PODCAST: What if… marketing was all about your platform, and not about your content?

Podcast

A new way of thinking about content marketing

Tune in: Apple Podcasts – Spotify – Direct

Have you ever woken up to find that your favorite social media platform has completely wiped your bio and links to your sales page from public view? And – has that ever happened to you on the morning you’re trying to close the cart on your big offer – you know, the one you’ve been talking and posting about consistently for the last week??

You guessed it – this exact scenario happened to Robyn right before the recording of this podcast episode. And I was hating on social media too… I was frustrated because I was putting a lot of effort into my favorite social media platform (Instagram) with very little reward. So – a conversation started about the fact that as entrepreneurs, we tend to put a TON of effort into the features of our social media platforms, but are there more efficient and effective ways to be using these tools as a part of our content marketing strategy?

First of all – what’s the deal with Instagram?

We both agree – Instagram is a fantastic platform for engagement. We’ve both made some very special connections with other businesswomen and we’ve found it to be an incredibly supportive community. But, now that there are so many new features (stories, reels, IGTV, etc), marketing on Instagram is beginning to feel like a part-time job.

Also, why is Instagram so inconsistent? Over the course of a month, you can stick with the same strategies, and from one week to the next your engagement is all over the place. It’s hard to look at the data and identify any trends about what’s working and what’s not, which can feel very frustrating – especially to a content strategist who is all about the data!!

So, how do you know if your efforts are paying off?

This is really what it comes down to for me. I have to be able to justify all the time I spend on social media marketing if I’m going to feel good about putting so much energy into this piece of my marketing strategy.

Robyn had some excellent advice for me. She shared that you do need to analyze where you’re getting your sales from. In other words, you can’t spend time on a platform that isn’t effectively funneling people into a purchase. But, once you’re sure you’re focusing on the right platform, the thing to come back to is… your content!

And THIS was the thing I needed to hear! Because it’s true ~ I think my message can actually get lost in the shuffle when I’m trying to create SO much content.

Robyn took it one step further. “What if… you created one piece of content and repurposed it in a bunch of different ways instead of focusing so much energy on getting visible on all the different features of your platform?”

And that was a total practice what you preach moment for me! Seriously, why are we working so hard, just for our platform?

As a copywriter, I’m really good at repurposing my written content, but I’ve never thought to repurpose it in my stories. DUH!! What a great timesaver this would be! And much more effective and concise messaging as well!

In fact, we came to the conclusion that the most strategic social media marketing starts with a single message. And that message is likely related to an offer you’re promoting, or that you’re getting ready to promote. So keep it simple! Reframe your delivery, sure – but stick to the same message regardless of the feature you’re using or the platform you are on and you’ll get so much more traction out of showing up in multiple places (not to mention, you’ll greatly reduce the time you’re spending on content marketing each week!)

Ok, but what about personal connection content?

There’s a camp that would say you need to share branded and personality-rich content (like behind the scenes of your business or glimpses into your daily life) because that’s what builds trust. But there’s also a camp that would say you’re an entrepreneur and you need to be selling.. Who’s got it right?

We think both camps are right. The trick is to maintain a good balance. You want to ensure you’re not selling all the time, but not losing sight of the reason you’re in business either.

Robyn suggests a 70/30 or 80/20 split. That’s 70% or 80% of the time you’re talking about your offers and 30% or 20% of the time you’re making personal connections with your audience.

If you were in your corporate job and you were trying to make an impact, you’d be focused on making that impact based on your performance. So, if this is your background prior to coming to the online space, you’d be inclined to share very businessy, very offer-related content all the time. But, the digital space is different, especially if you’re selling small business to small business. An extremely important thing to do is to build a trusting relationship. In fact, we’ve found that people connect deeply through vulnerability. Since sharing pieces of your private life is a vulnerable thing to do, it creates a more personal experience for your audience, and builds a feeling of connectedness.

BUT… (and we can’t say this enough!) make sure that you don’t lose sight of your BUSINESS CONTENT! Your business content should relate back to what you’re talking about in all of your other platforms and in all of your forms of delivery. Don’t allow that disconnect to happen between what you’re putting out there on video and what you’re putting out there in your emails/ blog/ written social media posts.

The takeaway? It’s so easy to get caught up in feeling like you need to do all the things your platform makes possible in order to be visible. Instead, take a look at whether you could be doing things in a more efficient way.

What if we repurposed just one message each week and repackaged that message in multiple ways?

What if… it was all about our content and not about our platform?