It’s Wednesday and this week alone I have already delivered 3 social media webinars and 7 social media-based consultations. Sometimes I meet a business that has a great grasp on their brand and post content that reflects their business perfectly. However, the majority of the time I’m reminding people that it’s called ‘social media’ for a reason. It’s not called ‘Selling A Thumbnail To My Website’.
When you speak to a friend or colleague on a Monday morning and they ask ‘How was your weekend?’, you don’t say ‘Well, it cost £8.50, it was available in 3 colours and 5 different sizes.’ You talk to them, engage with them and interact with them. This is how you should use social media. Be engaging and interactive.
So, if you’re not constantly promoting your products with links to your website, what will you post? That’s where content strands come in to play. Content strands are simple themes that your posts adhere to. Using content strands will ensure your social media content reflects your brand, it will help you stay consistent with post times and it will increase brand awareness by posting similar styles of content week in, week out – making your content easily decipherable to other hundreds of posts on social media, in the 3 seconds it will take a user to scroll past. They’ll also sell your product or service in a way that a link to your website never could.
Here are four things to think about when developing content strands…
How will you display your products or services?
When you see car advertised on television, it’s usually somebody driving down a picturesque, sun-lit open-road. It’s not a car in a car showroom with the steering wheel cover still on.
Low-calorie breakfast bars aren’t seen in a box in a kitchen cupboard. They’re shown being munched down by a young-professional office worker on her way to an important meeting.
Why should your posts be any different? A picture of your product in the packaging is not interesting or engaging. Show your products or services to your potential customers in the way that they would be enjoyed or appreciated.
What are your company’s ethics or values?
What are the ethics and values of your company? Do they line up with the ethics and values of your customer? Would you be more likely to purchase eco-friendly kitchen roll from a company you know are just as passionate about the environment as you are? Highlight that! Don’t just post about your eco-friendly kitchen roll. Try posting the latest environmental news as a blog post on your website, then share that to social media. Talk about all the ways your business stays eco-friendly behind the scenes.
What does your target audience interact with on social media already?
You know who your target audience are, every business does. Do some research into what that audience is sharing and engaging with on social media, then create similar content that relates to your business. Is a B2B professional target market more likely to engage with a blog post? Start sharing more blog posts on LinkedIn. If you’re selling an energy drink to teenagers, you better start shaking your backside on Tik Tok!
What’s your unique selling point?
What makes you stand out from your competitors? Is it customer service? Is it the quality of the work? There is something that makes your company, your product or your service head and shoulders above the rest. Use social media to highlight that! If there are 15 competitors all selling a product or service at the same price, why should someone use you? Let them know why! At InSynch, our USP is that we give away all the information. We don’t baffle are clients with jargon and buzzwords. We don’t hide anything from our clients, we’re honest and always willing to teach them how any digital marketing tool works.
Over the last few months, I have been consulting for a cheese company based in North Wales. They rely on 3 different content strands. They display their products in the situation a customer would enjoy them – recipes, cheese on a cheese board, cheese to pair with wine, etc. They post old photographs of the farm and talk about the history of their cheese-making business. And they share videos and images of their staff, highlighting the care and attention that goes into their cheese. Sticking to these three content strands has seen their Facebook page grow to just shy of 10,000 page likes since summer 2020, and their Instagram is amassing 100 followers near-consistently every single week.
Content strands really work! It’s just about creating the right ones that reflect your business – and sticking with them!
