Welcome to our series Digital Marketing in a Noisy World. This content was originally presented in our breakout session at Breathe Christian Writers Conference 2015. (Check out our Prezi here.) We hope this information is helpful and encouraging for you. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or contact us.
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Social Media Best Practices
By Lindsay Gustafson
What an ever-changing beast!
I love this thought from Joe Pulizi about social media:
For a time, social media and content creation may have seemed interchangeable, but they are actually quite different. Though there can be quite a bit of overlap, the easiest way to think about their relationship is that content is needed to drive social media, while social media is most essential during two key content marketing processes:
- Listening to your tribe.
- Distributing content.
In short, you really can’t have one without the other. – Joe Pulizi
With this in mind…here are 6 tips to help you dive in to social media without loosing your mind:
1. DON’T do it all.
Work towards doing a GREAT job on the top channel (or two) where your tribe is. Study this great overview of the most popular social media sites and determine where your tribe will be most gathered. Remember what Joe said, “Content is needed to drive social media.” Tap into your great content and start or build your presence on a social site or two.
2. DEVELOP a branded presence.
Remember that as an author – your NAME is your brand. Build your social media accordingly. Is it VERY clear to the end user who you are, what your WHY is, and WHERE they can find you (ie: your website). Stay on brand with your content.
3. CREATE a content calendar.
Make a plan. This will help you brainstorm and track ideas. Creating a plan will also help you stay consistent. Here is a sample, simple content calendar format you can use.
4. REPRESENT your content visually.
Videos and photos/memes statistically perform better on social media channels. You can use sites such as Unsplash.com or Canva.com to create images that visually represent your content.
5. CONNECT clearly to your website.
Remember the marketing funnel! You don’t own your social media sites so don’t build these to be YOUR platform. You social media sites and posts should very clearly direct people to your webiste.
6. TRACK stats and re-strategize.
It takes a little learning curve, but every social media site has a statistics platform that you can use to analyze each post and your audience. Set up a monthly routine to spend a few moments looking at what worked, what didn’t and create a strategy going forward for continuous improvement and growth.
We have covered a lot of ground! I hope you walk away from this discussion with better thoughts about marketing, a clearer vision of what drives your content and some practical ways to go out and gather your tribe!
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Leveraging years of experience in marketing, the publishing world, non-profit development, and a passion for gathering tribes. Lindsay is co-owner, chief marketer and queen of detail. When she’s not in the virtual world she can be found laughing with her 2 kids and dog.
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Thank you for joining us on this series. Tune in next time to learn more digital marketing tips.
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