To be a successful brand online, you have to create content and you have to publish it on channels that are going to let you get that content out to the world and get you a ton of new customers.
The question is…how are you going to do that not at average level but to DOMINATE the publication channels?
Well, that’s exactly what I’m going to show you today. So, let’s dive in!
Your Blog
Having a blog should not be a choice, it should be a necessity.
Your blog is something that you own, and it is a publication channel that nobody can ever take away from you.
But the best part is that it is going to let you drive more traffic to your website through the power of SEO.
But the question is, how are you going to run a successful blog?
Well, here are the step-by-step instructions that you need to take:
- Find out what your target audience wants
- Create content pillars
- Write SEO optimized articles
- Promote the articles on social media
Yes, it is as simple as that.
I am not going to go in-depth on how to actually set up your own blog on the internet, but I think that the simplest way to do that is through WordPress.
But now, let’s dive deeper into creating a blog post that is going to make your brand more successful and get you a ton of new customers.
Find Out What Your Target Audience Wants
As with everything that has to do with marketing, you need to know what your target audience wants. It is absolutely crucial for turning your blog into a great content publication channel.
If you haven’t done your research yet, here are the questions that you want to ask yourself:
- What do they dream about?
- What do they desire?
- What do they love?
- What do they fear?
- What frustrates them?
- What angers them?
- What do they hate?
- What arouses their skepticism?
- What embarrasses them?
- What are they most thankful for?
- What are their sources of shame and guilt?
- What are their secret self-doubts?
- What are they proudest of?
- What makes them happy?
Now when you see the series of questions, you might feel like – where am I going to get the answers?
You can check your social media polls, quizzes, or if you have literally nothing to get answers from, go to Q&A sites like Quora.
You can find a ton of useful information about your dream customers there, which is going to be absolutely necessary for you to create your own successful blog.
But without that, you can forget about this content publication channel (and any other publication channel out there.)
Create Content Pillars
Creating content pillars is one of the most important steps that is going to let you create content that fits your audience’s needs as much as it fits your personal needs and your brand’s needs.
And creating them is actually way easier than you think.
Factor #1: What You Love
The first thing that you want to create your content pillars based on is what you love.
There are some topics that you are interested in, for example, skiing or in my case marketing.
If you love this stuff, it is amazing.
You will want to incorporate it into your content pillars. Why?
Because otherwise, it is going to be really hard for you to create content.
There is no way you can stay consistent and post even three times per day on your blog (like me, Gary Vee, or other brands) and stay consistent over a long time if you don’t love the topic that you are creating your content around.
That is why it is so necessary to find what you like or love, and use it as a foundation.
All right, have you thought about it? If so, let’s move on…
Factor #2: What Your Brand Stands For
If you want to create content pillars for your blog that are going to help your brand, you need to create them based on what your brand stands for as well.
Now, how to do that?
If you are wise, you started your business around something that you love and know is profitable.
So, most likely you are already passionate about the industry your brand is in and it will be easy peasy for you.
However, if for some reason you didn’t and you own a marketing agency, while your biggest passion is hiking or sailing on a boat…
…then get on the boat, take off your phone, and write a blog post on your boat while sailing!
That is probably the best way to combine it and don’t get torn down when creating content that helps your brand.
But in the end, most people are passionate about the business that you are in, so this is most likely going to be a no-brainer for you and you are fine.
I highly recommend that you write three things down when it comes to each factor and then we will use your notes in the end. It is going to be more than important.
Factor #3: What Your Audience Wants/Needs
This is another MASSIVE factor when it comes to creating content pillars for your blog.
If you want to become successful with the content that you create, your audience has to care about it.
And this is the last factor you need to pay attention to when creating your content pillars.
Of course, there is a high chance they care about what your brand stands for as they follow you…but I highly recommend creating a survey to find out more.
It is really important and if you start sharing content about a topic they don’t need, you are going to fail.
It is essential for creating amazing content pillars.
Again, write what comes to your mind down, and also check the results from the surveys that you made in the past.
