What once started out as a fun way to connect with friends and family online, has turned into a powerful tool for businesses like yours to attract new customers.
With over 2.8 billion active daily users across popular social platforms, social media increasingly changes the conversation on how to market to audiences. Long-gone are the days where businesses are restricted to the impersonal strategies such as radio or television advertisements; as technology advances, so does the approach to securing new customers and creating loyal fans.
Great Social Media Content Brings Value to Your Brand
Due to its high-volume of usage, social media offers your business the invaluable opportunity to actively learn about your buyers: what makes them tick, what turns them off, and what content your buyers want to see in order to bring value. No more time and money wasted on marketing to individuals who will never convert from a lead to a buyer because they don’t feel the personal connection; that you are the perfect fit for them.
The best indicator of the benefits of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn for your business is reliable, proven research:
- 90% of marketers say using major social media networks such as Facebook has increased exposure for their business
- Nearly 40% of users follow their favorite brands on social media
- 75% of businesses that used social media in their marketing strategy experienced an increase in website traffic
- 50% of marketers who have been implementing social media marketing tactics for two years have reported improved sales.
- More than 1 in 3 Internet users say they go to social networks when looking for more information about a brand or product.
Step One: Know Your Audience
There are many different factors that contribute to your audience. One of the most important steps to creating great social content is knowing who your audience is inside and out. Consider the following:
- Who is my target audience, or as we say, buyer persona?
- What social media networks do they use regularly?
- What information are they looking for?
- What problems can my business help them solve?
Once you have a grasp of who your audience is, you are on your way to creating valuable social media content.
Step Two: Have an Actionable Goal in Mind
You may be used to the personal side of social media: posting pictures of your family, talking about your day or sharing the latest viral video. While this works on a personal level, as a business, your social media content has to have an ultimate goal in mind to be successful.
Ask yourself these questions to determine your social media goal:
- Do you want more website visits?
- Are you wanting to increase your amount of followers?
- Do you have a product you want more sales for?
- Do you sell a service and need more clients?
In order to deliver valuable content marketing that your buyer wants to see, you need to understand what they are looking for. Having an actionable goal will help you determine what type of great social content will help your business.
Step Three: Create Your Content
Using inbound marketing methodology, you can create content that is focused and valuable to your buyer persona to build a strong and lasting relationship. Your fans will want to see content that portrays you as real—as an authentic business.
Consider what content is relevant to your fans. Do you sell a service and constantly have to answer the same questions over and over again? Write a blog about it. Are you preparing for a major product launch? Give your fans a behind-the-scenes look. Is a holiday sale approaching? Create an eye-catching graphic in Canva to capture their attention.
Your social content should always include:
- A relevant image to your buyer’s persona in your posts
- Shareable information such as blogs, newsletters or white papers
- Compelling call to actions such as “Contact Us” or “Buy Now”
- A shortened URL via Bitly
Step Four: Post Your Content
Once you have created your social media content, now it is time to schedule your content out. By utilizing social media scheduling software you can create, post, and monitor your social media activity ahead of time. Scheduling in advance takes the unnecessary stress out of managing your business’ social media channels so you can focus your energy on the more important aspects of social media: engaging with your fans.
Step Five: Study Your Results
Keeping track and studying your social media metrics is crucial to seeing if your business is reaching its goals. If your goal is to grow website visits, have you noticed an increase in website visits from social media channels? Since starting an advertisement, have you noticed leads from your contact form skyrocketing?
Staying on top of these important social media metrics will help you determine what is working and what isn’t working for your business.
Step Six: Be Patient. Be Persistent.
Patience is a virtue. The likelihood of your posts going viral and becoming an international sensation is miniscule, so it is important that you maintain a level head on the realities of social media for businesses. You know what they say, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” It helps to keep your end goal in mind!
By utilizing this step-by-step guide to know your audience, determine your goals, create your content, post your content and study your results, you will consistently create great social media content for your business.
