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Tag: Writing

  • 10 Actionable Content Marketing Tips for Digital Marketers

    10 Actionable Content Marketing Tips for Digital Marketers

    Content Marketing Tips for Digital Marketers

    With millions of blogs on the world wide web, content marketing has exploded and has grown exponentially over the years. But with every brand making use of this marketing strategy effectively, content marketing has become saturated more than ever.

    It’s easy to get lost and overwhelmed in this jungle and having these many competitors, is it still going to be worth your time to join the bandwagon?

    Yes, because if not, you will be missing out on a lot of opportunities and leads that will be useful for your business.

    Here are 10 actionable content marketing tips that you can implement in your content strategy.

     

    Plan your content

    First things first. Define your goals. What do you want to achieve with your business? What do you hope your business will become in a year? Do you want to reach more audiences? Do you want to have more site readers? Do you want to rank on SERPs?

    Just like any aspect of your life, you’ll have to know what you want to achieve before you try to achieve it. Set out a goal and create your content marketing plan on how to achieve that goal.

     

    Write relevant content

    Having high-quality content for your website is only great when that content is also relevant to your niche. Users are more interested in content related to your industry because that is what they came for you.

    Do your research to find out what your audience is looking for. There are many useful online tools like Google Analytics and Google Trend Finder to help you find relevant topics to write about. Make your content engaging and make sure that they are free from grammar errors and typos.

     

    Check your content for grammatical and typographical errors

    Don’t publish anything without checking them twice and proofreading them. Typos and grammar errors are painful to the reader’s eye and they will cause you to lose your credibility. These errors will also reduce the quality of your content and will ultimately affect your content’s potential to be ranked on Google. So be aware of this factor. A tool like Grammarly or Hemingway can be very useful in checking typos and basic grammar errors.

     

    10 Actionable Content Marketing Tips for Digital Marketers

     

    Use headlines and proper structures

    Understand that content with proper formatting, headlines, and structure makes it more visually interesting that will capture a reader’s eye. Make sure that your content is properly edited before you put it out for your audience to see.

    Create the right headlines, subheadings, and bullet points. Make your sentences bite-sized so they’re easier to digest.

     

    Use relevant keywords

    In content marketing, keywords are very important. Using relevant keywords will make your content visible to the search engines that will eventually drive traffic to your website. Use keyword finder tools to find the relevant keywords in your niche that you can strategically use in your content.

     

    Educate first, sell later

    When you write content for your business, you always have it in the back of your mind to sell something. And we can’t deny that content sells, just don’t do it directly. Hard selling makes your audience feel uncomfortable and this may discourage them from reading what you have to say.

    Instead, talk about your products or services subtly and make your audience aware of its features and benefits and how they can improve their lives. Introduce your products and educate your readers about them first, and then sell them afterward.

     

    Offer a strong Call to Action

    A call-to-action is important and all of your content should have it at the end. This is what you want your readers to do after consuming your content. How do you want them to proceed? What do you want them to do next?

    Create a strong call to action. Do you want them to visit your blog and read more content? Link-related articles that might interest them. Want to offer them your product or service? Put that in your article.

     

    Be mobile-friendly

    More and more people now use mobile phones and it would be safe to say that we surf the web more using our phones. It’s important to have your website responsive for mobile.

    Optimize your website, images, and ads so that they are mobile-responsive.

     

    Gain authority with guest posts

    Guest blogging has been popular in the blogging world and it’s done so that your blog can gain authority. It allows you to get backlinks from authority websites and gain a new network from the host blog. It’s a great way to not only promote your brand but also build your brand authority.

     

    Be consistent with your content update

    In our fast-paced world today, content has become outdated for just about a year or two. So aside from writing new content, it’s also important for you to update your old content to keep them relevant with the times.

    Go through your blog and rewrite things you need to rewrite. Update your resources and check if all of your links are still functioning. Replace outdated images and refresh your intros and outros.

    Audit your blog to see which entries you need to update.

     

    We hope that these actionable tips will help you improve your content writing skills and content marketing strategy. Online content marketing can be overwhelming but put these tips into practice and you’ll see it’s worth it. 

    Need SEO help? Visit our blog for more tips and useful information.

    Need any digital marketing help? VE Digital offers different services to aid businesses with their digital marketing. Contact us today!

  • 7 Tips on How to Write More Engaging Content

    7 Tips on How to Write More Engaging Content

    Here are 7 Tips on How to Write More Engaging Content:

    Content writing is a vital part of any marketing strategy. It’s an easy skill that can be mastered over time, but writing engaging content – this is something you need to pay more attention to. In this post, we are going to discuss a few ways you can do to write more engaging content.

