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How to Craft a Social Media Content Strategy for Business Growth

Ginny Dwyer March 8, 2024 1108 Views 5 min read Share

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Are you a B2B business looking to enhance your social media presence, or a social media marketer wanting to improve your content creation skills? The first step in using social media for your business is developing a successful content strategy. Approaching your content strategically will ensure the most success. We will help you develop your social media content strategy that matches your overarching goals and show you strategies for enhancing your audience reach, engagement, and sales through social media.

What is a Social Media Content Strategy? (And why you need one)

A strong content strategy is the key to achieving your social media content marketing goals. The strategy becomes your game plan for creating and distributing your business’s content. Not all content is equal. It can range from videos to long-form blog articles, images/infographics, and more. Content is essential for brand recognition, audience engagement, thought leadership, and lead generation. With so much information today, getting your audience’s attention can feel like a never-ending battle. And engaging and educating your ideal prospects to build trust can feel overwhelming.

As a content-generating agency, we always hear those frustrations from our clients and potential clients. The increased pressure on marketing departments to drive growth and maintain a social media presence, blogging cadence, and email nurturing campaigns leaves them feeling drained. The bottom line is that you need all of it (especially if you’re trying to keep up with your competitors.) And you need content where your buyers are. Buyers take a journey, but they don’t follow a linear path. You need to adapt your content and distribution to their twists and turns. Your buyers are self-educating on their own terms and time frames and looking at different platforms and content formats.

Effective content will build relationships with your audience, and when they’re ready to purchase—you’ll be the one they think of. The concept of buying something you see on social media is nothing new. From product recommendations to first impressions of a brand, the impact of social media on consumers is well-documented. Let’s create a social media strategy that helps you expand your other marketing efforts and aligns your content and distribution with the messy buyer’s journey.

How to Develop a Social Media Content Strategy

The best way to be seen and heard on social media is to create valuable posts that align with your audience. It starts with . . .

1. Identifying and setting goals that align with your business objectives.

It may seem simple, but we see many social media posts that add ‘fluff’ with no real substance or purpose. If you’re looking to drive customer engagement, you may want to spend more time developing a social media community answering questions, and engaging with followers. But if you’re looking for brand recognition, you might consider ads or repurposing your website blog posts to fit the social media platform your potential customers are on.

2. Research your target audience (where and how they consume your content)

Social media allows you to reach your audience where they are. It is a powerful way to connect with them, but you must clearly define your target audience. One of the easiest ways to determine who your target audience is—look at your current buyers. (How old are they, and what are their interests, challenges, goals, etc.?) Your target audience is used to define the buyer persona—your ideal customer based on data that makes up a target audience.

3. Analyze what your competitors are up to

Look beyond your own data and understand what your competitors are doing on social media. You need to know who you’re trying to stand out from. Related content: How to perform a social media competitive analysis (+free template)

4. Audit your current social content (what’s working and what’s not)

This will help you understand what your audience responds to best. Take what’s going well for you, and try to find ways to do it even better, expanding the success you’re seeing to other channels.

5. Create engaging content built for social

Here’s the deal. We are BIG proponents of SEO blog content and believe you can repurpose blog content for social media. But you have to take the time to format it in a way that is appealing to the platform you are trying to engage people on. Nobody wants to read a gigantic long-form piece of content on social media, and it does no justice to just slap a blog post link on your page. Take the extra initiative and add insight about the post. You could create a fun carousel with photos that will boost engagement. If you’re using LinkedIn, as of June 2023, you can make a document-based carousel post like this:

Source: LinkedIn

6. Choose the best content formats and platforms for your business and audience.

Focus on the channels that will bring in the highest ROI. This goes back to where your target audience is hanging out. If they are not on TikTok, don’t waste your creative energy. You need to know what will engage them content format-wise. Some people love a short, authentic video, while others want a post highlighting the product or service.  

7. Create a social media content calendar with a consistent publishing cadence

Consistency is key. Publishing regular, high-quality content will increase your visibility and give your audience more chances to engage with you and your posts. Not all content has to be written by you. Include content curation in your social strategy. It saves time and money, helps build connections in your industry, and helps you post various content so your feeds are more diverse.

8. Update your social media profiles

An optimized social profile will go a long way. Make sure your visitors understand who and what you sell. And include the correct links. Always a link to your website. It could be your best landing page or home page. Let them have a way to find you!

9. Determine if you need content creators

Do you have the full capacity to handle all the writing in-house, or do you need to hire a content marketing agency? Content marketing yields positive results. And content production is a big player in the increasingly powerful strategy.

Final Thoughts on Social Media Content Strategy

Crafting a social media content strategy is crucial for business growth. It helps you engage with your target audience, build brand awareness, and drive traffic to your products or services. If you’re a B2B owner or marketing leader, you and your team probably don’t have the time to spend hours every week contemplating content with all its intricacies. If this sounds like you, our team is here to deliver your content growth model.

Schedule a quick assessment with a growth strategist to learn more about our content marketing service agency, start outwitting your competitors, and build, grow, and scale your business.