Your content might be magnificent, it might be sculpted by the most talented wordsmiths around, it may inform, delight, entertain and it may add a tremendous amount of value to your brand, products and company. Great. All this is well and good, and you might be delighted with your efforts, but are people actually seeing it? You can’t just create a blog and expect people to read it. You can’t film a video or record a podcast and suddenly expect the entire internet to instantaneously tune in. Unique and inspiring content which is crafted with due care, attention and effort is what people surf the internet to find, and in 2014, content is what ultimately drives leads and sales.
You need to put a structure in place when you are developing your content; maximising its effect on social media – and not just on Facebook and Twitter. This is the next in our blog series from the marketing gurus here at Neil Walker Digital; it covers all you need to know to improve the sharing of your content – whatever type of content that may be.
The currency of social media is sharing. Not only should we be creating immensely sharable content but our thought processes should mean that once it has been published,there is a coherent and positive structure in place to ensure that it has the ultimate effect and takes off like an online wildfire. If the content is the fire then social media is the fuel that allows it to roar, let rip and spread across the web.
On a daily basis, we’re inundated with thousands of things to watch, read or listen to. This information overload means that we have become a planet of ‘skimmers’ and the temptation is to fruitlessly try and consume as much information as humanly possible during the day. From checking our smartphones in the morning, beleaguered and bleary eyed, to the final moment before we go to bed at night – we’re more connected (in some ways) than ever before.
With the information overload, and ever diminishing attention spans, how to we ensure that our content stands about amongst all the other online stuff? Creating content and a social media account is the easy part, but finding the right social media strategy isn’t all plain sailing. Your marketing strategies should be evaluated and audited regularly to enable your content to reach an engaged audience. With the increasing number of channels like RSS feeds, blogs, infographics, videos and emerging digital content platforms – what can you do?
Here are some of the tactics and the structure we use to ensure our social media content marketing is strong and that it packs a punch; gaining both us and our clients much needed gravitas in the ever more crowded online marketplace:
1. It’s not just about Facebook and Twitter
As stated in the introductory paragraphs to this piece, creating content doesn’t mean that it will be automatically be consumed before being shared. Consumer engagement won’t just happen. You need to draw attention across a variety of channels, including owned, earned and paid methods. This blog post outlines the most popular social media websites in the United Kingdom during 2014, it also takes into account demographics and looks at emerging platforms like Instagram and Pinterest.
You should be asking yourself which piece of content is suitable for which platform, assuming you have active accounts. If you don’t, find out which other social channels your audience uses, and tailor your sharing for each one. This includes altering titles accordingly, and adopting your unique content for those varying platforms.
One more thought on this, if you aren’t currently using Google+ and sharing on there, why aren’t you? You should definitely start, because it has a major impact on organic rankings. Don’t be put off by the lack of interactions that are visible on the site; it’s what’s happening under the bonnet and the all-important search algorithm that matters.
2. Never ignore SEO
Just because you are following the new principles of ‘content being king’, this certainly doesn’t mean that you should be ignoring traditional SEO practices. SEO and social don’t just intersect with one another, they are united in order to increase ‘findability’ across all digital platforms. Separating these two, or forgetting one, will hurt your marketing efforts.
Facebook likes, Twitter retweets or Linkedin shares don’t directly impact the ranking of content, but they do help increase traffic and generate links which are both key factors in the ranking of your content. Google are currently working on the ranking of identities (this means all social channels as opposed to just your homepage), meaning that if your online identity is cohesive, and you are a ‘thought leader’, you will achieve higher rankings for that subject.
3. Don’t just talk about yourself
Many brands who use social media have a tendency to be overly self-concerned and only post content created by themselves or about themselves. You should try to avoid this approach, as you’ll find that people will be more willing to share your content if you have made the effort to talk, share or leave comments about the content created by others. By building up some online goodwill, your interactions will grow and so will your community.
4. Be reactive
By creating content about current events, and by keeping it relevant, you can build an audience very quickly. Many brands have dedicated teams set up to quickly roll our images or blogs which connect with customers and relevant topics. Huge events like the World Cup or the Superbowl are magnets for marketing companies, so be clever and try to always be on your toes!
5. Choose relevant topics
Write or create something that your audience care about. Use keyword tools to see which terms are being searched and talked about by members of the online community. See what other people are writing about – and write it better!