    Check out these helpful tips to guide you on your journey in making your next content:

     

    Structure your Article Right

    The design of your content is as important as how it’s written. Make sure to format your article well by using headings, subheadings, and bullets to emphasize your key points. You can even highlight a quote in the middle of your long article just to spice it up.

    Obviously, to make your content look appealing to your readers is your website must also be designed well. Because no matter how great your article is, if your website is messy, it will deter potential readers to actually go in-depth with your write-up.

    Regarding value over any other

    This is very commonly said but couldn’t be more accurate. Valuable and quality content will always be superior to any type. No bullshit, just value. One characteristic of engaging content is it contains something that’s worth reading.

    Aim to teach something to your readers rather than just spouting facts after boring facts.

    7 Tips on How to Write More Engaging Content

     

    Make conversation with your readers

    A lot of articles we see online are merely long pieces of text that, yes, give us the information we need, but do not really engage with us. As a writer who seeks to educate and inform their readers, we have to keep in mind that we must also seek to stir their minds.

    Keep your content concise

    I know writing long content makes for a healthy SEO when that is what you are going for. But what’s the benefit of that if you are not providing any value for your readers and your article is just a piece of flowery words.

    Keep your content concise and straight to the point and always remember to write with your readers in mind.

    Don’t Neglect Visual Media

    Level out your wordy piece of content with appropriate visually appealing images and videos. Internet users nowadays prefer visual content over text content so don’t neglect this aspect.

    Have a Call to Action

    At the end of your articles, always make sure you include one call to action that will invite your readers to do more stuff on your website. Maybe it’s to visit another blog entry or check out another page of your site.

    Always Edit your Work

    Before hitting the publish button, make sure you have read through the content you’ve written. Check it for spelling and grammatical errors because nothing hurts the eye more than an article sprinkled with a little too much typo. I suggest you use Grammarly or Hemingway App as I do.

     

    Hopefully, you’ve learned a thing or two from this post. Creating engaging content can be a challenge but it’s something you can do with practice, a few reminders, and passionate work. 

    Make sure to visit our blog for more articles like this!

     

  • Conversations on Social Media

    Conversations on Social Media

    Conversations on Social Media

    How do you craft your responses to mentions and replies on your social media that will encourage positive engagements and minimize conflict from your audience? Today’s post will be all about that – conversations on social media. When you interact with your followers, particularly when you’re answering their queries or handling their complaints, you will need to develop skills beyond the copywriting tips we tackled in the previous posts. You will need to have customer service skills in this matter.

    Here are two tips we want to share with you to make your conversations on social media successful.

     

    VARY YOUR REPLIES

    If your brand receives a lot of similar questions and responses from your followers, it can be very tempting to reply to all of them the same way to save time and effort. This is okay, but the problem is that it’s really obvious to everyone looking at your feed and it will make you look insincere. Sometimes, people might even assume that you are using automated bots and that there’s no human being behind your socials. The challenge of having to start from scratch every time is that it will consume a lot of your time and it will very likely have more typos, and sometimes you’re at risk of going off-message especially when you are handling complaints.

    One tried and tested solution for this is to keep your replies varied while also making them free from errors and making your replies quick.

    Here’s an example of what a brand might send regularly for queries or complaints: 

    Send us a DM with your six-digit order number and we’ll look into it.

    And here are some variation: 

    • Drop us a DM with your six-digit order number and we’ll look into it.
    • We’ll look into this for you. Just DM us your six-digit order number.
    • DM us with your six-digit order number and we’ll investigate.
    • Do you have a six-digit order number? Please DM it to us and we’ll investigate.
    • Let us look into this. Please send us your six-digit order number by DM.

    You can slightly vary the wording of your message while keeping the meaning the same. Take advantage of the internet and use an online thesaurus for help. Once you get the hang of the process, it will become easier to do and you’ll become quicker at it.

     

    Conversations on Social Media

     

    When you have your alternatives, you can pick and choose from them for your replies. Your variations can have more or less formal versions of the same message and you can just pick one that best matches the style used by your customer. 

    This is a quick and easy way to make your reply less robotic and more tailored. Another tip is to address your customers by their name. It’s a nice personal touch to include their name on your message and you can use ‘I’ instead of ‘we’ or adding your first name or initials at the end of your message to make it more personalized.

