If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?

One of the greatest challenges in a multi-channel online marketing world (think Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.) is having enough of a base within those channels to actually make a splash. As the network grows, as the base expands, your value increases.

The opposite is also true. 

If you casually “play” online, you won’t ever see the value of the power of social media and online marketing. This doesn’t mean throwing money randomly at tools or agencies to “help your grow your online marketing”. It means truly embracing the future of marketing.

In a world of so many who inundate the online space with noise, how do you stand out?

To me, the entire challenge can be answered with content. Not just more content, don’t get me wrong. You can’t win the online marketing battle with just more pages than your competitor or more tweets/re-tweets than the next guy. Sure, you might win short term, but in the long run, the one who will stand as the winner is the one who over time has fed us amazing content. Good, chunky, stuff-we-couldn’t-think-of-on-our-own content.

Do you want your followers to grow? Say something worth while.

Do you want more likes on Facebook to grow your reach? Post something that is worth us sharing.

I would rather read 1 amazing blog post a month than 60 I could easily forget.

There are a thousand and a half posts/consultants/”experts” each day telling you what to do. In the end, though, value will always win over noise.

Once you provide value, your network will grow. People will flock to your online world because they can’t believe they are getting all this for free. They can’t believe they have found this gem and they will tell everyone else they know about it.

Once your network grows, you win.

Photo credit: duncanh1
Author

With over a decade of experience, I have managed online marketing for a wide range of industries including biotech, high-tech, financial, higher education, non-profit, manufacturing, hardware providers, and startups. My specialty is helping business make the right turn with their online efforts focusing on lead generation and analytics.

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