2017 Is right across the corner, and if you hadn't planned already your marketing budget for it, this is a must article for you to follow:
Paid traffic sources you need to include in content strategy
- Google PPC, Adwords: Pay attention that through 2017, there won't any decline trend for using google adwords bidding platform. This traffic source is only getting smarter year by year, month over month and if done right, can generate pretty good results and ROI for your business. Make sure to set a proper budget for it and know how to manage it right- you can lost quite a lot of money if your campaigns are not properly managed. Make sure your landing pages are performing good: check for loading time, UX and conversion and from SEO perspective, it will be better to noindex them as well and to hid them from search engines.
- Facebooks Sponsored ads: This trend as well, is not going away in 2017... of course, some b2c businesses don't manage to scale up and reach positive ROI out of Facebook ads products but you want to be in your users newsfeed. You need to be there. There are so many types of Facebook ads products, Just make sure to consult an expert about what will be the right solution for you.
- LinkedIn Ads: This traffic source is more focused to B2B marketers that can highly target potential clients/users. Targeting by group is a great way to reach people who may be interested in your products. Just make sure you target the right groups as you’ll need to dig around a little before you get started and try to build your audience personas. Use the right images and a strong copy.
- Content distribution: Generate sales, traffic and earns ROI from your owned and earned content. Think broader and include not only your blog posts and articles- try to include your infographics, how to guides and create data analysis. By distributing your content using content discovery platforms you can help others to recognize your brand as an authority.
- Twitter ads: Here, as well, plan your targeting. Target followers of specific account, plan your ads per device and make sure you're not including geo locations which are not valuable to you. Set your campaign live only after you double checked you won't lose your budget in a single day....
Don't be afraid to test
Conduct a/b testing on different variants: images, titles, CTAs, Metas, even entire landing pages or even on different budget per source. TEST. Only by optimizing you will know for sure what is working best for you. You need to measure your ROI and know for sure which method, if not all, is the most suitable for your service or product.
2017- New marketing trends
- Visuals: Use and reuse your content in different types of visuals: create infographics, 360 videos, webinars, slideshares and How to guides on YouTube.
Your users are likely to watch a 1 minute video than read a 1500 words article on your blog post. (see some more information on content marketing in Outbrain's resource page)
Think out of the box.
- Use real data. Be the source. Conduct case studies, surveys- have valuable information that other can link back to you as the source. You'd be amazed how this method will pay off back to you.
- Be part of the conversation- make sure you are heard in top conversation on social forums and channels. Once your brand is recognized at an authority, You will extend your audience and readers.
- UX: Improve your website and content UX: make sure all design nicely for all kind of devices, Test it on REAL devices as well. Make sure the action you are aiming for is clear for your users.
Good luck!
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