Month: July 2017

Categories
SEO

9 Solid Link Building Methods

Link building has to be part of every search engine optimization project, no matter whether you’re dealing with a brand new or an aged website. Why? Because the number (and quality) of links coming to a website from others, and going out from your website to others is a major ranking signal. You could have a perfectly optimized site, but without links, you’ll struggle to obtain any kind of substantial ranking.

Now, there are two kinds of link building – white hat, and black hat. White hat methods are the ones I’ll focus on here, because Google and other search engines are against the black hat methods. Those are shady techniques that may work for a short period of time, but are ultimately against terms of service and could cause your ranking to come crashing down thanks to a manual penalty or a future algorithm change.

White hat methods take longer, but build ranking more naturally. As such, this kind of ranking is easier to sustain over a period of time because you’re much less likely to fall victim to a manual penalty and better able to withstand any algorithmic changes. Focus on providing value to your readers, and you’ll be on the right track – because everything Google does is aimed at improving the user experience for searchers.

This is by no means an exhaustive list – but here are 9 link building methods that I consider the most effective.

1. Earn Your Links with Quality Resource Content

Create content that others can use and link to as a resource for their audience. Though it can take a while to craft this kind of content, especially when it comes to case studies, research, and other types of in-depth material. Try to include a variety of this kind of content in your editorial calendar so you can still keep publishing while you build it.

2. Make it Easier for People to Link to You

Who doesn’t love easy? If you’re publishing an infographic that you want others to share, include the HTML code with a link back to your site already built in. That way those who are interested only have to copy and paste that code to display the infographic on their own blog. Each time they do, you get a back link.

3. Link Out to Quality Resources

Whenever there’s a quality resource to help your readers find more information, link to it appropriately. For example, if you’re writing a piece related to small business funding, you could link to the Small Business Administration. While it’s a long shot you’ll get them to link back to you, the point is you’re adding value for your readers. And sometimes, when you link to smaller but equally valuable sites, you may get a link back from them.

Whenever you link to someone else in your content, share the article and let them know you’ve mentioned them. While they may not link back to you, they will likely share the content with their own audience, which helps build traffic since it increases exposure to your content. You may find you get new social followers, which also helps build potentially valuable relationships.

4. Link to Other Internal Relevant Pages

You have pages and posts on your website, so you should link to them wherever it is appropriate on your website. Internal links are a huge part of link building since you are in complete control of everything about them, from their location on a page to their anchor text.

There are CMS plugins that automatically hyperlink a certain word every time it appears on your website – this is what Wikipedia and similar sites use – but it’s not really a good idea unless you’re a big brand, or enhances the user experience. I’d recommend instead, to go through all your previously published content and link in context wherever it makes sense – changing up the anchors accordingly.

As you write new content, you can link to certain topics you’ve already written about it, so you can link to it and ensure it makes sense from your reader’s perspective. You’ll see that I do it often on blog posts. My first purpose is always for you, my readers, to help make it easier for you to read more on a topic I’ve previously covered. But, it does help from a back link and SEO perspective, too.

5. Spy on Your Competitor’s Backlink Profiles for a Starting Point

Spend a decent amount of time looking through your competitor’s back link profiles. You’re saving yourself time in the long run because sites that link to your competition may also link to you. And, you’ll learn how many links, and the types of domains those links need to come from to help you beat them in the search engines.

Of course, you won’t be able to get links from all the same websites – like if your competitor was mentioned in a random news article. But, you may find a high-quality niche directory you could easily get a link from – one that you didn’t know about before.

A great tool for this is Ahrefs. Run your competitors through the tool and export their backlinks to a .CSV file. Then, place them all in a single Excel workbook, so you can sort them with various metrics to find the best opportunities for your own site.

Remember, you don’t have to stop once you run through your full list of direct competitors. You can also take a look at indirect competitors in your vertical or other relevant niche sites are getting links. If you’re a local business, look at other sites in your area. If you’re in ecommerce, take a look at how other sites are getting links to the same kinds of pages you’re struggling with.

6. Just Ask

Start with the people you know – friends, relatives, clients, business partners, or anyone else. Someone you know has a website or a blog of their own, so you never know who may be willing to link to you.

Generally speaking, not just any links will do. It’s better to get to links from relevant websites. If it’s not relevant to your niche or your audience, it won’t have much of an impact on your rankings, and website owners will be less likely to link to you. So, if your best friend runs a clothing website, and you’re building a site on goldfish ownership and care, it’s not going to make much sense.