    Example: Hi Kathy, send me a DM with your six-digit order number and I’ll look into it. – Renee

    These personal touches, no matter how small, reminds the customer you’re interacting with that you are human because sometimes people forget that businesses are also run by other people when they’re talking to them on social media.

     

    TAKE INSPIRATION FROM THE PROFESSIONALS

    JetBlue is an award-winning airline that’s recognized for its excellent customer service on social media. Every day, they receive thousands of DMs or mentions on their Twitter account, but despite this overflow, they still managed to respond to their customers with conversations that feel natural and organic. They are always on the lookout for opportunities to add value and connect with their audience, not just to respond to every tweet that comes their way.

    Browse through JetBlue’s Twitter replies feed to get inspiration on how they interact with their customers efficiently and effectively. 

     

    Responding to messages, comments, and tweets on social media, it’s important to take hold and improve your customer service skills. These interactions are as much about customer service as it is about copywriting. Vary your replies, add some personal touches, and learn tactics from successful brands to save yourself some writing time and to make your conversations on social media more effective.

    For more posts like this, check out our blog.

  • Copywriting for Instagram

    Copywriting for Instagram

    Copywriting for Instagram

    Over the last two weeks, we’ve shared valuable copywriting tips that you can apply over your various social media platforms. We’ve talked about the best points to target when you are copywriting for Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Today, we will talk about copywriting for Instagram. What are the important points to target in this platform? 

    In this post, you will learn another three techniques to make your Insta captions more engaging. These tips will help you create compelling posts on all your social platforms as well. 

    Copywriting for Instagram

    Fast Facts:

    Instagram Audience: Positivity-seekers, influencers

    Instagram users are a positive bunch. They are looking for happy posts with upbeat interactions and good stories. Instagram is a very visual platform and it is also a great place for great copywriting. 

     

    Instagram Post Length: 138-150 Characters

    Instagram captions are longer than any other platform. They allow lengthy posts but don’t get carried away. The perfect caption length here is still just between 130-150 characters. Although this is the case, Instagram is a platform where its users post longer captions, almost like mini-blogs. And some are very successful in doing this. If you want to experiment with longer captions, this social media platform is the place to do it.

     

    Instagram Hashtags: 10-11 per post

    Instagram is the platform to get crazy over hashtags. The optimum number of hashtags you can use is 10-11 and you can use them to highlight words, get on with the trends, and make sure you show up on the search results. Generally, it’s preferable to separate your hashtags from your main caption. Some even put their hashtags on their post’s comment section. Hashtags on Instagram are almost like an additional list of keywords rather than being part of your photo caption.

     

     

     

    Instagram (and social media in general) is really all about engagement. Here are three techniques you can use to make your copywriting for Instagram more compelling, and will help drive engagement on all your social profiles if applied well.

     

    Be VISUAL

    It’s not something new when you see how the photos on Instagram posts often do not correlate to their captions. It’s like having the images and caption being made by different people. Or sometimes, the caption is just a direct description of what you can already see in the photo without adding anything new or relevant, which is basically pointless. To have good copywriting for Instagram, your caption must go hand-in-hand with your image. 

    Example: Canva

    Canva has a very visually and aesthetically pleasing feed, full of bright and detail-oriented photos. What particularly makes their posts stand out is that their images and captions work together. Their images include a little bit of copy that gets the viewer’s attention, giving them a sense of intrigue enough to prompt them to read the captions below it.

     

    Be a Storyteller

    In social media, storytelling is a very powerful marketing tool. And Instagram is the perfect platform for storytelling because it’s very visual and your caption for your posts can be a bit longer than any other. Copywriting for Instagram is made more enjoyable because of this.

    Example: Outdoor Voices

    This brand has a well-curated feed that tells snippets of what they are and what they stand for. Each caption has a relevance that goes along with the images and what’s really noticeable in their feed is that they value their audience. And their posts are varied so you can expect to get fresh content from them. As always, the number one tip when you want to incorporate storytelling in your marketing efforts is to focus on your customers. This is a clever way to showcase your product or service without making it all about you.

    There are several ways to improve your storytelling on your captions. But as long as you make it all about your audience, there’s really no way you can get it wrong.

     

    Make Spaces

    To make your long captions more inviting and readable, format your text and add spaces in between them. A huge chunk of text is boring and intimidating so people will rarely read the whole of it. Space out your sentences, this will make them more accessible and reader-friendly.

    Tool: Instagram Link Break

    This is one of those apps that does exactly what its name says. Type in your caption, add line breaks to space it out and copy and paste it to your post to make it more readable.

