One of the hardest parts about getting your digital content marketing up and off the ground running is gaining the awareness and engagement of users online. Many companies will resort to tacky or annoying advertising to drive organic traffic to their websites. But, the end result is typically that consumers are irritated and do not walk away with the best perception of the brand. For ways to effectively drive quality and authentic user traffic to your site with content marketing, keep reading.
1. Increase Search Engine Optimization Efforts
We have said it once, and we will say it again–if you want to get anywhere close to having real recognition online for your brand, company, product, or service–you have to be utilizing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts. Marketers often get turned off by SEO. Because they think it is either pointless, too complex, or do not have the time to invest in mastering it. However, the truth is that it is really quite simple when you apply it to your content marketing practices already in place.
One of the easiest things you can do to increase your SEO through your content marketing is to focus on keywords. SEO is all about trying to get to the top of that Google search results list. Keywords are one of the best places to start achieving that goal.
By focusing on utilizing more of the same words that your audience frequently searches for in your titles, photos, headlines, and more, you immediately increase your chances of being seen by them. Plus, the amount of tools available to help you do this is endless. Sites such as WordPress and others allow you to upload any content. They will immediately calculate a report that tells you your SEO rating and areas where you can improve. They will literally give you specific aspects to focus on. This includes “use simpler language” and similar tips that can help guide you through the process.
2. Make Sure You Are Keeping up with the Trends
First of all, hopefully, you have already narrowed down exactly who you are trying to get this organic traffic from. If you do not yet know your target audience, you might want to keep researching that first because you won’t be able to effectively follow step number two if you do not know who you want to reach.
However, if you do know your audience, it is important to remember the importance of consistently checking in with them. Sending out surveys and feedback reviews and using your website analytics tools are vitally important to your business’ success. If you are not continuously making certain that your audience actually likes your content or is seeing it in the right places, traffic to your site or brand is going to decrease immediately. All of the top businesses are experts at this–think Nike, Doc Martens, Urban Outfitters, etc.
This step is especially important if you have a younger audience. With so many different social media platforms with infinite users and creators, the trends and fads are constantly changing. One TikTok dance or Snapchat filter is in today and completely out and stale tomorrow.
As a marketer, you have to make sure you are always one step ahead. If you fail to notice your audience leaning more toward TikTok than Instagram, your content will be wasted where fewer people will be seeing it. Even worse, if you use an outdated trend in your content marketing video because you did keep up with today’s latest TikTok videos or Instagram aesthetics, your brand will come off as tacky and uncool. People will be very quick to judge when it comes to looking like an outsider.
3. Utilize Web Analytics Tools
The final step in driving organic traffic with your content marketing is to focus on your web analytics tools. Website analytics tools are one of the best things around right now for marketers to use. It decreases the time spent conducting research because the software does all of the work for you. The tools essentially gather all of the statistics and data you could ever want based on your website or social media account. They compile it all into organized, succinct reports. For example, if you are on Instagram, you have access to these analytics.
By creating a business account, you can automatically see a full report of all of your followers and your own posts. It breaks down the demographics of your followers. Also, it tells you where they came from (i.e. URL link, music sound, hashtag, etc.), the content they liked best, etc. It even organizes all of your posts and stories into a report. The report tells you which types of posts were the most popular and vice versa. Essentially, these website analytics tools are everywhere and often free. Any marketer who wants to focus their content marketing on places that drive the most organic traffic should be using them.
