When and How to Add Social Media Content Creation to Your Marketing Strategy
By Buddy Hallvant
Table of Contents
*Disclaimer: Social media only works if owned media is at the core of your digital strategy. Here’s why it is your powerhouse:
- You Own the Platform: Your website is your digital real estate. Unlike social media, you have full control over this asset.
- SEO is Your 24/7 Salesperson: Quality content, optimized for search, drives organic traffic consistently.
- Thought Leadership is Built Here: In-depth articles, and case studies establish your authority in ways a tweet never could.
- Direct Path to Conversion: Your website is where the magic happens – where visitors become leads and customers.
- Evergreen Value: Good content can drive traffic and leads for years. Try getting that longevity from a social media post.
When to Consider Adding Social Media
1. When Your Audience Demands It
If your target market is actively seeking engagement on social platforms, meet them there. Here’s how to determine if this is the case:
- Conduct surveys or interviews with your existing customers to understand their social media habits.
- Use social listening tools to monitor mentions of your brand or industry on various platforms.
- Analyze your competitors’ social media presence and engagement levels.
- Check industry reports and demographic data to understand which platforms your target audience frequents.
- Look for social media-driven inquiries or comments on your website or in customer service interactions.
If you find that a significant portion of your audience is active and engaged on social media, it may be time to establish a presence. Remember, it’s about being where your customers are, not where you think you should be.
2. You Need Rapid Brand Awareness
Looking to quickly increase visibility? Social media can amplify your reach. Consider this approach when:
- Launching a new product or entering a new market.
- Rebranding or repositioning your company.
- Targeting a new demographic or expanding your customer base.
- Competing in a crowded marketplace where standing out is crucial.
- Preparing for a major event or campaign that requires broad exposure.
Social media’s viral nature and targeted advertising options can help you reach a large audience quickly. However, remember that building meaningful brand awareness requires more than just reaching people—your content needs to resonate and provide value.
3. Your Content Lends Itself to Social Sharing
Visual products or bite-sized insights? Social media could be your playground. This is particularly relevant if:
- Your products are visually appealing (e.g., food, fashion, design).
- You can distill complex ideas into shareable graphics or short videos.
- Your industry generates frequent news or updates that can be quickly shared.
- You have a wealth of customer success stories or user-generated content.
- Your brand has a strong personality that can shine through in short-form content.
If your content is naturally “snackable” or highly visual, social media platforms provide an ideal environment for showcasing it. However, ensure you can maintain a consistent flow of high-quality, shareable content before committing to a social media strategy.
4. You're Ready for Real-Time Engagement
If immediate customer interaction aligns with your brand, social media opens that door. This is crucial if:
- Your business benefits from quick customer feedback or input.
- You operate in a fast-paced industry where real-time updates are valuable.
- Your customer service model can be enhanced by immediate, public responsiveness.
- You want to build a community around your brand or products.
- You’re looking to humanize your brand through direct interactions.
Real-time engagement can significantly enhance customer relationships and brand perception. However, it also requires dedication, quick thinking, and potentially a team that can respond promptly and appropriately to all manner of interactions.
5. You Have Resources to Do It Right
Half-hearted social media efforts can do more harm than good. Only commit if you can excel. This means:
- You have budget allocated for content creation, possibly advertising, and potentially hiring dedicated social media staff.
- There’s a team member or team who can consistently create high-quality content and engage with your audience.
- You have the tools necessary for content creation, scheduling, monitoring, and analytics.
- There’s a clear strategy and set of guidelines for your social media presence.
- You have processes in place for crisis management and handling negative feedback.
- Your leadership is committed to long-term social media investment, understanding it’s not a quick fix.
Do You Need Social Media Strategies or Content Marketing?
Before diving into social media, carefully evaluate these factors. If several of these points align with your current business situation and goals, it may be time to develop a social media strategy. However, if you’re not ready to fully commit or if these points don’t resonate with your business model, it’s perfectly acceptable—and often preferable—to focus your efforts on other marketing channels.
How to Add Social Media Strategically
If you’ve decided social media aligns with your goals, here’s how to approach it:
1. Choose Platforms Wisely
Don’t try to be everywhere. Pick platforms where your audience is most active and engaged. Each platform has its own demographics and content preferences:
- LinkedIn: Ideal for B2B companies, thought leadership, and professional networking.
- Instagram: Great for visual brands, especially those targeting younger demographics.