You can also ask the people from your competitor’s lists. There are plenty of email templates out there to help you figure out what to say – though blindly emailing may not be the best way to go about it. It’s better if you can build a relationship with someone at the company before asking for something. You can use a tool like Voila Norbert to find corporate email addresses if you’re in the B2B space, and then a tool like MailShake to help you handle cold emailing.

7. List Your Site in Relevant, Trustworthy Directories

These links vary in value depending on the quality and size of the directory. The key is focusing on the directories where your potential customers will be looking to find you. There are numerous trustworthy directories in the homebuilding niche, for instance – such as Porch, Houzz, and Angie’s List. If you have a service related to building a home – make sure you join those platforms. There are many free directories you can submit to for decent back links.

There are also paid directories you can join, such as Chamber of Commerce. Some of these paid listings can pass legitimate link value, but others won’t really pass anything and aren’t worth the time and money. Others worth considering are Business.com and the Better Business Bureau, if you run a business that makes sense to list in either of those. Certain niche specific directories also require payment to be included.

If you’re in a global business and have versions of your website available in multiple languages, you could submit to appropriate non-English directories, as well.

8. Include Your Link in Testimonials You Leave for Others

Take a few minutes to write a list of the products and services you’ve bought recently. As long as it doesn’t come from a massive company like Walmart, there’s a fairly decent chance you can get a link on their site in exchange for leaving a testimonial or a review. Of course it will depend on the domain and whether it’s dofollow or nofollow as to how much weight, if any, it will hold as a back link, so do your research before sending out mass emails to offer testimonials.

9. Include Your Website on Profiles Wherever You Can

If you sign up to become a member for most sites, you’ll get a link in your profile. Not all of these links will be do-follow and pass link juice through Google, such as the case with Twitter. Even if you don’t get the link juice, that’s one more place for people to discover your website, so you should include it. This way, you can at least drive traffic to your site.

Getting Started

The best thing to do is start with an analysis of your own website’s back link profile. Check to see what links are already out there, and then craft a strategy based on the amount of time you have available. Dedicate a bit of time each day to building new links to your website with any of these methods, because too many links too fast will send signals to Google that something fishy is going on. Links should appear naturally, so as tempting as it may be to build out as many as you can as fast as you can for increased rank, you could be shooting yourself in the foot.

Keep an eye out for next week’s post when I share even more back link building methods you can use to improve your rank.

Categories
SEO

How to Make the Most of the Google My Business New Post Feature

If you’re a local business that uses Google My Business, you can now access the Posts feature. This feature allows you to post content directly on Google. The post will show up in the Google search results Knowledge Panel alongside your Google Business listing for a week. Let’s talk about how you can use this new feature to your advantage.

Personalizing the Search Experience

As a small business, you’re in tough competition when it comes to your ability to highlight your business compared to all the others that show up in the results for your queries. You can use this feature to personalize the search experience for your customers.

You can use it to share content and timely announcements, such as news of a new product line, or a new hire. You can also use it to promote specials and upcoming events, to boost sales and attendance, or even brand awareness. If nothing else, you can feature your most popular products, or highlight some of your lesser known offerings.

What Can You Do with Google Posts?

Google Posts offers several options to choose from when you decide what you want to share. Your post length can be up to ~300 words and can also include an image to help it stand out in the results.

It’s also possible to include an event title with start and end dates and times for multi-day events. You can include a call to action (CTA) button and a website link, though you’re not allowed to write your own CTA. You must choose between:

  • Sign Up
  • Buy
  • Get Offer
  • Reserve
  • Learn more

When choosing your image, I suggest a minimum of 344px x 344px, at the advice of others who’ve tested the service. Animated images are not supported at this time. Though they may be supported in the future, there’s no indication that it will ever happen. Google themselves recommend using a minimum of 720px x 720px, either in JPG or PNG format.

Remember, your post ad will expire seven days after you create it. You can change it an unlimited amount of times – including the promotion itself and the image – but only one post will run at a time. You’ll either need to change it out or re-do the same post every week. If you do not, the post will expire and thus disappear from your listing in the search results.

Make Sure You’re Following the Rules

According to the Google My Business Posts content policy, any content in your posts should be relevant to the business it is posted for – regardless of who writes the content and the person who is actually posting it. Any content that has no relevancy or clear connection to the business isn’t allowed. Using this service means you agree to post content that is upfront and honest about the information, and doesn’t mislead users in any way.

