10 February 2015
Remember that famous slogan from Bill Clinton’s Presidential
campaign? Allegedly it was “It’s the economy, stupid”. The gist being he could talk about all the
issues you can imagine but in the end, people would decide who to vote for based
on what he would do for their wallets.
It got me thinking that it’s similar with Social
Media. You can be good at all the tips & tricks of the Social Media channels but in the end of the
day, it’s simply what you are talking about that cuts through.
When I do a Social Media strategy for a client, I definitely focus on content
and keywords but probably not enough. I intend on doing more.
It may sound logical but I’ve come across so many
people who struggle with what to say in their tweets and posts. While lots rely
on pictures to do the talking, which do make for engaging posts, I believe it is what you say with
those images and how you say it that really counts.
I’ve noticed in recent months on Facebook that my
personal posts, with short and ‘nice’ or funny stories, get the most reaction.
I don’t post with an image and I often think at the time they are too long but
I am amazed at the reaction. Seems I’ve either tugged at someone’s heart
strings or I’ve told a funny anecdote that others can relate to and that’s what
gets a response.
As with email marketing, a headline can make or break
you. Funny, ironic, sarcastic or a little bit rude (just a bit) works a treat
in getting people’s attention. If you don’t require a title, then a short intro
sentence using those sorts of tones should work too. Just think about how you might
react if you are in the receiving line.
How many emails do you ignore every day and which ones get your
attention.
In thinking about content, I tell clients who are
stuck for ideas, start with a calendar. Use an A3 sheet of paper and split by
the twelve months and plot the usual big holidays first e.g. Christmas, Easter,
bank holidays etc. Then do a bit of research to find out some unusual holidays
(e.g. ‘National Cheese Day’ ‘Dogs go to work with owners Day’ and similar) and stick
those in the calendar. Then consider key dates specific to your industry. If
you’re in travel and tourism, think about the high travel season or type of
holiday relevant to the time of the year e.g. beach, skiing, day’s out. Or
research all the main industry shows and events. FAQs make great content. Keep filling in your calendar
and suddenly you have twelve months of content, without much effort, planned.
Do think laterally too in terms of content. Don’t just
talk about your own industry or business – figure out how you can take
advantage of a totally unrelated topic and turn it into something relevant for
you and your business. The Chelsea Flower Show may not seem an obvious
connection to an Osteopath but if you just think about all those gardeners
bending down and making their displays, well sure you can imagine there might
be some very sore backs. Suddenly, you’ve got an interesting story with a link.
And you can be sure the Chelsea Flower Show will be trending all over social
media (don’t forget to use those Hashtags!).
Finishing off, I remember another famous
saying ‘Content is King’. I certainly think so – in fact it’s true royalty!
