Turn up for Content Marketing World

I just returned from Content Marketing Institute's annual conference, Content Marketing World. It was a whirlwind week! This year #CMWorld moved away from traditionally being held in Cleveland to Washington, DC. I was all for it...it's one of my fave cities!

Not only am I unpacking clothes, I'm unpacking all the things I learned this week from the keynotes and the sessions. The problem with this conference is that there are usually several sessions that I want to attend, which are planned at the same time! (Can I clone myself???) Thank goodness for the on-demand access to recordings post-event.

WHAT DID I LEARN?

✍🏼 Blogging doesn't work for SEO anymore. Thank you, Dale Bertrand. At face value, there are probably many who are scratching their heads or ready to fight over this statement.

Is he saying NOT to blog? No.

Do you need to be intentional about blog content (really, all content!)? Yes.

Does simply loading a blog with keywords work any longer? Not so much.

The key drivers to quality content that will be looked upon favorably by Google is EEAT:

• Experience
• Expertise
• Authority
• Trustworthiness

Oh, and search INTENT. Google’s AI knows the intent behind a search query. The real goal is ENGAGEMENT with content and the 4 bullet points above help drive engagement. A CTA such as "schedule a demo" most likely won't earn any Google brownie points because it's not focused on intent. (Looking at you B2B companies out there... 👀)

Dale shared SO MUCH good info on the current SEO algos and practices, that I couldn't type notes fast enough. Be sure to follow him!

🌈 That you too can turn sh*t content into rainbows. (Cue the unicorn!) Thank you Amy Higgins and Monica Noordam Norton for a 'hands-on, make you think through processes, and ask all the questions' workshop! You CAN make rainbows or realize that no matter how many unicorns come to the rescue, the content isn't going to turn into rainbows.

🤖 AI. AI. AI. (For those of us of a certain age..."Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" may be running through your head...) You can't get away from hearing about AI no matter where you turn. The sessions reaffirmed what I believe and think of AI for content creation: it's a useful tool which can ASSIST in content creation, helping us be more efficient and scaling production. Period. It's not intended to and should not replace the human factor in writing. Not to mention that AI-written content (without any human touching it) hurts SEO. That wonderful Google AI behemoth can detect content written by AI. Kind of meta, right? Thanks to Carlos Meza , CEO of Stellar for the insights!

🔎 More SEO! Great sesh from Lee Odden , Founder of TopRank Marketing on optimizing content for search intent. Did you know the average buyer has completed 12 search queries before even hitting a website? A big mistake that many B2B companies make is trying to rank for ALL the keywords - this cannibalizes the search results. Focus on the searcher's intent!

🧰🛠️ Improving content marketing in an unpredictable economy. Penny Gralewski MBA shared 9 actions to improve content marketing in her session. All good things and the ones that stuck out for me:

• Refocus content on market conditions. Self-explanatory.
• Make 'unsubscribe' a part of the buyer journey. Say what?? Offer other options like changing email addresses, opting in for specific content, offer a 'take a break' option.
• Add one step event registration to supercharge that chat experience on your website. Make it easier for your repeat attendees to RSVP for an event.
• Eliminate one project. As marketers, we often find it difficult to say 'no' but do we really need to do all the things? Good reminder that eliminating something may be the best content strategy.

📧 Rethink your welcome emails. Ashley Guttuso and Dennis Shiao partner up again with a session on email marketing. Do you ever feel like brands pop the question right away instead of courting you? Hey, we know you just signed up to date us (subscribe to emails) but let's get married right away (buy from us now!). Key takeaways:

• Does your welcome message have elements to make them feel...well, welcome? This is someone's first impression of you. How do you want make them feel?
• Ask for a reply. This was genius. Not only does it inform their email client that they want to receive messages from you but it can also gives you insights on how to continue courting them.
• Include info about how to make sure the message ends up in the inbox for each email client. We all have challenges with messages ending up in spam or in the 'promotions' tab black hole. Spell it out for subscribers on how to make sure your emails hit the inbox target.

These are but a few of the amazing workshops and sessions. I will be binging on the session recordings when they become available.

BEING PART OF THE COMMUNITY

I LOVE LOVE seeing friends and meeting new ones. The community is just as important as all the knowledge gained at #CMWorld and what a wonderful community it is! I especially appreciate having the opportunity to connect with those whom I've admired from afar or whose work I follow on the interwebs. OK, OK...there's always some fangirling on my part each year, which I'll share in closing.

My friend Amy Fair had a kick-ass session on how content marketers can market themselves. It all boils down to making connections, becoming friends, and all being part of a community together. BTW, she creates killer content and is looking to hire her next boss...could that be you? Connect with Amy!

Each speaker is introduced by a room moderator and Amy's moderator was none other than Juntae DeLane . I was next to Amy when he came up to her and this happened:

Me: Oooooh, it's YOU!! (Fangirling...there may have been a delighted squeal.)

JD: *Smiling. Blink blink (Looking around in case he needs to call security...🤣)

Me: I stalk....errrr follow you on the socials...

Also me: going to my seat now....

CONTINUING THE CONNECTION

As I mentioned, it was a whirlwind week and hopefully this recap gives you a glimpse (and maybe some FOMO) into all that CMWorld has to offer. I can't wait for CMWorld 2024 in San Diego! 🌴☀️

P.S. I didn't even include the party at the National Portrait Gallery in this recap!

#ContentMarketingWorld #ContentMarketing