Dot-to-dots were great, weren’t they?
I used to spend hours with those books creating slightly jagged looking pictures as I shakily joined the dots together.
Marketing your business is a bit like doing a dot-to-dot.
A lot of companies produce content; some dabble in social media, a few play around with video marketing and one or two even throw in the odd graphic for good measure.
All of these are great for your exposure, but the real magic happened when you use all of them.
Content marketing (using all types of content) is excellent, but combining it with social media will widen your reach.
Only by combining the power of superb content, social engagement and search visibility you will flourish into an unstoppable force, pushing aside your competitors.
So what should you be doing and how do these three elements work together?
Start Blogging
When you think about content marketing, you instantly think about blogging. It’s a very popular method amongst businesses because it’s a great way to share your knowledge with the world and promote your business through your expertise.
However, its popularity means it’s also very competitive. That’s why it’s essential to develop your style to make yourself stand out from the crowd. It’s straightforward to emulate and copy the styles of blogs you like, but what’s the point in that? Readers want to get to know the real you, and they can only do that if you write ‘from the heart’. Yes, that sounds a bit wishy-washy, but writing with personality will help you attract readers.
Of course, simply writing and publishing will severely limit your reach. That’s why your blogs must be written with keywords in mind to help their SEO potential. Then, once published, promote them through your social media outlets to widen your audience.
Newsletters and email marketing
Building your opt-in list is a great way to increase engagement with your customers and to make sure your company’s name is always close to hand.
You can use your newsletters to give your customers useful information, tips and advice, as well as news about up and coming offers or new products/services.
You can also tie these in with your blog by adding a snippet from your latest post with a link to the main article on your website.
Making sure your social media links are visible will also give your customers the option to follow you on Twitter and Facebook, further increasing potential opportunities for engagement.
Make the most of all the media
You don’t have to confine your activities to your blog or website. Research and list all the industry websites, magazine and bloggers in your niche and ask if they will consider you as a guest blogger. It could help extend your reach even further.
Once your article is published, don’t forget to promote the link through your blog and social media channels.
Social networking and social media
I’ve already mentioned these quite a bit, so there are no prizes for guessing what you’re supposed to be doing with them.
They should be part of your everyday marketing activities. Your customers will expect you to be active and response on Twitter and Facebook so make sure you don’t disappoint them.
Video
It’s worth remembering that not everyone likes to read information. Some prefer to get it in visual form, hence the importance of video marketing.
It’s great for SEO too and can draw loads of traffic your way if done well.
They don’t have to be long videos; it’s best they’re only about 60-90 seconds in length. Of course, if you’re doing a product demonstration, then it will probably need to be longer, but if it’s advice or a how-to, shorter is better.
To sum up, content marketing, SEO and social media have to work together if they are to be effective.
Sally Ormond is an independent copywriter and owner of Briar Copywriting Ltd. For tips on copywriting, marketing and social media, you can also read her words of wisdom on Briar Copywriting’s Blog.