The Right SEM Strategy for Schools

Getting your school found online is an ongoing battle that requires different strategies for different goals. Search engine marketing (SEM) is comprised of both search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. You can use both these strategies to direct traffic to your school's website, blog, or other digital assets you have, e.g. a landing page/microsite promoting a new school program. 

While both strategies can drive traffic, they have different virtues. To maximize your spend and get the best return, you want to use the right strategy for the right reasons.

Where SEO and PPC Differ

SEO is about building a strong content foundation that earns you more attention as time goes on. It's a long-term investment that has a lower cost with slower rate of return. Yet there comes a tipping point at which your SEO-optimized digital assets provide exponential returns. Its value doesn't reside in only a few specific high performing pages — the collective value starts boosting newer content as well. The more authority your site builds over time, that authority applies to other content you post on your site. Your SEO-optimized pages create a perpetual flow of traffic.

Infusing all your digital assets with SEO best practices should be part of your standard practice for every piece of digital content your school publishes.

You can download our full ebook on SEO for schools here >>

In contrast, a PPC campaign is fixed-time campaign that will have high upfront costs, but can get you quick, valuable returns. Your PPC campaign will be designed around a keyword strategy, just like your SEO. Unlike SEO, the PPC campaign only brings in returns for the time you're paying for the ad space. There's no long term benefit or exponential growth. That doesn't mean PPC doesn't have its role to play in getting your school found. It just means you want to pick your spots.

How and When to Use SEO

Really, the answer to "when" is "always." As mentioned earlier, SEO is the foundation that will push your website and blog higher and higher in the search engine results page (SERP). Virtually all searchers click on a first page link in their search results rather than a PPC ad.

Of course, getting ranked for "culinary school" isn't going to be easy (it's a very competitive term). And the truth is, you don't want to. That's far too broad a keyword. Your SEO strategy will return the most relevant visitors to you if work with long tail keywords (LTKs) that are queries containing the language your ideal students use to search for what they want. So if you're a school with a culinary management program that offers an online learning component, you might find "online culinary management degree program" more effective.

The more relevant your long tail keywords are to your personas, the more interested and qualified an audience you'll attract. 

After researching and identifying the most relevant collection of long tail keywords, you need to execute your SEO strategy through on-page and off-page optimization.

On-page SEO

This where you have the most control. On-page SEO uses all the smart ways to embed a page's keyword throughout the page. This doesn't mean repeating the keyword over and over in your text. Those days are long gone. Instead, you'll use the keyword a few times in your text. You'll write naturally as Google also looks for the phrases it expects to see if your program page is truly about an "online culinary management program." So Google might also expect to see other culinary related phrases such "back of the house" or "restaurant operations." 

You also have a variety of tags (i.e. title tags, meta tags, heading tags, and descriptions), where you can use your selected keywords. Some of these tags (e.g. your URL, title tag, and meta description) appear in the search results, so are critical to getting the click. Other tags, (e.g. alt-text tags — used to optimize images), don't always get seen by visitors. But the search engine bots deciding where to rank your page see and use them. Your title tag is probably the most important tag in terms of SEO, but don't overlook any of them.

Google has recently changed a number of its properties for on-page tags, such as giving you more room in titles and descriptions. When these changes happen, it's a good time to give your pages an SEO refresh.

Other on-page tactics to remember are: give the page a quick loading time and incorporate your social sharing buttons so visitors can spread your awesome content.

Off-page SEO

Off-page SEO is when high authority sites link back to your awesome content. You have no control over this, because it requires external sites to like your content and link to it. However, you can encourage this process by sending a lot of social sharing signals in your content.

You want social sharing icons on all your pages, posts, and emails. And you can do more. You can craft copy to encourage people to share by reminding them to do so. You can also create pre-fabbed Tweets and Shares in your content for them to use.

Let's say you have a blog post of interviews with well-known restaurateurs sharing what personal and technical skills they look for when hiring a restaurant manager. Using the "birds of a feather" principle, you might add some copy to above your social sharing icons that says, "Know someone who's wondering if they have what it takes? Help them find out. Share this article." Or "Tweet this:  Graduate as a #Chef from this #Top-Ranked #CulinaryProgram @[YourSchoolTwitterHandle] [url]."

The more your blogs posts and web pages get out there, the more likely people will start to link back to them. 

How and When to Use PPC

While SEO is strategic and on-going, PPC is more tactical. PPC ads are those ads you see at the top of your search results. Since a PPC campaign only runs as long as you're willing to pay for it, you want to reserve for when you have something very specific you want to promote. 

Sticking with our culinary management program example, if this is a new program and you want to drive awareness as well as attract immediate potential students, a PPC program could be a good choice here. 