Got everything you need?
Awesome, now we need to move to the last step which is actually creating the content pillars for your blog.
Creating The Content Pillars For Your Blog
When you gathered all of the data that you need, it is time to create the content pillars for your blog. You do that by finding an overlap in all of those three things.
Let me show you how to do it.
For example, if I would be selling outdoor equipment, here is how I would create content pillars for my blog:
My Passions: Hiking, survival, skiing
My Brand: Outdoor equipment
My Audience: Running, Skiing, Fitness
Then you just find the thing that is between all of those three things and you use it to create the content pillar. In this case, it would be skiing.
Why? Because it matches all of these three things.
So, you, as an entrepreneur trying to leverage the power of a content distribution channel like a blog you’d start creating blog posts about skiing.
Of course, you can have way more than just one content pillar and the number is going to depend upon the number of things you have written down about each factor that affects the content pillar creation for your blog.
But I would suggest not having more than 7 content pillars. By the way, you can use this principle as well when creating content pillars for your social media platforms, or you can just copy the content pillars that you use for your blog and use them there as well.
Write SEO Optimized Articles
This is a crucial step not because of the quality of the article that you are going to write…but because of the traffic that blog is going to get you and the number of people, it is going to attract to buy your products and services.
However, SEO optimization is something that I would have to write a new book about, so I am going to show you the basic principles that you need to follow.
Optimize Your Page Title
Page title optimization is the most important SEO factor. In your title, you should include
your target keywords as this help both search engines and users get an idea of what the
the page content is all about.
Besides using keywords in the title, you should also follow these best practices:
• Each and every page of your website should have a unique title tag
• A page title should accurately describe the page content
• Titles should be brief and informative (typically less than 60 characters)
Optimize Your Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions are shown in the search results and it’s a great opportunity to ‘advertise’
your page to users.
Good meta descriptions can increase your CTR (click-through rate) and get you more search engine traffic by utilizing your existing content and rankings.
Check And Optimize The H1 Tag For All Pages
One of the on-page SEO elements that are easy to optimize is the H1 Tag.
The H1 tag is the first important element shown on a page and it usually has the same value as the page title.
H1 Tag SEO is easy:
• The H1 tag should be the same or slightly different than the page title
• Make sure that your H1 tag is visible and not hidden from users
• Style your H1 tag differently than the rest of the headings
• Use only one h1 tag per page
Check And Optimize Your Page Headings
Besides the H1 tag, you also need to optimize the other headings of your post. That’s usually the H2 and H3 headings.
SEO guidelines to follow:
- Don’t use heading tags when other tags such as bold or italic are more appropriate.
- Don’t overdo it with the use of headings. Use headings when it matters for structure, navigation purposes and to make the page content easier to read.
- You don’t have to use all heading types on a page. You can have the h1 and only h2s, depending on the length and type of your content.
- Having a balance between the use of headings and other formatting elements is always the best approach.
Make Sure That Your Target Keyword Is Included In Your Opening Paragraph
This is one of the basic principles of SEO content. Having the keywords, you want a page to
be known for on Google in your opening paragraph makes your page more relevant for
those keywords, for both search engines and users.
You don’t have to overdo it, mentioning your target keyword once or twice is enough.
Add Text Content To Accompany Your Non-Text Content
Search engines can better understand text than any other element so to make their job
easier make sure that you always have text content on a page.
Having a page full of images or videos is not a good SEO practice.
Check Your Internal Linking Strategy
Internal linking is one of my favorite SEO tactics. The concept is simple, all you have to do is to interlink your website pages together, creating a small web.
Pages that have a greater number of internal links are considered by Google to be the most important pages of your site.
When adding internal links, make sure that you optimize your anchor text.
Give Credit To Other High-Quality Websites
This is actually SEO advice coming directly from Google and these are the exact words they
used. In simple terms, they are encouraging webmasters to link out to other high-quality websites on the Internet.
The reason is simple, it helps their algorithm in ranking the important websites on the top
positions.
