Why Content Needs Context in Order to Survive

There is more content produced and shared on social media everyday than you can sink your teeth into. That means you need to find ways to create meaningful content that grabs attention.

Here are 3 things you must know about content creation based on a presentation at Social Media Week in Toronto by Josh Muirhead, the founder of Socialmark Media, entitled “Content may be king, but without Context – no one will pay attention.”

Be brief, be brilliant, and be gone

The key in creating great content is the meat. Unlike the traditional hamburger model of marketing, where your message was sugarcoated with a tasty bun and an assortment of hearty vegetables, the content you create for social media must waste no time getting to the point. Social media users don’t have the time or the attention span to listen to a long-winded version of your story. We suffer from the need to tell our audience everything, instead of what really matters. So find out what’s important to your audience and just say it. Avoid overwhelming them with too many condiments.

Avoid the curse

Using industry knowledge to generate a following and grow your community is invaluable. But it can also be a curse in social media. Industry terms, jargon and acronyms become second nature to you, but they clutter your content. Think strategically about how to present your knowledge, but create it with your general audience in mind. Remember, they have to grasp whatever it is you’re saying. Try not to assume that everyone knows as much about the topic as you do. Too much information can be a curse on social media if your audience can’t understand or relate to your content.

Mix it up

When we think about content we think of tactics: blog posts, images, podcasts, webinars, ebooks, whitepapers, infographics and others. An important aspect of these platforms is storytelling. In order to create meaningful content for your audience it must strike an emotional cord. So put the notion of sell, sell, sell aside in exchange for tell, tell, tell. Social media is a fantastic place to tell your organization’s story and build loyalty around your brand. Next time you draft a piece of content think about how it relates to your brand’s story and find a way to distinguish yourself as unique.
The sweet is never as sweet without the sour, Muirhead noted. In a landscape where meaningful content is few and far between, the details matter. Be brief, know your audience, and tell your organization’s story. That is how you can create meaningful content.

What tips are you using to create meaningful content? To learn more about creating content for your community, check out this free ebook, Creating Content for a Social Media Community. This post originally appeared on the Radian6 Social Strategy Blog where I contribute to the community engagement team.

 

Social Media Week: Is ROI a Myth or Reality?

After attending Social Media Week Toronto‘s Social Media ROI: Myth or Reality? session, it was clear that measuring the development of a social media campaign can be different for everyone and everyone has a different opinion on it. One panelistnoted, social media ROI is like Sasquatch, everybody is looking and no one can find it. Another said social media ROI is like asking about the ROI of a toilet. It’s difficult to put a number on it but you wouldn’t want to live without it.

From this session, it was clear than you have to start with strong community development and management in order to start measuring results. Here are four ways to get there.

Listen to Conversations

Conversations are a valuable commodity and all brands should know the conversations happening about them. Some studies say that only 14% of consumers now trust brands while 78% trust the recommendations of others.  That means the more people are speaking positively about your brand, the more it will affect your bottom line. Come to know the sentiment of those discussions and you’ll see how it affects your bottom line.

Build Trust

Trust is the almighty. Engage with your community about topics that interest them. If social media is a boat, you are the sail that steers the conversation. Don’t be the engine that relies on pure force. Put the interest of your community ahead of yours. You’ll see that ROI comes when that consumer realizes they only like to do business with people they know, like and trust.

Create Great Customer Experiences

You can gain trust by helping your community. The best customer stories begin with a problem and end with a sincere solution. Ensure that your brand has an honest commitment to the customer and you’ll see positive a return.

Know the Landscape

The reason ROI is difficult to measure is because social media doesn’t reside in a vacuum. It’s not always clear how leads are generated. Also, social media is often mixed in with marketing, advertising, public relations and communications metrics. So if social media influences a consumer’s decision to take a certain action, which channel the credit? You’ll see the ROI when that consumer returns to their social networks for more.

One thing to keep in mind when trying to measure the ROI of your ongoing social media campaign, “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” – Einstein. Sometimes you have to dig deeper to find out how your social media efforts are affecting your bottom line objectives.

Do you see social media ROI as a myth or reality? To learn more about social media ROI, check out Radian6 latest ebook, ROI of Social Media: Myths, Truths and How to Measure. This post originally appeared on the Radian6 Social Strategy Blog where I contribute to the community engagement team.

15 Reasons You’re Not Generating a Twitter Following

Image courtesy of Megachix

Jumping into social media may be the easy part. It becomes difficult when you’ve been active for a while but just aren’t seeing the results you would like. Are you doing something wrong? Is there something you can do differently? Are you boring?

Those are just some examples of the second-guessing we all do with social media. Here are 15 things that might be ruining any chance at social media success:

1. Your Twitter avatar is an egg
2. You bio is everything but a bio
3. You blast the same message across multiple platforms
4. You don’t tweet enough, or at all
5. You use Twitter solely to sell a product or service
6. You promote yourself more than others
7. Your contributions are thin or lack innovation
8. You retweet every mention of yourself
9. You use hashtags to express an internal thought, not to categorize a conversation
10. You focus on gaining followers instead of producing quality tweets
11. You haven’t cleaned up or reorganized your following list
12. You forgot your manners
13. You tweet for yourself not for your audience
14. You are overly negative
15. Your tweets are full of #madeuphashtags and not ones from your industry

Don’t be discouraged if you took part in one of these examples. Whether you do or you don’t, here are 6 simple steps to improve your twitter game:

1. Show you’re listening. Listen first and then engage. Quite often that will result in a courtesy follow.
2. Don’t be a stranger. Complete a full bio and let people know who you are and what you’ll likely be tweeting about.
3. Don’t push your agenda or dish out opinions that some might deem offensive. Etiquette is so important on social media.
4. Play into the demands of your following by tweeting something that’s beneficial to them.
5. If you aren’t sure what to tweet, here’s a tip: people follow others who are informative, funny, useful or exciting. If you don’t fall under one of those categories, try to gradually incorporate them into your repertoire to help distinguish yourself amongst the crowd. Social influence is generated by the quality of your contributions not the quantity.
6. Look to clean up your followers list every few weeks, seek out new influential people and broaden your network. The great thing about social media is that you have the ability to personalize your network and make it yours. Step outside your regular industry and meet new people.

Did I miss any? Share any tips you know that help increase Twitter following in the comment section below! This post originally appeared on the Radian6 Social Strategy Blog where I contribute to the community engagement team.