Today on #RocksDigital we are going to keep is short and sweet. Below is a list of the LIVE blogs we were able to capture for your reading pleasure. If we received the speakers’ slide deck we embedded that for you also in their blog post summary.

If you would like to see what everyone was tweeting on the #RocksDigital hashtag here are the highlights in a PDF format.

Rocks Digital Pre-Conference Workshops

• Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile presented by John Nosal
• How to Write Tweets to Get Engagement presented by Lissa Duty
• Technical SEO presented by Rachel Morgan
• Creating Blog Topics presented by Natalie Gould

Social Media Day Merged Room Presentations

• How To Rock Your Digital Marketing Content Strategy presented by Eric T. Tung
• Rock with Google: Branding Strategies presented by Loren Baker
• Reputation Management: Repairing and Safeguarding Your Reputation Online presented by Chris Silver Smith
• Rocks Digital Marketing Q & A Panel with panelists Beth Kahlich, Justin Liles and John Nosal
• Just About Everything You Need to Know About Google Plus for Business presented by Martin Shervington

Rock Talks (TedX style presentations)

• How To ROCK Business for Explosive Growth presented by Candy Barone
• The SEO Mindset presented by Joe Youngblood
• Connection Is King. Not Content. presented by Jerod Morris
• Rocking Real-Time Brand Management presented by Lissa Duty

Rocks Digital Break-Out Sessions

• Take Your Blog from Blah to Bold presented by Elayna Fernandez
• Content and SEO for Small Businesses on a Baby Budget presented by Natalie Gould and Rachel Morgan
• Converting Prospects into Customers presented by Byron Ingraham
• Digital Marketing with Website Gamification presented by Robin Moss
• Geekchat with panelists Jared Carrizales, Justin Liles, Ryan Nielsen and moderator Tony Cecala
• Putting Your Brand in Demand presented by Laura Armbruster

I’m reading about #RocksDigital 2015 #SMDay Celebration! #Blogs #Tweets by @LissaDuty
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If you took notes during the #RocksDigital 2015 conference, and would like to share them with us, please comment a link to your notes in this blog post.

The post #RocksDigital Quick Links to Presentation Notes appeared first on Rocks Digital.

No conference is complete without an informative question and answer session with a panel of experts.

The Rocks Digital Marketing Q & A Panel

Justin Liles – SVP of Local Search

Since 2014 Justin has helped over 300,000 local businesses globally get better visibility in the major search engines.

Beth Kahlich – SEO Educator

With over 25 years experience in marketing and technology, Beth teaches businesses owners and marketing professionals how to best leverage the latest techniques in SEO and digital marketing.

John Nosal – Digital Marketing Manager

As an Internet Geek, John recognized early on the need of small to medium sized businesses in Website Design, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Internet Marketing.

Lissa Duty, as Moderator – Brand Development Manager

Lissa is a speaker, social media coach, trainer and author as well as a co-founder of Rocks Digital.

How would you increase your connections on LinkedIn?

Justin: Check out the people who are actually looking at your LinkedIn profile. If it makes sense, connect with them.

Beth: Try to connect with people in a complimentary industry. Start a conversation with them.

John: Start by connecting with people you meet face to face. At networking events and at conferences like Rocks Digital. Look for the influencers and connect with them.

With the recent partnership between Google and Twitter, how will this affect content marketing and search engine marketing?

Justin: You will need to closely align your content with the keywords you want to be found for.

What do you love most about what you do?

Justin: When a business I have worked with is pleased with the results we achieved, it makes me happy when they express that to my team.

Beth: I really love talking with people about SEO and helping them to improve their business. I love it when I can see that light bulb moment, when I know – OK they got it!

John: The internet is so cool! I love getting paid to play on the internet all day. Being on the cutting edge of this stuff is like riding a wave of technology.

What would you tell a client who asked what is the purpose of being on social media?