- Twitter: Useful for real-time updates, news, and customer service.
- Facebook: Still the largest platform, good for community building and targeted advertising.
- TikTok: Rapidly growing, especially popular with Gen Z and for creative, entertaining content.
Conduct thorough audience research to understand where your target market spends their time online. It’s better to excel on one or two platforms than to spread yourself thin across all of them.
2. Extend Your Content Strategy
Use social media to amplify your existing content. This isn’t about creating entirely new content, but repurposing and repackaging your core content for social platforms:
- Tease blog posts with intriguing quotes or statistics.
- Share snippets or key takeaways from whitepapers or ebooks.
- Post eye-catching infographics based on your research data.
- Create short video summaries of longer form content.
- Use carousel posts to break down complex topics into digestible slides.
This approach ensures consistency in your messaging and maximizes the value of your content investments.
3. Maintain Brand Consistency
Your social voice should align seamlessly with your overall brand tone. Consistency builds trust and recognition:
- Develop a social media style guide that outlines your brand voice, visual style, and posting guidelines.
- Ensure all team members who manage social accounts are trained on this guide.
- Use consistent color schemes, fonts, and visual elements across all platforms.
- Adapt your tone slightly for each platform while maintaining your core brand personality.
- Regularly audit your social media presence to ensure consistency is maintained.
4. Engage, Don't Just Broadcast
Social media is a two-way street. Be prepared to listen and respond, not just push out content:
- Respond promptly to comments and messages. Aim for a maximum 24-hour response time, faster for urgent issues.
- Ask questions in your posts to encourage dialogue.
- Create polls or surveys to gather audience opinions and preferences.
- Share and comment on relevant content from others in your industry.
- Consider implementing a social listening tool to monitor mentions of your brand across platforms.
- Use insights from these interactions to inform your content and product strategies.
5. Set Clear Objectives
Define what success looks like. Is it driving traffic to your website? Increasing brand awareness? Set measurable goals:
- Establish SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
- Examples might include: “Increase website traffic from social media by 25% in Q3” or “Achieve a 10% engagement rate on LinkedIn posts by year-end.”
- Align these goals with your overall business objectives. Social media shouldn’t operate in a silo.
- Regularly review and adjust these goals based on performance and changing business needs.
6. Allocate Resources Appropriately
Social media demands consistent effort. Ensure you have the team and tools to maintain a strong presence:
- Assess whether you need to hire dedicated social media staff or if you can upskill existing team members.
- Invest in social media management tools to streamline posting, monitoring, and analytics.
- Budget for both organic content creation and paid social advertising.
- Consider outsourcing specialized tasks like graphic design or video editing if needed.
- Plan for ongoing training to keep your team updated on platform changes and best practices.
7. Integrate with Your Sales Funnel
Use social media strategically within your sales process, from awareness to conversion:
- Top of funnel: Use social media for brand awareness and to showcase your expertise.
- Middle of funnel: Share more detailed content like case studies or product comparisons.
- Bottom of funnel: Provide special offers or direct calls-to-action to drive conversions.
- Post-purchase: Use social media for customer support and to encourage loyalty and advocacy.
- Implement tracking pixels and UTM parameters to measure the impact of social media on your sales funnel.
8. Measure and Adjust
Use analytics to understand what’s working. Be prepared to pivot your strategy based on data, not hunches:
- Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your objectives.
- Regularly review platform-specific analytics as well as your website analytics to understand social media’s impact.
- A/B test different types of content, posting times, and messaging to optimize performance.
- Be prepared to pivot quickly. Social media trends can change rapidly.
- Create monthly or quarterly reports to track progress and identify areas for improvement.
- Use these insights to continually refine your social media and overall digital marketing strategy.
Script Writer
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Social Media Comes Second to Owned Media
Remember, social media should complement your content marketing, not replace it. It’s an amplifier, not a foundation.
Your website and owned content are your digital home base.
Social media? It’s a series of satellite offices. Useful for extending reach, but not where your core business lives.
As a business leader, your job is to drive growth, not chase trends. If social media aligns with your goals and you can execute it effectively, it can be a powerful tool. But don’t let FOMO drive your strategy.
Ready to take the next step? Don’t navigate this decision alone. At [Your Company Name], we specialize in helping business leaders like you craft data-driven, results-oriented digital strategies. Whether you decide to dive into social media or double down on your content marketing, we’re here to ensure your digital presence drives real business growth.