The SEO gains from doing so for your website are the following:
- You give your users a good option to learn more about a topic
- You position your content as a good source that links out to other good sources.
Promote Articles On Social Media
This step can give your blog a ton of extra exposure and help you turn more of your social media followers into customers.
All you have to do is to go to the social media platforms that you are on and share the article with your audience.
This can be as simple as a story with a link, or a Tweet. On LinkedIn, you are most likely going to create a normal post about it.
It takes almost no effort, but it can take off the success of your blog like a rocket! But a blog is not the only content publication channel that can get you a ton of success…
Create A YouTube Channel
Creating a channel on YouTube is one of the best ways to get your content out to the world. In other words, there are only a few content publication channels that are like that.
But the thing is that succeeding on YouTube takes way more effort and time than it takes with most of the other social media channels.
However, I am not as skilled with this platform as with others so I am not going to dive into deep advice here as I don’t feel like I have the permission to give it to you as I am not a super success there by myself.
So, let’s take a look at the basic things. (Besides creating content pillars and studying your audience which is essential here as well. Go to the blog section to find out what to do.)
Choose Your Titles and Descriptions Carefully
If you look at popular YouTube channels, you’ll notice that the video titles and descriptions usually have a format that they stick with.
You need titles that will make users want to engage with your videos. Descriptions should help provide a summary of the video. If you’re featuring products in your video, you can list them in the description with links to where your followers can buy them.
Include Calls to Action in Your Videos
Let’s say you have a compelling title and description that make people click and watch your videos. That’s great! Just make sure to have a CTA (call to action) in your videos that prompts users to do what you want them to.
For example, if you make a video review of a pair of sunglasses, prompt users to “buy now” and link to the seller’s website.
Use Annotations at the Beginning and End of Your Videos
Annotations are the bubbles of text that pop up throughout YouTube videos. They’re a great way to convey additional tidbits of relevant information or promote CTA’s.
Create a YouTube Trailer That Captivates
When someone goes to a specific YouTube channel, there’s often a video that starts playing. That video is usually a channel trailer that has some general information about the channel.
A channel trailer is your shot to quickly summarize your channel in hopes that people will stick around to watch your videos and subscribe. Make it captivating so it intrigues people and makes them want to see more!
Customize the Thumbnails of Your Videos
Along with the title, the thumbnail is the first thing someone sees from your video. An intriguing thumbnail will make someone want to click your video to see what it’s all about.
One of the best ways to create a great thumbnail is to take a still image from your video and use a tool like Canva to add graphics and text over it.
Post New Videos Regularly
Earlier, we mentioned that you should choose quality over quantity, and we meant it. However, you do need to post regularly scheduled content to keep your subscribers interested in your channel.
Posting once or twice a week is awesome. Just make sure it’s high-quality content.
Record Videos That Are at Least 5 Minutes Long
Platforms like Instagram and TikTok are good at showcasing short videos, but YouTube really shines when it comes to long-form content.
Make your videos longer than 5 minutes and full of information that will leave the viewer feeling well informed and satisfied.
Reply and Have Conversations With Your Followers
Most businesses can benefit from interacting with their customers and hearing their feedback, and the same goes for content creators on YouTube.
Interacting with your channel’s subscribers is an awesome way to connect with your fans and show them that their voices matter!
Stay Tuned for the Latest Trends
When you’re popular enough, you can be a trendsetter. Until then, keep an eye on what your fellow YouTubers are posting.
You’ll be able to stay on top of emerging trends so you can create your own content that people will want to see.
Leverage The Power Of Instagram
Instagram is one of the most powerful social media platforms that exist. It has a massive organic reach, and you are going to be able to make a ton of people see your content when you use it the right way.
But what is the process that you should follow to be successful on Instagram? Well, here it is…
Your Instagram Profile
Your Instagram profile is the basic thing that you need to succeed on Instagram as it is the first impression that you make and the difference between somebody hitting the “follow” button or a person that just leaves.
