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April 11, 2022 Content Chat Recap: How to Put Customers At The Center of Your Social Media Content Strategy

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Brand social media channels can be a powerful way to build community, address customer needs, and establish thought leadership in your space. However, too many teams fail to provide actual value to their social media communities or neglect the channels altogether. Either way, it is a missed opportunity that your competitors could pounce on.

In this #ContentChat recap, the community joins Brooke Sellas (@BrookeSellas), CEO of B Squared Media, to explore how to put customers at the center of your social media content strategy. Read through the below recap to learn:

  • How social media can help throughout the customer journey
  • Ways to understand what your customers want from you on social media
  • Common brand social media mistakes to avoid

Q1: Where does social media fit within a customer journey?

Social media fits across the entire digital customer journey, from pre-purchase to retention and everything inbetween.

Many of Brooke’s clients have 20%+ acquisition chatter on their social handles, meaning that social media is driving actual sales.

Remember that your competition may or may not be using social as a part of the sales process. Don’t miss the opportunity.

Q2: What are the common ways that brands can help their customers or provide them value through social media?

How can brands provide value through social media? At a minimum, respond to or engage with every inbound message you receive.

Provide customer support as needed (not just memes).

Share your brand story to build a community around your purpose.

Listen to your community to find appropriate ways to provide them value, even if they did not directly mention you in their content.

And curate third-party resources that solve problems and inspire creativity.

Q3: What mistakes do marketers often make when creating customer-focused content on social media?

Don’t let the C-suite guide your social media content strategy. Conduct social listening and speak with your community to learn what they actually want.

Brand social media content often sounds salesy and focuses on features, not customer benefits. Include a “what’s in it for me” in all social media content.

Address individual customer needs instead of a one-size-fits-all content approach.

And tailor your content across channels. Each social media community is unique, and your content should reflect these different needs (and site capabilities).

Q4: How can content marketers understand what types of content their customers want on social media?

Brooke’s team performs a weekly “see-saw” report, where they look at the top three and bottom three performing posts by platform to assess micro trends.

Behind-the-scenes content often performs well, regardless of industry. This content can help you build connections with your followers and increase their likelihood of engaging with your ongoing content.

Use opinions and feelings to earn trust and drive community engagement.

Use built-in polling and other digital survey options to gain direct community feedback. Couple this with social listening, web analytics, and insights from all customer-facing teams.

Test content types to learn what resonates best with your community. Experiment with everything from your post length, visual elements like photos and video, and the time that you post.

Dipali recommends tools like Radian 6 and Social Bakers to understand and analyze customer social media activities.

And conduct a competitor social media audit to understand (not copy) their social media strategies.

Q5: What tools or resources can content marketing teams use to maximize their ability to meet their customer needs through social media?

Create a social media FAQ document to quickly answer community questions.

Conduct a social media audit, including of competitors, to understand what’s working and current opportunities.

Erika and our team use Agorapulse and Sprout Social to gain community insights and help manage our social media activities.

Evernote and Flipboard are helpful tools for content curation.

The community shares more tools for a variety of social media needs, including Canva for content design, Trello for project management, and Google Trends to uncover audience insights.

Brooke’s team provides social-led customer care services, in case your team is looking for support.

Q6: AMA time with Brooke Sellas: What questions do you have about delighting customers through content marketing on social media?

How can brands segment content on social media? Hashtags!

Where should you direct your social media audience to keep the conversation going? Much like Joe Pulizzi in his Content Inc. model, Brooke advocates you build your house on your own land. Email newsletters are a valuable way to nurture and retain your community.

About Alek Irvin

Alek Irvin is a content marketing professional with a rich history in social media management, executive thought leadership development, and media relations. As a consultant at Erika Heald Marketing Consulting, he creates human-focused content and thought leadership platforms that help brand leaders connect and engage with their communities. Alek has worked with a range of startups and Fortune 500 companies across the B2B technology and consumer spaces, including IBM, Dell Technologies, Hitch Works, Emtrain, Integrate, and Frameable. Connect with him on Twitter @AlekIrvin.

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