Are you using social media as a platform for your content marketing strategy? At Cloudforce NY, Jeff Ragovin, Chief Strategy Officer of Salesforce Marketing Cloud introduced us to two brands that participated in the session “How to Create a Killer Content Marketing Strategy.” You might have heard of these brands: JetBlue and Avon. Sean Williams from JetBlue and Kelly Balz, Social Media Manager at Avon shared their insights on creating killer content strategies. Here are the takeaways.
Have a Strong Framework
Our lives are social. It’s our brands’ lives, too. Previously, content was created and shared by publishers. Now, with social media, brands are the publishers. Your content needs to be part of this communications shift. And your audience? They’re the ones that amplify your message. They share your content and serve as your content advocates. But becoming a publisher doesn’t guarantee your audience will do this. You need to create content that resonates well.
To start, ensure you can answer the following:
- Audience: Who are they? Where do they live? What language do they speak? How old are they?
- Timing: What are the key times to share your content?
- Length: How long are successful posts?
Before you get there, you have to do the research and have the understanding.
Try Different Content Approaches
Trial and error is another way to understand what works. Social media is a market research tool. It’s a place for instant feedback from your audience. When creating content for Facebook or sharing your blog content on Twitter, keep track of the results to see what works. What gets shared the most?
Kelly at Avon shared this example of a fun, timely and simple post that performed really well on their Facebook Timeline.
JetBlue started promoting an offer with a fun image on Facebook. They continue to watch the performance to see if it works, which will determine whether they do it again.
Support the Content That Works
Once you see that your post is doing well, promote it on other social channels. For instance, Avon’s candy corn manicure image can be shared on Twitter, written as a blog post or turned into a video. The more ways you can reach your audience, the better. You can even put some ad dollars behind it.
Engagement is made up of discussions and conversations. Sometimes your audience will offer up content or ideas for content. They might post pictures or make content recommendations. This not only shows that your content is engaging, but it’s also an opportunity for new content.
Avon asked their audience to post pictures of their manicures to Facebook and then selected a few to serve as Avon’s Facebook cover photo. This created significant engagement.
What other strategies are you implementing for your content marketing plan? How is social media helping to support your plan? Share your ideas here.
