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Tag: Content Strategy

  • How to Make Your Brand’s Content 300% More Effective | Entrepreneur

    How to Make Your Brand’s Content 300% More Effective | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As a marketer, creating new content consistently can be a daunting, time-consuming task. The pressure to produce fresh and unique content for social media, blog posts, thought leadership and other marketing channels often causes those things to end up being put on the back burner. However, one way to ease the pressure is to repurpose content to make the most of what you’re producing.

    Repurposing content means taking existing content and transforming it into different formats to reach a broader audience. When producing a piece of content, think about six different ways you can use it. This blog post will explore the benefits of repurposing your content and how to do it effectively.

    Related: How to Repurpose Your Social Media Content

    Why should you repurpose content?

    1. More effective: Research shows integrated marketing campaigns are 300% more effective than single or dual-channel marketing campaigns. You receive the best results when you use at least four different media channels. The more a customer’s journey is coherent, cohesive, strategic and deliberate, the more likely you are to create brand loyalty.

    2. Reach a wider audience: When you repurpose content, you can reach a wider audience and reach people you may have missed with the original content. Not everyone consumes content in the same way. Some people prefer reading blog posts, while others prefer watching videos or listening to podcasts. Repurposing your content into different formats allows you to meet your audience where they are and cater to their preferences.

    3. Increase your content’s lifespan: Creating new content can be time-consuming and costly. Repurposing content extends its lifespan, allowing you to get more value from the content you have already created. Additionally, repurposing content also allows you to update and refresh old content, making it relevant to your audience again.

    4. Improve your SEO: Repurposing content can also help improve your search engine optimization (SEO). When you repurpose content, you can target new keywords, improving your chances of ranking higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This can increase your website’s visibility and drive more traffic to your website.

    How to repurpose content

    1. Turn blog posts into social media posts: Blog posts can be turned into bite-sized social media posts. You can take key points or quotes from the blog post and turn them into posts, graphics or videos to share on social media. This can help drive more traffic to your website and increase engagement on your social media channels.

    2. Turn blog posts into videos: Turning blog posts into videos is another way to repurpose content. You can create a video summarizing the blog post or create an animated video that highlights the key takeaways from the post. Videos are a popular format, and creating videos can help you reach a wider audience.

    3. Turn webinars into blog posts and vice versa: If you have recorded webinars, you can repurpose the content by turning it into blog posts. You can summarize the key points discussed in the webinar and turn them into a blog post. This can help drive more traffic to your website and provide value to your audience. You can also turn a blog post into a webinar or workshop to share.

    4. Turn blog posts into infographics: Infographics are a great way to present information visually. You can turn your blog post into an infographic, highlighting the key takeaways from the post. This can help increase engagement and shares on social media.

    5. Repurpose videos onto multiple platforms: If your company creates a brand video, you can repurpose this in multiple ways. You can share it on your YouTube channel — the second-largest search engine in the world. You can cut the video into shorter, trailer-type videos for Instagram and Facebook reels. You can put the video on your website, and you can also share it in an email newsletter or email campaign.

    6. Use graphic ad campaigns across multiple ad channels: If you’re putting together a traditional ad buy for a physical billboard, repurpose the design and strategy for other ads as well. You can resize and repurpose for digital ads, online or print ads, or an email or direct mail campaign.

    7. Repurpose media relations placements: Another great way to repurpose content is earned or paid media placements. When you garner a placement, make sure to use your megaphone to amplify the reach. Share the link on your social channels, on your website and in email newsletters or campaigns.

    Related: 5 Tips & Tactics to Repurpose Content Wisely

    Example

    For example, say your company produces a new brand video for your website. You can repurpose this in several ways:

    • Upload to YouTube

    • Produce shorter “sizzle” videos for social media

    • Snippet still images and video assets to include in media pitches

    • Pull quote graphics, infographics and GIFs for social media sharing

    • Put the video’s message into a blog post

    • Include the video in an email campaign

    In conclusion, repurposing content is an effective way to reach a wider audience, increase the lifespan of your content and improve your SEO. There are many ways to repurpose content, and the examples listed above are just a few. Repurposing content can save time and resources while helping you reach your marketing goals.

    Related: The Best Way to Get More Results From Your Content

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    Kelly Fletcher

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  • 5 Ways to Use User-Generated Content in Your Marketing

    5 Ways to Use User-Generated Content in Your Marketing

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    In today’s online world, unique branding and strong marketing campaigns aren’t enough to stay competitive and stand out as a company. Relevancy requires not only finding and keeping the attention of consumers, but getting the help of those customers to promote your brand.

    Whether you realize it or not, this may be something you are already doing in the form of user-generated content (UGC). UGC is content, such as videos, photos or reviews, posted on internet platforms by all types of online users. Although this type of UGC is brand-specific content, it’s usually original and created by people rather than the brand itself.

    Related: How to Take Advantage of New Marketing Communication in Business Today

    Sponsored TikTok influencers who use certain products or YouTube unboxing videos are good examples of UGC that, overall, results in 29% higher web conversions than campaigns and videos without it. Also, consumers engage in, on average, over five hours a day with UGC on a variety of platforms. In addition to increased visibility, content created by real customers grants a type of authenticity that, nowadays, is almost a prerequisite for successful branding.

    Finding quality UGC isn’t always easy but there are ways to take advantage of consumer promotion without having to fake user-generated content. Here are five ways to find and benefit from UGC:

    1. Promote your customers

    A good way to take advantage of UGC is to help promote people who already want to promote you. Benefit from loyal fans and put a spotlight on the ones already talking about your business online.

    Film a video of customers talking about their experiences. Even if the promotion video isn’t perfect, showing potential consumers examples of everyday people satisfied with your product will make your brand feel more relatable. And, any additional personality you can give your video will contribute to an overall sense of authenticity. Showing your product in use will also give potential buyers a better sense of the product they’re getting and if it’s right for them.

    Related: 3 Questions to Answer Before Investing More Into Your Marketing Budget

    2. Quantify the ROI of UGC

    Quantifying the benefit of UGC is helpful for many reasons. You want to find out how brand promotion coming from outside your company is contributing to customer growth or conversion rates. Look at your engagement metrics on various platforms. In this way, you can perform a cost-benefit analysis that can help inform future marketing decisions.

    Return on investment (ROI) for UGC can be determined by calculating the value generated from how much you paid to promote and use UGC. One way to measure it could be:

    ROI = (Revenue generated from UGC – Investment in UGC) / Investment in UGC

    One goal is to determine whether good customer testimonials increase profits on products you’re selling. This may help you figure out whether or not to send free items to influencers or other online customers.

    It’s also important to remember that the ROI of UGC can be hard to measure. But keep an eye out for a range of possible benefits, including increased brand awareness, improved customer loyalty or growing website traffic.

    3. Get reviews

    Almost every business can collect customer reviews in one way or another. Whether it be online at the end of an email campaign or through promoting Yelp at your place of business, there are many ways to encourage customers to leave reviews.

