Internet Summit 2013: Content is King

Last week bright minds from all over gathered in our backyard for Internet Summit 2013.  The Raleigh Convention Center was flooded for 2 full days with talk about Google Hummingbird, social media marketing, responsive web design, and more. BP Studios was thrilled to be in attendance and we took in all we could. 

Internet Summit 2013 was beyond a discussion for web and media companies, though.  Internet Summit 2013 was for business owners of all sizes and in all industries.  The overarching question of the Summit was: How can you market your business in 2013 and beyond using social media?  How can you take advantage of the newest technologies and platforms to get your message out and to connect with clients?

The answer?  It’s simple: content.

Many SEO professionals were on hand to tell us that with Google’s game-changing update (Jenny Halasz with Archology told the room that this is the biggest change to Google since Page Rank) you can’t cheat any more.  There is no easy work around, no coding options to trick crawlers.

So if there aren’t any cheats, how does a small business work its way to the top of the social media and be heard through all the Internet noise?

Arik Abel, with Lulu.com, broke it down easily with his “Three Cs”: Content, Community, and Customer.  By creating content of value and sending that content out to create a community you are engaged with you can find your customer.  Likewise, give your customers what they want and they will find you.

The highlight of the Summit was surely Gary Vaynerchuk of VaynerMedia.  In an address filled with humor and honesty Vaynerchuk told the room that he doesn’t believe we should sell our products with commercials, banner ads, and billboards.  Instead we must market for the year that we live in (and inherent in that statement is “the years beyond”).

His quick summary was to, “Bring value.  Bring value.  Bring value.  Then ask for something.”

But how do we bring value?  By delivering good content.  Blog posts, Tweets, Facebook posts, and white papers are all easy-to-use no-cost options to send your company’s expertise out to potential customers.

All of this can seem quite overwhelming to a business owner or organization already steeped in work.  Yet the rewards for your future are great.  Once a process is established, once these new platforms become part of your business’s day to day operations, the time requirement is no longer remarkable.  What will be remarkable is your business’s connection to clients and customers.

You can keep your business and organization viable for the future and continue to grow.
 
If you would like to speak more about this topic, and how to get the robust Internet presence you want, contact us at info@bpstudios.com.

About the Author

Allison Carter is a Senior Content Strategist with BP Studios.  She loves writing blogs, Tweeting, Facebooking (which she still thinks should be a verb), and helping companies get their message out.