How often should I Tweet? Is there a best practices strategy for sponsoring posts for maximum effect? Which products and services are best to monitor growth?
These are some of the most common questions I hear from those looking to put together growth-based social media plans. While it is important to consider how to track growth, there is no shortcut to success, especially without the right content.
Content production should be #1 on your agenda
News curation, short-form commentary, and event live-tweeting are great, and certainly necessary for many reasons, especially in the deep tech space. But what will gain you long-term growth in followers (i.e., people who care about consistently seeing your posts) is a focus on providing valuable insights in an original content format. Essentially, your social media strategy should be heavily influenced by your content strategy. It’s pretty intuitive when you think about it. We all understand it’s great to know when to post to maximize engagement, but what are you actually posting? Is this yet another curated news sweep, or are you adding to the conversation?
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Blogs
When is the last time you dusted off your blog page and added some of your expertise to the internet? Blogs are a relatively simple and effective way to get out short-form content and transmit your thought leadership in small, bite-size chunks. The idea is to allow people to finish reading in just a few minutes, with a focused post that delivers rich insights. Depending on the topic, the post should be between 450-800 words, otherwise, you will lose your audience, big time. If you use Google Analytics or a similar service and know the average time typically spent on each page, I’d write something to match that length of time. If users are only staying on a post for an average of 45 seconds, your 1200-word essay on influencer marketing probably isn’t going to work too well!
Videos
Video is really the ultimate in your digital marketing strategy. In fact, a recent survey of B2B marketing execs commissioned by 10Fold and conducted by Dimensional Research found that almost 40% of firms prefer video to any other media. This would certainly include webinars that showcase your product to prospective buyers, but beyond that, recording panel discussions where your leadership team presents, customer testimonial videos, and other promotional content. 10Fold’s video division, ProMotion Studios, produces many high-quality examples of this, such as the multi-award winning Silver Springs Year in Review video:
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What are best practices for keeping up consistent content?
Maintaining a strong stream of content is the strategy next in line to ensure your goals are met. There are many ways to do this, but we think creating a detailed content calendar is the best way to track and monitor your progress over time. We will dive into this, and other strategies that support a solid social media plan in future blogs. Keep a lookout for this new series, and make sure to subscribe below so the tips go straight to your inbox when they post!