The time has finally come: you’ve completed all the necessary research and found the perfect niche in the marketplace for your product or service. So, what’s the next step? Don’t just assume that with a great brand and business you’ll be able to generate buzz by simply sharing the occasional Facebook post.
Capitalizing on your audience and online presence requires a much more targeted approach, so our team of white label SEO services has come to the rescue.
One of the primary ways we do this is through content promotion, which enables our clients to strengthen their online presence, grow their customer base and garner the most returns possible. But perhaps you already know that and you want to understand the nitty-gritty of what we do, the in-depth details.
In the guide below, you’ll find all of the ways to implement a targeted content promotion strategy, so let’s take a look:
What is Content Promotion?
Before diving in too deep, let’s refresh ourselves a bit and take a look at exactly what content promotion is and what purpose it serves. In the simplest of terms, Content Promotion is the way you connect with your intended audience over a wide range of media, utilizing everything from social sites to optimized videos.
- A good Content Strategy will not only reach your intended customer base but go beyond it, connecting to that outer range of people who otherwise might not have come into contact with your services.
- Content Marketing allows you to grow your clientele through the use of targeted media such as blogs, websites, white label ppc management, syndicated media, social networks, and more.
How to Create Effective Content
Developing a strategy to reach your audience and garner new clientele will be of little use if you don’t provide them with unique offerings.
Creating Effective Content is all about offering customers and potential clients something that no one else can give them. Focusing on developing one-of-a-kind blogs, videos and social media posts will pay off, garnering both immediate results and creating long-term brand visibility.
The amount of lead generation will depend upon:
- Content Quality
- Customization of Content
- Optimization of Media Deployed
If you still have lingering questions or don’t think you’ll be able to handle effective content creation, you’re not the only one. Many businesses find that enlisting the help of an experienced SEO and marketing firm enables them to focus on other things while still being privy to a host of benefits.
42% of companies have hired a designated content strategist executive. (Curata, 2016) (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)
Examples of Effective Content Strategies
Now that we’ve talked a bit about the benefits of content promotion and why effective content is important, let’s dive into what precisely makes some content strategies stand out from others.
Here we’ll discuss a few of today’s most Effective Content Strategies. The right one for you might incorporate one or several of these tools.
- Proven Blog Post Templates: Work with the type of blog templates that repeatedly have high-performing results. Templates that use infographics, resource-focused posts, original research, and in-depth guides are the type of unique content influencers look for.
- Share with Communities: An effective content strategy that goes beyond your everyday clientele means you’ll also need to share your media with web-based communities like Quora, Reddit, and elsewhere for the best results.
- Retarget Visitors to Grow Email List: You can still capitalize on traffic to your site even if those visitors didn’t result in conversion by retargeting them. Track visitors using cookies and then target ads with Google and Facebook.
Effective Content Strategies require step-by-step construction and execution based on internet and marketing best practices. Since no two companies are alike, not every strategy will be effective for your business, which is why constructing a plan aligned with your company’s goals is essential.
97% of marketers are using prescriptive content, or content that outlines a formula for success. (Curata, 2016) (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)
Content marketing gets three times more leads than paid search advertising. (Content Marketing Institute, 2017) (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)
45% of B2C marketers believe visual content is their most important type of content. (Content Marketing Institute, 2017) (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)
Getting an Audience for Targeted Marketing Campaigns
Once you’ve outlined your comprehensive plan, it’s time to make certain you’ll get it in front of the eyes of as many people as possible. By researching who you want to reach you can gain insight into where to focus your content marketing campaigns.
Let’s take a closer look at how to build and expand your audience for maximum results and solidify your readership:
Influencer Marketing
Influencers are the type of users that will provide you with the most returns and click-through traffic: you just need to capture their attention.
Influencers already have significant audiences themselves, so if you reach them and they respond you’ll be able to see some serious dividends. For those still trying to build their brand notoriety and visibility, these are the people you need to reach.
How do you do it?
Build a List of People in Your Niche
One of the easiest ways to incorporate influencer marketing into your overall content promotion strategy is to research and build a list of industry hot shots.
The easiest way to accomplish this is by using Followerwonk to search through Twitter bios and compile a solid list of people in your niche/network who hold a lot of sway over your target audience.
You can simply:
- Log into Followerwonk using your Twitter account information.
- Click on the tab labeled “Search Bios.”
- Enter a keyword in the search box (something related to your brand or audience).
Once you’ve performed the three steps above, you can use the available data to identify users with a high number of followers and visibility on the social network. Build a list of them and then begin approaching them one by one, determining whether they’d be willing to share some of your unique content online with their followers.
You should gravitate toward users with a high number of followers in addition to social authority. Choosing influencers that actively engage with their audience offers more benefits because they’re the type of people who can create a buzz around topics or start far-reaching conversations.
Followerwonk is also beneficial for those looking to garner more data about their existing followers, such as where they’re located and the times of day they usually tweet.
