How Buyer Personas Can Skyrocket Your Inbound Traffic and Social Media Engagement!

Social media content creation is a key component of any successful marketing plan. It helps engage customers, brings attention to your brand, and drives conversions. But when it comes to creating content for social media that really resonates with an audience, the most important step you can take is understanding who your target audience is – namely through developing buyer personas. Buyer personas are simply representations of different types of potential customers or clients; they help you think about how those people might interact with your product or service to craft more effective social media posts that fit their needs. In this blog post, we’ll examine what “buyer personas” are, how they can be useful for creating social media content, and provide some helpful tips on getting started crafting content tailored towards these distinct personalities!

What is a buyer persona and why you should have one

A buyer persona is a powerful tool that serves as a compass guiding businesses toward understanding their ideal customer. This semi-fictional representation of the target audience is characterized by their demographics, goals, challenges, and preferences, ultimately shaping the framework for marketing strategies, product development, and customer service. By giving life to these personas, businesses are better equipped to tailor their approach, fostering meaningful relationships that resonate with their audience. Crafting a well-defined buyer persona is more than just a step in the process; it is the heartbeat of a thriving business, propelling growth and success by putting the customer’s needs and wants at the center of all decisions made. So, invest time in creating and refining your buyer persona; it’s the guiding light that will steer you toward building not just loyal customers, but an empire of brand advocates.

Building your buyer persona – what to include

Crafting a well-defined buyer persona is an essential step toward achieving your business goals, as it serves as a blueprint for understanding the unique characteristics, preferences, and behaviors of your target audience. To build a comprehensive buyer persona, it’s crucial to consider a mix of both demographic and psychographic elements, such as age, income, occupation, location, and interests, alongside insights into the pain points, goals, and motivations of your ideal customer. In addition, evaluate their purchasing habits, preferred media channels, and common objections to tailor your marketing efforts more effectively. Remember that new insights will continually emerge, so always be prepared to adapt and refine your buyer persona over time. By giving life to your target market, you’ll ultimately be able to forge stronger connections with your audience and inspire them to engage with your brand in a meaningful way.

Curating content that resonates with your target audience

Curating content that captivates your target audience is vital in today’s fast-paced digital world. A professionally curated, compelling inventory of information resonates with your audience, driving greater engagement and fostering stronger connections. To achieve this, it’s essential to have a deep understanding of your audience’s demographics, interests, and needs, and to align your content with these insights. By presenting inspiring stories, thought-provoking perspectives, and valuable information in a polished and coherent manner, you create an unforgettable experience for your audience. The result is a loyal following that shares, discusses, and actively participates in your content, thus positioning you as an influential thought leader in your industry.

How to repurpose content for multiple platforms

In today’s fast-paced digital ecosystem, mastering the art of repurposing content is essential for maximizing your brand’s reach and maintaining a consistent brand narrative across multiple platforms. The art of taking a piece of content and giving it new life in various formats allows you to extend its value, engage new audiences, and save valuable time and resources. To successfully repurpose content, begin by identifying the strengths and core messages of the original content, and then creatively explore new ways to present that information through various media, such as podcasts, social media, webinars, or infographics. By thinking beyond traditional content formats and tailoring your approach to each platform’s distinct audience and features, you will not only expand your brand’s presence in the digital landscape but also inspire those who encounter your content to think deeper, learn more, and keep coming back for more.

Tips on creating engaging captions, headlines, and hashtags

The art of crafting engaging captions, headlines, and hashtags is a key ingredient to successfully capturing the attention of your audience and effectively conveying your message across different channels. A professional and inspiring tone adds a unique flavor to your content, setting you apart from the vast ocean of information available online. To ensure readability and impact, it’s important to encapsulate your content’s essence in a concise, yet powerful headline that speaks to your target audience. Creativity and wit play a crucial role in formulating captions that spark an emotional response, encourage sharing, and stimulate discussions. Furthermore, strategically utilizing hashtags not only amplifies your content’s visibility but also connects you with like-minded individuals and communities. By meticulously honing these essential elements, you elevate your content’s appeal, empower your brand’s voice, and create a lasting impression on the digital landscape.

