Reader & Author Engagement | Cat Lyon's Reading Den For Authors & Readers

“The importance of content marketing is something that all companies including authors need to recognize in today’s digitally dominated business environment.”

With well over half of the world’s population using the internet regularly, it makes very little sense for all types of companies not to be investing in content for your marketing efforts. Users want to read, engage, and share informative and valuable content regularly. Why would a brand not want to be a part of that?

Well, statistically speaking, most brands and authors? you have a literary brand and most are using some form of content marketing strategy, so that is not the problem.

Instead, the issue is that most of these brands don’t understand the concept of content marketing. And as a result, their strategy is to create and post content, hoping that potential customers will somehow be enticed and ready to buy their products.

Unfortunately, it’s not always that simple. Content marketing is a form of inbound marketing. The idea behind this digital marketing strategy is that instead of bombarding people with ads and promotions, you are providing your target audience with valuable content in exchange for their business.

Through this investment in content will cost you time, it will give you numerous benefits, which will increase your conversion rates and bottom line. What’s more, you will be able to circumvent the so-called ad fatigue that’s been plaguing advertising for some time now.

So, why will ignoring content marketing cost you sales?

Or to put it differently, how will content marketing help you increase your sales and conversion rates? What are the benefits of content marketing, and how can you utilize it to your advantage? Here are a few reasons why you should invest in content marketing.

Good Storytelling

Inbound marketers need to be able to tell a good story to help their organizations gain more followers. Humans are predisposed to good storytelling, and they will be more inclined to follow your brand if you are posting engaging custom content. It was Nirmal Gyanwali, a Sydney-based web design expert, that said “Content marketing, when done properly, is bound to generate more inbound traffic to your site for the reason that good content marketing focuses on what the people want to hear and not what the business wants to tell them. Stories are good bait. [Listeners will] always bite.”

As such, the stories you tell need to be in tune with what your target audience (readers) wants to hear. Take a friendly and accessible approach that’s able to captivate your audience with valuable insights and authentic stories. This type of custom content will be more likely to bring in sales. It will also help you develop meaningful relationships with customers, which will build trust in your brand’s authority.

Increased Website Traffic

Statistics show that successful content marketing campaigns generate up to 7.8 times more website traffic. It is a significant margin, considering that your website should be the central hub of all of your digital marketing initiatives. Basically, the more people that come to your site, the more sales you’ll be able to generate. Just ask your sales team about it.

Posting high-quality, consistent content on social media platforms, whether it’s in the form of blog posts, video content, images, infographics, etc.. should provide your target audience with a call to action redirecting them to a landing page on your site.

Better Website SEO

We all want our websites to rank high in Google’s search engine. If it’s on the first page and among the top three search results, even better. But for that to happen, you need excellent search engine optimization for your website. Luckily, creating content that your audience enjoys will help improve your search results rankings. Keep in mind that with Google’s somewhat recent algorithm updates, low-quality content will have a negative impact on your site’s searchability.

Marketing statistics show that long-form content, somewhere between 800 and 1,600 words, generates the best results. Not because of the word count, exactly, but because of the extra time and effort, you have to put into it. With longer content, you need to do more research, add more backlinks, and increase the chances of having your blog post backlinked, in return. Google’s algorithm update takes these things into consideration, and as a result, long-form content is currently the way to go to improve SEO.

….

Superior Lead Generating

While content marketing is, on average, 62% cheaper than outbound forms of marketing such as paid advertising, it also can generate three times as many leads. The key to using content to generate qualified leads and customers is distribution. Getting your content in front of the right people can be somewhat challenging at first.

There are many options as far as places to post in hopes of bringing traffic back to your site. Among these, LinkedIn groups, Facebook groups, Medium, and other social networks are the best places to start.

When your marketing team is creating content for sharing on these busy networks, they should prioritize the following:

Aesthetics (appealing background)

An attention-grabbing headline

Strong bullet points (based on benefits)

Social proofs & call-to-action (testimonials, media mentions, and opt-in forms)
Visual appeal (a personal photo, if appropriate)
.

Stronger Customer Relationships

By keeping your customers engaged with interesting content in their social media feeds, you are sure to build stronger and longer-lasting relationships with them. Fail to develop meaningful content that provides answers to the questions your customers are asking, and you will see many of them turn to the competition.

A product-heavy digital marketing strategy is no longer viable for providing a positive brand experience and generating leads. After being constantly bombarded with ads and promotions, millions of people are turning to ad blockers for relief. Offering constant sales and promotions will not always help either. This is especially true if these offers don’t match with the consumer’s buyer’s journey stage. And if they don’t meet the customer where they’re at, these may even turn them away.

Always Be Testing

Successful business owners like our friends of ‘Lyon Media and Literary Services’ no longer ignore the importance of providing valuable content creation to enhance customer experience and engage with their target market. Catherine is always researching for the best possible places for content about her authors, their books, and brand to gain more results in sales, exposure, and more reviews as she helps to build their readership, media,, and website following.