Content that is not allowed includes:

  • Anything, such as links, images, or video that negatively affect user attention
  • Automated or distracted content
  • Repetitive content, any kind of misspellings or gibberish
  • Links that aren’t relevant to the business or website
  • Posing as an individual or business
  • Links to viruses, malware, or any other harmful software
  • Anything used for phishing scams
  • Any inaccurate promotion information that omits how the user is charged or billed
  • Sexually explicit or adult content
  • Any hateful or harassing content
  • Any kind of personal or confidential information
  • Any content that references child exploitation
  • Any content that is graphically violent
  • Any content related to recreational drugs, tobacco products, weapons, fireworks, or anything that may cause injury or damage

Authors are responsible for ensuring their content complies with any and all applicable laws and regulations. Content related to gambling, alcohol, financial services, pharmaceuticals, or any other regulated products and services is not allowed.

How to Create a Google Post

Login to your Google My Business dashboard. You’ll find “Posts” along the left-hand menu on your Google business listing. From there, you’ll be able to create your post and choose the CTA you want to use. You can publish it, and then you’ll see it is live in the Google search results. To see what it looks like for yourself, search for your company in the Google search bar, rather than navigating directly to your website’s address.

Think about the type of post you’re creating. Are you sharing news about your company? Sharing information about an event? Offering any kind of time-sensitive deal? Knowing what you want your post to do – encourage more customers to come into the store, make a purchase, or announce something new – will help you determine the best way to write the copy. You have a limited amount of space, so you need to maximize it!

Use the title feature only if you’re posting about an event. Describe it in four to five words. There are only 58 characters in the title space.

In the post section, provide more details. Though you have to 1,500 characters (not words!) Clearly describe the offer or the event. Google recommends keeping it limited to 150-300 characters. After you have the details included, choose the most appropriate CTA.

Finding out How Well Your Post Is Performing

Google makes it easy for you to find out how your post is performing in the search results. All you have to do is sign in to your account. If you have two or more locations, choose “Manage location” for the location you’re interested in. Then, choose Posts. Click the posts you want to see the insights for. Keep in mind that it can take two to three days for the data to be updated. You’ll be able to see the number of times the post was viewed, and the number of times the button was clicked for each post.

Instructions are slightly different from viewing on mobile devices. Open the Google My Business app, and then tap Posts. Tap the post you want to view the insights for. Tap the expand icon and the top of the screen next to published. From there you will be able to see the number of views and clicks for each post. Like with desktop, it can take two to three days for the data to update.

Local Businesses Should Use Google My Business Posts

If you’re a local business, you should be making use of this free advertisement in the organic search results. Chances are you’re already using Google My Business as part of your local SEO efforts, but if you’re not, sign up to have your business included today.

Have you started using Google My Business Posts yet? Have you noticed any businesses that are using it?

Categories
SEO

Who Should Optimize Your Content – an SEO Expert or a Content Writer?

While it’s true that search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing certainly overlap, it’s important to consider the fact that they are indeed, two separate disciplines. So, that brings us to the question of who should be optimizing the content… the SEO or the content writer?

Of course, SEO and content marketing are closely related in terms of digital marketing, but there can be vast differences in their execution. Even though there can be overlap, should the person (or team of people) handling your SEO also handle your content marketing? Should the person (or team) handling your content marketing also handle your SEO? It’s a common question, so here’s my answer.

SEO is Technical; Content is Creative

SEO is highly technical; there is little room for creativity. Most of what an SEO does is spend time analyzing and fixing issues with a website’s architecture. Even websites built on WordPress – a platform known for its user and SEO friendly structure – are full of issues that could negatively affect rankings. The vast majority of them have little to do with the content on the page.

That’s not to say content isn’t important when it comes to SEO. There’s really a circular relationship between the two – almost a catch 22, if you will. You need good content as part of getting found online, but you need to get found online before people will see that content.

You’ll have a hard time gaining traction with your content in the search engines if the search engines are having difficulty accessing it or analyzing It correctly. However, fixing fight architecture issues isn’t enough on its own to ensure that the content road will rank well. It must be optimized and have value to the user before it has a chance at a decent ranking.

It’s this interdependence between technical SEO and solid content that makes it difficult for websites with limited budgets to see success. If you had to only choose one, where should you invest your time? Or, should you invest a little bit of time in both areas and hope for the best?

Really, you need both the creative and technical side… so it can be tough to know how much resources to invest in technical vs. creative.