How testing can help you understand the effectiveness of your content

As a content creator, one of the most valuable actions you can take is to test the effectiveness of your content. This process allows you to not only ascertain the strength of your messaging but also optimize its impact by pinpointing areas for improvement. By regularly analyzing your content’s performance through various testing methods, you gain insight into your audience’s preferences and can subsequently tailor your content to better resonate with them. The result is a higher rate of engagement, increased conversion rates, and an enhanced ability to meet your objectives. Ultimately, content testing empowers you to elevate the quality and impact of everything you create, paving the way for long-term success in today’s competitive digital landscape.

Overall, social media content can be a powerful tool to reach your target audience, but it takes knowledge and strategy to make sure the content resonates. Just like you have unique needs as a person, so do your prospects—understanding those needs is where buyer personas come in. By creating a buyer persona in detail, you can better understand what kinds of content will pique the interest of your audience and successfully drive conversions. Additionally, by repurposing existing content and testing different versions and captions, you will learn quickly what works best for your target market. Put everything together to create a data-driven marketing strategy based on insights from real customers—discover the power of buyer personas in creating targeted social media content!

How to Make Side Hustle Money on Etsy using Digital Product “Niches” Such as PDFs, Spreadsheets, and PowerPoint Templates

Are you looking for a lucrative side hustle that allows you to make money from the comfort of your own home? Selling digital products on Etsy, such as PDFs, spreadsheets, and PowerPoint templates can be an excellent way to earn some extra cash.

Here are a few potential niches you could consider:

  1. Printable art: This is a popular niche on Etsy, and you can create and sell downloadable prints of your own artwork, designs, or photographs.
  2. Wedding invitations: If you have a talent for graphic design, you can create beautiful wedding invitation templates that customers can customize themselves.
  3. Digital planner pages: With the growing popularity of digital planners, you can design and sell digital planner pages that customers can use to plan and organize their lives.
  4. Social media templates: As more and more people use social media for marketing and branding, you can create and sell templates for posts, stories, and ads that customers can use to elevate their online presence.
  5. Resume templates: If you have experience in human resources or recruiting, you can design and sell resume templates that help job seekers stand out in a crowded job market.
While earnings can vary widely depending on factors such as the type of products you sell, their price point, and the amount of marketing you do, according to Etsy's 2020 Q2 financial report, the marketplace generated over $346 million in revenue from digital sales during that quarter alone. This indicates that there is a significant market for digital products on Etsy and the potential for sellers to make a substantial amount of money from their sales.

It’s important to note that there are costs associated with selling on Etsy, such as listing fees, transaction fees, and payment processing fees, which can impact your earnings. Additionally, you’ll need to invest time and effort into creating high-quality products, marketing your shop, SEO (creating searchable hashtags) and providing excellent customer service to increase your sales and grow your revenue.

Its crucial to set up and optimize an Etsy shop! If you’re looking for a platform to get your products online quickly, Etsy is a great place to start.

