hybrid approaches to content marketing that sit well with them, as well as the virtual world.
According to her, ‘employee-centric’ social marketing and involving ‘influencer outreach’ through guest posts are two necessary social advocacy approaches that directly reflect the search-friendliness of a brand. Apart from these, it is important to have a ‘consistent content’ approach that not only ensures regular visibility, but also taps into the cultural ethos of the consumers. (We hear you Tami.)
Back to native and beyond
Listening to marketing technology advocate Scott Brinker was educating. His session on ‘The 4th wave of Content Marketing’ helped us get a deeper understanding of the dynamics behind the emerging trend of interactive content, paired with marketing apps.
Citing the first three waves of content marketing – web pages, rich content (videos, infographics and ebooks) and personalization/targeting of content – Brinker put forth the fact that it was time to ride the 4th wave that goes beyond just native apps, into web apps on a cross-device platform.
All advancements and new concepts are good, but we cannot move forward without completely understanding those that already exist. This is where the session ‘Defining & Mapping the Native Advertising Landscape’ pointed out that the obscurity surrounding the term ‘native advertising’, its functionality, benefits and limitations, even basic definition, needs to meet a unanimous understanding in digital marketing circles.
Rebecca Lieb, analyst at Altimeter Group elucidated the above, along with the economic benefits resulting from its optimum use for all stakeholders – the entire digital marketing and publishing ecosystem.
Flying with automation and Pigeon(s)
Most of us in the SEM business thank the stars for automation. But is it right to solely depend on it? Sure, it assures a level of desired efficiency and connectivity with consumers, but it does not ensure the quality of your product or the marketplace you offer. Which is why Kevin Ryan, CEO of Motivity Marketing was at SMX East 2014 with his session ‘Automation Does Not Equal Strategy (Or, A Tool Box Does Not A Cabinet Make)’
We were all ears when Ryan spoke on how it is essential for marketers to pair automation with their business strategy and not just make it one.
At SEMP, we are always in the process of staying ahead by adopting the latest practices in search marketing and beyond. So, when Google updated its search algorithm to Pigeon, we got with the program.
While attending the session ‘Deconstructing Pigeon, Google’s New Local Search Algorithm’, we were sure to note down the intricacies of the algorithm and how it could impact local search results. The panel comprising Adam Dorfman, SVP – Product & Technology, SIM Partners, David Mihm, Director of Local Search Strategy, Moz and Andrew Shotland, President, Local SEO Guide, relayed to the audience the analytics behind Pigeon and tactics to cope with various changes in the business.
The SEO strategy, or not
Content marketing is incomplete without a solid state SEO strategy. What we found most boggling was that a brand like BuzzFeed does not find it necessary to prioritize on search rankings. How is it so successful then, you ask?
In a refreshing key note by Jonah Peretti, CEO of BuzzFeed, we discovered that the company’s model revolves around what they think matters in web content, and not SEO. In fact, 75 percent of the brand’s traffic is generated through social media, mostly Facebook’, through its user-first approach.
By focusing on what engages users, BuzzFeed prioritizes ‘good reads’ – asking themselves ‘What would people look for in Google, or how would people search for this?’ Yes, most people believe that the company grabs eyeballs mostly due to their ‘clickbait’ approach, but Peretti clarifies that their articles do not fail to deliver, at all times. It is the ‘deception factor’ that decides whether the content is just spam or actually click-worthy.
BuzzFeed is ahead of many today because their model is ‘sharing’ and creating a more social data influencing search presence. However, we agree that this model may not necessarily work for all websites.
By talking to many visitors and participants who have been regular at SMX conferences, we have come to know that may topics in the agenda this year have never been covered before. It was great privilege to be exposed to great SEM expertise that have opened a world of ground-breaking tactics to us.
Needless to say, SEMP and Mediastinct had a great experience at SMX East 2014, as well as Advertising Week, IAB MIXX and BrightRoll Video Summit. Armed with a reservoir of contacts, concepts and an effective priority list, we feel empowered enough to take on the SEM industry by storm.
We are still around in New York City, having back to back meetings and conversations with incredible people in the SEM industry. Reach out to SEMP and Team Mediastinct—Samron Jude (Director), Mariel Fonseca (Strategic Partner Director) and Shamilee Ilango (Business Head).
They are available at contact@mediastinct.com or samron@mediastinct.com/ mariel@mediastinct.com / shamilee@mediastinct.com.
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