Being a fly on the wall amidst the action of ground-breaking news stories or the latest hot topics sparking lunch room discussion is where you will find the best journalists. Forget going to great lengths to find information, becoming a part of the social media universe has made this process a whole lot easier. As the internet continues to expand, the difficulty lies in how to sift through the abundance of tools and resources to access given your goals. And, more importantly, how to incorporate this information in writing effective content that will surely engage your fans, followers, subscribers, etc.
So, how do you make your words heard amidst a noisy cafeteria of simultaneous conversations? This is the same challenge of writing content that will capture your audience using social media. Review the following tips to help your brand stand out from the masses:
1. Current/Opportunistic content – What’s going on right now in your industry?
What’s the l
atest lunch room gossip? Unlike waiting for your morning newspaper to arrive to recount yesterday’s news, posting content through social media defies this time-space reality! Posting up-to-the-minute content on the latest industry buzz will get you recognized as a reliable information source and one that your fans will have the impulse to tune into. Stay on the edge of your seat and listen to what current news, events, or stories are getting people riled up, and in turn, ask yourself how it can be related to or how it may affect your brand.
2. Engage with your audience – Ask questions, speak in first person plural, set your tone accordingly
Let’s face it – People love to talk about themselves! I’ve found that asking simple que
stions in which your audience is asked to answer a personal question or share a personal story yields a high volume of user responses. When speaking as a brand, it is important to speak using first person plural (We, Our) as a more personal way of speaking with fans and encouraging person-to-person as opposed to brand-to-person interaction.
3. Use Keywords – Gain SEO value
The old
saying “out of sight, out of mind” holds true even with your social media content. That’s why it is so important to stay in sight, and that means being at the top of search results and visible even amongst similar content to yours on the web. After identifying a list of target keywords that apply to your brand and industry, use these words in all of your content! From tweets, status updates, bulletins, titles, descriptions, tags, links, etc. incorporating keywords as much as possible will dramatically increase the visibility of your content in search results.
4. Integrate appropriately – Offers, creative, events, articles
Social media is meant to be fun! For this reason, it is a great outlet to run a contest or an event with free giveaways or prizes. Fans can easily enter and the brand can respond and utilize creative means (widgets, games, applications, etc.) to keep its audience interested. The distribution of industry-related info can be accomplished by linking to news articles or blog posts that will keep fans in the loop.
5. Look at data/reports using a social dashboard for analysis for future content
After posting content, make sure to watch it like a hawk! By using a social media dashboard which creates charts by tracking data such as social engagement levels, social traffic, and page views, you can see which content worked best. Use these successful posts as a basis for writing future content.
While all of these strategies should be incorporated into your social media marketing strategy, it is important to develop the right balance of content outflow given your industry. The fine print here is: experiment and see what works! There is no set formula as to what types of content will go “viral”, so make sure to get your creative juices flowing.
Who’s getting credit for all the buzz in your industry? Be a front runner in the race by putting these tips to use!