Etsy-Shop

  1. Creating an Etsy account is the first step toward launching your storefront. To open a shop online, you must first become a registered site member. Once you have an Etsy account, you can open a shop.
  2. Next, you will need to choose a name for your Etsy store. Etsy requires each shop owner to use a unique name, so it’s common for sellers to find that their first choice is unavailable
  3. Choose your products. You can sell almost anything like eBooks, PDF & PowerPoint templates in your Etsy shop, but it’s best to start by focusing on a few complementary products so customers will understand what your shop is all about.
  4. Create your shop. When opening an Etsy shop, the site will direct you through the process of creating your online storefront and choosing your language and currency preferences.
  5. A common question for first-time sellers is how to price items on Etsy. Correctly pricing your products ensures you get the best return on investment (ROI), but it will take some time and analysis.
  6. Before opening your Etsy shop to customers, make sure you have enough products to sell. You don’t want to run out after your first few sales and have to scramble to produce more. You also don’t want to overstock any one item. Digital products such as “templates” are easier to stock as they live in the cloud (Etsy shop).
  7. After Etsy approves your shop name and you have all of your inventory ready, you can start listing on Etsy. The key to solid Etsy sales is good product photos and a killer description that uses industry keywords.
  8. Next, you’ll need to choose the type(s) of payments you’ll accept. Etsy Payments is the most popular route on Etsy as it allows you to accept credit cards, debit cards, Apple Pay, PayPal, Etsy gift cards, and some bank transfer services.
  9. Receive orders: When a customer purchases an item from your shop, the payment is processed through Etsy Payments, and the funds are held by Etsy until the order is marked as shipped or the digital product has been downloaded.  Once you’ve shipped the physical item, you should mark the order as shipped on Etsy, which releases the payment to your account. The payment will be deposited into your bank account within a few business days, depending on your location and bank.
  10. Learning to package your products safely and securely and ship them quickly helps build your reputation on Etsy. Buy proper shipping supplies, and use bubble wrap for delicate items.  On Etsy, you can use calculated shipping so the shipping is automatically calculated for you. Calculated shipping looks at your location, the buyer’s location, and the size and weight of the listing item to determine the shipping cost.  Again, selling “digital products” are MUCH easier than actual products such as art, clothes, etc., as you don’t have to worry about drop shipping.

As of 2023, here are the current fees for selling on Etsy:

  • Listing Fees: It costs $0.20 USD to list an item on Etsy, and the listing remains active for four months or until the item sells, whichever comes first.
  • Transaction Fees: When an item sells, Etsy charges a transaction fee of 5% of the item’s sale price, including the cost of shipping. This fee also applies to any applicable sales tax.
  • Payment Processing Fees: If you use Etsy Payments to process your sales, you’ll be charged a payment processing fee, which varies depending on your location and the currency you use. For sellers based in the United States, the payment processing fee is 3% + $0.25 USD per transaction.

Etsy Payments also handles any necessary refunds or disputes, and provides you with a record of all your transactions and payments. It’s important to note that there are fees associated with using Etsy Payments, as mentioned in my previous response.

Selling digital products on Etsy can be a great way to make money on the side, especially if you have a talent for creating unique and useful products such as PDFs, spreadsheets, and PowerPoint templates. By following the strategies and tips outlined in this article, you can create a successful side hustle that not only generates extra income but also allows you to express your creativity and passion. Remember to put in the time and effort to create high-quality products, optimize your listings, and promote your products to your target audience. With persistence and dedication, your Etsy side hustle can become a valuable source of income and a fulfilling hobby.

*If your interested in selling handmade or unique items online, I have another great article on a beginner's guide to selling handmade or unique items online and making money here.

Top Social Media Content Strategies for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SMB) Success

Social media has become an essential part of the marketing mix for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). It’s a cost-effective way to reach a large audience, engage with customers, and drive sales. However, with so many different social media platforms to choose from, it can be overwhelming to know where to start.

Here are the top social media content strategies for SMB success:

  1. Define your goals and target audience: Before creating any content, it’s important to define what you hope to achieve with your social media presence. Do you want to drive website traffic, generate leads, or increase brand awareness? Once you know your goals, you can tailor your content to appeal to your target audience.
  2. Create a content calendar: Planning out your content in advance will help you stay organized and ensure that you’re consistently posting valuable content. A content calendar will allow you to schedule posts, plan promotions, and track your progress.
  3. Use a mix of content types: To keep your audience engaged, mix up the types of content you post. This could include blog posts, infographics, videos, polls, and more.
  4. Utilize hashtags: Hashtags are a great way to reach a larger audience and increase the visibility of your content. Use relevant hashtags to make it easier for people to find your content and join the conversation.
  5. Engage with your followers: Social media is a two-way conversation, so make sure to respond to comments and messages in a timely manner. This will help you build a loyal following and create a positive brand reputation.
  6. Analyze your performance: Use social media analytics tools to track the performance of your content. This will help you understand what’s working and what’s not, so you can optimize your strategy and improve your results.

