Having attended several digital media seminars this month, I’m reminded that the world of internet marketing is way bigger than just backlinks. Yes, that’s the world I live in most of the time and the world where I feel very knowledgeable. But there are several trends that simply should not be ignored at this time. I have a lot to say on each of these, but here is the “3000 ft above view” of three digital strategies that should not be ignored.

Number one: Mobile

It’s really common sense. Mobile is huge. Mobile is growing. Mobile is the future. We all know it. In the past few weeks, I have sat through literally hours of presentations on how important mobile is and how big it’s going to get. Did you know that 22% of all internet content consumed in the US is on mobile devices? That’s 430% growth year over year. We even have new terms in our vocabulary like “smartphone addiction” and the “second screen experience”. (This is when someone interacts with their mobile device while watching television, and it’s a huge growing trend.)

If you’re a business owner, you have to consider a mobile strategy. That might be something as simple as having a website that is mobile friendly. Consider that mobile users often have a different goal. Rather than doing research, they may just want to call you or find you from their mobile device. Is your phone number prominent on your mobile site and does it “click to call”? Does your address integrate with the mobile device’s mapping features? These are possibly the two most important elements of a (local) mobile-friendly website. Also, you’ll need to consider mobile SEO and even mobile pay-per-click strategies.

Here are a couple of interesting mobile-specific infographics.

If you need to build yourself a mobile site, there are some great free tools including GoMo, which I have used on my own site. It’s not the ideal RESPONSIVE solution, but it’s a good choice for my needs. (Responsive designs can be very expensive and sometimes mean building your whole site from scratch.)

I’ll be writing more on mobile. Sign up for my newsletter or follow me on facebook to stay up to date.

Number two: Content Marketing

The simplest definition of content marketing is this: creating content that is relevant to your business, that your readers are inclined to consume. Arnie Kuenn, author of Accelerate! Move Your Business Forward through the Convergence of Search, Social & Content Marketing, says, “If you own a website, you’re a publisher.” In other words, you have to create content that will get prospects to visit your site and clients to re-visit your site. You have to inform them, educate them and sometimes entertain them. You have to create reasons for them to visit your site and then purchase your products and/or services.

Think about the websites you frequent. What is it about them that keeps bringing you back? I’m a fan of iPhone news and Jeeps. I love reading the latest rumors and reviews. I enjoy the pictures and the videos of fools getting stuck in the mud. This is the kind of content that primes me to be a customer. What kind of content are you creating to keep your customers and prospects engaged? When they are ready to buy, will your business be top of mind?

“But my business rents tools and equipment. That’s not interesting.” You say. I challenge you to think bigger. Maybe learning about the specs of a given tool are not very interesting. You’re probably right in thinking that I do not want to learn about your chain trencher or your disc trencher. But I may be interested in learning to install an invisible dog fence. Could you write a blog article or create a video that demonstrates the steps involved in a project like that? Maybe you remind me to call the utility companies to locate underground cables before I get started. Maybe you help me understand the best layout for my invisible fence or you offer tactics for keeping my dog out of sensitive areas of my yard. You tell me how deep to bury the wire and how to deal with a sidewalk or driveway. At the end of the day, you’ve created great content that a potential customer will find useful. And when that reader is ready to do the job, guess who they will turn to when they need to rent their trencher.

Content marketing is good for search engines too! When the search engines crawl your site and find fresh, relevant, original content, it’ll give you some brownie points against your competition. (Build links to your new content and then you’re really talking good SEO!)

Blogging is probably the most popular form of content marketing. Sites with great blogs are ranking great on Google, and they offer a lot of good reading material to their clients and prospects. I often get asked “How often should I blog?” I’m not sure I have the exact right answer, but consider this. Search engines consider freshness of content a big indicator as to that site’s trust and authority. News sites, like CNN, that post tons and tons of new content every single day are probably some of the most authoritative sites on the web. If you can publish something new every single day, you’re probably going to really kick butt. That said, you have a business to run so you probably want to know the minimum you can get away with. In my very humble OPINION, I believe you should post new content a minimum of once a week. Still sound like a task you don’t have the time or manpower for? Contact me for some ideas.

Infographics are another great form of content marketing. Infographics are a great way to tell a story with pictures. For your readers who aren’t really readers, or who don’t have the time to read a long article, infographics are a great shortcut into their internet consumption. Infographics are great because they can convey a lot of data or tell a story with images. They can be glanced at in just a few minutes and still get their message across. They are also great because they are so easy to share. You want your content marketing to get in front of as many people as possible, and infographics are often shared on others’ blogs, tweeted, liked, +1ed and pinned. They have the ability to get in front of clients who don’t even know they are looking for them via their social media feeds.

I’m a little crazy about infographics actually. Read more here.

