1. What you’ll learn
What is content?
What is high-quality content?
The importance of community building
Strategies
Humanity
Storytelling
2. What is content?
It’s anything you create and share to convey a message: text, images, videos, audio, graphics, and more.
I create content for food businesses, so let’s take that example from now on.
For me, a good piece of content is a great photo of your product. A picture that creatively showcases a tantalising piece of cake. Is that enough? Certainly not.
You need high-quality content.
2.1. Stop saying “high-quality content” without explaining what that is!
High-quality content is not only a visually stunning photo of a tempting piece of cake. It’s content that is well-crafted, valuable, engaging, and relevant to your audience.
According to an article published by the Content Marketing Institute, quality content resonates with its audience; if it doesn’t do that, it may be smart or beautiful or funny, but it ain’t quality.
We'll go back to this.
2.1.1. Now, is that enough?
Not quite.
You want your business to succeed ➡️ You need visibility ➡️ Where can you easily find that? ➡️ On social media.
Sure, it may not be that easy, but it’s the best option we have, and hey, it’s free. As marketing expert Gary Vaynerchuk said, we now have distribution for free, something that has never happened before.
How can you optimise your brand’s presence on social media? Start with strategies, humanity, and storytelling.
3. Build a community
It’ll never cease to amaze me when I find social media coaches talking about community building while they have automatic replies enabled. RoboCop is looking heart-warming right now—I’m a millennial, don’t judge me.
All I’m saying is don’t be that person. A relationship needs words. Authentic words. You can picture how ridiculous it looks when a potential customer asks you a question and you reply with “Haha”.
3.1 Strategies
Content grabs attention; growth comes from building a community. You need to connect with your audience through different ways.
An engaged community is key to growing a business on social media. A high engagement rate signals your content is striking chords with your audience. The secret to success is not having thousands of followers, but an engaged community.
How do you do that? You create a post or a story and:
Ask questions. Encourage your audience to share their thoughts, experiences, and opinions.
Run polls and surveys
Use stickers
Share User-Generated Content
Host Q&A sessions
Create contests and giveaways
Share behind-the-scenes content
Need more in-depth tips and strategies for your business or personal brand on social media? You can get my ebook here.
3.2 Humanity
No need to be Emily Post; a decent human being will do.
Just don't leave your customer talking in an echo chamber. Answer their comments, direct messages and mentions. Thank them when they tag you after buying your product and posting a photo. Be there and show that you care for your customers beyond a purchase.
A recent study revealed that 26% of consumers expect an immediate response from a business, and a further 64% expect one within 24 hours. So, not just an answer, but a prompt one.
No business is an island. If you don’t start acting like a human behind a business, you’ll be waiting for success, Samuel Beckett’s style.
3.3 Stories connect and sell
Storytelling is the art of crafting and sharing stories. Narratives, anecdotes, and relatable experiences—they all convey your brand's message, values, and offerings in a language for humans.
The greatest advantage of storytelling is that it allows you to forge deeper connections with your audience, create emotional engagement, and differentiate your brand in a noisy digital landscape.
But hold on, Chekhov. I’m not talking about any story. Your storytelling should align with your audience's thoughts, desires, concerns and dreams. When your content resonates with them, you stop having followers. You have a community. Brand advocates. Loyal customers.
Craft content that makes them say, "You get me". To do this, you really need to know your audience.
Spend time creating content that resonates, sparks engagement and fosters connections. This may mean posting less frequently, but the impact will be memorable.
Quality over quantity, always.
4. In a Nutshell
Content is anything you create and share to convey a message: text, images, videos, audio, graphics, and more.
High-quality content is well-crafted, valuable, engaging, and relevant to your audience.
To grow your business on social media you need an engaged community.
You can boost engagement by sparking discussions with your audience, connecting with them, answering their questions, encouraging participation, and sharing stories that align with their thoughts, desires, and concerns.
Are you engaging with your audience on a daily basis?
Wrapping up this chapter.
Stay curious, keep sharing.
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