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Content Is Key

Social media is a great platform to share an assortment of different types of content.

Don’t be confined to just post one form of content- the results could be disastrous and bore your followers to the point where they unfollow you. Try to rotate various types of content to keep your online profile fresh, interesting and most importantly engaging.

Social media is an extremely visual place, so take advantage of this and use photos/videos/gifs and images. If an opportunity arises try combining comedy in the mix as this can be a successful method to gain more followers, studies show that around 35% of men and 43% of women use Facebook specifically to view posts that are entertaining or funny. If they think it is funny they will be more inclined to think that their friends may also find it funny so they will share the content based on that thought process. Make sure that you aren’t offensive though, as this can backfire and result in a huge loss of followers.

Using different forms of media like blogs and articles are also another method to engage followers and start discussions.

Engaging followers on social media with shout-outs is a brilliant way to amplify your online presence, increase fan loyalty and retention.

In a recent study it showed that Video’s are the strongest form of media that generates the most engagement from users .

Ensure all your content is optimized for mobile users so that you don’t miss out on any opportunities for you to engage with them.

Fuel Profiles With Shared Content

Sharing other peoples content is a great way to boost readership and increase traffic to your social media profiles. The simplest way to do this is by Re-tweeting (on Twitter) or sharing the article from your profile

You can get a way with posting content that was posted 2/3 years ago- but you have to make sure it’s relevant enough that your customers can easily engage with it and get involved.

Make sure it adds value to your social presence- This will add to your stature as an expert in your field.

Before you share content ask yourself the 3 W’S

  • When was it written?
  • Who wrote it?
  • Will it resonate with audience?

If you do decide to share an article somebody else has written make it personal by adding:

  •  Your own opinion
  • Why you think your readers should read it
  • Highlight a quote that stand out to you
  • Summarize what the article is about. Explain the main idea or pick out a point that the reader should pay particular attention to

Don’t forget to credit the original author or source site as this will avoid any plagiarism scandal that you’ll receive if people are led to believe this is your own work. By crediting them they will receive a notification and they will most likely interact with you which will boost traffic and conversation for others to join in.

Being A Content Originator

Being an content originator is one of the main factors to ensure that your businesses page/ blog/ social profile is visible in search engines.

You have to ensure that when you create this content that it is rich and interesting to the reader to encourage them to share your article/ video/ image etc.

Make it easy for them to share-  the less time it takes the better! You can do this by adding social media buttons close to  any content you post.

Two good methods to ensure that your content gets shared is by making sure it is valuable to the reader in some way and relevant to your users or, by having some sort of emotional appeal – it fulfills an emotional desire. If you have ensured your content encapsulates one or both of these methods then you are on to a winner.

Remember that if your content gets shared then you should know that it is benefiting them just as much as you.

  • Word of mouth marketing that your users can offer you is a powerful tool. Conversations with friends and family are the most trusted source of information for consumers—and brands know it. eMarketer reports that brands view social sharing as the most effective use of social media.
  • According to research firm eMarketer 68% of U.S. social media users ages 18-34 and 53% of those ages 35-44 say they are at least somewhat likely to make a purchase based on a friend’s social media updates.
  • When your customers share positive opinions and experiences on social media, it increases your credibility among potential customers in a way you, as a business, can’t. Social proof is a clear motivator.

In December 2005 Proctor and Gamble (P&G) hired around 600,000 moms to do some word of mouth marketing for them, they were rewarded with various incentives to entice them to share positive reviews of their products their sales increased exponentially doubling sales figures for certain products.

  • Give your customers a reason to talk about you.

You can also use tools like Buzzmetrics, to measure the reach that your original content gained either by being stimulated by the marketer themselves or whether it occurred organically. With this type of tool you can also measure your competitions social reach, and other social trends occurring on the internet.

Content Curation Tools

Finding content to cross-post or content to take inspiration from to  create original posts can be a long- winded and time consuming task. To find the right content on the web is like finding a needle in a hay stack.

Luckily there are content curator tools that can help you with this task like  NetVibes.com which is  Among the first and best content aggregators in the market today. NetVibes  touts its rich stock of ready-made feeds and widgets. This is a free tool although a premium version is available. It helps novices kick off with content curation in a few minutes to ease the burden, these easy to use and free tools help you sift through articles based on certain keywords and phrases you type in to the search bar the picture on the right hand-side is a search I did on the phrase ‘Social Media’.

The trick is to find content.

Facebook is the easiest platform to use for planning curated content, however Twitter allows to plan curated content too, although the primary focus on twitter is real-time curation for small businesses.

So are you a content originator? Do you make sure your social media posts have variety? What tools do you use for your content? Let us know in the comment section below!