By following these tips, you can create a successful social media content strategy that drives results for your SMB. Remember to be consistent, engage with your audience, and constantly analyze your performance to see what’s working and what’s not.

From Clicks to Conversions: The Science of Turning Likes Into Sales on Social Media

Are you getting clicks & likes but no conversions (sales or leads)?

Clicks and likes are forms of engagement. Whenever a user clicks on a social media post, that user is engaging it in some way. On most social media platforms, there is no way to quantify just how interested a user is in your brand other than counting the number of times they’ve engaged it.

Conversions are the end goal of all social media strategies, whether it’s branding, product sales, or service leads. If you have an online store, one of your conversion goals could be to get people to purchase something from your store. Let’s say someone clicks on your Twitter profile and then purchases something from your store. That’s a social media conversion. If you have a Financial Planner (CFP) or Advisor service, a key conversion goal is to get people interested in your service to fill out an information form on your website. Again, let’s say someone clicks on your Twitter profile that links them back to your website landing page where they fill out their contact information. That’s a social media conversion.

How do you convert on social media? A few basic ways (as stated above) are:

  • Add a link in your profile that when clicked, leads to your product shopping page (cart). Make sure your product landing page is mobile-friendly.
  • For services, add a link in your profile that when clicked, links them to your website contact submission form. Make sure your website contact submission form is mobile-friendly.
  • Use Hashtags. Hashtags are a proven way to increase traffic to your content and to your website. Make sure that you’re using social media hashtags that are relevant to your business. Don’t overstuff with Hashtags (looks spammy). Use 2-3 Hashtags per post.
  • Your audience definitely wants to see engaging content from you. They also want to be able to connect with you as well. Your social media conversions will improve if you are commenting, liking, and sharing.
  • Include compelling calls to action working on your social media posts. Asking for followers to check out your recent promotions or product/service discounts is a call to action.

Last but not least, track your social media metric traffic back to your website or the product page. Using tools such as Google Analytics, or social analytics tools such as Keyhole, Sprout Social, and Hootsuite also allows you to identify the type of creative and messaging (posts) that performs best. Don’t wait to go viral. Grind. Persistence. Put in the work. Play the long game. Share your content across social platforms. All it takes is one of your followers to share a content post and the conversion amplification may go 2x.

Sales Funnels and Rambling Musings

To grow your business or service, you must identify and create your sales funnel as a key to your website design. Sales funnels are great, but content ecosystems are better.

Content ecosystems are like deploying tiny salesmen that live on the internet and sell for you 24/7. Content marketing’s goal is consumption, then behavior (leads, sales, new clients).

Content marketing helps businesses prepare and plan for reliable and cost-effective sources of website traffic and new leads that are working for you 24/7. A good content ecosystem “gels” over time and you will see the website traffic increase, SEO benefits (rank higher on Google), and hopefully a conversion (website funnel strategy) in the end. Strong pieces of content can help you become more visible online, both on search engines and on social media. Your social media platforms are one of the best ways to connect and share content with your target audience.

Content creation success is measured in many ways including:

  • Spike in visitor traffic and page views on a specific content post
  • The number of Shares, Likes, Pins, and ReTweets on Social Media
  • Media mentions and stories covering your business or firm
  • Website ranking (SERPs) increase
  • Conversions. Actual product sales or new clients (example: Financial Services)

The basic purpose is to create content and try to post at least 1 time per week. Content is scalable and you can add as needed or when more resources become available. Content Marketing is important! Without it, you’re going to struggle to attract the attention you need to collect leads and convert them into sales or clients!

Never Cold Pitch on Social Media Platforms

It comes off as desperate and will be ignored. If there is a conversation trending within your industry and potential customers, join in to offer meaningful commentary and interact with these potential buyers. Listening for these opportunities and finding out the pain points your potential customers are having will give sales people a feel for the conversation and allow them to add value.

Social media is “networking” more than it is “advertising”. The goal is to get them to call you (or vice versa), have an open mind about your product or service, and then make your sales pitch.

