april2022 - 33

MARKETING YOUR FIRM
7 Ways to Maximize Your Content's ROI:
Marketing for Accounting Firms
By Becky Livingston
IF YOU'RE TRYING to stand out on social media, it's hard. That doesn't mean you
should throw in the towel. Rather, here are seven things you can do to maximize
your firm's content strategy to generate leads, increase brand awareness, and
inflate your SEO. Let's get right to it.
■ Choose 1-2 social media channels and design
content for them. For example, if you want to
promote a webinar, use the two most effective social
media platforms your firm has and promote it there.
This alleviates your need to promote everything
everywhere. Where do you find that information?
Look at the platform or your website analytics to
find out which is the most effective for you. (You
might be surprised!)
■ Continuously update your powerhouse content on
a regular basis. Review at your ever-green content,
such as a guide or booklet that may be used over
and over, year over year, but might need slight
tweaks to keep it up to date. There's no need for a
complete redesign. Be sure to update the publish
date each time the document is refreshed. Keep the
same file name to avoid losing past search engine
optimization (SEO) metrics.
■ Keep up the promotions. There is no hard and fast
rule that says you can only promote new content.
If you have something that's still relevant and
resonates with your audience, keep promoting it.
Marketer Derek Halpern says he spends 80% of
his time promoting content and 20% creating it.
Be like Derek.
■ Perception matters. When creating content, keep in
mind it only needs to be better than your competitors.
Epic content is great and can bring a spike to
your website. However, if every piece of content you
create is epic, takes a ton of time to create, and is
costly, you may be losing out on its ROI value. Here's
why. Consumers look at your content in comparison
to the other pieces they find. If you spend time
making your better content even better, consumers
won't be able to tell the difference in your effort.
■ Advertising. I know it's a dirty word. But with
organic post reach diving to an all-time low, you
may need to spend a bit of money to market to your
target audience. You don't have to spend hundreds
of dollars either. Use a combination of organic posts
and paid posts to boost reach, engagement, and
leads on your best social channels.
■ Optimize your marketing funnel. When you create
content, does it initiate an opportunity to move
prospects down the sales funnel? If not, you are
wasting time, effort, energy, and yes, money. How
do you do this? See the section below.
■ Measure. If you're not measuring each piece of
content's ROI, there is no way to tell what's working
and what's not, nor what is your best type of content.
Keep an eye on this to create the most effective
content your audience craves.
OPTIMIZING YOUR CONTENT
SALES FUNNEL
You've created content and put it on your website.
Maybe you've even shared some social media posts
to draw attention to it. However, did you stop there?
If yes, then you need to read this.
Here's how to optimize your content funnel and
sprinkle in some pizzaz.
■ Ensure the meta tags are complete for each piece
of content, including the title, description, and
keywords.
■ If it's a written piece, such as a blog, add links to
other content within the piece. For example, if
you're sharing audit tips, tie the piece to other audit
materials you may have, or better yet, to a webinar
registration form.
■ Create content based on business goals and themes
that can be shared throughout the year. For example,
if you host a webinar in March, create a landing
page for the replay. Be sure you put a form on
that page to collect data about the visitor. Then,
if the content is still relevant, promote the replay
throughout the year.
■ Incorporate a call to action (CTA) in each item you
create. It may be as simple as " Give us a call if you
have questions. " But also include more active CTAs,
such as, " Want more on this topic, register for our
upcoming webinar. " Remember to include a link to
the registration form.
■ Create a larger item from smaller bits, then promote
the " Ultimate Guide. " Within the Guide, incorporate
links to other content and include a call to action
that requires the person to call or contact you for
more information.
With all these moving parts you may wonder
why creating content is a good initiative? Simple.
Without it, your audience doesn't know you exist.
Now that you have a plan, take a look at the
content you already have and identify how you can
optimize it and make it work harder for your firm. ■
Becky Livingston is the President and
CEO of Penheel Marketing, a NJ-based
firm specializing in social media and
digital marketing for CPAs. With over 25
years of marketing and tech experience,
she is the author of " SEO for CPAs - The
Accountant's SEO Handbook " and " The
Accountant's Social Media Handbook. "
In addition to being a practitioner, she is a dog lover,
an active on the Association for Accounting Marketing
(AAM) social media committee, an adjunct professor, and
a speaker/trainer. Learn more about Becky and her firm at
https://Penheel.com.
APRIL 2022 ■ www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
33
https://www.Penheel.com http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
april2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of april2022
