Good social media content is still a critical element of your marketing plan. The importance of good social media content can’t really be over-emphasised, and so many people do it badly. While building an online and socially-engaged community can be difficult, it is still a worthwhile undertaking if you can find the magic formula to start and maintain a conversation.
That being said, that is hardly a content rule book that tells you the magic formula for success. So what makes content good, and what makes bad content? There are a few handy rules to live by.
Rules for Good Content
Good social media content…
- is generally valuable and worth me taking 5 minutes out of my life to read it
- will teach me something new or interesting
- will stimulate discussion on a topic
- or will entertain me in some way
In order to avoid the plethora of people who have a solid grounding in grammar and syntax it needs to be extremely well written, spelling needs to be correct, and grammar needs to be spot on (Grammarly is your friend).
Everything that you post should be supporting the journey towards your end – if you don’t know what that goal is you are already in trouble.
Bad content like random quotes with little or no context, and repetitive marketing is not going to support a holistic and successful social media strategy. You should always be focused on being seriously social in every aspect and other-centric with your tone.
Think about adding these questions into your content creation strategy:
What interesting and relevant news or updates can I publish?
Did you just become number one on Trip Advisor for something? That’s worth an update. Moved premises? Added a new product to your range? Hired a new team member? This is all relevant content. Your followers want the inside gossip and the behind the scenes context so that they feel like they know who they are doing business with. Your online presence is the beginning of the conversation that builds your credibility with the consumer.
Are organic keywords Important and how do I package them?
All social media content needs to be keyword rich so that it can be easily searched. Create informative bits of information for your community and post it on your social media pages. Is there an interesting statistic or piece of information relevant to the end user? Are there reports or white papers you have access to that are relevant to your audience?
Do my personal views make for great content or is this #AccessDenied?
If you’re the go-to person about things in your industry, then your personal views will be highly regarded, relevant and of interest. Creating posts that are coloured with your own experiences is a fantastic habit to get into – if they are consistent with the brand personality of the organisation and congruent with it’s market positioning.
Am I creating controversial statements that stimulate action and discussion?
Make a plan to create and publish content that will stimulate discussion, garner strong opinions, or foster action and will prompt other sites to link to it. These click bait posts are often left out of content strategies, yet they don’t need to be. You want people to get involved – so do what you can to encourage them to express their opinions. By this I mean, controversial, hot topics that you should be posting all the time that are aligned with, or impact your industry.
As you build up the amount of content on each of your social media platforms, you’ll be able to track which content gets the most attention. Take note of this, and use it to your advantage to create and publish the best performing content that you can.
If you’d like some help with your social media content strategy – just get in touch! We start with coffee.
