Business owners — I see you and I feel you.
It’s a bit of a weird time at the moment, right? It can be tricky navigating business when everything is so up in the air. It’s probably safe to assume that while you’re making alternative business arrangements and looking out for your team, the last thing you want to worry about is social media content. Comms are important of course — customers and stakeholders need to be kept in the loop, but other than a “the team is working remotely, we’re here for you” or a “our doors are closed at the moment, see you when we see you” social media post, where do you go from there? Should you share photos of your team in their bubbles baking the 2021 version of banana bread (which is cinnamon scrolls by the way!)? Should you carry on with the original content plan? Should you put a halt to social media posting altogether?
There is a right answer… it comes in two parts.
"Content Creation Is Too Hard, I Don't Know How To Do It"
Fair enough,
It does seem daunting,
But it really doesn't have to be.
Here are my top three action points to create effective content, easily.
1. Understanding the target audience / dream buyer is crutical. Where do they hang out? What do they look like? What are their information sources? Trends? Languange (formal/informal)? What marketing channels do they use?
Followed by some deeper understanding around their pains/fears/dreams/desires. What really is their true problem that your product or service solves? And why do they buy? Always keep the customer in mind.
2. Single piece of content / multiple channel strategy.
What does the audience want to hear (that solves the problem), and how do they want to digest that information? Video/blog/email? Most likely it's on multiple channels. By simply creating one piece of content i.e. a blog, and then distributing that content through multiple channels it's taking the hard work out of it. For example, a blog post on the website (great for SEO), which then becomes an email blast, followed by social media posts on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn (audience dependent). Easy.
3. Planning, planning, planning.
Printing out a calendar of the upcoming months and taking a moment to look at events and milestones that are of interest to the audience. i.e. Recruitment companies will typically produce content in the New Year about "New Year, New Job". Fitness companies "New Year, New You". Take a calendar and fill it with ideas of content that could be created that speaks to the audiences' needs/wants/desires/pains. Once it's written down and planned out, all you have to do is action it. Easy.
It really doesn't have to be complicated, and sure, we can build on these three strategies to further deeper the marketing message, but why not have a think about how these three things might impact your business or personal brand?
Let me know if you have a go, or if you have any questions!
Thanks,
Christine Westbury
