Your blog is a critical channel for inbound marketing efforts, lead generation, brand awareness, and more. But how do you get more content? And how can you get internal subject matter experts to contribute their thought leadership? You need to build an internal blogging program that actually works and gets people excited to contribute. Dayna Rothman, Sr. Content Marketing Manager at Marketo, will show you: • How to build a blogging program step-by-step • How to incentivize your writers and get them to contribute • How to evangelize your program internally • How to provide expert resources so your bloggers succeed

1. How to Create an Internal Blogging
Program That Works.
Dayna Rothman, Sr. Content Marketing
Manager, Marketo
@dayroth
© 2013 Marketo, Inc. Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

2. © 2013 Marketo, Inc. Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

3. Blogging Stats
• 61% of US consumers have made a purchase through a blog
post
• 77% of internet users read blogs
• Companies that blog have 97% more inbound links
• B2B marketers using blogs generate 67% more leads
• 37% of marketers believe blogs are the most important type
of marketing
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

4. Blogs Help With…
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Increasing traffic to your website
Generating leads
Generating inbound links
Showing your industry thought leadership
Showing your company personality
Developing the personal brands of your internal super
stars
• Speaking directly to influencers and customers
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

5. Problem: Not Enough Bloggers!
© 2013 Marketo, Inc. Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

6. But, how do you get enough content??
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

7. Marketo Blog—Case Study
• The Marketo blog brings in over 650,000 unique
visitors and almost $2 million dollars in directly
attributed revenue
• We post at least 1 blog post 5 days per week
• Prior to May 2013, we only had 3 regular bloggers!
• That is a lot of blogs to think about every week
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

8. Solution: Launch an Internal Blogging
Program in 7 steps
© 2013 Marketo, Inc. Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

9. Employee Blog Contributors
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Share expertise
Diversify your content
Increase your content
Position entire company as thought leaders
Gain individual professional recognition
Attract new customers
Great for links
Great for SEO
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

10. But, Everyone is So busy!
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

11. Step 1: Understand Internal Barriers to
Success
• Ask: What is holding your employees back from
blogging now?
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Time?
Difficulty writing?
Lack of interest?
Do they even know you have a blog?
• Create an internal blog program that addresses your
top barriers
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

12. Step 2: Create Program Incentives and
Milestones
• People like to be incentivized!
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

13. Other Incentive Considerations
• Team contests
• Quarterly contests for:
• Most shared post
• Most viewed post
• Most creative/Best overall post
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

14. Step 3: Develop Formalized Guidelines
• Role assignment
• Executive Editor, Managing Editor, Associate Editor
• Content guidelines
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Length requirements
Post topic suggestions
SEO guidelines
Formatting guidelines
Social media guidelines
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

15. Submission and Approval Process
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

16. Step 4: Create Your Program (with a
theme!)
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

17. Step 5: Create a Guidebook
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Outlines program basics—available on microsite
Outlines incentive structure
Outlines available resources
Outlines approval process and submissions
Gives tips on how to blog
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

18. Step 6: Provide Training and Expert
Resources
• Offer a handful of formalized training sessions for
anyone to participate in
• Offer 1:1 blogging consultations for interesting
participants
• Help bloggers with writing
• Help bloggers with ideation
• Offer copyediting assistance for those who aren’t
comfortable writing
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

19. Step 7: Meet with Internal Stakeholders
• Evangelize your program!
• Choose your top 10-15 “dream bloggers”
• Meet with:
• Key executives
• Key team members with expertise
• Key groups with expertise
• Determine a meeting cadence
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

20. Marketo Internal Blog Program Launch!
May 2013
© 2013 Marketo, Inc. Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

21. Day-of Launch
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Email sent out from CMO about program
Chatter post
Posters put up around the office
Stickers handed out to everyone
3 group training sessions scheduled
Microsite published
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

22. Training Sessions
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Program specifics
Submission process
Incentives
Basic blogging training
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How to come up with ideas
What topics work for the Marketo blog
SEO considerations
How to format your post
What blogs to follow
• Standing monthly trainings for new hires
Page 22
© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

