Social media is not a strategy. It is not an advertising platform. It is not a sales platform. Amanda Patterson clarifies what it is, and how it can be used to generate income. She should know. Ninety percent of her business comes via the internet.
What is social media?
- Social media is an engine that allows you to reach your customers. Think of it as bait that allows people to see who you are and why they should be interested in you.
- Social media is the vehicle that delivers and amplifies your newly created content on your website or blog.
- It should be used to share useful, entertaining information and to add value to your followers’ lives. It should not be used to post random comments and promotional messages.
How does creating content lead to sales?
- The content you share on social media platforms should encourage your followers to click through to your website. Clicking the link leads to sales. ‘Likes’, ‘shares’ and ‘retweets’ are not good enough. What matters is that they go back to your website and spend time there.
- If you don’t have new content and they have already seen everything you have to offer, you are wasting their time. This is why fresh, relevant, content that is uploaded daily or weekly to your website or blog is crucial. This is the most important part of social media. If you don’t have the base with all the goodies on it, why do you even have social media platforms?
- Creating new, valuable, relevant content will also land your company on the first page of search engines. We all use Google to find what we need and you need to make sure your company is there. The old SEO tactics no longer work. Content is king. The only way to build your brand’s credibility is by constantly creating content that you can display on your website or blog.
Who should be in charge of creating content?
1. This content on your blog must be written by someone who knows your brand.
· It should not be written by your IT experts – this is not about IT. You do not have to be an IT expert to blog and share on social media platforms.
· It should not be written by an advertising team because your content is never a sales pitch.
2. It is a waste of time to hire a company that is not intimately connected to, and invested in, your company to do it for you. Ideally, you should train one staff member who loves your brand and give that person the job of maintaining your blog and sharing content on your social media platforms. It is not a part time job. Creating content and maintaining your accounts will take eight hours a day.
3. It should be someone who writes well. Blogging and social media is part of publishing, and you cannot claim social authority with poor writing skills.
Amanda Patterson is the founder of Writers Write. She runs business and creative writing courses.
