I don’t always speak at conferences other than Pubcon, but when I do, I choose ones with great people, great content, in a great location!

Interactivity Digital is a boutique conference with the notion that bigger is not always better. All content is in a single track, speakers are networking with the attendees and all meals and networking parties are included.  (2 breakfast, 2 lunch, 2 dinner, 2 happy hours and 2 open bar parties). The speaker line up is very impressive, with Rand Fishkin, Marty Weintraub, Annie Cushing, Michael King, Bill Hunt, Larry Kim and, of course, yours truly.

If you’re the type that picks conferences based on location, then Interactivity Digital will not disappoint. The venue is The James in South Beach, Florida.  The hotel is located directly oceanfront on Collins Ave and they just went through a $50 million renovation.

A study conducted just last week gives a little insight as to how viewers lok at the Super Bowl and the ads that are just as much part of the experience for many as the game itself.

Research from BIGinsight on behalf of the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association (RAMA) and repackaged by eMarketer tells us

No surprises really. What is always a surprise is the wise variety of reactions to the ads as to whether they were effective, entertaining, a waste of time, an embarrassment etc, etc.

Personally, I haven’t seen much that was really all that impressive in recent years. In fact, I am often a little surprised at what people think is a good ad.

Today’s post is the last of a three part series where I’ve covered SERP Analysis and Brainstorming Content Topics. I hope to tie everything together with this final post where I will be discussing content generation. In this post I will be talking about audience identification, buyer personas, content development, and strategically seeding your content for maximum visibility. This is going to be a longer post, so let’s jump in.

Audience Identification

Before you create any piece of content for your organization, you need to be able to answer the following question: Who is this content targeted at? Your answer should be one of two:

• This content is to attract potential customers and move them into the sales funnel

You do realize that Yahoo is still lurking about the place, right?

Lurking about to the tune of $1.22B in Q4 of 2012 which was a 4% increase over the previous year’s results. It’s so interesting how the Internet industry has basically dismissed a company that does that kind of revenue. If I had to guess, though, I would say that CEO Marissa Mayer might not want it any other way.

You see the only news we get these days from Yahoo for the most part is good, or at least improving, results. Mayer has two quarters under her belt and is is giving indications that Yahoo is ready to become truly viable again. I, for one, am rooting HARD for their success.

Today’s guest post comes from Dave Taylor.

If you’ve been in the online marketing industry for more than a year or two, you’ll already have figured out that there’s no better use of your time than attending a professional conference, expo or workshop. It’s not about the content of the sessions themselves, and it’s not even about the expo hall but about everything in between. The parties. The informal meetings at the bar. The opening reception. Even the “speed dating” or other conference-sponsored events can prove invaluable.

IF you know how to work the halls.

I just got back from two major conferences — New Media Expo and the Consumer Electronics Show — and ended up on stage, speaking at both of them. That’s a secret way to significantly increase the value of attending a conference, but we’ll get back to that momentarily.

Have a happy and safe new year celebration. We hope 2013 brings you all the best.

We will see you again on Wednesday January 2, 2013.