Isn't there enough content out there already? How can business owners find time for social? How can we ensure we keep it human online? I spoke to Chris Marr of the Content Marketing Academy to get all the answers.
Listen to the interview on iTunes, SoundCloud or keep reading for a summary of our conversation. And be sure to check out the free Buzzsumo Chrome extension as mentioned at the start of the podcast.
There's a lot of content out there already. Remind us, why is content marketing essential?
"There are lots of reasons. Yes, there's a lot of content out there, but you've got to think of it why there's a lot of content out there. There's demand for that types of content. People are looking for this. People are consuming more and more content every single day and if you, as an organization, aren't creating content, then you don't exist. You don't exist out there. If you aren't creating content, people can't find what they're looking for. You're not there.
It's important to think about the long-term value of content marketing - to engage, to start a conversation, to build trust, to be found. Just the huge value and the business benefits around that are incredible. There's lots and lots of reasons why we need it.
A lot of us have probably heard this before - 70% of the buying decision is made online before first contact. People are spending time researching, they want to be educated buyers. They're not in buying mode, they're in research mode. They're getting that information from someone. They're getting their questions answered, their problems solved by content, blogs, podcasts, videos.
And if you're not creating content, and you're not serving them at a time when they're not ready to buy, or they don't even know who you are yet, then you're missing a massive trick."
What's the best way to make an impact with storytelling on social?
"This is getting really interesting, I think, now, especially with Snapchat on the scene, and it's actually changing the way that I approach social in general.
The platforms are there. Periscope was here a year ago. I've got Snapchat, Blab, and Facebook Live. This ability to give people direct access into our business and to our lives and whatever, our personal lives and business lives, it's one and the same thing, and the ability to tell that story.
So there's this whole personal branding piece where I think business owners, generally speaking, aren't really prepared to give people that kind of access to their business. They want to hide behind the brand. They want to be at the end of an email or the other end of a phone call, but they're not willing to open up and tell the story."
What are the best tools and apps for content marketing in 2016?
"I'll tell you what, I'll open up my iPhone and look at my home page. Slack is by far the most popular app that I use in my iPhone. And after that it's Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook. Those are the apps that I'm using on a day-to-day basis, I would say.
When it comes to technology I think that the one thing, the one application that really is a foundation or some of it we just use every day without even thinking about it, is Buffer. Buffer is just like there doing its job for us, creating content and getting out on to your social channels.
From a website technology perspective there, WordPress, hands down. We've worked with so many other CMS systems and WordPress is not perfect but it's better than pretty much every other CMSs out there.
And email, we're using ConvertKit at the moment. That's where we moved over from MailChimp to ConvertKit recently in the last six months."
Follow Chris on Twitter @chrismarr101.