I keep meeting with companies who struggle to speak and create great content on social media. They often don’t understand the purpose of social media marketing and how to do it effectively. Sure, you can buy some ads, but how do you create organic social media content with a real purpose? Why will people look at your photos, watch your videos, read your copy, and interact with said content?
I hear marketers and coaches continually advise clients to create content that is unique, educational, and of value. But for the average business on social media, they struggle to understand what that means and how to craft a plan around it.
It’s taken me some time to formulate how to properly educate businesses on how to view this issue in a way that they can digest and understand. Luckily, here’s the answer you’ve been waiting for in a way that makes sense and will get your creative juices flowing!
3-Tiered Approach to Understanding Social Media Marketing
I found that the easiest way to explain this is to think of social media marketing like TV.
The Platform – Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are just that; platforms/networks. Nothing more and nothing less. So, when you think about social media, remember that these are just the platform/network on which channels are aired. To further simplify this, a TV platform would be Telus, Shaw, or Bell. Therefore, Facebook and Instagram are digital platforms just like those mentioned above. They give you access to channels (profiles).
The Channel – Your personal or business social media profile is the channel. To put this into context, HGTV is a channel. The channel then airs shows of interest based on their content strategy and niche. To reiterate, your personal or business is the channel like HGTV where you will create content that people will want to watch and engage with.
The Show – This is the content placed on your channel. As mentioned above, HGTV airs shows like Love It or List It and Property Brothers. Your purpose on social media is to create content that people want to tune into daily, weekly, etc. that either entertains them or educates them. Let’s say your business sells BBQ’s. You don’t want to just post a picture of a BBQ and then say, “hey you, this BBQ is only $399” or whatever price it is. What you want to do is create content that sells the BBQ without even talking about price. This would mean creating cooking video segments using the BBQ or posting recipes that are adjusted to the BBQ for cooking. This is what people will tune into and watch and engage with. This type of social marketing is what creates interest and desire in wanting to cook those recipes and become a master BBQ guy/girl and inviting friends and family over to try out your newfound skills.
Do you see the difference? Do you see how you can provide value in a unique way that differentiates your brand from other companies simply posting how awesome they are and what great prices they have without ever providing any real context as to why?
With that, I challenge you to sit down and start working at looking at social media in this new way. Get creative. Think about what your customers would love to tune in to. Then start creating content around that. Watch as your organic followers start to grow, and your content gets shared and viewed over and over again.
If you’re still a little stuck on getting started, reach out to us and we’ll sit down with you and provide you with ideas and even help you create the content for you. All you have to do is click.
