5 Ways to Promote Your Financial Services Blog
By Dan Stark
Wouldn't it be nice if all you had to do was post great content and then let the internet do the rest? Yes. But it wouldn't it be convenient for your competitors, too?
Because successful promotion takes time, effort, and skill, developing superior promotion skills is another way to get ahead of the competition.
If you've worked hard on your content strategy and content creation, it makes sense to shout it loud and proud. How you do this depends on a number of factors, including how much time you can dedicate to promoting your blog and what industry you are in. As a general rule of thumb, you should spend at least as long promoting your blog posts as you spend creating them.
How do you do this? Here are some of our favorite and best ways to promote your financial services blog.
1. Find the Players in Your Niche
If you can associate yourself with the top people in your field, this improves your perceived authority and how likely people are to trust you. It also makes a good impression on Google and other search engines. Ideally, you want to get a link to your site from a top site on the web.
Ask an influencer for a quote - this is a good way to make contact with the top players in your field. They become aware of you and, if they agree, their followers become aware of you too because they are very likely to link to you whether on their site or via social media.
Mention your expert sources - When you create content, make sure to mention any experts whose work was influential. Tell them that you mentioned them and they are likely to re-share the content to their network.
Direct message influencers - the bigger they are, the more email they will get. To make you and your business stand out, offer something that they will find helpful. You don't need to feel awkward about contacting someone when you are helping them or their business.
2. Post Content on Social Media
Social media promotion is a cost-effective way to increase leads. According to a LinkedIn study, 63% of mass affluent customers said they acted on a financial product or service after learning about it on a social media platform. And according to HubSpot, lead conversion rates are 13% above average through social media.
By being active on social media, you can increase brand awareness. Engaging with your chosen platforms also gives you the opportunity to manage negative comments promptly. With skill, businesses turn negative comments into opportunities to demonstrate their integrity and professionalism.
It's worth regularly crafting content specifically for social media, rather than only ever posting links back to the content that's on your blog. Provide compelling, tailored content, and show your social media followers that you care. The result will be increased shares and better brand awareness.
3. Use Social Media Targeting
Via platforms like Facebook and Twitter, your business can use algorithms to target your ideal customers.
This means that you don't need to go wide with your promotional material, which risks irritating people for whom this material is irrelevant. By using social media's advanced targeting capabilities, your content will not only reach the people who need it, but they will also be grateful to you for providing it.
While advertising via platforms like this amounts to paying for traffic, this is not to be confused with buying an email list or buying leads. These latter activities are likely to end in loss of money with very little return because the overwhelming majority of people who would receive these mailings won't want them. Paying for targeted ads on social media platforms, however, allows you to take relevant, targeted traffic from the big players and diverts it to you.
4. Remember that Social Media Works Two Ways
To get ahead, it's critical to remember that social media is social. It's not just a place to post promotions and advertisements. Engage with your customers. By being personable, you differentiate your product from your competitors and build trust, which is so important in the financial services sector.
Monitoring and engaging with social media also gives businesses an invaluable opportunity to learn about their customers and how to serve them better.
If you're not yet getting comments on your blog, don't worry. This is not so unusual. Wherever you do get customer engagement, however, make sure you are there.
And remember that you can start conversations. Ask questions and be interested in your customers. A lot of what you will be doing to promote your website is learning about your customers to satisfy them better.
5. Become a Thought Leader
Becoming a thought leader doesn't happen overnight. Success will be one step closer, however, if you start now.
How to do it?
Share information that your online community needs to know. This includes industry updates and advice, demonstrating that you are informed, but also authoritative and helpful. It's best if you generate most of this content yourself, but you can also curate content from other sources and create useful resources too.
Thought leaders use their experience and expertise to make insightful predictions about the future of their industry. When something new happens, make sure that your business expresses an opinion or explains and analyzes what is going on.
Follow the blogs of other thought leaders and make valuable comments on their posts. Over time, they will be checking out your blog to see what you have to say on important matters.
If you can be controversial or say something that everybody else has either overlooked or is afraid to say, this will help your business get noticed. By being bold and pushing conversations into new territories, you can earn a reputation as a player with something to say.
Find an influential community and join it. Answer group questions to establish yourself as an authority and to make waves with other influencers and followers. Quora is also a good place to establish yourself as an authority and build your reputation and trust.
Promoting your financial services blog is much more than just promotion. Done right, it will help you to learn more about your customers, develop your brand's authority and trust, and differentiate your offering from everybody else in the market.
If you're blogging, make sure that you are also promoting and make the most of your opportunities to connect with customers.
Any Questions?
Contact Dan Stark: dan@altastreet.com
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