Your customer-focused content marketing strategy should deliver consistent and meaningful content that resonates with your audience at every stage of their customer journey, building trust with them along the way. This is the best and most proven way for you to increase your sales in the digital age and develop meaningful relationships with your customers and your target market.

We sure hope you find this information within this post helpful. Please stop by our website and blog at ‘Strong Social’ today to see how we can help you!
…….
##############

….
WHO WE ARE:

We are a team of Professional Digital Marketers since we started in 2013, we have had the privilege to work with over 600+ companies and have managed over 2000 social media profiles. We are proud to be recognized as one of the leading digital agencies by Clutch.co in 2019.

We help companies with digital marketing needs, from building a new Website, Social Media Management, SEO, Blog Writing, Advertising, and Lead Generation. Our strategies will help increase your online visibility, modernize your brand, make you stand out in your industry, and grow your business.

……
“Cat Lyon’s Reading and Writing Den” Blog Home of ‘Lyon Media and Literary Services’

…..

Hello Readers, Authors, and New Friends,

Why should authors and readers connect? There are many reasons why for both sides of this topic. As a book promoter, I know how important it is for an author to interact and engage with their reader fans. It creates more excitement for the reader to know an author is “touchable” and they can learn more about their favorite writers, which helps authors with book sales and gaining more book reviews for books. And it seems I am not the only book promoter, social media PR firm and book marketing site that feels this way.

Here are two articles I came across this week that can give insights as to why authors need and should interact and engage with readers throughout social media and many book sites are exclusively for this purpose like Goodreads. I will share snippets as I would like you to visit and join free so you can be “In The Know” with many tips and advice on book promoting . . .
OUR FIRST is at http://www.bookdaily.com/authorresource/blog/post/1805275

.

.
“This morning I received three emails.”

.
One was from a lady in Scotland who read one of my books and joined my fan page. She wanted me to know how much she appreciated waking up and finding that I had responded to her messages.

The second was from a man in Australia who sent me a list of things he liked about Silent Witness. He highlighted sentences that he particularly liked, but at the end of his note, he said, “thank you for making Hannah so intelligent.”

The third was from the very first fan I ever had. We’ve been pen pals for 28 years. Now we communicate on the computer but every once in a while we still send one another a card, remember birthdays, the holidays and share information on grandchildren (hers since I only have a grand dog).

The point of all this is that what authors do is extremely personal. It begins with our characters. If we don’t feel them in our souls and translate that feeling into words on the page, our books will be enjoyed but not treasured. When we do make that magic happen and a reader reaches out, opening a personal dialogue with them will make a reader into a fan. In some wonderful instances, it also creates a friend.

Here are my top five rules of engagement:

.
1) Know thou characters: Know the personal history and habits of every character in your book and write as if you live and die with them. If you do this, real people will reach out to you . . .

Please stop by the link above to see all of Rebecca’s rules of engagement.
– – – – – – – – – –

.
OUR SECOND is by Marsha Friedman CEO & Founder, of EMSI PR Firm

No one really needs to convince me how great social media is for connecting you to your customers (Readers) – and keeping you connected – but the point was reinforced perhaps better than ever this week when I was chatting with Jay York, our senior social media strategist.

Jay was telling me about Datz, a restaurant near his home in Tampa, that has impressed him with its excellent use of social media as a marketing tool.
Talk about connecting! Datz has more than 12,000 followers on Twitter. It has nearly 8,000 on Instagram. It has 1,280 mostly positive reviews on Yelp. And, perhaps most impressive of all, more than 40,000 people “like” Datz on Facebook.
Those are remarkable numbers for any business. But especially when you consider that Datz is a local restaurant and not a recognizable brand name like McDonald’s!
So why am I telling you this? Because this social media success story prompted me to have Jay share tips on how small businesses ( and authors promoting their books) can make the most out of their social media to keep customers and potential customers thinking about them.

.
Here’s what Jay had to say:

Interact with customers. Engage your customers inside your business as well as outside it. Some of the most successful restaurant owners have mastered this, Jay says. They take the time to chat with and get to know their customers when they are dining at the restaurant, and they also interact with them on social media. Here’s where it’s worth remembering the “social” part of social media. These sites are all about having a conversation and people expect you to be involved in that conversation – or else they’ll be discouraged from interacting with you in the future.
.

Use undivided attention opportunities to promote your social media. There are a few ways to do this, Jay says. In-store signage that encourages you to follow the business on social media is the most obvious. Restaurants, such as, might drive visiting customers to their social media sites by giving 10 percent off an entrée if they follow them right at that moment on Twitter. Professional speakers can use the same strategy when they’re in front of a large audience by posting their Twitter handle on the screen behind them. The point is to take advantage of the attention of hundreds or thousands of people – all with mobile devices – who can start following you immediately . . .
.Again, please visit the link above to read the Tips to use social media to promote your books and small business. No matter the product, readers want to interact with you and this is a crucial part of your book promoting efforts. I hope you find these articles helpful. 🙂

*Author, Catherine Townsend-Lyon of Lyon Book & Social Media Promotions*