Social Media Sales in 2022

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Forward-thinking salespeople are embracing a more “social” approach to break down old communication barriers such as Cold Calls, and Email = Social Media. Social selling allows salespeople to laser-target prospects, establish rapport and with their networks, and possibly even ditch the dreaded practice of cold calling.

While determining the best way to connect with prospects and help coax a consumer down your sales funnel, buyers are consistently going to social networks and the Internet to research products they have an interest in purchasing. Whether you are a B2B or B2C brand, potential buyers are looking on these social media platforms for product information. As smartphones are getting bigger form factors and faster processors, consumers are apt to looking, researching with these larger handheld mobile screens.

Here is a brief breakdown of Social Media as related to the Enterprise:

Business to Consumer = Facebook

Business-to-Business products (or services) = LinkedIn (if you have a first-level connection in common with the executive or buyer who will sign off on a PO)

All types of sales = Twitter

*Twitter is the best for “all kinds of sales” as it’s a very popular network (across all demographics) that doesn’t have privacy settings that keep you from high volume searches and actions.

Social Media Sales strategies

Twitter. Make sure you “add” to the conversation a little before directly engaging in customers:

  1.     Like (heart) a few Tweets
  2.     ReTweet one or two Tweets
  3.     Follow them

Friend, Follow, Follow Back or Connect with individuals with profiles that match you or your clients. Its VERY Important to build relationships on any Social Media platform. Not only can it help to generate leads, it can also help foster relationships with current customers.

Be in expert in your space. Provide solutions or tips and feedback to your customers or potential customers if they post a question or gripe on Twitter/Facebook. Prioritize the social channels and tools your audience is already using and that you’re familiar with, then organize those by their primary function.

Listening on social media is one of the most powerful tactics in a social selling strategy. Monitor for popular hashtags and keywords that are relevant to your industry or brand to find useful insights but also see what is being said about your competitors.

Never cold pitch on Social Media platforms. It comes off as desperate and will be ignored. If there is a conversation trending within your industry and potential customers, join in to offer meaningful commentary and interact with these potential buyers. Listening for these opportunities and finding out the pain points your potential customers are having will give sales people a feel for the conversation and allow them to add value.

Social media is “networking” more than it is “advertising”. The goal is to get them to call you (or vice versa), have an open mind about your product or service, and then make your sales pitch.

When its time to engage or pitch, follow these steps:

  • Ask for their email so that you can send them some info on your services.
  • Find them on LinkedIn and add “connect” with them.
  • Send a polite email and mention a conversation you had with them on Twitter or Facebook. You can also mention a tweet or Post that you “favorite” or “liked” from them.

Good Social Sales tools in this space that keeps track of conversations and engagement include:

Hootsuite. More for individuals and small business.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Enterprise grade and scalable.

Its apparent that Social Media like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are not fads anymore. These platforms are now mature options to generate leads and sales online. By experimenting with different Social Media sales strategies, you can find the best way to convert them into real quantifiable results on all levels. There are no participation medals in social selling: if you’re going to do it, you have to do it right. That means providing valuable insight to the right prospects at the right time.

How To Set Up Your Small Business on Pinterest in 2022

Pinterest offers businesses a fairly unique proposition. Like other social media networks, it’s a place to connect with friends and influencers. If you sell physical products, one of the most obvious ways to use Pinterest is to share images of those products. Your photos can feature different variations of colors and styles and even photos of your customers using your products.

When you’re ready to get started with Pinterest, start with a business account. First, create a business account. Start with an eye-catching profile. Start here – pinterest.com/business/create

1. Verify your website (business website).
> Go to your profile and click on the pencil in the bottom-right corner of the name box. Don’t see the pencil? Go to the menu in the upper right corner, select Settings, and go to Step 2.
> Enter your web address in the Website field, then click Verify Website.
> Follow the instructions on the next page. You can verify with an HTML file or a META tag.
> Once your website’s been verified, you’ll see a checkmark next to it and will have access to your web analytics when you’re logged in

Add the Pin It button to your site. Make it easy to Pin from your website or blog. Go here for directions.