Beth: Even if you don’t want to be on social media right now; if nothing else, you should at least claim your profile names. Your customer’s are searching for you on these platforms and you should be there.

John: Social media allows you to be proactive with customer service and reputation management.

How can you help clients who can’t tell you tell you’re their USP or don’t have a USP?

Justin: You have to start with what expectations they have for their business.

Beth: Start small. Drill down to the core of their business and remember you can’t be all things to all people.

John: Brain storm on who they are and what they do best.

After you have all of your social media profiles, what do you do to get to the next level?

Justin: The next level is conversion. The goal is to drive people to your website to increase conversions.

#RocksDigital Marketing Panel w/ @GetPlacedLocal @BethKahlich @JNosal @LissaDuty #SMDay
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Did you attend #RocksDigital 2015? What was your favorite moments? Share below.

The post Digital Marketing Q & A Panel at #RocksDigital 2015 appeared first on Rocks Digital.

Jerod Morris opened his presentation a Rocks Digital 2015 with the bold statement – Content is not King. This statement is especially bold coming from the VP of Marketing at Rainmaker.FM which is a part of Copyblogger Media because Copyblogger is all about content.

Who is the Real King – Content

There are many types of kings. From the King of Pop, to Burger King and the King of Queens. But only kings like King Henry VIII of England or King Louis XIV of France have any real authority and power to drive true results.

How can you gain authority with your audience? With content.

Content is Connection

Content that is useful is when it is used as a tool to connect with your audience. It helps you build authority and trust.

The 3 Elements of Connection

Authority: Know what is relevant to your audience

• Know yourself
• Know your audience
• Find the unique intersection (connection)

Usefulness: Why are people coming to you?

• Educate
• Entertain
• Inspire

Trust

• Show up
• Be reliable
• Show up and be reliable over time

For each piece of content you create, ask yourself “How will this lead to more connection with the people I want to reach?”

• Is it authentic?
• Is it useful
• Will it build trust?

Creating a meaningful connection doesn’t happen by accident. It takes time and hard work.

How do you create meaningful connections through your content? Share with us below!

The post Jerod Morris on Content at #RocksDigital Conference appeared first on Rocks Digital.

Candy Barone was up first with a lively presentation that asked the question: “Are you being clear about your message?” Like most business owners you are looking for customers; however, before you start looking for customers, you need to ask yourself some important questions.

Questions to Ask About Your Business

• What exactly is your core message?
• What are you (and your business) trying to say?
• Who are you trying to effect?

If you start your business without being clear on the answers to these questions, you can become easy distracted.

What will happen if you grow before you truly understand the purpose you and your business serve? Without knowing the WHY, you can become distracted by every new social media site and every shiny new digital marketing gadget that comes along.

The world (especially the internet) is full of bright and shiny objects that can pull your attention in multiple directions.

Should You Have:

• a blog?
• a podcast?
• an email newsletter?

Should You Be On:

• Twitter?
• Facebook?
• Pinterest?
• Instagram?

The answers to these questions become clear once you are clear and focused about the core desires and objectives you want to build from. You have to be clear about the “WHAT” before you can be clear about the “WHY”.

You cannot be all things to all people and everyone is not your customer.

Has asking questions helped your business? Tell us your story!

How to ROCK Business with @candy_barone by @ClarabelaMedia #RocksDigital #SMDay
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The post Candy Barone – How to Rock Business for Explosive Growth appeared first on Rocks Digital.

Rachel Morgan of Advice Interactive Group and Roxanne Roark of R3 Social Media have teamed up to bring you the best tweets of the conference. They are all short and sweet with plenty of actionable tips, tricks or tools to try! Or, we simply found them funny and couldn’t resist sharing them with you. Without further ado …

Best Tweets from Rocks Digital – Social Media Day 2015

1. Natalie K. Gould ‏@nataliekgould
Free editorial calendar template for the blog topic workshop at #RocksDigital. Make a copy to edit it.

