Social Media Strategy: A Case Study with DCMS

A marketing strategy for Crown Representative for VCSEs

Overview

We had the privilege of collaborating with the UK's Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (DCMS) on a transformative social media strategy DCMS project. The challenge was to develop  a marketing strategy that would target two distinct audiences: civil servants/commissioners and organisations in the Voluntary, Community, and Social Enterprise sector (VCSEs). Our goal was to make these audiences understand the value of working together with the UK Government, encouraging them to adapt their commissioning behaviours for the greater good.

What we did

  1. Understanding the Audience: One of the foundational pillars of effective social media marketing is understanding your target audience. In this case, we had two diverse groups: civil servants/commissioners and VCSEs. Our approach began with comprehensive research to grasp their motivations, pain points, and communication preferences. Armed with this insight, we were ready to craft messages that would resonate.
  2. Clear Messaging and Motivational Communications: The power of plain English cannot be underestimated. To bridge the gap between these two distinct groups, we developed clear and concise messaging. These messages were designed to not only increase understanding but also motivate behaviour change. Our aim was to make it crystal clear why collaboration between civil servants and VCSEs was not just beneficial but crucial for the greater good.
  3. Event Material: In addition to our digital efforts, we also produced materials that can be used at internal and external events. This was a key component of our strategy to foster engagement and understanding. This involved advising and consulting with speakers to ensure their presentations were engaging and effective.
  4. Social Media Expertise: A strong social media presence was paramount in reaching our target audiences. We used platforms like Twitter to disseminate our messaging effectively. This was especially crucial given the public sector context of the project, and our previous experience in this domain played a pivotal role.

Results

Engaging Charities and Social Enterprises

  • We defined clear objectives aligned with government priorities such as "Levelling Up" and fostering a strong and sustainable VCSE sector.
  • Key messages were drafted for various channels, including Twitter, blogs, GOV.UK pages, and LinkedIn.
  • Engaging content, including tailored presentations, blog posts, and tweets, resulted in increased engagement and understanding among our target audience.

Presentation to Government Commercial Staff

  • We created an engaging presentation showcasing the value of commissioning public services from charities and social enterprises designed to be delivered to government commercial staff. This presentation received positive feedback and demonstrated the potential of the VCSE sector.

Webinar Series

  • We created a proposal for a webinar series promoting VCSE readiness to apply for government contracts in targeted sector segments.

Our collaboration with DCMS proved to be a success. Through strategic social media marketing, event planning and clear messaging, we were able to bridge the gap between two distinct worlds and pave the way for a more collaborative future.

Ready to elevate your social media marketing strategy and achieve transformative results? Contact us today to discover how we can help you!

 

 


LinkedIn company page on phone

9 Steps to creating a B2B content strategy for LinkedIn

As we know LinkedIn is crucial for B2B companies looking to connect with other businesses and professionals. As the world's largest professional site, over 690 million professionals use the platform to network, research and learn*. Hence, it's essential for B2B companies to create engaging content that resonates with their target audience on LinkedIn.

In this blog post, we will provide some tips and strategies for creating effective B2B content for your LinkedIn company page.

1 - Define Your Target Audience

Before creating any content, it's essential you are clear on who your target audience is. Not only will this help you to tailor your content to their specific needs , it will help you later on if you end up sponsoring your posts through LinkedIn Campaign Manager. Take the time to research your target audience's job titles, industry, interests, and pain points.

2 - Share Valuable Insights and Information

To create engaging content on LinkedIn, you need to share valuable insights and information that will benefit your audience. This could include industry trends, current news, best practices, or thought leadership content. By sharing valuable information, you position your company as a thought leader in your industry, which can help build trust and credibility with your target audience. 

3 - Use Eye-Catching Visuals

Visuals are essential on LinkedIn, as they help your content stand out in a crowded feed. According to LinkedIn, posts with images receive 2x more engagement than those without. So, make sure to use eye-catching visuals such as images, carousels, videos, or infographics to accompany your content. When using visuals, ensure they are high-quality, on-brand, and relevant to your content.

