How to Devise a Killer Content Strategy For Social Media

When we think of social media, we think of fans, followers, and friends, and getting more and more of them. This line of thinking is erroneous, as it pushes online marketer in a mad rush to acquire more and more fans and followers who are, at best, good for nothing, and at worst, ego inflating, which cause more harm. The real essence of social is to engage your fans and followers and build relationships, which can only be done if you understand what is important for your customers and what content work in your industry. To that end, I am going to suggest ways in which you can devise a killer content strategy for your social media campaign, and stay ahead of your competition.

Set your objective

The first thing in the process is to ask yourself, what is the goal of your social media activity? Do not complicate your goal setting. Fix one goal for one campaign. Do not have multiple goals, as it will force you to spread your efforts thin, which will bear no result.

Social Media Profiling of your industry

Before you begin devising a content strategy for your social media, you should spend some time in analyzing social media profiles of your major competitors, particularly Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and other niche social media sites. This will give you an idea about the nature of content shared in your industry. You should analyze, at least, social media profiles of 10 players in the industry.

When analyzing the profile, focus your attention on the nature of content shared (whether it is static images, videos, texts, or infographic, etc.), tone of voice, timing of posts, and also see which type of posts is liked, commented, or shared most. Keep an eye on the timing of the updates as well.

Content Analysis on major keywords

The next step in the content strategy process is to make a list of keywords that your customers or prospects use to find information related to your industry. Find 10 most valuable keywords and analyze top 10 websites in Google for each keyword. See the nature of content created on those keywords. You should also scan YouTube and SlideShare to see what kinds of content is put up. You can also scan major forums in your niche for the same.

Create a list of call to action

“Click here”, “participate now”, or “like it” are good call to action line, but it is not as powerful as something like, “get a free sample now” or “to know more about luxury bag, click here”. The point is, your social media call to action should be more descriptive, and at no points it should be a sales message. This will put off your audience. You should not like to sell your audience here. You should lead them to the next step.

Make a list of detailed call to action lines for your niche and keep it in the idea repository.

Develop content pieces

Now, the last step is to devise a good number of content pieces, such that you can post them at regular interval. But when doing so, keep in mind that your effort should not be mechanical, as the essence of social media lies in being real-time and as human as possible.

Before you post your content, make sure your social profile is completed to the last info box. And when participating in social media, always remember to interact with your fans and followers. Do not just post fresh updates and forget about the comments your followers leave. Your content strategy will only work when you interact with people in real time, like a real human being.

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