Did you vow to turn over a new online marketing leaf this month?

A leaf that would see you getting your online marketing in order…posting regularly on social media, putting systems in place to build you email list, emailing that list and generally creating a stronger online presence for your business than you have had previously?

You planned it out, maybe created a few social media posts ahead of time, listed some topics to write blog posts about (that’s if you have a blog for your business) and generally started the year with your feet on the ground and running.

And then the to do list took over, and your online marketing started falling to the bottom of the to do list day after day until you felt like you had failed and didn’t really want to front up and face the music, or crickets.

We know what it’s like…we definitely have times where we get so busy doing client work that our own online marketing efforts fall by the wayside.

The thing is, consistency is the key to getting great results with your online marketing.  Whether it’s on social media, email or your website; being consistent is essential for getting the kind of engagement that will grow your audience and your reach.  Consistently good content enables people to feel that they know you and ultimately trust you as their ‘go to’ authority figure in your area of expertise.

Don’t bite off more than you can chew.

You’ll find more advice on frequency and timing of posting your marketing content than you can possibly poke a stick at.  It’s time to stop getting bogged down by it.  If you missed posting at 6.35 am don’t sweat it, post at 10.32 instead.  It doesn’t matter.

Posting at least once a day is better for getting consistent reach and engagement, 10+ times a week, even better.  If you can only manage four, then post four times a week and make sure they are awesome and deliver something to your audience that they’ll want to engage with.

Email frequency varies more dependent on industry and where your customer is on their journey with you.  Once a week to once a fortnight is great but if you can’t manage that then make sure you are getting to them at least once month.

As for your website, our main recommendation here is to turn off the dates on your posts.  That way nobody knows when you last posted and you can stop stressing yourself out about cranking out that next blog post.  That doesn’t mean dropping your blogging efforts all together, your business blog is really important for establishing and building your authority but you want to give your best stuff to your email list first (they trusted you enough to give you their email address so treat them like your BFF’s).

Create with purpose…and while we are talking about creating, create first…consume second.

If you’re consuming content on social media or elsewhere online stop and ask yourself whether it is value adding, if it’s not give yourself a kick in the backside and put that time towards creating something unique for your business instead.

If you haven’t done it already set aside some time to brainstorm content ideas and topics that you could write about that will be of interest to your audience. Start by thinking about what topics you get asked most about and work from there.

Remember it doesn’t have to be all work and no play either. Put some thought into what other interests your audience has that compliment what your services are and use these topics as a way to enhance your engagement with them.

The better you know who your ideal audience is the easier it will become to write and create content that they are interested in.

Need some inspiration for creating more engaging Facebook posts?

Click here to grab our FREE guide with 21 ideas for more engaging Facebook content.

Don’t continue reinventing the wheel

Creating something brand new, from scratch every single time is exhausting.  Take a look at what you have written or created previously, grab a blog post and pull out its individual key points to create a number of social media posts.  Take an email and expand it to something more detailed for your website.

As a general guideline, this depends a little on your strategy and the number of platforms you use, social media posts will have a single key point, email will have one or two key takeaways with more detail

Don’t be afraid to outsource your online marketing

Because social media is so accessible and easy to use it is completely natural that the majority of businesses feel that they are capable of managing it themselves.  We agree that in-house is the best place for your social media to be managed long term but investing in some help in the early stages is going to get you better results sooner.

Working with a good online marketing specialist will help you to develop a strategy that aligns with your business goals, builds your authority and brings in targeted, new leads.  When you consider the time trade off chances are your time may be better invested in doing something else within your business and by outsourcing.

On the flipside, consider how much it’s costing in potential growth every time you don’t post or send an email.  When it’s outsourced you also know with certainty that it’s going done!

How our online marketing services work

Chances are the thought of outsourcing your social media and other online marketing isn’t something you have considered.  If you are interested to learn more about how it would work for you in your business please get in touch here and we’ll organise a time to talk.

We can help you with online marketing strategy development and help you implement anything website or email marketing related. We can also introduce you to businesses that offer social media management and digital advertising with AdWords or on social media channels. We work to empower businesses to execute their strategies really effectively and efficiently in-house or outsource with confidence.