Content marketing on social media is an essential part of any marketing strategy. If you’re looking to get started, this guide will show you how to get started and everything you need to know. Check it out!
Create your content strategy
So, you’ve got your content marketing strategy, and you’re ready to create content. But, where do you start? Creating content is easier said than done. And, as a social media influencer, you have a unique set of challenges to consider. Fortunately, content isn’t only about what you write—it’s also about where you publish it. And, one of the best content marketing strategies for social media influencers is to create content in the context of social media. This means that you need to think about where your audience is likely to interact with you and your content before you create it.
Define your content marketing goals
When you create a content marketing strategy, you need to define your goals. The goal of content marketing is to attract, engage, and convert your audience. Therefore, when creating your content strategy, think about the goals of your content marketing campaign. You will need to know your short-term and long-term goals. These goals will help you determine what type of content you will need to create.
Understand your buyer’s journey
Before you create content, you need to understand your ideal customer. The better you understand them, the better you can create content that speaks to them. For example, if you sell a product for small businesses, you would want to know the different stages your customers go through to find a product. Knowing their buyer journey will help you create content to help them along the way.
Define your content marketing strategy
The content strategy for your brand should be a comprehensive plan that covers all your content marketing efforts. From your website to social media, your content strategy needs to cover every piece of the puzzle. A good content strategy helps you create consistent, high-quality content that your audience wants to read, share, and comment on.
Develop your content plan
Before you can start creating content, you need to sit down and create a content plan for your social media marketing campaign. A content plan is a strategy that outlines the type and length of content you will publish on each social media channel. It will also specify when you will publish your content, and the type of promotion you will use.
Create your content calendar
Before you create any content, you need to create a content calendar with your key dates, such as when you will publish a blog post, when you will create YouTube videos, or when you will promote your social media campaigns. Set the dates far in advance (at least a month) to give yourself enough time. This will help you plan what content you will create, schedule your social media posts, and work on promotions. If you have a large content creation project, it’s especially important to set a calendar. Otherwise, you might find yourself working on a project with no end in sight.
Understand your customer needs
The right content marketing strategy will be created to address the specific needs of your customers. Whether your audience is B2B or B2C, it’s important to understand what they need to accomplish so you can guide them to your content. For example, B2B customers might need to learn a new process or software to efficiently manage their teams. Or B2C customers might need to learn how to plan a trip to a new vacation spot.
What problems are you trying to solve?
For example, let’s say you sell outdoor furniture. If you want to attract new customers, you might create a post about the best spots to find an amazing view of the mountains, and provide ideas on how to make the most of your outdoor space. Or you might create a post about how to build a fire pit in your yard, and include helpful how-to guides. If you want to retain your current customers, you might create a post about the best spots to sit and enjoy your new patio furniture, and talk about how much fun you’re having in your new backyard.
What are your current solutions?
Your existing solutions are the things you do to move your organization towards its goals. For example, if you work in IT, your solutions are your network architecture, your software applications, and your hardware. You can determine what solutions your organization has and whether you have the right ones for today’s business environment by reviewing your company’s annual reports, website, and press releases. It may also help to speak with your staff, especially those who are closer to the action, to get a clearer picture of what your organization’s solutions are right now.
What is holding you back from fully satisfying those needs?
It’s no wonder so many businesses struggle to get in front of their customers on social media, and why. The demands of generating new business and driving qualified leads have left marketers with little time to focus on what matters most: their audience. Social media demands constant engagement, but most marketers struggle to do that well. And the results show: Only 20% of marketers say that their social media strategy is highly effective and helps them meet their goals.
Audit your current marketing
Now that you have a plan to migrate your social media to the new platform, it’s time to audit your current marketing activities. Take stock of all your social media assets: content, images, videos, and social accounts, and evaluate how each one of them is performing. Which of your posts are getting the most engagement? Are you engaging with the audience that matters most to your business? Do you have a consistent voice for each of your social profiles?
Review your existing marketing materials
One of the best ways to determine whether your social media marketing is working is to look at your existing marketing materials. If you’ve been using the same content and images for years, you’ll want to make some adjustments to see if they’re still resonating with your audience. Are your social media posts still getting engagement? Are they driving leads for your business? If not, it’s time to change the content you’re sharing.
