Social Media platforms were not made popular by business activities. But the business world sought to maximise on the opportunity provided by the availability of consumers in platforms that make it easy to target audiences. This suggests therefore that in order to appeal to our targeted audiences, we ought to approach them with a content mix, that is at their 'social' level whilst attaining our business objectives. Our content has got to be witty, informative and timeous. Presentation should be brief enough to make an impact whilst the targeted audience is still paying attention. Our mix should be made up of general product information, professional advice, brand awareness and corporate values. If we are in the service industry, some of this information could actually be part of our stock in trade, but we should be prepared to share it for free. Only when we have detailed the usefulness of our products to our target audience and identified ourselves with their situation; can we then begin advertising and soliciting sales.
Many potential clients may not be aware of the full benefits they can get from our products or services. Detailed product information is one of the main differentiators between conventional marketing and content marketing. The availability of internet on our smartphones, has encouraged the average person to quench their inquisitiveness through researching. A content marketing strategy with the correct mix should leave us with a marketing edge if we present ourselves as both information and product providers. Our strategy should not be a one way communication system, but we have to listen to client responses. The information we get from clients is cardinal in product development and improvement of systems. If we analyse all this data efficiently, we should be able to outperform competitors and place ourselves at a competitive advantage.
A prosperous strategy should have a theme and program built around this mix. The frequency of the different categories on our content mix should be guided by a timetable specifying what information we are sharing on a particular day at a specified time. However this timetable should never be inscribed on stone, we should be flexible enough to adjust and be in sync with the best times as revealed by analytics. Our objective is not only information dissemination but also engagement. In this regard it becomes prudent to post during the times we are likely to receive most engagement. We could find that our content with general information is mainly responded to during working hours, whilst our content with professional advice gets most responses during evening hours. It might be necessary to switch around these times for a couple of days until we have identified the best timing. Our best timing is not when we only receive the most clicks, but when we have meaningful engagement. Without a dedicated timetable for the different categories in our mix, we may easily forget to provide relevant 'social' information that encourages engagement. An engagement, even if it is a negative response, has got more chances to be converted to a sale than a mere page view. A page view is an important lead that should not be ignored, but our efforts should aim at engagement.
How do you balance your content mix, mind sharing with your valued comments below?
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