How to Build a Social Media Content Strategy Complete 2018 Guide

Social media platforms have always been an excellent vehicle for steering users toward your website and other content hubs. But they’re more than just signposts to content. For consumers, social media sites are a primary source for news, information and original branded content. Free Actionable Bonus: Free Actionable Bonus: Want to create better content for social media? Get the complete guide to building a social media strategy and creating content for social, plus 6 awesome examples to inspire your next post. Finding Your Audience Of course, creating great content is crucial, but getting it in front of the right people is how you’ll elevate your content marketing to the next level. This is why content distribution is so important. Fortunately, social media is one of the most cost-effective content distribution and amplification tools around. Expand Your Reach with Social Media When your audience sees your content on social media, they’re also more likely to share it with others. It has a reach traditional media can only dream about and has various benefits: You can target consumers by age, location, and interests. Through social listening tools, you can track customer conversations wherever they are in the buyer’s journey. You can ask your audience questions, provide answers, and express your business’ core values. You can monitor your competition and measure your social media engagement. How to Use Social Media to Boost Content Marketing Results The most successful social media marketers don’t start by posting; they begin by listening. Social monitoring is a great way to learn how your target audience feels about your business and industry issues. The most successful social media marketers don't start by posting; they start by listening. Click To Tweet Luckily, there are plenty of social media monitoring tools to help. With this knowledge, you can create content that your audience finds truly valuable. You’ll also want to brainstorm keywords and phrases relevant to your brand. Content built around these terms can then be spread across all channels in various formats. Preparing Your Social Media Content Strategy Before you set up your social media profiles, you need some things in place: A content hub. Your blog or website should be connected to all your social accounts. Adequate resources. Before committing to any platform, make sure you have the resources to update each channel regularly. A content strategy. Define your marketing goals, so you know why you’re using each platform and what types of content you’ll be uploading. Then, for every channel you’re considering using, answer the following: What is the general purpose of using this channel? Is it to inform, entertain, interact with, or convert your audience? What specific actions do you want users to take? Do you want people to share your content, visit your website, or register for something? What content formats the best suit this channel? What is the right brand tone of voice for this channel? How often should you be active on this channel? For example, you might post on Facebook once or twice a day, but monitor Twitter all day, responding to your audience when necessary. Every company is different, so try to determine the schedule that will work best for you and your customers. Different Ways to Approach Each Social Platform Understanding each channel’s strengths can help you maximize content reach. Twitter: Ideal for sharing blog posts, promoting website content, and responding to customers’ concerns in real time. Facebook: Geared toward news and entertainment. This is where you can show your fun side, discuss company news and events, share fresh content, and introduce your team members. LinkedIn: For sharing articles based on industry trends and news, and for professional insights into your business. Instagram: A highly visual platform for sharing images and short videos. Pinterest: Another visual channel that is mainly image-driven. It’s ideal for inspirational messages and promoting creative ideas. Google Plus: Hosts strong community groups, focused on various industries and audience interests. Get Personal Try to add â€Å"casual† content such as employee birthdays, seasonal greetings, and everyday thoughts to show the human side of your business. People are less likely to engage with a company that only talks about its business. Keep Promoting Promoting your content across social media is key to extending the reach and lifetime of your content. With social media management tools like Hootsuite, Buffer, and Sprout Social, you can share posts automatically across selected social channels at a frequency you choose. Encourage Sharing To boost shares, attach images to your social media posts. A HubSpot study showed that on Facebook and Twitter, photos get 53 percent more likes and 84 percent more click-throughs. On Facebook and Twitter, photos get 53 percent more likes and 84 percent more click-throughs. Click To Tweet Add a â€Å"tweet this quote† or â€Å"click to tweet† link within posts so readers can quickly tweet snippets of your article. Just visit the â€Å"Click to Tweet† website, insert your text, and add the generated link to your post. Target Influencers In a study by marketing research company Schlesinger Group, 81 percent of companies said influencer engagement was effective. Establishing relationships with influencers adds credibility to your content and extends its reach. Search for people who regularly blog about your industry. Follow them on social media. Mention them in your tweets and share their content with your followers. Share your new content with influencers directly. If it’s high-quality content and relevant, they might share it with their followers. Analyze Data Reacting to analytics data is crucial to building a stronger social media presence. When you know what goals you’re aiming for and can measure the results, you can tweak content to maximize results. Each social media platform has built-in analytics tools: Facebook Insights, LinkedIn Analytics for Company Pages, Google Plus Insights, Instagram Business Tools, and Pinterest Analytics will help you monitor your content performance. Maximize Content Value with Social Media The number of social media users is growing at a rapid pace. In 2019, it’s estimated there will be around 2.77 billion social media users around the globe, up from 2.28 billion in 2016. In 2019, it's estimated there will be around 2.77 billion social media users around the globe, up from 2.28 billion in 2016. Click To Tweet Reaching out to these people with unique and high-quality content will significantly boost brand awareness and conversions. Use these tips and integrate social media into your content strategy; you’re likely to see a higher return on your investment in content marketing. Do you need quality content to support your content marketing? Constant Content connects you with thousands of professional writers able to create articles, ebooks, product descriptions, and other assets to tell your brand story, drive SEO and win sales.