Blog | Lead Generation Content & Social Media Marketing

There’s a lot of noise out there in the digital world, especially in the recruitment and HR spaces.

Companies are posting videos, blogs and social media updates each day about a wide range of topics in the hope of better connecting their business with both talent and prospective clients, and positioning themselves as an employer or recruiter of choice.

We all know the value of reaching out regularly to keep us relevant, but with the amount of material constantly flooding into cyberspace, it can be an intimidating thought. You'd be forgiven for thinking you're just posting the same stuff as everyone else and wondering why you’re even bothering.

So how do you dream up successful content ideas and then produce great content worthy of it, so that you're being different online? Let's start there...

Did you know the number one use of the internet today is social media? Your potential customers are all there, checking updates hourly (or more!) and posting content several times a day.

You’ve heard all the hype about it, and your business has probably joined the fray, but it’s difficult to visualise how your brand will actually gain customers and a return on investment (ROI) from it all, especially when it can take up so much time.

Don’t worry- you’re not alone.

Many businesses know that they should be both present and active online, but can’t seem to work out how to harness its power to actually put some runs on the board.

But it is possible!

So here are the 3 ways to give more purpose to your posts, and turn those users into customers!

By now, we all know how important SEO is for our business, but with changes and updates constantly being made by search engines like Google, it can be hard to keep up. You'd be forgiven for thinking SEO must be some kind of fairy dust bestowed upon the elite websites of the world – or simply a mates-deal with Google.

It’s not.

So today we're demystifying SEO: what it is, why we need it, how it works, and how 'get it'.

Your business has a social media and online presence. You’re posting your ‘stuff’: blogs, industry information... You’re consistently posting. So why is your engagement down?

It could be a variety of many things, but today I’m focusing on one simple foundational element: soul.

In recruitment, when job-hunter numbers were low and vacancies high, we used the phrase, “a candidate’s market”. It’s commerce 101: supply and demand.

In sales and marketing, today’s is a “buyer’s market”. Suppliers are chosen by their buyers from a multitude of available options.

“Through all the social media marketing changes, one thing remains constant:
the more you teach, the more you reach.”

Remember Facebook in the mid-2000s? Pokes to say ‘hi’, hundreds of quiz apps to tell us which character of our favourite shows we were... I recall standing in a bar with friends Friday after work, an actual drink in hand, having a conversation about the virtual drinks we’d been sending earlier that afternoon.

Social media has come a long way since then. As it evolved businesses quickly took to social media marketing, wittingly infiltrating our personal time and lounge rooms with their marketing messages, and social media as a marketing channel became the must-have business tool of the time.

Some platforms fought to keep up with the supply of this overwhelming amount of content, juggling with the need to keep their platform relevant to its users. They reviewed analytics and tweaked algorithms ad infinitum so that only the best content would be delivered to only the most appropriate audience.

But through all the algorithm changes, one thing remained constant: the more you teach, the more you reach.

Great online and social media marketers become so because they provide on-time, trending and relevant content to their audiences.

But this doesn’t happen by accident. While it may appear seamless, they’re working a carefully brewed content marketing strategy.

From the types of content, to topics of the content, to the actual authors – and a whole range more – these content marketers are leaving little to chance with an online marketing strategy that tells their story and their values, and drives leads and sales.

As needs-based consumers, we generally go through some routine stages prior to purchase.

We begin with the identification of a ‘need’: from something as simple as being invited to a BYO party (“I need to buy drinks to take with me”) to more complex purchases for your business (“I need to market my business better”).

We call this “the buyer’s journey” and simply put it’s the active research process a buyer goes through trying to solve a problem they have, leading up to a purchase. It is a model that helps businesses keep the buyer’s behaviour, information, needs and pain points central to any activity in sales and marketing divisions.

You’ve heard it before, “You should blog,” “You really need to blog,” “Don’t you have a blog?!”

You’re not sure what the purpose of blogging is, but on your commute you’re motivated to write that 600-word story – about how no one stood up for a disabled passenger and the impact of the aloof, disengaged culture we have become.

Your story’s great; well written, delivers an inspired message - to anyone who finds it. But which of your prospective buyers is typing into Google, “What’s the impact of the aloof and disengaged on society?" Not many, I bet. 

And which part of your service or product offering serves as a solution this problem?

So what’s going on? Your prospects aren’t finding your blogs through search, and while you can still post links to your blog on forums and social media, if the topic isn’t meeting the needs ('pain points') of your prospective buyer, they’re unlikely to click through on it. “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” 

You're not blogging for business and if part of your strategy is to increase the number of visitors to your site or increase your lead conversion rate, you’re probably going to be disappointed by the results of this kind of blogging and simply give it up.

But don't do that yet! Here are my tips to writing relevant blog posts that will bring you the stats you're after: