Content Before Social Media
So you just opened a new restaurant or started a new brand and you can’t wait to share it with the world!
You start up your page and put out photos of all your amazing products everyday, and the fans start pouring in.
But soon you realise that all the photos you took for the opening press release have already been used.
So you decide to take a day off social media, then a week then a month.
Eventually your once thriving page is reduced to a ghost town with no content, and people have moved on.
That’s what tends to happen if you don’t plan for content!
Keeping your page active with posts and interactions are an essential part of running a successful page, you need to build a content strategy and engine.
Some of our clients have raised concerns that content is expensive and difficult to produce! There’s little to no ROI!
So you’re not alone if you feel that way.
I’ve talked a little about the ROI of content marketing before, but one of the main things you should consider if you’re in that boat is that content is a long term strategy, and it’s not going to net you quick wins off the bat.
Ultimately, content marketing is about building a relationship with your customers and clients so they trust you.
And like every relationship worth having, it requires time, patience and effort to blossom.
Still not convinced? Here are 5 other reasons why you need to invest in content strategy before thinking about starting on that social media page or strategy.
1. Understand The Impact Your Content Has On Your Brand
When many of our clients first come to us, they are interested in getting the most interactions, comments, and most importantly, conversions.
They have also correctly deduced that contests and promotion posts tend to perform the best consistently so they feel like they have to do that.
But is that really the right move for brands looking for success on social media?
Plenty of brands splash flashy promotions and freebies in an effort to attract new customers, but unless you’re competing based on your low prices, you’re doing more damage to your brand than you think.
Pages like Watsons or myCK can do this constantly because low prices and affordability are part of the brand image, and people respond to that.
On the flipside, local blogshop turned retail player Love Bonito seldom pushes content advertising prices even though it may have made sense for them at the beginning when their main competitors were other blogshops.
What you’re doing on social media reflects on the brand and the perception the public has.
This is why it’s important to start with a proper content strategy before creating content you think might work based on research or whatever comes to mind.
Having a working strategy allows you to identify what trends and content will work in a way that enhances and amplifies your brand messaging and create content that satisfies your target audience.
In fact, bringing your brand messaging across to a wider audience should be a KPI for your social media efforts, more so than your conversions most of the time.
We’ve written about the role branding plays in social media and content before, so check it out if you want to learn more!
2. You Can Drive More Traffic To Your Site
While content and social media might not be able to drive you sales all the time, there’s still plenty of value to be gained by getting interactions and visits to your website.
First of all, getting people to your website exposes them more to your brand, and provides an opportunity to collect data like emails or phone numbers for lead generation.
But with powerful ad targeting tools and the Facebook pixel, you’ll be able to come up with some great strategies to get the most out of your marketing dollars.
Facebook pixel for example, lets you target customers who have visited your site or interacted with your posts.
This directly affects your advertising costs, because marketing to people who already know your brand will be more effective than marketing to someone completely new.
You can also do things like create lookalike audiences, which are a group of people on Facebook that share the same interests and demographics as your current fan base, allowing you to reach new fans at a more efficient rate.
But that all errs on being able to produce content that is good enough for people to click and interact with on a regular basis.
3. Get Long-term Free Search Traffic
We can’t talk about content without talking about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) these days!
Content helps you develop searchability in different facets of your target market and build that relationship early!
You’re going to need a strong backlog of content to build credibility within the system and rank on the right keywords.
But having content also allows you to build up some SEO for terms that might not directly associate with your brand.
Say you’re in the Jeweling business, and you’re targeting men looking for proposal rings.
Your obvious keywords to invest in are going to be “wedding ring” or “proposal ring” and so on.
But having content could allow you to develop a relationship with your customer even before he starts looking for a ring.
Perhaps an article about “Top 10 Spots In Singapore For A Romantic Proposal” or “Most Romantic Stunts For A Proposal” might catch his eye and score you some brand recognition early in the customer journey.
Articles like this tend to work well on social media and get plenty of shares from curious of like minded individuals to people jus tagging their friends for reference.
4. Social Media Is Transient, Content Is Forever
I know the point sounds like a warped tagline I stole from a commercial for diamond rings, but there’s actually a pretty solid analogy there!
A piece of good content is something you can flaunt and capture attention with all the time.
Social media posts disappear from news feeds over time and engagement dries up but content is something you can promote in a multitude of ways and most importantly, be found via search engines.
An evergreen piece of content can continue to draw value to you long after you created it.
For example, our very own article about digital marketing for F&B businesses may be a few months old at this point, but it is still one of our most visited pages on the site.
Topical articles like dengue prevention or family holiday tips can also be posted up again during active periods every year for sustained value.
Another important thing that you have to take into consideration is that you don’t have control of the way Facebook or social media channels work.
When Facebook restricted organic reach a couple of years ago to drive demand for advertising, many brands were caught off guard as their traffic plunged.
As a result, brands are spending more and more on ads as the days go by.
Similar developments are not a question of if, but when.
Having content on a site that people already go to however, drives down your cost per reach in the long run.
The emails you’ve collected also allow you to reach these people directly.
Building channels that you own and control now is an essential step in surviving and thriving in the digital space of the future.
5. It Becomes Easier To Produce In Different Media Formats
Having a core content strategy also has the added benefit of allowing you to create social media content easily.
A long video could be cut into multiple clips of gifs, articles can be turned into infographics or videos as well.
Having core content pieces allows you much more diversity and may even cut your content production cost in the long run depending on how much content you can draw from it.
If you ever need inspiration on how to cut out your content Movie pages are great places to go.
The page for IT is littered with trailers, highlights, gifs and still from the movie.
Your product may not be a feature film, but the concept is the same, make 1 big piece of content, and cut it up for social media in different ways!
Get started on your content strategy!
Ready to get started on your content strategy? Check out these other articles and start executing!
How To Build A Facebook Content Strategy
Your Digital Marketing Campaign Guide
Why Does Content Marketing Not Drive Sales Immediately?
Once again, feel free to drop us any questions or comments or even to share some of your ideas with us at this email: enquiries@clickrmedia.com
Looking for social media ideas or strategies?
Check out our comprehensive guide of 46 Advanced Tips For Running Your Social Media Channels & Campaigns. We’ll go through come of the techniques we use ourselves with an easy instructional format and it’s also filled with local case studies!
