Social media has become a major marketing platform for businesses. What were sites that were made to connect friends and family members have evolved into effective tools that can help businesses put their brands forward?
As in other digital marketing platforms, content is also important when it comes to social media marketing. Content is and will continue to be, an indispensable element of marketing, and its effective usage can help bring about great returns for any business.
To maximize the power of social media marketing, here are seven content marketing rules that you should be aware of, and that you should apply:
#WhatsTrending?
One of the most important things to keep in mind when you create content is that you should make something interesting. One of the sure-fire ways to be able to achieve that is by creating content out of trending topics.
It is therefore essential to always be in-the-know of the trending topics on social media. You can do this by checking out top hashtags, as well as checking what your network is talking about.
While you would be talking about a popular idea, you should still come up with a creative way to present it to your audience. You need to craft your content while using the same
Take the Unique Angle Always
When not joining in the bandwagon, you should always try to come up with original content that not a lot of people know about. This sparks curiosity, which can help increase the readership of your content.
Aside from writing about unique topics, you can also make ordinary topics by relaying them in a special way. For example, a post about data is very ordinary, and would not have much impact. On the other hand, if you come up with an infographic about said data, then the reception would be a lot better. Not only will this improve the chance that your content would grab the attention of your audience, but it will further improve your ability to spread the message you want to convey.
Know your Target Audience
Another thing that you should be aware of is that you should be knowledgeable of who you target audience is. It is a fundamental business activity that you should have a grasp of who you are serving so that you know how to deal with them.
In the same way, you should also have the intelligence of who your audience is in terms of demographics and psychographics. Demographics serve as the basic understanding of your customers in terms of age, sex, educational attainment, educational attainment, and income level. These allow you to make basic decisions as to what appeals to them.
But more than that, you should also consider other important defining characteristics such as preferences, interests, and behavior. Getting in touch with these allow you to come up with more effective campaigns, even when it comes to content.
By knowing your customers, you will have the ability to create content with the most powerful impact on the type of customers that you have. It is
Offer Proof – Provide a Study
When people read content, they expect that this is written by an expert on the subject matter on-hand. However, not all the time would one’s name by considered enough proof of his expertise – even experienced business owners are not always popular.
One way to be able to maximize the trust that your article can get is by using proof such as statistics from studies. By doing so, you are making your statements a lot more believable, which also means that your message would be conveyed and absorbed more openly.
In doing so, just make sure that you cite credible sources, especially those that are experts on the said field.
Optimize through Content Calendar
To make sure that you always have a steady flow of content coming, it is advisable that you keep a content calendar. In doing so, you will be able to keep track of what has already been written about, as well as allows for you to plan ahead of time what you will be writing for. It is a good idea to write content about important events so you should put that in mind as you create your content calendar.
Please note that even when you create a content calendar, when you think that there is a better topic to talk about, there you can still put that in replacement of your scheduled content. Your content calendar should be a guide, but should never restrict the entry of better ideas when they come.
Optimize Content for all Platforms
Make sure that your content works across various platforms. It is such a waste of resources if you have great content, but it is not being received well because of compatibility issues. To achieve this, make sure you use the standard file formats. You should also keep yourself aware of the native features of the social media sites that you will tap to be aware of what kind of content can be used.
Respond Immediately
Finally, you should also place importance in responding to your audience’s comments on your posts. In their own right, comments are also content. It is advisable that you practice responding to your audience because this improves your relationship with them, enhancing the probability for you to transform them into loyal customers
There’s a huge difference in how people will perceive a business which takes time in responding to its clientele, as compared to another who does not do so. A business who does respond is seen as a better place to do business with.
This should also be true for another type of user-generated content such as feedback and reviews. Always thank your customers for the positive feedback, and always address negative ones. Never leave a review, especially a bad one, get unnoticed. And don’t curate them away either. Make sure that you show how you address criticism and win the trust of your other customers as you do so.
Know the Rules and Apply them
Content marketing is an essential business activity, and it is done on multiple platforms. One of which is social media. Content can only realize its fullest potential if it is used effectively. The tips above are some of the rules that you should keep in mind to come up with winning content that can help you achieve your marketing goals. Understand them and apply them – that’s how you win the social media marketing game.
Author Bio
John’s mission is to help local business owners improve their online influence through link building campaign by Local SEO Search Inc, so they can dominate their industry. With his business acumen and innate understanding of the local business landscape, John writes blogs that delve on how to customize SEO campaigns based on client needs.
