Online Marketing News: Week of November 25, 2013

So it’s finally over—Black Friday, that is. You can breathe a small sigh of relief! Of course, shoppers will be active all through the weekend and on Cyber Monday, and by the time all that’s over, there are just about three weeks left until Christmas. It’s a busy time, to say the least, and you’re probably feeling the pressure. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been giving you lots of great tips on being prepared and developing contingency plans, and we know you’re going to do really well this season. Now, with everything that’s going on, don’t forget to have a good time, too—after all, holidays should be fun, and when you’re smiling, you’re making your customers smile, too. We have some advice for developing and sharing fun content and measuring how successful it is from all angles. Check out the latest from some of our favorite blogs.

Memes 101 for Marketing – Travin Keith – Search Engine Journal

When you’re communicating with users—both established repeat customers and potential new ones—you know there are a number of messages you wish to deliver. Some of them are obvious, like the fact that your products and services are of superior quality and that your customer relations skills are the best around. But there’s something else you want people to know about you: that you’re in touch and relatable. If you’ve ever been tempted to use a common meme—or create one of your own—to make your viewers laugh and think more about your brand, you’re on the right track. Just be sure that you don’t use one incorrectly, as it hurts your credibility and reputation and makes you seem a bit clueless. Travin Keith of Search Engine Journal offers a great primer on memes that you’ll no doubt find useful for your marketing campaign. He explains some examples of popular memes, like The Most Interesting Man in the World, and offers ideas on what makes for effective new meme content. Memes are a great way to engage your users on social media platforms, so whether it’s those tried-and-true LOLcats or fresh new material, you can dive right in!

KPIs of Marketing Effectiveness – Dave Snyder – Search Engine Watch

Speaking of fresh new material, we’re always emphasizing the importance of beautifully written and produced content for your web site, blog, and social media presence, not only as a successful search engine optimization strategy, but also for other kinds of user engagement (e.g. a customer sharing one of your blog posts on his or her Facebook page). This week, Dave Snyder of Search Engine Watch encourages you to measure the value of your content with 11 key performance indicators (KPIs), which include referral traffic and social sharing. When you’re working hard to develop amazing marketing content every day, you deserve to know how hard it’s working for you, what’s generating conversions, and what needs some rethinking.