Videos are also pretty great content marketing. Unless you’ve been living without electricity, you’ve probably watched an online video. Or maybe you watch a lot of online video. Check out these statistics:

  • More than three out of five consumers will spend at least two minutes watching a video that educates them about a product they plan to purchase, and 37% will watch three for more than three minutes. (MarketingCharts.com, 2012)
  • Pages with video attracted 2-3x as many monthly visitors, doubled time on site, and achieved a 157% increase in organic traffic from search engines. (MarketingSherpa, December 2011)
  • 76% of marketers plan to add video to their sites in 2012, making it a higher priority than Facebook, Twitter, and blog integration. (Social Media Examiner, April 2012)

Online videos can be used to educate or entertain. They can be used to review products, or even sell them. I recently created my very own video outlining just about everything you need to know to build an infographic strategy. It’s brand new, so I don’t have any big success stories for you, but here’s why I used video.

I figured that if I could create a video training that taught someone interested in infographics exactly how they could create and run a successful infographic strategy, I would attract a customer here and there. The video tells nearly every step of the process, and I understand that many people will watch the video and go about their strategy never contacting me. But I also believe there will be folks who get excited about infographics, but don’t have the skills to do the research or artwork to build their own infographic. Or maybe they have an infographic, but don’t know how to build backlinks to it or how to give it the best chance to go crazy via social media channels. Those are the people I hope will look to me for a solution. I’m hoping they’ll consider me the authority on infographics, that they will turn to me when they are ready to invest in an infographic strategy.

What are some other great examples? How about the landscape contractor who posts a video of an irrigation system installation? The video shows the steps he takes to properly install the system, his attention to detail and safety, and the final product. Would you hire this guy before his competition who simply states that he offers irrigation installation on his website?

Or how about the plastic surgeon who has video testimonials from his patients? A video has a way of capturing their passion and emotions in a way that a written testimonial can’t. Maybe this plastic surgeon even has videos where he talks about his abilities and expertise on his website. So now, when his new patients come in, he doesn’t have to spend an hour convincing them that he’s the guy for the job, because his online videos have already convinced them. (Real live example, BTW via WebRocketVideo.com)

Here are some great resources for anyone looking for more on content marketing:

Arnie Kuenn’s (@ArnieK) presentation, How To Win at Search, Social and Content Marketing

Arnie Kuenn’s book, ACCELERATE! (Only $2.99 on Kindle. Are you kidding me?!)

Monique Pouget’s (@MoniqueTheGeek) presentation, The Content Marketer’s Toolbox

Number three: Social Media

This really isn’t news to you is it? Inherently, you know that social media should be a part of your online marketing mix. But maybe you don’t think it’s relevant to your clients or maybe you just don’t have the time. For the purposes of this article, I’m going to give you my advice on the most basic social media strategies I encourage you to embrace. If you want to really take advantage of social media and all it has to offer, two of my favorite resources are Social Media Examiner and Social Media Club.

At the very least, you’ll want to have social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+. Also consider Pinterest and other new platforms. Use these channels to broadcast your content marketing, be that blog articles, infographics, videos or other stuff that you’re creating to make your website awesome. By sharing your weekly content on these channels, you’ll attract followers and fans and such, and potentially get some clients out of the deal.

Here’s some good advice when it comes to social media.  Promote your content, not your business. How many times have you seen that business owner constantly offering deals and coupons and specials, or saying things like “Its termite season. Call us today for an inspection!”? Does that inspire you to take action? How could he have used content marketing to make that social media post more effective? How about something like, “It’s termite season. Read this article on what you should look for to see if you have a termite problem.” Better? See how the content is the key and social media is just the channel for promoting that content?

You’ll also want to use social media to create relationships. To use one of my “Let’s Translate analogies,” the world of social media is a lot like a big networking event. Ever been to a conference or a Chamber of Commerce meeting? You’re there to create relationships that may result in clients or referrals. But when you attend these kinds of events, do you just walk up to strangers and start pitching your product or services? Not if you want to be successful, no. Instead, you introduce yourself and you start a CONVERSATION – a conversation that hopefully includes a little about you personally and a lot about what the other person does. (Two ears, one mouth, right?). You use your social skills to listen and learn about the other person, what he or she does and what they can bring to a mutually beneficial relationship. Only then do you talk about yourself and your business.

Why not extend these social skills online? Follow those who have similar interests on Twitter. Like them on Facebook or circle them on Google+. Read what they post. Comment when it’s relevant. Retweet the stuff you like. Post things of interest on their wall. Introduce folks that have commonalities when it makes sense. In other words, be social. Don’t be that guy who posts all the time, but never listens or engages with the other users on the platform.

Just like in real life networking, when you play nice in these channels, opportunities will present themselves to you. A friend on Twitter may recommend you to one of their contacts. Someone on Facebook may re-post one of your videos, resulting in a new client. Maybe someone pins your infographic and it goes viral.

Social media isn’t a strategy in and of itself. It’s simply a medium for executing your strategy.

So… these are the three digital strategies that shouldn’t be ignored: mobile, content marketing and social media. Are there others? Of course I would put SEO and even PPC at the top of the list and there are others of course. I guess what I’m hoping you’ll take away from this is that you should no longer have a single “internet strategy”. You can’t group “internet” into one channel that goes with TV, radio, newspaper and direct mail. The internet is bigger than ever and you need to consider the different channels within the internet to get the best results. Mobile, content marketing and social are just the biggest, baddest, hottest strategies available today.

Thanks for reading,

David McBee

 

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