You’ve finally come around. You are now convinced that you need to create content to reach your audience. But your start may begin like many others – staring at a blank computer screen or notepad wondering what you’re going to do. Before the beads of sweat begin to drip down your face, there is help. Creating content comes down to two simple things: providing what the audience wants, and highlighting how your product or service is the solution. Media Shower recently interviewed KWSM President Katie Wagner about the best ways to create content. These tips will get you off to a flying start.
Discover Your Brand
Before you post a single social message or publish a blog, you need to consider a variety of elements that go into how you produce your content. At Katie Wagner Social Media, this is called a brand discovery – a critical starting point if you don’t want your content to miss the mark. A brand discovery allows you to identify a number of factors including target audience, goals, and brand voice. Without taking an honest and deep look at who you are, and who your audience is, you can’t produce resonating content.
Brainstorm
From the top to the bottom of your organization, even if you’re just a three-person business, each team member can be a valuable contributor to the success of your social media marketing. Round up the troops for a roundtable discussion or settle everyone in at Starbucks. Create an environment where everyone can think creatively. Once the ideas are in the air, people can work off of them and improve them. You’ll be surprised how many pages of notepad you can fill during a brainstorm session. Don’t be afraid of stopping the daily grind for an hour and hauling the team together to strategize!
Create Over Curate
Sure you can curate all of the content that might engage your audience. After all, who doesn’t love reposts of kitty videos, lip-synching baby Gifs, or Michael Jordan crying memes? But your authenticity comes from the heart. This is why you need to create content. Sure, it has benefits for SEO and lead generation, but at the core, it’s a conversation with your audience. If you were having a conversation with anyone else and they kept saying the same thing over and over again, you would probably walk away. The same thing happens online. It is critical to respect your audience enough to keep the conversation interesting.
Size Up Your Strategy
There’s no hard and fast number for the amount of times a day you post. It depends on what social media channel you’re using, how engaged your audience is and what kind of content you have to share. With great content and an audience that’s really interested, posting several times a day may be fine. With boring content, or an audience that’s losing interest, once a day may be too much. Whatever that number is, make sure you are consistent.
Starting a social media campaign can be a scary proposition. Once your turn the virtual mic on, you immediately have a world of listeners. The trick is getting them to respond. If these steps can’t get you running, you can always seek out help from the pros. Whether it’s a bootcamp workshop to beef up your knowledge on specific channels, a detailed social media strategy for your brand, or complete social media management, the KWSM Team can jumpstart your social. To learn about our services, click here.