Here are a few statistics that will make you think twice about overlooking Twitter as a marketing tool:
There are 369 million monthly active Twitter users as of 2018. (Statitsa, 2018) (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)
81% of millennials check Twitter at least once per day. (Pew Research Center, 2016) (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)
Twitter accounts for 16% of referrals to longer articles from social sites and 14% for shorter news articles. (Pew Research Center, 2016) (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)
Comment Marketing
Another popular digital marketing tool is commenting on web pages or social media sites and interacting with followers/potential clients. There are a host of bots and people out there who post comments and links on nearly anything, but these types of black and grey-hat techniques are nearly always flagged and banned.
There’s no substitute for the real thing!
Rather than plastering links all over comment threads that will likely go unread, seek out the ones with ongoing conversations and interesting points of view directly related to your industry. Sometimes you might be able to point a user toward an article you’ve written on the topic being discussed, but this will happen infrequently.
Comment Marketing is less about driving people toward your site/product and more about establishing a reputation as an expert on the topic being discussed in the comment thread. Focusing on building relationships with bloggers and on popular comment boards can help give you a greater long-term reach.
How it’s Done
Find Authoritative Blogs: One of the first things you should to do implement a successful comment marketing campaign is to highlight popular blogs about your industry. Look for good analytic sites as well as interesting conversations occurring on them, then add to them yourself.
Posting Guest Blogs
Coming up with guest blog posts is a lot like comment marketing in some ways, as you’ll be joining the conversation to provide expert insight into a particular topic, or offering information related to your industry. Posting guest blogs is one of the best ways to build an audience if done properly.
To make the most out of guest blogging, you’ll first need to identify popular sites within your industry that will enable you to post a blog with your byline. Again, search for sites with strong domain authority and relevant conversations.
- Comment on posts and build relationships with leading sites.
- Pitch unique blog ideas to the editors that are geared towards their site.
- Promote every guest post on all relevant social media and marketing channels.
Outreach & Public Relations
Although similar in some ways to guest blog posts, by performing outreach and PR, you’ll be getting a popular blogger or site to write about your brand/services. Get in touch with various media outlets and bloggers to see if they’d be interested in highlighting a particular project you’re undertaking or doing a simple industry-based Q&A.
Be sure to tailor all of your pitches to the site or blogger: take a look at their existing content online and follow a similar template. Try and offer information or insight that no one else has given them, or provide an exclusive interview when launching a new product.
Putting some thought and research into your pitches will demonstrate that you’ve got more on your mind than simply building your client base and making money.
Beginning Your Content Promotion Campaign
Now that you’ve gained some insight into what works and what doesn’t with online marketing, let’s begin taking a look at all the specific tools at your disposal for creating a successful digital marketing campaign.
Organic & Paid Approaches
There are two different marketing approaches, both of which can be effective in generating results. Understanding the difference between Organic Marketing and Paid Marketing is important to develop the very best strategy for your unique needs.
Organic Marketing
Organic Marketing consists of any type of marketing tools that won’t cost you money. One of the most popular tools in this arena is search engine optimization (SEO), so let’s take a look below.
1. SEO Marketing
In the simplest of terms, SEO is all about using keywords and phrases likely to appear in search results related to your industry. This, in turn, will attract and increase the number of visitors to your site. Proper SEO techniques can boost the organic traffic to your site, add to your brand credibility and provide a significant return on investment (ROI).
Here are a few SEO tips and best practices:
- Add internal linking to other posts within your content.
- Use keyword research and include alternate phrases within.
- Make sure every page on your site includes relevant keywords and metadata.
2. Email Marketing
Offering potential customers and web users a way to subscribe to your content is an important tool, so every business should implement a comprehensive email strategy into their digital marketing plan. You can include monthly roundups or exclusive content for your followers, as well as news and other important announcements.
You’ll have the most success with your email campaign if you:
- Have the sender name be that of an actual person, rather than your brand.
- Include a tracking code in the link that registers how many are going to your site after reading your email.
- Create a compelling subject line or eye-catching hook to make your message stand out.
- Add a strong call-to-action message at the end of the email.
3. Social Media Channels
Social Media Marketing offers ways to connect with your audience in addition to opportunities to promote your brands and services. Perhaps you’ve written an article that was inspired by another one you read online, connecting with that writer by mentioning them on a social media channel is a good way to expand your reach.
To make the most out of your posts:
- Choose the right channel: Some of the content you create might look better on Instagram or Facebook than it does on Linkedin, so select the social media channel where it’s best displayed.
- Use Hashtags Properly: Hashtags are a great way to increase the visibility of your content, but only if they’re used properly and sparingly. Include two industry-related hashtags at a time for the best results.
- Post at the Right Times: Your audience is less likely to see what you post on a Friday afternoon rather than on a Monday morning. Take care to post your content on social media sites when the maximum number of users is present. The analytics tools on many social media sites can give you a better idea of peak hours or days.
