No matter what kind of business you are in, you need to engage with your customers. You know that your products and services are not meant for everyone, but if you create content that your target market—and even though those adjacent to your target market—are craving, you will make your brand shareable, and that will ultimately generate more leads which will ultimately generate more sales.
Content Marketing Tips to Fast-Track Your Buyer’s Journey
Be Social
The first step to content marketing is to be active on social media.
This might seem a no-brainer, but most small businesses only leverage Facebook in their social media marketing campaign. While Facebook is very lucrative, ignoring other social media sites is at your peril.
The first step to determining what will be a great place to post your content is by asking yourself some basic demographic questions. Where does your target market hang out? What interests them about the social media site that they scroll through daily? What time of day do they peruse, and what kind of content are they looking for?
For instance, Twitter has become more about news-like updates and snappy one-liners than images. However, more and more teenagers hang out on sites like Instagram and Snapchat for humor and artsy things. Likewise, Facebook is trending towards becoming a mostly video platform, while YouTube is where all professional and aspiring videographers post their content.
You need to determine what kind of content your consumers wish to engage with and become a powerful presence on a handful of those social media sites. First, you need to make sure you are posting semi-daily. For example, if you’re on a YouTube channel, you won’t upload a new video daily. However, uploading a new video once a week is an excellent way to engage with your audience. Then you can go on Facebook and interact with your consumers daily.
Social media is all about finding the right balance, which starts with knowing where your demographic wants to consume your content.
Lastly, organizing your social media content, blog posts, or YouTube videos is important. Using software to streamline your writing process, share the content you collaborate on, and back up all of your data is a great way to ensure that everything runs smoothly and is safe in the event of a server crash.
Balance Your Calls to Action
Our second tip for you is to balance your call to action. CTAs are crucial for converting your leads into buyers. However, overdone CTAs tend to turn buyers off. The way to counterbalance this is to determine what each piece of content is meant to do. For example, do you want to build your email list? Or are you looking to sell your product or service directly?
If you’re looking to build your email list, creating a worksheet or a course in a specific post is an excellent way to whet your consumers’ appetite. Now, this free resource will not gain you a buyer, but it will get you their email address which means future interaction with the consumer.
If you’re looking to sell a product, the best way is to share content about what makes the product so great. This can be done through testimonials or through solving practical problems. Tell a story, and only mention your product or service once or twice.
When it comes to calls to action, peppering them throughout the post is your best option—demonstrated twice or thrice and naturally throughout your post.
Blogging
One of the best ways to create easily digestible content is through blogging. While many companies lean towards creating YouTube videos, blogging is more efficient. The reason? Because it can be consumed anywhere – you can read on a train, plane, at a boring meeting, or in the bathroom.
Blog posts are easy to skim through, making grasping the most important aspects of the information quick and easy. In a society as fast-paced as the western one, easily digestible information is the best way to create engaging content.
Also, blog posts are easy to market on several social media platforms.
Another reason blog posts are the most lucrative form of converting leads into buyers is that the words can be carefully crafted. Through SEO and keywords, you can tap into the human psyche and phrase things exactly how you want them to be phrased. This allows you the most amount of flexibility when it comes to creating content that turns leads into purchasers.
Wrapping Up – Content Marketing Tips to Fast Track Your Buyer’s Journey
Overall, utilizing these three methods will give you the flexibility you need to create content that will turn your leads into buyers. Knowing where your target market hangs out is crucial to ensuring your content is seen. It doesn’t matter how creative or authoritative your content is. If you are not visible, your content is doing nothing for you.
Use your calls to action specifically. Know what you want to get out of your post and place your links strategically throughout it so that you show your clients what they need, why they need it, and where they can get it.
Lastly, even if your main form of contact creation is in infographics or YouTube videos, starting a blog on your website is crucial. Even if you only post on your blog once a month, have a blog because it is the easiest place for consumers to learn quick information about your product and service and choose whether or not they will purchase.
BIO: Joe Peters is a Baltimore-based freelance writer and an ultimate tech enthusiast. When he is not working his magic as a marketing consultant, this incurable tech junkie enjoys reading about the latest apps and gadgets and binge-watching his favorite TV shows. You can reach him @bmorepeters