4 - Keep it Short and Sweet

The ideal length for a LinkedIn post is between 50 and 150 words, with a clear and concise message. If you need to share a more in-depth piece of content, consider LinkedIn articles.

5 - Use Hashtags

Hashtags are an effective way to increase the visibility of your content on LinkedIn. When using hashtags, make sure to use relevant and specific ones that align with the message and target audience.

6 - Engage with Your Audience

Engagement is key on LinkedIn, so make sure to engage with your audience by responding to comments, asking questions, and starting discussions (polls are useful for this). Engaging with your audience helps you to build relationships, gain insights into their needs and increase the visibility of your content.

7 - Mix Up Your Content Formats

Content formats include text-based posts, videos, images, carousels, infographics and polls. By using a variety of content formats, you can appeal to different learning styles and keep your content fresh and interesting.

8 - Analyse Your Performance

It's essential to analyse your performance regularly. LinkedIn provides insights and analytics on your content's reach, engagement and demographics, which can help you identify what's working and what's not. Use this data to optimise your content strategy and improve your engagement rates.

9 - Consider Sponsored Content

While organic content is essential, it's becoming increasingly difficult to reach your target audience without paid promotion. Consider investing in sponsored content, which allows you to promote your content to a specific audience based on their demographics, interests, and behavior. Sponsored content can help you reach a larger audience and generate leads for your business.

 

Creating engaging B2B content for your LinkedIn company page requires a strategic approach. By following the tips above you can create a content strategy that resonates with your target audience and generates leads for your business. At Oh my social we understand the importance of creating engaging B2B content on LinkedIn and would be happy to help you create a content strategy that meets your business objectives. Get in touch with us today at [email protected].

 

 

*Source: LinkedIn.com


7 Tips for Preparing Your Seasonal Social Marketing Plan

 

What is seasonal content and how can you start using it as part of your brand or business social marketing strategy?

Every season has unique events, national and international days and holidays, and when your business or brand talks about these events in a strategic way it is called seasonal marketing.  For example John Lewis’ annual Christmas advert is a business making use of the holiday season in December.  Now, their Christmas advert is one of the most anticipated campaigns every year: a seasonal calendar is a useful and effective element of your social media marketing strategy.

Why is seasonal content useful?

If you’re a marketer you likely already know the important role that seasonal content can play in your marketing strategy. Seasonal content isn't a direct conversion / sales tactic, but rather a method that can help with:

  • Reaching new audiences
  • Showcasing your interests / expertise
  • Acknowledge topics also relevant to your existing audience
  • Personalising your brand with an awareness of current events
  • Productivity in delivering timely content
  • Filling up your editorial calendar

It’s important to choose topics that have a natural connection to your brand, which you will understand more after completing a thorough social media audit. You can use our seasonal social media calendar to identify relevant national days and incorporate this into your strategy.

See below for some great seasonal social media examples we've showcased on our Instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxfA9-dHlyr/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

In this instance Air Malta have capitalised on the Eurovision song contest by sharing a great picture of crew members with their competition representative. They have tagged the singer, Michela in the post and wished her luck which resonated well with the followers, many of whom would find this post interesting.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxuizsnHYem/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Ecommerce homeware brand Bonadea decided to make use of the seasonal event Chelsea Flower Show, by showcasing their floral items and arrangement. A great use of the hashtag and topical event.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxSkA6UHPYh/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

In this case sharing a funny clip from the Met Gala resonated well with the clothing lines audience.

7 Tips for Preparing Your Seasonal Social Marketing Plan:

  1. Draft up a yearly marketing schedule

It’s important to sit down as early on in the year as you can to draw up a seasonal calendar. This will help you to keep track of approaching events as the year progresses and will allow you to begin tailoring your marketing materials for each campaign well in advance.

Remember to include a range of different events – from the big ones e.g. Christmas to smaller ones such as World Environment Day on the 5th June. 

Our seasonal social calendar is the ideal starting point, summarising all of the key dates coming up in the next 12 months.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx15B4uHm8Z/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

2. Use seasonal marketing to promote your newest offers:

If you are experiencing higher volumes of traffic from seasonal content, it doesn't hurt to incorporate a promotion to encourage sales. Have a look through the key events in your calendar and consider the most prominent days - can you combine this with a related deal / offer for your customers?

