I am writing this blog on the heels of Ben’s series (1, 2, 3) regarding Fear in Social Media. Assuming you are open-minded to the concepts Ben discussed, and are possibly teetering on jumping into the wonderful world of the social web…let’s discuss content.
In my previous blog,
I discussed the importance of engagement in social media strategies. It is important to know your audience and
engage them where they are, without imposing your brand, but rather share intriguing content that is meaningful to them.
Part of the engagement process is to ensure that what you are communicating has value to those with whom you are sharing. Pay attention to your target audience, “listen” to their conversations, and then participate. If something you share is interesting to one person, it will likely be interesting to others. The goal is to get people interested in YOU by demonstrating the value that you bring to them. The nature of social media allows for your message to be broadcast to a large spectrum, so let’s make sure what you choose to share has the effect you desire.
So, how do you know if what you are saying is good? By making sure it isn’t bad. In a recent Inc. magazine article, Minda Zetlin, a business technology writer, speaker and author; suggests that you ask yourself these three questions…and be honest with your answers!
“1. Would I spend time on a Sunday afternoon reading or viewing this (blog post/Facebook update/tweet/video, etc.) if I didn't know the creator? If the answer is no, your content probably sucks.
2. Will people reading or viewing this information learn something that will either help them solve a problem or engage their emotions? And that useful information had better not be about your new product or feature, at least not most of the time. If all your content is a product or feature announcement, it officially sucks.
3. Is the content intended to benefit the reader/viewer or someone else? Thank yous, acknowledgements, featuring someone in your blog because you owe them a favor, asking people to vote for your pet project... all these things qualify as sucky content. They have relationship-building value too, so I'm not saying you should never do any of these things. But be very selective when you do. And make sure you're also providing a lot of quality content that will reward your reader/viewers for their attention.
What can you do if you want to improve the quality of your content? One simple way is to start paying attention to other people's content. Retweeting a great tweet takes about a second, or maybe 30 seconds if you want to add a comment of your own. Posting a link to a fascinating article or photo or video that someone else uploaded doesn't take much longer. Actually creating quality content from scratch is certainly more of an investment, but if you do it in the spirit of generosity to your audience, that audience will reward your effort and your business will benefit. Try it. You'll see.”
Editor's Note: Lee Gray is the Senior Account Manager at Tidemark Inc. Lee is a guest contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.
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