Earlier this week I borrowed from Malcolm Gladwell’s book, The Tipping Point, and blogged that if you are consistent, you will reach the “tipping point” in your social media marketing plan. That of course is just one part of it. While talking to several prospective clients this week it was evident that they knew it would take work and time to build up their customers with a social media marketing plan but they were focused on the mechanics and not the content of their plan. In other words they were focused on a Twitter account or a Facebook page or link or SEO or a blog but not the content.
When I asked about content, what would they blog about or what would they put on their Facebook pages, they were puzzled. For example one business owner’s e-commerce site has been live for two months, they have a Facebook page and Twitter account and they are frustrated that they don’t have fans and a 6% conversion rate. There was nothing on their site that distinguished them from the two dozen other e-commerce sites that sold the exact same product. Their plan seemed to be: We are here, follow us. Another business owner knew that he needed a blog so he subscribed to a blogging service. But the blog posts were so vague and off the topic of his web site that no one who was interested in his product would ever come to his website.
Content is King
I am from the world of broadcasting and we had a saying: Content is King. Ok, I realize that a lot of other industries have the same saying and that is because it is true. As one of my friends told me today, many business owners and marketers have the “Field of Dreams” fantasy. If you build it they will come. If you have a twitter account and send out a tweet a day about your latest sale they will come. No they won’t. There are too many things going on and too much competition for people’s attention. If you are selling houses and your blog talks about flower beds you are going to attract gardeners. But they won’t stay because they are looking for gardening information and you are selling houses. If you are selling knitting supplies and all you talk about is your current sale and discount prices perhaps someone looking for a bargain will occasionally stop by but they will not be a regular customer. If you blog about knitting, knitting techniques, interesting and new knitting patterns you will build up a group of people interested in knitting. On e-commerce sites people who come for the information are more likely to buy from you too.
Content and consistency
The point is that you need to stick to your marketing plan. You need to be consistent and work through the dips to get to the point when others are starting to pay attention to what you have to say. But you need to be saying something and it should be about those things that your customers care about. You have to have content and having a bit of knowledge and passion helps too. More on that later.
If you would like to know more about building up content for your social media marketing plan please contact us for a complementary evaluation.
Photo Credit: Oknovokght
