I speak to lots of business owners who would like to create a simple, effective online marketing strategy but are not sure where to start or how to manage it. Like most things in business, an online marketing plan should follow a system. So where do you start?
I would suggest that you first decide which online marketing tools you will use. Here are the tools we use at SpinWeb:
Tools: Website, Blog, Email newsletter, E-book download, HootSuite, TweetDeck.
Networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.
Next, you will want to set up a schedule and a process for utilizing these tools. Try something like this:
1. Update general content on your website once a month. Your website should remain up-to-date and should show activity. At least once a month, publish a new press release, post a new case study, or post a new event. Show activity and demonstrate that it’s an active organization.
2. Post one new blog entry per week. Your blog should be educational and should teach your readers something useful. Blog to share advice, tips, trade “secrets”, or anything else that will benefit your constituents. Self-promotional blogs get ignored. Useful blogs develop a following. See the tutorial “Blogging for Business“for more tips. When you post a new blog, it should automatically post out to your company Twitter account, your company Facebook fan page, and your LinkedIn profile. The service we use for this is called Ping.fm. Your website should automatically integrate with Ping.fm. Once you post it, use HootSuite to schedule three Twitter posts for this same blog over the next few days: one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening. This helps cover the different times of day that people check Twitter. View this tutorial on using HootSuite to learn how.
3. Send out your most recent/best blog entry every other Wednesday morning as your email newsletter. Don’t re-invent the wheel. Re-use your content by turning your best blogs into your email newsletters. This ensures that your newsletters are useful and educational, as well, which will encourage people to stay subscribed.
4. Write an e-book or a white paper that teaches your constituents something about your industry. Make it a high-value “how to” document. Make it available for download but only after the visitor fills out a form with an email address. Clearly state that by downloading the e-book (or white paper), that the recipient will be added to your email list. Make sure your database imports into your email newsletter list so that anyone who downloads the e-book will start receiving your newsletter. Consider requesting a phone number when someone downloads and then call them up in a few days to see if they want to learn more about what you do. Here’s our e-book.
5. Run a pay-per-click Facebook ad campaign that targets your target market and leads to the landing page for your e-book (or whitepaper). Your can learn how to do this in our Learning Center with this tutorial(sign up for a free account if you don’t have one). Start with $10/day and tweak from there.
6. Write one recommendation for someone else on LinkedIn every week. The more recommendations you write, the more you will receive and it’s good karma to show appreciation and endorsement for others who have helped you or influenced you.
7. Open up Facebook and TweetDeck every day and play around. Yes, I said “play around”. Don’t over-think it… just have fun. Talk to people socially. Follow new people who interest you. Comment on things your friends are posting. Share articles. Just have fun. This is sometimes the most important part of your system. It builds rapport and strengthens your connections. It also keeps you from being boring. To improve your experience on Twitter, check out this TweetDeck tutorial.
This is certainly not the only system you could use, but it is one example of how you might approach your online marketing. If you follow these steps systematically and consistently, I can almost guarantee you will start to see more leads over time. It may take a few months but it will happen once you start to build a network of subscribers and constituents.
Have some other tips? Please feel free to comment below and share them!
“Michael Reynolds is the CEO of SpinWeb, a web design firm that specializes in creating and marketing transaction-ready websites for associations, small business, and corporations.”