    This is a cleaner and more elegant way of typing your posts rather than using dots or dashes on each line.

     

    Instagram may be all about aesthetically pleasing visuals, but that doesn’t mean that you can just neglect your copywriting. In fact, the positive vibe and trend for lengthy captions make copywriting for Instagram fun as you can incorporate storytelling techniques and be more experimental with your captions.

     

    For more posts like this, check out our blog.

  • Copywriting for Facebook

    Copywriting for Facebook

    Copywriting for Facebook

    To continue with our copywriting series this week, we are going to talk about copywriting for Facebook. In this post, you will learn three techniques that will make your Facebook posts more attention-grabbing than before. These techniques will help your posts stand out from others and this can also be applicable on your other social platforms.

     

    Facebook Fact File:

    Audience: 40+, less web-savvy

    The average Facebook user is relatively older compared to other social media platforms, and these users are likely to be less web-savvy. This is an important thing to bear in mind when writing for Facebook.

    Post Length: 40-80 characters

    Did you know that Facebook users have the lowest attention span? When it comes to engagement, posts that perform the best are those with only 40-80 characters in them.

    Hashtag: 1 per post

    On Facebook, hashtags are not a big deal. You can use them if you want to but just use one per post. 

     

    Copywriting for Facebook

     

    Another important thing to remember about Facebook is it does not like you linking out to content that’s outside the platform. The algorithm is still a mystery but unless you pay for an ad on a post that includes an outbound link, your post will be less likely seen by your followers compared to a post that includes an inbound link.

    Now that you’re aware that Facebook users have short attention spans, you really need your posts to stand out if you want to make an impression. Let’s explore some ways to do just that.

    It’s tough enough to grab your audience’s attention but if you want them to read your post, it’s important that you put these practices into action.

     

    Capitalize First Letters

    Knowing that the best performing Facebook posts are only between 40-80 characters, it’s would be easiest and more helpful to write them as headlines. They have a similar job to do and are about the same length. Headlines are designed to grab the reader’s attention and encourage them to read the content more, this is also what we want to achieve for our post.

    With that said, headlines are usually written in title case when the main words are capitalized. This technique can be effective for social posts as well because sentences written in title case are more attention-grabbing than those written in sentence case.

    Tool: Title Case Converter

    This tool is a great help in converting your text into a title case no matter how it was previously written. It’s quick and accurate, a handy tool that you can bookmark that can make your writing life easier.

    PLEASE DON’T DO THIS. Please, just don’t. Don’t use all caps on your posts. Capitalizing your texts makes you look shouty and desperate. And this will discourage your readers to ignore your post rather than engage in them.

     

    Use Magic Numbers

    What’s a magic number? Well, any number used in a short is magic. Human beings, for some reason, are naturally drawn to numbers. Including one or two in your copy is an easy and cheap way to boost its engagement. Just a little reminder though, you need to write the numbers in numerals rather than words. Talk about hitting birds with one stone, you get to improve your post’s engagement and keep your character count down. It’s a win-win!

     

    Get Personal

    The last technique is inspired by Sprout Social. They are a company that helps people connect with customers on social media, so they really know what they are doing. 

    The majority of Sprout Social’s posts take the reader to their starting point, to their why’s. They mostly don’t talk about themselves or their company or their customers generally. They make a very clear stand on what their concept means for their users and why they should engage in their posts. Making your posts more personal will humanize your brand and this will make it relatable to your readers. 

     

    An important tip when copywriting for Facebook is to make your posts as attention-grabbing as you can so they will make an impact. The three straightforward tips shared above can make your posts stand out. Master making your posts into headlines by using a title case, tap into the power of magic numbers, and make your posts personal and all about the readers.

     

    For more posts like this, check out our blog.

  • Why Content Marketing Actually Works

    Why Content Marketing Actually Works

    Why Content Marketing Actually Works

    We live in a content-driven world, where more and more businesses need to write articles to drive traffic, engage customers and generally get people talking about them. But how do you create content? What should it be about? When should you publish it? And why should you bother in the first place? In this article, I’ll tell you what content marketing is, how to get started, and why content marketing works so well.

     

    What is Content Marketing?

    Content marketing is a marketing strategy that relies on the creation and sharing of valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience. It is primarily used by companies to increase brand awareness, attract new customers, engage, trust, and ultimately sell. It is the lifeblood of your business. It’s what makes you an authority in your field, building trust and establishing a relationship with prospects. It’s also the foundation of inbound marketing strategy.

