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It’s ⭐ Extraordinary Work Team Recognition Day, Reader! You’re all doing 👍 AWESOME!

In today’s edition:

• Today's 👉 Tip of the Day is for marketing messaging

• 🏆 Rank with this SEO playbook

• Montana TikTok ban 🛡️ blocked

• X/Twitter banks 💸 revenue on small advertisers

Are consumers indifferent to your marketing? The right language matters.

Content that speaks to specific situations and experiences gets more shares on social media and more clicks in email marketing.

Tips to Improve Your Marketing Messages

Which of these messages sounds more reassuring?

1. “We’re working on your refund and it will be with you soon.”

2. “We received your refund request on Monday, and it will be with you Wednesday.”

Option 2 feels more trustworthy and reliable because it contains specific, concrete information.

Here are some ways you can apply concreteness to all of the messages you send out—from tempting free content to marketing offers, delivery updates, upselling, and requests for customer testimonials.

• When you talk about customer pain points, use specific examples, case studies, and real-life scenarios. 

• When you talk about your services, don’t just tell people what you offer; tell them exactly how you’re going to deliver. 

• When you talk about your company values, give examples of how you’ve put them into practice in the workplace or the wider world. 

Today's tip is inspired by Jonah Berger.

Think the Boss Won’t Say Yes?

Would you love to attend Social Media Marketing World in San Diego, but getting your boss to approve your trip is your biggest challenge? We hear it all the time. Most marketers who attend have to persuade someone to send them.

Great news. We've created resources that are proven to increase your chances of getting a yes. How do we know? Because many attendees have told us they work.

You can find an email template, talking points, and more.

I want resources to get a YES!

Want to improve your eCommerce search rankings? Looking for a proven strategy to follow?

A Practical 4-Step SEO Playbook

Search engine optimization (SEO) has a reputation for being technical, complex, and tedious. But improving your search rankings doesn’t have to be painful. This straightforward, 4-step SEO “playbook” can get you results in as little as 3 months.

Check On-Page Speed and Quality

Start with some simple housekeeping to evaluate the technical SEO health of your site. Are your pages actually indexed and loading quickly enough for a positive user experience? 

Use Google’s own free PageSpeed Insights tool to measure how fast pages load. Anything under 3 seconds is decent, with under 2 seconds ideal. If pages are slow to load due to large file sizes or inefficient hosting, search engines may downgrade you.

Quick upgrades like enabling browser caching or adding a content delivery network (CDN) to store assets locally can potentially double page speeds. WordPress users should install a caching plugin like W3 Total Cache. It minifies code, compresses images, and manages caching automatically. 

While optimizing speed, also check your internal site search console for errors and duplicate content issues. Duplicate pages or products confuse search bots, diluting the strength being passed between pages. Eliminate any duplicates found. 

Conduct Keyword Research 

Now shift focus to your written content. You need pages targeting keywords and phrases that match what users are actually searching for. 

Start keyword research using free tools like Google’s Keyword Planner, UberSuggest, or Ahrefs. Look for longtail keyword variations with decent search volume but less competition. Avoid ultra-generic, single words.

Then create dedicated pages with valuable content directly answering each core search. Use target keywords naturally in headlines and opening sentences. Format content well, with scannable sections, quotes, images, etc that encourage visitors to fully engage rather than quickly bouncing.

Well-structured pages matching user intent signal search engines to rank you higher in results for those terms.

Configure Page Metadata 

Bolster your content pages with proper metadata—code that gives search engines additional context. 

Ensure title tags start with target keywords but are written to entice clicks too. Keep descriptive meta descriptions under 160 characters to summarize page purpose.

Plugins like Yoast SEO also insert schema markup to trigger rich result previews in some searches. Optimized metadata improves click-through rates from results pages.

Build Backlinks  

The final pillar for ranking well is securing backlinks—external sites linking back to your pages. This signals authority on those topics to search engines.

Start by creating and distributing genuinely valuable content assets. Then reach out to relevant bloggers and influencers to request backlinks in return. Look for ways to guest post on authority sites where you can include your site link. 

Ongoing outreach and relationship building take effort but earn the type of ethical backlinks that steadily convey legitimacy. Monitoring backlinks with a free tool like Ahrefs allows you to assess site-wide authority.

Using this 4-step methodology, you can evaluate and then upgrade the foundation of your website to systematically improve organic search visibility. Consistently producing content matched to user intent is key, amplified by backlinks from trusted external sources.

It may take up to 3 months to begin seeing significant changes in rankings. But following an organized SEO playbook builds momentum and brings sustained results over time.

Today's advice is provided with insights from Jeff Oxford, a featured speaker at Social Media Marketing World.

TOGETHER WITH YOUR BRAND

Imagine Your Brand Message Here…

Are you struggling to reach your target audience? Looking for a green field of valuable options? What if your message could blossom in front of hundreds of thousands of marketers… What would that make possible?

Consider partnering with Social Media Examiner. Imagine what could happen for your business when you get the right message in front of the right people. What are you waiting for?

Contact Emily to learn more about our media sponsorship options.

🗞 Montana's TikTok Ban Blocked by Judge: A U.S. federal judge has blocked Montana's ban on TikTok from taking effect on January 1st, 2024. Judge Donald Molloy issued a preliminary injunction on November 30th halting the enforcement of the first-of-its kind state ban. In his ruling, Molloy stated that the ban violates the free speech rights of TikTok and its users as protected under the First Amendment. Source: Reuters

🗞 X/Twitter Pursues Smaller Advertisers: Twitter is increasing its focus on gaining more advertising from small and medium-sized businesses in an effort to make up for steep revenue losses from large advertisers departing the platform. Courting smaller advertisers had been part of X's plans already, but will now be accelerated even further. Twitter aims to facilitate more ad spending by smaller players through third-party partnerships and development of subscription services. It has already forged a deal with marketing start-up JumpCrew to outsource some ad sales targeting smaller businesses. Source: Financial Times

Did You Know?

A 2011 survey found that 82% of young men wear odd socks at least once a week.