Here is how to optimize your profile like the Instagram lords…
Your Profile Picture
If you want to make your profile attractive, this is the very first step.
Your profile pic has to immediately show who you are at ALL COSTS.
Yes, that’s it.
Also, try to make it look professional and stand out.
If you don’t have a clue how to do that, just take a selfie of yourself, remove the background and go to pfpmaker.com
It is going to save you a lot of time.
All you will have to do is to upload the photo with removed background, and you will instantly see over 100+ profile pictures that look professional and which you can choose from.
Remember: Your profile picture will represent your Instagram brand all day long, and if it looks bad, you will have a serious problem.
Let’s move on to the next step of making your Instagram profile attractive…
Your Username And Headline
Your username and your headline come right after your profile picture.
When it comes to these there is something you need to keep in mind – these are the ONLY 2 searchable elements.
That means you must include a keyword either in the username or the headline.
Otherwise, when you will go to the Instagram search and type in, for example, “marketing expert”, your profile is not going to show up.
That is a silly loss of new potential followers…or even customers.
For example, when you check the example above, you can see that in my headline I have the keyword “social media marketing”.
You can model this but include your own keyword there.
Your Bio
This is probably the most important part of your whole profile. Your Instagram bio has to do three things:
- Show Authority
- Make A Promise
- Include A Call To Action
That’s it. Let me break this down a little bit.
First, you want to show authority.
You can do that with an authoritative statement.
Show any accomplishments that you have achieved in the past. Unless they have a reason to trust you, there is not a reason to follow you.
Now, if you are a total newbie and you have never accomplished anything in your entire life except graduating from school, tell them what you do in the first statement.
For example, “Elite Weight Loss Trainer.”
You can also notice that I use emojis before every statement.
I recommend that you do it as well – it makes the bio more visual and it helps them imagine what you actually mean with the words you say.
The second sentence in your bio makes a promise to the people who have visited your profile. Tell them how you are going to be valuable to them.
In my example, I tell them “Grow Your Business Using Instagram”.
You see? It is an immediate benefit for every profile visitor and a great reason to follow me. You want to do the same as well.
For example, you can say “Lose 20 Pounds Of Fat In Less Than 30 Days.”
You see, it is an immediate benefit. And if you will include a promise like that in your bio, not only it is going to make your Instagram profile way more attractive…
…but you will also get a ton of new Instagram followers.
Isn’t that awesome?
The third and last sentence is going to be your call to action.
If you are on Instagram for other reasons than doing business or impacting people in a good way you are wasting your time.
And that is why you want to leverage the bio link to make some sales.
If you want to make more people click on it, including a CTA in your bio is more than a good idea.
For example, I tell my profile visitors and returning followers to “Get Your Instagram Crown E-book.“
(By the way, if you want to reach over 100,000+ of your dream customers on Instagram in less than 7 days for FREE, you should get your copy as well.)
It is not hard.
Just tell them what you want them to do and they’re most likely going to do it.
Got it? Amazing, let’s move on to the next step.
Your Highlights
Not only your highlights can help you make more sales, but they can also help you establish an instant relationship with your target audience.
What do I mean by that?
When somebody visits your profile, they want to discover more about you.
And by including something like “About” highlight can help you immediately build a bond between you and the profile visitor.
It is a fantastic way to make your Instagram profile more attractive.
And of course, don’t forget to include some sales highlights like I have shown you in the example above.
Why?
Because it can make you a lot of profits.
You can literally pitch every person straight from the ground when they visit your profile by using them.
And one last thing, choose great highlight covers.
If your highlight covers suck, you are going to make your Instagram profile less attractive.
Your Profile Grid
Your grid can make your Instagram profile look INFINITELY more attractive.
But don’t prioritize your grid at the cost of the content itself.
If you will be limited when it comes to creating your content just to make your grid look good, opt for a chaos layout.
I was super limited when I tried using Instagram profile grids like chessboard or columns to make it look more attractive.
Now I just stick to my brand colors and everything looks good!
And it is the exact same thing that I will recommend to you.
