Are you finding it difficult to attract real prospects with your content and your marketing efforts seem hopeless?
Don’t Worry! You’re not alone!
The majority of companies and organizations out there aren’t confident in their blogging or digital marketing efforts. By now, most people see value in having a social presence… but they’re just not sure how to develop and implement a marketing strategy.
We’re going to show you 8 ways that you can strengthen your content marketing, so you can start turning more followers into clients or customers!
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Attract more clients
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Increase your email database
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Engage your followers
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Strengthen your brand
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Create purposeful content
1. Create Original Content
Your brand has a unique voice, so use it!
Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter recognize when you’re posting original content and reward you for it. Yes, there is still value in sharing a great article or a relevant, humorous meme. But the more original content you’re creating and sharing, the better potential organic reach.
Original content can include branded images created with free easy software like Canva. Or even better, write original blogs covering topics your customers may find useful. Example: If you are writing a blog for a Running Store, an engaging topic might be The Top 5 Causes of Shin Splints From Running. It’s safe to assume that the type of person who will engage with that blog topic will also be in the market for running shoes at some point.
Sharing original, valuable content on social media will always receive a much larger organic reach!
2. Create Valuable and Relatable Content
Stop talking about things people don’t care about!
When your content is something people find valuable or easy to relate to, they’re more likely to engage with it.
Simply put, if your content evokes an emotional reaction, they’ll want their friends, family or colleagues to share in that emotion. Business Insider created this helpful chart showing the most shared articles across the web. It’s interesting to note that sadness and anger account for less than 10% of the shared content. So while negative posts get all the press, the truth is, positive content just performs better!
3. Shareable Headlines
Stop using confusing or fear-based headlines!
Similar to relatable content, creating headlines people are willing to share is important as well. Think about it, someone is much less likely to share an article that may give a bad impression. If you write an article called How to Avoid Bankruptcy For Your Business, someone may not be as eager to share this information, even though it may be extremely valuable! Instead you could use a more positive title like How to Make Sure Your Business Stays Successful.
Note: Social Media platforms like Facebook actually discourage negative words, especially when creating ads. Always choose the positive approach!
4. Use a Call-to-Action
Stop forgetting to ask the customer for the sale!
It never ceases to amaze us at Spartan Marketing, how many websites or blogs fail to include this one extremely valuable item, the Call-to-Action. If you’re not making “The Ask,” then there’s really no point in creating the content at all.
Donald Miller, jokes in his 5 Minute Marketing Makeover, that when companies ask him how to increase revenue, he tells them that he’ll share the secret in exchange for 10% of the revenue. And all he would do is put a big Call-to-Action button in the top right corner of their website.
Now, obviously he’s joking a bit. But the point is, you have to make it clear what your customers need to do next to do business with you. If you’re not making it easy for them… they’ll go somewhere else!
5. Leverage Above-the-Fold Content
Stop wasting space by saying the wrong things!
Above the fold is the area on your website that’s first visible when a page loads, before the visitor scrolls down.
This area is valuable, but not just because it’s the first thing people see. Recent studies show that while people will scroll down the page, they spend 80% of their time on your site in this space, above-the-fold.
This means you should fill this space with the most important information like: 1) What you do, 2)Why it’s important to the customer, and 3)What they need to do to purchase or get started?
If your customer isn’t able to quickly answer these 3 questions above-the-fold, you’re going to lose them!
Here is an example of our website and what you see above-the-fold:
6. Point Traffic Back to Your Website
Stop sending people away from your website!
While it is okay to share third-party articles, you don’t want to point too much of your social media traffic away from your website.
We touched on this briefly in #1 “Create Original Content”. When sharing blogs and other written content, are you sharing valuable information that is sending your followers away from your site? Or worse, are you sending them to a competitor?
It’s always a much better practice to link back to your own website. If you find an article that you really like, it’s for a reason. Is the idea something that you could re-produce with your own spin on it?
Sometimes taking an idea and expanding on it in your own words is worth the time if it means you’re bringing readers back to your own website!
7. Plan Ahead and Schedule
Stop forgetting to post to your social media!
This might be the most difficult thing for businesses to do, plan out their social media content. Plenty of businesses post content but do so sporadically. Our favorite is when someone posts a bunch of content for a day or two and then nothing for weeks. This is the best way to completely tank your organic reach and overall social media presence.
At Spartan Marketing, we recommend planning a month out for content. It’s a much easier project to stay on top of when you decide the month prior, how many pieces of content you want to share, when to share them, and on which platform.
It can be as simple as keeping a spreadsheet of content and make it into a posting schedule. As with most things in life, planning ahead usually increases the probability that you’ll actually succeed.
8. Hire a Professional to Manage Your Social Media
Stop wasting your valuable time doing half the job!
Maybe you didn’t know this, but many businesses outsource their social media marketing.
Just as you’d hire someone to build your website, there are experts in creating brand specific content and managing a successful posting schedule. You hire a web-developer, not because you aren’t capable of learning how to build a website using Wix or SquareSpace. You hire a web-developer because your time is valuable and better suited elsewhere.
At Spartan Marketing, we work with clients every month who make amazing products and offer outstanding services to their clients. Their best use is not learning Facebook’s latest algorithm or building a targeted list of clients. So they hire us to stay on top of the latest social media trends and deliver great content to their customers.
If you’re building your own social media program, make sure to bookmark this page or share with your team, If you need a pro to help you get a great online presence without pulling your hair out, schedule a free assessment today.
