Marketing is the KEY money-maker in your business. ~ Neil Patel
Knowing that fact, think it will benefit you to read the 17 explosive marketing tactics for 2016?
All these are great marketing tactics to implement and in no particular order. Get busy with the one that grabs your attention the most and take action. Alone they are a single marketing tactic, together they will explode your business. These tactics, strategies, and/or hacks will drive more traffic, increase engagement and ultimately boost your conversions.
17 MARKETING TACTICS YOU NEED TO KNOW
1. FACEBOOK PROMOTED POSTS
I'm going to take the leap of faith that because you're here, you have a website and you're blogging. And you're sharing your blog posts on Facebook. And not just your personal page, your business page. If you don't have a business page, you can create a Facebook page in a matter of minutes. One of the many ways to syndicate your content.
Now to answer the question: How do you promote a blog post on Facebook? The easiest way but definitely not the cost-effective way is to share it on your business page and click Boost Post in the lower-right corner. So what is the best way? First and foremost always boost a post with your goal in mind. And secondly, boost your top-performing post.
The beauty is Facebook has its insights tool that will tell you exactly what posts are crushing it.
- Click Insights at the top of your Page
- Click Posts
- Scroll down to All Posts Published and view the Engagement column
Now that you know which post is already performing great, head over to your ads manager and boost your post.
Here is where the awesomeness starts. You can boost your post and set your audience & budget. More on "How do I create a Facebook Ad" here.
If you are just starting out on Facebook Ads this is easier than power editor. Both are powerful ways to target your ideal audience on Facebook. Power editor offers advantages such as
Facebook is dynamic and has the end-user always in mind. FB has recently launched Audience Optimization to benefit brands in two primary ways:
Help reach the people most likely to engage with content and provide better metrics to understand which groups of people engage and in what ways.
Jon Loomer, noted for his expertise on Facebook marketing, recently wrote a blog post on Facebook Audience Optimization: Better Engagement and Insights for Pages
Blogging with an offer in your post and boosting it with Facebook ads, will allow your brand to reach the right audience.
2. OPTIMIZE FACEBOOK FOR ENGAGEMENT
Jumping on the Facebook bandwagon, custom audiences, and look-a-like audiences are key to reach your potential customers on FB. There are tons of courses to teach you both. Follow some of Jon's advice from "Audience Optimization" and run some paid ads.
We want to give you a few hacks you can do for free on your business page to boost your engagement.
√ SELECT A DATE AND TIME IN THE FUTURE FOR WHEN YOU WANT YOUR POST TO PUBLISH. DON'T BECOME A SLAVE TO YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT. SCHEDULE YOUR POSTS WEEKS IN ADVANCE. 
Take a look at your insights and when you discover when your audience is on most, schedule the post. Make it easy on yourself. Have themes on a specific day.
One that was particularly successful for me was "Cool Tool Tuesday" shared at 4pm. There is not a marketer on this planet that doesn't love a tool that automates, manages, designs, and or creates to help accelerate their business.
√ ENGAGE WITH YOUR AUDIENCE.
Hey if they took the time to leave a comment, make sure you comment back. And a sure-fire way to get the conversation going is to ask them a question and make sure you use the @ sign with their name. Guess what that does? When they sign on to Facebook, they get a notification.
3. POSTPLANNER IDEAS FOR FACEBOOK PAGE
At a loss as to what to post? As we said, we love tools. Postplanner is an independent app that will make your job as a social media evangelist easier. One feature alone is worth the hours of time and frustration you save. Discover what images are most liked and going viral and put your own spin on it. It's the easiest way to actually know what is trending and find your niche-specific content.
You'll drive more traffic to your website or page and see your engagement go through the roof. 650% MORE ENGAGEMENT (source: postplanner)
4. SLIDESHARE
Take the time to have well-designed slides. Why? SlideShare receives over 60 million visits and 120 million page views—every month. It’s one of the top 150 sites on the Internet. And interestingly enough the most used tags on SlideShare are business, market, trends, research, social media, and statistics.
Could your business benefit from a small slice of the visitors?
