Why Is Social Media Like A Trendy Diet?

We've all seen the infomercials, scrolled past the posts on social media and walked down countless isles at the bookstores. We have been bombarded with all of the "latest and greatest" fad diets, the amazing exercise programs guaranteed to get you the results you've been dreaming of for years, blah, blah, blah.....

But, what does that have to do with social media marketing? Well, quite a bit just hear me out. I'm sure you've heard of the "shiny object" syndrome, right? It's basically like gravitating to the next latest and greatest thing out there. Sometimes to a fault, at least in my experience. But why is that? I think it's because we all fall into the idea that maybe, just maybe that next "thing" will be the answer to all our problems. It will allow us to scale our business. It will grow our following or audience, it'll increase revenue. Whatever that goal is, this "new" thing will get us there. But, here's the thing, it may get you there but then again it may not because simply put, everyone is different.

Our agency has been managing clients for over 12 years and this is a cycle we've seen all too many times. So why is social media like a fad diet? We buy into the simple notion that just because it worked for one person it's guaranteed to work for me. Sound familiar? Probably, but that's ok you're not alone. We too have fallen victim to this false belief. But what does this all mean? There are so many options available out there for businesses. You could leverage social media and it may drive traffic and increase revenue. You could nurture your email list and increase conversions. You could pick up the telephone and cold call prospects and convert them into paying customers. All of these work, and have proven to work for certain people. But, just because someone else had success doesn't guarantee you'll get there too. So what strategy do you use? What focus do you take? These are all very common questions that are inherently different for everyone. It's okay, this post isn't about painting a picture of a dismal marketing landscape. I wrote this to encourage you and to help shed some light on the insight we've gained.

In the last 12 years we have realized that no matter what business you're in, what product you sell, how big or small your audience is the single biggest thing you can provide your audience to drive traffic, sales, and growth is CONTENT.

That's it! Content. Of course it's important to know where your audience is and how to find them. Sure they may be on Facebook or Instagram or LinkedIn or not even on social media at all. But, regardless of where you find them, if you can create relevant, shareable, engaging content for them to consume you will most certainly drive traffic to wherever you'd like them to go. But, it sounds simple, so why doesn't everyone do it? Well, the short answer is, creating valuable content is hard. It takes time, thought and strategic placement. So even though the idea is simple, many get bogged down with the logistics of it all and fail to build a solid content strategy.

So how do you do this? For many of you this sounds either overwhelming or shockingly easy because you "already do this". So this is the think, it can be overwhelming unless you have a process to follow and if you think it's easy, you're probably not doing it right. There are some things to consider when developing a content strategy.

First, you need to make sure you're creating content that your audience WANTS from you not what you "think" your audience wants. This is huge! Too many times we see business/brands publish content that doesn't resonate with their fans, doesn't give them the valuable insight and resource they are looking for. When this happens you may as well not produce content at all, because it isn't serving your audience.

Second, you need to find out where your audience is. Where do the congregate? Where can you reach them. As I said above they may be on specific social media platforms, they may not be on any of them. You have to know which platforms and methods best suit your audience and the method of communicating to them. You can actually use each of these two pieces to help identify the other if needed. If you have a solid social media base, you can ask them what type of information, or content they'd love to see from you. On the other hand if you know where your audience hangs out, you can begin to bridge the gap to your platforms with relevant content that has been proven to be appreciated by your existing fan base.

With that said, if you've solved the two variables above and you know what your audience wants to get from you and you know where to find them, the next piece is creating the content. For that I'm going to share our recommendation for anyone wanting to create a fully optimal and flourishing content strategy.

Do a BUNCH of videos! Sure they are better suited and easier to publish on various channels, but collectively, our society wants to learn and engage with video content. When I say a bunch of videos I mean a bunch. We recommend doing 90, 3-10 minute videos starting out. This will give you approx. 3 months of content so its worth the time investment. once you've produced 90 videos then we take that to the next step.

Get those videos transcribed, nowadays its pretty cheap to send them off to a vendor like (Temi), to get them transcribed for you. From there, you can edit them onto blog posts, to share on relevant channels. You can grab shorter snippets for social media content, or email copy. You can even pull quotes and small bits of text for things like quote cards or tweets. But, the base of everything you do is video. Trust me when I say, there is no easier way to create a MASSIVE volume of relevant content for your audience. This strategy is why we use for our clients and has been proven to work very well from both a volume and quality standpoint. If you have any questions you can always feel free to ask us. We'd be happy to help. Good luck, and again remember. Creating GOOD content will always out perform any sort of "new" strategy or new concept that someone else is saying is the end all be all steps toward success. Content will always be king, but if you can do it strategically, efficiently and effectively then none of the other "shiny objects" matter.