Session 1: Content MarketingWhat is content and where do you find it?

Content is KingContent is anything you are sharing with your audience and the basic building block of all social media marketing.

Quality content is the single most important component of a successful social media strategy.

What is content marketing"Content marketing is a marketing technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action." (Content Marketing Institute)

4 Goals of ContentEntertain - You don’t always have to be somber. People who have fun, come back.

4 Goals of ContentEntertain - You don’t always have to be somber. People who have fun, come back.

Educate - Teaching your audience helps establish your expertise.

4 Goals of ContentEntertain - You don’t always have to be somber. People who have fun, come back.

Educate - Teaching your audience helps establish your expertise.

Inspire - Lead your audience to new heights and they will follow.

4 Goals of ContentEntertain - You don’t always have to be somber. People who have fun, come back.

Educate - Teaching your audience helps establish your expertise.

Inspire - Lead your audience to new heights and they will follow.

Convert - Take the audience you have created by entertaining, educating and inspiring and turn them into customers.

20 Percent Rule

Just 20 percent of your posts should be directly related to generated sales.

The other 80 percent should be geared toward building audience through entertainment, education and inspiration.

Original Content vs. Sharing

You can generate a lot of your posts by sharing relevant content from other sites, particularly if you add a personal twist.

BUT, you will get the most mileage out of original content created by you specifically for your audience.

But how do we do that!That is the question, isn’t it?

To help come up with an answer I’ve broken down original content into two segments:

1. Form: The physical format2. Subject: The type of subject matter

Forms of Content- Blog Posts- Photos- Graphics- Memes- Slideshares- Videos- Podcasts

This is not an exhaustive list, but rather some of the most common forms and a great place to start.

Subject of Content

- Reviews/Unboxing- How-to’s- Lists- Success Stories- Testimonials- Demos- Events- FAQs- Rules

Once again, not an exhaustive list.

Pro Tip: Conversation is crucial

Answering questions, speaking with a real voice, adding comments to ongoing threads all help show potential customers that there is someone real behind the curtain. Having answers establishes credibility and expertise.

Customer service is a key in nearly every business model and a positive social media conversation is a step toward great customer service.

The single worst thing you can do is ignore audience comments on your site.

Platform of the Month: Your Website

Home base is your website. It is your home on the Internet. It is where you make conversions and store long form and evergreen content.

Are you set up to take advantage of the interest you are generating on your social media?