A lead magnet is an incentive like a free piece of content or a discount, that marketers offer to potential customers in exchange for their information such as email address or or phone number. If you are serious about growing a decent sized email database, you’ll need a lead magnet in your marketing collateral if you want to generate leads online. Usually a lead magnet offers a downloadable piece content, such as video, report, eBook and others. But it can also be an offer like a try before you by or percentage discount.
Getting an email address is a step towards building a relationship with your new lead. Because an email address is a personal piece of information, if you want their email address, you should offer something for it in return. By simply asking your subscribers to submit or give their email address and join your list may not have a great impact at all. But if you offer something to them in exchange of their email, the results will be better.
A lead magnet is a critical part of website optimisation because it enables websites to capture leads. It is also the first step in building a successful email campaign. By using a solid and engaging lead magnet, your business can build a huge email list and cultivate an audience of potential subscribers and return visitors that you can promote your content to. Never underestimate the power of a large email database.
What makes a Quality Lead Magnet?
Your lead magnet should offer something nothing else offers. What makes you different to your competitors, and how can you reflect that in an offer?
Offer a Bundled Package. Many of your competitors are offering different free resources. Try to tempt your visitors with a package of resources rather than a single one. If one free resource can have significant value, just imagine how much more if you offer many?
A great lead magnet should offer solution. You should be able to come up with solutions to your audience problems. Your subscribers have specific problems and they immediately want solutions, if you can’t provide it to them then you are unlikely to have anyone take up your offer.
Lead magnets should add as much value as possible. Avoid giving or setting unrealistic expectations. You can also explain why your lead magnet is valuable to them. Explain to them what you’re offering to them in exchange of their email address.
Your lead magnet should have a specific target. You should be able to know who you’re target is and who it’s designed for.
In today’s world, building a solid email list is critical for your online success. One of the best ways to get more email subscriber is through lead magnet. Believe it or not, having a well thought out lead magnet will help your business to grow.
If you want help getting more out of your social media marketing, please download our free step by step guide today!
Keeping your audience engaged, and with relevant content, is one the most important facets of your social media strategy. But how do you find good content and not only that; how do you organise it and deliver it you your audience without repeating yourself, your message, or tying yourself in a knot of dis-organisation. The answer is simple – use a content calendar!
First step – Your Messaging
Well first, and the most important point, is to know the messaging you want delivered to your audience (this is relevant later on when we talk about sourcing your content). Just below this, in importance, is not becoming repetitive with your messaging and your content. I can’t stress how valuable this is, repetition shows a lack of imagination and your audience will take that personally.
Your messaging can be simple, and really needs to speak to your target audience. I’ll look at messaging in a separate post!
Then comes your content calendar
The best way to tackle this is to design a monthly content calendar. This is a simple excel sheet with each week (Week Beginning 7th November) on the left horizontal line and the post days (Mon, Wed, Fri) on the vertical. A monthly content calendar allows you plainly see the pattern of your content, it doesn’t have to be too descriptive, and sometimes a simple word will suffice ie: Call to Action or Strategy. Doing this prior to the start of each month will actually make your content work easier as you know exactly what content (and its associated messaging) to look for. If you are planning content for more than one social media platform be sure to separate them on the spreadsheet (look for nuances in the different messaging each audience needs for each platform.)
Once this monthly calendar is done you work week to week on your content (due to current affairs/news and important announcements which may be pertinent to your brand.) The weekly content schedule is in a separate excel document using the ideas and trigger words from the monthly content calendar. Based on your previous knowledge of the activity of your audience (if on Facebook check your Insights) you make a decision on the times on each day for each post to be scheduled. If you are determining content for more than one social media platform again be sure to keep them separated but on the same excel document.
Where do you find content to share?
So now you have two beautiful excel sheets, your monthly content calendar is filled with awesome content ideas and trigger words like: Call to Action, Ted Talk, #ShareaSelfie, #ICYMI which is In Case You Missed It, always great for an important article. Also #ThrowBackThursday (#TBT), Engaging piece on travel or Photo Montage. However your weekly content schedule is empty; so where do you go to find your content? As mentioned earlier you need to have a clear idea on the messaging you want your audience to receive. So where do you look? The simple answer is: everywhere and on the same token the complex answer is: everywhere. The internet is jam packed full of content which can make it a minefield to navigate so follow the KISS rule: Keep It Simple Stupid.
Know who the experts are in your chosen industry, make sure you follow them and like their page, share content from their social media platform and be sure to tag them when you do it as it increases your reach and brings your brand to THEIR attention. Identify the influencers in your field, which are different from experts, and do the same. Video content is always great so check out Ted Talks for something relevant for your industry. Google, though huge, is a great content source, especially if you use the “news” function of the search engine to find the most updated news on the subject you’re writing about. Source great bloggers and share their content, start your own blog and share your own content. Content can literally come from anywhere, including Live feeds such as the Facebook video tool, just be sure to keep it simple, engaging and relevant to your brand.
Over to you
How do you plan your content? Will you use a content plan to help you in the coming year?
If you want help getting more out of your social media marketing, please download our free step by step guide today!
Writing a blog? Remember, one idea is always enough.
