Each year thousands of people pack their bags and head to Las Vegas to attend LeadsCon West. LeadsCon is known for bringing together a crowd of extremely knowledgeable digital marketers eager to network, source new business opportunities and learn about the newest trends in the lead generation space. CAKE sent representatives from sales, marketing, and client services to meet with current clients, exhibit at our booth and attend the sessions.

This year, our team really enjoyed the different sessions focused on vertical-specific trends and the latest in technology available within the lead generation space. Below is a recap of a few of our favorite sessions!

Session 1: Forget the Keywords, Power-up Content Marketing

Content Marketing is all about providing useful content to consumers without disrupting them or selling to them. Almost everyone has heard of the important role content marketing plays within each marketer’s digital strategy. One of the simplest, yet most significant facts I learned in this session is that 90% of users click on an organic link versus a sponsored link, making it extremely important to appear on page one of any search result listing. However, if you are not well-versed in content marketing it can be tricky to even know where to start!

Arnie Kuenn, CEO at Vertical Measures, presented tips from his e-book, Content Marketing Works: 8 Steps to Transform Your Business. Here are a few:

1. Write about the five most popular types of content: Cost, Problems, Versus, Reviews and Best. Then make sure the keyword is used in the body of your article as well as your article’s title. For example, if the keyword you choose is “cost” we would write the title as such: “How Much Does a Lead Generation Tracking Solution Cost?”
2. You don’t have to answer a consumer’s question or problem with your product or service, but you should address it through the content in your article and provide possible solutions.
3. Ask your staff! What questions do your customers and prospects always ask? This question would be a great title and content for a blog post!
4. Test a search engine! When you type in your keyword or question, what shows up? Has anyone written an article for this question before? If not, this is the perfect content for you to create for a listing on page one.

Session 2: Optimize Mobile Lead Generation with Facebook

Advertising on Facebook continues to grow, especially as digital marketers move budgets from low-performing channels to social media. With more dollars spent in social, optimizing your lead generation is no longer a nice to have, but a necessity. Last year, mobile device users demanded an easier way to fill out forms and Facebook responded with the creation of Lead Ads.

Jyotika Prasad, Product Manager of Facebook Lead Ads, said that most mobile forms take 40 percent longer to complete than desktop forms. However, with these three steps, Facebook was able to address this lead generation concern:

1. Provide context to users about what they will receive when they share their information and what will happen to the information they share. This, in turn, will produce better quality leads.
2. Simplify data entry by using lists or selection tools instead of open text boxes wherever possible to reduce data entry errors.
3. Optimize the length of the form based on your specific goals and metrics. Short forms typically have higher conversion rates, yet long forms provide better quality leads.

At CAKE, we couldn’t be more excited to share our new Facebook Lead Ads integration to show you just how valuable this ad type can be in your marketing mix. To learn more about this, please reference our integration announcement.

LeadsCon Las Vegas 2016 proved to be another successful show that confirmed the continued growth for lead generation and monetization this year. Mobile expansion is forcing lead generation marketers to optimize lead forms even more so than before and content marketing is continuing to play a greater role in every marketer’s digital strategy.