You can market Social Media content in many forms. Content can be written, visual, or auditory. You can create videos, podcasts, blogs, photos, social media posts, articles, and interviews, just to name a few. Your content should be created and marketed with a specific audience #audience in mind.
Knowing who your consumer is and where to find them is the first step in creating a content marketing #content marketing strategy. Once you’ve established regularly created content, you can evaluate whether the content you’re creating is effective by asking yourself a few simple questions:
Who am I writing for?
You want to keep in mind that you’re writing for your customers, not your peers. Don’t make the mistake of putting out content that your audience won’t understand. Avoid using technical jargon that an ordinary person wouldn’t comprehend and try to relate to your consumer with less technical content.
Don’t presume that your audience will know certain terms just because you know what they mean. It’s better to be as clear as possible rather than confusing the reader by assuming they’re already familiar with.
Who exactly is your customer?
Now that you’ve established who your audience is and that you will be creating content with them in mind, do you really know who your customers are exactly? Let’s say you’re a recipe website. You can assume that your target audience is people who like to cook.
However, that’s such a broad category and businesses who try to target a category that broad usually don’t see much success. You want to look closer at your existing consumer to see what specific things they’re looking for as far as cooking goes. Maybe they want quick and easy recipes that don’t require a lot of ingredients. Or perhaps they’re looking for holiday specific recipes, or healthy recipes.
Once you’ve established what exactly they’re looking for, you can focus on those specific topics. So rather than having a blog that talks about general dinner recipes, you might want to narrow down your topic to “Healthy Dinner Recipes for Two” which would certainly attract your target audience to read your content.
How can you solve your customers’ problems?
Everyone wants their lives made easier, right? In keeping with our previous example, your consumer wants to find that recipe that takes 15 minutes to make and won’t keep them in the kitchen all night long. So when you’re creating your content marketing strategy, think about what kind of questions your audience may have.
A typical consumer who is browsing your recipe site might want to know:
· Can I make this dish ahead of time?
· Are there substitutions I can use for certain ingredients?
· What is the nutritional information of this recipe?
· Is there an alternative cooking method for this? Like baked rather than fried?
· What are some good side dishes to serve with this recipe?
The more questions you anticipate, the better you can shape your content strategy by anticipating what they’re going to ask and answering their questions before they even ask them. You want to establish your brand as the go-to expert as far as the consumer is concerned.
How can you keep your consumer engaged?
You should already know who you’re writing for and what specific things your audience is interested in. Now you need to figure out how to draw them in and keep them engaged in your content. If you’re writing a blog, the first few sentences are the most important.
They need to be catchy and intriguing, not vague and boring, so the reader will want to continue past the first paragraph. Write relatable content so the reader feels like you are speaking directly to them, like you’ve been where they are and know what they’re going through and what they’re looking for.
Are you providing a call to action so your readers will feel obliged to get in touch?
You don’t want to create content that leaves your readers with nothing to do afterwards. Back to the recipe site example; if you create a blog that talks about tips for baking a perfect pie, you might want to include at the end of your piece something like, “If you have any questions about pie making or baking inquiries, you can ask us on Facebook, or email me at SoandSo@companyemail.com.”
You can even encourage your audience to share their pie making blunders or success stories on your blog or social media #socialmedia pages as well. Just be sure to engage with any consumer who shares their stories or asks questions so they’re encouraged to come back.
You don’t want your content marketing efforts to be for nothing, so be sure that everything you put out meets these goals so that you have the most effective content marketing strategy in place.
MavSocial | Social Media Management Software