3. Don’t forget about the smaller events:

Smaller events (e.g. Take Your Dog to Work Day) allow you to reach a new audience that may not have otherwise found you via clever use of the hashtag.

By no means do you have to develop a strategy for every single event (there are way too many) but don’t hesitate to engage with the slightly less obvious national days. Is there a blog post already written that you can recycle to get involved with the content of that day? This allows you to continue your marketing strategy without too much effort on your part.

4. Use Data

Have you looked at your analytics to see who your buyers are?

Its worth investing a bit of time into your audience analytics. Not only will this help you create buyer personas when it's time to advertise to a target audience, you can also determine which events and holidays your audience will be interested in. Discover which days your audience prefer and get inspiration from this to factor into your calendar planning.

5. Organise

Once you’ve researched and identified which events and holidays you want to focus on, it’s time to create a plan. You can use an editorial calendar to plan your upcoming social media activity for the year.

6. Decide how you will create content

Once your plan is in place it's worth thinking about how your seasonal content is going to actually look. This could include customised updates, relevant images / video and blog updates.

Think about how this will also impact your written copy, and how you may update things like profile picture, cover image and bio to complement the season accordingly.

7. Schedule in advance

Scheduling in advance takes a great deal of headaches out of remembering what to post and when. Now that your plan is in place and you've created the content, you can use a tool like Tweriod to determine the time that your posts will receive the most engagement. Our preferred scheduling tool is Hootsuite.

Have you started planning your content for the year yet? Perhaps you can start with a social media audit.

Remember, all new subscribers to our mailing list receive a free copy of our calendar download - sign up below:

[yikes-mailchimp form="1" description="1"]


The 8 productivity tools for Social Media Managers

There are literally hundreds of productivity tools for social media managers out there. When looking after multiple social media accounts, organisation has to be your middle name. There are hundreds of useful time-saving platforms that have been developed to help you along the way. To make life easier we've summarised our Social Media Manager's most effective tools based on experience.

The tools listed below work seamlessly through apps and desktop use - your progress is saved virtually, whether on mobile or laptop you can pick up where you left off.
To manage ideas, planning, and tasks
  1. Evernote:

Evernote is the ideal note-taking app for Social Media Managers. You can use it to draft content ideas and copy for social posts. You can type, dictate or snap an image of things that catch your eye or spark inspiration.

Evernote has excellent features that come in handy, e.g. allowing you to tag projects by campaign type or date, share documents, and add links to other documents like calendars or decks. Evernote works well for team sharing and personal use.

2.Trello

Trello is an easy-to-use tool for organising thoughts and arranging content ideas with boards, lists, and cards. You can attach files, add comments, create checklists and so much more. It's also useful to create and manage various content calendars and collaborate with team members and clients.

3. ToDoist

Small regular tasks are the bread and butter of a Social Media Manager's daily routine. ToDoist makes sure you don't miss a single one. It has proven to be the absolute best to-do list manager: enabling you to assign tasks to a specific date, reschedule the ones you don't get done and highlight in order of priority. You can even choose recurring tasks so you're reminded daily, weekly, or as often as you like.

Productivity tools for social media managers to prepare content
  1. For graphics - Canva

Canva is an awesome photo editing and graphics tool. It is a complete graphics solution for all your social media posts. Not only is it free, but it will also save you time with its huge collection of free and paid photos, so you can find images quickly depending on theme or style.

2. For images - Snapseed

For Instagram-ready picture editing on the go, Snapseed has all the features you need to get images to pop. It offers features that most other apps don’t – such as a healing brush and a Face Enhance tool, as well as a load of unique filters and artsy effects.

Another big bonus – it remembers your edits so you can upload a new pic and select 'last edits' to keep consistency with the editing style, saving time in the process! You can read more about turning blog posts into social media content here.

