“Know as much as you can about your customers and don’t be afraid to ask a lot of questions. Your customers will tell you what they want but you need to ask and listen.” - Jennifer BakerDid you miss this month’s episode? Or maybe you’re just looking for a short memory refresher? Either way, welcome to the Spark Compass Blog! A place where we summarize the key takeaways from every episode and share some memorable behind the scenes moments. This month’s episode featured Jennifer Baker, a part-time professor at St. Lawrence College who also runs her own business surrounding social media strategies and content creation. Jennifer helped us navigate the tricky subject of content creation, it’s importance in marketing, and it’s impact on small businesses. So, what is content creation?In a nutshell, content creation is a process centered around helping customers through their buyer journey. Unlike traditional marketing, content creation focuses on the fine balance between education, entertainment, and a hard sell. Content creation belongs to digital marketing, which is heavily reliant on social media platforms to host and deliver their messaging. Most businesses utilize something known as a content mix to diversify their posts and consistently engage their audience. The industry standard ratio for this mix is creating content that provides value to the audience (80%) or that helps sell your product (20%). There are four main types of content that can be used in a content mix and they are:VideosPhotosBlogsUser-generated contentWhen struggling to create meaningful content, Jennifer suggested a three step process to help guide the creative process. These steps are:Problem: What are the pain points of your audience?Solution: How does your product solve that pain point?Content: Combine those two answers to create meaningful content!In the end, how you develop your content mix depends on the analytics and preferences of your audience. If something performs well or fails to perform at all, feel free to adjust and modify your content mix until you find the ratio that works best for your business. How do trends impact content creation?The answer to this question is that it depends. It depends on whether the trend can provide value to your business and your audience. It depends on whether you have time to participate in every single trend that pops across your social media feeds. Successfully recreating a trend may boost that specific post while it’s still popular. Ultimately, choosing to follow trends is completely up to you. Developing a process that works best for your businessWhen it comes to planning out your social media content, there are a four helpful tips to keep in mind. Number one is to start simple. Try not to overwhelm yourself by being everywhere at once. Choose the platforms you feel most comfortable with and where you know your audience frequents. Number two, understand what message you want to convey. Marketers often use content pillars to guide this decision and to keep their content focused on the topics that matter. Sendible has a great article surrounding content pillars for anyone who wants to learn more about them. Number three is to know that done is better than perfect. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the details but failing to post gives your competitors an advantage and your audience a reason to turn their attention elsewhere. Finally, tip number four is to be honest. Being vulnerable with strangers is a scary idea but your audience will appreciate the honesty if you provide it. Fell ill and couldn’t package your products for delivery? Let your audience know instead of leaving them to wonder why their order hasn’t shipped yet. That’s just one example of honesty but it happens more often than you might think. My content isn’t working, what should I do now?The most common reason why content fails is because it doesn’t engage the audience. Wondering why nobody is commenting or liking your posts? Start asking your audience simple, easily answered questions to catch their attention. Putting your customer first can focus these questions and help to build a relationship with your audience. Another reason why your content is failing could be your choice of language. It’s easy to use industry-specific jargon and even easier to forget that not everyone knows what they mean. Start your content with plain and simple language. Once you’ve established your audience enough to know their preferences, then you can begin to evolve the language you use for your content.Is there a rule about reusing content?Yes! The unspoken rule of thumb is to repurpose your content by presenting it in a new and interesting way. Reused content should differ from the original in both style and delivery. Do not copy and paste your content. Never ever. Especially when managing different platforms, be mindful to modify reused content to fit the demands of each particular platform. Media ...