    Content Marketing can be done in many ways: blogs, videos, social media posts, infographics etc. as long as it has the ability to attract new customers for your business. This marketing technique has been proven to be one of the most effective methods for reaching potential customers and improving relationships with existing ones. It has become so popular that thousands of businesses are using it worldwide today.

    Content marketing can be used by both small businesses and big brands. The more popular forms of content marketing include blogs, eBooks, white papers, webinars, infomercials, podcasts, and other creative ways that may not fall into any of these categories.

     

    It’s Not Always Blogging

    Content marketing doesn’t always mean blogging; in fact, it can also be other types of content like videos, photos, podcasts, case studies, lead magnets, and more. The key is to create or curate content that provides value to your target audience.

    Content marketing is not just about publishing blog posts and hoping people will see them. It’s about creating valuable content that solves a problem for your target audience. It could be an article that helps your target audience learn something new, like this one. It could be a video that helps answer a question they need to be answered. It could be a podcast that speaks directly to their pain points.

    Whether it’s a blog, a video, an e-book, an infographic, or a Facebook post—whatever form it takes, the purpose of content marketing is to bring value to your target audience. So, what should you write about? Where do you get fresh content?

     

    Where Do You Get the Content?

    It’s tempting to think that content is easy. That all we have to do is open our eyes, observe the world around us, and start writing. Many people who want to start businesses ask me where I find my content, and how I find it. The answer is: “I don’t know.”

    There’s really no efficient way to get content but to experiment, take suggestions from readers, and maybe get lucky when an idea hits you. But then, there are ways to get ideas and material for your business blog or website.

    First, you can use your own experience. This is valuable because you know more about your own life than anyone else does. But it’s also tricky because it’s tempting to be self-indulgent or even misleading. It’s not uncommon for people to write about their lives and then go back later and fill in the boring parts with made-up stuff so that their past seems more exciting than it really was.

    Second, you can read other people’s blogs, books, and magazines. The danger here is that you will simply repost articles that you find interesting without adding anything new or personal. It is more work to put yourself into things you didn’t experience first-hand; but if you can manage it, it will make your blog a lot more interesting and helpful to your readers.

    Third, you should read nonfiction books and articles by experts in various fields that are relevant to your business. This is a good way to learn the basics of your field so that you can talk about them–and the people who write these books are usually experts!

    Why Content Marketing Actually Works

    Why Content Marketing Works

    Content marketing works because of the way well-optimized content spreads. The better your article is, the more readers you get, and the more readers you get, the more links you get. And the more links you get, the better your articles perform. It is a virtuous cycle and the hard part is getting into the cycle. Once you’re in, though, it can become self-supporting. You can outsource it, though that costs time and money. It’s usually easier to start with just one piece of great content and then use that as a stepping stone for other pieces of great content.

    As said earlier, content marketing is the practice of creating and sharing valuable online content to attract, engage, and acquire customers. Note that “content” is not just a synonym for “text.” When using it correctly, content marketing involves audio and video production, infographics, webinars, ebooks and white papers—any format that delivers value to your audience.

    This marketing strategy has become the default sales method for one simple reason: it works better than anything else out there. For example, sending email pitches straight into people’s inboxes almost never works anymore. But sending them helpful articles? That works very well indeed.

    Content marketing works because it’s more efficient than other forms of marketing. Instead of interrupting people and hoping they remember your message, you’re providing them with the information they would otherwise have had to seek out on their own. That makes it more likely that they’ll pay attention and remember what they learn, creating a virtuous cycle in which the more useful your content is, the more widely read it becomes.

     

    Final Thoughts

    A good content marketing campaign is a little bit like being on the right kind of diet. If you have the right strategy, you’ll find that it can bring great results. If you don’t, you won’t see those results, and it may even look like poor results when they look at your traffic or engagement.

    With the right approach to content and research, you can create a blog post that brings in readers (and potential clients/customers) and stand out from the crowd.

    The insights above should give you an idea of what content marketing is, why it works, and how to get content ideas to take advantage of this great online marketing tool.

     

    Recommended Reads:

    5 Reasons Why Your Content Marketing Strategy is not Working

    7 Benefits of Content Marketing for Small Businesses

    5 Companies Dominating Content Marketing

     

  • Copywriting for LinkedIn

    Copywriting for LinkedIn

    Copywriting for LinkedIn

    In our last post, we talked about copywriting for Twitter. This one will be about copywriting for LinkedIn. You’ll learn three techniques to help you make your LinkedIn posts more persuasive. You will also find these tips to help you create persuasive posts that will lead to conversion not only on LinkedIn but on all of your social media platforms as well.

