You're No Little Fish: Stand Out by Dominating Content Marketing

In today’s hyper-competitive business climate, you could say it takes a village to run a startup. Between staff, products, marketing and sales funnels, it’s no wonder nine out of 10 startups fail.Developing and nailing your marketing strategy is no easy task, social media marketing company especially when your initial brand awareness is limited to beta testers and a handful of personal contacts. Content marketing can help get the word out about your startup, but only if you’re on the top of your game.Know your brand and product inside and out, understand your target audience like they’re your best friend, and consistently execute your marketing strategy until your messaging and product are synonymous with your brand. Plus, there’s this little tool called Page Insights that allows you to see all sorts of information about your Facebook fans (or potential customers). This includes data such as geographic location, age, gender and your top performing content.
Facebook is not the only social media platform out there. Brands on Twitter will still get 100 percent organic reach, with everything you post. If a large number of users “retweet” your content, it can dramatically increase reach. social media marketing agency Pinterest and Instagram can be great for retail and fashion. YouTube and video sharing sites like Vimeo are still effective for viral brand video promotion. SlideShare and LinkedIn work well for reaching a professional audience. This option can be a very effective for advertisers who have great viral content to share. Currently, the Facebook algorithm boosts reach for posts that include images and/or links. Including links can give marketers up to a 30% increase in organic reach.Keep track of what you post and optimize based on the reach you get. It is still possible to get significant reach if your content is widely shared by users.

Develop a content strategy

As a startup, your existence is best encapsulated by the “little fish in a big pond” metaphor. social media and marketing You’re swimming in a school of enterprises, hoping to grow big enough to muscle the other minnows out of the food chain. Fortunately, content marketing doesn’t have to break your marketing budget and can be quite cost-effective. On average, content marketing costs 62 percent less than traditional methods and generates three times as many leads in the process.Unlike a fish, you don’t accomplish growth through muscle alone. Customers operate on their own timeline and can’t be forced to buy your product. Your brand must stand out and dominate your market to attract life-sustaining revenue. Creating a content-marketing strategy is one cost-effective tool in your arsenal to start dominating.Before you ever create a single piece of content, stop and consider your strategy. Know what it’s going to look like, sound like, convey, its goal and how it will reflect on your business.
Look at your company’s mission statement and understand its core values and infuse it into your marketing strategy.Ask yourself what your product and marketing says about your company. Test it with a small group of clients and ask for feedback to help measure the results. Ask if your messaging is more appealing by video, infographics or podcasts. Find out what your clients' pain points are and how your services can help them. social media marketing jobs It's also possible to integrate an email-marketing app into your company's Facebook page that will allow users to sign up to receive newsletters from your business. Your first business idea can shift or may need to be tweaked. Using a Facebook business page as a testing ground allows you to collect all the messaging, marketing and data needed to then create compelling website copy and offers that will result in sales.

Win leads with consistency

One of the greatest challenges involved in content marketing is maintaining a consistent presence. The limited attention span of online audiences creates a “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately” mentality necessitating a constant flow of content. what is social media marketing The numbers speak for themselves. Companies that produce a mere 15 blog posts per month reported an average of 1,200 more leads per month as a result.Establish a workflow pipeline and schedule to show your audience you’re reliable and stay on at the forefront of their minds when they need your services. Establish which team member creates ideas, who approves them, who writes them, who edits them and who publishes them to keep a steady flow of blog posts, infographics and videos funneling into the hands of customers. Above all else, know that content marketing isn’t about quick, easy results. Like any relationship, getting to know your customers takes time, and earning their trust and respect is a privilege.
Show customers you care by creating content that reflects how you can serve them and their unique needs.Orignially, these platforms emerged as a way to increase traffic for blogs and content sites. But they can be leveraged by marketers who develop lots of high quality content. It works in a similar way to an ad network but instead of buying ad space, you buy a content promotion slots for a blog post.Syndicating top blog content can dramatically increase your site traffic. Try leveraging multiple content syndication networks such as OutBrain, Taboola or RealGravity to maximize reach. social media marketing university When I first started my company, my business coach served as a huge source of referrals. At least once or twice a week, he would refer me a potential new client. In my first year in business, 50 percent of my clients came from this coach and 50 percent came from other sources.