    Not only do reviews help you continually improve, but they also keep you informed on how satisfied your customers are. Additionally, reviews give potential buyers more insight into the product and if it’s reliable. Above all, reviews give you potential promotional material that you can use in a variety of content. No matter the response, it is always worth asking clients or shoppers for reviews.

    Related: 6 Ways to Determine if Your Content Marketing Team is Delivering Results

    4. Incorporate UGC into your planning

    Whether it be a dedicated hour every week or a quarterly review, making an intentional effort to take time with your team to talk about UGC can make a big difference. Brainstorming new and different ways to engage customers, put the spotlight on them and elevate your brand is a process worth doing continuously.

    Not only can efficiency and success improve with ongoing communication, but you may find yourself redefining goals and innovating at an improved rate. UGC can improve engagement and it’s worth devoting company time to figuring out better ways to use it.

    5. Take the time to be authentic

    It might sound simple, but be patient and take the time to be real. An authentic brand takes time to cultivate and there are no shortcuts. UGC requires an active and engaged customer base and people can tell whether or not content is truly practical and relevant.

    Devote time towards strengthening your brand image and identifying real users of your product so you can target content to them and others properly. Patience, focus and adaptability are key attributes of your marketing efforts here.

    In a market oversaturated with products, customers crave products made and used by real, everyday people. Authenticity is a new synonym for success, and UGC is one of the most effective ways to be authentic as you promote your brand. Finding and taking advantage of UGC can be daunting, but putting in the effort can bring quantifiable, real, results and a healthier bottom line.

    Related: 7 Ways to Tweak your Marketing and Sales Strategies for the New Economy

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    John Boitnott

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  • This is What You Need in Your 5-Year Marketing Plan

    This is What You Need in Your 5-Year Marketing Plan

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    We’ve all heard the interview question, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” Marketers routinely take that question and apply it to their marketing strategies. They figure out what they want to achieve and then develop actionable steps to get there. Keep in mind, these plans aren’t designed to be all-encompassing. They serve as a guidebook for different scenarios while getting the team thinking about what they’d like to accomplish long-term.

    Your five-year plan is a way to build an overarching metric for how you’re doing — or how you plan to do over the next half-decade. There are many things to consider when building your plan — here are a few to look at carefully:

    The 3 key buckets

    A successful five-year marketing plan should fixate on three main questions:

    1. What assumptions can you make about the next five years within your company?
    2. What goals do you want to achieve?
    3. What are the metrics you’ll use to measure those goals?

    Assumptions are what you think won’t change in the business over the next five years. For example, you might assume that you will continue using particular vendors or that packaging costs will remain stable. From there, you can determine your goals — like boosting sales by 50% or converting 10,000 new customers. The metrics that measure your progress might be units sold or your company’s market share. It’s essential to include both readily-accessible metrics — such as website views — and brand metrics that might be a bit harder to come by, such as the associations your customers have made with your products or company.

    Importantly, there’s no “right” or “wrong” when it comes to answering these questions. Every business has its own vision, resources and position, which all influence its marketing strategy. The aim is to develop a plan that will produce the most desirable outcome for you, rather than worrying about what other businesses have the capacity to do.

    Related: Use These 5 Steps to Create a Marketing Plan

    Narrowing your focus

    Just like consumer preferences, marketing tactics are constantly shifting. Social media demonstrates this well. Because social media platforms have skyrocketed over the past two decades, marketers no longer rely solely on traditional platforms such as print or television ads. And even within social media, things aren’t constant. TikTok has become one of the fastest-growing platforms, quickly overtaking Facebook.

    With so many options, your marketing plan must keep a narrow focus. For some companies, TikTok doesn’t matter. They can’t yet measure the return they’re getting from the platform, so this isn’t exactly a feasible opportunity. Don’t be tempted to try everything or be everywhere. It’s a matter of isolating what you practically can use to give you the insights that will help you.

    Two questions will help focus your strategy:

    • How do your goals compare to last year?
    • What are you striving for (e.g., enhancing the brand vs. increasing brand awareness)?

    How you answer those questions will help you identify where and how to focus your efforts so you don’t get lost in a bunch of small, irrelevant tactics.

    Using your budget

    Most people think of budgets as being stable or hard data — but almost all companies work with unknowns. In reality, the best they can do is come up with an educated guess that seems to make sense – a ballpark range. Because nobody can plan with certainty for every scenario — and because it’s so easy to become overwhelmed with an infinite range of outcomes — it’s advisable to lean on a few key financial assumptions and build a strategy around those.

    Once you have a budget figure to work with, create high and low projections for everything you want to do. Let’s say the aim is to get to 50% brand awareness. What would your plan look like if you exceeded that and got to 75%? Alternatively, what would you do if awareness went down to 25%? Creating these high and low projections will let you design a more flexible approach and avoid being caught too off guard.

    As you come up with your main scenarios and high-low projections, think about the key internal drivers you’ll need to address next year. Consider the risks, and assess whether you’ll have the data, technology and skills to develop and maintain what you expect to put forward. Keep in mind that it’s more important to pivot when issues come up than to predict what’s going to happen accurately.

    Related: 4 Tips for Developing a Marketing Plan That Will Actually Grow Your Business

    Paint flexibly within your broad strokes

    A five-year marketing plan paints a broad, long-term picture of how you’ll communicate with your audience while giving details about your projected products or services. It includes assumptions and factors that aren’t necessarily static, so you have to approach it with a grain of salt and be ready to shift gears if the plan doesn’t work.

    Even so, if you stick to three key buckets (assumptions, goals and metrics), keep your tactical focus narrow and incorporate multiple projections in your budget, you should end up with a strategy that blends the data and flexibility needed to strive in a changing world. Because annual marketing plans need to connect to your long-term marketing vision, let the annual marketing meetings serve as check-in points to keep your longer-term marketing plan relevant and viable.

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    David Partain

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  • 3 PR Myths Hurting Your Business

    3 PR Myths Hurting Your Business

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    If you’re building a brand and trying to get recognized as a thought leader in your industry, chances are, you know what it’s like to feel as though you’re talking to a brick wall. There’s no denying that every brand, new or established, is looking to boost its exposure and reach a wider audience.

    While organic and paid media have their time and place, there’s definitely something about leveraging trusted media platforms through Public Relations (PR) that changes the game.

    Whether through published articles on traditional media outlets, or interviews on independent media such as podcasts, PR has built a reputation as a useful tool for brands to establish credibility and increase visibility. But I’ve been around the industry long enough to know that it also tends to get a bad rep

    So, to ensure you’re not misled, keep reading to discover a few misconceptions about PR that could be limiting your brand’s success — and the truth about how PR really works.

    Related: The 3 Wrong Perceptions That Every Business has About PR

    Misconception #1: “You need to be famous to get featured as an expert.”

    One common misconception about PR is that you need to be famous to get featured as an expert. However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. The truth? It’s not all about fame.