2. Meagan Ewton ‏@meaganewton
Don’t expect people to search for your profiles; make it easy for them. Put follower buttons on your website. @MartinSherv #RocksDigital

3. Heroic Search ‏@HeroicSearch
“It (Content) still has to have a lot of personality. You have to make it engaging.” @JaredCarrizales #RocksDigital

4. Grant Wickes ‏@gwickes
Link to Collections info by @MartinSherv (and @jaybaer) http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-strategy/google-collections/ … #RocksDigital

5. Roxanne R. Roark ‏@r3socialmedia
Setup a circle with 50 people that you would love to be stuck on a plane with and have it notify you of posts. @MartinSherv #RocksDigital

6. Elayna Fernandez ‏@thePositiveMOM_
@gwright68 I love #Periscope! It’s fun and really engaging. A great way to connect, show your authentic self, and educate! #RocksDigital

7. Tony Cecala ‏@tonycecala
Negative online reputation can cost far more dollars than proactive #ORM. via @si1very #rocksdigital

8. Elayna Fernandez ‏@thePositiveMOM
@videojeremy BE AUTHENTIC. Help people authentically to be successful w/online video. People connect with people #RocksDigital #vidpowbam

9. Rachel Morgan ‏@rachelkmorgan
Don’t just create content because you think you’re supposed to. Content saturation is a real threat. #RocksDigital

10. Rachel Morgan ‏@rachelkmorgan
Free Facebook targeting how to: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-targeted-posts/ #RocksDigital

11. Harrison Blum ‏@HarrisonBlum
“How often are we selling the features of our business instead of the benefits?” Buying is emotional. @ByronIngraham #RocksDigital

12. Roxanne R. Roark ‏@r3socialmedia
Build (your preso) for photos. Build for tweets..and go with the flow. @BrianKSullivan #RocksDigital #RockSlides

13. Rocks Digital ‏@RocksDigital
Track your brand Mentions – Be Vain #RocksDigital #Socialmediaday2015

14. Angela LeBrun ‏@Angela4design
RocksDigital: Buffer is a good tool to generate content ideas. HarrisonBlum #RocksDigital #SMDay

15. Jerod Morris ‏@JerodMorris
Find something in common with people to create a connection with them. This leads to conversion. ~ @thePositiveMOM_ #RocksDigital

16. Sara Aisenberg ‏@SaraAisenberg
“The reason Google shifts algorithms: they know HUMANS are their customer.” – Heather Nichols @TheBizFizz #RocksDigital @RocksDigital

17. Meagan Ewton ‏@meaganewton
Finding your brand voice & point of difference is essential not just in sales, but in all social marketing. @HarrisonBlum #RocksDigital

18. Roxanne R. Roark ‏@r3socialmedia
“If you don’t like where you are, change it.” @salespowertips #RocksDigital

19. Rocks Digital ‏@RocksDigital
@RandallsAdvice – the number 1 component that impacts online visibility is your present information. #RocksDigital #SMDay

20. Rocks Digital ‏@RocksDigital
Twitter: Don’t be afraid to tweet something!!! Find your style! Have Fun with it. #RocksDigital #SMDay @LissaDuty

21. TVCC SBDC ‏@TVCCSBDC
Getting the hashtag name right is important when tweeting #rocksdigital #MondaysAreDevious #oops

22. Don Crow ‏@DonCrow
<em#Preach @YourSocialCoach “Capitalize first letters of handles and hashtags. More memorable and easier to read” #RocksDigital

23. Teresa Kulupka ‏@TeresaKulupka
Make it easy for others to retweet you by composing 100 character tweets #rocksdigital

24. Rocks Digital ‏@RocksDigital
LinkedIn keywords: where do you use them? Use them in your job Title and Professional headline #RocksDigital #SMDay @jnosal

25. Meagan Ewton ‏@meaganewton
Always Always ALWAYS check analytics. If you don’t know your #data, you don’t know your brand on social. #RocksDigital @EricTTung

