Leverage Your Branding & Content To Create A Thriving Community

CTA : ISP – We can help announce your community, build trust, credibility and authority

Start Conversations, Then Automate Them

Building your business brand online takes consistent time and effort. Creating massively interesting and compelling content can help you build your blog, brand, and a thriving community. Content is a means to an end, don’t get so caught up on content that you miss the bigger picture.

Why do you create content anyways? Your number one content strategy should always be built around people. Create content that speaks to your tribe, keeps them coming back, keeps them sharing it. This creates a snowball effect and leverages the power of your existing followers, to attract more followers, and over time you will have a solid community, that is thriving and having conversations about you or your business, even when you are not initiating and leading the conversations.

Your number one content strategy should always be built around people. Click To Tweet

Is Content Really King?

In your efforts to learn more about online branding and digital marketing, you may have heard that “content is king” at least a thousand times, ( ok, maybe more! ) While this is mostly true, since search engines like to see fresh and relevant content to send visitors to your website, that is not where it ends. If you take the time to step back and look at the forest, and just for a moment, stop focusing on the trees, you will see something much bigger unfolding: Content is simply a means to an end, NOT the main goal.

There is an underlying reason for creating all this juicy content, you are selling yourself by sharing your knowledge and expertise. The fruit (profit) from this (content) comes from the forest (or community) that you nurture and strengthen over time. When you are creating content treat each of your topics or categories as branches from a highly focused content tree. That tree will allow for more fruit to grow and help you start and nurture your own community.

The goal of your content should be to inform, educate, or entertain, and thus build a relationship with your readers. Over time, the content opens doors of opportunity and can help you to create a positive environment that encourages others to share, learn, and grow. All this sharing, learning, and growing is happening around your business, this helps you build your credibility and influence over time.

The goal of your content should be to inform, educate, or entertain, and thus build a relationship with your readers. Click To Tweet

How Facebook Has Capitalized on This

The main reason that Facebook is so popular is because it has created a huge online community who all share content and interact with each other daily. Each Facebook user has hundreds of friends who log on and consistently to post pictures, videos, live streaming, memes, news, jokes and more. Facebook has been successful in creating a share- friendly ecosystem that nurtures people’s need to belong, by providing social rewards for their sharing of content.

Facebook has a giant user base; thus, it has become a breeding ground for paid advertisements and a major source of traffic for key brand. Many brands and businesses are using Facebook to build their list, drive traffic to their blog, sign people up for webinars, and more. They know that taking even just a teeny tiny slice of this huge community, and directing their attention to their business, will help them reach their target market where they already are. This process feels natural, and finds people in a setting they are already comfortable in, so it is a win-win-win for you, your tribe, and Facebook.

Take Facebook & Google Out Of The Equation

Your content is the “sugar” that attracts people to your business, and the goal is to leverage content to keep people coming back to your blog and subscribing to your newsletter. Your goal is to find your audience where they are already at, redirect them to your site, and create a community that encourages user generated content, discussions, and sharing. When you create a community, you are slowly taking Google, Facebook and other social media channels out of the equation. Thus, eliminating distractions and “competition,” resulting in a more loyal and engaged audience. These are the 4 main ways that you can use content to build a community around your brand and business.

Leverage Your Branding & Content To Create A Thriving Community Click To Tweet

Your Goal is Emotionally Intelligent User Content

As a long-term approach, once you start seeing that your community is starting to take shape, once you give them a comfortable place where they can talk more openly about the topics that interest them, they are very likely consistently return there. People love to interact in a safe environment where they feel they belong, and their ideas and opinions are valued.

Creating a user forum or a smaller social media community of your own niche on your own site should be the goal of your content creation efforts. When you build your own community, members will start new topic discussions and there will be a constant flow of ideas and fresh content with very little effort from your part. Those conversations can help you come up with new content ideas, and help you discover unmet needs that you weren’t previously aware of, but that you can now cater to.

In interacting with the community, members will create an emotional connection with other users and this can start new relationships, partnerships, or provide additional resources. Having a safe place to share, will make viewers frequent your community consistently to see what others have posted or shared while they were away.

By starting your own community, you create social proof, authority, trust, influence and a loyal following without relying as much on search engines or social channels. As Facebook and other mainstream social media networks get more crowded and create more clutter, people are always looking for more comfortable places and tight niche communities that feel more private and safe. When you can provide this for your target market, it will help you build a sustainable brand and business.

By starting your own community, you create social proof, authority, trust, influence and a loyal following without relying as much on search engines or social channels. Click To Tweet

5 Keys to Build An Effective WordPress Business Website

WordPress is amazing, because it enables you to have a website done in a single day, but having a site, and having an effective site, can be very different. Effective WordPress sites will have the following 5 keys:

1.) Credibility – Building Trust With Your Audience The first step to a good WordPress Website is establishing credibility through using testimonials, social proof, or videos. If you have a shopping cart or e-commerce on your WordPress site it is a good idea to have an SSL Certificate. This will make people feel comfortable making transactions on your website.