    In fact, journalists and editors are constantly in need of qualified experts to quote in their articles. A journalist cannot claim anything without proof or an expert opinion. For example, if they’re writing about a Vitamin B supplement for eye care, they would reference an expert, such as an Optometrist, and the professional body they’re associated with instead of claiming it is good for eyes.

    It doesn’t matter if you’re a well-known celebrity or a little-known industry insider — as long as you have the right qualifications and expertise on the topic at hand, you have a chance to be featured as an expert.

    There are also times when journalists and editors prefer to find one go-to expert for a specific topic, so there’s a possibility of becoming that go-to expert. I’ve seen it happen with some of my PR clients! That said, many experienced journalists and editors will demand a diverse range of experts, highlighting the ongoing need for fresh featured experts.

    The key to getting featured is to find a writer or editor in need of your expertise, build a relationship with them, and be there at the right time and place.

    Misconception #2: “PR requires a big investment”

    Another misconception about PR is that it costs a ton of money. While this can be true sometimes, it’s not a hard and fast rule. The cost of PR can be influenced by various factors, including the business model of the PR agency you’re working with and the media coverage you seek.

    For example, some PR agencies operate on a retainer model where you pay a set amount each month with no guarantees — which I believe to be outdated. This can be problematic, costing tens of thousands of dollars monthly without guaranteed results. In my opinion, this needs to be revolutionized in the industry.

    Pay-to-play is another model that’s rising in popularity. In contrast to earned media, where a PR agency secures publication placements for free by acting as your representative, this model is used by PR agencies who, instead, act as a reseller of the advertisement space. This can be more expensive, as you pay for each piece of media coverage you receive. The public also doesn’t know about the nature of this paid model, which presents undisclosed advertisements often delivered as editorial articles — and a little gray area if you ask me.

    A better alternative is the earned media model, which my agency mostly operates with. Instead of paying for the publication, the focus is on building relationships with journalists and other media professionals.

    The key to this is approaching publications still in the business of attracting visitors and readers, disclosing advertisements and not making money from their contributors. This model is the most affordable as you can either do it yourself at no cost or pay a PR agency for the sole service of making the connection.

    Related: 5 Inexpensive Ways to Do PR for Your Company

    Misconception #3: “You need to be well connected to get started”

    Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need to be well-connected to get started in PR. While it certainly helps to have connections in the industry, it’s not a requirement for success.

    Building relationships with journalists and other media professionals is a key part of the PR process. So, even if you don’t have existing connections, you can still succeed in PR by building relationships and finding the right match from scratch.

    And remember, journalists need media experts! With the trust of their audience on the line, they can’t miss a day. If you know the hustle of creating content, you can imagine the effort it takes to create several fact-checked articles consistently every day. Good news for you: they are searching for good content and people providing this. The same goes for podcast hosts that release regularly.

    Many online tools for connecting with them, including social media, email, and private channels. Many journalists and podcast hosts publicly share an email where they want to receive pitches. You don’t need to know people beforehand to make the right match. All the resources you need are at your fingertips.

    Related: Why Your Marketing Team Should Be Journalists

    Whether it’s traditional or independent media, local industry-specific or national media coverage, getting featured can be accessible and benefit every brand — no matter the budget, existing connections, or fame.

    Don’t let the myths about PR hold you back. Consider PR to help you exponentially grow your brand by boosting your exposure, establishing credibility, and expanding your audience reach.

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    Natasha Zo

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  • How to Never Run Out of Social Media Content for Your B2B SaaS Brand

    How to Never Run Out of Social Media Content for Your B2B SaaS Brand

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Social media is the ultimate playing field for content marketing for B2B SaaS brands. But to excel on social media, you need to be consistent. This means you must constantly churn out relevant content for your audience to keep them engaged with your brand.

    However, creating content on a regular basis is tedious. The time, ideation and creativity needed to create content constantly aren’t always there. As a result, content marketers risk failing to engage their social media audience as often as necessary.

    Twenty-seven percent of respondents say the biggest challenge content marketers face on social media is creating engaging content. This is why you need to learn how to never run out of social media content. Here are four ways to help you stay on your game consistently:

    Related: 3 Ways to Master Social Media Content Marketing

    1. Reuse your content

    Reusing content is a genius way of creating new content for your social media if you do not want to go through the stress of looking for and developing new ideas. There are different ways you can reuse your content. You can update, repurpose or simply repost your old content.

    Updating old content:

    This is great for evergreen content that needs a little touching up. However, low-performing content may gain some advantage when updated. Updating your old content may simply require replacing old facts with current facts on the topic.

    Also, you can get fresh inspiration and change other information in the content if you discover something you would have said or done differently after examining old content.

    Repurpose content:

    The results of a recent HubSpot survey revealed that 82% percent of content marketers say they repurpose content across social media channels. Repurposing content doesn’t require you to upgrade or change any information contained in your existing content. You only need to switch up the content format.

    For example, you can turn parts of a tweet into an infographic video for Instagram or TikTok. This is an exciting way to reach target audiences who enjoy such content formats.

    2. Find out what your audience wants to see

    Creating content on social media is only beneficial if your audience can engage with your content. This means that your social media content has to be something your audience is interested in seeing. Having this in mind makes the job easier. Here are ways you can find out what your audience is interested in:

    Check out your competition:

    Having to deal with competition is always great, especially if it gives you the opportunity to up your game. Chances are, they are already ahead of you on an industry trend, and you can identify a few things to try out.

    If you pay attention to your competition’s content and audience engagements, you may find inspiration to create new content from what you learn from their page.

    Use answer boards:

    While answer boards provide answers to the users’ questions, the answers may not always be as detailed as the well-thought-out content which is created to answer such questions.

    You can discover the kind of information your target audience seeks and create social media content around it. Some of the popular answer boards you can use are Reddit and Quora.

    Use keyword generator tools:

    There are lots of tools available to help content creators find relevant content ideas quickly. Keyword generator tools are great for this. You can search for keywords that are relevant to topics in your industry and get an endless supply of ideas from keywords your target audiences are looking up on the search engine. Some of the popular keyword generator tools are UberSuggest and Google Keyword Planner.

    Engage your audience:

    Interacting with your audience isn’t just a great way to build trust and good rapport for your SaaS brand, it is also a way to figure out their needs.

    Reply to comments on your post, and encourage your audience to ask questions about products, services or industry trends. That way, you can create relevant content based on the information you gather from your engagements.

    Related: How to Repurpose Your Social Media Content

    3. User-generated content

    User-generated content is a good way of engaging your audience, but it is even better for creating content for your SaaS business on social media.

    Depending on how you want to implement user-generated content, you can have your users create content for you and promote your SaaS brand while you’re at it — or you can draw from their content to make yours.

    For example, you can repost content from other users with hashtags related to your brand. This kind of user-generated content can promote your brand on social media platforms. This is why lots of businesses encourage users to create content using sponsored hashtags.

    Also, you can curate other people’s content that is relevant to your brand or industry. This way, your audience will see your platform as more than just a marketing space. Instead, your social media page will be seen as a place to get relevant information as well.