26. Roxanne R. Roark @r3socialmedia
Setup a Google Profile and Page, complete with info about your website. Claim your local listing and get reviews. @MartinSherv #RocksDigital

27. Jared Carrizales @JaredCarrizales
Prospecting reporters that publish infographics – use “infographic” as a search term in Google News – @lorenbaker #RocksDigital

28. Rocks Digital @RocksDigital
You can be anonymous when researching or (Stalking) potential prospects on your LinkedIn Profile Settings @jnosal #RocksDigital

29. Harrison Blum @HarrisonBlum
Slides from yesterdays #RocksDigital Conference are available on @SlideShare: bit.ly/SMRocks. Thanks to everyone who made it out!

30. Grant Wickes @gwickes
Enjoyed presenting at #RocksDigital! Thanks @LissaDuty @IAmJohnSparks @jnosal Presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/gwickes/grant-wickes-photos-gadgets-apps-rocks-digital-june-2015

31. knox keith @knoxkeith
RT @ZellaRubyMedia: 13 Essential Elements of a Social Media Contest: https://www.rocksdigital.com/social-media-contest/ #socialmedia #contest #rocksdigital #marketing

32. RuthAntebiGuten @RuthAntebiGuten
RT @TechDevSWGuy: What would Lissa Duty’s costume be at #ComicCon2015 #RocksDigital

33. Rachel Morgan @rachelkmorgan
Who uses open-ended questions in Tweets?…See what I did there? #RocksDigital

34. Rocks Digital @RocksDigital
Twitter: capitalize effectively to make it easier to read. #RocksDigital #SMDay @LissaDuty

35. Rachel Morgan @rachelkmorgan
A lot of SEOs use Yoast SEO plugin for meta data and images for social profiles. #RocksDigital

36. Rocks Digital @RocksDigital
Always add a call to action on your Blog Post – #RocksDigital

37. Rachel Morgan @rachelkmorgan
Crawl your competitor’s sites using Screaming Frog>Internal Tab>Inlinks and it’ll show which pages are valued most. #RocksDigital

38. Zella Ruby Media @ZellaRubyMedia
RT @rachelkmorgan: Don’t know what to write about? Ask your customer service reps. #RocksDigital

39. Rachel Morgan @rachelkmorgan
In case you want to try Headline Analyzer: coschedule.com/headline-analy… #RocksDigital

40. Grant Wickes @gwickes
Listening to the @MartinSherv – messiah of @GooglePlus at @RocksDigital #RocksDigital https://twitter.com/gwickes/status/616007799005249536

41. Jared Carrizales @jaredCarrizales
Be proactive, crisis PR + PPC to help steer the message on the fly – @LissaDuty #RocksDigital

42. Randy Krum ‏@rtkrum Jun 29
It’s much easier to get onto page 1 of search results on Linkedin than it is on Google. Optimize your profile! @jnosal #RocksDigital

43. (Joe Youngblood) ‏@YoungbloodJoe Jun 29
Other SEO crawlers include Xenu and BeamUsUp https://beamusup.com/ #RocksDigital

44. (Joe Youngblood) ‏@YoungbloodJoe Jun 29Addison, TX
Client: I want to rank on this keyword but never use that keyword or anything related to it in my content #facepalm #seo

45. Rachel Morgan ‏@rachelkmorgan Jun 30
Try @BuzzSumo https://buzzsumo.com/. #RocksDigital @lorenbaker

46. Natalie K. Gould ‏@nataliekgould Jun 30
Here’s @rachelkmorgan and my #RocksDigital deck about link building and content on a baby budget: http://bit.ly/1NkucMZ

47. Jackie Bese ‏@atomicjackie Jun 30
love that at #RocksDigital is talking mobile! Be sure to have a mobile Email marketing strategy! (hint: text-to-join)

48. Natalie K. Gould ‏@nataliekgould Jun 30
NEVER pinky promise a black hat @YoungbloodJoe warns #RocksDigital

49. Roxanne R. Roark ‏@r3socialmedia Jun 29
“You can think of [your LinkedIn profile] as your real estate – your house For Sale sign in search results.” @jnosal #RocksDigital

50. (Joe Youngblood) ‏@YoungbloodJoe Jun 30
@rachelkmorgan says to use https://www.peopleperhour.com/ for stuff #SocialMediaDay2015 #RocksDigital

You can read the LIVE blogs from the conference and check out the photo highlights.

