When it comes to improving your business’s online presence, creating engaging digital content is a requirement for growth hacking and overall long-term success! The creation of online content opens the door for a broader reach to new and upcoming potential clients and audiences all while increasing your brand awareness with warmer leads. But, with all of the platforms, programs and online elements, which ones are worth spending your valuable and limited time on? Which will have the best return on that investment? Take a look at the most essential digital content outlets that the most successful businesses implement to guide you in choosing where you should invest your own time and money and start building your online presence!
Social Media Digital Content
Through the various social media platforms available, businesses have the exciting opportunity to share content and connect directly with targeted audiences that are interested in specific products or services with little financial investment. Before you can begin to create digital content for your social media pages, you need to first ensure you are on the correct platforms. And you don’t need to be on them all! A thorough look at your audience demographics, wants and needs, and online goals will help you identify which platforms are best to be present on.
But what types of digital content should you be sharing on your pages? A good rule to follow is that your content should be 80% engaging and organic content, and 20% sales-focused content. Not sure what types of things to share?
Consider posting:
● Memes (tips, testimonials, business campaigns, etc.)
● Relevant industry news
● Product/service or company updates
● Contests or giveaways
● Blogs (yours and others)
● Customer posts/images
● Behind the scenes
● Meet the team
● Polls or questionnaires
Another way to further your online presence is by doing paid advertisements on social media. Almost all social media platforms offer advertising opportunities where you can create a sales image, select your audience demographics, and pay to appear on sidebars or platform feeds. Make sure to do a thorough analysis of your industry and competitors before investing too much here.
Blogging Digital Content
As identified on DemandMetric, “On average, companies with blogs produce +67% leads per month.” Something as simple as writing a blog once or twice a month (or more!) will drastically increase your likelihood of being found online. Want better blog success? The best blogs use search engine optimization (SEO) through the use of keywords and organic content that allows your business to be found by more users via Google searches. Improve the likelihood of your blogs being found by selecting a blog title that features trending keywords related to your industry. Is your title good enough? Use the Sharethrough or CoSchedule headline analyzer tools to assess your title!
Not sure what to write about? Remember, you are the expert on your business and industry! Create a list of popular questions your customer service team receives (or see what people are searching for on Answer The Public) and turn those topics into blogs.
Website Freebie – Lead Generation Digital Content
In order to advance your business’s lead generation and build a list of warm leads to grow with, offer something of value to your website visitors by providing them with a freebie! A freebie is a form of digital content created by you that provides an opportunity to collect emails from potential customers. The Freebie needs to be more than they would expect for free and may even be something you could charge for - it needs to be worth an email as currency and that price is high! Some freebie examples include:
● E-book
● Designed PDF (buying guide, information booklet, etc.)
● Trial period of product
● Educational webinar
● Online course
The emails you collect from this freebie through a CRM plugin or contact form on your site will then be used to connect with those leads later on in your marketing funnels and content (ex. email drip campaign, newsletters, social media content, etc.).
Newsletter Digital Content
Once you have collected emails from your audiences, sending out a newsletter is a great way to stay in touch and at the top of your audience’s mind as you nurture them through a longer sales cycle. A newsletter offers a simple way to update your subscribers on what is happening in your business and remind them about your products/services. It is recommended that you send out a newsletter one or two times a month to keep them in the loop without feeling spammed.
Your newsletters can include anything you want that is relevant to your business. Share testimonials, updates about business policies or services/products, promotions or sales, recent blogs, industry news, and other information that they should know about!
Invest in these essential digital content outlets and increase your ROI, boost your brand awareness, and expand your reach!
Want to dig deeper and learn more about effective content marketing? Join our free webinar “Content Marketing 101” on December 6. In this interactive workshop, explore how to blend strategy and storytelling to create content that helps drive revenue.
