I don’t have any data to support this but the conventional wisdom is that most businesses have created accounts on “the sites”. I’m not going to list all of the social media platforms here – that’s another topic for another day.
There’s been much hype over the last few years about successes that have come from posting updates and all the sundry add-ons. This encourages people to believe that engaging in social media will help grow their business.
That’s a good thing. Social Media does work when it’s done right. Is that all there is though?
When you write a blog post, are you done when you’ve promoted it on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the rest? Should you move on to the next thing feeling confident that the content that you created is out there churning the soil on auto-pilot* and hope that it gets lots of reads and likes? *don’t you just loved mixed metaphors?
If you want to take it to the next level, the answer is no.
Every piece of relevant content that you “put out there” should be re-purposed as many ways as possible. Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about.
- If you hand out a flier at a networking meeting or other event, what’s the source of the content? Would that content be applicable to put out in other formats to other audiences – either online or in the real world?
- Do you have an FAQ section on your company website, is the material covered in the answers published anywhere else?
- When you create a QR code for your business card, where does the link go? Where should it go? Where else do have that link published?
There’s a lot to this and it can’t be done on the fly. You need to have a discrete, detailed process every time you create new content so that you don’t miss out on any opportunities.
Needless to say, the content has to be relevant and provide value to the audience, or else it’s just a bunch of words that will likely be ignored but, again – that’s another topic for another day.