2.) Usability – Don’t make people think Is your site easy to use? If you are using flash, chances are that a lot of people will never be able to use your site. Make sure that your Menu is easy to see, and use. Having a clean WordPress theme, and doing your updates should take care of that.

3.) Sell-ability – Are you asking for the sale and making it easy? If your customer can’t find the “Order” button, and if your call to action is not SPECIFIC and CLEAR, you will lose sales! Focus on the product or service you are offering, and ask for the sale, WordPress has many plug-ins and themes, use them to highlight your offer or service.

4.) Visibility – SEO and social media shares raise brand awareness Make your site visible to people and Search Engines, make sure you use an SEO plug-in like the All In One SEO Pack, Platinum SEO pack, or any other SEO Plugin. Also make sure your permalinks are set to %postname% or category, whatever is best for your service.

5.) Share-ability – Make it super simple for them to tell their friends Make sure website content is EASY to share, and share-worthy. Do your research and come up with good content that people will want to share with others. Ask people what they want to read about, and provide useful content. Using a Plugin like share-this, is a good practice. Also share different kinds of content, use blog posts, videos, audio, PDF’s, and come up with creative ways to engage your readers, so that they share your content and keep coming back for more.

Are your ads annoying, awesome, or do they build awareness?

Is your ad placement turning people on or off?

It used to be that the biggest focus in business was Location ! Location! Location! The Internet has basically turned that upside down, and it’s no longer a factor. Today the location of your business doesn’t matter. Now the placement of your ads, and where they are located on your site will leave people feeling either annoyed, aware, or awesome! Your choice.

Annoying “in your face” flashy ads

We will begin with the annoying ads. These ads are the banners that are right in the header of your blog, or website. Usually you find them on the very top and some of them are animated, adding further annoyance and distraction. Do you want me to click on the ad or stay on your website? Pick one! I find these ads to be intrusive and personally I will not click on them for the sheer fact that they are located in a bad place. Yes location matters and in this instance it’s working against you and not helping you at all. Please don’t place ads there, it really annoys users. “I love ads on top of websites ” said no one ever!

Building awareness, I can respect that

Ads that are placed on your site sidebar are okay. They are not as much “in my face” and I can click on them if I want or just ignore them. I admit, I usually click on these ads because I feel like they build awareness. Usually they are sponsor ads, or affiliate links and I may have some curiosity to check it out. The location of ads on the sidebar are okay, as long as they don’t obstruct me from getting to the content I want to get to. Building awareness and asking people for support through affiliate promotions is completely acceptable, hey I understand we all need to make a living.

Awesome! Now I feel like this actually matters

When someone writes about your awesome widget or product or service on their blog that is when you are awesome! A graphic ad takes five seconds, a blog posts though, I can respect and I will be much more likely to buy and take action on a product or service that is presented in this manner. It does need to be a legitimate review, or a heartfelt recommendation for it to be awesome and effective. Double whammy! The fact that you take the time and effort to create a piece of content that educates or entertains your audience makes this product or service more awesome. So there you have it. Are your ads annoying? Do they build awareness? Or are they awesome? Location really does matter and how much time you invest into it also matters. Just like anything in life you get out what you put it. Going the extra mile and taking more than five seconds to put a graphic on your website will bring you higher rewards in the long-run.

When was the last time you clicked on a banner ad on a website? Realize that this style of advertising does not create value and it is not very credible. If you want to endorse something, go the full way and don’t do it in a half-heart way. Also make sure the ads you use are geared towards your specific audience and it will help them in some way. : )

Part 2: Contagious Content in 6 Simple STEPPS

3 More juicy ways to make your content more enticing and contagious : )

In part I we covered the first 3 STEPPS of creating contagious content, today we will be focused on the last 3 parts that make this a great formula that will help you create content that had contrast and weight!

4.) Public : Built to show and grow

When you are aiming to create contagious content, make sure that it is built to show and grow. Make it as easy as possible to share your content and don’t require many extra steps in order to do so. A good tip is to use social sharing buttons on your website, and accompany your content with interesting videos or graphics that make it more appealing. When people see that there’s a significant number of other people in their industry sharing your content, and being socially rewarded, they are also very likely to share it. The easier you make it, the better your results. Don’t make them think! Make it so easy that a 5 year old could do it. A good example of this in practice is Mashable, since they are a trusted source, and they have plenty of social proof, a lot of their content goes viral. It also helps that they consistently publish content from well-know authors and influential bloggers across many industries. Their platform is ever-growing, and they continuously stay top of mind by releasing fresh content daily.

The more people that share their content, the more credibility and reach they build over time. We live in a “monkey see monkey do society” so if it’s easy to share, people will have a natural tendency to do so. Convince them that they will look good, keep it simple, and the rest will take care of itself. Making your content publicly available, and easy to share through your platform will help you reach a wider audience and build up your readership over time. The good part is that you don’t have to be Mashable in order to be successful, there is plenty of opportunity to be the authority without necessarily being the big fish in the pond.

