There are two starting points for this blog post. Either you haven’t yet committed yourself and your business to the worlds of social media and blogging, or you’ve hit a wall and can’t for the life of you think of what to do next…
It’s okay. We’re here to offer you a helping hand. It isn’t always easy to keep thinking of new and exciting ways to make your brand appealing to potential clients, and knowing that these platforms are available to pretty much everyone can make it seem a little daunting. How could you possibly stand out? How could you keep coming up with entirely new content for your blog? You probably couldn’t exactly… but luckily for you, you don’t need to!
Let’s quickly go over some major basics of your social media presence: Select your social media platforms carefully. Don’t just sign up to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, YouTube, Instagram, (the list goes on!) because you think it’s going to bring you more business, it won’t. Social media marketing is best when you are able to create a strong profile that is updated regularly- every day at least! So don’t be signing up for video sharing giant YouTube if you: a) have zero skills with a camera, b) won’t have time to create the best quality content, c) don’t have a product that suits video sharing and most importantly, d) isn’t in line with your target audience.
So, before moving on to considering content take a moment to review your current choices of platforms and discover if you are channelling energy into less fruitful options.
Blogging on the other hand suits all brands, with the help of fantastic tools like WordPress it is accessible to users at all levels. It is arguably the easiest and most powerful blogging and website content management system around. It has an array of features- even helping out with Search Engine Optimization. Its optimized system does a good job at indexing pages, better than most other CMS.
Now we’re more focussed, let’s look at the creation of content for both blogs and social media. When it comes to content the main things to keep in mind are:
QUALITY
Maintain a high standard of writing and imagery. Don’t settle for a low quality image especially if you’re using a platform like Instagram- it won’t do you any favors!
RELEVANCE
Cats are cute yes, why did you just share a cat meme on your Facebook for your “Food Service Disposables” business? No, unless you’ve taken the time to Photoshop that food tub into a hat that the cat is wearing, it shouldn’t be there! It may bring a few more Likes than usual but it doesn’t bring you followers that will potentially require your services.
TIMING
Timing is all important, be tactical. When would your clients have a lunch break, be stuck in traffic or picking up a coffee and scrolling their phones? That’s when you should be scheduling posts for. A post that is never seen isn’t going to be helpful.
Finding inspiration is probably the biggest struggle for many social media users and bloggers. This applies to smaller brands that start out doing it themselves and even for professionals!
Great news if you are just entering into social media marketing now- there are people who will do it for you. That way you never have to worry! However, if you really want to give it a go yourself don’t ignore the useful information held by other brands similar to yours.
Take a look at similar brand profiles and have a browse over what appears to be working well for them. Have they posted a blog or image that is similar to something you have done but it received more Likes? Analyse the differences and you will pick up ideas of how to tweak your future posts.
Don’t be afraid to revisit old blog posts. When your ideas are at an all-time low, look back over your older posts. Technology like fashion comes back around (okay not in exactly the same way- Windows 1.0 isn’t coming back) but the ideas are often revised and edited. A great idea is to present them in a new format. Can you add some information and combine it with some graphics to make an eye pleasing infographic? If you can, and your new infographic is in a rectangular shape, that would be an ideal image for the social network, Pinterest. Research into Pinterest shows that long images of this kind are more likely to be re-Pinned, an all round winner!
Take an interest in your clients and followers. Encourage clients/ followers to interact with you, be that in comments on your blog post or on your latest Instagram image. Maybe you’ve been writing in a style that just relays information. Add questions. It is a simple idea but effective. Social media should be sociable! Develop a tone for when you write… Do you want your brand to sound super serious or cheeky but smart? Engage with people but always be genuine, don’t just spam people with likes and comment, “great pic!” In the hope it’ll get you a follower or two more. You’ll notice that asking questions is how many popular YouTubers and bloggers get ideas, “Comment below with your experiences,” or “Let us know what you would like to hear more about.”
Keep yourself in the loop with some help from Google. Have you signed up for alerts based on keywords that are relevant to your industry? No. Okay that needs to be done. This is an easy way of widening your pool of inspiration. Let Google do all the hard work and email you new and relevant articles. A quick check of these each day might bring something to your attention that would be great to turn into a blog post.
