"Content is King", Social Media Is Its Kingdom

So we’ve talked about the differences between Content Marketing and Social Media Marketing in our past blogs, but if your mind is running a blank, here’s a quick reminder.

Content Marketing is “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.” – Content Marketing Institute

Social Media Marketing is “any form of direct or indirect marketing that promotes a business through sharing and interactions on the social web.” – Uhuru Network

“Content is king” is a popular marketing phrase originated in an essay by Microsoft founder Bill Gates in 1996 and it’s usually used to describe the necessity for a brand to create content to dominate the online landscape.

But why do we mention content in an article about Social Media Marketing?

If Content is king, Social Media is its kingdom, and Social Media Marketing is how it rules.

Social Media Marketing is all about the strategic use of social media platforms to use content to start and facilitate relationships with your consumers. So, just like a good king earns the loyalty of his kingdom through being interactive, proactive, genuine, so does content build consumer relationships through social media marketing that is interactive, proactive, genuine.

This analogy may be a bit too monarchical for you, but dive with us a little deeper as we explore what we believe is the most important pair of The Content Factory’s Kari Dephillips’ 18 Reasons Why Your Business Needs Social Media Marketing.

Social media marketing helps you understand your audience.

More than just knowing demographic information about your target, Social Media Marketing opens up the door for getting to know your consumers’ personalities and preferences. Since social media is so conversational, using it for marketing can help you evaluate exactly how consumers react to your strategies by monitoring online conversations.

• Are you getting positive or negative comments on your Instagram post? Depending on which, you can use this information to either reach out to thank your customers who love your brand or to possibly resolve a conflict with those that dislike a certain aspect of your brand.

• Has something your company did landed you on the trending page of Twitter or YouTube? Using these platforms can bring attention to your company for those that know nothing about it or for those who may not consider your company against your competition. The data garnered from this attention can help you learn exactly how your company is perceived and use that to your advantage.

There are so many other examples, but they all stem from the ability for Social Media to allow brands to get to know their consumers in a way unlike any other.

A strong social media presence builds brand loyalty.

“It’s easy to understand why: when you’re engaging the public on social media, you’re building connection and rapport. You’re taking the time to provide your followers with useful information, help, and entertainment, without asking for anything in return.” - The Content Factory

There’s a reason that quality time is one of the 5 Love Languages because it works, and for more than just romantic relationships. One way for a company to let consumers know that they care about them is being willing to take time outside of convincing them to spend their money and actually add value to their lives.

The greatest form of marketing is word-of-mouth in that it has the highest ROI of any form of marketing. Ramona Sukhraj, a writer at Impact, gives 7 Must-Have Word-of-Mouth Marketing Strategies, “About 62% of consumers search online for reviews and information before purchasing a product and a whopping 90% believe brand recommendations from friends.”

Sukraj writes that some of the best ways to build brand loyalty and thus increase word-of-mouth marketing with Social Media Marketing are to:

• Encourage User-Generated Content. This is content created and shared by users that are about your brand. This can be photos, videos, or tweets about anything related to your product or brand. Encouraging this not only shows consumers you care about them, but it shows their friends that they care about you.

• Share Customer Reviews. The best way for a customer to know for sure that something will work for them before buying it is to know that it worked for someone else. Social Media Marketing includes making it possible for your customers to share their experiences with others.

• Offer a Unique, Shareworthy Experience. The thing about people is that we love to share things, especially things that are unique. That’s what social media is built around, likes, shares, and common experiences.

“The likes, comments, and posts we share on social media can often seem inconsequential, but they matter. They tap into some of the very elements that make us human, our addictions, desires, anxieties, and joys.” - Buffer

The ultimate thing to know about Social Media Marketing is that none of these elements come naturally. Jumping onto social media without a strategy is not going to bring forth may of the great benefits that it offers. Wade Harman of Weal Media gets it right when he tells marketers that Social Media is not a “get rich overnight” tactic.

But it is a platform to reach your consumers, one that your competition is using and using well.

So, by this point, we hope you’re convinced by the reasons to use Social Media Marketing. And if so, you can’t get started until you know the reasons to use Content Marketing for your brand.

How’s about we learn how to put this knowledge to use and do Social Media Marketing and Content Marketing effectively through discussing the best practices for each?