What’s Your Social Media “Dirty Dozen?”

The current year is winding down, and the tantalizing possibilities for 2019 lie just ahead. If you’re a smart marketer who’s looking to do big things with your social media or content marketing in the new year, you’ll start thinking now about what steps you can take to score big content wins in the coming months.

In honor of those 12 months of content ahead of us, we’ve compiled a dirty dozen list of tips, notions, and strategy ideas to help you kick off an awesome year.

One: Start working from an editorial calendar.

In the year ahead, what topics do you want to discuss with your customers and prospects? Sit down for a few hours and think about it. In fact, take the whole day if you need to. The time spent will pay off later, in the form of your increased ability to plan out killer content before you need it.

Two: Be captivating.

Challenge your brand to rid itself of “sales talk” in favor of conversational, storytelling content that’s based on your customer’s needs and motivations. During content planning sessions, toss out every crazy, off-the-hook, that’s- too-expensive-to-produce, can-we-really-do-that idea you can generate. Even if you have to scale back down to reality, the no-holds-barred thinking process will likely result in a truckload of viable ideas for engaging, brand-building, conversion-inducing content.

Three: Video, video, video.

Seriously, why are you still not doing video? If you don’t have the resources to pull off video in-house, hire it out. If you still need convincing, read this article.

Four: Stop obsessing over likes, shares and retweets.

Notice we didn’t say “stop paying attention.” As a data-focused marketing agency, we’ll never tell you to ignore your analytics. Likes, shares, and retweets are important, but so are views, impressions, and clicks on content. And always remember: Many prospective customers will never directly engage with your digital content at all – but they will definitely check it out when they’re researching your company and determining whether or not they want to do business with you.

So take stock of your social media analytics, but make sure you’re also using your insight about your best customers to guide your content creation, too.

Five: Turn your customers into content creators.

Blog posts penned by your customers, customer-generated images and videos, customer testimonials and more – they all present intriguing content possibilities and an opportunity to take a break from your “all branded, all the time” content pieces.

Six: Avail yourself of storytelling/publishing tools.

Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook have recently rolled out blog-competitive publishing platforms that are all worth checking out.

Seven: Invest some time and money in social advertising.

Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram now offer amplified, sophisticated options for hyper-targeted, media-rich advertising and lead generation campaigns – and they’re affordable, too.

Eight: Think seriously about podcasting. And blogging.

Even if you don’t attract an audience of thousands, podcasts and blogs are great ways to engage with your existing customers.

Nine: Stir up a little friendly trouble with your friendly competition.

Your fans will be delighted when you mix it up with the competition, all in good fun. Check out this article for some inspiration.

Ten: Start using landing pages.

Who says that your social posts have to go to your front page or your product pages? It doesn’t cost you anything but time to create a landing page with customized content on your existing website, and the increased opportunities for tie-ins with social media content and lead generation that customized landing pages present are attractive indeed.

Eleven: Invest in professional graphics.

DIY images have their place, but sometimes there’s just no substitution for beautiful, professional images. And we don’t mean cheesy stock photos and executive team headshots – we’re talking gorgeous, quirky, and breathtaking photos, crisp infographics, and unexpected, intriguing shots of your products, team members, facilities and services.

Twelve: Harness the social power of your entire team.

Just like there’s no rule that says you have to always direct your social media content to existing pages on your website, there’s nothing holding you back from incorporating non-marketing team members into your content creation. You’ll have to provide guidance and editing, of course. But the extra time will be worth it if your colleagues can help you come up with fresh ideas for content and an opportunity to take a break from “brand voice” in favor of “human voice.”

Related Articles:
“5 Killer Tips for Better Brand Engagement”
“5 Facts to Know About Audience Definition”
“7 Social Media Trends to Note”

Need a strong, smart social media partner? That sounds like us. How about lunch?