Don’t Sell Me a Billboard: Putting the Social Back into Social Media
Article
2 min read
Content marketing is one of the most dominating and developing trends in marketing. It’s all about telling a story with your content, building brand awareness and developing customer relationships.
Marketing is most effective when the content speaks to its audience, the focus must be on the things they care about. It is not about shoving your brand down their throats; the idea is to attract the audience and stimulate interest. Ultimately, the goal is to develop a relationship with your audience leading to stronger connections and profitable action. There is a simple litmus test- does your content work on a road side billboard? If it does, it probably doesn’t work for social.
Content marketing has become a popular strategy for B2C but still isn’t reaching its full potential in B2B land. Agencies are disregarding the benefits due to a lack of knowledge, ideas and enthusiasm.
It’s time to sit down and think about your story, whether you want to tell a story for 3 months or 12 months, figure out what that is and start planning before posting.
Here’s how;
Data
It’s no secret that data rules the world of marketing, use your data to figure out what your audience wants. While it’s sometimes a process of trial and error, it is the best way to find out what type of content has the best engagement. The idea is to target the right people with the right information, in the right format, at exactly the right time. You already have the data, use it.
Getting to know your audience
Know your audience, is the most over used and yet incredibly applicable statement ever. If you don’t know your audience how will you know if your joke will be acceptable? If you don’t know your audience how do you know what you are explaining, will be understood? Knowing your audience is the foundation for many of our interaction and social media is no different. As said above, give your audience what they want, and you can only do that by getting to know them. Think about your client/customer base and couple it with the aforementioned data.
Creative content
Why let B2C have all the success. Take a page out of their book and start creating engaging content. Content is only as good as its presentation and audience application. Think, does your audience really want to click off the website to hit gated content, targeted during their train commute? Could that content be presented better as ungated? If they are scrolling through twitter, while eating lunch, does high-level business vocabulary apply? Or would a beautiful image, make them stop the scroll?
Conversation
Content may be king but so is conversation. Creative doesn’t have to mean useless. Each piece of content you churn out needs to have substance. You have your audience engaged now you need to give them something to remember. Make your content worth your own time and theirs, by providing valuable information and solutions. Remember the difference between a conversation and a billboard ad – you have to drive past that billboard during rush-hour, you don’t have to read a social media post.
Social media works for B2B marketing, it is essential for creating valuable engagement, which in turn results in profitable action. It’s a strategy that can be tackled easily, extending what you already provide. For more information, get in touch.
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