In the last post of our LBFB Series we discussed content distribution and how your blog should be your primary focus.
Today we'll talk about relevance, and specifically how it relates to your content and your outreach - or your spokes.
The first step is knowing how you want to be known, what you want to be known for, and who you want to know you.
And of course... why. The "why" is all important.
Having a definitive answer will help you target your market appropriately, grow your readership faster, dramatically improve your conversion rate, and of course build a highly responsive and profitable mailing list...
If you don't yet have a clear vision of the how, what, who & why for your online business - stop here and do some brainstorming. 😉
If you need help, or want some input & feedback, join us at my forum.
"All of the subscribers on any one list should have a common interest which you serve with relevant content.
Relevance is huge for managing deliverability and making sure that subscribers not only stay subscribed but help you recruit more visitors to your site. It's easy to stay relevant as long as your blog stays on topic and powers mailings to your list." -Chapter Two, Page 11
You Just Published a Blog Post. Now What?
Relevance begins with the content on your blog. You know your target market, and you write content that specifically answers their questions or solves their problems.
Depending on how your mailing list is set up, your subscribers may automatically receive notification of your new blog post by email through a Blog Broadcast - or you may have to email them manually.
The same goes for your social media channels. You may have plugins or programs set up to automatically ping each of your channels, or you may share your new blog post on each channel manually.
Personally, I prefer to share my latest post on each individual channel or network myself and do not use any automation for my social media marketing.
Why?
Relevance.
Each social media site has it's own system for connecting people and content. On Twitter it's @'s and Hashtags, on Tumblr it's Tags, on Facebook it's @'s, On Google+ it's +'s, etc.
If you automate your updates through one program, you can only "get it right" in one place. You'll end up with Twitter Hashtags on Facebook, or @'s that don't connect to anything. Which is IRrelevant. 😉
Let me just hop over to Facebook real quick and find you an example. It won't be hard - a lot of people automate their updates. Ahh - here you go:
See what I mean? 😛 (No offense to Jim - he rocks!) When you see things like this in your Facebook stream, it doesn't make any sense. The @'s aren't hyperlinked and the hashtags are usually irrelevant. It creates an unnecessary disconnect.
It only takes a few seconds - okay, a few minutes tops - to visit each channel individually and post your update appropriately for that specific channel.
And it's definitely worth the few minutes you invest, because the right attributions can spread your message much further!
Not only will it be more relevant to your readers and followers, but the right attributions can get your update TONS more exposure.
Marketing On The Micro-Level
Once I publish a blog post, I immediate share it on:
- Google+
- Tumblr
- Pinterest (if relevant)
... and of course to my email list via Aweber's Blog Broadcast email notification. I don't personally use Social Bookmarking sites to bookmark my own posts, but I do have buttons on each post that make it easy for my readers to stumble/bookmark my content.
I would love to hear your thoughts. How do you maintain relevance? Which "spokes" do you use to promote your content and reach your readers? And if you automate, what do you use and why?
Next in the series we'll dig into Chapter Three and discuss some of the most common fears and concerns with Email Marketing. Stay tuned! 😀
Best,
p.s. If you don't yet have a copy of List Building For Bloggers, and you want to follow along in the series this month, grab a copy here and use the coupon code "clicknewz" for $10 off. 😉 That makes it only $14.95!
About Lynn Terry
I have seen the same thing on facebook. Before I became familiar with twitter and the use of hashtags I became confused about what those pound signs meant. I find it annoying and I'm glad you brought this up. Not only is it irrelevant and creates some disconnect it also shows some level of indolence on the person's part. Like you said it just takes a few minutes to update each social media site.
I actually hate it when I see Twitter @'s and #'s on Facebook! I caught myself doing this one day and promptly STOPPED myself! Yes, I do have FB and Twitter linked BUT I take the time to go over to Twitter, or when I am submitting to Scoop.it, to then add the @'s and hashtags. I figure if I hate seeing this shortcut so do others!
Timely. I just published a blog post and now I am off to update my other sites. I wasn't doing this before so it will be interesting to see if it makes a difference.
It makes a huge difference 😉
Thanks for such complete information put into easy-to-follow steps. I find that by using these steps, I have also been able to gain tons of exposure for my posts as well as the traffic to my website that follows. It's a great combination of skill and effort, wrapped together with a well-formed blog site that equals success. Wondering if you also recommend bookmarking and pinging each post? I didn't see that mentioned in your article.
I did mention in the post that I do not bookmark my own content. I do offer buttons for my readers to bookmark though. Pinging happens automatically when you publish. You can update the list of sites you ping in WordPress admin, but it's not really necessary.
Cross posting isn't the end of the world. For example , if your Twitter hashtags show up in Facebook, etc.
Keeping it relevant is important though.
For some type of automation, I use RavenTools. I can schedule posts with images to Facebook and Twitter. Eventually Google+ will be integrated too.
What about Pinterest & Tumblr? Are they included?
I prefer to do it manually. It only takes a minute or two to post to every channel, and make it channel-relevant...
I don't do automation because there are still audience that don't know why there are "#" and "@" in your facebook updates lol
Yeah, the automated services don't work for me either for the same reason. I manually update each of my social media accounts with every new blog post. Manual updates aren't really the big time-sink people consider them to be - it's only updating Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and my mailing list. Plus, it's not like I update my blog every single day. That being said, I can see how people who run multiple blogs will find it a hassle and use automated services, despite all their drawbacks.