    4. Broaden your content scope

    Focusing on a single area for content creation as a SaaS brand is not only boring, but it can also hinder creativity. Imagine having to create content around bread all the time as a pastry brand when you can create content about cakes, ingredients, baking styles and tools.

    The best way to increase productivity and creativity with a broadened content scope is by categorizing your content into different areas.

    For example, as a CRM SaaS brand, you can categorize your content into explainer videos, product reviews, how-to posts, case studies and user guides. It is easier to create five content pieces a month in each category than it is to create 20 in one category.

    Having an idea of where to start is great, and starting is even better. With these four tips above, you’ll likely never run out of social media content for your SaaS business — all you need to do is start.

    Related: How to Create a Content Marketing Strategy That Really Works

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    Toby Nwazor

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  • 6 Tips for Creating Magnetic Headlines that Bring High Conversions

    6 Tips for Creating Magnetic Headlines that Bring High Conversions

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    You work hard on creating content. This content deserves to get seen. But that’s only possible when you invest some of your efforts into creating the content’s headline.

    The headline is the one part of your content that gets the most exposure since 80% of the readers only read the headline. The quality of the headline determines whether a reader will stop scrolling, look at your content and click on it.

    If the headline seems unappealing, your content may not get the attention it deserves, no matter how valuable, informative and engaging it may be. This is perhaps why traffic can vary by as much as 500% just because of the headline.

    Therefore, compromising on the quality of the headline is the last thing you want to do.

    Related: This Is How You Write Headlines That Hook ’em!

    How to write great headlines

    Fortunately, writing powerful headlines involves no rocket science. You can quickly start churning out impactful headlines with a bit of practice. Writing great headlines is a combination of art and science. The internet is filled with formulas for headline writing. And they work too. But only so much.

    You must blend your creativity, audience understanding and a bit of data with these formulas to create resounding headlines.

    Here are a few tips on how you can go about doing that:

    1. Think about your readers

    It’s a customer-first world we are living in. In this case, reader-first.

    You have to identify your audience’s problems and deliver effective solutions in an appealing manner to solidify your reputation and build loyalty.

    Since the headline gets the most exposure, reflect your audience’s understanding and concentrate on the value your content adds to their life within it. This is the best way to show your audience you understand their struggles and get them to read your content to further hone in on the emotional bond you intend to create.

    Be clear about what the article has for the reader. Will it entertain, educate, inform or inspire them? Will it answer a question or solve a problem?

    For example, if you sell office chairs and know your prospects struggle with back pain, you can create a headline focusing on the pain point. Something like “7 Exclusive Office Chairs to Help Alleviate Your Back Pain” may help generate good results.

    2. Use power words

    Notice the word “exclusive” in the example headline above? That’s a power word.

    Certain words trigger a psychological response, an emotion within humans. These words are called power words. Power words are divided into multiple categories based on the emotions they invoke. These categories may include greed, curiosity, trust, anger, fear, etc.

    Including one of these words within the headline maximizes its impact. Your headline now triggers an emotional response within the readers and is more likely to get a click from them.

    Let’s revisit the example headline above.

    “7 Exclusive Office Chairs to Alleviate Your Back Pain”

    Let’s take the power word out.

    “7 Office Chairs to Alleviate Your Back Pain.”

    Did the impact visibly reduce? It sure did.

    That’s the power of power words. You can find a comprehensive list of power words here.

    3. Don’t forsake authenticity

    It is easy to go overboard with power words. But that would bring you closer to creating click-baity headlines. And savvy modern readers can spot click-baity headlines from miles away and dismiss the content and the brand that pushes such headlines.

    Therefore, strike a balance when using power words.

    Make sure the headline promises what the content delivers. Nothing is more annoying than clicking on an article to learn about one thing and finding something completely different, incomplete, or irrelevant instead.

    Mold your headline to fit the article. For this, create the content and then write the headline to ensure it reflects the article’s content.

    4. Stay on brand

    Consistent branding is essential across all customer touchpoints since it can increase revenue by 33%.

    The headlines may get the most eyeballs from your online content. Therefore, they must align with your brand’s personality. Think of the headlines here on Entrepreneur and compare them with those on Buzzfeed. You will be able to identify how brands stick to their brand personality through headlines.

    5. Use numbers

    The age-old headline tip. Use numbers.

    Using numbers in headlines is an approach that is often overused. But it still works.

    Numbers are more appealing to the human brain than words. They are easier to process and understand. More importantly, numbers help readers determine how long the content is and what they should expect more easily.

    This is why 36% of readers prefer headlines with numbers.

    Which of the following headlines do you think will be better:

    “7 Exclusive Office Chairs to Alleviate Your Back Pain” or

    “Office Chairs to Alleviate Your Back Pain.”?

    The former. That’s because it tells the readers they have seven options inside and promises them that the article will be easier to skim through.

    So, try and write numbered headlines. But again, don’t go overboard. Mix it up with other headlines to ensure your brand appears authentic.

    6. Take care of the headline length

    It is easy to get carried away when creating headlines. You want to write the most straightforward and impactful headline, after all. However, you have to stick to a character limit. 60-100 characters, to be exact.

    Readers are almost always short on time. You have a few seconds to grab attention and deliver value. Therefore, stick to the character limit and consolidate all its value.

    Related: Copywriters Use These 4 Psychological Tactics to Write Attention-Grabbing Headlines

    Do justice to your content

    Creating content can be challenging. And once you are done writing your blog, you need it to be seen to serve the purpose it was designed for. Therefore, make sure to write headlines that generate clicks and do justice to your content.

    You can do this by aligning the headline content with the user’s pain points, clarifying the value, including numbers and maintaining optimal headline length.

    Also, test your headlines to see what resonates best with your audience. See which posts have garnered the most clicks and analyze their headlines. You might be able to pick critical headline-writing insights this way. Implement these insights to improve your headline writing game.

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    Atul Jindal

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  • Here Are 5 Trends to Watch Out For in Sales and Marketing in 2023

    Here Are 5 Trends to Watch Out For in Sales and Marketing in 2023

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    As we close out 2022, sales and marketing teams everywhere are evaluating the year’s performance. They’re looking at what lies ahead and crafting new strategies to appeal to buyers and boost revenue. In a time where customer behaviors and expectations evolve faster than ever, these strategies often hinge on a business’s agility, flexibility and willingness to adapt to industry shifts.

    Two such shifts that arose from the pandemic’s disruption were an emphasis on personalization and customer experience. Moving into the new year, organizations can expect these trends to continue and undergo further refining as hybrid buying and selling solidify as the new normal. Tools and tactics that can better leverage customer data and create a greater sense of relevancy with consumers will be the key to a competitive edge.

    As you prepare, here are five trends to watch and incorporate into your strategies.

    1. RevOps is on the rise

    Internal fragmentation of the sales process has long been a source of friction in the buyer’s journey. It can have a detrimental effect on the seamless customer experience consumers are hoping for. Businesses need to unite their internal sales process to mirror what their customers prefer and expect. One of the ways they can do this is through revenue operations. This business model knocks down silos and gets everyone working toward the same goal: revenue. And since revenue is tied closely to customer purchases, it often translates into uniting behind the customer experience.