3. For video - Splice

This user-friendly video-editing tool by GoPro is ideal for social media-friendly edits. With Splice, you can trim and crop footage, apply filters and customize video audio in one place.

Tools to store and schedule content
  1. Google Drive:

Google Drive is a safe haven for all your files, you can easily access your files from any device connected to the internet. The mobile app contains almost all the functions of the desktop tool such as the creation and sharing of documents, sheets, and slides. With the app, you can set the viewing and sharing permissions, as well as, update documents.

2. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is probably one of the biggest productivity tools for social media managers, with over 15 million users worldwide (including more than 800 of the Fortune 1000 companies). It gives you the flexibility to collaborate with your team and manage social projects while on the go. Hootsuite also allows you to curate content, schedule content, run social media ads, measure your ROI, publish posts to all major social networks, and connect with customers. We love Hootsuite because of its'  comprehensive platform that can monitor accounts and keywords across 35 social networks

When all else fails - notebook and pen

We love these time-saving productivity apps, but sometimes nothing beats a good paper and pen to jot down ideas and create to-do lists.

Ultimately, the important thing is to find what works for you, get in the flow of using the basic apps really well, and flourish.

Do you use any of the tools we listed? What productivity tools for social media managers would you recommend? Let us know in the comments below.


8 social media manager interview questions

If you own a business, a side hustle or work in marketing the chances are sooner or later you will be interviewing a social media manager. Most importantly, it's incredible how integral social media has become to business and marketing strategy. It is no longer a side task tacked on the end of an intern or PA's job description, because a good social media manager requires creativity, people skills and contextual understanding.

Some businesses are run entirely on Facebook or Instagram, therefore a good manager will have your social strategy converting into traffic and sales leads in no time (although we recognise this is only a fraction of what social media objectives should encompass)

Read on for our list of example questions on what to ask during an interview with a potential social media candidate :)

Before the interview

Most importantly the candidate should be briefed on the business, what social media platforms and handles currently exist and who your target audience is so they can do some research on you and prepare.

The Interview Questions

1. What social media accounts have you managed in the past, and specifically what tasks did you do for them?

This is a good indicator of experience and the ability to engage communities through content.

2. Have you had a chance to look at our existing channels? Please let me know your thoughts on what do we do well? Which posts need improvement? Is there a new type of post you recommend we try?

This is one of the most important questions. Anyone can be a creative person but do they *get* your business and what you're trying to communicate in a social language?

3. How would your friends describe you in 3 words?

You should note these down to see if they reflect the qualities of a good SMM - essential skills include but are not limited to: competitive, organised, alert, assertive, friendly, open and honest.

4. Which social media tools have you used?

Advanced SMM's will have used scheduling platforms like Hootsuite or Sprout Social. Besides that, it's also good to know what tools they use to help them create content.

5.Do you have your own blog / regularly publish content on your own social media platforms?

This should give you an understanding of their creative writing, design and SEO skills.

Scenarios

1. A user leaves negative comments on a recent post - they are dissatisfied and rude. How do you respond?

This question will assess their attitude to a brand / reputation crises. Ask for past examples.

2. You publish a post on Instagram and after 5 hours it has received just 10 likes - what do you do?

This will assess their understanding of boosting engagement. Look out for any interesting strategies - hashtags, commenting, sponsorship, stories etc.

3. How do you go about putting your own content plan together for the week / month and year?

This will look at their organisational and planning skills for a social audience. Seasonal events and existing content are all aspects to look at.

Good luck - we wish you all the social media manager success!

Need a social media manager? At Oh my social we offer a recruitment service where we will hire and vet a social manager for your organisation. Email [email protected] to get started today.

Have an existing social media manager? We run training courses for social media managers, taking your strategy to the next level. Email [email protected] to get a training session planned.


Simple steps to making social media videos on your smartphone

The rising popularity of videos for social media goes without saying. Whether you're a content creator, influencer or social media manager, quick smartphone video skills are becoming key. The ability to take good quality videos on a smartphone makes sense - it’s quick, easy and fun not to mention you can capture and post engaging content while on the go.