2. Get creative. Make your Pinterest board stand out in the crowd. Use high quality .png images. Example, If your a clothing boutique, take digital pics of all your new inventory (clothes) hanging in your store. Images sell. Your selling your store, your style, your products, your design. High quality digital pics drive customers to your store. Think about it being an online mall your walking through. Create a range of boards that showcase your store’s personality and taste, and make sure each board has enough pins to make it feel substantial. Remember that people can choose which boards they want to follow, so not every board has to appeal to everyone. Pinterest users have been more heavily female (about 65%), so keep that in mind as well.  If your customer base is mainly men, Pinterest might not be right for you just yet.

3. Publish high resolution photos of your product. The ideal image dimension is 736 pixels wide. Pinterest will display your image at it’s maximum size up to 736 pixels wide. As long as its 736 pixels wide, Pinterest will adjust the dimensions. Also, highlight customers using your product. Ask them to submit pictures. Acknowledge them and give them a discount coupon for this content.
> Make sure you have your Pin logo up on your website that will allow online traffic to click over to your Pinterest page.
> Use rich pins to automatically include information like prices, availability, ingredients and reviews with your pins. All you need to do is add some meta tags, keywords, and #hashtags.
> Learn and keep checking your Pinterest Analytics dashboard! Pinterest Analytics dashboard shows you which pins are most popular with pinners and which ones are driving the most traffic to your site. You can also see what boards your stuff appears on, how the pins are described and what people pin along with your stuff. All of these insights will help you make smarter choices about your merchandising, product development and pinning strategy.

4. Motivate people to pin. The more people pin your content, the more discoverable it becomes. To encourage more pinning, make it easy to pin from your website and email marketing, and promote pinning in your social channels Like Twitter & Facebook, packaging and advertising. Push people to your Pinterest website and in turn they will visit your actual business website and store in real life. Be sure to add links to your company website and Twitter page on your Pinterest profile. You can also bring users to specific web pages by adding the URL in the pin description.

5. Pin at least once a day so your followers get fresh content in their home feeds. Just like with boards, thoughtful descriptions will make your pins more inspiring and searchable. Never Pin inappropriate material. Keep your personal Pinterest account separate from your business account. What makes a good pin description? Check out these tips:

  • Recipes: Describe the main ingredients of the dish and how to cook it
  • Fashion: Include what kind of clothing, the designer or season to wear it
  • Travel: Tell people the local on and the kinds of things you can do there
  • DIY: Describe what it is, how you make it and what materials people need
  • Photography: Name the photographer, year, subject or publication
  • Design: Mention the designer, medium, publication, etc

Last Pinterest tip: Once you are on Pinterest, add the Pinterest follow button to your social media pages and even your printed materials. This is a good way to jump start your Pinterest presence. A great Pinterest marketing article for small business (SMB) in 2021 is here.

Quick List of The Best Digital Marketing Weapons (Tools) in 2022

Digital Marketing tools are constantly evolving and changing. They deliver benefits to any organization willing to build up a digital marketing team. Benefits include enhanced credibility, fast and easy access, increases customer relationships, feedback and reviews are easily tracked, cost effective, and can reach an enormous mass of people in a short amount of time. The below is a short list of digital tools in a ever changing digital marketing environment.

Google Analytics. Enough said on this one. Google Analytics is a free web analytics tool offered by Google to help you analyze your website traffic. Fundamentals of working with report data to advanced segmentation and analytics intelligence. Key for measuring and tweaking your marketing campaigns. Google keeps adding more and more functionality each year.

Google Keyword Planner. Once known as the Google Keyword Tool, Keyword Planner is a tool that every search marketer needs to familiarize themselves with and get to know inside out. It is a great way to discover new keywords to target in your campaigns, understand how searches across keywords have changed over time, see suggested bid estimates to help plan your Google Ads budget and more. You can extract valuable data about the demand and competition level of keywords you wish to target organically. The tool will also suggest similar keywords to the one in your query to give you alternative, relevant options for your keyword targeting. The Google Keyword Planner can come in handy whether you’re building your very first keyword list or looking to expand and/or switch directions in your keyword and content strategies.