23. Ongoing Blogger Recognition
• Announcement on Chatter whenever a blogger hits an
incentive
• Monthly newsletter announcement with most read
post and most shared post
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

24. Blog Promotion on Social
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Posts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and G+
Paid promotion on Facebook behind every blog post
Huge increase in the number of shares and engagement on
Facebook posts
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

25. Additional Content Wins from Blogs
• Blog to ebook repurpose
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

26. So, What Happened?
© 2013 Marketo, Inc. Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

27. Increase in Amount of Bloggers
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Went from 3 regular bloggers to 30+ regular bloggers
5 people received 3 post milestones
3 people received 7 post milestones
Many more bloggers close to reaching milestones
Inclusion of Saturday post when needed
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

28. Traffic Increases
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

29. First-Touch (FT) and Multi-Touch (MT)
• Last 12 months to generate prospects
• Website + Blog = 38% of all opps
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

30. Huge Blog Share Increases on Facebook
• Average likes per post up 86% from May through
November
• From an average of 434 likes per post to 806 likes per
post
• Top blog received 2,557 likes
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

31. Other Sources of Content for Your
Blog.
© 2013 Marketo, Inc. Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

32. Guest Blogging
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Reach out to people in your network—influencers, customers,
and partners
Reach out via Twitter to get guest bloggers
Create guest blog guidelines similar to internal guidelines
Guest blogs increase reach, help with influencer relations, help
you get more content, and get you links!
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

33. Showcasing the Content on Your Blog
for Optimal Conversions: 10 Best
Practices
© 2013 Marketo, Inc. Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

34. Best Practice 1: Highly Visual Content
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Readers are overwhelmed with words
Visual content is a great way to engage
Good visuals make the written word stand out
Create your blog to emphasize visuals
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

35. Best Practice 2: Have Clear Conversion
Goals
• Your blog should achieve measurable goals
• Clear conversion paths that don’t get in the way of
readership
Page 35
© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

36. Best Practice 3: Multiple Paths to Social
• Encourage social sharing and engagement with your
blog
• Share blog homepage and category pages
• Share individual posts
• Follow the company on various social networks
Page 36
© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

37. Best Practice 4: Give Them Tweetables
• Craft ready-to-use tweets
• Encourage readers to spread the word
• Think about K.I.S.S!
Page 37
© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

38. Best Practice 5: Social Validation
• Help buyers find and trust your content
• Adds credibility—a post with 2000 shares is way more
trusted than a post with 0 shares
• Make it easy to see how many shares each post has
Page 38
© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

39. Best Practice 6: Great Mobile Experience
• Always have responsive design for a great mobile or
tablet experience
• Offer mobile visitors a way to subscribe
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

40. Best Practice 7: Merchandise Your Best
Content
• Guide new visitors to your top posts
• Consider placing 3 popular posts in the top section of
your blog home page
• Have rich, visual menus
• Show most shared posts
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

41. Best Practice 8: Connect Content to
Authors
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Highlight your blog authors
Headshot
Bio
Social profile links—Twitter, LinkedIn, G+
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© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

42. Best Practice 9: Enable Commenting
• Encourage commenting
• Ask a question at the end of the blog to engage
community
• Choose a commenting platform like Disqus
Page 42
© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

43. Best Practice 10: Diversify Your Content
• In addition to traditional blogs posts
include:
• Videos
• Infographics
• Visual Slide Decks
Page 43
© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

44. 7 Key Takeaways
1. Encourage your employees to blog by creating a
formalized program
2. Provide incentives for employee contribution
3. Provide blog training and assistance for employees not
comfortable with blogging
4. Create a guidebook/microsite so all of your program
information can be found in one place
5. Include guest bloggers for even more content
6. Design your blog to be visual and engaging
7. Include ways to convert leads on your blog
Page 44
© 2013 Marketo, Inc.
Marketo Proprietary and Confidential

45. Q&A
drothman@marketo.com
@dayroth
© 2013 Marketo, Inc. Marketo Proprietary and Confidential