Another good use case for PPC is to support a specific enrollment priority. Perhaps your school wants to attract students with high musical ability to improve your band and orchestra. Your team has invested a lot of resources creating a report on how music education improves overall learning, which can help students in their future college admissions. You set up a detailed workflow, filled with smart lists and triggered email series to nurture the leads who download this report. Building a PPC campaign around promoting this report could be a valid expense to make this a wide funnel entrance point into your database.

A third place for a PPC campaign may be in growing your funnel numbers for the upcoming year when they're a bit low. If you need a boost in prospects to get the right number of school applicants, a PPC campaign may help. Keep in mind that in this case, you're not looking for people in the attraction stage (top-of-the-funnel). They will more likely already be in their consideration stage (middle-of-the-funnel). So select your promoted keywords and content appropriately.

Use this PPC ad calculator to find out if using a PPC campaign makes economic sense for a specific campaign.

In short: think of SEO as your "always-on" SEM, while PPC is your "special occasion" SEM. You need both, but in the right proportion and places.

via HubSpot Marketing Blog http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/the-right-sem-strategy-for-schools

How to Run Successful LinkedIn Ads [Free Two-Week Planner]

LinkedIn is the #1 social media platform for B2B content distribution. That makes it a key platform to generate leads, build professional relationships, and drive leads.

But it’s not enough to use LinkedIn just to build an organic following. If you want to effectively expand your content's reach and get it in front of the right eyes, you should be using LinkedIn's Sponsored Content feature.

Even if you’ve used Sponsored Content before, you may not have mastered all of the steps it takes to make sure you’re getting the most ROI from your campaigns. Luckily, HubSpot teamed up with LinkedIn to bring you How to Run Successful LinkedIn Ads -- a two-week guide on running successful LinkedIn Sponsored Content campaigns.

More specifically, you’ll learn how to:

• Build an organic audience on LinkedIn.
• Select the right pieces of content.
• Identify the best target audience.
• Build an effective editorial calendar.
• Implement conversion tracking to prove ROI.
• Develop an effective targeting and A/B testing strategy.
• Monitor, report on, and optimize your sponsored content campaigns over time.

Download your copy of How to Run Successful LinkedIn Ads here.

via HubSpot Marketing Blog http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-run-successful-linkedin-ads

How to Present a Compelling Argument When You're Not Naturally Persuasive

Has this happened to you before? You come up with a great idea for a new project, but when it comes to explaining to your colleagues why it deserves their attention, you just can't seem to generate the necessary excitement or buy-in.

Coming up with a good idea is only half the battle. If you ever want to see your ideas implemented, you need to back up your plan with a stellar argument. As you probably know, this is much easier said than done.

Crafting a compelling argument can seem like an elusive art dominated by the naturally charismatic and extroverted, but it really comes down to a basic awareness and application of what Aristotle called the modes of persuasion.

In the 4th Century BC, the Greek philosopher defined three fundamental types of persuasion techniques:

Ethos refers to arguments grounded in the speaker's credibility, e.g., You are more likely to believe the claim: "This new phone is innovative" if Steve Jobs said it versus if Charlie Sheen said it.

Logos refers to arguments grounded in logic and reason, e.g., "This phone is innovative because it has a battery that was scientifically proven to last 500% longer than any other phone battery on the market."

Pathos refers to arguments that appeal to our emotions, e.g., "This was the last phone Steve Jobs created before his death."

To help you begin developing more engaging, sophisticated arguments, we've taken Aristotle's modes of persuasion and explained how you can best leverage each one. Whether you're pitching a new idea to a client or giving a presentation to your colleagues, these tips will help you take your case up a notch.

Ethos 

Give yourself a credibility audit.

Your reputation really does precede you.

Before you even walk into the conference room, your audience will have preconceived notions about you, and about the presentation they're about to receive. What do they currently know about you? What don't they know? Is there anything about your reputation (or your agency's reputation) that could potentially support your argument? Anything that could potentially hurt it?

The degree to which preconceived notions will influence your actual argument depends heavily on the situation at hand, but it's not a bad idea to think critically about the way you initially come across to your audience. You could present an otherwise flawless argument, but if there are any external credibility issues that aren't addressed, you could be looking at an unswayed audience.

Credibility issues aren't always the massive, obvious problems you'd expect. When I say "credibility issue," you probably think of something dramatic, like a history of pathological lying or ponzi scheming. More often than not, credibility issues come in the form of subtle inconsistencies. For example, if you're trying to sell a client on a new SEO strategy, but your agency's website isn't ranking for a single keyword, then you may have a credibility issue on your hands.

So what should you do if you discover a potential credibility issue? Don't panic. You don't need to directly address every potential controversy (your audience probably doesn't want to hear about the time you accidentally threw a plastic cup in a paper-only recycle bin) -- but you should address the ones that are relevant to your argument.

Going back to my earlier example, you should explain why your agency isn't focusing on SEO right now, but point to some examples of other businesses you've helped with SEO.