    Processes and tactics that focus on shared data, agreed-upon procedures and clear communication will be vital to creating the seamless experience that so many customers now expect. Successful implementation of a RevOps model can see a 10-20% increase in internal customer satisfaction.

    Related: Are You Reducing Friction For Your Sales Team? If Not, Here’s Why.

    2. Curated content is key to one-to-one selling

    In the age of digital selling, content is one of the most potent tools businesses have at their disposal. In B2B especially, there is an elevated reliance on content during the decision-making process. As the buyer’s journey becomes increasingly self-led, the best way to attract customers’ attention is by providing relevant information throughout the sales cycle. With the amount of data marketing and sales teams now have about their prospects and opportunities, it’s possible to leverage content further than the broad one-to-many messages that have taken dominance.

    By carefully looking through previous customer actions, along with communication from marketing, sales teams can see what content a lead has seen. They can then use the historical data to make informed decisions about other content that would be most valuable for the lead as it progresses through the funnel. Not only does this provide the lead with relevant content, but it also demonstrates that you are listening to them and understanding their problem, which can go a long way to building trust.

    Related: How Content Creation and Content Curation Should Work Together

    3. Businesses are leaning on automation

    Automation may sound counter-intuitive to a personalized customer experience, but the truth is that automation makes personalization at scale possible. There are two main functions of automation in sales and marketing: removing repetitive, rote tasks from human workers and analyzing large amounts of information. Automating repetitive tasks frees employees to focus on higher-level priorities and reduces the chances of an overlooked task, such as email follow-ups. With scale becoming such an issue, customers can get lost in the details of the daily grind. This is the last thing you need in an experience that is supposed to make them feel noticed and understood by your business. Automation can also assist with data analysis and provide team members with actionable insights.

    4. Account-based marketing is driving personalization

    Quality over quantity is vital in terms of leads. You can show your ads to a hundred people, but if they are the wrong audience, they won’t produce any sales. The scattershot, blanket method of marketing that pushes views and clicks over engagement and interest is no longer in fashion. Today’s customers are inundated with ads and companies. They’ve learned to tune out the noise unless it’s something that actually interests them.

    Account-based marketing takes this concept and digs deeper. It’s getting to know specific accounts and their details to craft a message that meets their specific and individual needs. It works alongside RevOps and aligns sales and marketing to take information from both teams to identify the best and most likely accounts to win.

    5. Buyers expect self-service experiences

    A rising number of consumers, especially from younger generations, prefer to conduct their buyers’ journey independently, without interaction from sales or marketing teams. 81% of customers want to see more self-service options. This poses a complex problem to businesses that have relied for decades on human assets to push products. Instead, companies must now place focus on product experience and allow interactions with the product itself to drive consumers further down the sales funnel. For example, in software, self-service demonstrations will be vital in driving more independent customers. Once they have had their own self-activated experience with a product, they will be more inclined to seek assistance from high-end sales activities because they can curate their own questions from experience.

    Related: Customer Experience Will Determine the Success of Your Company

    The customer experience has always been a vital element of business success. As we become an increasingly digital society, a larger part of that customer experience will be defined online and through the screen. Just like the sales and marketing tactics of the past, businesses will have to work to differentiate themselves from the competition. But, they need to do it according to the expectations and preferences of digital behavior.

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    Margaret Wise

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  • Trying to Rank for a Keyword on Google? Don’t Fall for These 3 Myths.

    Trying to Rank for a Keyword on Google? Don’t Fall for These 3 Myths.

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Over the past decade, I’ve experienced and navigated through dozens of Google updates and led SEO operations for many big brands. Throughout my SEO career, there has been no ranking factor that’s as debated as backlinks. The mystique around backlinks has led many people to believe that all you need is a high domain authority (DA) to rank competitively on search engines.

    This has led many people in SEO to use DA or domain ranking (DR) as the primary factor for search engine rankings. Backlinks are one of the most important ranking factors for search engines, and they are difficult to get, but that doesn’t mean they are the only factor that determines your rankings.

    In this post, I want to cover the common fallacies and false beliefs held around domain authority and uncover why it is not enough to rank well for a given keyword.

    Related: 8 Ways to Qualify and Rank Keywords in Google Search Results

    What is domain ranking/domain authority?

    Before diving into the different intricacies, it’s important to understand what domain ranking is. Domain ranking, also referred to as domain authority, is a metric that helps indicate the authority of a site. More specifically, it is an estimate of how authoritative a site is based on the number/quality of backlinks. Backlinks are a very powerful ranking factor on search engines, and the domain authority of a site will help indicate how much authority a site has

    According to Ahrefs, domain ranking is a metric that indicates the relative strength of a website’s backlink profile. According to Moz, domain authority is a search engine ranking score that tells you how likely a site ranks on search engine results pages SERPs. Ahrefs’ DR ranking and Moz’s DA ranking are the two most popular ways to quantify domain authority. With DR and DA, a site is given a ranking from 0 to 100. The higher that number is, the more authoritative a site is.

    To give some context, here are the DR and DA rankings of some well-known sites:

    • HubSpot.com (DA 93, DR 93)

    • Nintendo.com (DA 91, DR 89)

    • Porsche.com (DA 88, DR 86)

    Fallacy #1: High domain authority guarantees that you will outrank competitors

    One of the most common myths about SEO is that high domain authority will immediately allow you to outrank competitors. It’s very easy to look at SERP results and immediately assume that higher DA sites are ranking better than lower DA sites. In most cases, correlation does not equal causation. The reason that many high DR sites still outrank other sites is that they perform all of the other on-page SEO and technical work in addition to link building. It doesn’t matter if you have a higher domain authority if the content you produce is poor and your site is slow.

    Here’s a great example that illustrates this. Below are metrics for the top five sites that rank for the keyword “email marketing agency” on Ahrefs:

    • Site 1: Clutch.co: DR 89, UR 20

    • Site 2: Soapmedia.co.uk: DR 59, UR 18

    • Site 3: Thebrainsmakreting.co.uk: DR 47, UR 13

    • Site 4: Digivate.com: DR 45, UR 15

    • Site 5: Digitalagencynetwork.com: DR 76, UR 13

    Although Clutch.co is outranking other sites, you can see higher DR sites are being outranked by lower DR sites. This isn’t an anomaly because there are other factors that account for why a site ranks well. If you look beyond the SERP results and click on the specific blog articles, you’ll find the higher-ranking ones offer more content, and they’ve optimized their on-page SEO better. You will see similar results for most other keywords because high domain authority does not guarantee your site to outrank your competitors.

    Related: 3 Ways to Make Your Content Rank Higher on Google

    Fallacy #2: You can rank for competitive keywords without topical expertise

    If you have a high DA site, and you write one blog post about a primary keyword, the chances of you ranking competitively are slim. It’s easy to rank for content that has low search volume and is not competitive, but that traffic is not going to move the needle. In order to rank for competitive keywords, you need to show Google that your site is an expert on a specific topic. To do this, you need to develop a library of content that’s topically related. Without this, you will be outcompeted by sites that have better and more content covering your niche.

