10 Ways To Empower Your Social Content Marketing Strategy

So you already got the social media monitoring part down. You have active profiles in all major social networking websites and have tracked every social signal that your website is giving out. But the thing is, there seems to be something wrong with your content – it’s not performing well as it should. You scratch your head in bewilderment – what should you do next?

Content Is King – What Does It Mean, Really?

“Content is king.” Yes, that phrase is becoming more and more of a cliche as time goes by. It is the usual battle cry of content marketers and business owners nowadays – their oft-repeated mantra that seems to spring up everywhere you look on the Web.

What most people do not know is that the phrase was actually coined by the great man Bill Gates himself. It was the title of the speech that the bespectacled Microsoft founder gave in 1996.
What is remarkable is that, after all these years, “content is king” is still relevant up to the present as it was in 1996. Turns out, Bill Gates is something of a psychic; today, content marketing is alive and kicking – a viable marketing method that can kick any online business marketing efforts into high gear.

The Real Deal About Content Marketing

Content marketing works because people want more value from what they see, read, or hear on the Internet. Almost no one wants to be bombarded by an endless stream of ads; consumers want to know that the company or business they are dealing with knows their stuff. The idea here is that having awesome content is a better indicator of trust than mere adverstisements alone. That’s why most businesses have a “Blog” segment on their websites. This is where marketers can demonstrate their knowledge, interact with loyal (and potential) customers, and showcase whatever business or product they are promoting.

Content marketing also promotes these VERY important goals:
1. Being able to establish one’s self as a thought leader. A “thought leader” is someone who is considered to be among the movers and shakers in a particular field – one whose ideas and opinions can be trusted and relied upon.
2. Provide online exposure and increased visibility for the business, brand, or company at hand.
3. Improve ranking in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages). Recently, Google Penguin has thrusted social signals and content marketing into the limelight.

Problem is, most people take the “content is king” phrase way too literally. They think that having a buttload of content is enough to propel their business into the highly competitive world of content marketing. They go for quantity instead of quality more often than usual, which leads to less-than-spectacular results.

Itching to make your content fly off the charts? Here are ten empowering ideas to make your content stand out from the rest of the pack:

1. It’s not all about sales, sales, sales!

Marketers make the mistake of trying to sell whatever it is they’re selling a bit too much. It’s like having a self-obsessed visitor in your house – he only talks about himself, grabs way too much of your attention, and is downright annoying. This is the reason why people install ad blockers on their browsers – they hate sales talk. Content marketing is about giving your customers extra value for their time and money; it’s about building a relationship with them that goes beyond sales.

2. Create a sturdy foundation of evergreen content.

Evergreen content is the kind of content that you want most for your blog as these informational and reference-type material gives long-term value for your visitors. Jonathan Mildenhall, Coca-Cola’s vice-president for global advertising, recommends that seventy to ninety percent of content should be evergreen. It stays relevant for a long period of time, and will still attract traffic long after you’ve posted it.

3. If you’re up for it, be controversial.

Once, you already have a healthy amount of evergreen content built up, it’s time to take risks. Post topics that are sure to ignite debate and haven’t been tackled before (i.e. brand new ideas). These type of content will be like a double-edged sword – they may or may not work. According to Mildenhall, this should account for about ten percent of a website’s total content.

4. Tap into the popularity of celebrities.

Get in touch with famous names in your field. Ask them to guest post on your blog, or vice-versa. Let their popularity work for you.

5. Know your audience, as in REALLY know them.

Don’t just dump a load of information to your customers’ screens and expect them to make sense out of it. Ask them, analyze them, listen to them, figure out what their issues and problems are – then mold and link your content together into something that they find meaningful.

6. Audit your content, measure your social signals.

Social media monitoring will make your content go a long way. This is where you can see what parts of your content marketing strategy needs improvement. Thankfully, there are analytical WordPress plugins like SocialMetricsPro which perform social signal measurement tasks and reporting without much difficulty.

7. Do your own research.

It’s easier to cite facts and figures from other sources, but nothing beats having your own data. Polls and surveys are a great way to know what consumers really want.

8. Shake things up and use different forms of media.

Don’t limit yourself to text content alone. Mix it up and use videos, infographics, interactive games and other kinds of media to keep people interested.

9. Keep yourself constantly updated.

Marketers should subscribe to the RSS feeds of famous industry thought leaders. News sites are also great. Read these updates on a regular basis so you can have a treasure trove of ideas at your disposal and new material for blog posts.

10. Don’t jump onto the social media bandwagon without preparation.

Some marketers make the mistake of diving into social media headfirst without having the quality content to back it up with. What’s the use of having a Facebook account when you don’t have content for people to like? The best strategy here is to build up a collection of quality content first before delving into the world of social media.