When I first started blogging and using supporting social media for
it, I made tons of rookie marketing mistakes. Once I even accidentally
posted a cat article to my company’s corporate Facebook page that has
nothing to do with cats. The funniest thing is that this cat article got
better engagement than our own “highly-targeted” content. Well, I guess
cute animals always bring in lots of engagement, but that was not the
kind of engagement we were looking for.
Here are some major, and oh-so-common, marketing mistakes that might
be putting your social media following growth at risk. They might just
make you or break you and have a much more significant negative effect
on your digital presence than an accidental cat post.
1. If You Start Blogging, They’ll Read
While it’s great that you started blogging, you’re just starting to
do your job. Don’t rely on someone accidentally stumbling upon your
blog; even the best content needs promotion. We now know that “great
product doesn’t promote itself.” You do. Assuming your content is top
notch, you still need to be active on social media sites to push this
content out to the masses where people will see it.
2. Just Leave the Old Posts Alone
Updating an old article can be a very effective blogging technique.
If you’re trying to build thought leadership, you have to ensure that
every page on your website is true and accurate. Sure, things like
opinions, trends and data change over time and links get broken.
However, you can take an older blog post and instead of writing out a
whole new one, just update the older post.
You can even leave an older post as is and type a comparison or commentary on previous thoughts. This will show your readers that you
take care of your blog and are very mindful of your own content and what
you put out there. If some prediction didn’t take place or the trend
has changed, write out your thoughts on why it happened the way it did,
where you were basing your opinion on before, etc.
Bonus: Google likes when pages get updated because an update increases relevancy.
3. You Need to Come up with New Content Constantly
While you do need to post something consistently, you don’t have to
reinvent the wheel every time. Take your most popular blog post and
reuse the content by creating an infographic or video, or by developing a
webinar or podcast series to further expand on the topic. The
possibilities are endless. If you recycle your content occasionally,
you’ll have a wealth of content in different media.
Industry leaders like Jay Baer and Social Media Examiner do it all
the time. Different forms of content will also attract new audiences who
prefer one content form over another. It will also make social media
post ideas easier to come up with once you have a wealth of options.
4. You Don’t Need to Collect Emails if You’re Not Sending out Newsletters
You might not be planning on a newsletter right now, but maybe in a
year you will. Start collecting email addresses even if you don’t see an
immediate use for them. Your email list is still your biggest asset;
this is the single digital marketing channel that brings in the best
ROI. People who are willing to share their email address with you signal
their interest in your content or possible products. Don’t reject their
interest, because once you have a product, a launch or just a simple
newsletter, you’ll be able to let these people know and build an initial
list. Besides, websites like WordPress send an email notification each
time a blog you’re subscribed to publishes new article. Email
communication is a great way to send them back to your website and build
a base of constant readers.
5. One Share Bar Is Enough
That little obscure thing in the bottom of the post. Or even worse,
on top. I have nothing against those things, but encourage sharing every
step of the way. They might love your article, but if they have to
scroll all the way to the top of the page to share, chances are they
won’t. There are lots of free tools, like SumoMe or Buffer, that you can
use to install scrolling share bars. You can also install a tool that
will grab images from the post and share it to social platforms along
with a link to the post. Why wouldn’t you take advantage of it?
6. You Have to Be on All Popular Platforms
Seriously consider which social media platforms to use. You don’t
have to be on every single platform that’s hot right now. If you have
limited resources, like time, money and people, concentrate on a couple
of proven networks. Instead of spreading yourself too thin, build
meaningful connections and an impressive following on just a couple of
networks where you can consistently bring value and quality. Think about
your content and where it would be most appropriate. If your content is
highly visual, use Pinterest or Instagram. If you’re producing videos,
use YouTube. If you’re providing timely industry updates, consider
Twitter.
Lesya Liu
Read Lesya Liu’s comments on, “12 Myths about Building an Online Presence” on Quora.
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