5.) Practical Value: Keep it relevant Your content is much more likely to be shared or liked, commented, shared, and get significant interaction when it truly delivers value to the end-user. For example using lists, or creating infographics and how-to videos that educate, entertain, or inform is a great idea. In order to do this, you need to really know your audience and what type of questions they have, as well as where they hang out and where they go to seek advice. Make your content something that end-users can easily or quickly apply, and keep it short by delivering bite-size information, then leading them to a place where they can get further help. If you create content that inspires them to take action, try it themselves, and see results quickly, it will have higher value and be shared more.

This is why it’s a good idea to offer white papers, guides, how-to videos, audio files, books, PowerPoint’s, checklists, printables, and other type of content that will somehow make life easier. Being relevant and helpful will never go out of style, and people will reward your generosity through engagement and shares. An example of this at play was when I recently shared a blot post on Facebook and said “This is the only dating advice you will ever need.” Since a lot of my friends are single, they found the information useful and relevant. They also shared it on their walls, and the piece got significant exposure because it was real-world advice that was well written, valuable, and entertaining. The post was a very interesting read, the guy shared great advice for men and women, so it was easier to spread.

6.) Stories : Create a conversation A story creates conversation, gives us something to talk about, and something to remember. Mr. Berger’s advice encourages us to stop selling and to start storytelling in order to craft our message in a unique way that makes our message memorable and easy to share. Give people a reason to share the story while looking good. Make them the hero of the story, not your company, and they are much more likely to actually share it. It’s very important to use tie-ins to make your product or service a key detail of the story without actually making it seem like everything is built around it. This may take special skill and a little bit of strategizing but overall if you can craft a story that makes them the hero through the use of your product or service and creates deep emotions, it’s much more likely that they’re going to be sharing the story with their social circle.

Yup, Proof that peanuts can be be the center of an interesting story A good example of this is a company that sells peanuts. At first peanuts may seem plain, kind of boring, and you may ask “How do I make peanuts interesting?” Well my friend I have quick story that may illustrate this for you. When Barbara and Ben were 20, they met at a new year’s party. Ben playfully gave Barbara a handful of peanuts and said “I wish these were pearls.” They dated, got to know each other, and went on to get married and have 2 kids. After they were happily married for 60 years, and Ben was on his death bed, he gave Barbara a handful of pearls and said “I wish these were peanuts.” “Me too!” she said. The End. Bam!

Did you see how peanuts instantly became much more interesting to you after reading that story? This part is where you can have fun, be creative, and find uncommon ways to tie in your offer while making it easy to remember. Whew! So those are the 6 steps to crafting contagious content. Here are some more resources in case you want to read more examples, and find out what other people are saying, and how they are leveraging this for their content and marketing efforts. Useful further Reading and Information : ) 1.) Here’s a quick video of Marie Forleo interviewing Mr.Berger, a quick watch and fast to digest about viral marketing. 2.) If you’re an avid Lynda.com user check out this course titled Viral Marketing : Crafting Shareable Content, it’s about an hour long, but totally worth it. 3.) If you are a book worm and would really like to dig in much deeper and further strengthen your content marketing skills I encourage you to buy Jonah Berger’s Book : Contagious : Why Things Catch On]]>

Is your business website problem or solution focused?

Is your business website focused on solving a problem or on providing a solution? Although it may seem that both lead your visitors to the same road, their actions may be completely different based on your chosen approach.

People will go to longer lengths to avoid pain

The main difference here is that people who are looking to solve a problem are wanting to avoid pain, while people who are interested in a solution are doing research and weighing their options. It has been proven that we will go to longer lengths to avoid pain, so while it may be a good idea to split test for this, chances are that you are much better off solving a specific problem on your website versus simply providing a solution.

This is much easier to do when you really know your audience and their “hot buttons” or pain points. Are they business owners? Gold players? College students? These three kinds of people have different pain points, that you can highlight and use as triggers for them to take action. A really simple way to transition from a solution based website to a problem based one is to ask the right questions. For example look how similar yet very different these two questions are: Are you tired of your website going down and constantly losing money? B. Are you ready for superior web hosting that will minimize your downtime? Both questions lead to the same end goal, which is a new place to host your website. The difference is that the first one addresses their pains and frustrations, while the second one promises “superior web hosting” which is highly unlikely that this will tick anybody’s clock! Being tired and losing money are both negative results, so people want to avoid them. Superior web hosting seems like a good idea but at this point it is only a great option.

Problems = Encourage people to take action

In order for your website visitors to take action you will need to create a sense of urgency, highlight their pain and provide a way to eliminate it or minimize it. Problems usually have urgency behind them, the sooner they are gone the better. If you can help your visitors, deliver value, and deliver on your promise, they will be thankful and loyal customers.

Solutions = Encourage people to weigh their options

On the other hand, when you provide a solutions it sounds good, and makes your offer a good option. Offering a solution is more like making a suggestion, showing them a road they could take now or later. Even after you highlight benefits, without first painting a clear picture of their pain, the benefits will not be as impactful. Options give people time and the opportunity to look at other possibilities, they don’t address a pressing need, so the likelihood of them taking action decreases dramatically.