In those cases, it's best to get a site/blog to max profit potential and in "maintenance mode". That way it's not such a big deal to market each of them once they're all established. The problem is when people try to launch, market & manage too many projects at once. 😉
I agree. Social networking has a big influence to all marketers because you can easily gain traffic. People like me also commit grammar mistake when writing a post. Well being frustrated is one of the reasons, but I agree to you that it was important to check grammar mistakes so that readers can get interest in reading your post.
I use ping.fm to automate my social media shares.I admit that it's not good. Doing it manually is still the best. However, I still use it for updating my walls like for instance, a personal update consisting of only texts. I also still use automation for social bookmarks. I am maintaining multiple blogs so it would be time consuming if I'll do it one by one.
For text updates with no attributions, auto-posting to cross channels would be fine. Assuming attributions wouldn't benefit you...
There are times that we already disregard the relevancy of items. It isn't because we don't know the reason behind that, but rather, we don't really want to spend too much time in making social media updates.
It is SO worth the minute or two invested. 😀
Yeah! Unfortunately, not all people find it that way. Too bad for others who use their social media in other stuffs like games.
Relevancy, good point Lynn Terry. What you’re actually doing is branding YOU online. So your message has to be congruent and relevant. For example: (and I credit Entrepreneur magazine’s April 2012 issue for this) the biggest brands of our time only engage in marketing that is relevant.
Coca-Cola sells happiness. Ever heard the saying “Have a Coke and a smile”? And look at all their ads. People are smiling and having fun.
FedEx lives up to their promises: “When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight”
Starbucks encourages connections. Just walk into your local Starbucks at any time of day. You’ll see BUSINESS happening there. And not just from the people who work there, but from the patrons. That’s why Starbucks has large meeting areas and large meeting tables with receptacle plugs 3 feet apart. It’s because they know that BUSINESS is taking place there.
These companies cater their marketing messages to different segments. For example, Coca-Cola runs different ads for the Baby Boomers than they do for the Millennials.
A Starbucks in Seattle looks a lot different than the ones here in Myrtle Beach, SC where I live.
It’s because the demographics are different. Therefore an ad geared for the Millennials wouldn’t be relevant to Baby Boomers. And a Seattle Starbucks simply wouldn’t fit in here at the beach.
Sure, those companies could just run one simple ad and press “go” and blast the entire country with their ads and pay no attention to the different people or media sources. But it would turn into an epic failure.
The same goes with your blog and your ONLINE BRAND. So take the time to brand YOU properly. Because that’s what people are buying. People buy from people they know like and trust. So take the extra effort and syndicate your content manually…yourself…to each media source.
I know those automation software push button systems appear easy and sexy, but they can be toxic.
So to quote Lynn Terry here:
Once YOU publish a blog post, YOU immediate share it on:
• Google+
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Tumblr
• Pinterest (if relevant)
Good times fuzzy bunnies folks.
Happy marketing.
Shane
Great points, Shane! 😉
Quick question... I have a personal facebook, but I would not want to use that for marketing. Should I create another facebook account specifically for internet marketing?
The quick answer is yes. But it kind of depends. Your online identity is your brand. Since you will be using your FB account to lead generation and traffic generation, you'll want your messages to be congruent.
However, if you're not promoting another product or business in your current account, then all you'll have to do is change a few links...adjust your privacy settings...add some new picks and begin posting about IM stuff. Your list is going to want to see YOU and all your warts so to speak. That way they get to know you.
On the other hand, if you have a bunch of real personal pictures of your family and your kids then it may be best to start a new account.
Me personally, I'm starting a new one. You see, locally people know my as a home inspector. (I've owned a home inspection firm since 2004)
However, my passion is IM. So I'm starting a new account for just that.
Hope that was helpful Brendon.
Happy marketing.
Shane
P.S. for the best FB info on the web right now, check out Perry Marshal's new book. You can get it over at Amazon for like $15.
Thanks for your response. Yea, I think I will go with creating a new account. I will like to start fresh. I do not really want my personal Facebook account mixed with my Internet Marketing one.
Oh, and one more question. I should create a fan page, right? Where you Like it to view posts? Rather than a regular Facebook account where you have to add the person as a friend to view posts?
Yes. You'll totally need a like page. That's where you'll build your list and drive traffic to.
You can even promote your fan page/like page via ppc inside FB. Good stuff.
Yes. I have a Facebook PAGE for each of my separate projects. Even my great dane has his own Facebook Page (because people complained he took over my profile, lol): http://www.facebook.com/slimadventures 🙂
My other pages are http://www.facebook.com/lynnterrybiz
and http://www.facebook.com/lowcarbtraveler
While I talk about business and travel and eating low carb occasionally on my personal profile, those Pages are dedicated discussion areas for those topics.
We always prefer manually submitting our links and sharing our content as well, as you can make the descriptions much more accurate to each platform that you're submitting it to!
Hi.
If for example separate wordpress plugins are installed for facebook and twitter I think it will work correctly. And another plugin for email notifications. This is a good completely automated solution. It is good for people that don't want to spend time at all but get some kind of benefit. I guess it will be still better to do it manually for people that want to do it better and spend some time.
Regards.
Actually posting something is just the first step to achieve a little visibility. You need to spread content trough social networks, comment other blogs, try to make some viral media content (images and videos), and so on.
There are no more opportunities for small personal blogs.
I agree with everything except your last sentence - you lost me there! 😉
Having a clear vision and mission would help me out a lot and give me a constant feel of purpose when I write. Sometimes I find it hard to come up with a topic to write about, get lazy and stop all together. Without having a plan or some form of purposeful direction, your business can die off quickly.