This article will give you advice on how to shoot and edit effective videos with a smartphone or iPad, that can be uploaded to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and all other platforms. Read on for lots of tips and tricks to make sure you're creating the best videos for social media.

  1. Plan and prepare for your video shoot

Start by cleaning the lens - easy to forget but makes a huge difference to the picture quality. It's best to use moistened cleaning wipes, in the absence of these your breath and a cloth wipe should do the job.

Next, find a way of shooting steady footage. This is to ensure the picture is smooth and shake-free, you can go about this a number of ways including: using two hands to film, propping the phone against something for support (e.g. window or heavy object), using a smartphone tripod, or for best results, using a stabiliser rig.

You want to think about the visual elements of your shoot - are there different angles that you want to shoot from? How much B roll (atmospheric footage) do you want to capture?

2. Capture quality video footage

Image result for camera icon iphone

You will need to tap the camera icon on your phone home screen. Then, move the onscreen button to the right from the camera position to the video camera position (usually a red button). If extra lighting is needed, tap the flash button. This will shine a light while you record video. Tap the record button to begin filming - a timer displaying the length of your video will appear. Tap the record button again to stop recording. Your video will be saved to the camera roll automatically.

Factors to consider: 

  • The background - do you want a white or plain background free from distraction? Think about aspects like mess / clutter on show and other people in the way when you're filming. Some people makeshift their own backdrop with cloth or paper
  • Sound - sound quality when filming with smartphones is always better when using a clip on or hand held microphone. You can find some pretty affordable ones on Amazon.
  • Stability - do you have a tripod or secure point to balance your phone while shooting - your hands may not be steady, but a good stabiliser can help you to get professional quality video.

Once enough footage has been taken (don't be afraid to do 2-3 takes to get it right) now, you can start to edit.

3. Edit video quickly and efficiently

cartoon image of handheld smartphone video selfie

You edit videos directly on your smartphone. The photo app itself allows you to trim the length of the video and apply a few basic filters. To do this: open the video recording and the editing controls function. You can drag the start and end points to cut it down to the portion of the video that you want to keep. You can play the video to preview the edit and choose to trim this down permanently or save it as a new clip.

For more advanced editing you can use a specific video-editing app (and there are loads)... Some of our recommended video editing apps are included below:

iMovie

Great for: editing beginners

One of the easier apps for iPhone is Apple’s own iMovie. It comes with pre-made effects and text overlay templates. 

 iMovie for iOS is a great app if you're shooting video on an iPhone and can't get back to your computer to edit with the desktop version of the program. With a few quick taps, you can pull together a professional video.

The Trailer templates offer a structure for sequencing your clips, complete with transitions and effects. You can also add your own music or voice narration. The app lets you trim, split, duplicate, adjust playback speed, and add text and special effects. On top of this, the iMovie Theater feature will share your videos with all of your devices. However for advanced editors it is not consider  flexible enough...

Splice

Great for: those producing regular video content that needs to be edited quickly

Splice lets you select photos and videos from your camera roll but also external folders like Dropbox, Facebook, Instagram, Google+ and GoPro Plus. Splice offers more than 20 video styles complete with transitions and graphics. It is great for chopping up long clips of video on the go and does not feel complex. Add photos and videos, line them up, add and delete fade-ins and outs, personalize text and choose audio.

There are many audio options to choose from, with a timeline specifically for editing audio. When you've finished editing your video, you can share directly to YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Vimeo, Mail and Messages.

Adobe Premiere Clip

Great for: Intermediate video editors and those creating slightly longer form footage

Premiere Clip lets you connect your mobile videos with Adobe's professional desktop editing packages: Premiere Pro and Premiere Elements. You need an Adobe ID to use it, but the app is free, so paying for an account isn't necessary.

With Premiere Clip, it's easy to create simple social media video clips. You can access video from a number of places including your phone, Lightroom, Creative Cloud or Dropbox. You can use the app's Freeform editor to trim, edit exposure and highlights, add audio, adjust speed, and split clips. There is also a large assortment of filters to choose from to make your video unique.

GoPro’s Quik video editor

Great for: Fast motion adventure style video, lazy publishers, quick wins.

