How To Build Social Media Channels That Work For Your Business

Creating valuable content, posting with purpose and repurposing your successful content can make social media work so much harder for your business and get the results you want. The simple answer is add VALUE. “But what does valuable content even mean and how do I make valuable content?”, I hear you say!

Thursday 3 February 2022

How To Build Social Media Channels That Work For Your Business

What Is Valuable Content?
Put simply, valuable content is all about posting content that is useful for people and makes a difference to their day, even in a tiny way. People go on social media for one of the following 4 reasons. Every time you post make sure you are doing one of these 4 things:

Educate – people want to learn something new on social media. Educational content builds your authority and gets people to trust you.

Content that works:

FAQs
How to guides
Tips
Infographics
Share an interesting fact or stat
Address a pain point
Link to a recent blog
Mistakes people always make

Inspire - To engage and build the know, like and trust factor.

Content that works:

Quotes
Motivational posts
Advice
Product/service types & benefits
Customer testimonials
Profiling a customer
Share other people's content that’s relevant to you

Entertain – to show your brand is relatable. Valuable content even includes making someone laugh!

Content that works:

A blooper from your latest video
Awareness days
Quizzes
Competitions
Memes
Funny quotes

Connect – connect with people in their community and be social.

Content that works:

Faces behind your brand
Behind the scenes
Sneak peek on what you are working on
Your why
Nostalgia
Where you were a year ago
Ask on a scale of 1-10.

Educational post:

It’s Not About You
Value should be based around the wants, aspirations, frustrations, fear, loves and expectations of your audience. Not about what you want to see on social media. Get to know your ideal audience and drive content out of this. Give them something they need and solve their problems.

It’s now easier than ever to find out about your audience. Look at comments below your competitors post, do a poll or ask a question in stories, send a survey to your email list. There’s now no excuse not to get to know your audience.

Posting With Purpose
Of course, you are on social media for a reason. Whether it’s to get more clients, sell more products, get more appointments or drive awareness, you need to get into the mindset of posting with purpose.

Every single post you put out should contribute to reaching your business goals or whatever it is you are trying to do with social media. Every time you create content think about:

What is the purpose behind this piece of content? Sales, growth, awareness, create authority? Makes sure it helps your business.
Are you authentically representing your business? Are you speaking in the language of your audience? Does it reflect your values?
What is the audience going to get out of this piece of content? Is it providing them with value? Is it what they want to see, not what you want to see?
Is your content leading your audience to do business with you? What is currently holding your audience back from doing business with you?

Always give value. Be consistent, whether that is posting everyday of once a week. Show up with the same and similar messages, so people know what they are getting from you. Do it in a way that is sustainable and long term. Consistency helps develop the know, like and trust factor, which will ultimately lead to sales and growth.

Valuable Vs. Free Content
I often get asked, especially by service businesses “am I giving away too much free content?”. My response is that valuable content is the WHAT and the paid content is the HOW. The what is planting a seed, telling your audience that they need your product or service. The how is getting them to buy your product or service so they can achieve the transformation they are looking for.

The content you produce takes your ideal audience from where they are now to where they need to be, ready to purchase from you. Think about the bigger picture, what do your audience need to understand or believe in order to move forward and become your paying customer.

Your content needs to take them on a journey. You’re doing this to stay top of mind so when someone needs your product or service, they think of you first.

Inspirational post:

Make Your Content Go Further
Track what content works well and put it out again. Not everyone sees everything you post, nor will they hang out on every channel. It's necessary to repeat yourself and remind others of your message to stay consistent, like I was talking about earlier in this blog.

You do not need to be creating completely new and unique content every time you post. Repurposing content can save you lots of time and it can give your content a second chance by offering it in a new and original way.

It’s easier than you think. Use what you have already got such as:

A Facebook or Instagram Live can be shared to stories > a blog post can be written on the Live topic > published in your email newsletter > quotes taken out of it for a Facebook post > key points created into an Instagram carousel
Replace images in a previous quote
Compile similar social media posts into a blog
Create a quote from a blog and use in a social media post
Take frames from a Live or tips from a blog and create into an Instagram Reel or short form video

Entertaining Post:

Social Media Is Called Social For A Reason

One last thing. You’re creating all this fabulous valuable content, but you need to back it up with communicating with your audience as much as you can. Social Media is called social for a reason. Humans are social beings and this behaviour needs to be reflected in your social channels.

Start with listening to what people are saying and reply to people talking about your business and related topics. Build relationships with your audience by leaving comments, replying to their comments and they’ll become a supporter, friend, customer, colleague, referrer, advocate.

Who is Kerry Hall?

Kerry runs Summit Consulting, a Belfast based digital marketing consultancy. She works with businesses to improve their online presence so they get more sales, reach new audiences, reduce costs or achieve whatever it is they want to do. Outside of work you’ll find her enjoying the outdoors, organising the Mourne Mountain Marathon and feeding her family!

Get in touch for support with social media, content creation, email marketing, Facebook Ads or take one of her new online courses.

Follow her on social media @KerryRHall or visit her website www.summitconsult.co.uk