Social Media Alone is *NOT* Enough

Are you looking to expand your business’ reach, build relationships, and find new customers? Sure, social media is one of the best ways to do that, but I have to be straight with you: Social media alone is not enough.

Having a social media presence is important and it’s certainly helpful to your business goals, but it’s only one of the pillars to hold up and support your overall marketing efforts. The social media algorithms are tricky, and not all of your followers will see your content. In fact, most of the time, most of your followers will NOT see your content. It’s a percentage game. Once you understand that only some of your followers will see your content some of the time, you’ll be much better equipped to formulate a more proactive, integrative strategy to grow your business.

When you combine your social media presence with blog posts, cost per click advertising, and SEO into a strategic, coordinated campaign, the results multiply exponentially. Every well-rounded digital marketing plan needs to go beyond social media to incorporate SEO and blogging too. If you’re only relying on social media alone, you’re missing out, but once you get these pieces of the puzzle working together, you’ll really start to achieve your objectives.

Your Website Should be STELLAR

First thing’s first. You need a website. A GREAT website. It needs to have a modern and pleasant user experience, up to date information, and it needs to be fully mobile responsive. And of course, it needs to be on-brand. It’s 2019, these are non-negotiables. 🙂

The whole point of your social media and other digital marketing is to drive people to your website and then to get them to take action on that website. If you have a physical brick and mortar store then, of course, you want to drive people to that physical location but even then, it’s critical that traffic is flowing through your stellar website. Customers should be able to find all the information they need to assure them that they need to visit your store—pronto! So having a user-friendly, well-maintained website should be a top priority.

Your message should be consistent throughout all of your social media and other marketing and crystal clear on your website. As soon as your potential customers visit your homepage, they should know how your business is going to help them and what problems you’re going to solve. Everything about your website should establish trust and credibility with your clients, letting them know that you’re the right business to get the job done.

We Can’t Say Enough About SEO

Having a great website is useless if nobody can find it. Did you know that 91% of adults use search engines to find what they’re looking for on the internet and 65% of people view online search as the most trusted source of information about a business?

Your Google rankings matter. A lot. 93% of searchers will never click past the first page on Google. Instead, the vast majority of searchers only use the first ten search results to get the information they need. If you aren’t ranking on the first page, you’re absolutely missing out on business.

If you seriously want to grow your business from small fry to big fish, search engine optimization (SEO) services are vital. SEO is all about making sure that your website is visible when people search for the keywords associated with what you offer.

When your website is optimized correctly, not only will you increase the quantity of traffic to your site but you’ll also increase the quality of your website traffic too! That means you’ll be attracting more visitors but also more of the right kind of visitors.

Google’s algorithm considers many factors when ranking your website. Some things Google really loves are a website that’s frequently updated, rich in keywords within relevant context, and offers value to the intended audience.

Social media absolutely reinforces your brand, but without SEO, you’ll be missing out on a vast amount of search engine traffic. That’s one of the reasons why social media alone is *NOT* enough.

An Active Business Blog is Part of the SEO Effort

As experts in the digital marketing field with an international client base, we often get asked: “Do I really need a blog for my business?” The answer is YES— so much yes!

And the reason for that is content.

The more great content you have, the more Google will love your website and rank it highly. Google takes the context and relevance of your content into account. When you have a great, active blog post, it creates more context and relevance as well as more volume of content that’s rich in keywords and provides the information people are looking for. It’s not just about keywords anymore, it’s about the big picture of your content. Google looks at that big picture to provide more accurate and relevant results for its users.

This ties in directly with user experience, something that Google makes a number one priority. In 2013, Google introduced a major algorithmic update called the Google Hummingbird. The algorithm places greater emphasis on user intent and the contextual meaning of queries, so the user becomes the most important factor when Google creates rankings. Context has become more important than individual keywords. As part of this update, Google now directs you to the most relevant page on a website, not necessarily to the homepage. Blog pages are very popular!

The context and relevance of keywords and information within the entire body of your blog post takes priority and helps improve your rankings.

Content Creates Value

Content is the key to providing value to your target market. Content helps build trusting relationships with your audience, and an active business blog is the most reliable way to create valuable content for your existing and potential customers.

Without valuable content, you’re kind of just a sleazy salesperson. Sorry, but that’s the truth! People don’t like to be sold to, and nobody wants to be told what they need. It’s spammy and obnoxious, and it won’t be a good look for your brand.

However, with the right copy, you can establish yourself as an expert in your field, and your target audience will start to become familiar with your brand and build a trusting relationship with your business. When you create valuable content, you aren’t *directly selling to your customers* and this will help convert more “browsers” into buyers in a gentle, non-pushy way.

Plus, a business blog is the fuel to your social media fire. All of that content your producing for your blog is what you’ll share on social media. See how it works?

All of the quality content from your blog allows you to get your ideas and insights in front of new eyes by sharing it across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest. Your business blog content creates compelling reasons for people to visit your website – and all that fresh content, rich in keywords, will help your website rank on Google’s number one page.

Nurture your Business with some Digital Marketing Love

Think of your business as a new pet you’ve just brought home. You can’t just bring your pet home and leave it. You need to feed it, walk it, bond with it, and show it a lot of ongoing love! All of those elements of care that you would give a pet are represented by the pillars of care you would give your business with a multi-faceted digital marketing strategy.

What we mean is merely having a presence on social media without tying it into a full digital marketing strategy just won’t get you the full potential of the results you’re looking for.

Just like owning a pet, a well-rounded digital marketing strategy takes a lot of time and work. As a business owner, your to-do list is probably pretty full as it is! But luckily outsourcing your digital marketing needs to Barker Social can help you save time and net you an excellent ROI.

Our team of expert content creators understands how to syndicate valuable content throughout your website blog and social media platforms in a way that will also get picked up by Google. This content ensures that your target audience can FIND you and that once they do, they’ll also feel as though you “get” them. When your prospects feel that your business understands them, then they feel more confident buying your products or services.

If you need help with your marketing strategy and forming an integrated marketing plan to grow your business, we offer a FREE consultation. We’d be more than happy to craft a digital marketing strategy that goes beyond social media alone to help you achieve your objectives.