As powerful as both social media marketing and content marketing can be for brands that are seeking to attract the right audiences and grow, these fields of online marketing can also present certain challenges.
Both these forms of marketing need to be done, but they can also consume a lot of resources for often cash-strapped and time-pressured organisations.
You may, however, be able to relieve some of these pressures by combining your organisation’s social media and content marketing efforts into a single workflow.
This brings us onto the subject of the “business flywheel”.
What is a ‘business flywheel’, and what could its digital marketing implications be?
The term “business flywheel” has long been used in reference to a circular process whereby one step leads to the next.
Popularised by Jim Collins in his book Good to Great, the “business flywheel” concept has been around for decades. Crucially, it places an emphasis on companies building momentum over time through continuous improvements and engagement with customers.
Jeff Bezos has famously used a flywheel in reference to Amazon’s business model. To this day, the “business flywheel” approach – with its focus on the notion of small, incremental improvements bringing accumulative benefits for businesses – remains of great appeal and relevance for entrepreneurs.
So, let’s look at what a ‘business flywheel’ might look like for online marketing
Below, we’ve set out how you might look to develop a “flywheel” based on content creation and social media posts.
We’re using the example of a business that offers property management services in Gibraltar – but of course, this model’s principles can work for many different firms in various sectors.
- Publish a post on X or Threads
Let’s presume you have a topic idea, such as the benefits of investing in property in Gibraltar. You might put together an X or Threads post on this topic, ending it with a memorable call to action (CTA) such as “leave a comment” or “subscribe to our email newsletter”.
You may then record this post in a spreadsheet, and publish further posts on your chosen microblogging platform over the course of the day.
- Measure performance
Seven days after the posts’ publication, take a look at the results of one.
Measuring each post’s performance, and adding the metric to the spreadsheet, will enable you to pick out popular topics that both the microblogging platform’s algorithm and human readers seem to be drawn towards.
- Expand successful social media posts into articles
Now, it’s time to transform some of those strongest-performing X or Threads posts into long-form articles on your brand’s main website. Use organic search keywords to optimise them for search engine optimisation (SEO) purposes.
If, for example, an X post about the benefits of purchasing Gibraltar property fared well, you might put together a website article entitled “5 reasons to buy property in Gibraltar”.
Don’t forget to record the article in the spreadsheet. You should also set a goal for it, such as attracting a certain level of site traffic, or a particular amount of email subscriptions.
- Measure the performance of the article
30 days after the publication of the article, track how it has performed against its goal. Looking through your fuller list of published articles, you’ll be aiming to identify the best-performing pieces.
- Splinter and branch articles that have fared well
For each article on your website that has delivered a strong performance, come up with ideas for at least five “splinter” articles, and a minimum of five “branch” articles.
“Splinter” articles focus on individual reasons or subtopics from the main article. Meanwhile, “branch” articles are about expanding outward, exploring related but distinct subjects.
So, presuming the aforementioned “5 reasons to buy property in Gibraltar” was a successful article for your local property management company, an example of a “splinter” article could be “Why the tax incentives make Gibraltar property a smart buy”.
Meanwhile, a “branch” article could be something along the lines of, “Gibraltar vs Malta: where should you buy a coastal home?”
Are you ready to steer your brand towards gradual and sustained growth?
There you have it – the “business flywheel” concept, transformed into concrete marketing steps for a brand like yours.
To discuss in greater detail with our team how our expertise as one of the leading website design, digital marketing, and PHP development companies in Gibraltar, the UK, and Spain could help put your brand in a stronger position, please contact Piranha Designs today.