How the SEO Fits into Content

In terms of SEO, not much as it is creative at all. I’m not saying it doesn’t take creativity to find and implement the solutions to technical SEO issues. However, really the only creative aspect of SEO is working your keywords into the content. And honestly, I don’t really think that’s the SEO’s job.

When it comes to the content portion of optimization, the SEO should be in charge of choosing the keywords to be worked into the content. The copywriter should not be going out and spending hours conducting keyword research and they shouldn’t be the person selecting the keywords to target on any given page or for any particular piece of content.

It’s the copywriter’s job to weave the keywords from the SEO into the content. The SEO should give the writer a list of keywords, and the writer should edit, re-write, and make adjustments to the content accordingly, so as to ensure the phrases are naturally intertwined with the content. Good copywriters know the importance of writing for humans first, and search engines second, and won’t force keywords to fit where they don’t make sense. They also will be able to write a naturally well-rounded piece that focuses on what the reader wants, rather than a specific keyword density.

Once the SEO completes the keyword research process, it’s their job to make sure the content is accessible to the search engines, and optimized. This means making sure it has a title, description, and the content is unique.

How the Writer Fits into SEO

To be an effective copywriter, one must understand a decent amount of SEO, probably more so than the SEO needs to understand about writing. Why? Because to create content that users and search engines love, the writer must understand how search engines work, and what it is they are looking for.

Google wants everyone to focus on the visitor first – doing what you need to do to meet their needs, because it’s Google’s job to provide quality results that give the users what they’re looking for. If you can do that, you’ll rank higher than other sites. That said, focusing on the user first doesn’t mean writers can completely neglect the search engines – it is necessary to create the content in such a way that also meets the needs of the search engines.

If the writer doesn’t understand how search engines work, then it’s likely it will need to be re-written to some extent after the SEO takes a look at it. It’s better for both the writer and the SEO if the writer has basic SEO knowledge before the project begins – to save time on both ends. This isn’t to say the SEO shouldn’t review everything and provide suggestions to the writer, but the SEO shouldn’t be afraid to make small tweaks to the content as needed.

Writers and SEOs Should Work Together for Properly Optimized Content

SEOs should have a basic grasp of what makes content good, just as writers should have a basic grasp of SEO. But, to expect someone to be both technical and creative at the same time is quite an undertaking. In most cases, it’s best for your business if you have one person or team dedicated to SEO, and one person or team dedicated to content creation. They can work together – and the SEO team may be able to recommend writers and vice versa. That said, you should not expect a content writer to be an SEO, or an SEO to be a decent content writer. The two roles overlap, but ultimately, they have to work together to create a finished product that serves both users and search engines – making your readers and customers happy, while earning (or keeping) a solid rank in Google.

When you create a team that allows each person to stay focused on their specific role, the resulting content is not only search engine optimized, but it will bring in targeted traffic, give your website visitors what they are looking for, and move them through the funnel to conversion. Keywords will of course be used, but only as required to get the job done.

At my agency, Sachs Marketing Group, we have teams of people dedicated to both the creative and technical side of SEO. Our writers handle website content, content marketing, and email marketing, while our SEO specialists work closely with them to ensure we can get you where you need to be.

If you’re tired of trying to balance everything on your own, reach out and let’s talk!

Categories
Social Media

The Duality of Social Media Marketing: How Creative and Metrics Come Together

If you’ve been involved in the world of social media marketing for a while now, you’ve probably started to notice an interesting pattern that’s developing within the marketing community. For whatever reason, there’s been an imbalance in the way that brands and businesses execute their marketing strategies.

It’s not surprising if you understand the roots of our marketing community. What is surprising is that no one seems to be addressing it.

So, if no one else will do it… It’s time to have a serious conversation about the development of the way businesses think about social media marketing. Not only are we going to consider the current state of affairs, but we’re also to going to take some time to consider exactly what it will take to maximize the potential of social media marketing.

Learning From Our Mistakes

It’s easy to forget just how much the marketing industry has changed over the last 20 years. Less than two decades ago, television advertising seemed untouchable. Celebrity endorsements weren’t going anywhere. Even radio advertising was still valid enough to be considered a viable marketing option.

But why did all of that work so well? What exactly was it that changed throughout those 20 years?

The short answer is the internet happened. The long answer is that the internet changed the way people consumed everything, including marketing content. Look at all the examples I listed above. Each of those represents a form of what can be considered ‘passive’ media.

