In the transition from offline marketing tools like billboards and TVs to mobile run applications that connect to the entire world from our fingertips, we have travelled a long way into the advent of social media marketing. And the one weapon that triggers the reach and influence of this platform is ‘Content’. Content marketing focuses on sharing information that is relevant, interesting, and insightful to your target audience. Anything and everything that goes up on the networking sites contribute to the growth and exposure that the product receives, which is even more reason why the content you put out there should be efficient enough to make your pitch convincing to the audience.
Content creation is no cakewalk, the time and effort put into fabricating the right content is exhaustive. From brainstorming creative ideas for content to following up on engagement and reach after uploading it, the steps that go into the process are well-structured and to be handled professionally.
Content is the reason search began in the first place.
-Lee Odden, B2B marketing strategist, author, and international speaker
Researching and inferring from resources available, tops the checklist for perfecting your content-based social media marketing. The resulting content created can be educational, advertorial, or simply just catchy enough to draw attention from the audience who were initially not interested in your product or cause. A thoughtful and innovative idea can bring a powerful impact on viewers positively, thus generating leads for your brand and alluring more customers into buying it. But it all comes down to delivering uncompromised quality in the content creation grounds.
What defines the quality of content lies in the details that went into the making of it. Anything that adds up value to the eyes of a viewer is quality content. High quality content can be guaranteed when the creator successfully integrates the relevancy of the topic, informative nature, and product value into one single piece. Putting oneself in the audience’s shoes and contemplating the possible responses, can help with this. However good the quality, the engagement of the audience is the only means by which you can market it profitably. A small-scale traffic or follower engagement in the form of likes and shares is a good start but not good enough to make your product market-ready in real life.
Using social media influencers as your marketing tool is the first chapter of ‘Millennial Marketing 101’. Networking around the globe to familiarise your
product with the general public is easier done when the influencers reach out to consumers through their blogs and social networks thus promoting your brand with a wider public. The competition in the field of social media marketing is exponentially progressing. The increased demand for content creators and influencers is rising by the day as brands rely on their platforms to promote their products and gain traction. Influencers with a huge follower count sign up and collaborate with well-established brands for ‘follower cross-pollination’, resulting in a win-win follower hike for both parties. Gradually developing relationships with trendsetters over the social media platforms and content creators with a huge fan following even before you have a contract proposal for them can help strategize your move faster, more seamlessly once you are market ready.
Here are few important points to keep in mind when creating content:
- People love authenticity: The originality of your work will not go unnoticed at both audience level and search engine level. A major portion of a brand’s SEO boosting relies on how unique the content is. So if you’re branding yourself, make sure your content speaks for itself.
- Social media is the key to broadening horizons: Television sitcom’s favorite Moira Rose describing social media as “a cauldron of self-absorption” but later finding it amusing herself is ironically how social media has changed the course of the world among every age group audience over the past years. The underlying power lies in the like and shares buttons that reveal content from all around the world to you and yours to the world. Know your audience well, losing them takes much lesser time than it took to gain them.
- Always lookout for opportunities and inspiration: Social media is a very happening platform where millions of users are online 24/7 which should be a content creator’s inspiration to create captivating content that would interest these users. To be a content creator means to be prepared for ideas to present themselves every now and then.
- The healthy competition: With a lot of creative heads being passionate about content creation, the industry is flourishing with likes and blue ticks. So, the obvious competition to be the better creator will prevail. Even when the content stays distinctive to each and everyone, the quality, engagement statistics, andviewer rankings decide the reach and praise for your work. Staying authentic and branding yourself is what’s going to take you to the millions on the internet, not copying concepts and ideas out of others.
- Stand out from the crowd: Being unique and different won’t budge when it comes to your followers’ reach. Having the means to prove yourself worthy of the attention and traction you have gained closes the deal. Always embrace what makes you stand out and be exceptional among other fellow content creators.
- Make sure your content isn’t an exercise of futility: The amount of time and efforts you squeeze into creating something should never have to go up in the smoke. The expense of budget on setup and improvisation in terms of both money and time should be highly valued and strategized accordingly. Content created with no specific target audience in mind is just a spray-and-pray strategy. So, making sure the content reaches the right audience is also your responsibility.
In pursuing content creation as a passion, your goal should be to create value and do justice to what your followers expect from you. People on the internet are constantly looking up for inspiration and out-of-the-box thinking. Establish yourself worthy of their interests as it relates to your area of expertise. Content marketing when carried out well builds up brand equity, which means your brand becomes more and more valuable over time, as you continue to be consistent in creating valuable content. And the more help you offer the audience, the more your brand will go noticed as a leading example in your field. If you create value and equip your audience with the information they need to loosen up the lifestyle issues they’re facing, your content will succeed.
