Marketing efforts are more powerful and effective when they work together.

For example, if you have a social networking account you probably have social networking buttons on your blog or website. You invite people to share on Facebook and friend you too. This way you can max social media.

Your content marketing is probably the most important and effective marketing tactic in your strategy. Content after all is what drives visitors to your website. It makes sense to blend your content marketing efforts with your social media efforts for a really powerful strategy. Here are a few ideas or strategies to integrate your content marketing and social media efforts.

Linking from your blog to maximise social

Each time you publish an article or blog post, why not link to it from social networking sites? You can try different approaches to test which works best. Does a straight headline with a link work? Or does your audience prefer a teaser paragraph and a link? Some marketers have found that asking a question works best to motivate click-throughs from social networking sites.

Publish full articles

Some social media sites provide room for full articles. For example, LinkedIn and Facebook Fan pages both give you room to publish an abundance of content.

Include social media buttons on your site and in your content.

If you have a blog there are plug-ins that you can add to integrate social media buttons at the top of each blog post. You can also include a call to action in some or all of your posts. You can include a signature that says,

Like this post? Share it on Facebook.

If you’re using article marketing to drive traffic to your site you can link to those published articles from your social media accounts. You can also include a ‘Follow me on Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn’ or whatever sites you use. This helps broaden your audience and your awareness.

Use content to grow your social media connections.

Each article or blog post should ideally have a purpose. You may want to promote an affiliate link. You may want to drive traffic to your opt-in page. You can also use content to build your social network following. Include a call to action at the bottom of your article or blog post and link to your profile.

We’ve actually only touched the surface with how you can integrate your content marketing and social media efforts. There is tremendous potential here. You can use social media comments or questions to create content for your site. You can also integrate them both into your email marketing strategy too.

Remember that each marketing tactic is more powerful when it is integrated with your other existing marketing tactics. Plan your content. Plan your social networking strategy and then plan how they can work together.