PRODUCING QUALITY CONTENT“Be a yard stick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

- Steve Jobs

ALL MOST ALL OF YOUR TIME ON SOCIAL MEDIA SHOULD BE SPENT

DOING ONE OF FOUR THINGS:

• Informing

• Entertaining

• Interacting

• Converting to Business

Informing Entertaining InteractingConverting

To Business

“One of the greatest challenges companies face in adjusting to the impact of social media, is

knowing where to start.” - Simon Mainwaring

INFORM YOUR FOLLOWERS

Be specific.

Typically, your followers are going to come to you for some sort of information. Many customers do research online and then purchase in the store. The information you offer is an added value to your social media posts and helps you be perceived as an expert in your field. The information should come in specific, valuable posts that people can use right away, such as facts, statistics, steps, tips, answers, offers, ect.

Share content.

Use your informational posts to serve as a teaser of the knowledge your organization or brand can share. The information does not necessarily have to come from you either. You can repost items on a social media site or mention web sites on your blogs that relate to your industry. For example, The National Great Rivers Research and Education Center may repost a Sierra Club post, which relates to the Mississippi River. Do create original content, though. You want others in your industry to share your content, too.

REMAIN CONSISTENT

Cover subjects your followers will enjoy. Be creative, but not random. Don’t post or write blogs about unrelated topics. Stay focused on your purpose.

Whether your business is an online jewelry dealer or pizza restaurant, the most important key to customer satisfaction is consistency. Your consistent high standards and qualities allow the consumer to have confidence in your brand, business or organization. Do not fall short of the expectations you establish. If you stray from expected topics, you risk alienating your followers and losing them as customers.

SOCIAL MEDIA IS THE NEW FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT

Consumers increasingly use

Facebook and Twitter to

supplement traditional

entertainment experiences.

BE ENTERTAINING• Use Humor

• Share Content

• Post Photos and Videos

• Be Punny

Use HumorShare

ContentPost

PhotosBe

Punny

“Being effective at social media, whether for business or personal use, means capturing people who have short attention

spans. They are only a click away from a picture of a funny cat, so you have to make your thing more compelling than that

cat. And that can be a high bar.” - Alexis

88% OF USERS CONSIDER VISITING SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES A FORM OF ENTERTAINMENT

Keep it related to your industry.

You get the attention of your followers by informing them, but you keep their attention by entertaining them. Remember, keep to your entertainment related to your industry. Spice relevant content up in entertaining ways by using antidotes, facts, engaging statistics, little-known histories, true stories, testimonials, funny videos, beautiful photographs, inspiring quotes, etc.

Make posts interesting.

You can inject entertainment into your social media sites by:

Using appropriate humor. This is one of the fastest ways to create buzz.

Share unique industry-related news stories. Include your brand’s perspective.

Share interesting or historic videos, photos and artifacts.

Be punny. Use a play on words.

Shed light on little known facts.

FOCUS ON INTERACTINGThere are numerous ways to

encourage interaction from your

followers.

THE MAJORITY OF YOUR TIME SHOULD BE SPENT INTERACTING

• Ask Questions

• Seek Feedback

• Use Surveys

• Foster a Discussion

Ask QuestionsSeek

FeedbackUse

SurveysFoster a

Discussion

“People will never respond to you more positively than when you seek to make your impact felt at the human level.”

- Cendrine Marrouat

NOTHING BEATS GENUINE HUMAN INTERACTION

People join social networking sites to communicate and share with others. Remember, social media is simply communicating via new technologies. Social media is a new form of mass communication that allows consumers to give direct feedback in real time. There are numerous ways to encourage interaction from your followers:

o Ask a multiple choice question. For example, if you are tax firm you could ask “What is your tax filing style: early-bird

filer, mid-February filer, filing by the skin of your teeth or filing late again?”

o Ask a conversational question. Make sure not to offend. For example, if you make candles, ask your followers what new

scent they would like to see in your line.

o Foster a discussion that is not directly about your product but centers a topic in which your followers are interested. For

example, if you are a grocery store, share recipes and encourage your followers to share their recipes, too. You could even

highlight a follower’s suggested recipe each week. Make sure to give the follower credit and thanks.

o Use a polling feature or site such as www.surveymonkey.com to poll your followers. Ask them to rank your products and

reward them for the feedback. You could enter them in a drawing, email them a coupon or give them a promotional code

for completing your survey

SOCIAL MEDIA IS MORE ABOUT PSYCHOLOGY THAN TECHNOLOGY

Listen and respond to your followers.

• You need to interact also. Listen and respond to your followers. Respond honestly and be polite. Truly listen and respond as often as you can.

• When you engage with customers to answer their questions and acknowledge their comments, you are solidifying your relationship with them by building a bond through social media.

• It is important to question, answer, listen and respond when producing effective content for social media sites.

Build relationships.

Educate your follower about your product and, when the need arises, hope the relationship you have fostered with your follower results in a sale.

Treat your social media relationships the exact same as you would as your real life relationships. After all, that is what they are.

Don’t be spammy.

You wouldn’t just walk up to someone on the street and say, “Buy my product.”

The same is true for social media. Have tact.

Convert fans into consumers.

Effective social media marketing converts followers into customers.

It is okay to sell your products via social media sites some of the time but not all of the time.

SOURCES

Mayer Orsburn, E. (2012). The social media business equation. (1st ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

www.briansolis.com

Louise Jett