Free text marketing, or online marketing through social media, has become huge. With many businesses using social media to connect with their audience, the opportunities for marketers through social media are endless.
Text messaging and social media are two different animals; while social media is about engaging with your audience, text messaging is about attracting, engaging and converting a qualified lead. To get the most out of your text marketing, you need to take the time to figure out which approach is going to be the best for your business. Below we’ll cover a few tips on how to effectively use free text marketing to grow your business.
Focus On A Few Keywords:
When you’re using free text marketing to gain exposure in your niche, you need to keep things simple and avoid doing too much. You’re not going to have a lot of luck if you try to game the system and use a bunch of keywords just to get a few pages of organic search results. The system doesn’t work like that. You need to focus on a few keywords and phrases that are going to make your content worth reading. Before you know it, you’ll have 10 keywords competing for the top spot in organic search results. Not good. If you want to find out what keywords your customers are using, you can always ask them or study the organic Google searches for your product.
Make Sure You’re Using The Right Keywords:
Even though you’ve selected a handful of keywords, you need to make sure that they’re relevant to your niche and don’t just pull up a bunch of junk when someone types them in. There are tools like Google Keyword Planner that can help you find the right keywords without spending too much time doing so manually. Don’t worry — it’s all done automatically for you.
Content Is King:
If you’re wondering why your keywords aren’t pulling up the results you want, it’s probably because your content isn’t good enough. The more you have, the more you’ll rank for the right keywords. Make sure you put time into creating unique, high-quality content that draws in, and keeps, your customers. Your customers are the center of your content strategy, so make sure you focus on engaging with them through various means.
You can start by using keyword research to find the exact phrases people are using to find your content. This way, you’ll be sure to get your content “digested” by your target audience and find the right balance between promoting your business and giving useful information.
Monitor Your Rankings:
To know if your content is working, you need to check out your search rankings. There are a variety of tools you can use for this, but one of the simplest is Google Analytics. With this tool, you can study the traffic to your site and see how close you are coming to capturing the attention of your audience. Keep an eye on your analytics regularly and make note of any changes. For example, if you notice that your videos are pulling in a lot of views but your rankings aren’t moving up, it might be time to go back and do some video marketing training for your team.
Vary Your Content:
If you’re regularly posting the same kind of content to your various social media accounts, your audience will grow sick of it and eventually ignore you. To keep your customers interested, you need to constantly be offering new content types and formats. This will help you stay relevant and interesting to your audience.
For example, if you notice that your videos appeal mostly to millennial males, and you already have a blog with a fairly broad audience, why not try and see if you can combine these two elements into a single video content type? Perhaps you can interview a popular guest on your blog and turn it into a short video with tips and advice on something relevant to your industry. This will likely generate some interesting leads and help build your business.
The idea is to constantly be expanding your content strategy and using various platforms to reach your audience. When someone discovers your content and comes back for more, it means you’re doing something right.
Include Calls To Action:
You’ve probably noticed that most news articles and blog posts end with a call to action. It’s because the writer wants you to take action and implement what you’ve just learned. Calls to action can be as simple as “Read the rest of the article to find out more” or “Visit this website to find the best widgets for your blog”.
When you use calls to action in your content, your readers become more engaged and interested in what you have to say. This simple step will increase the likelihood of your content producing a favorable result.
Build A Community:
One of the best things you can do for your business is to establish yourself as an authoritative voice within your industry. By doing so, you’ll gain credibility with your customers and prospects. You can use your platform to educate your audience about issues relevant to your niche and create a space for people to come together and exchange ideas and insights.
In exchange for your time and expertise, you can ask to be a part of their community and offer your guidance as needed. If you can provide value and establish yourself as an expert in your industry, you’ll gain the trust of your audience and build a business that people want to be a part of.
Use Links To Take Your Readers Offline:
You don’t need to have an off-site SEO blog to do well in the organic search results for your products or services. All you need is a steady stream of relevant inbound links to your website. That way, when someone searches for your product or service, they’ll discover your website and learn more about you and your company. You can take advantage of social media platforms to establish yourself as an expert in your industry, and use your blog to provide valuable information to your audience.
The most effective (and free) way to get inbound links is to simply share other people’s content on your blog. When you share something that is quality and relevant to your audience, you’re almost certainly going to get an inbound link to your site. You can also choose to guest blog for other websites in your industry. The more links you have, the better. Don’t worry about the quality of the links — just about having enough of them to make a difference.
Measure The Results:
To know if your content is really paying off, you need to measure the results of your efforts. There are a variety of tools you can use to do this, but two of the simplest are Google Analytics and Bitly. With these tools, you can track the results of your content strategy and see how various platforms and tactics are performing. Don’t get too caught up in the numbers though — just focus on the metrics that matter most to you.
For example, if you notice that your videos are pulling in the most views but you’re not seeing much increase in traffic to your site, it might be time to go back and do some video marketing training for your team.
As you grow and evolve your content strategy, make sure that you’re constantly evaluating what’s working and what needs to be changed. Never stop learning — as long as you’re growing and improving, your customers will see you as a reliable source of information and guidance, and you’ll be able to provide value and build a business people want to be a part of.