Content Marketing & Social Media
Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future. ~ Niels Bohr
Content Marketing & Social Media
With so many social networking sites out there, and what seems like a newcomer appearing every other week, you could say that business owners and marketers have more tools than ever at their disposal for spreading awareness about their products and brands. This, unfortunately, can be a double-edged sword.
With many different sites available for marketing, it can be a challenge to pin down which ones are going to have lasting appeal among fickle Internet users. The phrase “flavor of the week” can be applied to social networks; one week Google+ is condemned as a ghost town, the next it’s being touted as a strong bustling community and the place to be.
Who’s to say which of the current social networks will have staying power and which ones will be out of style in another six months?
However, do not fret. If you build depth and variety of high-quality content and place this content at your center of content then you position yourself to be flexible while still remaining content-strong at your center. Always have your social media activities drive traffic to your center of content.
Your center of content is your website and your blog. You have complete control of these two important marketing pieces and to build content there is a fundamental pillar of content marketing.
Social Media and Your Center of Content
If you want to gain traction with a new content piece then use Twitter to bring in some traffic. Make the tweet interesting and compel someone to visit the piece at your content center and even Retweet it. Announce a new blog post on Facebook or LinkedIn. Link back to your content center from your YouTube channel. Create boards on Pinterest and link back to your blog or website. Build your center of content and then let social media help you to gain exposure whatever the social media platform.
Targeting Your Demographic
If you own a small business, you’re probably going to be interested in the diversity of users that visit the various social media sites. You need to understand the demographics of a social media site and learn how to use any particular social media site to create and support an interest level in your content. You’re going to want to know that your products or services are going to resonate with a site’s regular visitors.
A great place to go to learn about the various statistics for sites we wish to use is Quantcast (https://www.quantcast.com). This online analysis tool shows the rankings of the websites of the world and if a site has been verified by Quantcast then some specific demographic information will also be available. This site can even look at the details of popularity of websites for specific countries so if you want to give some thought to social media exposure in a different country than you home country then this site could help you to decide.
No matter what social media website you decide to use to help you to gain exposure for your business you want to bring people to your center of content.
How to Make it Work for You
As with any of the social networking platforms, it is not a “fire and forget” solution for marketing. The most important thing to take away is this: don’t just post for the sake of it. You won’t be doing yourself any favors if you post uninspiring content just for the sake of getting your name out there. With creativity, you can create compelling and highly shareable content that remains true to your brand’s message.
With any social media – social sharing website choose the right content to post. Delight your followers! Provide insights into a solution. Be creative and see if you can make your followers smile (or even laugh) while providing relevant and useful information. Give them something to talk or think about. Give them something to share that leads people back to your content center. This is the essence of social media marketing.
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Here are some basic ideas you could use to get started.
- Use compelling graphics or even an info graphic in a social media message. Generate initial interest in your topic or brand or solution and get them to learn more by linking back to your website or blog.
- Consider using poignant, timely, and inspirational quotes that relate to your brand’s message. Grab their attention and provide something worthy but to learn even more link back to your center of content.
Note that when other share you content they will also be sharing the links to your website or blog and this not only bring traffic but also the links themselves push you up higher in search bringing even more traffic.
Your job, as a business owner, is to ensure great content is created that helps people to understand what your business has to offer and then to gain exposure for this content. If you want to learn more about content marketing then I invite you to learn by taking any of our many content marketing tutorials.