3 Ways To Promote Your Online Content

Writing great online content is one thing. But it won't help your business if no one ever reads it.

We always recommend to our marketing consultancy clients that they make online content central to their strategy. Quality content can serve many purposes:

• It's great for search engine optimisation (SEO)
• It drives traffic to your website
• It helps people learn about the products and services you offer
• It allows you to demonstrate authority and expertise in your particular area

Over the last few years there's been a dramatic shift from quantity to quality in relation to the value of your content. Good quality content increases the visibility of your brand and enhances the SEO standing of your site.

Unfortunately, creating online content is pointless (commercially) if nobody sees or connects with it. Here are some sure-fire ways of increasing your chances of being seen.

1. E-Mail Strategies

Consider adding social media links to your e-signature. Every time someone gets an e-mail from you, it's a chance to direct them to one of your social media profiles.

Ensure that you do A/B testing or an analysis of your click-through rate (CTR) to get a feel for what's working well.

Also, consider e-mailing the owner of a popular website to see if you can be featured there. Perhaps you could write a guest blog. Or produce a piece of content about the other site and see if they'd be interested in sharing it.

The key is to be creative with your content strategy.

2. Content Calendars and Schedulers

The game has changed with social media. One post on one platform is not enough. If you're a small business, you need to diversify your social media strategy.

First of all, figure out your target audience. Learn where they hang out, what they're interested in and what questions they're asking. Our Marketing Questionnaire can help you answer these questions and focus your strategy.

Then consider a social media software like Hootsuite to schedule and publish your social media content. This makes posting to multiple platforms much more painless. It also helps you keep track of exactly how much content you're putting out.

Finally, make sure your track your content via an analytics package. Don't approach social media with a "fire and forget" strategy. See what's working. See what kind of content is interesting to your readers. Give the customers what they want.

3. Diversify Your Lead Gen

Having only one way of generating leads is dangerous for small businesses. Try not to just rely on your blog. Or one social media platform. Cast as wide a net as possible. This could include:

• Your own blog
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Video content (YouTube)
• Guest posting on other blogs
• Liking, sharing and commenting on other people's content

This way, even if you see a drop off from one channel or platform, you'll still have lots of different ways to reach your audience.

For example, if you just get your leads through Facebook, what happens if they change a policy that affects you? What happens if they start charging for business pages. And, in the long term, what happens when they eventually go the way of Myspace?

If you'd like to discuss any aspect of content marketing, or would like to work with us, please get in touch.