Visual content is hot and will only get hotter. SlideShare is all about visuals. When you share useful information your visitors are going to love you. They can flip through the presentation, they can clip part of it and they can share it with their audience. And when uploaded on SlideShare if you take the time to create highly visual and informative content, you can land on the featured Slideshares:
Being featured on SlideShare’s homepage can result in extra exposure for your presentation. In just a few days your content can have thousands of views. Take a look at HubSpot's views in 3 days. What would an additional 4,285 views do for your business?
You can take that same SlideShare and embed it on your website and share on other social media platforms. It will have a "snowball effect"... in a good way!
5. YOUTUBE WITH VIDEO CARDS
Are you using video marketing as part of your content strategy? You should. Check out some of these astonishing stats for 2016.
- YouTube is 11.3X bigger than Facebook in terms of hours viewed, both on the web, and in-app ~ Venturebeat
- "How to" searches on youtube are up 70% year over year ~ Google
- 4X as many consumers would rather watch a video about a product than read it. ~ eMarketer.
For more statistics, you can see the Top 16 Video Marketing Stats for 2016 from Adelie studios
Now that we have your attention, have you tried video cards on YouTube? They've been around for almost a year. If you've been an avid YouTube fan or creator of videos, you've seen or have utilized annotations. A simple call to action over your video. Video cards are annotations on steroids. They give you a double whammy! Where annotations did not work on mobile...
Video cards do. By simply placing YouTube Cards on your videos, you can essentially DOUBLE your traffic, leads, and sales from... YouTube."
Cards allow the creator to add an extra layer of interactivity to their video content, on a per video basis. Most importantly, the new Cards will finally display on mobile, as well as desktop, and will include custom images, titles, and call-to-action text. (Source: Reelseo.com)
How to Add Cards to Your Next Video
Step 1: Signed in to your account, go over to your Video Manager. Select the video you want to add the card.
Step 2: Click on the i >>>
Step 3. Click on the Blue Bar>>>
Step 4. Select which type of card you want.
Donation cards - exactly what it sounds like. Donate to a nonprofit using donation cards.
Video or playlist cards - link to any other "public" you tube video.
Channel cards - link to a specific channel.
Associated website cards - link to your own website.
Merchandise cards - promote licensed merchandise directly from your video.
Crowdfunding cards - drive awareness to creative campaigns.
Fan funding - let's your fans make a contribution.
Step 5. In this case, we chose to link to an associated website
Fill in the form with a card title, call to action and your teaser text. Hit "Create card."
Your viewers will first see the little icon with the teaser text.
You can have up to 5 cards per video. Your visitors will see your YouTube card. When they click on the card it will direct them to the destination link you recommend. Here are a few sample cards and how they appear on the video and on mobile.
Example of how card will be shown on mobile. (source: DigitalMarketer)
This simple addition will double your leads and sales. Keep in mind more than half of YouTube views come from mobile devices.
6. USE PINTEREST TO GROW YOUR FOLLOWING ON OTHER PLATFORMS
Take any content on your other social media platforms and connect it through Pinterest. For example link to a post on Facebook. You can send your visitors to your website but by sending them to Facebook, you'll get some social proof and start building relationships.
Here's a brilliant approach of how to use Pinterest with youtube (and you fitness nuts are going to love this).
Create an infographic from a video. Embed it on your blog and PIN it. Don't stop there though. Make sure the link on Pinterest, links directly back to the full video on YouTube. Still following?
Here's what I mean:
1. Create a video and embed on your blog.
2. Take some screenshots of your video/images and make an infographic. Must be visually appealing for the Pinterest community.
(any business can do this with step by step information from your "How to Video.")
3. Place the infographic on your blog and "pin it"
Here's what; 133,000 subscribers on youtube, 1.5 million fans on FB, and 1,000's of pins, think she knows what she's doing? See the brightly colored infographic, in a long form suited for Pinterest...leading back to her full video on YouTube.
full pin here
This is just one simple technique on Pinterest. If it's a platform you're interested in we can do another full post on it...just let us know.
7. CREATE AN IRRESISTIBLE LEAD MAGNET
Ever heard of the ole ethical bribe? 
Create an offer your visitors can't refuse. You're going to give them a chunk of value and in exchange, they are going to give you their contact information. Maybe it's just an email. Maybe their first name with an email.