    A great example of this would be a site like Marketwatch.com trying to rank for a keyword like “gestation period of a rhino.” Even though Marketwatch.com has a high DR (93), it’s not going to rank well for this keyword because it does not have anything remotely related to rhinos. If you look at the top results for this keyword, you’ll see tour sites and animal sites that have been publishing content for years.

    You can extrapolate topic relevance to higher-difficulty keywords like “best VPN” or “best CRMs.” Generally, the more difficult a parent keyword is to rank for, the more supporting blog posts you’ll need to build topical relevance and ultimately rank better for all keywords.

    Fallacy #3: You can make up for poor content with high DA

    Another dangerous practice of some high-authority sites is skimping out on content. Although high DA sites may get more impressions and clicks on search engines, readers will bounce quickly if the content is poor. If a site isn’t nailing searcher intent and optimizing its on-page SEO, having high domain authority will accomplish nothing. The vast majority of content teams understand this, but few thoroughly understand what poor content is. Understanding this is essential to prevent your site from falling into the trap of low-quality content.

    Examples of poor content include:

    • Thin content: Thin content is the most common form of poor content. There’s a place for thin content (like definitions), but most of the time, you should be producing more in-depth content. If you’re writing on a primary keyword (e.g., “What is content marketing?”), your content should be over 1,000 words. A good litmus test is to see the top-ranking pages for a keyword and compare the word count. If most of them are over 1,000 words, you know you need to produce something similar.

    • Content that’s regurgitated from other sources: A common criticism of SEO is that many sites on the SERPs regurgitate the same content. If your content has the same headers, same formatting and same ideas as other sites, it will be categorized as regurgitated content. If you’re going to take content from other sources, make sure to cite them, restructure them, and add your unique point of view.

    • Content that’s not well-written: A telltale sign of poor content is content that is not well-written. This encompasses AI-spun content, content with many grammatical errors and content that’s hard to read. If a reader lands on your page, and the writing is hard to read and unnatural, it’s poorly written.

    Related: 6 SEO Myths Every Business Owner Should Ignore

    Avoiding these types of content on your site will help improve the quality of your writing and give you a better chance to rank on SERPs, regardless of your domain authority. Some advanced content teams use a variety of internal checklists and software to ensure that their writing is up to par; you can create and use a similar process for your content operations.

    As illustrated by some of the examples above, domain authority is not the be-all-end-all ranking factor for SEO. Although backlinks are a very important part of SEO, they’re not enough to overcome little to no effort in content and optimizing your site. If you’re trying to rank for a specific keyword, take the best possible measures instead of relying purely on backlinks. Make sure your site is fully optimized, you have enough content to cover the topic and that your content is high quality. By continuing to invest in all aspects of SEO, you’ll give yourself the best shot possible for ranking for any keyword you desire.

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    Dmitry Dragilev

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  • Is Content Creation or Content Promotion More Important?

    Is Content Creation or Content Promotion More Important?

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Content marketing can be arguably divided into two distinct categories of practice: content creation and content promotion. Creation is necessary because the content doesn’t create itself. But many novice content marketers skimp out on promotion, which is practically necessary to make sure your work is discoverable.

    Which of these categories is more important for your campaign? Should you distribute more time and money into creation or promotion? Or divide your time and money evenly?

    The case for content creation

    Let’s start with the case for content creation. Should you funnel all of your resources into making the best possible content you can?

    Here are some of the reasons why this may be the best play:

    • Excellent content has many positive side effects. Good content isn’t just about attracting people to your website. It’s also about improving the image of your brand, proving to people that you have expertise and authority in this subject. It’s also about converting people and convincing them to work with your brand.
    • Bad content is worse than no content. We also need to consider the fact that bad content is usually worse than no content. If you churn out low-quality content with no regard for the preferences of your readers, your content marketing strategy is inevitably going to fail. Not only will you have trouble attracting people to your website in the first place, anyone who does stumble upon your website is going to walk away with negative perceptions of your brand. Accordingly, content does require a minimum investment in quality.
    • Good content can (eventually) function independently. Hypothetically, if your content is good enough, it may eventually need no separate promotional strategy. If your blog gets big enough and your readership is loyal enough, new people will flock to your latest creations automatically and through word of mouth. The downside here, of course, is that it usually takes many years to get to this place of popularity.
    • Content is permanent. One other benefit of investing in content creation is that the byproducts of your investment are permanent. The content you create, assuming it covers evergreen topics, should continue providing value to your brand indefinitely. The same can’t be said of most promotional strategies, which are temporary by nature.

    Related: What Makes Copy Persuasive?

    The case for content promotion

    But what about content promotion? If you save money on content creation, you can pour more money into marketing and advertising; could this work out in your favor?

    Here are some reasons why that could be the case:

    • Good content is useless in a vacuum. It doesn’t matter how good your content is if nobody is around to discover it. If you’re just starting a blog, people won’t be able to naturally discover it unless you do spend at least some time and money on promotion. Because of this, early-stage content promotion is a practical necessity if you ever want to make a prominent impact.
    • Promotion is (arguably) less expensive than creation. You can also make the case that promotion is less expensive than creation, at least in terms of the net value you get from investing in each side of the strategy. When you pay for content creation, you’re taking a bit of a gamble, since there’s no guarantee that your content will function as intended. But when you pay on a per-click basis for advertising, you do practically guarantee a stream of visitors to your website.
    • Promotion can maximize your creation investment. Another important considering factor is the reality that promotion can maximize your creation investment. Even if you have only one piece of content, continued adaptation and investment in the promotion front can help you milk more value from your content creation over time.

    Keys to being successful in content marketing

    No matter what, you should embrace the following to improve outcomes in your content marketing strategy:

    • Start with a strong foundation. You should always start with a strong foundation. If your blog is empty, or if your content is hard to understand, no promotional strategy in the world will be able to salvage it. At a minimum, you should have at least a few strong resources on your website that people perceive as authoritative and trustworthy.
    • Promote strategically. Promotion is also important, but you don’t need to go crazy with your spending to see results. As long as you’re promoting strategically, you can minimize this side of your budget and still see the benefits. For example, focus on marketing and advertising tactics that have the highest ROI, or exclusively promote pieces of content that are already excellently received by your followers.
    • Learn and adapt. Perhaps most importantly, you should study your marketing analytics to learn which of your investments are paying off the most. Is your content creation investment seeing a better return than your promotional investment? If you can answer this question, you can make better content marketing decisions in the future and forge a clear path to adjusting your creation and promotion budgets.

    Related: Should You Simply Ignore Keywords When Writing Content for SEO?

    So is it ultimately better to invest in the creation of new content or the promotion of existing content? Most brands are going to need both to see the best possible results. You need to invest heavily in the quality of your content if you want to leave people with a good impression and see higher conversion rates. But your content might be dead in the water without at least some promotional effort.

