Social Media – It’s All About the Content

by | Mar 27, 2012

There are countless guides on how to use social media to attract more leads for your business. While every guide claims to have the secret you need for success, there’s really just one thing you need to know. When it comes to social media, it’s all about the content. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest, content is what drives the social interaction on these sites. From sharing a piece of content to leaving a comment about a story, people use content to interact with each other.

If you’re wondering what exactly you need to do to properly harness the power of content, here are a few tips to help you out:

Make It Great:

Despite what expensive ebooks may promise, there’s no shortcut around coming up with great content. If content is boring, it’s not going to attract any social media attention. While some people are intimidated by the thought of coming up with great content, the good news is it’s actually not as difficult as it may seem. Content doesn’t have to be worthy of a Pulitzer Prize in order to attract a lot of social media attention. Instead, it simply needs to connect with its audience. As a result, great content can come in many different forms. Depending on the audience, the definition of great may mean entertaining, informative, packed with facts, educational or even humorous.

Ensure It’s Easy to Share:

This may sound like a no-brainer, but there are plenty of websites that shoot themselves in the foot by not making their content easy enough to share. For example, if you’re using WordPress, you will probably want to install a caching plugin to prevent people from bouncing away from your content because it takes too long to load. Another example is having too many commercial elements on a page of content that you’re trying to promote. While you don’t need to hide the fact that you’re a business, make sure that the content is the primary focus of the page.

Don’t Exist in a Silo:

Social media revolves around sharing and relationships. Because social media really is social, there’s no reason that the entire burden of coming up with great content needs to be on your shoulders. Instead, you shouldn’t be afraid to reach out to others. Whether you want to conduct an interview or simply want to get a notable figure’s thoughts about a piece you’re writing, you’ll find that you get better results by interacting with others as you craft your content.

Measure Your Results:

In order to hit home runs, you can’t be afraid of the occasional bad swing. Since it takes time to learn what your audience wants, it’s important to measure the results of each piece of content that you publish. By always paying attention to how posts are received, you will be able to put your learning process on the fast track.

Although it takes effort, the payoff via social media that the right content can yield is well worth the investment of resources and time!