Social Media Content Guidelines

Over the years, there has been a dramatic shift in the content that companies publish as marketing material. The advancement in technology with the Internet and social media has played a part in this. However, there is something more to it. There has been a shift in the buyer persona.

The traditional marketing technique was to publish content related to promotional updates. While this is still a part of your content marketing strategy, you need to focus on more than just promotional messages. People have changed, they do not want to be sold to. They want brands that they can trust, engage with, and that stimulate a community atmosphere.

Thus, your messages on social media should be more than promoting your next big sale. Publish content that engages your followers, make them laugh, make them cry, publish things that they want to share with their friends and family.

Broaden your scope of content a bit to make it appealing and interesting. And here’s a crazy thought, make it fun. You might just enjoy creating content for your social media marketing plan. Below are some ideas on social media content:

Publish Relevant Content

The people who “like” or “follow” your social media accounts do so for a reason. At the very least, they’re interested in your industry. However, chances are that they like your brand and what it has to offer.

Publish relevant content to your company and the industry. Share content that will interest your customer base. For example, if you’re a nutrition/supplement company post daily workouts and healthy recipes.

There’s a pretty good chance that people who are interested in a supplement/nutrition based business, will be interested in health and fitness content.

Publish Tips & Tricks That Benefit Your Followers

Make your customer’s lives easier by offering them some valuable advice. They are the reason you’re still in business, so it’s important to give back every once in awhile.

Any advice that’s relevant to your industry will be beneficial to them, but wouldn’t it be a bonus to offer them advice on how to better use your products or services?

Respond to Something

Not all of your posts need to be original content. Make it easy on yourself every once in awhile and respond to questions you’ve received either through social media or just with talking to customers.

Another great way to post daily, but not have it be such a burden is to respond to industry related articles or other companies posts. Give your two cents about it and how you think it might impact your business or industry.

For example, a recent study came out stating “Multivitamin Researchers Say Case Is Closed, Supplements Don’t Boost Health.” It talked about a study that came out stating multivitamins serve no benefit. Onnit, a health & fitness company, came out with a blog post with a response to these claims and then shared it on social media.

They uncovered that the study was only done on a very select group of people and only tested the typical one-a-day vitamin. They responded because it was a trending news topic that could greatly impact their business, but also to set the record straight and give their following more facts on the issue.

Here is Onnit’s response, in case your interested.

Create Non-Promotional Information

Not every social media post needs to be about promoting your business. It can just be about your business.

For instance, if your company does a lot of volunteer work in the community it’s okay to pat yourself on the back a bit. Take some pictures at your latest charity event, post them on Facebook and explain what your staff did to help out at the event.

It can be as simple as posting about a company barbecue that you had on a Friday afternoon. Posts like these can help to give your brand some character and personality. Social media marketing is a great way to do this.

Publish Employment Opportunities

Social media can be a great place to find new employees. People hunting for jobs are using social media to do so.

Yeah they will instinctively flock to LinkedIn, but they are also exploring on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter for scoping out job opportunities so be sure to use all of these social channels when promoting an open/new position.

If a person hears about your job opening on social media, chances are they were following you or searching for your company; which means they are already interested in what you do and what you have to offer.

Can you think of a  better way to find interested and motivated prospects than through social media marketing?

Make Your Followers Laugh

We saved this one for last, because it is very tricky depending on your brand and industry. This might not work for every type of business, but if you can somehow fit it into your social media marketing strategy it will be a great asset.

In order to do this appropriately, you must know your brand’s identity and personality. If humor is not encompassed in that, then this won’t be a viable option for your social media content.

If your brand’s personality can fit some humor into, then be sure to follow these guidelines. Keep it clean and keep it funny.

Be cautious of what you publish when approaching sensitive topics. If it comes off as offensive to your followers, your customers, or your staff, it’s not worth posting.

Once you’ve double checked that your joke is not offensive, make sure it’s funny. Nobody likes a bad a joke and if its not funny things could get awkward quick.

If you have any questions or are interested in pursuing more advanced Internet marketing for your website, please feel free to contact us.

Some of these tips and tricks to successful social media marketing came from Moz’s “The Free Beginner’s Guide to Social Media“