Three steps to getting started with content and digital marketing
Know you should be using content and digital marketing to spread the word about your business, but not sure how? Here are three steps to getting started.
Recently, I have spoken with quite a few small businesses who have bought into the concept of inbound, social media or digital marketing, but they are feeling overwhelmed about where and how to start.
It’s easy to feel like you are falling behind with so many new digital marketing tools updating their algorithms so frequently. I believe the key thing is to always revert back to your business goals and objectives and then work out which tool is most appropriate to use for your business.
With a small business every penny or minute counts so whilst you may be able to build up a great following, if these people don’t convert to leads or opportunities, there is a poor ROI for your investment of time or money.
Three steps to getting started with content and digital marketing
To help you get off to the right start, here are three basic steps to set you on your way with digital marketing.
1) Strategy and planning
What is your marketing objective initially? Is it to create more awareness of the business or generate more leads? This can lead the direction of your messaging and where you promote your content.
What are your unique selling points? Why would a customer buy your service as opposed to a competitor? What do you offer that is different? As Simon Sinek likes to ask; What is your why?
Who are your target customers? It can help to create several “personas” of typical customers. Perhaps think of someone who has bought from you in the past. What was the demographic, how did they find you, what are their interests? From a B2B perspective it can be useful to divide this into both their business and personal lives.
2) Practicalities – the digital marketing basics
Do you have key-words identified to help with search? Put yourself in the mindset of your customer, what are they looking for when they go on google looking for your service. What problem do you solve?
Where do your customers hangout on social media? – LinkedIn, FB, Instagram. Again, demographics and buyer personas are ideal here.
Get set up with your social media profiles or audit the profiles you alread have. How is your profile looking? Is it consistent across all platforms? Put your keywords into the bio and link back to your website.
Create a blog page on your website. Think about some general items to blog on:
- Who are you, and why did you start your business?
- Customer case studies.
- Trends in your industry.
- Relevant events.
- Top tips for success with x product.
- How can your business solution meet your customers’ needs?
Start talking and generating inbound leads/interest/brand awareness. Always use a strong and eye-catching imagery.
How often should you post on social media?
There are lots of suggestions on this, however I think it’s true to say that the key thing is to be consistent in how often and when you post so that people know when to expect new content.
It’s recommended that with Twitter a minimum of five posts a day is required to grow, Instagram one to two posts a day and LinkedIn is looking for a daily post. Don’t panic about taking up your whole day or week posting on social media – a lot can be scheduled in advance!
Google say that if you post good quality content on your website once a week that will help push you up their rankings and make you found more easily on their search engine. In addition, if you post to social media channels (and google+) with links back to your website that will also help.
3) Analyse and refine
Keep tracking your marketing statistics. Keep a record of how many people are visiting your website, which pages are popular. Be sure to connect to Google Analytics as it will show you where your traffic is coming from.
Keep a record of how many followers you have and perhaps track it on a monthly basis. Once you see the type of content which is working well, you can look to replicate or re-purpose it to go to wider audience.
Read more content marketing tips
You’ll find more advice on content marketing in these articles:
- Three ways you can make sure your content marketing stands out
- An easy four-step formula for creating a content marketing plan
- Four things you MUST do when creating or sharing content
- The surprisingly simple secret to great video content
Ruth is a freelance marketing consultant. She runs Kandu Marketing and provides marketing support, including copywriting, content marketing, digital marketing and marketing strategy.