GoPro's video editor will work with videos on your smartphone even if you don’t own a GoPro. It can automatically create an edit for you - select the clips you want the app to pick from, and in a few seconds it spits back an edited video. You can then tweak the edit from there. The results are sometimes unpolished, but it handles some of the most frustrating and long winded first steps of video editing.

4. Create and edit simple subtitles

Man with afro standing next to tripod and camera

If you plan to post your video for promotional purposes, particularly on Facebook it is advisable that you add subtitles. After trial and error we find the best way to do this is to:

  • Listen and transcribe the video in a document
  • Once the first edit is written out listen and proofread along, correcting any mistakes and errors
  • Then copy and paste the script to the corresponding part of the video
  • Watch one final time for any errors (grammatical errors are the most common issue with subtitles!)

5. Promote your video

four tall buildings shot from below

You've gotten this far - content has been filmed, edited to your style the subtitles aren't even half bad. Now people have to see this! We recommend your video is uploaded to your website and YouTube channel first. That way when you begin to promote it on social media you can direct people to your channels to find your other content. 

Working with relevant influencers, brands and businesses can be another way to promote your video. Remember to send an email alert to your subscribers, along with potentially a blog post to boost visibility of the video. If you filmed for advertising purposes, then you can launch your advertising campaign. Good luck!

Do you film content for yourself, a brand or a business? Share a smartphone video you shot and edited below so we can see!


How a Social Media Audit can take your brand to the next level

The words ‘social media audit’ can sound intimidating – what do we mean by audit? Essentially it is a health check that will:

  • make sure your social media efforts are effective
  • identify areas for improvement

Social media marketing is TIME-CONSUMING and let’s be honest, can be downright overwhelming. Taking the time to understand whether your investment is delivering results and where to place your resources in the future is crucial, and a social media audit can highlight areas that need attention to bring you the best results.

Genuine, straightforward, and objective advice from an established social media expert can really help to boost your business goals.

What will you gain from a social media audit?

Social media strategies can be costly (in the $1000s) quite quickly. A social media audit costs a fraction of that investment and can provide the answers you need to keep your goals on track.

  • Find out why your content isn’t getting engagement
  • Pinpoint areas for improvement
  • Understand the demographics of your fans and target a more defined audience.
  • Find out how you perform against competitors
  • Gain valuable feedback and best practice from an expert who lives and breathes social every day.

Our approach

our approach to social media audit

Our bespoke social media audit service analyses your brand’s existing social media, providing you with actionable feedback to ensure you deliver value to your customers and audience. We look at:

  1. What is working and giving you optimum results
  2. What isn’t working and is failing to give good returns
  3. What can be done to achieve better results on your social media platforms

Many agencies charge tens of thousands of dollars and take months to complete a social media audit. At oh my social the process is very simple: we look at each of your social media platforms and give you actionable recommendations to meet your objectives.

We’ve been in the social media space for nearly 10 years and love helping our clients with this service. To learn more and book your social media audit today, click–> here. 

Work smarter, not harder.

social media audit testimonial


How to choose a winner for your social media competition

Running a social media competition is a great way to increase engagement and followers online while raising brand awareness. Often, it can also help with sales and the growth of your business. A social media competition can also help to grow your email list in a short space of time, allowing you to reach a new and bigger audience.

Facebook and Instagram are often the platforms of choice for a social media-style giveaway. But before you announce the contest you will need to familiarise yourself with the various stages, protocol,s and tools that will help you along the way, including documentation proving that you picked your winner fairly.

This article will focus on the winner selection process: how do you make it truly random? You don't want to be accused of fraud or favouritism.

Here are three tools we find the most useful when picking a social media competition winner fairly:

1. Random name picker

There are many random name picker tools out there. One that has worked successfully for us in the past is MiniWebTool's random name picker- you just enter one name per line in the text field and then click on the "Pick a Random Name." button. It will then automatically choose a random name for you.

Time saver: if you're are keeping records of your entries in a spreadsheet, you can copy and paste your list into the form.

