When you’re working on your social media channels you can get caught up trying a bunch of new things.
That’s how a lot of things start in life, though. You try things and see what’s working and over time you learn through trial and error. You pick up on what’s working and innovate on top of that.
Social media very much does work that way, but I see a lot of people still struggling to come up with content to share. And that can lead to a problem of stopping social media marketing all together.
We know there is value in social media, but it can be hard to figure out especially when you’re a busy entrepreneur and you don’t have free time to work on social media especially in a trial and error process.
The good news is that social media doesn’t have to be difficult. There are a couple strategies you can use that have proven to work for just about all forms of content including social media.
Here they are…
1. Questions: How To Find & How To Answer
This is actually the approach we take at Ghost Blog Writers for finding the best topics to cover with blog posts. There are other ways to come up with ideas for posts, but we’ve had the most success simply answering questions.
And this is really nothing new when it comes to creating content. Think about a magazine you’ve read. Often there is a section where a writer or expert does question and answer with the readers. Readers send in questions and the expert answers them.
Very simple.
But also very useful.
Here’s one example, my favorite football team is the Green Bay Packers. On their website they have a regular column called Ask Vic. People send in questions and Vic answers them. From what I can tell is it’s the most popular column on the entire site. They do a video series as well.
If you’re struggling with creating content for your social media look to answer questions.
Here are some ways to find those questions:
Forums
Look at industry forums and see what your audience is asking.
Industry Websites
Look for popular articles in your industry and look at the comment sections. See what people are asking.
Social Media
Solicit questions right on your social media.
Also look at the influencers in your industry and their social channels. People are probably asking them questions. You can answer.
Ask your email list what questions they have. Add a form on your website and blog where people can email questions.
Industry Q&A
Could be a magazine. Could be a blog. Look at other questions that other experts are answering. Take those questions and answer them in your own way.
2. Stories: How To Identify, Create & Share
The second idea for getting regular content on your social channels is to tell and even re-tell stories. The first thing you’ll need to do is to brainstorm your stories.
But first let me share an example: Andrew Brandt.
We’re in football again with this example. He has become very popular on Twitter for his unique take on football. He’s been an agent, general manager (NFL Europe) and has worked in the front office running player salaries and the salary cap for the Packers.
One thing Andrew does is share stories from his personal experience. He has stories for all the different situations that occur throughout the NFL season and off season.
For example, the NFL Draft just happened. Andrew has told and re-tells the story of how the Packers picked Aaron Rodgers. It’s from Andrew’s perspective and it’s an interesting story. He also tells the story of a player that thought a “money to sign” meant the player had to pay when it’s actually the team that pays the player.
Andrew does this throughout the season. Every once in a while he works in new stories and he re-tells the same stories and it works.
It’s not his entire effort on social media, but it’s part of it and it’s one you can do as well.
Identify stories that maybe you already tell your customers. Perhaps you tell them when you’re going through the sales process with a new customers. Those would be great stories to share on social media. You probably have a dozen or more stories.
Share these on social media from time to time and don’t be afraid to re-share them.
Conclusion
Social media can be tough, but these are two ways you can create content and they’re relatively easy especially the Q&A approach. You find questions and answer them. That’s incredibly valuable to your target audience and because you have the knowledge already it will likely be pretty easy for you.
And now you have it…a great social media strategy.