It was easy to get people to watch your tv advertisements because they didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. Same with radio commercials. The only saving grace that print advertising had was that you could flip the page, and yet newspapers aren’t exactly light on the ads.

Passive media put marketing campaigns on autopilot. Come up with a catchy jingle, maybe a cute tagline and you were off to the races. Once you’d bombarded your audience with enough ads, you were in business.

The internet fundamentally changed the way that the average person interacted with the rest of the world. As a decidedly ‘interactive’ experience, consumers were able to choose where they wanted to go, what they wanted to consume and when they wanted to consume it.

The internet made the modern consumer well-informed. Instead of taking the television’s word for it that company xyz makes great cars, they can go online and see hundreds of reviews telling them to stay away.

But worst of all for marketers everywhere, the average person got used to being away from ads. Once they came back to watch television or listen to the radio, it was almost laughable how many commercials you had to sit through if you wanted to hear a few songs or see 8 minutes of a show. Expecting consumers to willingly subject themselves to all of that is unrealistic, and something that the marketing industry is still trying to figure out.

Why does any of this matter? Simple. If you want to understand what’s wrong with social media marketing today, all you need to do is look at our history. We’ve been used to bombarding people with shallow content and we’re just looking for another way to pull that off again.

More businesses than ever are using paid ads on social media now. Which isn’t itself a problem so much as how business owners are choosing to pour all their money into these paid ads. Most brands that I’ve seen are using Facebook Ads simply for the purposes of increasing their general exposure. Typically, there’s very little depth or purpose behind their marketing campaign except self-promotion.

“Wait, we shouldn’t be using Facebook Ads for self-promotion?” you’re probably thinking. There’s nothing wrong with drawing attention to yourself. But if your entire marketing campaign is built on self-promotion, you’ll probably run into some issues down the line. To be honest, it’s not the Facebook Ad that’s the issue here. It’s the overall focus on shameless self-promotion that’s prevalent in our marketing community on social media.

Creative: How to Avoid Wasting Potential on Social Media

Let’s step away from the marketing perspective for a second. If we look at this through the lens of the average person, we can recognize that the point of social media was to connect people.

I genuinely believe that all of this started from a good place. Sure, marketers were inevitably going to end up on social media because that’s where the attention is, but the reason social media marketing should would (in theory) is because from a marketing perspective, this is the perfect solution to our passive-interactive media issue. People want marketers to adapt? Fine, we’ll make an effort to connect with them.

And yet, that’s not really what has happened. To be fair, there are plenty of brands that have been able to understand the way social works and have been rewarded spectacularly. But for the most part, businesses have struggled with this concept.

So let’s clear a few things up. First off, your content has to provide value. And not just value in the sense that it leads consumers to a purchase of your product. Whether you’re making blog posts, videos, podcasts, you need to give something to your consumers for free, with no strings attached. The content can be value-driven or purely entertaining. All that really matters is that engages people in a way that isn’t purely based on self-promotion.

It’s really that simple. If you can put the focus back on consumers, you’ll be in a much better place creatively.

Recognize the potential that exists on social media for connection with consumers. It’s easy to forget, but the reality of social media marketing is that the more value you offer, the more valuable you become to consumers.

Metrics: How to Avoid Wasting Time on Social Media

Of course, some of you might be reading this and thinking that connecting with consumers is great and all, but how exactly does that help your bottom line? That’s what the metrics are for.

No one is saying that a business can’t function like a business on social media. You’re still there to make money and turn potential customers into paying ones. The compromise is finding ways to provide value to consumers while also convincing them that you’re worth their money.

The way you keep track of that is through analytics. For your typical marketing analytics, you have Google Analytics. For social media marketing, you’ll have a variety of platform specific tools. Instagram and Facebook both have comprehensive ones.

The key here is recognizing that social media marketing needs to continue to evolve. Trying to find ways to adopt the marketing strategies of old just won’t work in the digital media marketplace of today.

Categories
Social Media

6 Common Reasons Why Your Video Content Isn’t Converting on Social

Creating video content is typically one of the most intimidating propositions when considering what kind of content you’ll create. When it comes to creating text-based content like a blog post, the average small business owner has enough confidence in their writing ability to sit down at a keyboard and create something.

Video, on the other hand, feels ambiguous to the average person. To be fair, most small business owners have written their fair share of essays in high school or college. The same can’t be said about informative 5 minute videos.

So, for those of you who took the plunge, bravo. But being brave isn’t enough to convert with video. In fact, there are probably some mistakes you’re making right now that are negatively impacting your marketing efforts.