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    Timothy Carter

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  • How Your Brand Can Thrive Online With Diversified Content

    How Your Brand Can Thrive Online With Diversified Content

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Keeping your audience entertained in the golden age of multi-platform media has become critical to online success. To accomplish this, you must learn to switch up your branded content and experiment on new and different platforms.

    Why should you change up your branded content? Having a diverse content strategy is critical in today’s oversaturated, competitive and ever-changing marketing environment. If your marketing strategy heavily relies on branded content, you must ensure that it is diverse in terms of how, when and where it is shared. You risk losing audience interest and engagement if you use the same content and formats across all platforms.

    Only by stepping outside of your comfort zone and learning to take calculated risks will your brand’s content thrive. Otherwise, by not embracing content diversification and investing in new platforms, you are passing up opportunities to engage your audience on their terms.

    Related: How to Know If You’re Producing Quality Content

    How to change up your branded content?

    While adhering to your core values, your content strategy must evolve to meet the specific needs of each platform and its users. When doing so, always be open to new information and consider how it may affect your target audience. Being adaptable will allow you to fine-tune your strategy and grow as a content creator, marketer and business.

    Flexibility in your brand’s content creation does not have to be difficult. However, proper research is required for success. This is why there is one key action all brands must take before creating new branded content: Study new platforms.

    Why study new platforms?

    Simply put, users’ interests and behaviors differ across social media platforms due to each platform’s “zeitgeist.” For instance:

    Understanding the inner workings of various platforms is essential if you want to create tailored content. This new information will significantly impact how you approach content development and expansion.

    Brands should learn why users engage with specific platforms. This will allow them to tailor their new content to those audiences and interact with them in ways they respond to and feel comfortable with. If you don’t spend time researching who your post might reach, you risk appearing uninformed. That is why you should always stay up to date on new developments in content marketing.

    Related: The Business of Harnessing the Power of Social Media

    Going beyond text and image platforms

    In our modern era, there are more than text and image platforms to consider, namely: the metaverse. Although the metaverse is not a single platform, it has many touchpoints with various audience types.

    For example, Polar, TheSoul Publishing’s first “digital popstar,” was created as part of our efforts to further grow our audience. In July, she performed a live concert in the metaverse via Avakin Life. Over 2.2 million users spent over 100,000 hours watching Polar perform as one of the festival’s headlining acts at the Solar Sounds Festival.

    Avakin Life and other metaverse worlds focus on live performance, so fans “show up” and participate in the communal experience. This means that the content brands create for the metaverse must be tailored to the typical users of these platforms.

    TheSoul recognized this and ensured Polar was reaching different audiences in the right way:

    • Because the audience on YouTube is most interested in music, we created music videos to engage them directly. It worked, as her debut single, “Close To You,” has been viewed over eight million times.

    • On TikTok, Polar fills a similar niche, though it also emphasizes dance videos that can be easily shared and recreated. She has seen massive success on the platform, with more than 1.6 million followers.

    • On Instagram, Polar’s newest platform, her posts are more personal and geared toward lifestyle content. She has yet to build a huge following on the platform, so her creative team continues to tinker and experiment to find her audience there.

    Related: 7 Ways Your Brand Can Thrive in the Metaverse

    The common thread

    Audiences across platforms now expect brands to be a natural extension of their online experiences rather than something they must actively seek out. Instead of having a bland profile that only posts about internal news, brands must learn to become “users” of each platform.

    The principles of adaptability, innovation and consistent messaging form the foundation of this common thread:

    1. Consistent messaging: To provide this integrated experience, brands must maintain a consistent brand image and message throughout their workplace policies, procedures and values.

    2. Innovation: Thanks to the huge amounts of content created every single day, the world of social media is saturated. As a result, brands must constantly look for exciting and innovative ways to reach and engage their audiences in our interconnected world. We do this by continuously experimenting with a wide range of cutting-edge technologies, such as making virtual reality experiences and developing content in the metaverse.

    3. Adaptability: All content producers and marketing departments must be willing to experiment with new mediums and methods. From garden-themed shorts on our TikTok channel to in-depth documentaries on our YouTube channel, we’ve been embracing content diversification for years.

    Overall, it’s critical to understand each platform’s unique functions. Then you can tailor your branded content to fit in with its surroundings and appeal to its specific audiences. Continue researching and studying platforms, both new and old. This allows you to fine-tune your strategy and, as a result, grow as a content creator and as a brand.

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    Patrik Wilkens

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  • Hesitant to Use Social Media for Your Business? Here’s What You’re Missing Out On.

    Hesitant to Use Social Media for Your Business? Here’s What You’re Missing Out On.

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Building an authentic brand through attractive marketing is essential to the success of any business. Social media plays an important role in your marketing strategy. It is one of my favorite topics to talk to business owners about because it is a simple way to step into the life you’ve been dreaming of.

    As an entrepreneur bootstrapping your way to success, your resources are limited. You can funnel time and money into old-school marketing, with its one-dimensional message and limited reach, or you can showcase your dynamic personality in front of your target audience by building an online presence. A world of opportunities suddenly becomes closer than you imagined possible.

    You might be hesitant to use social media for your business. The thought of making videos or dancing to the latest trending song makes you roll your eyes a little. There’s already a lot on your plate, and you can’t imagine how adding this to your growing to-do list will benefit you. Besides, isn’t social media just meant for entertainment?

    The answer is yes … but that’s perfect for your business.

    Related: The Business of Harnessing the Power of Social Media

    Connect with your audience

    Most people run to social media to escape life for a hot second and dive into a world that’s a little more fun. The great news is that you can leverage the users’ intent for your own brand benefit by creating content that is fun and exciting to watch. The content should be on-brand for your company but also infuse an energy that captivates the audience in a fun way so they can get educated on what it is you do without getting bored and scrolling away forever.

    Just as with any other aspect of your business, to be successful on social media you must be genuine. It’s not about making up a phony persona based on what you think people what to see. Trending dances make quick entertainment, but if that doesn’t speak of your brand message and showcase your true self, then don’t waste your time. People want to connect with people they know, like and trust. Build that first, and the business opportunities will follow. That’s where the gold lies for entrepreneurs.

    Related: 3 Tips for Building Your Personal Brand on Social Media

    What kind of content should you post?

    Be intentional with your message on social platforms. Take the time to really build out content that is thoughtful and aligns with your brand values. Even thread some personal content in about your goals, mistakes and life behind the scenes to help your audience see who you really are and what you (and therefore your brand) stand for.

    If the thought of making a plan seems overwhelming, just know this: I didn’t have a plan when I first started posting on social media, I just got started. Imperfect action is better than no action at all. I did what felt right, wrote from the heart each morning and started out just posting more about my personal life until my brand message became more dialed in. I shared my yoga journey and wasn’t afraid to get a little silly sometimes. Then I threaded in some messaging about my new business ventures. I was surprised at the positive response. People were interested in what I was doing and began asking questions about how they could work with me.

