“Content strategy” and “content marketing” are terms you are likely hearing more often these days. The reason for that is simple: Content has been a vital part of online marketing since the early days of search engine optimization (SEO). A couple years back when Google’s algorithm shifted, so did the entire SEO paradigm. The advent of Panda and Penguin have forced the hands of many online marketers and merchants to put a more concerted effort into generating quality content.
Using branded content is an effective strategy that many companies are discovering works for them, but website content cannot be the primary focus anymore. In 2015, social media rules the Web. Content that isn’t optimized for social media is little more than a waste of time and resources that no one will ever see. The thing about social media is that it’s a level playing field. Major corporations and tiny entrepreneurships alike can use it effectively to leverage their brands.
Don’t get us wrong: You absolutely need a good content strategy for your website. The trap into which too many businesses fall is that they spend all their time trying to optimize their websites, but not their Web presence. They neglect social media, thereby depriving themselves of the vast majority of opportunities to connect with their customers, clients, or prospects. You need a good content strategy for your social media accounts. Period. You need content that is uniquely yours so that when it gets shared around, it identifies your brand, not just your brand’s personality.
Your Social Media Content Strategy
Anyone who has ever attempted to put together a single piece of custom writing from scratch knows that there are many pieces to the puzzle and putting it together can be time-consuming. The effort it takes to build and manage a website can easily distract from the need to include social media in the equation. “Why should we spend even more time and money on social media? Aren’t we just going to share pictures and links?” If that’s your thinking, you’d better keep reading.
A huge part of any social media campaign is, in fact, sharing content, posting statuses on a regular basis, tweeting relevant information, engaging your followers, and so on. Most businesses choose to use “sourced” content for this purpose, and that’s all right, provided you’re using it correctly. There is a strategy and psychology to how you use your social media content, which is where you get the term, “content strategy.” There are three elements that have to be present in social media content in order for it to be effective. They are:
• Relevance
• Timing
• Quality
The first two are important, but they will mean nothing if the quality isn’t there. It can be relevant but ineffective if poorly presented. It can be timed right for maximum reach, but who will respond if the content is subpar?
Social media content doesn’t only exist for your business to send social signals to the search engines, even though that is an important element. It also doesn’t exist for the sole purpose of driving click-throughs or to simply give you something to put out there. People don’t want you to just throw them a bone. They want the meat.
Your content needs to encourage active engagement. Getting people not just reading about your brand, but discussing it and sharing ideas about it, will increase the visibility and awareness of it. It also builds popularity, which helps build trust. All of this hinges on having a good content strategy.
Building a Good Content Strategy
The word “good” means different things to different people. To the untrained eye, a social media strategy can look “good” but still be totally ineffective. “Good” depends on a number of factors, but there are a few core ideas that have universal application, so let’s zero in on those.
1. Generate and publish content that is relevant for right now. Having the freedom to schedule ahead is a great timesaver, and it can be an effective way of maintaining good timing and pace with your content. The problem starts when you take a “set it and forget it” approach to your social media posts. Content can go stale very quickly, and you can miss opportunities to engage if you aren’t paying attention to stories and trends that are current, even down to the day.
2. Create content that is relevant to its platform. Remember that the definition of good content varies by site. What passes for good content on Twitter won’t necessarily engage anyone on Facebook. That’s why multi-posting tools are not all that effective. Remember, we’re going for quality not quantity. There is a difference between being present and constantly barking in someone’s ear. People interact with content differently on different platforms, so if you are going to use the same content on Facebook and Twitter, be sure it’s presented in each place in a way that is conducive to engagement on that particular platform.
3. Use social media content that is consistent with your brand. You want social media to connect with your website, not stand apart from it. The result of your social media efforts is to get people to your website so make sure you have both houses in order in terms of content. There should not be any radical differences between how you present your brand on social media and how you present it on your site.
4. Track your progress. The goal of leveraging social media is to create brand awareness, engage with customers and prospects, develop relationships with your brand, and earn trust. In order to know if you are succeeding at these objectives, you should be looking at the following things more than you do followers, fans, or likes:
• Do you have a credible and consistent click-through rate?
• Is engagement lively and consistent?
• How are conversions from social channels looking?
• Does your content have a potential “viral factor?”
• Does your content have a strong readership?
• Do your social media channels get sufficient traffic?
• How well are you doing with shares/retweets?
If you can wrangle all of the above, your ROI could be massive. Stick with content that identifies your brand or your brand’s message whenever possible and create a good buzz around it. If you can figure out how to do that, your bottom line will thank you considerably. (14 characters remaining for hashtag or bit.ly)