     

    The Basics

    LinkedIn Audience: Professional

    People use Linkedin for more professional purposes than any other social media. Your target audience here is as likely to be prospective employees as it is customers. There will also be a lot of B2B activity on this platform.

    LinkedIn Post Length: 50-100 Characters

    Linkedin posts can be longer than tweets, but surprisingly, the ones that get the most engagement are the shorter ones. Posts that tend to be on similar length to the optimum tweet length between just 50-100 characters do better. Though the posts themselves may be short, most generally link to blogs or videos that contain more in-depth information. 

    LinkedIn Hashtags: 1-2 per post

    Using hashtags in LinkedIn is similar to Twitter. Just using one or two per post is best. 

     

    Copywriting for LinkedIn

     

    There is so much competition on social media today so it’s extremely important to make your posts as persuasive as possible, and this is especially true on LinkedIn.

    Your LinkedIn post copy should be written to encourage readers to take the call to action. Once they’ve clicked the link through your website or landing page, or maybe watched your video, the post itself has done its job. Your focus will then turn to the next action you want your audience to take.

     

    Make a Connection

    One way to make a connection with your reader is to ask them a question. Asking a question is one technique you can make to persuade your reader to take you up on your CTA. As human beings, we’re hard-wired to respond to questions. We simply just can’t ignore them. Maybe it has something to do with our problem-solving nature because we find it difficult to leave questions unanswered. 

    Have a variety of posts. Alternate your questions between it being open and close. This way, you can work out what’s best for your audience and you can determine what leads to the most engagement. 

     

    Be More Specific

    When you make a post, always think about your target audience so you can make your copy more specific. Great copywriting is all about writing with your readers in mind. Make your posts more about them and less about your business.

     

    Complement your Content

    When you write a title for your blog posts or web pages, keep in mind on how it will look like on social media when it’s shared or posted. This may not always be at the front of your mind, but if you get a lot of traffic from your social media sources, it really should be. When you take our advice about keeping your posts short, the title of your blog posts should make up about 50% of your post’s copy. That’s why it’s important that your blog title and your post copy work well together.

     

    Copywriting for LinkedIn is all about writing persuasive post copy. And to do this, you’ll have to connect with your readers so that you can gently lead them into your marketing funnel.

     

    For more posts like this, check out our blog.

  • 10 Actionable Content Marketing Tips for Digital Marketers

    10 Actionable Content Marketing Tips for Digital Marketers

    Content Marketing Tips for Digital Marketers

    With millions of blogs on the world wide web, content marketing has exploded and has grown exponentially over the years. But with every brand making use of this marketing strategy effectively, content marketing has become saturated more than ever.

    It’s easy to get lost and overwhelmed in this jungle and having these many competitors, is it still going to be worth your time to join the bandwagon?

    Yes, because if not, you will be missing out on a lot of opportunities and leads that will be useful for your business.

    Here are 10 actionable content marketing tips that you can implement in your content strategy.

     

    Plan your content

    First things first. Define your goals. What do you want to achieve with your business? What do you hope your business will become in a year? Do you want to reach more audiences? Do you want to have more site readers? Do you want to rank on SERPs?

    Just like any aspect of your life, you’ll have to know what you want to achieve before you try to achieve it. Set out a goal and create your content marketing plan on how to achieve that goal.

     

    Write relevant content

    Having high-quality content for your website is only great when that content is also relevant to your niche. Users are more interested in content related to your industry because that is what they came for you.

    Do your research to find out what your audience is looking for. There are many useful online tools like Google Analytics and Google Trend Finder to help you find relevant topics to write about. Make your content engaging and make sure that they are free from grammar errors and typos.

     

    Check your content for grammatical and typographical errors

    Don’t publish anything without checking them twice and proofreading them. Typos and grammar errors are painful to the reader’s eye and they will cause you to lose your credibility. These errors will also reduce the quality of your content and will ultimately affect your content’s potential to be ranked on Google. So be aware of this factor. A tool like Grammarly or Hemingway can be very useful in checking typos and basic grammar errors.

     

    10 Actionable Content Marketing Tips for Digital Marketers

     

    Use headlines and proper structures

    Understand that content with proper formatting, headlines, and structure makes it more visually interesting that will capture a reader’s eye. Make sure that your content is properly edited before you put it out for your audience to see.

    Create the right headlines, subheadings, and bullet points. Make your sentences bite-sized so they’re easier to digest.