4. Virtual Speaking Meetings
Hosting a virtual speaking engagement is a great way to appeal to your audience’s more intellectual interests while simultaneously expanding your client base. You can reach out to users without spending a penny by holding webinars or providing a platform for guest speakers.
To have a greater impact, consider scheduling live events and give them a sense of urgency while doing your best to provide a sense of connection with users.
5. Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Believe it or not, there’s still a substantial benefit to marketing the old-fashioned way: word-of-mouth. You can use your past successes to entice potential clients by highlighting customer testimonials and meeting potential customers face-to-face.
Not only is Word-of-Mouth Marketing free, it’s also a good tool for creating ripples in the pond that will eventually make their way to important people, such as industry leaders or influencers.
Paid Content Promotion
Although there is a nearly endless amount of ways to incorporate organic marketing tools into your strategy, they often don’t have as much of a short-term impact as Paid Content Promotion. There are quite a few platforms for paid content promotion, each one offering different advantages depending on the scope and desired reach of your digital marketing strategy.
Some of the most successful paid content promotion strategies are:
1. Paid Social Media
Investing in some paid advertising in places online where your audience spends most of their time offers big dividends. Known as white label local SEO or ppc, purchasing targeted ads on networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other types of social media often generate a healthy ROI.
Always keep in mind that for more visual platforms such as Instagram or Twitter, creating PPC content that includes pictures or videos can go a long way. Your aim is to inspire the client and engage with your brand then click through to your website, so the more eye-catching the content, the better the results.
2. Paid Search
Also referred to as “search engine marketing,” Paid Search Advertising involves placing ads on popular search engine pages so they’ll come up when users enter specific search terms. The two most common platforms for this type of advertising are Google AdWords and Bing Ads.
You can get the most out of paid search advertising by pushing potential users to download free resources or sign up for a trial with your site. When creating your ad copy, be sure to be unique and compelling, as you’ll be competing with other paid ads in addition to existing organic content on the web.
3. Display Ads
These are the different banners you see on Google and other sites. Display Ads can come in a wide variety of different media, from videos to unique images. Popular programs that enable you to develop a targeted content promotion campaign with display ads are Google Display Network and Facebook’s Atlas, both of which act as ad servers.
This type of paid promotion generates the best results when retargeting users who may have previously visited your site but didn’t click through or purchase a product. The goal here, however, is to make retargeted ads appear subtle so users don’t feel like they’re being stalked by your company.
Content Syndication
One of the best ways to garner a reputation as industry expert and increase your following is by having other media outlets and market influencers do your promotion for you, by sharing or mentioning your content. This is known as Content Syndication and it can be extremely helpful in reinforcing your reputation and driving traffic to your site.
Your ultimate goal should be to develop organic content that’s unique and eye-catching enough for others to share it with you for free. However, you can give it a bit of a boost by contacting content syndication networks. There’s often a fee involved to have certain places publish and promote your content, but every site is different: some sites like Slideshare, WikiHow, and HubPages offer free services.
A common concern many have regarding syndication is the fear of creating duplicate content for search engines by having it on several different sites. But with the proper SEO tagging, this can be avoided.
Getting Creative with Video Content
In recent years, one of the most popular digital marketing strategies is developing organic content through the use of video platforms, like Youtube or Vimeo. When creating a Video Marketing plan, you can appeal to an entirely different audience, while still offering opportunities to click through to your site and make a connection.
Creating video content enables you to reach a wider market because you can share that content on a wider variety of social media platforms.
Video marketing is projected to account for more than 80% of all internet traffic by 2019. (https://www.relevance.com/content-promotion/ via @relevance)
Youtube Marketing
Developing a Youtube marketing campaign is beneficial because, unlike other video platforms, Youtube has a self-contained search engine. It also appeals to users who tend to focus on visual content that you might not have been able to reach elsewhere.
Slideshare as a Tool
Another way to create unique content that panders to another sector of users online is to take advantage of software like Slideshare to develop eye-catching slideshows for your audience.
Revisit What Works!
When you’ve created a content promotion campaign that’s been successful, use that strategy again and again by tweaking it and getting the most out of what works. Keep a running Greatest Hits list to refer to.
Here are a few of Our Favorite ‘Greatest Hits’
- Repurpose your best and most visited/commented content into a fresh new piece.
- Integrate past URLs (blogs) that you think should have performed better into current pages that are performing well.
- Short-term Social Media Memory: You can repost the same blog on your social media more than once since content and info is gobbled up more rapidly.
- Make your content easier to share.
Let Digital Marketing Blueprint handle your content promotion!
Do you want to develop a digital marketing strategy that makes the most out of the tools mentioned above? Contact the team at Digital Marketing Blueprint to learn more about how we can fashion a unique strategy that generates results.
You can also visit us online to learn more about our organic and paid content creation tactics, as well as other white label SEO strategies.