The rise of social media has created one of the most powerful opportunities in our society today. Anyone with an internet connection has the opportunity to build a following and gain attention. Once a business has attention they are able to direct it in anyway they see fit.
If you had 100,000 people watching your every move, what would you do? From a businesses perspective, which do you think would be better? Pushing a new product or talking about how your business was founded and the values that your company stands for? The answer to most marketers may be obvious but it may come as a surprise to some business owners. While it is useful to distribute sales messaging to drive product sales, it is more important to the longevity and engagement of your marketing channels to create and distribute content that your target audience will find value in. Sort of like reinvesting profits rather than taking them out of the business. Think about it, business A strictly distributes sales messaging regarding their new products. They say things like “Our company provides the greatest solution to your problem”, “Buy our product”, “Life is better with out product” and “You need this product”.
Now let’s look at business B. Business B distributes content along the following lines. They say things like “We were founded in 2012 by 3 brothers with a goal of providing the best maple syrup in Vermont”, “We value honesty, integrity and a hard day’s work”, “Our syrup is tapped from some of the finest maple trees in Vermont. Here’s a little more info about that region in fact here’s a blog post written by one of our founders”. Only after distributing interesting, educational content that is ultimately valuable does business B make a sales ask that sound something like this “We just finished one of our most plentiful fall harvests to date, click here to bring or handcrafted maple syrup to your table”. Which company would You be more likely to buy from? Of course, the answer is business B, the company that you know, admire and respect. If you take a closer look at businesses who are successful with their organic social media marketing, it will come as no surprise that most of the companies who you gravitate toward will look similar to the example given in business B. As with anything in life a business’s social media marketing efforts should start with the why. Consider your overall business goals and work backwards. If your goals are sales oriented your social media strategy may look a lot like business B. You will focus on providing valuable content to your audience that serves their needs and solve their problems. Only the minority of your content should be directly sales oriented. This way when you make an ask your followers will be more likely to say yes because you have enhanced their lives with your valuable content. To recap, why is attention so valuable? Attention is valuable because it can be directed to serve any number of business goals.