2. Google 'Random Number Generator'

By googling 'random number generator' there are many free tools available (including Google's own), providing a straightforward and fair way to pick your competition winners. To begin with, each of your entries needs to be assigned a number - then enter the minimum and maximum numbers to use on the tool, and select 'generate'. Easy peasy!

3. Woobox's Pick a Winner Tool

If you are running a contest on your Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram timeline,  Woobox's Pick a Winner Tool will randomly choose a winner for you free of charge. You will need to sign up for an account and connect to your social media channel.

Then: > select the post you want to use to select your winners >choose whether comments or comments and likes count as entries >select the "Pick Winner" button.

Whichever method you use, remember to take a screenshot of the result to document how you randomly picked the contest winner.

Good luck! Are you running a social competition at the moment? Do you have any questions about it? Let us know below.


Turning a Blog Post into Social Media content

You can help drive traffic back to a company or brand's website by turning a blog post into social media content. Promoting blog posts on social media gives them longevity and integrates overall marketing efforts - read on to learn how to do it well..

When looking for relevant shareable content for a company or brand, turning a blog post into social media content is the best starting point for spreading the word. They provide up to date valuable info for your audience, gives the company credibility as a thought leader in their industry and directs people to the website (helping to lead to that ultimate sale).

Whether you are looking for work as a Social Media Manager, or already have your clients up and running, you can use social media channels to promote a business' best work and connect with existing and potential customers in new ways. As a Social Media Manager you will almost certainly be repurposing blog post content for social media. This post will help you understand the different ways you can get the message across effectively.

Change content to suit each platform 

When chopping up blog post content for social media, consider the platform you're posting on. This can affect whether you chose to post a video, images, slideshare, text only etc, as well as the way you phrase captions and include links, hashtags and locations. The key is to create a social media blueprint for the brand in question - does their audience like video on Facebook? Maybe they respond best to a slideshare on LinkedIn or a series of tweets.

Consider the amount of time that someone will spend scrolling past your post and adapt the content to capture their attention in that time. Remember your ultimate goal is to get views on the blog and links through to the website.

Where to begin

After reading through the post in question, picking out a few key points and interesting quotes there are several steps to take:

1. Decide what platforms are appropriate to share the content:

Instagram post / Instagram stories / Instagram live / LinkedIn / Twitter / Facebook / Facebook live / Similar interest Facebook groups

2. Decide what the post content should look like:

Quotes on images / short summary video / Livestream / Infographic / Slideshare presentation

3. Create the content

4. Decide what time and days to post

5. Add to your social media calendar

Post content types:

  1. Quick quotes on images

Adding a visual element to your tweets can increase their visibility. You can grasp this by extracting quotable quotes from the blog post, and placing them over an image using a site like Canva to create visual graphics. Your image will need to complement your chosen quote or the title of your blog post. You can use a picture you’ve taken or a stock image from a royalty-free website such as UnsplashPexels or Pixabay.

Good for Twitter & Instagram.

Examples:

https://twitter.com/TrippingTreacle/status/1014135675812241409

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bkr5XGjl-S9/

2. Short summary video

Video continues to be a popular way to consume social media and is a good way to get shares and engagement. You can convert the contents of a blog post into a short, social-friendly video. If you remain unconvinced about the power of video check out these stats from Wordstream:

  • 45% of people watch more than an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos every week
  • One-third of online activity is spent watching video
  • 92% of mobile video viewers share videos with others

Example:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlBwM3OANuf/

3. Facebook / Instagram Live

Going live is a good way to announce the latest posts, generating greater organic traffic than text announcements. The more engaged your community, the more questions and comments you are likely to get on blog posts. A good way to get more interaction with a blog post is to run a live Q&A session on Instagram or Facebook. Users are loving real-time broadcasts and they're a great way to promote a post and give extra value on social.

Instagram Stories are great for posting the news that the latest blog post is live. You can encourage people to interact with the brand through an online poll or pose a question on the blog subject.

