Developing Engaging Brand Content For Social Media Sites

Presented by:

Jain Mc Guigan

Chocolate Shoebox

April 2012

Agenda

• Introduction & Background

• Building a Strategic Plan For Content Marketing Across Multiple Platforms

– Content Categories, Types And Tools

– Content Strategy

– Content Plan

– Engaging Across Platforms

• How To Tell Effective Stories & Content That Drives Engagement

• Content Do’s and Don'ts

– Rules for developing content

• Nurturing, then Incorporating User-generated Content

• Integrating Marketing, Advertising & Public Relations

• Measuring Engagement

• Conclusion & Things To Remember

Introduction & Background

• Content in the social space– Social media has fundamentally shifted the

marketing arena

– Social management positions now the largest recruitment opportunities in the marketing space

– Brands are focusing more on engagement than likes

• Understanding social media– Online tools & platforms

– Sharing of information & communication

– Online phenomenon

• Understanding social marketing– Planning approach using a mix of strategies

and platforms

– Benefit and community focused

– Creating marketing campaign and content for social platforms

• Getting into the social mindset– From selling to connecting

– From large campaigns to small acts

– Front control to transparency

– From hard-to-reach to everywhere

Building a Strategic Content Marketing Plan

• Content categories, types and Content– Understanding content categories

– Understanding types of content

• Content strategy– What is a content strategy and why it is important

– Developing a content strategy

• Content plan– Creating a content calendar

– The three C’s - Create, Curate & Communicate

– The magic content ratio 10:4:1

• Cross platform– Content across various platforms – understanding what goes where

– Editing content to suit platforms

Avoiding This…

Content Categories & Types

• Content categories

– Original content

– Curated content

– Sales content

– Interaction

• Content types

– Pillar content

– Community building

– Campaign content

– Partner content

• Content formats

– Content includes: articles, videos, images, surveys, etc.

• These content tools should be used in all categories and types of content

Content Strategy

• What is a Content Strategy?

– The practice of planning the content creation, delivery, and governance.

– A repeatable system that defines the entire content development process for a

marketing project.

• Why a Content Strategy?

– A content strategy will help you to maintain your social media long-term

– The internet is a minefield of content and conversations – a well thought out

strategy avoids wasting time and resources with non-applicable content

“The best argument for a content strategy

is the failure of a a project”

Developing a Content Strategy

Will be responsible for producing the content?

Will maintain the content over time?

Will monitor and interact with our content?Who

Will our content be published?

Will our content need to be updated?When

Will we get the content (assess you limitations)?

Will we curate / syndicate the content (feeds, blogs, YouTube.. )?Where

Are we adding value to our community?

Are we going to deliver our message?

How should we say it (tone, language..)?How

Does anyone care?

Does our business add value?Why

Are our content objectives content?

Does our community want to hear from us?

Topics we are going to cover?

Formats we are going to use (blogs, videos, charts…)?

What

Content Plan

1. Plan out your content ideas and topics

– Brainstorm a complete list of topics

– Develop your content streams

– Develop your campaigns

– Assess the different types of content and what can be produced

2. Develop Your Calendar

– Put it in the Calendar

– Your calendar should address: frequency, platform and content across your streams

– Assess your content gaps – re-purpose and supplement content

3. Remember 10:4:1

– For every 15 posts:

– 10 = other peoples content

– 4 = original content

– 1 = landing page / promotional flyer etc

Sample Content Plans

Engaging Across Platforms

• First create good, engaging content

• Assess and understand the various social platforms

– Use platforms to their strengths

– Use multiple platforms for your campaigns

• Cross pollinate platforms

– Encourage communities to engage on other platforms

– Use content to specific platforms – not all content should be the same

• Communicate around good content

– Engage in conversations across all platforms

– Chose your platforms carefully - If you join a platform make sure you are active

on it

Telling Effective Stories & Driving Engagement

• Consumer focused - Your content is there to add value to your

customers - focusing on your customers is priority number one

Content Do’s

• Add value to your community

• Ask your community what they would like to hear from your brand

• Tell stories

• Show your personality

• Always keep promises

• Use multiple content formats including images, video, surveys and competitions

• Think viral

• Leverage partnerships

• Be responsive

• Try something new

• Be edgy

• Accept criticism

• Encourage conversations

• Create campaigns – cross pollinate your marketing channels

• Research and learn constantly

• Think globally

Content Don'ts

• Hard-sell products and services

• Be boring or repetitive

• Be too generic – details are interesting

• Try to be too diverse – stick to your content strategy

• Automate content

• Ignore comments and feedback

• Delete comments if you don’t like them

• Disrespect your community’s privacy

• Pick a fight – there is such a thing as bad interaction

• Ignore conversations

• Ignore what is happening on social platforms that you are not on

• Grandstand

Content Rules

• Research shows you have 15 seconds to engage your customer = 30 words

• LENGTH RULE – Print document X = Web Document ½ X = Social post ¼ X

• Print and social engagement are different – never simply post your content from your

print campaigns – always re-purpose

• Avoid redundancy it waste words – 3am in the morning

• Avoid meaningless adjectives – I had a wonderful holiday

• Avoid lofty words – write as you speak

• Use you and your more than we

• Use contractions – can’t don’t you’re etc

• Short words instead of long words

• Sound like a real live human being

• Don’t use and exclamation mark after each and every sentence

• Beware abbreviations and emoticons – use abbreviations if you have to. Stay away from smiley faces

• Read your copy aloud afterwards

• COPY CHECK!

Nurturing & Incorporating User-generated Content

• Building relationships

– Monitor your platforms REGULARLY

– Be responsive

– Say thank you

– Be careful with automation

– Govern and guide conversations

• Rewards

– Rewarding your community for being

involved is important but should not

be expected

• Comments

– Do your part – join other conversations

– Offer your opinions

– Engage on platforms you are not

involved in

• Using influencers

– Select industry and social influencers

– Leverage their conversations

– Build an inner brand circle / group

• Criticism is important

– Be gracious

– Defend your brand, politely and with

respect

Integrating Marketing, Advertising & PR

• No matter how good your campaign /page/content etc if you don’t drive you

community to it – they will not find it

– Use your other marketing endeavors to drive your community to your social platforms

• Understanding the integration

– A channel overview – interactive vs. push channels

– Social media marketing through social media platforms

• Creating campaigns

– Integrating campaigns across marketing channels

• Transforming the organisation into a content machine

– Dedicated social media and content human resources

– Every department in your organisation develops some form of content – develop process to

gather it, organise it and repurpose it

– Leveraging existing content

– Communicate between multiple departments

Measuring Engagement

1. Understanding insights

– Key signs of engagement (replies, mentions, comments, shares, likes etc.)

• Creating engagement graphs

– Where is engagement happening

– How and why is engagement happening – look at a this over time

– Find your most engaging content

– Put it in perspective

1. Outcomes vs. objectives

– Assessing outcomes

– Weighing outcomes to objectives

2. Measuring tools

– An overview of the industry measuring tools

3. Planning the way forward

Parting Thoughts

• Your content is there to add value to your customers - focusing on your customers is priority number one

• Invest in your online presence and technology

• Create digital touch points – newsletter registrations, share buttons, etc.

• Help is out there – look for it– Slideshare, industry platforms, content organisations, forums, group

• Content strategy and planning is too complex to be somebody’s sometimes job. It needs to be everybody’s job.

• Adapt to change – social media is the fastest changing marketing channel be sure to say up to date

• The conversation around your brand is happening with or without you –ensure you are driving the conversation

Social media is like the ocean…you should never turn your back on it.