Businesses of all sizes have been told that in order to get more out of their online marketing efforts, they need to have a content strategy. While it’s easy for anyone to give that advice to an Omaha business owner, what isn’t as easy is actually crafting an effective strategy and then executing it.
Since content creation and promotion have played a key role in the online success of many of our clients, Big Red SEO is definitely a believer in online content strategy. That being said, we also understand the challenges and potential pitfalls of this type of marketing much more than individuals who may only talk about the theory of content strategy instead of being involved in its actual execution.
Because simply publishing a batch of blog posts and then hoping for business results is a recipe for disappointment, we want to cover how to develop a smart strategy, as well as look at some of the components that may play a role in it.
What Should a Content Development and Promotion Strategy Entail?
The starting point for any effective content strategy is identifying exactly what you want your Omaha business to gain from its content writing and promotion efforts. A common mistake businesses make is diving into blogging just because that’s what they see their competitors doing. The problem with that approach is regardless of how it’s done, content development takes time.
So when a business dives in, publishes numerous posts and then fails to see an increase in new leads or customers, they’re very likely to give up on content. However, since content publishing takes some time to build momentum, having a clearer outlook would have allowed them to stick with their publishing efforts and reap the results.
When it comes to the overall business goal of content writing and promotion, increased traffic is generally the first. By approaching content in a strategic manner that involves things like SEO research and properly promoting each post, a business can increase the number of targeted visitors their website receives.
While increased traffic is a good goal, businesses should actually take this foundation one more step by making their goal to increase the number of visitors who become a new lead or customer. Not only is the second component of the goal important for linking content directly to a business objective, but it will also shine a lot of clarity on what type of content makes the most sense to publish.
Once your content strategy has a clear goal, you’ll find that it’s much easier to put all of the other pieces into place. From how you will handle content writing to what outlets you’ll use for promotion, keep in mind that these elements of a strategy are all things that can evolve over time.
Does LinkedIn Fit Into a Smart Content Strategy?
In terms of strategy development and execution, one of the first components you’ll need to address is how you plan to handle content creation. While plenty of businesses initially think that they’ll handle content development themselves, many ultimately realize that their best option is to put this ongoing task in the hands of capable professionals. If you’ve come to the same realization, Big Red SEO’s editorial team can help.
Although getting content written and published online is a task that can take any business some time to master, simply putting content like blog posts out into the digital world isn’t enough to drive significant results. Starting to see the results you want from your content efforts also requires promoting content in an effective way.
While Twitter and Facebook are the first two sites most people think of when asked about content promotion, the large size of those sites doesn’t guarantee that the target audience of a business is going to be active on them. If you’re in a B2B industry, it’s going to make more sense to promote your content through channels that are generally considered more professional. That’s where LinkedIn can come into the picture.
If you still think of LinkedIn as a site where people go when they need a job, you’re definitely not alone. But despite that common perception of LinkedIn, the site has grown into an essential destination for countless business owners and other influential professionals. For example, an increasing number of businesses have found that potential clients check the business and its owners out on LinkedIn before contacting the business for a consultation.
What is LinkedIn Publishing and Why Should Your Business Utilize It?
Since LinkedIn does offer an ideal environment for many types of businesses to connect with leads, it’s worth noting that the site rolled out an interesting new feature less than a year ago. That feature is LinkedIn Publishing. And what it allows anyone to do is publish posts directly through LinkedIn.
At first, that may not sound like a very big deal. However, there have been enough case studies written about LinkedIn Publishing to strongly consider integrating it into your overall content strategy. If the idea of needing to publish content through yet another channel sounds overwhelming, the good news is making the most of LinkedIn Publishing is easier than you may think.
The reason that this feature of LinkedIn can be a simple but effective addition to your content strategy is you don’t have to worry about writing additional blog posts just for the site. Instead, based on what people have published in their case studies, LinkedIn is best used as a syndication platform for the posts that a business publishes on their own site.
By using LinkedIn Publishing to syndicate the content your business is already publishing, you can put it into a network that has been shown to attract the interest of new people and then subsequently bring those individuals to the main site of a business.
Big Red SEO is Ready to Help with Your Content Needs
Whether you need help ironing out the details of your content strategy or you want to take your existing publishing efforts to the next level, we can help. Call us today at (402) 522-6468 to talk more about how we can help you with this important component of online marketing.