It's better to control the conversation around potentially touchy subjects than wait for someone in your audience to bring them up on their own. If that happens, you could be looking at an even bigger credibility issue: They might wonder if you were being willfully ingenuous before, and if you're hiding anything else.

Logos

When it comes to supporting facts, focus on quality over quantity.

More evidence equals a better argument, right? Not quite. While it can be tempting to put together a presentation with 15 statistic-heavy slides worth of supporting evidence, this isn't likely to have a powerful impact on your audience. In fact, overwhelming them with an onslaught of facts and figures will probably make them tune out -- even if your facts are all logically sound and supportive of your main premise.

Just because a fact technically lends support to your claim doesn't mean it will sway your audience. The best evidence needs to not only support your claim, but also have a connection to your audience.

Say you're pitching a digital ads project to a small business, and you mention that 25% of Fortune 500 companies have seen a direct sales increase from using full-page mobile ads. Yes, that statistic shows mobile ads can have an impact on sales, but it doesn't connect back to your audience in a meaningful way. Small businesses and Fortune 500 companies don't approach advertising from the same perspective, so this piece of evidence isn't likely to make a compelling case to your audience.

As a general rule, focus on finding a few relevant pieces of evidence to support your claim, rather than a slew of facts with loose ties to your main point. A small handful of strong facts are more likely to stick with your audience than many loose claims, so choose your supporting evidence selectively, always being mindful of the connection back to your audience. If you can't draw a line back to your audience, toss that piece of evidence out of your argument. 

Pathos

Focus on the story, not just the logic.

When sitting down to develop an argument, most people fall into the logic trap: They put the vast majority of their time and resources into making sure each of their main points is followed by a list of bullet points to back up their claims. When the presentation rolls around, their audience is uninspired, and the speaker is confused: "Why didn't they love my logically-reasoned and perfectly valid arguments?"

Your audience isn't grading your presentation for logical validity. Don't get me wrong, logic and structure are important to the foundation of an argument -- but they can't stand on their own. To craft a truly compelling argument that incites action from your audience, you need to inject a hefty dose of emotion and narrative. Good storytelling is what separates impactful arguments from mediocre ones.

You might be thinking: "But I'm writing a budget proposal -- how am I supposed to make an emotionally-appealing narrative out of that?"

It's actually a lot less complicated that you'd expect. Start by sketching out a simple emotional map of your presentation. How will your audience feel before the presentation even begins?

Maybe you know morale has been low lately at your agency, and the team needs a reason to feel optimistic about the future. Maybe you know that your budget proposal presentation isn't a hotly anticipated meeting, and you need to give your audience something to get excited (or even just mildly amused) about.

Identifying the preexisting mood of your audience will help you figure out what emotions you'll need to incite to keep their attention and pull them into your story. Once you've figured out how they'll feel at the outset, determine how you want them to feel at the end. What emotions will make them more likely to support your argument? What story can you tell to lead them towards these emotional conclusions?

For example, if you're pitching a website redesign project and you know that the client doesn't currently think it will make a difference to their marketing efforts, you'd want to incite excitement and optimism in your presentation.

To do this, you could weave in a narrative that focuses on how the website redesign will lead towards a better future for the client's business. It's not about forcing a narrative onto your facts, it's about finding the story that already exists and running with it. 

Know Your Audience and Setting

So how do you know when to appeal to ethos, pathos, or logos? The key is understanding your audience, and considering what form of appeal is most likely to resonate with them at that particular time and place.

Don't stress about including all three modes of persuasion in every presentation. Feel out your audience beforehand and determine which types of arguments are most likely to appeal to them in the given setting. For example, a budget meeting will definitely call for some strong logical appeals, but adding in an emotional appeal might beef up your claims and result in a more compelling claim. It's all about striking the right balance of appeals for your particular audience and circumstances.

via HubSpot Marketing Blog http://bitly.com/2eNkISw

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How to Excel in Community Management: Advice From 12 Experts

Community management has become an essential part of a successful long-term social media marketing strategy. In fact, it's turned into more than just a social media strategy: Community management leads to customer retention, and studies have shown that profits increase 95% when retention grows over 5%.

In order to get to the point where community management turns into business growth, you need to first put in the effort to develop deep personal relationships with customers and people in your community that may or may not be interested in buying your services. They're part of your community simply because their beliefs are similar to those of your brand and industry leadership. 

Vanilla Forums, along with 12 leading community management experts, has written about building a foundation for a great community, as well as the strategic steps along the way, to help grow that community and ultimately your business.

In this ebook, written by 12 leading community management experts, you'll learn:

• The best tactics in community management to build up to your first 100 members.
• The key metrics executive teams use to measure community success and how you can start incorporating those metrics from the start.
• How to find a great moderator.
• Much more about building and fostering a healthy community to fuel your business' growth.

Click here to check out How to Learn Community Management from the Experts.

via HubSpot Marketing Blog http://bitly.com/2fFAigu