A common theme in a lot of marketing these days is a bit of a competing view of beating an algorithm vs not paying attention to algorithms and instead trying to be authentic. I read and hear a lot about trying to trick or beat algorithms to climb in web browser or app store rankings, but what good does this really do?
Let’s follow this path for a second, let’s say we actually discover some magical loophole that soars our app or website to the number 1 search result for a given key word… then what? You get hundreds of thousands of visitors or app installs, which hopefully leads to hundreds of thousands of users or customers, and you become an instant hit! Ok back to reality, this is not the typical result. Often times, when companies are consumed with “gaming the system” the rest of their funnel is broken. So, they feed tons of leads for a very short period of time into the top of the funnel, and the conversion rate drops off a cliff. This signals to Apple, Google, and others that your product, service or app is not what people want, and you plummet back down to the bottom of the list.
Not to mention, Google alone changes its algorithm 500-600 times a year. So, odds are, as soon as you figure out a loophole it will be closed.
So was it worth it? I would argue no.
Instead, what if that same time and energy you are using to stuff the top of the funnel was used to create authentic content that your core demographic really wants? Isn’t 5 really engaged customers worth more than 100 people who aren’t really interested?
The way to start is to know your purpose and who your product, service or app is for.
To find your purpose, simply ask yourself “why does my company exist?” The answer might be that you provide sustainable coffee, free wifi and a collaborative environment, or maybe you have a solution that sends people alerts on their phone when they need to water their plants. Whatever this reason is, you should be able to clearly articulate it.
Next, ask yourself “who is your business for”? Is it for my grandma, to save her time and help her with her day to day life? Is it for the young tech professional and is built for their fast-paced experience-driven life? Whoever it is for, paint a whole picture of that person, give them a name, a picture, the whole 9-yards. Then picture that person whenever you create content and speak to them.
With this in mind, you will be talking directly to your audience about your purpose, which is something they care about. If this content is done well, it should give you much better results for the time spent than trying to trick an algorithm. Plus, people are tired of being sold to, so we have gotten much better at cutting through the “crap” in our search results and newsfeed. We can spot your key word stuffing a mile away… and we are CRAVING authentic content.
With a small business, it’s all about ROI, and I believe authentic engagement will always give you better ROI than spending time on superficial tactics or trying to outsmart Apple and Google.