Content: there is no easy button.
- Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler
Content marketing will become a $ 300 billion industry by the end of the year 2019. According to the PQ Media’s report: Global Content Marketing Forecast 2015-19, if the content marketing continues to grow at this rate in the next 4 years, it will increase its revenue for 50%.
So there is money in content marketing? Of course there is.
However, while the majority of e-commerce businesses, and their self-proclaimed digital marketers, is well aware that there is money in content marketing, increasing ROI still remains an upsetting question for many. Why? Believe it or not, because most of them forget to offer a purchase. Most of them believe that frequent blog entries is a strategy good enough to reach a desired return on investment.
Our main problem is – we keep focusing on the content part, and forget to do any marketing. We keep forgetting that we are here to push a product, advertise a service, convert visitors to customers, and, what is probably the most important thing – offer and sell value through intelligent strategies.
Certainly, I can’t provide you with a magic formula that will drive 10,000 visitors to your website instantly. Instead, I can explain you how social media marketing can play a vital role as your number one source of leads. You will also gain deeper understanding of how a well-developed SMM strategy with a little bit of commitment can earn you serious money in a short term period of time.
The secret is in patience, thorough research and consistence in communication with your audience. Well, that and plus a killer of a campaign.
In all honesty – yes, it comes with a lot of prep work, and if you are on the hunt for 10,000 visitors know that this expedition will require at least two months of dedicated work prior to any results. The good news is – they will come almost overnight.
Stage 1 (might take up to 60 days): Defining Focus & Value
The first thing that you will have to do is define your market and find an appropriate entrance that you will use to push your product to an online community.
- The essential question of defining your target audience has always presented an issue to many. However, the answer to this question might just be quite simple and logical – he who benefits from your service and your product is your target audience. If you are offering something of value, it shouldn’t be too hard to connect the product to its consumer.
- Once that you’ve obtained the profile of your average prospect, the next thing that you should do is to connect it to its demographics, or – find their favorite social media channel. For example, if you are looking for a somewhat younger crowd, trendy and outgoing young adults, you should know that 45% of snapchat users are 24 years old or younger.
- Now that you’ve established which social media channel holds a great number of your potential leads, start making yourself at home on that particular platform. Learn the basics: learn how to optimize, how to design a compelling post and when is the best possible time to post it.
- Concentrate on organic traffic. Join groups, get involved in conversations, be where your prospects are and deliver them value. Ideally, if your website is moderately young, meaning that you don’t have any fan base at all, – you want at least 500 people reading your content by the end of the second month, so that you can welcome the phase 2 ready. Find a way to interact with the audience and don’t sound like a spam bot. Be online, post frequently and always respond to comments.
- Although we will not focus on content creation here (since your particular audience will require a custom tailored solution for that occasion), I do have to stress out that spying on the competition can help you gain a lot of valuable data. From posts inspiration to lead magnets and offers – don’t be afraid to steal someone’s idea as long as you can improve it.
Stage 2 (takes up to 48 hours): Elements of a successful SMM Campaign
Now, since you’ve developed a certain fan base, you are also probably pushing posts, or tweets etc. at least a few times a day. Always insist on high-quality publications, you need your followers to expect a great piece of info, news and similar when your campaign officially goes live. According to the digital agency Infinity’s blog, social accelerates the discovery of your content. And now that you’ve got a stream of content flowing and reaching all the right people, you can count on the fact that your campaign will spread rapidly in a very short amount of time.
- Launch the campaign with no prior announcements. Whatever your campaign might be, (whether it is a giveaway contest, a free service or any form of a discount) your previously acquired fan base will already be accustomed to your presence and will welcome this idea. At least for long enough to show genuine attention to you and show confidence in your product.
- The campaign structure is the feature that will help you reach high numbers of visitors. If you are running a giveaway this list of tools will certainly come in handy. But even if you are offering a simple discount, the only clause that you should implement for your readers, in order for them to become eligible candidates and win your giveaway/offer – is to share your content. By engaging customers, and having them instantly promote your brand through their social profiles, 500 readers can secure you a traffic of 10.000 people in most cases.
Giveaways simply work. Especially when you follow all of the above mentioned instructions. Investing in free promotional products in order to gain backlinks, lots of organic traffic, and what is more important a strong brand signal with a lot of leads showing interest in your product is simply a great return on investment.
Once your metrics show 10.000 visitors on your page, the question remains: How to keep them coming back? But that’s a whole different story.
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