As a social media manager, a big part of my job is writing content. This year I have heard several presenters at SMCDallas and Explore Dallas say storytelling is the way to go and a great place to start with your content creation. That’s all fine and great, but is it really practical?
When creating content for a brand/company it comes down to one thing, sales. Many people will roll their eyes at you and tell you it’s not only about sales, and they are right to an extent, but the people funding your social program will only see sales. There are however many ways to go about making your social media about sales and that all starts with the content.
There is a delicate balance to be found when promoting your products and services and getting engagement on your pages. Sadly there is no formula for this and it all depends on your pages and your audience. If all you are doing is screaming at people to buy your product, there is no need for them to come to your social pages; they can get screamed at by any random on the street. You have to give them a reason to want to come to your page.
Types of written content:
Educate – Offer people some insight into your field. You don’t have to give them every little detail of your business, but post news articles and give your opinion and ask for theirs. People like to share their opinions on just about everything.
Relevance – Show your followers you are not a robot. Keep up with the times, pay attention to the date and sometimes it’s ok to just post about a fantastically sunny day. Not everything has to be about your company or your industry. Real people don’t only talk about one thing all the time so why would they expect you to?
Build Trust – Be as transparent as you possibly can be. If there is something going on in the news about your industry or company, address it. When, not if, people have an issue with your company, address it, and let people know you have addressed it even if the discussion is taken offline. Show people the issue has been resolved.
Share – Share others content, stick to non competitors if it makes you feel better, to take the load off yourself. In real life, there is not just a monolog going on, we pull information from others to enhance the messages we are sending out. Social is the same way, use others content to supplement your content. Be sure you give credit where credit is due. You wouldn’t like to be plagiarized so don’t do it to others.
Sales – Yes, I obviously had to put this in. You still need to promote your business but make sure you are promoting your business intelligently. Don’t just show your product, show how to use your product and how using it will increase someone’s quality of life.
There are many types of content out there including pictures, video and blogs, but these will get you started. Some of these may not work for all types of businesses, there are always exceptions.
Who have you seen out there who has their content just perfect?
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