    My followers connected with me because they recognized similarities to their own lives or watched me achieve goals they also wanted for themselves. They began cheering me on, thanking me for sharing my knowledge and wanting to know how they could achieve their own goals. My confidence grew as I got more dialed in on my path. It lit me up to have such a positive impact on people by showing up as myself.

    Related: Social Media Engagement Is Where the Magic Happens for Your Business

    Be yourself

    Energy is contagious! When people see you doing what you love, they want to be a part of it. Let them lean into you by seeing who you are and understanding what you do. Be you. Talk about what you do and who you are. Keep in mind that it’s not all about making a sale or getting a client. Connect with others without pitching to them. Don’t be afraid to share your genius, it could spark something amazing in yourself and others. The more you lean into people, the more they will lean into you. So, share who you are and what you know without the expectation of a sale, and I guarantee that is exactly how you’ll get more of what you are looking for: Customers who are really excited about and aligned with your brand!

    One last thing: When you start your posting journey on social media, don’t get caught up in the popularity contest. You aren’t there to be popular; you are there to build brand awareness. There are always eyes on you even if your posts aren’t racking up likes or comments, so lead by example. Inspire people by showing them the possibilities. But don’t be afraid to post about the “messy middle,” too. Showing your low moments gives others hope because they see that winners face challenges too. You’ll make connections and open yourself to new opportunities with your willingness to show your vulnerability.

    It’s a big world out there. Seizing opportunities created by the aligned connections I’ve developed through social media has allowed me to expand beyond what I thought was possible. Not just in my business, but in my life!

    You’re not going to go from zero posts to a viral or verified (blue tik) account in a month. Building a personal brand takes time, but it won’t happen until you get started. If you’re hesitant to use social platforms to build your business, go slowly at first to establish a habit. Think about what excites you. Commit to posting once a day about something that really lights your fire. Once you’ve gained traction, keep expanding.

    Show up as your genuine self to cut through the marketing noise. Your unique energy is the foundation to create a brand with the most meaningful impact. Give yourself the chance to shine, and watch the magic happen!

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    Jessica Dennehy

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  • 4 Steps to Create a Online Community for Your Brand

    4 Steps to Create a Online Community for Your Brand

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    A community can be formed in many ways. For example, it can be done through social media, offline events or by creating an online forum. In order to create a community on social media, you should post content that will attract people who have similar interests as you. You should also make sure that the content is interesting enough to keep them coming back for more. But basically, you have to execute four main things in order to get going in the right direction:

    1. Define the core values of yourself and your community.

    2. Go live on a regular basis (minimum once a week).

    3. Use the common language of your target audience (through qualitative studies and conversations, you identify pain points and needs of your audience).

    4. Co-creation of content (integrating and tagging people you interviewed in your podcast and from Q&A sessions, for example).

    This is how I executed these four steps in order to build my community, and it will also work for your brand if you’re willing to execute and answer a couple of questions:

    Related: 3 Examples of How to Build a Strong Brand Community

    Define the core values of yourself and your community

    This first step already was tough for me, because I was not really sure about my core values. “What is a value at all?” I asked myself. I am from Germany, and being on time is also, for many people, a value. I thought about my existing clients and how they think about artificial intelligence. They are all fascinated by AI and use it almost on a daily basis. A common thought that I heard in my live shows was that AI is a strong tool and is here to help human beings. So, I wrote that down: “AI is a tool and not a human replacement.”

    The other thing that I thought a lot about is that I am very focused on these tools, and I could do this all day long — testing new tools and giving feedback on a regular basis — but most people don’t like to test new tools. So, this is a big pain point for a lot of companies, and CEOs struggle to convince their teams because they are afraid of being replaced. So, I wrote down “People and training first. AI second.” It made sense for me to define this approach and make sure that our responsibility is to train people so that they can use AI in the right and ethical way.

    It is important to find your people and build a community with core values. It can be a blog, podcast or YouTube channel. The idea is that you are building an audience of people who are interested in the same things as you are. However, a community is not just a group of people who share the same interests. It’s more than that — it’s a group of people who share the same values and beliefs, which creates an emotional connection between them.

    Values can be a powerful tool for driving change in your business, but they have to be authentic. Values can be used to influence behavior, create meaning for employees and customers, attract talent, build trust with customers, set standards for quality of service or product and achieve business goals. A company’s values should align with its mission statement and create an emotional connection between the company and its customers. Core values should be a clear expression of who you are as a company or organization, as well as what you stand for.

    The more clear you are about your core values, the easier it is for you to build trust with customers. So, make sure to ask yourself these questions:

    • What do you want to stand for as a company?

    • What do you want to represent?

    • What are the beliefs that drive your decisions?

    Once you have the answers to these questions, make sure they are communicated internally and externally so that they guide every decision and action taken by everyone in the company.

    Related: A Successful Online Community Needs These Key Elements

    Go live on a regular basis (once a week at minimum)

    Going live on a regular basis is one of the core components of community-building. You just have to make sure that it is not only about your products and services. It should go deeper than that and have real value for the people you want in your community — which creates trust. This is a very iterative process! When I first started, I spoke with my interview guests about broader topics like content marketing and sales. Then I was introduced to the world of AI-generated content and thought, “That is really cool! I want to get more knowledge about all these tools and the founders,” so I launched a new concept and started interviewing CEOs of software companies.

    Going live and interviewing those people helped me to build strong relationships with them, and I also started to work with them more closely. Some became clients, some became cooperation partners, and we support each other. The main point here is that going live and creating content together is a very strong approach to building trust online.

    Use the common language of your target audience

    This sounds like a big step, but this is really easy to do with a survey that you organize. I did a simple Google Survey and sent it to all my interview guests within the AI niche. They responded with quotes, concerns and struggles they have in their head. One common thing was that they didn’t have time to create content for themselves. Even when they are CEO of an AI-generating software, they couldn’t sit down for 60 minutes to go live or write a blog article. This was fascinating for me because I didn’t have that on the radar, but through this survey, I was stepping into the conversation in their heads and using their own words for my own content campaigns.

    Related: How to Build an Online Community People Will Love

    Co-creation of content

    This is really where the magic happens. Co-creation of content is still under the radar for many entrepreneurs. The idea is simple: People support what they create. This means if you have questions from the chat or live interaction, for example, you can create additional content from their questions. You’re repurposing the content they produce. Always mention these people and tag those who appeared in your show. You can upload your live show and create micro-content pieces out of the larger video. People who are tagged are very likely to share it and like it because their name appears in this content. When you do this all the time, people feel appreciated for asking questions and showing up — that’s how you build a strong community.

    The important thing to remember is that this is an iterative process. A good starting point is getting in touch with potential clients or cooperation partners and speaking with them. As marketers, we should stop being too much in our own heads and start being empathic and getting into the heads of our clients and partners. In order to start your own community, take these steps. and execute them. The journey may not be easy, but it will be worth it.

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    Yakup Özkardes-Cheung

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