Many businesses have a content strategy in place, but fewer are putting equal focus on distribution and outreach. Social media outreach, when planned and executed well, can be an excellent means of generating leads and demand.
The following is a list of four powerful tactics to help widen your content exposure and increase it's impact via social media.
1. A solid first impression
Based on a collation of studies, Malcolm Gladwell suggests in the bestseller "Blink", that a person's first impression is "accurate and stands the test of time".
On social media, where the competition runs thick and your window of opportunity is narrow, your business would do well to make the most of the first impression.
What does a business page need to leave a lasting impression on its visitors?
1. Clarity - Your page should have a distinct, affable identity (which you can create by optimizing all content on the page)
2. Consistency - Your posts should be consistent enough, without coming off as spam-y, and must include fresh and relevant content (which you can accomplish with a reliable content curation app like DrumUp or Feedly)
3. Balanced emotion and logic - Your content must create emotional connects and have logical value
4. Usefulness - At least 50% of your posts must be directly useful to your audience
Unless your social media page is geared to hold the visitors it attracts, there's no point in incessantly driving traffic to it.
2. Content promotion
Once you've optimized your social media landing page and have created your content for it, you should work at promoting your content on your social channels.
Before you begin, it's important that you understand your audience's sharing habits and work towards enabling them to share your content.
Four tips to promote your social media content right
1. Craft the perfect description - Create excitement about the piece, use hashtags to attract your audience and @mention someone when it makes sense.
2. Time your publishing right - It should go out when a maximum number of your audience members are on the social media platform
3. Target your content right - Share your content on the relevant social media groups and on the right social media platforms
4. Create an emailing list - Share your social media content via email on a regular basis (every week, every two weeks or each month), and use social plug ins for easy sharing
3. Getting introduced
Businesses run on contacts, there's no questioning that fact. Why should it be any different when using social media as a channel?
When implementing a marketing strategy on social platforms, it's important to give just as much attention to fostering relationships as most businesses generally give to creating and distributing content.
Since LinkedIn has a system for introductions, you can leverage that to make the right connections.
The right connections
People working in the same industry as you are, people in the same company, and people whose job descriptions match yours are the obvious ones. Based on the audience your business is targeting, you could extend your reach beyond those categories (to your high value target audience).
How to request for introductions on social media
Etiquette is a key consideration when requesting an introduction - you need to have a legitimate reason to connect with people. Always craft a personal message for each introduction you request, initiate the relationship by giving away something useful to that person, and wait at least a month before you ask to directly converse with them.
4. Building a network
In marketing expert Martin Jones's words, "businesses should ideally build genuine relationships before they need them".
There are several ways to initiate relationships on social media. The following are just a few of those possibilities.
1. Social media groups
- Create a group on Facebook or LinkedIn, and automate your Twitter DM (Direct Message) with an invitation to join that group.
- Invite people from your personal network who belong on the group, or people who are likely to have all the right connections
- Send an email invitation to join the group to your emailing list, and request them to share the invitation with their friends
2. Networking with influencers
Regularly sharing content created by influencers can be a means to catch their attention, but it's also important for you to take an actual interest in their content. Follow what they talk about, write to them when possible for guidance or with your opinions about one of their write-ups.
Apart from these practices, you should also make sure to respond to every query, comment or complaint with patient understanding and the intent to help and engage. That's a great way to turn your brand's social media followers into friends.
Final word
Marketing is a holistic concept which incorporates a range of small elements like content and targeting. Ensure that your marketing plan focuses on strategy and includes all possible activities that add value to your business presence in the market.
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