50 Best Tweets from #RocksDigital #SMDay 2015 by @RachelKMorgan and @r3socialmedia
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Did you celebrate Social Media Day 2015? Comment below and share your favorite moments.

The post 50 Best Tweets from Rocks Digital’s Social Media Day Celebration appeared first on Rocks Digital.

You can read the LIVE blogs and view the Social Media Day 2015 photo highlights.

#RocksDigital Speakers that ROCKED Social Media Day Included:

• Eric Tung kicking off the Rocks Digital conference and presenting on “How to ROCK Your Digital Marketing and Content Strategy for Results”.

Eric Tung preaching the gospel of #contentmarketing at #rocksdigital Amen brother! pic.twitter.com/ykpL3vJbf4

— Tony Cecala (@tonycecala) June 30, 2015

The tweet mentioned above explains how awesome and interactive Eric Tung’s presentation was at Rocks Digital!

• Loren Baker, our first keynote of the day kept the energy in the room high with his presentation on how to “ROCK with Google: Integrated Content, Search, Social and Local Strategies for Branding.”
• Special guest, Chris Silver Smith engaged and grabbed the audience’s attention with his “Reputation Management” presentation. He has received a lot of feedback with the audience’s personal experiences.
• Martin Shervington wrapped up the conference with covering the unknowns of Google Plus and answering some questions the audience had.

Listening to the @MartinSherv – messiah of @GooglePlus at @RocksDigital #RocksDigital pic.twitter.com/MywZPdUogF — Grant Wickes (@gwickes) June 30, 2015

To see the rest of our awesome speakers at the 2015 Rocks Digital Conference visit our website!

Rocks Digital 2015 Break-out Session Speakers

After lunch we broke-out into smaller sessions so our attendees could have more of a one-on-one with the speakers. Conference attendees had five rooms with different speakers and topics to choose from, depending on what topic in the digital marketing industry they wanted to learn more about.

Topics Covered in Break-out Sessions

• Social Media Monitoring
• Content and Branding
• Increasing Sales
• Website Development
• Video Marketing

Social Media Day 2015 Tweetup

I have noticed people in the digital marketing industry love to network and socialize! Well this conference had plenty of networking opportunities and a big thank you to Bernadette Coleman and Lissa Duty for having an onsite happy hour for their guests, speakers and their team!

Wow, yesterday was so much fun! Thanks @LissaDuty, @AdviceGroup and anyone who had a hand in organizing such a great event. #RocksDigital — Harrison Blum (@HarrisonBlum) July 1, 2015

This was the first time I’ve attended a digital marketing conference. I loved the comradery and culture everyone shared. My favorite part of the Rocks Digital Conference was knowing how much knowledge was being shared with others and the amount of fun and excitement you can have all at the same time!

The Calm AFTER The Storm

The busy chaos that goes into planning and organizing a HUGE digital marketing conference gets overcome by the feeling of knowing that your guests are having a great time at the event you helped put together. Knowing that all your hard work has paid off is just the best, indescribable feeling in the world! For all of those that missed out this year, I encourage you to mark your calendar for next year’s conference on June 29 and June 30! Hope to see you next year!

Get the #RocksDigital 2015 Conference Recap by @ValerieVera10 #DigitalMarketing #SMDay
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These are just a few of the highlights from the #RocksDigital 2015 Conference. Comment below your favorite moments!

The post #RocksDigital – Social Media Day 2015 Highlights appeared first on Rocks Digital.