Social media is an important part of any content strategy, so I’m devoting the next set of episodes to helping you strategize about how to get the most out of it. I always see it as an optimization problem. You want to focus on the right activities, in the right channels, to maximize your impact.
Last week’s episode was about picking the right channels. After all, if you’re not where your audience lives, you’re going to minimize the chances of connecting with them. The same thing goes for the content that you create – and curate.
In order to activate any social media marketing plan, you need content. It’s the fuel for your marketing engine. But how do you choose the right content to produce? It’s a huge consideration with a lot of implications.
Let’s break it down to three considerations:
- Does it match your brand? What’s the tone of your brand voice? What’s the best format?
- What can you commit to? This will affect the frequency of your posts. Do you have help or not?
- What type of content will connect with your audience? As I always say, it’s always up to them.
There’s a “sweet spot” where you and your audience will meet. If you’re listening to this podcast, you know what I mean—it’s natural for me to produce these episodes, and it’s natural for you to listen to them. It’s up to you to find your own fit.
Almost every single platform is going to require some written content—even if it’s “just” titles, subtitles, and meta content. But what about visual content like images, videos, GIFs, or slide presentations? Or audio content like podcasts or audio over slides?
There are so many different things you can do to connect with your individual audience. Let’s look at this in depth here in Episode 53.
Show Notes:
Podcasting
The 50th episode of Marketing Without the Marketing was designed to help you decide whether or not a podcast is a good strategy for you. I pull back the curtain on my own launch, sharing my experiences and backend data.
In general, we’re seeing a huge resurgence in podcasting right now. Here’s a great article from Jerod Morris on why you might consider this audio format over text and videos. If you’re not sure where to start, here’s an in-depth article from Eduard Klein on your first and most important decision: Podcast hosting.
Snapchat
Snapchat holds a lot of promise for marketers, with high engagement levels despite a nascent user base. Gary Vaynerchuk was among the first to talk about why you should seriously consider Snapchat as a part of your strategy.
Mark Suster is a guy who’s doing it right, check out his article on why Snapchat Stories are such a great business instrument.