Did you participate in the local conversation like we went through in last week’s focus? If you missed it, click here to read.
This week’s focus in on what I call The 3 C’s of Social Media Success.
In my opinion, these three things are what will make your social media efforts successful and without them, you’ll waste time and money trying to make social media work for your business.
C – Content. Content truly is king. Without great content that speaks to your perfect customer, it will be really hard to stand out from all the other noise and marketers that are trying to reach your customers online.
What I mean by content are the posts that you publish online, whether they are plain text status updates, photos, videos, blog posts, email campaigns or content you’re sharing from other people (OPC – other peoples’ content).
If the content you post doesn’t relate to your perfect customer, teach them something, make them laugh or feel inspired, add value to their lives, then it will get looked past and could possibly motivate them to unlike/unfollow/unsubscribe.
How can you create great content? First, do a customer profile and dig deep on who your customer is, what they look like, where they shop, what they Google, what blogs they read, what keeps them up at night, etc. Social Edge members log in to access the Customer Profiling Worksheet and schedule an hour to fully fill it out. Dig deep!
Next, look at past posts and find the top 5-7 that have the most engagement (likes, comments, shares, repines, etc.) and post more content like that. These posts are the ones your audience is responding to, so keep doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t.
C – Consistency. After creating and publishing great content, you need to be in front of your customer consistently. This doesn’t mean that you need to be in front of your computer posting every couple of hours, but it does mean that you’ll post consistently, whether weekly or daily. Don’t worry, you can use scheduling tools to help you be in two places at once.
This also means that you’ll consistently be present on the platforms you use, which means networking and participating in the online conversation with your customers and potential customers.
If you have limited resources, pick one or two platforms that your customers use the most and really own those sites. Don’t do a little on a lot, be consistent and present as much as possible to stay top-of-mind and maintain the relationship with your customers.
C – Capitalize. Finally, you must capitalize the content you create to really leverage each post and each social media network you use to market. Don’t just publish something to one network, brainstorm ways to extend the content piece.
A few ways to this is by embedding a Tweet or Facebook post into a blog post, or – if you have a lot of activity on a specific post – highlight it in your next email newsletter.
Use your networks to support one another. Run a Facebook contest to increase likes and engagement, but use email marketing and Facebook Ads to promote the campaign.
Or, use Pinterest by giving away a free download like a guide featuring how-to’s, best tips, top trends, etc., by asking for the consumer’s email address in exchange for the guide, which helps build your credibility through the download and adds value to the consumer – all while building your email list.
Leverage and capitalize your content pieces, social media outlets and other marketing channels like print, in-store email, mobile, and your website and blog to get the most out of your marketing efforts.
*Take Action*
- Do a customer profile to better understand your audience and the content they’d respond to online.
- Look at the past 4-8 weeks of posts and find the top 5-7 engaged with posts.
- Be consistent online and use scheduling tools to help accomplish this.
- Look at all marketing channels as a unit and find areas to cross-promote and leverage one another.
If you found this tip helpful please share it with a retailer friend. I’ll “see” you next week!
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