SEO is certainly nothing new. For a long time, SEO was a function of keywords and coding. Then Google got smarter. So while SEO is nothing, we discovered that combining SEO and Content Marketing is one of the most effective of the marketing trends we’re going to see in 2022.
Today, most of the metrics included in Google’s algorithm have to do with content (even Google admits this) and the engagement you win through the distribution of great content. Using various types of content (visual, text, video, infographics, audio, etc) does much better than using a single type of content.
More content – As more businesses embrace content marketing, competition continues to get tougher. Everything you do online is drowned in noise and information overload. In order to get ahead, every business needs to publish better and more content.
According to HubSpot data, publishing at least once a week is critical for ROI and ROI drops pretty precipitously when you publish less frequently. However, it’s not about quantity vs. quality, but an ideal mix of both.
Valuable content – Content should be entertaining, informative, and empathetic. Valuable content answers the search intent or the question asked of the search engine, but it also is structured in a way to encourages engagement such as subscriptions to your email, sharing, comments, and other actions that contribute to ROI.
Original content – Content can be audio, video or text but when you decide to use one or all of these digital content, ensure it is good and original. If you can’t create unique, compelling and good content by yourself, you can hire an expert to create content for your website and social media platforms. This is where you will need a powerful content marketing plan like never before.
Appropriate content – As you can see from this infographic from Occam’s Razor (such a smart dude!), you need to produce content that’s right for each stage in the conversion process (and your metrics need to match your goal with each piece of content).
Knowing where a visitor is in the conversion process isn’t always easy, but, if you’ve done a good job of coding content (applying tracking codes so you know what type of content drove them to visit your site) and use tools that let you track where visitors have been before, you can make an educated guess as to what content they need.
By delivering the right content at the right time, you’re more likely to convert visitors to buyers.
Reach is important. The more visitors you bring to your site, all things being equal, the higher your ROI. This is one of the reasons it’s important to have several social platforms and have links on your content so visitors can easily share your content. You should share your content once it’s published and here’s a schedule we recommend:
As my daughter will tell you: share more than once on Instagram and she’ll unfollow you! In addition to sharing your own content, you should share content created by other great companies/ experts. Many experts recommend you share 20% your promotional content and 80% other valuable content you find.