With the development of social media and the explosion of online marketplaces, it’s never been more important to have a web presence. A website not only gives you the opportunity to establish yourself as an expert in your industry, but allows potential customers to learn more about your business, meet your team, and perhaps even make a purchase.
The rise of digital nomads has led to a rise in remote marketing, where marketers and salespeople operate from afar, coordinating online marketing and social media to attract, engage, and convert customers.
If you’re looking to ramp up your online marketing efforts and want some inspiration on how to put these tips into practice, this article is for you.
1. Create compelling content.
The first step in any digital marketing strategy is to create compelling content that will keep your audience coming back for more.
If someone comes to your site looking for information on, let’s say, SEO for lawyers, and finds your content lacking, they might leave the site frustrated and distracted, even if they landed on a related blog post that is clearly and convincingly explained.
Pro-Tip: Look at other industry publications and consider what makes them so special. If you’re an attorney, you might want to look at some of the other legal publications for tips and strategies on SEO, trade secrets, and case studies. Consider creating a content library where you can find relevant, original content to draw upon.
2. Use keywords in your headlines, captions, and URL.
When someone types a query into the search bar of their phone or computer, they’re usually presented with three or four options. While many people will click on the first result, knowing what keywords to use in the URL, headlines, and captions of your content can increase your odds of appearing in the results.
When a customer clicks on your content, they’ll see a small snippet of text below the headline. This is known as the meta description, and it’s a great place to include keywords. The more you know about SEO and keyword research, the easier it will be to craft enticing and compelling copy for your content.
Pro-Tip: Look at your competitors’ websites. What do you see that makes your products and services different? What can you do to better position your business in the eyes of the customer? What types of content do you enjoy reading most? Use your answers to help you craft the perfect content for your audience.
3. Use social media to connect with your audience.
Having an active presence on social media is a great way to connect with your audience and promote your business.
You can use social media to:
- Establish yourself as an expert in your industry
- Create brand awareness
- Leverage your influencer network
- Generate leads
- Build an audience
- Create buzz for new products
There are many steps you can take to utilize social media for marketing, so I’ve compiled a list of the most effective ones, which you can use to get you started.
Pro-Tip: Consider using a tool like Social Media Examiner to keep track of all of your social media activity, gain valuable insights into your social media results, and benchmark yourself against the top leaders in your industry. You can also use social media to follow, like, or share your content, establish a presence, and connect with people who may become potential customers or advocates.
4. Link to relevant external content.
When someone lands on your site from a search query, you want them to leave feeling like they learned something new. The best way to achieve this is by using links to external content, which continues the flow of information from your website to the customer.
Include links to other blogs and websites that are relevant to what you’re writing about. For example, if you’re writing about SEO, you might want to include a link to an expert website on the subject matter, or an established industry leader in your industry. You can also use these links to establish yourself as an expert in your field, to point to specific content on your site, or to encourage the reader to follow you on social media.
Pro-Tip: Take a look at how your competitors are linking to external content and consider what makes their sites so special. What do you see that makes your products and services different? Consider creating a content library where you can find relevant, original content to draw upon.
5. Monitor the performance of your social media accounts.
Keeping track of the performance of your social media accounts, including blog posts, videos, and websites, is a crucial part of any online marketing strategy.
You can use tools like Hootsuite to keep track of all of your social media activity, gain valuable insights into your social media results, and benchmark yourself against the top leaders in your industry. You can also use this information to determine which platforms your audience prefers and then focus your content and social media efforts on these platforms.
Some platforms, like YouTube, have their own specific metrics that you can evaluate to determine the success of your content. For example, if you’ve uploaded a video to YouTube and have less than 500 views, you’ll want to consider whether or not this content is performing as expected. If you’re posting regularly and have gained 500 views per week, you’ll want to keep doing what you’re doing because it’s clearly effective!
Pro-Tip: Consider using a tool like Social Media Examiner to keep track of all of your social media activity, gain valuable insights into your social media results, and benchmark yourself against the top leaders in your industry. You can also use social media to follow, like, or share your content, establish a presence, and connect with people who may become potential customers or advocates.
6. Measure the success of your social media effort.
With SEO, it’s all about metrics. Just like in any other aspect of business:
- Look at the number of clicks on your website’s links
- Analyze the content that gets the most engagement on your social media accounts
- Track the number of leads generated through your website’s links
- Keep an eye on your overall web traffic and the growth of your social media accounts
You can use tools like Google Analytics to track all of this information and report on the success of your efforts.
These tools allow you to set goals for your marketing efforts and then track your results, all in one place. This central database also makes it easy to look back at any point in time and see how you performed relative to plan.
Pro-Tip: Look at your competitors’ websites. What do you see that makes your products and services different? What can you do to better position your business in the eyes of the customer? What types of content do you enjoy reading most? Use your answers to help you craft the perfect content for your audience. Then, track the results of your efforts.
7. Identify relevant social media platforms.
Once you’ve pinpointed your target audience on Facebook, you can consider the various platforms that exist to reach this audience. These are often known as the major social media platforms, and include:
- Google+
- YouTube
As a business owner, marketer, or salesperson, you have to consider existing on these platforms as well as developing new ones. The more platforms you have, the more opportunities you have to reach your audience and grow your business. In this case, having a website is only the beginning.
Pro-Tip: Use the above platforms to connect with your target audience. Then, consider whether or not these platforms will be valuable to your business. If so, incorporate them into your content strategy and get to work developing relevant and compelling content for these platforms.
Even if you only have a small audience on one of these platforms, you can still use it to gain valuable insights into how customers are interacting with your product or service. By measuring the behavior of your audience on these networks, you’ll be able to determine which platforms are proving most effective in getting your product or service in front of the right people. This sort of analysis will then form the basis of your ongoing marketing plan. You can also use these insights to determine which platforms your audience prefers and then focus your content and social media efforts on these platforms.