5 Best Social Media and Content Marketing Tips for the Business World

In this guide, Salamandra present to you the 5 best tips that you can incorporate into your content marketing strategies.

This guide is mainly targeted towards those in a business-oriented (b2b) field but many of the examples can be used for consumer (b2c) or social purposes.

Before we dive in though, we thought it was worth mentioning that content marketing on social media is not a race and the process doesn’t usually go like this:

Exposing your business to as many prospects as possible is your primary goal. A secondary goal of content marketing is to receive as many impressions, shares and comments on the content you create, likes are pretty good when you’re starting off too. Thirdly (a more long-term goal to achieve) is to have prospects approach you or refer your business. By having people interact with your content it ensures the growth of your business in the online world and the best part of content marketing is that being active on social media, increase your SEO rankings for Google. Allowing your business to be easily found when keywords are consistently used on platforms as well as blogs to the industry and topics you’re talking about. For more info on SEO check out this link.

Infographics

Using infographics as a form of content marketing is very beneficial for a business for the purpose of informing or marketing your services and products to various audience personas. Think of them as an easy way to communicate with audiences while at the same time visually pleasing and informing them by adding value with your industry know-how.

These condense as much information as possible without the reader having to spend their time reading various articles on the subject. They outline just the key points needed, which is why they are an excellent source of information. Infographics should be designed in a manner that looks simple and appealing because you don't want to scare off existing or new followers with over complicated illustrations. Most demographics prefer that the content you release, share or create, be short and straight to the point but most importantly, provide valuable, memorable and meaningful content.

A big tip we can offer is to not make infographics generic or hard to read, but original, visually pleasing and impactful. Most of the time they need to be relevant and designed in a manner that attracts people to the industry you're in as well as the ones they're in. Your followers come first in this case and should be taken into consideration when using infographics or any type of content marketing, as they'll be the first ones to see it and therefore the ones who will contribute in the growth of your social media efforts by commenting and sharing on Social Media.

Shares, likes and comments are the most effective way to spread your content and it's one of the primary goals of content marketing as it converts viewers into new followers, better improving the perception of your business to new clients. Viral content can bring in new audiences, exposure and on LinkedIn - possible new business.

Blogs & Articles

Next, on our list we have Blogs & Articles. Now we wouldn’t say this list is numbered best to worst, but for the sake of SEO, we simply decided to number them in a way that Google's search engine most prefers.

So, for our second spot in content marketing, writing blogs and articles that are relatable to the industry you're in or sparks the interest of your target audiences, is a good and worthy use of your digital marketing budget.

As, writing blogs can in time be forever searchable, on search engines like Google, Bing and duckduckgo (with proper SEO of course). Blogs and Articles can be consistently shared on social media and is one of the best re-usable content for building loyalty in the audiences who follow you, making the use of blogging is, therefore, a worthwhile and a recyclable investment.

People desire to be informed and by making it your businesses' duty to do so, blogging can be a valuable asset when planning strategic content for social media and SEO. Without SEO, blogging can be a waste of your time, which is why doing research or checking out our other blog on the topic, can better improve your knowledge.

Here at Salamandra we consistently share our own blogs but also the blogs of others, such as Forbes and @TheDrum magazine. Reason being is that our audience includes primarily Business owners, Marketers and Digital Marketers. By knowing this we don't only share in-house content but also other people's opinions we admire In doing so, we provide balanced meaningful content to our audiences.

Although, we wouldn't advice sharing content or blogs from businesses who are in direct competition with you unless they are pioneers and what we like to call "Unbeatables". Other than that you should be able to initiate sharing of other peoples work and a good tip would be to see what’s trending in your industry via news sites, magazines, influencers to share or take inspiration from.

Bring out Creativity with Art & Illustrations.

The title is pretty self-explanatory but as we go further in-depth, we're aware that not all businesses have the capacity to hire content marketers or even graphic designers to create illustrations. Fear not though as there are always ways around this. If you have an in-house graphics designers, then great! You’re on the right path in getting the most out of your digital marketing budget. Examples would be by making illustrations for days like 4th of July, Christmas or Easter. This effectively creates more exposure for yourselves, where people will be better inclined to share, like and comment and new audiences will be able to see your content when searching for the same hashtag.

If you’re a small business and you want to be able to join in, on the social media 'exposure' ranks but don't have the budget for a graphics designer. You can always re-tweet or share the content of others too (Again those who aren't in direct competition). For example, an animation studio like ourselves, create illustrations, animations and blogs that are fun, captivating and relatable to the world and industries around us (animation, branding, web, illustrations & marketing). Consistently we post in-house designs that are re-shared on social media platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

With our social media expertise and management of multiple media platforms, we can do the same for you in all aspects of content marketing and more...

News, Updates, Video and Animation

Up next is video. It's no secret that by 2019 80% of communication will be primarily video content, up 66% from 2014 [source], growing exponentially thanks to the rise and spread of social media and mobile phones.

Video is a great tool for emotionally connecting with audiences, enticing curiosity and knowledge of your service or product. The beauty of video is that you can market your products or services, without being as 'blatant' as using words such as blogs. Sharing an informative video about the industry your target audience is in, is a great way of catering to their attention span, and by being consistent (posting daily), consumers and prospects are more likely to return to your platform and be delighted to see more relevant content! Which is why video should definitely be on your list of social media content to use and even one of your strongest contenders.

One tip we can give you is that when implementing video content always, always include subtitles! Can't stress this enough... We've all faced a situation, where you're at work and you’ve checked Facebook or Twitter. Scrolled down to watch a video, but there wasn't any subtitles provided? Unfortunately, in respect of your co-workers, you skipped the video as you don't want to distract or disturb your office. Most of the people who use social media, feel the same way. So by including videos or animated content such as gifs, animated illustrations (3D,2D, Motion Graphics & Live Footage) that include not only meaningful content, but content that's subtitled. They are then more likely to stick around and listen to what you have to say. For more information on how video, animation and gifs can improve your social media platforms, check out this link here.

Prepare, Launch and engage with Your Audiences.

For our last tip, making social media campaigns leading up to an event, contest, conferences or giveaway you can create an engaging piece of content.

By working up to a big campaign and building awareness around it, ‘hype’ is created. And it notifies audiences what you're trying to do by bringing awareness in advanced or giving them the chance to join in on the action. A good example of social media campaigns would be creating a giveaway or contest, with an enticing reason to participate by offering prizes or free gifts.

Who doesn't like a freebie, it really does work, however, you do need a base following for proper beneficial results and that in itself can be a challenge. When audiences on social media like, share and comment on your posts, their participation automatically shares itself with their social network exponentially. Without any followers, you won’t have an audience to engage with and without a good amount of audiences to engage with, the time and effort you’ve dedicated to your campaign will go unnoticed.

To build a large following there are multiple options and we’d recommend the organic and inbound method to be the best and most effective ways. Also consider social media contests, giveaways, quizzes and surveys as a great and engaging form of content to interest and entice enough participants. This tip is most effective for those who already have a large following base.

Conclusion

The key takeaways are:

Social media marketing and SEO can directly affect Google's search engine rankings when someone searches for a keyword used on your social media and blogging efforts. Essentially what that means it boosts your visibility, listing your business higher up on search engines as web crawlers pick out keywords used, making your website easier to find.

In conclusion, we hope that some of our tips help your social media strategy.  If you're in need of social media and content marketing expertise, our experts at Salamandra have experience and knowledge in social media management, content creation and blogging. Contact us for advice or guidance as we can build, create, manage and market your business in the online world.