     

    Use relevant keywords

    In content marketing, keywords are very important. Using relevant keywords will make your content visible to the search engines that will eventually drive traffic to your website. Use keyword finder tools to find the relevant keywords in your niche that you can strategically use in your content.

     

    Educate first, sell later

    When you write content for your business, you always have it in the back of your mind to sell something. And we can’t deny that content sells, just don’t do it directly. Hard selling makes your audience feel uncomfortable and this may discourage them from reading what you have to say.

    Instead, talk about your products or services subtly and make your audience aware of its features and benefits and how they can improve their lives. Introduce your products and educate your readers about them first, and then sell them afterward.

     

    Offer a strong Call to Action

    A call-to-action is important and all of your content should have it at the end. This is what you want your readers to do after consuming your content. How do you want them to proceed? What do you want them to do next?

    Create a strong call to action. Do you want them to visit your blog and read more content? Link-related articles that might interest them. Want to offer them your product or service? Put that in your article.

     

    Be mobile-friendly

    More and more people now use mobile phones and it would be safe to say that we surf the web more using our phones. It’s important to have your website responsive for mobile.

    Optimize your website, images, and ads so that they are mobile-responsive.

     

    Gain authority with guest posts

    Guest blogging has been popular in the blogging world and it’s done so that your blog can gain authority. It allows you to get backlinks from authority websites and gain a new network from the host blog. It’s a great way to not only promote your brand but also build your brand authority.

     

    Be consistent with your content update

    In our fast-paced world today, content has become outdated for just about a year or two. So aside from writing new content, it’s also important for you to update your old content to keep them relevant with the times.

    Go through your blog and rewrite things you need to rewrite. Update your resources and check if all of your links are still functioning. Replace outdated images and refresh your intros and outros.

    Audit your blog to see which entries you need to update.

     

    We hope that these actionable tips will help you improve your content writing skills and content marketing strategy. Online content marketing can be overwhelming but put these tips into practice and you’ll see it’s worth it. 

    Need SEO help? Visit our blog for more tips and useful information.

    Need any digital marketing help? VE Digital offers different services to aid businesses with their digital marketing. Contact us today!

  • Copywriting for Twitter

    Copywriting for Twitter

    Copywriting for Twitter

    Writing effective copy on social media for your business can be challenging. In this post, you’ll learn three techniques to help you make your Twitter posts more concise. Copywriting for Twitter for your business does not have to be hard. These tips will help you create short and sweet posts on all your social platforms that will get you engagements and reach.

    Twitter Audience: News Seekers

    We can best describe Twitter users as ‘news seekers’. They are looking for topical information, fresh content, and insights into what’s happening right now. Twitter users scroll and when they find something interesting, that’s when they’ll engage in a post by either liking the tweet, re-tweeting it, or saving it in their bookmarks.

    Twitter Ideal Post Length: 71-100 Characters

    Multiple studies show that short posts between 71-100 characters get the most engagement on Twitter.

    Twitter Hashtags: 1 or 2 per post

    When it comes to hashtags, less is more. One to two hashtags per post will help you get into the current trends and highlight important content without interfering with your tweet’s readability.

     

    Copywriting for Twitter

     

    Keeping your post short is vital on Twitter. Here are 3 simple ways to do it.

    Say Goodbye to Flowery Words

    Condense your message into its shortest possible form. A great way to shorten your post is to cut out some of the descriptive and flowery words which are the adverbs and adjectives that modify the nouns. Your Twitter post should be straightforward and on the point.

    Break the Rules

    You can be a bit rebellious here and break a few grammar rules when copywriting for Twitter. Yes, rules on writing are important because they add clarity and make sure that you get your message across effectively. But there are certain rules that are outdated and breaking them can help make your writing more characterful and meaningful. 

    One writing rule that you can break on social media that’s really effective and often makes your post shorter, is to split long sentences into multiple shorter ones. 

    Highlight Keywords

    This quick tip involves hashtags, but it’s not about hashtag strategy, it’s a way of using hashtags to highlight important bits of text. And it can also help you shorten your posts. 

    On Twitter, and most other platforms, there’s no easy way of making your text bold or italic, or underlined. And that’s a challenge because it robs us of three really useful ways to highlight important text and make them stand out. But there is a way around it and that’s to make a keyword or phrase into a hashtag. When you do that, the hashtag is formatted in a different color and it stands out from the rest.

     

    Handy tools like Sprout Social have guides to tell you the optimum length for all the major social media platforms. They also have a tool where you can paste your post and get feedback on its length and number of hashtags. As great as these great features are, keep in mind that you should only be using them as a guide. 

