I constantly see examples of brands that have merely set up social media channels and have not thought through the reasons why they are there or how they are going to provide content that’s interesting to their audience. The result is that engagement on their pages remain low, the community does not grow and the brand owners often walk away deeming their time on social media not worthwhile.
We’ve moved beyond the days of just having a presence on social media platforms. To be truly relevant we need to be actively engaging our consumers. Good content creation is your most valuable asset as it is the currency of social media. Branded or created, it’s your content that captures the attention of your consumers and customers, engages them and shapes their ultimate perception of your brand.
Like all marketing efforts, the goal of good content is to turn prospects into loyal brand advocates but without a content strategy, your time spent on social media can be a waste of time.
To make your content more compelling, here are some simple steps to consider:
- Identify the core messages that you want to convey about your brand and what your broader objectives are – is there a compelling brand story that you can convey that helps to differentiate you and explain what makes your brand unique?
- Understand what are the “passion points” that engage your consumers and help them connect with your messages – provide content outside just promoting your products that helps educate or entertain your readers. What are the interests of your audience and how can you use content to help the solve an issue or understand how to use your product in context.
- Identify what type of content you need to create – it’s not always about written content, visual and audio content is also important to consider and this will also influence the channels of focus. For example you may have some great photography assets to leverage, and therefore platforms like Pinterest, Instagram may be a bigger priority for you to use. Creating inforgrphics can also be another powerful way to tell your stories.
- Develop a content plan – make sure that you spend some time thinking about the content and when you will deliver it. Take the time to plan this out so that you are not sitting looking for things to say that are not on message.
- Identify people with right skills to create the content for you – identify people (and often this may mean outsourcing) who can create content in a meaningful way. Content creation is not the sole responsibility of your marketing department so think about how you can identify and leverage others with skills across your organisation to contribute.
- Measure, plan and optimize. Measuring success means tracking your results and identifying what resonates most with your audience.
Continue to ask yourself whether you’d be interested and engaged with the content if you were your consumer. Don’t just post for the sake of it if the content does not reinforce your messages or provide any value back to your audience.
Hootsuite have created a great reminder of what things you need to consider when you are planning content.
Want to know more?
Join me at the Wine Communicators of Australia Webinar ‘Content to Connect’ on 2 May
Time: 1 – 1.45pm
Cost:
- WCA Members – Free
- WFA Members – $25
- Non-Members – $50
Bookings here – http://www.winecommunicators.com.au/Programs/WCA-2013-Webinar-Series/Webinar-Content-to-Connect-May-2-2013.aspx
Would love to hear your thoughts on your thoughts on what brands you feel are providing good content in the comments below.
