If we talk about present times, then it looks like the content marketing and social media are interchangeable, but the reality is completely different. There is no doubt that there is some overlap, but the best method for thinking about their relationship is that the content is required for boosting the social media.
whereas the social media is the most important while the two major content marketing processes:
- Distribution of content that ranges from the business and many other resources
- Listening to the voice of the audience for understanding what they want so that content created should be relevant and engaging.
In simple words, you can’t use one adequately without the second one.
In this article, we will show the basics of creating a content approach for the social media and the key things will be shared about the CMI’s plan as an example of working.
Incredible social media begin with an adequate content marketing approaches
Any company can utilize the power of social media for listening and there is no disadvantage to that. You have to think about some things prior to setting up your presence on social media that are explained below:
A content hub
Your website or blog should be a major part while creating both your social media and content marketing strategy because it is the source from where the followers come directly for creating a strong relationship on a media platform owned by you. As per one of the well-known specialists, you should never develop your content on a land that you don’t own.
Essential resources for having a consistent presence
If your presence on a social media platform is outdated, then it is worse than having no presence at all. Prior to committing a platform, ensure that you have the adequate resources for updating your content consistently.
A content strategy
You have to know why you are making communication on a particular platform and the things that will be delivered to you there. Check out some additional information on the main elements of a strategy that are explained below:
Pro Tip: You should take smaller steps if you are a completely new in the world of content marketing and social media. Think about the top social platforms, like Facebook, YouTube, Linkedin, and Twitter. Check out which platform has the largest part of your targeted audience.
Take a brief look at the technique through which marketers in different areas and industries for using social media to distribute content.
What are the main elements of a social media content strategy?
In order to get the appropriate results, you have to create a plan for all the channels where you are looking to allocating your social media content. We have already explained that in detail above. You shouldn’t share something on all the channels if you are allowed to do that.
In order to create a normal social media plan, you should answer the questions for all the channels you are thinking:
What is the purpose of this channel?
While deciding content, you should have a reason to have a presence on each channel. If your answer is gaining followers, then consider twice as it isn’t a viable reason. However, getting followers on platforms, such as Facebook can boost your brand and bring back a great amount of traffic to your website. Here, the key main thing is your content should work as a source for converting the viewer to a further level in the process of your desired purchase, i.e. transferring your Facebook follower to the event attendee, website viewer, email subscriber or whatever goal of conversion you select.
What is the desired action?
You have to find out what you want from someone for doing in all the channels. What is it? Comment? Share? Visiting your blog or site? Registering for anything?
What is the particular kind of content that the followers desire to receive on this channel?
You should customize the content that you are distributing on every channel. Think about the messages that are accurate for each channel and make a message that you believe can resonate with that particular audience. Just thought about the type of details required by the individuals in this channel and the way you can be helped. Will you primarily publish video, text, or images? You should check out the internet for further guidance on selecting the ideal topics and formats for your consumers.
What is the ideal tone for this channel?
As you are thinking that the content formats and topics in every channel, it is pretty important to find out the accurate tone of the channel. Is it professional, conversational, fun or friendly?
What is the accurate velocity?
It is a wonderful approach for understanding how often content should be published in every channel. What should be the accurate number of posts that you are looking to post in a day or week? What is an ideal time of the day to do this? There will be different results if you are updating status on Facebook or sending/ responding to the tweets or posting a new SlideShare. According to the research undergone by our team, checking out Twitter all day, posting on Facebook twice in a day or spending a good amount of time on Linkedin works best for the CMI. However, it can be different for every organization and that’s why you should spend a good amount of time for determining the schedule that will work perfectly for your client base.
Pro Tip: You should make your decision on the basis of the goals that you have in your mind about the social media content. For instance, if you are looking to increase your email subscribers through your content marketing plan, then will it be ideal to broadcast every blog posts on Twitter and Facebook? What will be the reason for the readers to subscribe to your email program if they are already getting similar content that they are visiting already on a regular basis? Consider a way about the technique for tweaking and repurposing the content that you are sharing on your social media networks. Both of them applied to your targets for the channel and reaching the objectives of the business.
A perfect example from CMI
Over the past some years, CMI has grown due to our presence on social media. In the starting, we were pretty haphazard with our plan, but we have created a better strategy over some years and catered our content marketing techniques as per that.
Check out the method we used some of our main channels in terms of both distribution and content:
We remain active on the Twitter daily and share our thoughts with our audience along with promoting the content created by us. However, the thing that we like most is the weekly chats that we do on Twitter. It was started by us in the winter of 2015 as a method for promoting the topics and speakers from the yearly events, but it becomes a huge success and that our management considers about continue it across the year. This social media platform has helped us in making a community of a trusted network and influencers while doing chats and many other times. Our efforts are guided by this community when it comes to daily blog posts and some tracks for the Content Marketing World.
Our Linkedin approach targets on examining the trends of the industry with the members of our community. Our team notices that this community attracts to the content related to the careers and content marketing plans. It has been used by us for bouncing near the ideas we are thinking about either our live events or our magazine. It assists us in creating interest and requirements and due to this, some of our efforts were fine-tuned. In addition, the members of our group trust the content that moderates the posts within the community. This group feed has been shown by the Content Marketing Institute that assists in maintaining our space as a trusted source for content marketing.
This is the platform where we want to share the fun side of CMI. Our team utilized Facebook for discussing events, news, and a new content marketing approach every week and share the exciting announcements and news on things that occur within CMI. Our team was incredible that offer us a chance for showcasing our true personalities. We were allowed to share some wonderful work by the brands through our weekly coverage about the content marketing examples. It gives our audience an opportunity for checking the other’s work and thinking that “we can do that too”.
SlideShare
We target to post four or five new presentations in a month. It has been wonderful to figure out which types of presentations receive the majority of leads and views. We ensure to blend our presentations for aligning with our content marketing approach and it still develops buzz and greater interest. As the majority of the content in CMI is undated, posting presentations on SlideShare offers access to view and reference all the things to our community. In return, we only ask email address if the wish of the customer is to download that content. The long-form content shared by us has increased our leads, but these presentations suit better for referencing, printing and downloading. On the other hand, our livelier presentations and short-form to have a greater capability for social shares and attracting new followers.