1. Be Captivating

You’ve created a 5 minute video with unique, in-depth, industry specific content. It’s highly valuable and sure to turn you into an online authority overnight, right? Not quite.

The reality of making videos for a social media audience is that you aren’t the only act playing at this concert, so to speak. Honestly, you’re probably not even at the top of their mind as they’re scrolling through their News Feed.

The only way to ensure that they sit through that 5 minute video is by grabbing their attention with a powerful first impression. A good rule of thumb is that the first 5 seconds of your content should be absolute dynamite.

But that’s not all. Your thumbnails should be custom made and intriguing. You should avoid any sort of intro music or animation. They already know who you are — your name’s in the corner. Your title should be well-thought out, with something specifically designed to get people to at least check out the first few seconds.

2. Be Specific

It might seem like a strange point to harp on, but it’s absolutely crucial that you be as specific as possible with your video title. Remember that your audience in this exact instance isn’t searching for videos like yours. They’re scrolling through their News Feed and your goal is to stop them by piquing their interest. Your video shouldn’t ramble on and on aimlessly. Have a point. Address it. Finish strong. The less fluff you include in the video, the more likely it is that people will make it to the end.

Another good rule of thumb? You should be able to summarize your video in a sentence. If you can’t, then you’ve likely gotten too complicated and you’re likely to lose your audience’s interest somewhere through the video.

3. Be Understanding

One of the worst things you can do when it comes to video on social media is pretending that this isn’t a unique experience. Being in denial about social will only make things harder for you down the line.

Recognize the user experience and you’ll be amazed at how many people are willing to meet you in the middle. For example, when people are scrolling through Facebook or Instagram, the sound will be off by default. Instead of hoping and praying that they accidentally click on your video so they can hear what’s going on, go ahead and add captions to your videos. It might be a bit time consuming, but the benefits outweigh that by a long shot.

Having captions means that users can start to invest into the video with no effort on their behalf. If they’re intrigued by those first few seconds, they’re likely to turn on the sound and experience the video the way it was meant to be seen. But extending that olive branch within the first few seconds has the potential to make a huge difference.

Of course, you can go even further than that. If you really want to focus on being understanding, you can suggest that viewers tap for sound on Instagram. It might seem a bit corporate, but this simple ask can be massively effective when handled properly. If your video is heavily visual, you can run that message over the video without any issues.

If you’ve created a dynamite first few seconds, you may want to delay that by a bit to give people time to turn on the sound after your request. All of this depends on what kind of video you’ve made and how you’ve chosen to present it, but what really matters is remembering that it’s your job to make engagement as easy as possible for your audience.

4. Be Square

No, seriously. Focusing on creating square videos can have a surprising impact on your social media video marketing conversions. Keep in mind the way that people are using social media in 2017. Desktop is still relevant, but mobile is slowly becoming the status quo of social media, with more than half of video views taking place on mobile.

So, if you’re building a video experience for mobile, square videos are going to be your bread and butter.

5. Be Converting

This is one of the most frustrating issues with video content on mobile that you’ll see today. Even if the content is above average and the likelihood for engagement is high, businesses aren’t putting CTA’s on their videos.

Maybe it’s because they figure if someone liked their content on Facebook, they’re likely already following them or going to like the video.

Say it with me: never assume anything that isn’t backed by metrics. It’s impossible to predict with 100% certainty who will be watching the video. It’s also impossible to predict what anyone watching the video will do. Your best bet is to assume that everyone’s going to be so mesmerized by your content that without a CTA, they’ll be so speechless by the end that they’ll forget to engage at all.

Your video content is here to provide value and develop your online authority, no question. But it’s also there to leverage that attention into a conversion. If you’re serious about converting, you need a CTA at the end of every single video your business puts out on social.

6. Be Observant

The great thing about social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram is that they do so much of the heavy lifting for you. Let’s say you just addressed the 5 common issues listed above and your content still isn’t converting! At that point, it’s time to take a good, long look at your metrics.

An easy place to start is the average watch time. Over time, you’ll get a better sense of where you’re losing your audience and what you can do to avoid that happening in the future. You can go on to see the reach and engagement of your video content, to see just how many people your content is attracting.

Creating engaging video that actually manages to convert requires a deep understanding of your environment and the position your audience is in. Once you start to focus on those two aspects, you’ll be amazed at how much easier it’ll be to convert with video content on social.

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