A common problem with small businesses and Social Media newbies is deciding what type of content you should be posting.
How do you find enough fresh material to post on your Social Media sites every single day?
The 1st question you should be asking is: What does my audience want to read?
Ask and answer questions
Social Media isn’t about you or your company, it’s a platform to connect and engage with your audience. If you want to know what your followers want to read, ask them.
Conduct some basic market research on Social Media by running a poll which lists a variety of topics, it can be something simple like:
What Social Media platform do you want to know more about?
- Google+
A poll is a quick and easy method for people to respond to, and once you establish the results you can then post content relevant to your audience.
Provide tips and advice relevant to your industry. You’re the expert in your field, not your customers so become a useful source of information and offer your skills and knowledge for free. Once you become a credible and trusted source of information, you can engage with individuals and tailor your products/services to suit their needs.
Share
Share content from sources outside your company that are relevant to your industry and specialist areas. By sharing external content you’re providing a richness and depth to the content you share with your audience.
Some examples of the types of external content you can share on Social Media are:
- Newspaper articles
- Articles & links to industry associations & trade bodies
- Competitors blogs (not your immediate competitors)
- Videos
- Industry Experts
- Academic & Industry Research
When you share content from external sources, you’ll experience an increase in followers and your own content will also be shared. Share and be shared.
Post about your Company
When posting information about your company, their products and services it is essential to create a balance. Too much information on your company and people will very quickly disengage, too little and people will simply be using you as a source of free information.
As a rule of thumb apply the 80:20 rule, posting 80% of content NOT related to your company and 20% about your company. Use this as a guide and alter according to the level of response and feedback you receive.
When posting about your company, consider posting:
- Offers & Discounts
- New product/service launch
- Awards & Achievements
- Client testimonials
- Specialist/niche areas
Be Social
This is THE golden rule of Social Media – BE SOCIAL.
Honestly Social Media isn’t complicated; it’s simply about 2 parties communicating. Respond when people have shared your content and respond promptly to every single comment, like and new follower.
Small businesses have a distinct advantage over larger competitors if you take the time to connect and engage with your audience. Provide a truly customised level of service that larger competitors will struggle to replicate due to the scale of their customer base.
You might not have a big Marketing budget or thousands of employees, but you can offer personalised 1:2:1 customer service earning you a competitive advantage.
What approach do you have to posting content on Social Media?