Social Media Content Creation: Why Bother?

Thirty years ago, the phrase “social media content creation” didn’t exist. OK, the words may have existed, but if you were to use them all together like that, it would leave a puzzled look on the faces of everyone around you.

Flash forward to present day, and the majority of businesses across the globe incorporate social media platforms into their marketing strategy -- even “boring” industries like B2Bs and manufacturers But what exactly is social media content creation, and what benefits does it provide for a business?

What Is Social Media Content Creation?

Social media content creation, or simply just social media marketing, is when you create content that engages followers and promotes your business on a social media platform. This includes sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, though other platforms may also benefit your business (i.e. Houzz for an architectural supplier). If your target audience frequents one or more of these sites, social media plays a big role in your overall content strategy.

The content that you post should be suited for the platform that it’s being posted on. For example, you wouldn’t write the same emoji-ridden status for a Twitter post as you would for a LinkedIn post because the two social platforms have very different landscapes and users.

If executed correctly, social media is one of the most powerful tools that exists for marketers. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits that come with creating content on social media.

Benefits of Marketing on Social Media

First and foremost, social platforms allow you to potentially reach an EXTREMELY large audience. Here are a few statistics to reinforce that notion:

While marketing teams for niche products and services won’t reach the heights of, say, Wendy’s or Dove, there’s still ample opportunity. You’ll reach the largest audience possible by marketing on social media.

Other benefits of social media marketing include:

• Improved brand awareness
• Increased sales
• Better customer relationships
• Ability to monitor competitors
  
  

Improved Brand Awareness

Just from looking at the table above, it’s easy to see why marketing on social media is one of the best ways to improve your brand awareness.

Comments, shares, and likes are all classified as social engagement. This engagement is how you can accurately determine how much your brand awareness is improving. It also helps give your company a “human” side that makes pursuing a long-term relationship more appealing to a prospect.

Nothing is worse than a no-nonsense, stuffy corporate social media account that only ever posts about its latest release. Instead, a great way to improve your brand awareness is to just be human and find ways to educate and entertain people that follow you.

Don’t be afraid to interact with other companies as well, sharing and “liking” third-party resources on a regular basis to supplement your own content.

Increased Sales

One of the best things about social media is that you’re advertising to a group of people who have willingly decided to follow your account. Therefore, anything you post is likely to carry some relevance for at least part of your audience (especially on LinkedIn).

If your company has a long sales cycle, sharing educational content can improve your ability to generate leads and convert them into loyal and satisfied customers, months or even years later. You have many means of doing so, such as:

• Posting how-to or product comparison articles
• Posting articles explaining how an industry trend will affect the reader
• Hosting contests for followers to participate in
• Including links in your bio and social posts that lead to your website or blog page
• Selling your products directly through your social media profile

There are many different ways to increase sales through social media, so let your creative side flow.

Better Customer Relationships

Social engagement is a two-way street. By interacting with your customers and fellow content publishers on social media, you’re increasing trust and rapport with them. This includes:

• Answering questions
• Responding to comments (both positive and negative)
• Thanking people for reviews
• Thanking third parties for sharing your content
• Tagging third-party publications or even target companies in relevant content you post

Interacting with your customers is also a great way to find out how customers and prospects perceive your product. For example, you can create a poll to find out your customer’s pain points. Alternatively, you can host an open forum or “Ask Me Anything” that allows your followers to speak freely about your services.

Whichever way you go, people on social media love to feel important, so make sure you’re reaching out, even if it means making a funny joke or reference that they would understand and appreciate.

Ability to Match -- and Monitor -- Your Competitors

Are your competitors sharing content on LinkedIn while you have a dormant account, or none at all? If so, you’re missing out on a chance to cut into their share.

By monitoring your competitors, we don’t actually mean that keeping an eye on their page every second of every day (although, you could if you wanted to). Instead, social media offers you the ability to learn from your competitor’s mistakes and successes.

Product promotion, follower interaction, and campaign implementation are all aspects of a social media marketing strategy that you could learn from by watching others. You can also check to make sure that your brand stands out from the rest and isn’t following marketing tactics that mimic a competitor too much.

Why Knowing Your Audience Matters

If you want your social media marketing strategy to be as effective as possible, then it’s vital that you know your audience. This will help you develop content for your audience based on what stage of the buyer’s journey they’re at.

If you’re aimlessly creating content for the fun of it, or because it’s what your competitor does, then you’re likely not going to properly address your customers’ pain points. Remember that there are three stages of the buyer’s journey: Awareness, Consideration, and Decision. Share content that targets all three stages of buyers.

These stages help dictate the type of content you’ll want to post. For Awareness-stage content, post third-party articles that introduce a new trend or answer a broad question.

Once your leads are in the Consideration stage, further educate followers with comparisons of materials, services, or other solutions (without name-dropping yourself). Just remember, there is a big difference between educating and promoting.

When you’re finally dealing with an audience in the Decision stage, you can begin to post promotional content. At this point, you should’ve earned the trust of these types of followers and educated them well enough to make an informed decision. Even in the Decision stage, though, your messaging should be customer-focused, not you-focused.

To state it simply, it’s important to know your audience because shouting at the wrong people is a waste, no matter how great the messaging is.

Logging Off

If your potential customers are there, you should follow. Never underestimate social media marketing as a tool for your business. It’s one of the best ways to reach a large audience while controlling the way your brand is presented to the public.

It also benefits your business by:

• Improving your brand awareness
• Increasing sales and lead generation
• Improving your relationships with customers
• Allowing you to monitor your competitors

For a more detailed explanation for creating a brand awareness strategy that covers all of your bases, download our free e-book below: