Building up your online presence has never been more important than it is today. Customers are more tech-savvy than ever, and even well-established companies are starting to realize the importance of social media and other online marketing tactics in staying relevant. In order to be successful with your online presence, though, you need to make sure that you’re using the best content marketing tactics available; here are five rules that will help you do just that.
1. Make your headline specific, clear and value driven.
Specific headlines are more likely to garner clicks because readers can more easily determine if they’re interested in reading further. For example, How to Write a Business Plan is better than Tips on Getting Funding. Don’t overlook value-driven headlines: Many consumers prefer information that will help them solve a problem or perform an action. A headline like 5 Steps to Writing a Killer Resume will get readers clicking. Ensure your content resonates with startups and small businesses: Google may be changing its algorithm regularly, but one thing remains true – it wants its users to find what they need on their websites when they search. In order to do so, Google is trying to serve up as much relevant content as possible. Make sure you're creating content that resonates with your target audiences, which means writing topics including tips, hacks and anything else of interest to these business owners. Be consistent: Consistency helps build brand recognition by showing potential customers you have something worthwhile to offer them. Additionally, consistency creates trust—which leads to customer loyalty—and trust helps drive conversion rates. Test frequently: Analytics give you valuable insight into how customers are responding (or not) to your online efforts—such as blogs, newsletters, email campaigns, or ads—so don't hesitate when making adjustments to headlines based on test results!
2. Use social proof to help convert traffic into leads
Show customers how others like them solved their problems with your product or service. If you’re trying to convince a prospect, don’t rely on yourself as a sole source of information. Instead, let customers and others tell their stories. If you want to convert traffic into leads, it’s important to show people that they can trust your company—and one way to do that is by showing social proof of customer success stories and testimonials from partners who trust your brand. For example, if someone comes across an advertisement for marketing software and isn’t sure whether or not it works well, he may check out your website for customer reviews before making a purchase. Use customer success stories to sell prospects on your ability to help them solve problems quickly and easily.
3. Keep it simple
The great thing about content marketing is you don’t need a lot of fancy bells and whistles to create a solid, engaging piece. As long as you are providing your audience with quality information (and only when you have it), your readers will appreciate it. So instead of trying to plan a huge elaborate content right out of the gate, simply start out with some basic content on your company website or blog. Share what kind of business you do, why you chose to do it, how things are going so far etc. Just get started – you can always add more later on if you find your traffic growing too quickly! Because if you don't start, & you're stuck with planning, you'll be losing out on a lot of potential opportunities. So the sooner you get started, the better.
4. Write content with your customer in mind.
Although they may sound like buzzwords, customer-centric and customer-first are two principles worth being wary of. How can you build content with your customer in mind? First, study who your customers are. If you don't have one yet, think about who might be interested in what you're offering. Once you've got a target audience in mind, segment them into smaller groups based on how frequently they'll need to access your product or service (e.g., weekly versus monthly). Depending on how large or small your business is, it could take anywhere from days to months to figure out what messages resonate best with these different segments. When you do discover those key words and phrases, however, make sure to include them in all your content because doing so will help connect with people more effectively. And don't stop at titles; include keywords wherever possible (while making sure not to overdo it) because most people won't read past your headline anyway. This type of keyword stuffing makes certain types of search results look unnatural which is why Google penalizes pages that employ such techniques—the last thing you want! Instead of just putting information out there simply for anyone who happens upon it find out where your audiences hangout online and engage their conversations there before trying to create original content around their concerns or interests.
5. Add eye-catching images
Over 90% of online experiences start with a search. And according to HubSpot, 80% of people will read your content if it has a visual aid. Beyond that, they’ll share it more too. Plus, you’re 43 times more likely to be found in Google results if you include images in your content. Images make your content valuable to customers and potential customers (who may not even be aware they want what you have), making them click through and learn more about your product or service. And when they do click through, don’t skimp on how much information is available on each page—the easier it is for users to consume what you have, the better. Oh, and put social media icons on every single page of your site too; that way you’ll increase shares as well as visibility.
In the end, remember that - Content Is King, & Marketing Is Queen.
Today, content is king. The marketer who can craft a piece of shareable content about a company or product and get it in front of thousands (or millions) of eyeballs will be rewarded handsomely. How does one do that? You need to know your target audience's pain points, you have to have an understanding of what they're looking for, and you have to deliver that information in a way they want it. In other words, make your customers happy by giving them content they want! But marketing is queen. What's the point of having good content if it's not actionable? If no one takes action from your content, all those efforts of creating good content are meaningless. So, make sure you market your content effectively so that people actually read it, interact with it, & take an action.
Are you looking for digital marketing or content marketing services? Do you need help with creating actionable content? Check out our full list of digital marketing services & get in touch today.
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