Tag Archives: Social Media Marketing

Why content strategy comes before social media marketing

What’s your content basically? It’s your presence, especially on the Internet. People know you not just because you are there, they know you because of what you have to say about your business, your core expertise, and the world in general. Your content gives you a presence. It’s like your circle of your influence, and without influence, there is no social media presence.

When you publish content on your website or blog – thought-provoking content – you begin to make an impression. People either respect you for what you have to say, or they differ. Both the feelings create in their minds an imprint. The more you publish, the more they remember you. They begin to respect your knowledge. They begin to relate to you. They carefully follow your advise and opinion. Even if they disagree it means to an extent they’re paying attention to what you are saying. Then they write about your opinions on their own blogs and websites, or they share your links with their friends to may be seek further opinion. This is how people begin to recognize you.

Brands and people who have done well on social media and networking websites haven’t done so by merely appearing there all of a sudden one day. They are already recognized names. Since they are recognized, people eager follow them, they eagerly listen to them.

The point is, if you are a Sachin Tendulkar or a Britney Spears you just have to let the news out that you have created a social media presence. In a few minutes you’ll have 100s of 1000s of fans and followers. You are already a known name. You have already made a presence in people’s mind with your other efforts (here, cricket and singing).

You have to achieve the same thing with your content. Content is a great weapon. It makes people come to your blog and website again and again. You give people something to talk about, something to ponder over, something to put to use. This helps you strengthen your brand.

Money follows money and success follows success and this is how our world works (assuming you leverage the advantage). With strategic content publishing you create a recognizable presence, and then you leverage this recognition on social media marketing. By the time you launch your social presence, people already know you because of your content. In fact, they have eagerly been waiting for your social media presence.

So does this mean you don’t need to publish content if you are already a celebrity or if a few thousand people in your particular circle know you? Depends on where you are placed. There are well-known brands on Twitter, well-known artists, well-known writers, singers, journalists, politicians, Internet marketers, programmers, etc. but they don’t just depend on their Twitter presence. They actually need to perform in their actual fields. A writer who does not write can’t do much on social media for long, and neither can a cricketer who doesn’t perform well on the field.

Social media marketing needs a backing and that backing can be provided by your content publishing. Whatever you need to promote, it can be promoted through social media, but the actual message exists in the form of content on your website or blog.

How to engage your social media fans and followers

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Social networking (or call them social media) websites are extremely crowded. Although there are hardly 33-40% social networking users who actually use the websites to interact on an ongoing basis, since everybody is talking with everybody and everybody is talking about everything under the sun, to really make an impact, you need to engage your fans and followers on an ongoing basis, so that they remember you; and not only you, but also what business you do.

Here are a few activities you can carry out in order to engage people on social media and networking websites:

Participate in relevant discussions

Using various Twitter and FaceBook search tools you can find out what people are talking about and then participate in the ongoing discussions in a fruitful manner. Agree with them, add your two cents, disagree with them (give reasons), and seed new thoughts. Don’t worry if you don’t have anything constructive to add…just follow the discussion attentively and soon your thought process will be triggered.

Ask questions and offer answers

We remember people who make us think and a question mark normally does. Whenever you ask a question it offers someone an opportunity to show his/her knowledge. Similarly, when you post an answer in response to someone’s question, he/she is surely going to read it and if your answer is impressive, many more people are going to get curious about you, and consequently, you’ll make a mark.

Share your knowledge and wisdom

As you keep working you’ll excel in your field. You have a collection of experiences, opinions and tips that you can easily share with your followers and fans on a regular basis. Remember that “regularity” is the key here. Unless you’re already quite well known, you need to be “usefully visible” on a regular basis if you really want to engage your social networking fans and followers.

Regularly publish new content on your blog or website

It’s good to post links whether they’re from your own website/blog or from other sources, content on your own website brings in direct traffic and it helps people formulate opinion about you. Whether they like your content or not, whether they agree or not, an opinion is very important.

Communicate on their blogs and websites

When people post links to new articles and blog posts on their websites, if possible, leave a comment and let it be known that you are a visitor from the mutual social networking website. Whether people admit it or not, everybody likes it if visitors leave comments and appreciate what you’re doing.

Be helpful within means

Social networking doesn’t always have to be you-scratch-my-back-and-I-scratch-yours; you can help totally unrelated persons without expecting anything in return. For instance, if you know A offers content writing services and B needs someone to write content for his website and they don’t know each other but you do, you can introduce them. If you feel someone has a business link worthy of promotion don’t hesitate to post the link.

Be personal

Your social networking profile mustn’t always be about business. Act like yourself and if possible, use your name instead of your business name. Without getting carried away, show that you are interested in politics, in social causes, in arts, in sciences, or whatever topic interests you. Just don’t overdo it because then a person visiting your timeline at a particular time may not be able to make out what you actually do.

Conclusion

Social media, as the name suggests, is all about being social. In a society we become visible and memorable by doing something that highlights our presence. Of course our contribution must be positive — you’ll prefer to be known as a good-doer and not an evil-doer. Networking works everywhere and politicians, businesspersons and actors spend huge amounts of money to remain visible (and in the reckoning). While talking small strides and not spending much, you can achieve the same using social media and networking.

Doing better networking using social media

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Networking is an exercise you have to conduct almost everyday if you’re in a business of selling — whether you work for an organization or for yourself (as a freelancer). Networking as a concept has existed since time immemorial but it has been taken to an entirely new level by social networking websites like Twitter and FaceBook.

Networking doesn’t just mean hanging around with people, although it also doesn’t mean befriending others just for commercial gains. It basically means knowing the right people (people who have use of your products and services or who can recommend your products and services to others) and establishing a communication channel so that you can reach each other when needed. It may involve:

Attending the right gatherings
Keeping in touch and communicating on a regular basis
Letting people know how you can serve them

This Mashable blog posts highlights 7 things you can do for better networking. Basically, networking takes time and effort and some people do it as a full-time job, although this is not called for if you have to run a business. For instance, being a content writer, if I post messages and updates on FaceBook and Twitter all the time and keep interacting people will soon think, “Heck, when does this guy do his work?” And this is true indeed. If you don’t strike a balance you’ll end up neglecting your core business.

For most, keeping in touch is enough. Keep in touch, and help people if you can. Sometimes go out of your way, but you don’t have to be unreasonable. Give people an incentive/reason to remember you in good stead, and convey to them that you are available if they require a particular service, content writing and copywriting in my case, for instance.

Why your small business needs a website and why your website needs good content

The importance of website content

One of the greatest strengths of your website is of course, your content: what you say to your visitors. When it comes to your website, communication is of supreme importance. There are two primary reasons why most websites fail to generate business — they don’t have a well-defined business strategy and they don’t have good content.

Being a content writer/provider and an online copywriter this is the first thing I notice when I visit a new website — how well the inherent message is conveyed. You may decide to disagree, but your content can really make or break your business, because it’s the only way of communicating with your visitors. Although I may sound like saying this from writing point of view, content basically means anything you publish on your website: text, images, videos and audios. The written text may act as a primary communication tool, or a secondary communication tool. Many graphic designers and web designers for instance simply post visuals and don’t care much about textual information and it works for those who have already created a brand presence using their own contacts or social networking tools. But if you want to draw traffic from search engines then you must give serious thought to some well-crafted, targeted content.