Planning your blog post content is something that is done as part of your digital strategy. You write content based on your objectives and, more importantly, your target customers (or avatars). In this post I have put together some tips of how to optimise your blog posts to enhance your content efforts. Why do you need to optimise blog posts? There are a variety of reasons, but the main reason is - because if you don’t, you are wasting a lot of time creating content which Google never picks up on properly. If Google (and other search engines) aren’t picking up on the content, that means people searching for you aren’t either. How to optimise your blog posts Here is a standard list we … [Read more...] about Optimising Blog Posts
content planning
Customer Avatar Exercise
It is natural to run out of ideas for content for your social media, blogging and email content strategies. But, even after many many years of working with clients - my answer to your creative block is to relook at your customer avatar(s). How well do you know who you are trying to reach by telling your business story? Customer Avatar Exercise This is a structured way to really flesh out and get to know your target audiences (customer avatar) as well as possible. This is what we use when working with clients and honestly, it's the magic wand you have been looking for. Old school marketing people will remember the concept of ‘personas’. Gartner provides a definition of a Persona … [Read more...] about Customer Avatar Exercise
Tips for the Perfect Blog Post
Keeping your content fresh on your blog is really important for search. Google loves fresh, new content. But, sometimes it can be hard to think of what to write for your blog...right? Well, here are five steps for you to keep in mind, when you sit down to write a blog post. 6 Steps to producing the perfect post Step 1: Keep Bob front of mind When you sit down to write, make sure you can quite succinctly describe who you are writing to. This is your target audience, or customer avatar (which is what we call it). You may have different audiences that you produce content for, so for each post you sit down to write - be clear on who it is you are trying writing for. Bob, for example, … [Read more...] about Tips for the Perfect Blog Post
How to Manage Your Time On Social Media
I imagine that next to trying to work out "what to say" on social media, the next biggest pressure may be in finding the time to commit to participating fully on social media (in order to really reap the rewards). The main cornerstones to a successful and efficiently run social media strategy is to make sure that everything you do is purposeful, consistent and ties in with everything else that you are doing in the business. Here are some guidelines on how to go about that: Take the time to craft a social media strategy and policy I know I harp on about this as a first step – but it really is worth taking time to reflect on why you are on social media in the first place and what … [Read more...] about How to Manage Your Time On Social Media
How to get the balance and frequency of social media content right
This is part of my series of FAQ videos where I answer your questions in person for you. In this edition I answer the question: How to get the balance and frequency of social media content right. This is a very dynamic question, because how much you share and how frequently you share it, is highly dependent on your industry, your audience and more importantly the device use/behaviour of those audiences. The key is to understand the maths behind how the platforms themselves work on top of the above! Facebook has A LOT of algorithms that determine what content gets seen and what doesn't. It's very much based on how people interact with you - Facebook gives more weight to GOOD content which … [Read more...] about How to get the balance and frequency of social media content right
Who is Reading Your Blog Posts?
Do you sometimes feel like you are writing to a big black dark hole...and you never really know if there is someone on the other side? Writing blog posts can feel like this, however - there are some simple tricks that you can put in play, so that (1) you feel a bit more valued as a content provider and (2) so that you know if anyone is actually reading what you are putting out there. There are a few conventional ways, which...if you match with some easy tech and human relationships - you will instantly have some measurements that can give you some encouraging feedback. TRICK 1: Subscribers Are you giving your readers really obvious ways in which to subscribe to your content? Ideally look … [Read more...] about Who is Reading Your Blog Posts?
The social media team needs inspiration and input
Sustaining a social media strategy means finding the enthusiasm, motivation and stamina to continually feed the content monster. Part of feeding the content monster comes from idea generation and creativity - which will come from your team either within your social media department, if you have one, or from a handful of people around the organisation. Keeping up the steam of enthusiasm It is very important to ensure that you are nourishing the enthusiasm in your team, because that will ripple out to your social media audience and impact engagement, reach and of course, in the end…your results. Schedule time for refreshing the brain The brain is a muscle and needs exercise. To stay creative, … [Read more...] about The social media team needs inspiration and input
The Ease of Auto-posting vs Devaluing Your Content | Efficiency Myth
We are all busy. That is a given, right? Now - what we are busy with - could be debated until the cows come home. Sometimes I have met business owners who are so "busy" with things that in the scheme of things are (a) not productive, (b) won't make a difference if its not done, and more importantly (c) someone else should be doing. Of course, the natural inclination is to look for the easy route when it comes to social media. "What could I do with one action - that could be replicated and look like "more"?" In the context of managing your social media content - the perceived easy route is automating all of you social posting (i.e. one status update being shared on Facebook, Twitter and … [Read more...] about The Ease of Auto-posting vs Devaluing Your Content | Efficiency Myth