There are a lot of people that claim to be an “expert”, whether it is a social media guru or an online marketing master, the internet (and our minds) are getting swamped with information every day. Sifting fact from fiction can be a struggle at the best of times, so how do you know what advice to take? We take a look at the information out there you should be ignoring, and how you can instead tailor it to work in a more positive light for you and your business.
1. Social Media is the New SEO
Whilst social media is actively growing every day and has elements that correspond with SEO, it doesn’t replace it in terms of strategy and function. Like with most effective online marketing strategies, utilising social media works best when combined with the ingredients of SEO.
How to make it work for you
Align your SEO strategy with your social media activity to effectively build links. Leveraging social media activities can help to gain relevant links through valuable and fresh content marketing. Although social media posts show up in search results, SEO is what drives more people to these. Billions of searches are conducted on a daily basis through major search engines like Google and by replacing SEO with social media; you’ll be missing out on the traffic.
2. Be Active Across All Social Media Networks
Anyone who is successfully managing just one social media channel for their business will appreciate the time and effort that goes into its marketing strategy. Applying that same concept across every single social network will not only be exhausting, but your content and resources will be worn thin. You don’t have to be active on every social media network out there, experiment with them and let go the ones that don’t work for your business.
How to make it work for you
Most of us have limited time and resources so trying to tackle all the marketing channels at once aren’t going to work. Instead, take the time to research and trial what will work for you and once you have picked one (or a couple) maintain an active presence on them and feed your audience with the information they are after. If you’re yet to jump on the social media bandwagon, try Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
3. Share Everything!
When it comes to effective content marketing and social media networks, we’re encouraged to share the love. After all, your presence on social networks isn’t worth much if you’re not utilising those social media buttons. Unfortunately though, some people can go share crazy and make the mistake of distributing everything they read, which may or may not be related to the industry.
How to make it work for you
Sharing content related only to your topic of ‘personal interest’ is only going to confuse your audience. Consider what your readers are expecting and wanting from you and only share what is relevant to your target audience and industry. Build the shared content up by adding your own thoughts in the comments. This shows your audience you have an opinion and eventually helps to become an authentic source of information in the field.
4. Email is Old Fashioned
No one uses email anymore; we’re all too busy checking our social media messages and comments right? Wrong! Whilst it’s safe to say sending faxes is pretty much out the window, email still has its online marketing presence.
As with social media, email marketing helps to keep your brand in the front of people’s minds. Like with social media and SEO, it’s a tactic that complements your other strategies.
How to make it work for you
Old fashioned email is still far more effective than the newly found benefits of social media, so don’t ditch it just yet. Because email is permission based, it’s effective in reaching out to your audience, an audience that is willing to (and always) listening. Whilst it’s not the best way to drive sales, it’s perfect for customer engagement so be careful not to annoy or spam your email list. Your email signature should also be used as a marketing tool, include your details as well as social media icons to make you email campaigns more powerful.
5. Write Only About Your Products, Services and Brand
A lot of people view content marketing like advertising, spewing out articles that sell their products and services like ads. But, isn’t that what we use promotional materials like brochures for? A brochure sells your brand and shows consumers what your business has to offer – don’t get into the trap of having your content marketing just like a repackaged brochure.
How to make it work for you
Think outside the box. Content should have enough fundamental value to stand alone as something people want to read about. Whilst you can create content that is related to your business, it doesn’t have to be 100% about your business – make the story bigger and get creative.
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White Chalk Road are a specialist Search Marketing Agency based in Perth, with over 20 years’ experience in the industry. As a Google Premier Partner, WCR specialise in SEO, Search Marketing, Advertising & Marketing Automation. WCR help Perth businesses, across both B2B and B2C markets, who need help being found online by their customers.
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