Last week we shared the results of our Inbound Marketing and Social Media survey. While most respondents have implemented at least one component of Inbound Marketing, there’s a big disparity in how those tactics are executed.
For example, blogging and social media are the most used tactics. However, bloggers most often post less than 4 articles per month or more than 13! For social media, responses were evenly split on the number of posts per week between less than 5 and more than 15. So, who’s right? While there is room for variation based on your business, we have a few best practices to help you get the most qualified leads out of your activities.
Blogging – Just like anything else, you get out of it what you put into it. For businesses, the benefits of a blog include attracting prospects, communicating with customers and improving your search engine optimization (SEO). Think about your blog as a daily newspaper; if the content isn’t fresh everyday you won’t read it again. Same is true for your blog: stale content won’t do you any good. Your readers and the search engines need a reason to visit your site.
The Weidert Group team posts a blog every day. There are weeks we don’t quite make it but we definitely pay the price – our prospect visits and referrals drop significantly with just one missed post. Once a week might be the right frequency for your business if you’re just starting out; less than that won’t help you attract the leads you’re hoping for. As you get more comfortable, try to increase your frequency to build your readership.
Need a little help coming up with ideas? Download our free tip sheet to "10 Ways to Keep Your Blog Stocked With Great Content."
Social Media – I like to think about social media like the morning news. There are usually 4-6 primary stories repeated several times throughout the two-hour broadcast because not all viewers are watching at the same time. The same is true for social media: if someone isn’t looking at their feed exactly when you post, there’s a good chance your message won’t be seen.
With scheduling tools like HubSpot or Buffer (Buffer is free!) you can schedule posts to go out without having to manually do it each time. So, if you have a link you’re sharing, a new blog post or a content piece you’re promoting, think about scheduling it a couple times a day over several days. That increases your chances of being seen. Using us as an example again, our Weidert Group accounts send out posts every hour or so. Our entire team then redistributes those messages on our personal accounts. Make sure you throw in a few unscheduled posts and respond to feedback from your followers.
Just like blogging, it takes a little practice but quickly becomes part of your routine requiring very little time. By monitoring your activity metrics, you’ll learn the best times to share on social media based on when your followers are most interested and active.
For additional social media tips, download our eBook "How to Use Social Media to Attract More Visitors to Your Website."
Topics: Content Marketing, Social Media
