Park Place Assisted Living is one of many DBA clients that incorporate Content Marketing into their mix.
By Liz Thompson
As a social media content specialist, I have spent a lot of time exploring and working with the different outlets of social media. And let me tell you, it’s not as easy as just making a status update here and a blog post there. Considerable time and effort is poured into making sure I am posting quality content for each of our clients that delivers the right message to their target audience.
Many a day is spent researching and combing through information and topics, assessing its reliability, and determining whether or not it is available for dissemination to the public, before any of the writing actually begins. But despite all the work, I cannot dispute how helpful and time-saving social media truly is. The most challenging part of using these resources is coming up with relevant content to fill it with. That’s why many clients who first thought, “Hey, I can do all this myself!” quickly discovered that it wasn’t the best use of their time, and turned those responsibilities over to the agency.
Posting status updates to Facebook® is perhaps one of the easiest forms of social media. Something as simple as “Come visit us this Friday to receive 15% off!” is a great way to advertise and keep followers updated on what’s going on with the business. And it takes literally seconds. There is almost no limitation to how much advertising can be accomplished utilizing Facebook. The key to any social media outlet’s success is regular updates. A page that is never updated is virtually useless. Even seemingly insignificant posts still keeps the page fresh and current on your followers’ newsfeeds. Without “spamming” their pages, it is important to make regular appearances to remind them that you’re there. As the saying goes, “out of sight, out of mind.”
Blogging is another great resource, but requires significantly more time to maintain. Blog posts are longer and more detailed. Website blog installations like WordPress™ make developing, formatting, and linking the blog to another page a cinch. But the quality and tone of the content still falls on our shoulders. Researching the audience is a great first step to the development of a quality post. Learning what appeals to the audience and writing to accommodate them almost guarantees success. However, when at a loss for content, contacting the client for their insight is the next best step. A blog post should be relatively short and to the point, but still informative and thought-provoking. Developing a following of people eager to read your updates is where success in blogging lies. Perhaps most importantly, Google is now rewarding relevant blog posts with higher rankings (sometimes higher than search-optimized websites!), because it fits with their goal of providing fresh, relevant content to search users everywhere.
Though social media still requires a lot of time and effort on our part, it is an amazing tool to have available, and will only continue to grow and develop over time.
And now, dear reader, to leave you with a quote:
“You can buy attention (advertising). You can beg for attention from the media (PR). You can bug people one at a time to get attention (sales). Or you can earn attention by creating something interesting and valuable and then publishing it online for free.”– David Meerman Scott, Marketing Expert