Keep in mind, the more valuable the offer, the more you can ask for. Think of what problems your potential customers might have and give them a quick solution.
Solve a specific problem with a very specific solution. Find your market's biggest burning desire and give away a chunk of value.
It can be in the form of an ebook, a guide, a cheat sheet, resource list, free consultation, video training. The list goes on. One of the very first lead magnets I created (pictured) was a "cheat sheet"/resource list. A visitor could quickly download "The Ultimate Game Changing Tools Proven to Boost Your Business"
If you were in some type of online marketing opportunity and struggling to get more leads, the free cheat sheet was going to give you a solution.
From there you would create a landing page for your lead magnet.
8. TRIP WIRE
You've over-delivered with your lead magnet. You gave your audience that chunk of value they love.
Now try a low risk offer that will convert those new prospects into buyers. Using your lead magnet, elaborate and give them more! Using the example above, you could show "How to use the tools effectively". Maybe a full-blown video on one of the tools you mentioned and charge a nominal fee.
You've just moved your lead to a customer. It's a marketing strategy to introduce buyers to your core product.
9. TWITTER
If you are using Twitter already this might be nothing new. But if you decided to finally jump on the bandwagon, these 3 hacks will save you time and get you followers that want your stuff.
1. Research the best hashtags to use for your niche and avatar. The search bar is right on Twitter when you log in. Think of it as your search engine on Twitter. No different than searching something on Google. The only difference is we are using something called hashtags. It’s the # symbol to mark a keyword or a topic in a tweet. Great way to find “hashtags” that are being used in your industry.
Find thought leaders in your field. See who they are following and follow them. They will probably follow you back. You know follow for follow!
2. Hashtagify is a hashtag search engine with data about hashtags. Find your hashtags. Analyze your hashtags. When you click on each of the associated hashtags, it brings you to another set. You will be able to drill down further for each related tag. further for each related tag. 
3. Use your Twitter Analytics
Can't find it?
- Click on your profile
- Right-hand side you'll see "View Your Top Tweets"
- Click on every tab and you'll identify who your audience is and what their interests are. Create content your audience will love.
You'll be amazed at what statistics you can view. Discover which type of tweet is getting you the most impressions and engagement.
10. VISUAL CONTENT
Content marketing has become increasingly visual. With video content on the rise, "visual content will play a major role in facilitating the development of this burgeoning segment of digital marketing." Five trends to keep an eye on.
It's so easy at the beginning of the year to say you will get smart about marketing and keep up with the trend. Try to keep your finger on the pulse of what's the next "big" thing. You know how Periscope came out last year, then Blab, and now Facebook Live. All are great tools but in reality hard to become an expert at all at the same time.
Using core pieces of visual content (infographics and images) that lead into key blog posts is still an important entry into your content marketing funnel. It can be one of the biggest drivers of your traffic and social shares. And where do these eventually lead to? New customers and sales.
Look at four of the fastest-growing social networks: Pinterest, Instagram, Snapchat, and Tumblr. All visually oriented.
Bottom line: Visuals are memorable and effective, because they help people process, understand, and retain more information more quickly.
source: 16 Eye-Popping Statistics You Need to Know About Visual Content Marketing
11. BECOME BETTER STORYTELLERS
You have heard it a thousand times before building the know-like-trust factor. Hear it one more time, you must build the know-like-trust factor first.
If you are trying to convert prospects into customers, you need to build relationships and nurture your audience. Next time you want to convey a message consider: Storyboarding.
"Radio commercial advertisers, television directors, animators, and screenwriters all employee this technique. And it’s something that content creators like you can use, too."
THE FIVE ELEMENTS TO A FABULOUS MARKETING STORY
source: Copyblogger
Are you using storytelling to ignite a feeling in your readers? Let's face it, the internet is full of content. What makes yours stand out? The key is meaning.
The simple definition of content marketing is giving away valuable information in order to sell something related.
Value is a function of perception. You want the people you’re trying to reach to perceive your content as valuable, even if people you’re not trying to reach perceive it as.
Pretty simple but so many miss the boat on this. Your key takeaway: write with purposeful storytelling. Take your visitors through a journey. They will come to know, like, and trust you.
Natural, relevant content in the right channels will skyrocket your business.
