Creating original and engaging content is only the first step. The next step is getting your content seen. This is important for several reasons, the foremost being search engines using the number of views and shares of content as an indicator of the quality and appropriate ranking of your content. The second reason you need to have highly visible content is that people are more likely to read it if they’ve been referred the content or see that others have viewed or liked the content. Here are three original ways to promote your content and use it to boost your website’s visibility.
Your Business, a Reality Show
Television shows like “Undercover Boss” are appealing because they show the average person how a business works. You can use content from employee interviews to white papers explaining how your company pulls amazing things off to engage the customers and generate word of mouth and social media sharing. Sometimes this makes your company look even better than before, or in the case of McDonalds Canada, opening up their platform to questions from company experts and touring farms dispelled rumours about the company.
Your Brand as a Lifestyle
When someone thinks about Apple, the high tech products are what come to mind. In reality, Apple sells itself as what cool, high tech people buy – and then sells them a variety of gadgets to go with the lifestyle. Gerber takes care of babies and sells itself as the indispensable solution for new mothers. Evernote caters to creative professionals and portrays itself as the solution for all of their needs.
This marketing approach requires complete understanding of your core customer and presenting your brand as their default solution, ideally engaging them as soon as someone enters that life stage or career path. Then engage that community with continual content marketing, providing a stream of articles that address their unique questions and concerns while presenting your product or service as the solution. Publishing new content frequently has the added benefits of maintaining customer engagement and keeping your website fresh in the eyes of search engines.
Combine Deep Content with Other Formats
One way your brand can stand out is when it combines deep content with other formats. For example, you offer podcasts for engaging audio like interviews with industry leaders or subject matter experts in area. Offer companion content like deep answers on questions brought up in the podcast or separate interview questions answered at length that were lightly touched on in the interview. If you don’t want to do podcasts yourself, be a guest on other podcasts. This has the added benefit of letting you expose yourself and your product to a brand new audience and leverage others’ marketing efforts of their interview of you.
Another option is putting links to user manuals or in depth how-to instructions under YouTube videos; the deep content teaches people how to handle more complex problems than the simple how-to demonstrated in the video. Post interviews and presentations online as video and put transcripts of the interviews underneath it. You’ll naturally capture significant conversational SEO traffic, eliminate the need for closed captioning and let people who want to read but not listen to the video do exactly that. Don’t forget to post video of your webinars after the webinar with detailed notes on the presentation.
Summary
Pull back the curtain and give your customers a look at the inside of your business’ operations; you’ll generate interest from the general public and positive PR. Identify your core customer and their lifestyle, then tie your image to their lifestyle and create a constant stream of content that helps them live their lives better. Combine deep content with other types of online marketing and outreach, ideally leveraging others’ audience to bring in new customers.