10. Blog regularly
Most of us have a blog at this stage, and if you don’t you’re missing out on opportunities to feed your audience and Google freshly squeezed content. The challenge with blogging is keeping up with it. Make a resolution in 2013 to put your blog on a schedule and post regularly. When you stop posting you lose your audience. When you post regularly it resonates and Google will love you too.
9. Stop posting garbage
If you’ve already taken my advice and have been doing #10 to no avail you might have a different problem. Poor content. It happens to the best of us. You can become better than the best of us by not post blindly. Monitor how well different types of topics gain or lose interest and change it up accordingly. Try featuring different writers and reassess whether you’re talking about things your audience wants to hear.
8. SEO your blog posts
It takes just a few extra steps to keyword optimize your blog posts. Take that extra step and you will begin seeing the benefits of growing organic search traffic to your site. Be sure to do keyword research for relevant terms *with local search volume* that focus on what your blog is really about. It will not work for you otherwise.
7. Un-blogger your outreach
Blogger outreach has become a popular tactic to generate buzz for marketing. However, not all influencers are bloggers. You’ll find people who have just as many connections with just as much, or more, influence on Twitter. And, they aren’t necessarily bloggers. The same goes for Instagram or Pinterest. I’m blown away by Instagram posts by savvy mo-togs garnering thousands of likes within minutes. Expand your outreach to these overlooked channels for fresh audiences.
6. Update your social profile design
Not unlike websites, your social media profiles deserve as much maintenance and attention. They are often, like your website, your first impression when customers discover you. Do an overhaul with a professional social profile design. Don’t forget things like adding that new Twitter header and Facebook custom tabs. Use your bio to tell people why they’d want to follow you rather than a tagline.
5. Throw a social media event IRL
IRL (in real life) social networking is a popular past-time as brands drive across the country meeting up with customers, throwing Tweet-ups or exclusive influencer VIP events. Get your very important {tweeters, bloggers, customers or pinners} together and discover how much more love and buzz you can create by spending quality time together.
4. Social media your website
This is a no-brainer yet I am surprised at how many wonderful websites still lack basic social integrations. Here are a few to start with:
- Social sign-on
- Sharing buttons
- One-click follow buttons
- RSS feed subscription buttons or forms
- Social widgets such as the Facebook Like Box, LinkedIn company profile, or a Twitter feed
- Foursquare or Yelp badge that encourages transparency and reviews
- Comments on your blog (seriously folks, you can’t really call it a blog without it)
3. Facebook and Twitter advertising
Set aside a budget this year for paid social media advertising. None of us really want to do it but it has become a must as Facebook’s algorithm is only showing your posts to about 15% of your fans (unofficially). If you haven’t noticed the drop in 2012 I’d guess you haven’t spent much time on your Facebook page. Go give your poor community manager a budget or consider hiring one. Twitter advertising is not as much of a must-have but it can be fun to experiment with, and the earlier you master it the better.
2. Photo strategy
We hear the words “content strategy” often but I rarely see much thought put into a brand’s photo strategy. Over the past year the Internet has moved to photos whether you’re pinning them or watching the stream of picturesque article links passing through Google+. It seems just about every social network went through a visual redesigned in 2012 putting image content at the forefront. Have you redesigned your communications strategy to keep up? Do you have a social designer to create these content assets? If you’re going to do it on your own you’ll want to get to know Adobe Photoshop because this year it will be your best friend.
1. Integrate your communications
Is your social media jiving with what’s put out in email marketing, the website copy, and PR announcements? If they are not all talking to each other it’s time to bring the family together. Customers do not experience your brand as individual departments even if your company runs that way. If the brand is out there looking all schizophrenic it can be embarrassing. It can also turn into customer service issues costing the company money. Appoint a committee or a head strategist to connect the dots and come up with an integrated approach in 2013. You will be light-years ahead of your competition.
Happy New Year and cheers to your success!
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