SEOquake. This is a great Firefox extension. SEOquake is a free SEO extension by Semrush which helps you accelerate your SEO efforts on the fly. SEOquake provides you with key SEO metrics for a specific page, along with other useful tools such as the SEO Audit tool, the Keyword Density report, Internal/External link analysis, and even social metrics.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud. A powerful tool that lets you monitor specific keywords and phrases that are dominating conversations across the social media sphere. Marketing Cloud is also a platform for delivering relevant, personalized journeys across channels and devices — enabling marketers to deliver the right message at the right time throughout all phases of the relationship. Marketing Cloud includes integrated solutions for customer journey management, email, mobile, social, web personalization, advertising, content creation and management, and data analysis.

Traackr. Traackr is the system of record for data-driven influencer marketing that marketers use to invest in the right strategies, streamline campaigns, and scale programs. Traackr includes dynamic influencer lists, automates metrics-driven influencer mapping so you can instantly identify the right people for your projects, real-time listening, sentiment analysis, geo-targeted searches, and shows you all of your influencers’ relevant content in one place so you never miss an opportunity to reach out to them and be part of the social conversation.

TweetDeck or HootSuite. Free tool lets you simultaneously manage all your social media accounts from a single interface. Although it excels with Twitter, you can also effectively manage your Facebook, LinkedIn, or Foursquare profiles.

MailChimp. A really easy, dynamic email marketing platform. Your opt-in subscribers will be able to easily connect to social networking pages in order to share your email marketing campaigns. You’ll also be able to use social networking in conjunction with your email marketing. In one click, you’ll be able to send out an email campaign and update your social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Delicious, with your latest information. You can also see who has tweeted about or liked your business.

SurveyMonkey.  I use this one a lot in my own projects. If you have questions about your products or services and you need immediate feedback, SurveyMonkey is THE best web-based survey solution.

SEOmoz. Anything SEO oriented, use this site. Analytics for all your in-bound marketing. There are a lot of free tools and paid ones as well. I use this site and tools daily for years. This site is an incredible value-add to your digital marketing efforts! Moz builds tools that make SEO, inbound marketing, link building, and content marketing easy.

Wistia. Is video marketing part of your digital marketing strategy? If so, you may want to think about professional video hosting from a company like Wistia. Video is a great way to communicate with your subscribers, prospects and customers. Wistia provides your business with a ton of great tools that you can use to measure your video’s engagement as well as make your videos more interactive. Wistia is designed exclusively to serve companies using video on their websites for marketing, support, and sales. Essentially, Wistia is ideal for “on-site” videos.

Pardot (Salesforce). Pardot is a marketing automation solution that helps companies create meaningful connections, generate more pipeline, and empower sales to close more deals. Pardot is Salesforce’s B2B marketing automation solution. If you’re a business who sells to other businesses (or B2B), Pardot can automate your marketing activities and unite your marketing and sales departments so that they can work better together.

The Importance of Basic Content Marketing in 2022

Besides driving traffic to your company’s website, good sticky content reinforces your brand – The brand becomes a more noticeable name online as people share your content and start commenting on it, retweeting it, and helping it to build trust. These effects “gel” over time and you will see the website traffic increase, SEO benefits (rank higher on Google) and hopefully a conversion (website funnel strategy) in the end. Strong pieces of content can help you become more visible online, both on search engines and in social media. Your social media platforms are one of the best ways to connect and share content with your target audience.

Content creation success is measured many ways including:

– Spike in visitor traffic and page views on a specific content post.
– The number of Shares, Likes, Pins, ReTweets on Social Media.
– Media mentions and stories covering your business or firm.
– Website ranking (SERPs) increase.
– Conversions. Actual product sales or new clients (example: Financial Services).

If you lack the resources for generating content, outsource to an agency or freelancer for help. The basic purpose is to create content and try to post at least 2-3 times per week. Content is scalable and you can add as needed or when more resources become available. Content Marketing is important! Without it, you’re going to struggle to attract the attention you need to collect leads and convert them into sales or clients!