How often have you heard this phrase “content is king?”. This is such a truism when thinking about social media marketing that you’d think it doesn’t need stating, but it really does!!

Just think about it! If you’re using social media tools to promote yourself or a business or product, what do you want to be saying about it to everyone else out there? What impression do you want to give? I think it’s vital that you think the answer to that question through before you launch your social media campaign. Similarly, you need to be thinking about the audience you want to be talking to and then you know not only what you want to say, but how you want to be saying it! If content is King, then language is Prime Minister, directing how your vision is translated into words.

If you were to conduct a ‘traditional’ advertising or marketing campaign, what would you spend the largest proportion of your preparation time on? You would be researching your target demographic and what makes them tick,  then crafting content aimed at drawing them in. So why, when it comes to using social media as a promotional tool, do some businesses seem to just jump straight in without this essential step? Until you know who you are planning to talk to, how do you know what to say?

We all know that we can broadcast information about ourselves or our business using social media, but only in moderation and when mixed in in with a healthy portion of posts which engage with others. Engagement is absolutely key to the success of a social media campaign, but in chatting with others and enjoying their company, we must not lose our heads and say something out of keeping with our brand, business or product. Rather, can’t we use such opportunities to promote it some more? Not openly (you can have too much of a good thing) but maybe just by suggesting that people think in a particular way, or by offering to help.

Don’t we all dream of some element of our social media efforts ‘going viral’? Can you really see that happening with what is essentially a sales pitch, or technical information related to your particular business?

Business use of social media has matured from a being a young experimental teenager into a sophisticated debutante. This means that even if we are new to using  social media ourselves, our audiences are not, so we have to step up to their level straight away. A steep learning curve maybe, but one that is great fun and, done properly, can be very rewarding – in all senses of the word!