4. Infographics

As visual aids, infographics work well on social, are easy on the eye, and easy to digest. They're valuable nuggets of education that users find shareable and blog posts already provide the bulk of the content needed to convert into a visual graphic. You can find many infographic templates on Canva.

https://youtu.be/1jUapcGnT8g

5. Presentation slides

A presentation-style Slideshare or Instagram multi-image post is fantastic for step-by-step tutorial-style content. These translate the post value to users on social and are likely to get a lot of shares and likes. You can use text directly from the content already written, encouraging users to check out the website for the full article.

For this style of content, we recommend LinkedIn or Instagram multi-image posts. LinkedIn tends to be more friendly to long-form content, and you also have the option of sharing longer sections of the post directly to LinkedIn.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjFVAyFlXdP/

Pinterest 

Pinterest is slightly different from other social media platforms. As a visual search engine, pins tend to stay searchable over time. Some brands have argued that pins have more potential to go viral, and Pinterest tends to have profitable target markets as their users generally have a higher income. Gaining traction on Pinterest is a whole tutorial in itself, however, if the brand in question is already active on Pinterest, you can repurpose the post into a shareable pin.

YouTube

When it comes to promoting a blog post, YouTube works a little bit differently from other strategies mentioned above. Content for YouTube is very specific, the audience is more likely to be discovering you for the first time. Because of this, you will need to create relevant content that may not exactly be aligned with your blog post.

For example, to turn this blog post into a YouTube video we could:

  1. Create a tutorial-style video recording the screen, explaining the post as you scroll down.
  2. Create a video discussing how to create content for social media, with one of the points being repurposing content from blog posts. We could highlight that last, and then promote this blog post and say “click on the link below for more info about how to turn blog posts into social media content”

When all is posted - don't forget to use analytics

You can track engagement with blog posts back to social media through analytics tools such as Google’s URL Builder. This can tell you a variety of data around the success of posts, including the number of clicks your link receives from the various social media platforms. This data can guide your future social marketing strategies.

Blog posts are prime social content for every social media manager, providing a base for creative energy. If you wish to outsource a social media campaign check out our services. How do you turn your blog posts into social media content? What has been most effective for you? Share your thoughts in the comments below! 


Influencer Marketing: a guide to effective campaigns

Over the past months, companies have had to adapt to the “new normal” of consumerism, and we have seen a significant rise in the use of influencer marketing as part of many businesses' social media strategies. However many business owners are still unaware of how beneficial influencers can be to their marketing strategy. 

What is Influencer marketing? 

Influencer marketing is a method of social media marketing in which brands collaborate with an online influencer to market their services or improve brand recognition. By doing this, influencer marketing helps businesses to increase their reach and gain the trust of their customers, thereby boosting social media engagement and sales.  

Here are a few tips on how to create a successful influencer marketing campaign: 

  1. Be clear about your goal

The most important aspect of creating a successful influencer campaign is to be clear about what you want the outcome of the campaign to be. In order to successfully do this, you need to set attainable goals, including: 

  • Identifying your target audience
  • Setting a budget 
  • Setting the desired outcome

2. Choosing the right influencers for you 

Before choosing influencers to collaborate with, it is key that you consider what the right “face” for your company’s brand looks like. Does their online presence reflect your values? Do they talk about topics relevant to your own target audience?

These are all questions you must ask yourself when deciding which influencers to work with. 

As well as this, CEO World identified 16 different types of influencers, so making sure you have the right one for your brand is important. 

3. Pay attention to engagement. 

Similar to choosing the right influencer for your brand, paying attention to an influencer's engagement is very important for your influencer marketing strategy. For example, a micro or nano influencer with an engaged follower base could be more beneficial to your brand than a model with millions of followers who are most likely not following them for their product reviews. 

What to avoid

A mistake that companies often make when collaborating with influencers is assuming that in return for payment, influencers will give glowing reviews of your products and services. 

While it would be nice if this were the case, influencers giving false reviews of products can harm their integrity, and cause them to lose the trust they have built with their followers. 

As such, it is important for you as a brand to give your influencers creative freedom as well as taking on the criticisms they may give your products so that you can improve them. 

Are you considering an influencer marketing campaign for your business? Get in touch with us today.