Clients often ask me how they can be successful in social media. With social media advice blaring from every corner of the marketing and product world, there are an unbelievable number of opinions on the right answer to this question.
There are also unbelievable amounts of complexity, nuance, and unadulterated bull. What’s a person to do?
Instead of all that, let me give it to you plainly.
Your priorities for using social media successfully are:
- Audience
- Content
- Brand
Simple, right? You can call it the ABC’s if it helps, just keep the C second.
First, keep your audience in mind–always. They are the folks you’re serving, your customers and potential customers, the reason you’re in business. They should be the ones constantly in mind as you go about creating content and positioning your brand. Ask yourself, “Who are they? What do they care about? How can I help them?”
Next is content. What is your audience going to get from whatever social media you’re putting out? Is it valuable to them? Does it entertain, answer questions, give an emotional high, save them time or money? Whatever it is, it has to be valuable to your audience. If it is, they’ll use it and spread it to others for you.
Branding is third. If you’ve kept your audience in mind and created valuable content you’re already quite a ways down the road toward a good brand. After checking that whatever you’re putting out fits your audience and is valuable to them, make sure it meets your brand standards. Does it sound like you? Does it look like you? Will your audience immediately recognize it as you?
And that’s it. Keep it simple.
