#brightonSEO 2013 |
When I found out I had a ticket for #brightonSEO, I was so
excited, to say the least. It would be
my first time attending any sort of conference / instructional day out about
how to create a successful online presence and I had high hopes for what it
could deliver. What I knew before hand
was that on the word / tech scale my experience had me closer to the word
rather than the tech end. What I found
out is that this meant that the talks fell mainly in the muddling middle of my
understanding, neither so clear that I was nodding sagely and saying, yah, yah
to myself, nor too murky that I sat there mouthing WTF. So, with that said, if you're a geek look
away now as my notes probably aren't for you.
However, if you're more of a content king, then check out some of the
gems below, picked up from the tech experts at Brighton SEO 2013.
Twitter - well, do you?
Live, Public, Conversational, that's how Twitter defines itself, to which I would add, Meritocratic and that's why I love it so much. The first session of the day was opened by Oliver Snoddy, Head Planner at Twitter UK who gave examples of how successfully
Twitter can focus on a moment and through the multiplier effect engage with a
vast and disparate audience that other more single focused media cannot reach. To illustrate this point he used Stanley
Milgrim's study of how a visible crowd has the power to steer attention to
wherever the crowd is looking. In relation
to Twitter a staggering 3.2 million tweets in and around the moment Murray won
Wimbledon clearly demonstrates the power of the moment to engage a
large audience. Currently there
are around 15 million users in the UK, 80% of which access it from their mobile, which makes
sense, as I found when I first tried using Twitter online myself. Initially I didn't get it, but then as soon as I
started to use it on my iPhone the platform started to make sense. Twitter's limited number of characters makes
it a perfect portable platform. Reading
anything longer on such a small screen becomes a chore. Twitter keeps it brief and immediate. So, you want to join in? Or maybe you want to amplify your
connectedness to your Followers and find more Followers, then Snoddy suggests tweeting about food, fitness
or shopping and add the #hungry, #run or #shopping to your tweet and by doing this, you've
just joined one of the top three most popular convos on Twitter. If you really are new to Twitter and don't
know what to do next, tap #Discover on the bottom bar of Twitter as it appears on iPhone,
then go to the top bar, tap the search icon (microscope) type in the hashtag
you've just used, eg #shopping and scroll through what people are saying.
So, did Snoddy give us any idea of what to expect next from Twitter? Twitter are adding analytics to user
profiles, this means you will now have Twitter data at your fingertips and soon you'll be seeing
Twitter Amplify too, a product that enables adverts to precede popular video
clips. Advertising has just found a new
bandwaggon.
A Multitude of Analytic Web Resources
The other speaker of note that I heard was Jennifer Sable-Lopez @jennita, Director of
Community at Moz - Software and Community for Better Marketing. Possibly the most generous in terms of suggesting online
resources to help understand and use data.
A list that of course included some Moz resources too and with good reason as
both their blog and Twitter analytics app, Followerwonk are really good
resources to check out.
Perhaps the best place to start before embarking on research of the various analytic tools online is to read some articles that will give you specific help in a particular area. The Moz Blog has a whole host of articles that may be a good starting point, here are a few to give you a flavour:
Once you are clear on what you need, here are some websites that you might like:
bit.ly - Your bitmarks
This offers a URL redirection service with real time link tracking ie it's excellent for generating short links for using on Twitter.
Followerwonk - Twitter analytics, follower segmentation, social graph tracking, and more
Created by Moz, this website allows you to search Twitter bios,
compare users, analyse, track and sort followers. Some of the tools are free and easy to use,
quickly producing some colourful charts and data.
What I found out - the times of day my Followers are most
actively tweeting, where they live (which country) and what words they use most often.
Bufferapp - A Smarter Way to Share on Social Media
Buffer allows you to share pages you are reading and can
automatically share posts throughout the day.
Unified Social - Smart Social for Smart Marketers
Offering brands and businesses help with reaching their
target audiences on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media
platforms using a cloud based social operating platform.
Simply Measured - Easy Social Media Analytics and Measurement
Offers free reports.
Social Engage - Social Location Marketing at its Best
A non-profit team of experts in social media who can market
your business through social networks.
True Social Metrics - Social Media Analytics
They aim to offer a social media analytics tool that solves
the problem of social media ROI and includes a section on mentions.
Sprout Social - Social Media Management Software for
Business
Created to help businesses find new customers and grow their
social media presence.
Other sites that were mentioned later in the day included -
Majestic SEO - Backlink Checker and Site Explorer
Link intelligence tools for SEO and internet PR and
Marketing, which show inbound link and site summary data.
The Official Microsoft IIS free SEO toolkit
Offers detailed analysis and search engine friendly
suggestions to help improve the relevance of your website in search results
right away.
Screaming Frog - SEO, Search Engine Optimisation and
Marketing