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October 26, 2020 Content Chat Recap: Best Practices for Content Marketing on Social Media

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Social media channels can be incredibly valuable for engaging with a brand’s audience, building relationships, and sharing company content, but these channels should not be used to simply promote content without any regard for each channel’s unique audience and their needs.

In this #ContentChat, we’re joined by Jason Schemmel (@JasonSchemmel), senior training and development specialist in social media for Amway, to discuss the best practices for content marketing on social media. Read the full recap below, where we share tips on how to plan and document a social media content strategy, ways to maintain a consistent voice across social media channels without sounding repetitive, tools to help better understand your audience, and more.

Q1: How do you plan and document your social media content strategy? Do you use an editorial calendar, post things ad-hoc, or some other approach?

An editorial calendar is recommended for planning the bulk of your social media content (one month at a time is sufficient), but you miss the “social” element if you just schedule posts and leave it at that. Posting in real-time and interacting with your audience enables you to more authentically interact with your community and develop those relationships.

When planning your social media content, ensure you have a solid mix of owned and third-party content that covers all of your company’s primary content pillars.

Tools like Meet Edgar and Sprout Social can help keep your feed full of planned and evergreen content, or you can use something like an Excel/Google Sheets and Word/Google Docs to plan your content.

If you’re looking for a social media content calendar, Jessica shares hers here:

Adjust your strategy based on the success of your existing posts. Jason recommends having an archive of posts that performed well to serve as a model for what type of content the team should post.

Q2: For companies with a social media team, what structure/approval workflow do you recommend to ensure a system of checks and balances?

For many companies, the social media “team” is just one person or a collection of people with loosely defined responsibilities. Whoever is designated the “lead”, though, should have a clear understanding of the brand voice and be able to confidently post relevant content.

That said, we recommend that you have someone available to review and check draft social media content for consistency with the brand voice.

For client accounts, you may consider having a more thorough review process before content can be posted.

A senior manager is an ideal person to provide a social copy review, especially because they have a more holistic view of what is getting posted across all of the brand’s channels.

Small teams can discuss social media in other company meetings to align on strategy and address any hurdles the team is facing.

Just ensure that your approval process is not impeding your team from actually posting content, and adjust your strategy as you encounter new challenges and learn what works best for your audience.

Some tools even have built-in assignment and approval functions, like HubSpot and Hootsuite, to assist with this process.

Q3: What are the common mistakes you see companies make when amplifying their content on social media?

One of the worst things a brand can do on social media is post the exact same content across channels. A documented social strategy should explore each channel’s audience and their unique needs to help keep content relevant.

On a similar note, it can look bad if a company activates its employees and social media influencers by having them post the exact same content on each of their feeds at the same time. Provide a variety of sample messages, or instead provide information that enables them to craft their own content (if they even feel compelled to share it, as you should not force people to participate on social media if they are uncomfortable doing so).

Hashtag- or trend-jacking is another mistake brands make on social media. Before you use a hashtag, ensure you understand its full meaning/significance. Also, be careful about posting about a new or trending topic until the full scope of the topic is understood.

Other more blatant mistakes on social media include being tone-deaf, which includes using certain dates of significance (specifically anniversaries of tragic events) to try and make a sale.

And always ensure you have clear communication between departments so that you are not promoting content that is no longer relevant or are doubling up efforts.

Q4: How can brands ensure a consistent voice on social media without sounding repetitive or robotic?

First, define and document your brand voice and social media strategy for each audience and channel. This will serve as guidelines for how your team should post. Include examples of “good” and “bad” content to demonstrate the voice and style you are looking to achieve.

With these guides in place, empower your team to experiment with different post styles and trust that they will not veer off-brand.

Engaging with your audience in real-time will also show authenticity, and be intentional about how you follow and interact with.

The goal is that your audience will be able to recognize content that is yours without seeing your brand name.

And if you’re looking for some of the latest research on social media trends, check out the report that Jason links to:

Q5: What are some ways to share company content on social media without coming across as self-promotional?

Inherently, sharing your own content is promotional. But, if you approach your content through the lens of “how can this provide value for my audience or meet their needs,” you can craft more authentic content.

Tie back to a personal element in your posts, and encourage your brand ambassadors to do so as well.

Blend conversational content (including replies) and strategically align with relevant conversations in your space that are already happening.

Giving an inside look at your company can also show the human element behind your brand.

And Jason shares a helpful article on how 30 brands are engaging with their audiences:

Q6: How can companies use live video and streaming capabilities to build relationships with their audience?

Live feeds can be incorporated into your everyday content production. Consider streaming any podcast recordings, behind-the-scenes looks at your company, AMAs or Q&As with your team, and more. The community shares their full recommendations below:

Keep in mind that your early streams may have few or no viewers, and that’s OK! Just keep streaming and becoming more comfortable with the process, and your audience will grow with time (as long as you’re streaming content relevant to their needs and on a channel that they are engaged on).

Q7: What tools help in building relationships with audiences on social media (including built-in tools on each social media channel)?

Erika recommends Sprout Social because it keeps a history of your conversations with a person/profile, and Melanie says HubSpot has similar features…

Shane recommends Twitter Chats (and we agree!)…

Martin stresses the importance of social listening and actively paying attention to your community, and Jessica recommends searching through hashtags daily…

But Jason recommends getting a tool to help with social listening and hashtag tracking, because both can become time-intensive.

Kevin recommends branded items and other rewards or incentives for your audience.

On a related note, LinkedIn Live has the potential to help build relationships with your audience, but several of our community members feel that LinkedIn has been dwindling in engagement.

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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