I recently gave a webinar titled “Content is the Car; Social Media is the Gas.” The idea is that to really get the best performance out of your content, you have to use the right fuel to “make it go”—to rev up your online presence. If you missed that presentation you can find the slides here. Otherwise, here’s a quick recap of the top 10 tips I shared for marrying your content to your social media efforts.
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10 Tips for Marrying Your Content to Your Social Media Efforts
1. 10 Tips for Marrying Your Content to Your Social Media Efforts
I recently gave a webinar titled “Content is the Car; Social Media is the Gas.” The idea
is that to really get the best performance out of your content, you have to use the
right fuel to “make it go”—to rev up your online presence. If you missed that
presentation you can find the slides here. Otherwise, here’s a quick recap of the top
10 tips I shared for marrying your content to your social media efforts.
Tip 1: Select the right social media
channels. It does you no good to be
sharing your content on sites where
your target audience is not present. Do
your homework up front to determine
where the people you want to reach
are spending their time online.
Tip 2: Identify and expand your list of
content producers. Don’t assume the
burden has to fall entirely on your
shoulders. Look around your
organization and identify others who
can help produce content. I’m sure
there are subject matter experts in
your organization who would love to
share their expertise! Or look to your industry trade association or
partners/vendors. Our own ClearEdge blog has a roster of bloggers (both
staffers and partners/other guest bloggers) who take turns sharing their
insights weekly.
Tip 3: Determine the frequency. Whether it’s weekly or monthly, determine
how often you’ll produce new content. Nothing is more frustrating for visitors
than inconsistent updates, whether that’s your social media updates, blog
posts or other content. For each piece of content you produce, determine your
schedule ahead of time and stick to it!
Tip 4: Create an editorial calendar. It can seem overwhelming to come up
with new topics for blog posts or white papers. It’s much easier to sit down
ahead of time and plan out what kind of content you will produce. An editorial
calendar is a great tool for guiding your content development efforts.
Tip 5: Use your website to share social content. Many organizations these
days are embedding Twitter or Facebook feeds right into their home page. This
is a great idea for two reasons: 1) it’s keeping your website content fresh
which helps your SEO efforts and 2) it demonstrates your presence on social
media, making it easy for website visitors to follow you on Twitter or
Facebook.
Tip 6: Use keywords. If you have Google Analytics or another analytics
program on your website, you can see what keywords and phrases people are
using to find your site. This is great intel which can help drive your content
development efforts. Use the keywords people are searching for in blog posts,
white papers, videos, etc.
2. Tip 7: Vary your content. There are a lot of vehicles out there through which
you can share your original thoughts. Think outside the box and switch it up
occasionally. Not everything has to be produced via a blog post or white paper.
Don’t forget video (instead of a written blog post, do a video blog post—i.e., a
vlog), infographics, podcasts, press releases and webinars, to name a few.
Tip 8: Use third-party content strategically. Remember that the value in
sharing content via your social media is to drive people back to your website.
It’s ok and perfectly acceptable to share articles from third-party sources; just
do so strategically. The bulk of what you promote should be your own content
with the occasional third-party content thrown in as appropriate.
Tip 9: Leverage what you have. Many companies assume content generation
means creating content from scratch. Not true! Almost every organization out
there has content somewhere—on their website, in a brochure, etc. Look at
your existing content and think about how to repurpose it. A white paper may
have some great stats within that would make for a great infographic, for
example. Be creative!
Tip 10: Get your whole team on board. Make sure to tap everyone you work
with for help promoting your content. How? Add a line promoting our blog to
your email signature. Send sample tweets or LinkedIn updates to your team and
ask them to post to their social networks. Everyone can and should play a part
in promoting your organization’s content. It does take a village, after all!
Those were my top 10 tips. Do you have others? Which ones are you using and seeing
success with? If you haven’t started this effort yet and aren’t sure where to begin,
contact us. We can help!