    It’s good to mix long and short posts together on your feed, both for variety and because your more engaged readers will appreciate the more in-depth content at times.

    If you need the inspiration to help you craft short tweets, you can visit successful pages like Microsoft’s and Samsung Mobile’s Twitter feed. They are masters of keeping things concise. 

    Brevity is key on social media, especially copywriting for Twitter. When it comes to engagement, the optimum post length on every platform is likely to be shorter than you’d expect them to be.

     

    For more posts like this, check out our blog.

  • Copywriting Tips for Social Media Profiles

    Copywriting Tips for Social Media Profiles

    Copywriting Tips for Social Media Profiles

    Although some may still confuse as to how to succeed in this particular area, this post will give you solid copywriting tips for social media profiles and bios. 

    Writing for social media is similar to writing for any other marketing channel. You need to be clear on your audience, your brand voice, and your objective. And because of the way people consume social content, these things are even more vital on social media.

    A lot of us have social media on our phones and we scroll through everything half-distracted, not even registering half of what’s there. When you write for social, you’re writing for these casual scrollers and skimmers, not highly engaged readers. 

    If there is one thing you need to always remember to have great copywriting, it’s to always write with your readers in mind. What attracts these mindless scrollers is a post that’s about them and that addresses their problems, their needs, and their desires. 

    When you’re planning your content, keep in mind that the focus of your businesses’ social activity shouldn’t be your business, it should be your customers.

    Writing on social media tends to be more casual compared to other sorts of business communication. That’s mainly because people use social media to connect with friends, to socialize, to catch up on news, and for other non-work-related things. So naturally, a more informal, less business-like tone is expected and appropriate. 

    Space is a premium on social media. For your message to be effective, you to get it across quickly. Using abbreviations and breaking a few grammar rules are acceptable and useful to achieve this. 

    When choosing how casual to go on social is to determine your brand tone of voice. Your brand voice should be consistent and recognizable across all your marketing channels. Choose the right language to reflect your brand to achieve that.

    You need to have clear objectives so your social media copywriting will be successful. When it comes to your social media activity, you probably have several objectives and targets around engagement levels, click-throughs, and conversions. Assuming that the overall strategy is clear, the next thing to make sure of is to have a simply defined objective for each post. Your objective will probably be linked to a call-to-action, but not necessarily. Sometimes the objective of a post is just to make followers aware of something or remind them of a key message. 

    Here’s the important thing: a post should only ever have one call-to-action. Remember those skimmers and scrollers? And the limited time and space you have to get your message across? Unless you are absolutely clear what one action you want your reader to take after reading your post, your message will come across as confusing and will probably be ignored. 

    Important points to remember to have a solid foundation for social media success:

    • Know your audience
    • Use a more casual language as appropriate for your brand
    • Stick to one simple CTA per post. 

    Copywriting Tips for Social Media Profiles

     

    How to Write Social Media Profiles and Bios

    Bios are the snippets of text you see when you click through a social profile. They’re important because they will be the first impression that people will get of your brand. that’s why you need them to be accurate and engaging. 

    Start Strong with your Social Profile Name

    If your brand is very well-known, like Apple, or has a name that describes what it does or sells, like Carpet Warehouse, then you’ll want to stick to using just your company name here. However, if your company name does not describe what your company is or is not as well-known, being able to add a more descriptive word to your name on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, can make you more quickly discoverable by people who are searching for both your company and your product or service.

    Get to the Point

    On Twitter and Instagram, the text needs to be very short. In that short space, you need to engage your target audience and persuade them to take action. So you need to be organized about it, you don’t need any fluffs or fillers here. 

    If you are struggling to perfect your company social media bio, try starting with this simple tried and tested formula. 

    • Start by saying who you help and how you help them. Notice that we’re focusing on the reader here and not ourselves. 
    • Explain what makes you unique. How are you different from other companies in your field?
    • Offer some proof, something that builds your credibility. This could be a membership of a professional body, it could be an award you’ve won or an impressive statistic, like the number of years you’ve been in business or the number of customers you’ve served. 
    • End with a CTA and attach a benefit to it. Give your reader a great reason why they want to take the action that you’re proposing.

    Banish Bloat

    On Facebook and Linkedin, the character limit for your bio is longer, but that doesn’t mean you should use all of them. I strongly advise you not to. Banishing bloat and keeping all your social media bios to the simple formula shown above will make your message clearer and your CTA more persuasive than if you try to stuff in too much information this early in your relationship with your reader. 

     

    For more posts like this, check out our blog.