We’re all familiar with the concept of New Year resolutions—you know, those great ideas you have in the heat of the moment as you ring in midnight with Auld Lang Syne? Getting fit, making more money, finding a new job, world peace and all that.
Most resolutions last about as long as the first day of the new year. Why not make some resolutions you can keep, such as planning your inbound marketing strategy for 2014 ahead of the holidays? Here are the ones we recommend, if you want your business to be financially fit for the future.
Get Social
Every year we say it. Social media is big and going places. This year, we’re saying it again. If you’re still pretending you’re just fine with profiles on the major platforms, it’s time to take your head out of the sand bucket. Statistics show that while Facebook is still huge, it’s growth is slowing. So if you’ve always hated the idea of it, now’s your chance. Head over to Twitter instead, which has just gone public and is growing in leaps and bounds, according to a Pew study. Google+ is rapidly taking a leadership role and is set to become the only platform that delivers an authoritative, credentialed presence.
Your resolution: Create profiles on Facebook and/or Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn if you operate in the B2B environment. Find a way to post daily on each profile.
Blog Regularly
Content is going nowhere either. With Google’s recent Hummingbird update, the quality of your material is under ever-tighter scrutiny, and the only way to rank in search is to publish regularly. Business blogging remains the simplest form of content marketing, and it’s also the easiest to deliver. Forget trying to produce content yourself; if you can’t, you can’t. Hire an inbound marketing agency or a consultant to produce it on your behalf.
Your resolution: Don’t sweat so much over the SEO aspect and the technicalities; just publish—often!
Develop Thought Leadership
You may be an expert in your industry niche, but unless your target audience knows this, it doesn’t help you to bring in business. In 2014, the buzz is going to be all about becoming a thought leader and providing content that’s received seriously by the online community. Google Authorship is a big part of this, as is developing a solid base of followers for your Google+ and Twitter profiles and Facebook business page.
Your resolution: Develop your personal brand online and start building a following to position yourself as a thought leader in your target market.
Start 2014 out right and make it your year by creating resolutions that you don’t forget by the 2nd of January!