This idea is not the end it’s only the beginning.
You’ve probably heard this before but have you heard it in the context of blog writing? You might be tempted to cram all your ideas into one blog, to amaze you reader with your knowledge but in reality a much simpler approach is best. Just stick with one idea per blog – develop it and discuss the detail.
Here’s why.
Firstly, you have ample opportunity to blog so there is no great rush or need to cram as many ideas as you can into one piece. In fact keeping to a simple and concise writing approach will give your reader the impression you’re confident and an expert on the topic you’re writing about.
Another reason to keep it simple is to ensure the blog content you’re providing is meaningful and useful to your readers. By sticking with one idea you can explore it in greater detail, analyse it and offer your expert opinion. People will respect your knowledge; appreciate your advice in turn building a level of trust around your blog that will keep readers coming back for more. Regular readers become an opportunity to build new leads and new business.
Most blogs on average are 400 words, but you don’t have to stick to that word count. Long enough to provide detail but short enough to keep a reader’s attention. When it comes to the web people have short attention spans opting to read the first few sentences, skim the rest looking for the detail they’re after. With this in mind sticking to one idea makes a lot of sense. Create an opening paragraph that grabs attention, brings the idea to the fore and encourages the reader to read the detail.
If you just can’t stick to one idea instead opt to draw the article out over a series of blogs. A series will provide a reason to come back for the next blog, allow you to delve further in the detail and fully explore the overall content. Remember to keep a consistent flow throughout and link the blogs together.
Over to you!
I’d like to hear about your blog experiences by commenting below.
If you want help getting more out of your social media marketing, please download our free step by step guide today!
LinkedIn is the perfect platform for networking online. You can meet new business connections, link up with people in complimentary industries and share knowledge with those inside your own. You can also ask questions, get head hunted, look for jobs and even hire staff.
So how you represent yourself on LinkedIn is crucial to your professional success on this platform.
The most visual representation of you and your brand is your profile picture. Get it right and you will make important connections that will help you and your business. Get it wrong (or fail to have a photo at all) and you will have trouble connecting with other users.
Make your profile picture count
Here are my tips for making sure your profile picture delivers for you:
Have a photo – you would be surprised at just how many people don’t even put a photo up. When someone requests to connect with me, the first thing I do is look for a profile picture. If there isn’t one there, I am often reluctant, though I won’t always rule out, to accept the connection request.
Don’t use a personal photo. This includes holiday snaps, family photos or other images that would normally be used for other platforms like Facebook. You’re not on holidays, or out drinking with your friends; you’re on LinkedIn to make professional connections and generate leads for your business.
Invest in a professional photo shoot. Make the investment and take the time to have a professional photographer take your photo. A good photographer will have the skill and knowledge to put you at ease and make you look your best while understanding the needs of your image. They’re also often quite skilled at photoshop!
Make sure you photo conveys your brand and the image you want to project. This will depend very much on your industry, target audience and client base. Some will be more relaxed than others but DO NOT use a personal photo (see point 1).
Pay attention to the background. If you go for an outdoor photo (like I have) then be aware of what’s behind you.
Over to you
Are there any other tips you would give to someone choosing the picture for their LinkedIn profile? When was the last time you updated your profile picture?
If you want help getting more out of your social media marketing, please download our free step by step guide today!
If there is one theme from businesses I hear time and time again when it comes to social media is “Yes I do know I need to use it but I don’t know what to say”. They have a Facebook page, and maybe a Twitter account, and happily follow others. But when it comes to posting their own content, there’s a huge blank.
Is this you? Have you set up a Facebook page or Twitter account, updated it every day (and sometimes more than once!) then after a month or so you couldn’t think of what else to put up on your page? Perhaps you set up a LinkedIn profile, added everyone you know, posted some really interesting content, then lost motivation?
I can assure you – you’re not alone.
The 80 / 20 rule
If there is one thing you take away from this article, is that you do not need to write every piece of content from scratch. In fact, it’s better if you don’t; that way if you are curating interesting content that your audience engages with, then you’ll be seen as a trusted source.
Ideally, your content should consist of 80 per cent ‘value’ based or educational content. This can be either curated (ie, sourced elsewhere with appropriate attribution) or created yourself. The remainder 20 per cent can be slightly more ‘salesy’ but still be respectful of your audience.
Think curation and creation!
So how do you consistently come up with interesting and engaging content without spending hours trawling through the internet and coming up with nothing? Here are my top 5 tips:
Identify leaders in your industry and share what they say. Sign up for their email newsletters and when a great article arrives in you inbox, share it with your fans!
When reading online newspapers and other news sites, if you come across an article you think might interest you followers, save it in a word document so you can use it later
Look at what you are doing in your work place right now. Is there an interesting project you are working on? A client who you could profile?
Have you made a mistake and learned a lesson in your workplace that you think your fans could benefit from? Hindsight is a wonderful thing (especially in business) and another business could learn from you.
Ask you fans, followers & clients what they would like to hear. Your fans are a rich source of information, so ask them lots of questions!
Over to you!
Are there other places you find inspiration?
If you want help getting more out of your social media marketing, please download our free step by step guide today!
