Today we are going to talk a little bit about content: content for your website, blog, and social media, and all of its shapes, sizes, and formats. In addition to talking about why content is important, we are also going to attempt to answer some of your most burning questions about how to manage all that content, without going insane. (Yes, it’s entirely possible.)
HOW DO I MANAGE ALL THIS CONTENT?
Content plays a HUGE part in marketing and in managing your website, which can be pretty overwhelming at times. To help this, try to think of your website, blog, and social media in smaller pieces.
But first, let’s talk about your website.
Websites are entirely important to get noticed and found these days. So to design a website, we find a graphic designer, or create a website from a template, throw up some images, pictures, and a logo, and call it a day. But what your website says and how it portrays your brand and message is just as important – if not more important.
However, the predicament that many startup businesses find is that their graphic designer doesn’t write content. Web design and web content are two different skill sets, and are often handled by two different entities. So now you either have to find time to the write the content yourself, or hire a content writer.
WHAT SHOULD YOUR CONTENT LOOK LIKE?
I like to refer to content and social media as the “King and Queen” of content to help my audience understand the importance of the two and how the two work together.
CONTENT: THE KING
So, yes, this is essentially a love story. The King (content) and the Queen (social media) fall in love and get married. The relationship and marriage between the King and Queen are built upon these 5 values, which are also the top 5 values when creating content.
1. Communication
2. Conversation
3. Connection
4. Commitment
5. Celebration
The King and Queen’s 5 “values” are important when thinking about your content. How can your content represent all 5 of these values? For the King and the Queen, these five values represent the “love” between them. Although content and social media are two different mediums, both are important. Think of two as a “family” (your business) and your “relationship” with your customers.
Once you have spent some time thinking about your own content, and how you can integrate each of the 5 values in what you want to say and the relationship you want with your customers, now it’s time to consider the second layer of content, which is focused more on organizing the details of that content.
Going back to our love story, after some time, the King and Queen have 5 children together – the hypergoblins! The hypergoblins refer to those content details that we were just talking about. The hypergoblins of content include:
1. Hyper global – Content should be written specific to your audience’s locations.
2. Hyper relevant – Content should be relevant to your industry and audience.
3. Hyper creative – Content should stand out from your competitors. Here is your chance to really shine!
4. Hyper active – Content should push your audience to take action! That could be to visit your website, download a whitepaper, sign up for a webinar or to call you!
5. Hyper personal – Content should be just personal and intimate enough to pull on your audience’s heartstrings.
THE QUEEN: SOCIAL MEDIA
So that we’ve got the content details out of the way, now let’s focus on distribution, or social media.
When the King wasjust the King, he realized that his “powers” can only go so far without some type of “push”. And we all know that behind every great man is a great woman, right? So, that’s why the King married the Queen. Content is important, but Distribution (social media) helps reach your customers – through listening and participation. Social media is an effective way to “push” or “share” your content.
But, as we discussed when talking about the King, you need to know who your audience is and develop the right kind of content your audience is actually interested in before you can focus on distributing it.
Many businesses think that they need to use social media to boost sales. If this is you, then you are setting yourself up for failure. This doesn’t mean you CAN’T convert visitors into leads and customers via social media, but it shouldn’t be treated as a major lead generation tool.
Social media is NOT for sales. It’s about connecting and conversing with customers – for REACH.
A HUGE PART OF MANAGING CONTENT…
Just like a relationship, a huge part of content marketing is trial and error. Every relationship has a story. And building any kind of relationship can take time, persistence, and patience to “find the right one”, which doesn’t happen overnight!
But with time, persistence, and patience, the King and Queen found that they couldn’t live without each other… much like you will soon discover that your business will have a hard time surviving without showing that “true love” to your customers.
If you are interested in learning more about this topic in greater detail, feel free to join us for our next FREE webinar. It’s FREE to sign up and join, and you will also have the option to download a worksheet and presentation guide to help you think about and organize your content.