- You've got to be proactive in order to get people
to read, watch, view, or listen to your content.
One of the best ways to plan ahead
and earn more visibility for your campaigns
is to format them with the search engines
and social media in mind.
Make the following strategic choices with your content
before it is published to improve its performance
on these key distribution channels.
Let's start with the search engines.
A recent study found that 68%
of all measurable website traffic is the result
of organic and paid search,
highlighting how effective Google
and other search engines are at driving traffic.
To earn greater visibility in search for your company,
always include keywords throughout your written content
in a natural and consistent manner with the reader in mind.
Keyword phrases are those strings of words
a person might search for using Google to find information
on a particular topic.
Add these keywords to each piece of written content,
specifically within the title, body of the work,
URL, and in the subheaders that organize a resource
into different sections.
For instance, a blog post from Lowe's
on how to install a tile backsplash
includes relevant keyword phrases throughout the article
to gain more visibility in search.
The keyword tile backsplash is included four times
in all the right places in a conversational way
to help the article rank for the term,
while not forcing its inclusion for the sake of it either.
Beyond written content, think about your keyword choices
when uploading videos on YouTube
and adding new podcast episodes to iTunes
and similar networks, as well.
Now, let's move on to social media.
As you're producing a campaign, identify different ways
of encouraging people to share this content
with their network on social media
while they're interacting with it and afterwards.
For articles, reports, and other written content,
highlight key takeaways like an important quote
or a meaningful sentence to emphasize
tidbits worth sharing on social media.
When recording a podcast, remind listeners
of where you're active on social media
and how to stay in touch and provide feedback
between episodes to help encourage conversation.
Another technique is optimizing your website
with Facebook's Open Graph markup and Twitter Cards
to ensure content is displayed correctly
when shared on either channel.
And lastly, when sharing video with your customers,
include social media related call-to-action,
either within the video itself
or as a part of the video's description.
It's time to get proactive and embrace these tactics
for formatting your content before it is published
to ensure each campaign earns the visibility it deserves.