How To Conceptualize Your Social Media Into A Content Generating Machine

As a business owner attempting to build your online brand, or a professional running or starting your own business, here’s what we want you to know. You don’t have to do everything to do social media well.

While creating a presence on all major platforms (how many are there at this point, anyway?!) and posting on them several times a day might be realistic for say, Nike, there’s no way that’s realistic for most brands.

We say that “quality over quantity” is the name of the game when it comes to social media. If you’re a one-person show and aren’t able to hire a social media manager - even moreso. So, if you’re trying to turn your social media into a content-generating machine (without going nuts), here are four suggestions:

FIRST, PLAN. NEXT, POST.

We’ve seen so many brands in a hurry to get their companies on all the social media platforms, only to quickly find themselves completely overwhelmed without a clue of what to publish and when to publish it. To begin with, pick one or two platforms that your customers use. Where does your ideal audience hang out? What platforms do they actually like using? Which platforms support the conversion content you want to post?

For example, if you’re marketing your photography business to women whose annual household income is over $75,000, Pinterest will be a great platform for you! Twitter? Not so much.

Unless you’re already an expert at the platform, invest a couple of hours into learning how it works. You should know how to post content, engage followers, and track your analytics. Having this base of knowledge will make publishing and engaging feel more natural. By taking the time to know which platforms your target audience uses, you can create content that will engage them.

GET ORGANIZED.

We know. The idea of a content calendar gives you anxiety. But it truly is the best way to keep on top of all your tasks. (Here’s how you can get started with one.) A well-planned calendar will allow you to map when you’re posting content and where that content will come from. Is it original? Curated? Re-posted? Once you have your content calendar in place, set reminders for yourself wherever you’ll see the most, to post and engage (or ensure your team is doing so). This way, you won’t get caught up in your day and forget.

GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR CONTENT.

You don’t want to post the exact same content on your platforms. But you can spread out your best content across different platforms. If you write a blog each week, for example, you can tweet the link to the blog on Twitter, and post a related picture on Instagram (with a link to the blog!). Now, instead of stressing about creating three unique pieces of content, you’ve successfully tweaked great content to use on three different platforms. This leaves you more time to engage in conversations. The more open and available you are on social media, the more likely you are to build trust with your followers. Trust puts them one step closer to spending their money on your product or service.

On average, it takes 8 “touches” to convert into an initial meeting or sale. So, how can you use your social media presence to shorten this number? As an example: You meet someone you’d like to do business with at a trade show. You follow their business on both Facebook and Instagram. To engage, you consistently and thoughtfully comment on their posts or message them in response to their Stories. They then send you a direct message or email. You schedule a call and agree to start working together.

TRACK AND REFINE.

Tracking your progress is the vital final step when it comes to generating valuable social media content. You should be tracking conversion, reach, and engagement. Dashboards like Google Analytics can fully integrate with your social media accounts and give you the data you need to measure your success accurately and see where you need to make changes.

In summary, social media should be the place you go to build a community around your business. It is a great way to network and build the know, like, and trust factor but you have to have a strategy that you can stick to. Not all of us are wanting to be social media content creators, make the most out of your social media posts and the content you've already created.