12. UNDERSTANDING YOUR BUYER PERSONA
All your marketing will mean nothing if you don't understand your buyer persona and where they are on their buyer's journey.
MARKETING STRATEGIES WILL REFLECT A MULTI-TOUCH, MULTI-STAGE CUSTOMER JOURNEY.
source: Entrepreneur.com
"A prospect’s journey is no longer linear or funnel-like, but rather multi-stage. Consumers need many interactions with your brand, via a variety of mediums, to convert to paying customers."
This is a biggie. Read that again. Gone are the days of your customers seeing something once and buying. You must bring them along on their journey. And in order to do that you need to build a buyer's persona. Develop what their pain and pleasure points are and how they interact with the different types of content you distribute.
Buyer personas represent your ideal customer. In order to reach them on their level you need to create content that they actually want. Brands need to engage with their customers regularly. Engagement will become easier if you tell your persona's story using some of the five elements to a fabulous marketing story outlined above.
13. CONTENT CURATION
You don't always have to come up with your own content. "Content curation is the process of gathering information relevant to a particular topic or area of interest. Services or people that implement content curation are called curators."
It is a huge part of the social web. You want to find the best content available on the internet and share it with your targeted audience.
Content curation is becoming an important tactic for any marketing department to maintain a successful online presence. Follow the Social Media Rule of Thirds when sharing content on the different platforms:
photo credit: Social Media Rule of Thirds
14. BLOGGING AND SYNDICATING YOUR CONTENT
Your blog posts matter. Your long form content matters so spread the word. Use Facebook notes, guest posting, LinkedIn Pulse etc. Contribute to your other social platforms.
We know blogging is evolving. No doubt blogging and social media are colliding but let's not forget your blog is an asset you own. Social media is a space to distribute your content. Some have referred to it as "rented space".
Remember Myspace? of course you don't. It went away!
Social media publishing platforms are an additional space to host your content and have your voice heard. Your audience is not all created equal. Some learn by listening via podcasts. Some are avid readers. Some are visual learners. Why not have all the different mediums on your blog?
Diversity of links is key. Use social networks to build your audience. It's a great way to "cultivate audiences" and bring them back to your website.
And don't forget to email your list with your blog posts or articles. And as mentioned earlier promote the posts you know are getting the most engagement.
Use the channels that work best for your business model and where your perfect audience will be hanging out. We are no longer just a one platform society.
On a recent podcast on Social Media Marketing with Mark Schaeffer, marketing consultant and blogger at businessGROW.com, and Mitch Joel, president of Mirum, author of CTRL ALT Delete, host of Six Pixels of Separation podcast and a blogger at TwistImage.com; have the same sediment "Blogging is not dead, it's different."
"Blogging is not going any where, we are seeing iterations. Figure out what your network is doing and build it with them in mind. From text images to audio to video. "People are not reading less, people who want to read have more choices."
15. GUEST POSTING
This is a marketing tactic that will quickly grow your numbers. Write guest posts on popular blogs. When you do that, you'll get the opportunity to link back to your website.
Leo Widrich, co-founder of BufferApp used a strong guest posting strategy to go from 0 to 100k customers. You can read the interview how he did it here.
Key takeaway: Check out your posts that already do well and pull out key elements that you think made that most successful. Then get busy guest posting on other blogs.
Contact other authors on prominent sites and give them feedback. Get to know them. After some time you will build a relationship and you can ask for a referral. If a published author recommends you, chances are you'll more likely get the post.
16. LIVE STREAMING VIDEO
With the onslaught of Periscope, Blab, Snapchat, Facebook Live, etc. it is safe to say video is here to stay. By 2019, 80% of the World's Internet Traffic Will Be Video. At this point, I believe live streaming video is going to need a post dedicated to itself.
Live streaming apps have evolved. It is a powerful form of content marketing. Where else can you generate brand awareness, engage a bigger audience and make yourself stand out; all without leaving the comfort of your home, office, or wherever you are live streaming.
If you find that topic of interest let us know in the comments below.
What are your thoughts on live streaming video? And which one is your favorite?
17. BE YOU
There is only one you. Be creative. Be innovative.
Focus on the customer. Focus on delivering value. Focus on finding when and where they need it.
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