You turn to content marketing because you want to carve out a name for your brand.
And you need traffic, lots of it.
You’ve carefully researched the topic, wrote the post and edited it ruthlessly. Then you hit publish and waited.
You wonder if anyone will read your post.
Will they?
Will there be any likes, shares or positive comments?
You have the knowledge, the experience and the heart to serve, but you are not yet known, not too many have heard of you. and certainly not considered an established “influencer”.
“How can I get more views?”
“Who will read my post or even know that I exist?”
Put your content in front of the right audience
Indeed, nobody will be searching for your name or your brand, initially.
But if your content provides useful information, and if you strategically place relevant content in front of people who are looking for your solution then your content will slowly but surely lead ideal readers (and prospects) to you.
But be patient. You won’t have 1,000 views overnight.
A few blog posts will not be sufficient to bring you the traffic you need. Building online authority takes time and consistent effort.
Earn credibility with people looking for your solution
In a time when 27 million pieces of content is shared everyday (according to a study done by AOL and Nelson in 2011), content needs to be exceptionally useful and relevant for it to rise above the noise.
So how can your content stand out? You focus on only producing content that offers really practical solutions consistently. Build a track record of offering real solutions to earn your credibility.
Yes, you need to earn that credibility through regularly offering practical solutions. And you gain the trust from your audience by being consistently helpful.
Don’t worry if you don’t have a lot of views, shares or comments yet. This alone does not reflect on the quality of your post (provided your have written a quality piece of content).
It could just be that you have not:
- Reached the people who are looking for your solution or that
- You have not reached enough people for the metrics to be accurate
These figures have no meaning until you have a sizable volume.
It is more important to reach the people who are interested in your service and who will buy from you than to have inflated metrics.
Some metrics have little meaning
When I created my first Facebook page years ago, I went around asking every family member and friend I can think of to like and share my page.
The result?
I got some likes. But these numbers means little because my friends did it out of an obligation to support me. They were never going to buy anything from me.
Reach out to your target audience. Don’t just look for numbers.
Work on getting numbers from the people that really matters. You’ll need to:
- Know who your target audience is
- Know where your ideal client hang out
- Know what medium they prefer using
Once that is clear you can work on getting more genuine views by doing the following:
- Create useful content for your ideal clients
- Put it in front of those you want to serve, those who are likely to buy from you
- Continue to help them solve their problems over a period of time.
And remember to be patient and consistent. There is no short cut, no matter how good your writing or content is. Focus on creating and distributing content and the numbers will take care of themselves.
Let your content do the marketing and lead your ideal prospects to you.
4 common challenges faces by solo presuners and small business owners.
Small businesses and solo preneurs face 4 common challenges when implementing content marketing. If you too have these issues, this presentation will be helpful to you.
Content Marketing Challenges For Small Businesses from Louisa Chan
Do you have these challenges? Which tip will you start using to overcome these issues? Leave me a note in the comment section below and join in the conversation.