The Secret Social Sauce
An everyday social marketing strategy for creating valuable, personalized content to broadcast and build your brand.
I’m not going to get into the weeds on social media. I’m not going to talk about how you should completely fill out your profiles, how to boost a post, create a targeted ad, what a hashtag is, or how to understand your analytic reports. Those are all things you, your internal marketing people, or your external marketing firm should know. If you’re just getting started, you’ll be able to learn as you go. For the functional how-to stuff, there’s a great free resource… it’s called Google. Although personally, I prefer Bing.
Instead, I’m going to share a powerful tool with you, one that can help you showcase your brand on social media or in any marketing efforts. And, whether you’re utilizing internal or external resources, you’ll be able to provide clear direction to your content creators — the people or person doing your public-facing brand management.
I can’t offer you a magic potion, rather a fresh perspective on your business to approach your marketing from. Finding the right social strategy and getting into a comfortable groove producing content takes time, patience, persistence, and practice.
Within social media, people are literally “liking” a curated depiction of your company. What they see online is a projection of who you are as a business, which has the potential to extol how you operate, what you offer, who your people are, what your story is, and what separates you from the pack. That’s your brand. Social media has exponentially increased the opportunity for people to develop an emotional connection with your brand.
The Secret Social Sauce is a strategy that will help you identify your brand’s unique marketable attributes for digital content and social media. What you do every day, down to the most mundane detail, is the starting point for the most interesting and valuable content you can share with your social media audience.
Your followers want to see behind the curtain. They want to see the real “you.” That’s where they’ll establish a deeper connection to your business. You can’t make viral content; you can’t make something “go viral.” It just happens. Likewise, you can’t chase what you think people want to see. You can only share who you are, what you care about, and what you know. Whatever your goal is, whatever the platform is… use the sauce to sell your story.
Luke’s Secret Sauce for Social Media Success:
- Be visual.
- Be consistent.
- Be honest.
- Be uniquely your business.
Shown above are ideas to get your creative gears turning. Use these suggestions to think about the content you could create. Be specific and include details about your unique operation. Who is that employee with a great smile or who talks well on camera? Where and when could you do a live video? How would you use a drone?
It’s hard to believe people might see what you do every day as interesting. It’s also hard to get past the self-imposed “embarrassment” of sharing. Don’t let that get in your head and in your way. Your unique procedures, your people, your equipment, your location, and your offerings… it’s all on the table.
When you think about photos and videos, what do you see in your mind’s eye — what are you pointing the camera at? What’s on your day-to-day calendar? Your company’s event calendar? National calendars? Are you sitting on valued information and internal expertise? How can your history and culture influence content?
As you find your groove, you will naturally discover new content avenues to help tell your story and showcase your brand. Your creativity will increase… it just happens when you’re on the sauce.
When you approach content creation for your business, remember — there is NEVER nothing to talk about. The Secret Social Sauce is a guiding star, not a rule book. It’s meant to help keep you on the right course. However, when you think of it as a matrix, you can begin to see how there really is NEVER nothing to talk about.
The Secret Social Sauce is a best practice approach. It will help you discover valuable content that is personal to your brand and provide inspiration for sharing it.
When it comes to your social media content, remember…
- It’s all about what you do every day.
- Be visual. Be consistent. Be honest. Be uniquely your business.
- There’s never nothing to talk about.
