Why you should create content on more channels than just social media
Social media is a great platform to market your business. However, it is not the only channel. There is more to content marketing than just social media; think blogs, podcasts, video content, and email marketing.
This doesn't mean more work. It means working smarter, not harder, to ensure you get visibility for your business in more ways than just social media.
It is called holistic marketing and I am here to show you how (and why) to do it! How to think long term within your content marketing strategy to create more depth in the way you market your brand.
Let's explore multi-channel content strategies, creating content on social media and how you can use these to benefit your business!
What is content marketing?
Content Marketing can be simple (it doesn't have to be complex).
Content marketing is creating content to market your business, it is a marketing strategy. Just like SEO, and online advertising, content marketing is a strategy that can be used to advance your brand and reach the proper target audience (but you do need content).
This type of marketing involves the creation and sharing of online content including videos, blogs, and social media posts - just to name a few (it can also be used as a multi-channel content strategy). It aims to create not only sales for a business but also connection with a target audience and brand awareness.
So, how do you start using a content strategy for your business? Well, by having a content marketing strategy of course!
Think of it like this - A strategy is essentially a plan that keeps you accountable so you know when and where you should be showing up and what you should be saying. This is aligned to your business and marketing intentions.
What will a content strategy help you do?
Having a content strategy will save your content marketing Not only is it there to inspire your content, but will also:
Help you show up consistently
Inform your target audience
Align all your platforms (social media, blog, pods and the like)
It will give you more confidence (because you will feel prepared)
Help you work towards your marketing goals
Attract a new audience
Nuturer your existing audience
What is the purpose of content marketing?
There are MANY purposes for content creation and content marketing. It can help you with a lot of areas within your business which includes:
It creates brand awareness for your business: this gives a lot of power to your brand and can help lead to referrals and new audience (who doesn't love that). Remember to do this without including offerings as well.
Helps bring people into your funnel: Everyone needs a funnel within their business (whether it is a funnel or more of a circle, you need it). This helps you convert and lead people to your business and build up your customer base.
Allows you to inform and educate: You can share information about your business and niche, the more you educate and provide value, the more your audience will engage and see you as an expert!
Build trust and loyalty: The more value you give through your content, the more people will trust you AND you will bring customers back in through your ‘funnel’. Who wouldn't want that?
The think, feel, and do factor: You want to create content that makes people want to “think, feel” and then of course “do” or take action! Creating content that does all this can be VERY powerful!
Advocate for change: The purpose of content isn’t always to sell, you can also use content channels to express what you're passionate about!
Share a story or a lesson: The power of storytelling is amazing! People connect with people, so the more stories you tell, the better the connection with your audience.
Purely to bring joy + inspire others: Just like advocating for change, the purpose of content creating can be to inspire your audience OR to bring them joy!! Just make sure the joy or inspiration you are trying to create actually resonates with your audience.
More than just social media
All of this information about content creation and content marketing isn't just about social media. You can also use what we call evergreen content.
So, what is evergreen content?
Evergreen content is content that is constantly relevant and continues to remain up to date and ‘fresh’ for an extended period.
This form of content can be blogs, podcasts and video content on channels like YouTube. It is also Pinterest.
However, email marketing isn’t known as evergreen content. However, it is a type of content you can create to connect with your audience that is on your email list.
All of these together are what we also call "long-form content".
If you want to learn more about evergreen content, click here to read an awesome blog by the Digital Marketing Institute!
Social media "annoying you" lately? Let me share a few truths with you...
1. You might rely too much on social media as business owners
So when you have something to sell you just to socials with this feeling of urgency to sell - that energy isn't great.
TIP: If you have a high-converting email list you don’t have to feel like this all the time.
2. You might feel you have to consistently find ideas/trends and then end up comparing yourself...
Staying up with trends can lead to burnout and no originality.
TIP: Having a long-form channel means you create from your own ideas leaving you not always 'on' social media and creating from your own creative flow.
3. Engagement dips, hackers, and having no control over your content can be frustrating
Remember: social media is a borrowed channel and the business model of social media is not your business model
TIP: Remind yourself this as a mindset reset.
Don't get me wrong, social media is a great platform for business, for a lot of other things too... but, if you find it is all too much - change what you do to make it work for you!
What can we do to create more than just social media content?
As content creators, there are several things we can do to create content that expands past social media. This is what you can try!
Choose a channel (blogging, podcasting, video - it can even be email marketing)
Create a plan to create on this channel, you can use our content strategy template which you can find here (consider things like frequency, pillars of content, topics, and purpose of the channel)
Set yourself a goal
Start creating some content (you can batch, do it weekly, whatever works)
USE that content for your social media
See how you can attract different clients in different ways
Test, trial, measure - the secret weapon!
Final thoughts
The first thing to do is find the channel. Take the Content Queen quiz. IF you get social media, I encourage you to do email marketing, same same.
Start building some evergreen content/long-form content up. Of course, email marketing isn’t so much evergreen but later that can be turned into blog content. You can outsource these things.
Your vision (if you want to really invest in content marketing) should be to have a WIDE spread of channels (doesn’t mean ALL) but some.
As a little extra tip, we are always told 1-3 social media channels. We should be told. 1-2 and 1 evergreen piece of content.