If you want to experiment with the “attractiveness” of your profile grid, you can try using layouts like chessboards or columns.
But in the end, sticking to your brand colors is the easiest way to do that.
Creating Stunning Instagram Content
The second step that you need to take to win on Instagram is by creating content that’s going to attract your dream customers.
There are 3 pillars for creating amazing content:
- Value
- Presentation
- Relevancy
Now, let’s take a closer look at each pillar.
Value
To make your audience come back to you and to be able to attract new followers, your content must provide them with value.
I just want to mention that there are many kinds of value. The most important types that are on Instagram are:
- Education
- Entertainment
- Inspiration
You must determine the type you are going to flood your content with based on your target audience.
Each audience wants something different. For example, start-up entrepreneurs don’t care about entertainment as much as they care about education and inspiration.
Do you get the concept?
Alright, so let’s move on to the next step.
Presentation
The next thing that you have to do is to choose the way that you will present the content to your audience.
This includes: the design, the format (stories, carousels, regular photos, sizes, etc.), the branding elements, etc.
The thing that matters the most in presentation is how you are going to tell the message and the design that is going to support it.
I just want to tell you that you want to stick with your branded style and make the message as clear as possible. And most importantly, check the data and constantly improve yourself in every single way.
That is what matters the most…
Relevancy
I’ve already mentioned that in the value section. If you are not relevant, you are going to fail at this.
That is why you want to carefully study your target audience and design the content based on their pains, fears, wants, and desires.
Taking this step only will skyrocket your success.
Now, that you know the three pillars of raving content, we will take a look at another essential part of your Instagram growth.
And that is driving the people that you are targeting to your profile.
Drive Traffic To Your Profile
There are many things that you can do for driving traffic to your profile. In the image above, I share the most important types of traffic generation.
Let’s make one thing clear right away. If you are not able to drive traffic to your profile, how the hell can you get more followers?
You just can’t turn 0 into 10. That is impossible. And for that reason, I will show you 6 steps for driving a maximum amount of traffic to your profile.
Let’s get into it…
Trending Content
Jumping on trending content is one of the best ways to increase your reach and drive new followers to your profile.
As you already noticed, in 2021 the trending content is definitely Instagram reels. And you know what? They work extremely well.
If you create a reel that is entertaining or educative in any way it can go viral. And once it goes viral you can achieve hyper-growth.
But hunting “viral” is not what I am talking about. As you know, every reel that you create has almost double the reach your IGTV videos or even posts have.
And that is because they are trending now. So, whenever you see something like that, do not hesitate and jump on that opportunity right away!
Shares
The best way to get shares is to create shareable content.
“But Filip, how am I going to do that?”
Well, it is not as hard as you think. You just have to make the post SO VALUABLE that it will blow your audience’s socks off!
That is the best way to get more shares. So, outvalue your competition and make sure that your content is worth sharing before you post it.
Cross-Platform Promotion
Cross-platform promotion is a great way to drive new and new traffic to your profile.
If you are on Twitter, Facebook, or you have a website (which is necessary for monetization), you can easily drive new traffic to your profile from these channels.
It is a fantastic way to grow.
Commenting
Commenting is one of the best growth hacks out there. It gives you more exposure and it can easily grow your account from zero to hero.
Go to the comment section of an industry leader, find some relevant accounts and start commenting on their posts.
But you want to make sure that the comments are valuable and they don’t look like this “Thank you for sharing this”.
Collaborations
One of the best ways to get more exposure and drive more traffic to your profile is through collaborations.
When you collaborate with somebody, and you create a guest post for each other’s account, you will soon discover that it is one of the most powerful ways to make their audience follow you, and your audience follow them.
You don’t want to miss out on this massive opportunity.
Hashtags
Hashtags are a classic. I believe that you hear about them every single day.
“You need to have a great hashtag strategy!”
“If you don’t choose hashtags you are dead!”
Well, I simply do not believe in that. You can have a great hashtag strategy and still gain close to zero reach. But whether you like it or not, hashtags still drive some people to your account.