Determine the current ROI for each marketing activity
Now that you know what your current marketing activities are and how they’re performing, you can determine which activities are the most effective and deserve to stay. While some activities may be generating a lot of leads, it’s important to understand whether those leads are worth enough to your business to keep them.
If the activity is generating results, there’s no need to change it
If you’re getting results, you don’t need to change your marketing plan. That’s not to say you won’t change it, but you should focus on making incremental improvements. If you are seeing a positive ROI from your social media marketing, there’s no need to go looking for the next big thing.
If it doesn’t align, eliminate the activity or change it to something that does
If you’ve adopted a new marketing strategy and suddenly you aren’t seeing the results that you’d hoped for, it’s not your fault. It could be because your marketing isn’t really in line with your goals. It could also be because you’re not setting the right expectations for your audience. Or it could be because you’re not implementing the right marketing tactics. Regardless of why, you need to make a change!
Define your goals
In order to create an effective social media content strategy, it’s important to define your content goals in the context of your overall business objectives. Defining your goals in this way helps you better measure the success of your content marketing campaigns. For example, if you want to increase brand awareness, your goals could be to increase your brand mentions on Instagram and Pinterest. If you want to increase sales, one goal might be to drive more traffic to your website from Instagram.
Set realistic goals
If you don’t set realistic goals, it’s unlikely you’ll achieve them. Set goals that are challenging but still within your ability to achieve. Set a goal of generating 15 likes, comments, and shares per post, for example. For that goal to be realistic, you need to plan for post creation and promotion. To meet your goal, you should create at least three social media posts a week. And don’t forget to promote your content! Add links to your social media profiles, share your posts on LinkedIn, and ask your connections to share your content.
Be specific
If you are looking for content marketing ideas for your business, it is essential to set clear and measurable goals. You need to define what success looks like in terms of content creation and social media engagement. If you define your goals too broadly, you will end up creating content that does not meet your objectives. Instead, focus your efforts on creating content that helps your business improve in different ways. If your goal is to boost brand awareness, for instance, create content that builds trust and helps answer questions about your products and services.
Write them down
We mentioned this earlier, but it’s important enough to repeat: your content marketing goals need to be written down. Even if you’re not writing a post, jot down your goals somewhere you can easily refer to. Put it on a note card, whiteboard, a sticky note on your computer, a piece of paper in your planner—it doesn’t matter where you put it, just make sure you refer to it often!
Make them challenging but attainable
Have you tried to sell ice to an Eskimo? Of course not! You know why? Because it’s incredibly challenging! And yet, they still sell it. This is because they know what they can do and they have the will and the drive to do it. You can do the same thing with your content marketing goals. Set a goal that is challenging but realistic, even if it means bumping up the quality of your content a little bit. You still need to produce great content and let people know about it. In the long run, you will reap the rewards of your labor.
Create your content plan
Creating a content plan that aligns with your social media strategy is critical. Your content plan should cover what to post (titles and descriptions), when to post (social media scheduling software is a great option), and how often to post (don’t post the same thing every day).
Start with your client’s goals
Before you create a content plan, it’s essential to understand your client’s goals and priorities. What do they want to achieve with their social media marketing? What are they looking to accomplish? What do they need to know from their audience? A content plan must be created in the context of the goals your client wants to achieve. If you don’t understand their business goals, you will likely create content that goes against their overall strategy and waste their time and money.
Understand their challenges
Knowing your ideal customer is key for any business, especially in the digital age. If you cater to everyone, you’ll likely end up pleasing no one. Knowing your ideal customer can help you better understand what your audience is interested in and what they’re looking for. Once you have a better understanding of your target audience, it’s easier to create content that’ll resonate with them.
Do your research
Before you start writing, do some research to find out what content is popular in your industry and what your competitors are writing about. You can check social media to see what topics are trending, and you can use SEO tools to find out what people are searching for that your content might answer. The more you know about your audience and what they want, the more you’ll be able to create content that will help you meet their needs.
In conclusion, if you want to master content marketing on social media, this guide is essential reading. But don’t just take our word for it – put these tips into practice and see for yourself how they can help you achieve your content marketing goals.