6. Include images
Never ignore imagery when creating posts; they’re a very important element when looking to increase social shares. Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Linkedin usually feature the main photograph from your post when it is posted on feeds. Visuals are critical when looking to convey your message. By spending four hours or more writing a blog, and then not making the effort to include appropriate images, you may be disappointed in the end. Skipping photos will make for a very boring blog post, you can use stock imagery, but don’t just make obvious selections.
7. Make it easy to share your work
Those who are browsing the internet will be willing to share your content, but you need to make it easy for them. You should include share buttons for all the major social websites, entice the reader with visible buttons for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and such. A skimmer might even then simply share your work if they are only slightly interested in what you have to say.
8. Be consistent
If you want your blogs or videos to be a source that visitors come back to again and again, make sure you are consistent with each post. This means keeping the layout, font and branding the same, creating a trustworthy source. Consistency is also key with your social sharing – for example, if you use images when sharing, do it every time.
9. Be spontaneous
In complete contradiction to the previous point, try something a little different. Use sites like Instagram to offer ‘mini content snacks’ to your followers, reinforcing your brand in an easy and effective manner. Some of the best Vines out there are made quickly, with little fuss made about editing and production – this type of content can provide a quick source of inspiration and takes little manpower to create.
10. Discover all about amazing headlines
Tabloid newspapers have long shifted copies of their publications by creating headlines which are easy to digest, enticing, and that make you want to part with your 20p in order to read the article in full. Avoid dull headlines, try and play on the curiosity of information hungry browsers. By intriguing your audience, they will click on the link and check out your content. Heres an example below of how to spice up your headlines:
’Neil Walker Digital Group hosts barbeque’ becomes ‘Get the inside look on the fun at the Neil Walker Digital Group’s summer barbeque’. You see, instantly, by implying that the reader needs to click on the title or they will be missing out. Play on this FOMO (‘fear of missing out’).
Make your content so it is insanely sharable so they cannot help but pass it on. Play on these emotions: incredible, sad, amazing, informative and any other clear response. Create a reaction!
11. Every time you create something, ask yourself these simple questions:
Would you share it with a friend?
Will people share it on Facebook, making them look clever and cool?
Will it be useful to those in your network and will it establish you as a thought leader?
By being self critical, it will stop you from producing content which is uninteresting and unshareable.
12. Measure your successes
Create all content with a specific goal in mind, determine the objective of your content and then measure its success by using important metrics. Common metrics include:
- Awareness – impressions, reach, mentions
- Consumption – clicks, visits, referrals
- Engagement – likes, shares, +1s, time spent on site
- Actions – leads/sales, downloads, mailing list subscriptions
- SEO impact – increased site traffic, activity and engagement
13. Share content multiple times
If you have evergreen content which is just a relevant now as it was when it was first created, why not re-use (or recycle) it? Your social media presence may have grown since then, meaning there will be new followers that have never seen the piece. There might be a hot topic in the news which is relevant to an old blog, this is a great chance to re use it – this is because people will be searching for similar keyphrases on Google and other search engines, increasing your chance of ranking highly.
14. Experimentation
By using different practices and tactics, you will learn what is working and what isn’t. This should be a vital part of your online marketing, if something isn’t working, try something different. This could mean changing the title, the social channel, the subjects or the audience you are speaking to. By being creative with your output, go against the grain and try everything, nobody ever got anywhere by standing still!
15. People like to look good
Generally speaking, people share content online which makes them look better. If your content is full of quality writing, images, infographics or video content, not only will you look good in their eyes (and be worth a share), their online pals will be opened up to your content, hopefully it will then pick up across social platforms.
Be aware of how your content looks on different social media channels and devices, understand the various dimensions of images in order to make them look as snazzy as you possibly can.
16. Encourage sharing
If you post a new piece of content on your website, you should encourage retweets or sharing from your followers. Do this through sharing buttons as well as by sharing the content yourself and asking them for retweets. Also remember its about favours for favours.
In a nutshell
You should learn all about your audience whilst also looking at how you can provide value to them. Identify the relevant distribution channels whilst implementing SEO practices and developing a solid plan for measurement. Always ensure you content is engaging enough to be shared across all social media channels, the type of content you produce depends on your product.
Do you have any specific tactics that you use in order to increase the performance of your content over social media channels? If so, join in the conversation on our Twitter page. Thank you for taking the time to visit the Neil Walker Digital reading room – and if you’re feeling kind, you could even give us a retweet while you’re at it!