Social media gets more and more popular by the day. So quickly in fact that sometimes we can’t even seem to keep up, which leads to companies of any market segments wanting to get on top of that.
Social media is not one global thing, but several different spaces with their own characteristics and audience.
So the first thing you need to know is: there is no one unique rule to Content Marketing for social media.
It is imperative that you understand why you want to be present in social media. Many people — therefore, many companies as well — see social media as a place to only share their Content Marketing efforts, such as blog posts and ebooks.
That is indeed one of the functionalities of social media — since more than 35% of traffic comes from this source — but not the only one.
Content created for YouTube is different from content created for Twitter, which is different from content created for TikTok. A blog post shared on Tumblr should be miles away from the same blog post shared on LinkedIn.
So how does one gauge what works and what doesn’t? How does one decide where your company should be?
Keep reading our special article on the subject to find out. Here, you’ll learn:
- Why social media is relevant for your business
- How to produce content for the main social media channels of today
- What metrics to keep track of in your social media strategies
Why social media is relevant for your business
Today, people look not only for companies whose products are good — they want to consume from companies they like. And one of the best ways to get your target audience to like you is through social media.
You can generate engagement, which increases the chances of even more people, who might have never heard of your company before, see your posts and interact with you.
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Through social media, your company’s followers can be alerted about sales and new products, get to know the people working behind the scenes, get exclusive tutorials and tips about the products and solutions you sell, be shown relevant market data and news, and so on.
It all depends on where you are and who you’re talking to.
But peculiarities of each platform aside, social media, in general, is a way for you to connect with your audience on a deeper level, showing what the organization cares about, and creating a strong brand that goes beyond the products themselves.
Take Nike’s Instagram page, for example. They don’t talk about or show their products directly, focusing instead on highlighting athletes of the most diverse sporting areas, backgrounds, and levels of experience.
This is the way they chose to sell, not sneakers or sports accessories, but inspiration.
Their social media posts exude strength, determination, and fierceness. Their audience connects to that — some because they identify with the athletes, others because they want to be like the athletes — and transfer those qualities to Nike itself. And its products.
How to produce content for the main social media channels of today
Each social media platform has an audience, a series of content formats they allow, a different way of showing said content to users, and a “language” all of its own.
If someone shares a TikTok video on Instagram, you don’t even need TikTok’s logo in the corner to know where it came from: it’s unique and recognizable.
This guides what you can use each social media space for. LinkedIn is a professional network where you get people to be interested in working for your company; but, if you run a B2B business, you can also use it to attract clients.
Thus, your content needs to be more formal, but not in such a way that it would alienate potential employees (and probably don’t have the same profile as your client base). Quite a challenge, isn’t it? But far from impossible.
Below is a list of what you need to consider when planning out your Content Marketing for social media.
1. Understand the different segments of your audience — and what you want to say to them
There are several social media platforms out there, with new ones arising all the time.
Trying to make your company present in all of them is fruitless and a waste of time, so don’t worry about that.
Instead, focus on learning where your audience is and what kind of content you can bring in each space.
For example, if long-form video content is not something that engages your audience, your company doesn’t need to be on YouTube.
Instagram might be better, since you can mix short videos with other types of posts, such as photos, short texts, and interactive content.
If your audience is older and more “traditional”, TikTok is probably not the best platform for you to connect with them.
First, understand your audience to learn where they are and their preferred social media channels and types of content.
Afterward, regularly check the main metrics of Content Marketing for social media (which we’ll show you later on) to know what’s working and what’s not.
2. Humanize your content
Always taking into consideration who you’re talking to, it’s important to write like a human being on social media.
The content you create for your website, product pages, or even blog won’t quite fit into social media; people want to get a sense of what your company really cares about.
This is where you explore your brand and try to engage with people on a deeper level. For 70% of social marketers, increasing brand awareness is the main goal — and there is no other place like it for that.
Consider, for example, showing the office’s daily life, work rituals, employees telling about what they do, and so on. An actual person using your product might attract your follower’s attention more than just a still image.
With great care, humor, and social issues also can be a part of your social media strategy.
Don’t be afraid to try new things and see how your audience responds!
3. Be quick
On social media, things are lightning-fast. If you want your company page to have content related to current events, the latest memes, pop culture, news, etc., content creation needs to happen quickly.
In order for that to be possible, the team needs to know exactly how the company is supposed to “talk” on each social media platform. For that, you need a brand persona.
Try coming up with possible scenarios and what type of content could be created from it. Besides, decisions on what to say about a certain matter need to be very fast, so you don’t miss the moment.
And this speed applies not only to content creation but to social media management as well.
Comments, direct messages, and complaints from followers need to be answered as soon as possible. Your audience is not willing to wait days for a reply — poor customer service is, for 56% of consumers, the main reason why they unfollow a company’s social media page.
What metrics to keep track of in your social media strategies
Now that you already know how to start creating content for social media let’s move on to the next step: metrifying all this.
How can you know what works and what doesn’t to optimize your strategy constantly?
These are the main metrics you should keep a constant eye out for!
1. User engagement
Engagement with your posts is probably the most important social media metric — yes, more important than followers.
This shows that your content is truly relevant for your audience, which also leads social media platforms to showcase your posts as recommended content for users who don’t follow you, thus increasing your reach.
Social media engagement metrics include the number of replies, shares, likes, and clicks.
Followers are important, of course, and it’s essential to keep track of them as well.
By analyzing not only the number of followers but who they are — where they’re from, their ages, etc. —, you can better understand who connects to your company the most.
2. Organic account mentions
Sometimes, someone will tag or mention your company organically — not in reply to one of your posts, for example, but just because they wanted to talk about the company or a product.
This indicates good brand awareness. Check this kind of mention constantly to see what people are saying about your business “away” from its official page.
3. Impressions and reach
These two metrics are very important to show the relevance of engagement.
Impressions are how many times a post appears on a user’s timeline, while reach is the potential number of viewers a post could have — usually calculated by adding your follower count to that of the people who shared your post.
So the higher the engagement level, the more impressions and reach your company has.
Every company wants to create a strong social media presence, and users are quick to spot those who miss the mark on the content they post in each one. If you want to create a worthwhile and durable connection to your target audience, follow our tips in your Content Marketing for social media.
And to prepare yourself even better for that, check out our list of the Content Marketing trends for this year!