That is why you want to use them. But, simply they’re not as important as those “Instagram gurus” are telling you they are.
And that is basically everything you need to know about Instagram.
Now, let’s take a look at the most popular B2B platform that you definitely want to try using…
Leverage LinkedIn
LinkedIn is one of the most powerful platforms that you can use especially if you are in the B2B industry. It lets you connect with other entrepreneurs and highly-ranked executives in companies that have the ability to buy your high-ticket products and services.
The question is, how are you going to attract those people successfully through this astonishing platform? Well, that is a great question, and here is the answer…
Use Hashtags
Hashtags are often used to add emphasis to your LinkedIn post, but they actually serve a purpose that can change your marketing strategy for the better.
These simple phrases preceded by a hashtag symbol are goldmines for tapping into new audiences, industries, and niches.
But using too many, or worse — the wrong ones, can hinder your reach.
That means you’ll want to strike a balance between relevant and popular hashtags by doing hashtag research on LinkedIn.
Use the search bar to query a broad hashtag first.
For example, if you work in growth marketing, start by searching #growthmarketing to see how many people are following the hashtag, and how often it is being used.
From here, start with three to five hashtags that reach the audiences you want to speak to.
These hashtags should vary in the number of people following them, so don’t get too fixated on high numbers. Related but lesser-known hashtags can narrow your reach to an audience who would be likely to engage with your LinkedIn content.
Know when to use a LinkedIn Profile vs. a LinkedIn Page
LinkedIn Pages can be followed without sending a connection and waiting for approval.
That means when a LinkedIn user shares your Page with their connections, those individuals will be able to follow your page and see your business’ content right away which has the potential for high engagement.
LinkedIn Pages and LinkedIn Profiles serve different purposes in LinkedIn marketing.
Pages are public and used primarily by businesses. Profiles are private and used by individuals. Each of them works with the LinkedIn algorithm, but you’ll have different tools that you can leverage to grow your audience.
LinkedIn Profiles can be followed as well, but what makes them unique is the ability to have one-on-one, private conversations with connections who request to join your network. If you’re a consultant, work in direct sales, or prefer to take an individualized approach to your business, you’ll want to have a LinkedIn Profile to capitalize on this feature.
Both of these LinkedIn entities can work in tandem to create the ultimate marketing workflow.
For example, you can list yourself as an employee of your business by listing your business’ LinkedIn Page as your employer on your personal Profile. That way, when a visitor lands on your profile, they’ll see your Page, too.
Create posts of varying lengths.
Quick, bold posts pack a punch on LinkedIn.
Long-form stories capture the readers’ attention and lead to a longer dwell time on the app. Both of these types of posts should have a place in your LinkedIn content plan.
You don’t want to become known as the person who only shares monologues because your network won’t always have time to read them.
Along the same lines, too many short posts can come across as lacking substance which could make you seem less authoritative as a thought leader.
Varying the length of your posts (as well as adding images and videos) can keep your content fresh and relevant to your network. You’ll have content that gets people excited to see what gems you drop next.
Share external articles on the platform.
Unlike other platforms such as Instagram, LinkedIn’s algorithm supports external links to blogs and websites. So long as the content you post has value and is relevant to your audience, you’ll find success posting other people’s content on the platform.
Although you don’t have to worry about formally crediting the author if you’re linking directly to their website, it’s not a bad idea to tag them in your post or use their hashtag to give credit.
Sometimes, they’ll share your post with their own followers, or comment under the post which introduces your Profile to their audience. How cool is that?
Keep your publishing schedule consistent.
Known as the platform for having one of the longest content lifespans, LinkedIn is a platform that doesn’t need a ’round-the-clock publishing schedule. What it does need is a consistent one.
Whether you publish every day, every other day, or even once a week, your network will come to expect your content regularly which builds trust.
Choose a schedule that makes sense for your business and sticks to it for a month. See what days and times are yielding the best engagement and make those part of your publishing schedule.
Filip Konecny 