Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Content, content, content!

Social Media is all about creating, writing, sharing or sourcing content which is relevant to your business or brand.

The key is to find or write content and share the content across your social media profiles.

But how do you find relevant content?

Here are 10 ways to find content online:

1) http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/ - The Content Marketing institute has posts about content, how to use content and specific information about different types of content. Read the posts to inspire you to write content of your own.

2) Try find progressive ideas and optimism to share -  http://gimundo.com/ has some fantastic videos and resources you can share with your audience (fans/followers ) and the http://www.good.is/ is a community with ideals and tools for progress. http://optimistworld.com/ has daily good news headlines, stories, charities and companies which promote/highlight optimism and you will find plenty of info here!

3) Make use of the Consumer Barometer – Google’s Consumer Barometer provides insights into how consumers search and research product purchases – which is useful  when it comes to creating content which targets those consumers.

4) Use a Google Keyword Tool – Keyword research can really help with content planning and creation so your content can be optimised for the right keywords (SMO or SEO).  Use Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool for determining which keywords to use, and also use for analysing your competitor's keywords.

5) Quora – Quora is a great place to find what people have questions about and people share information which might come in handy for your own business or brand.

6) Flipboard -  is a magazine type App for your smart phone. You can select information, feeds, magazines and info to follow and flip through and read on your phone. It's also great for sharing content across your social media profiles.

7) Facebook Interests list - you can set up private or public lists of people you follow on Facebook or pages you like. It is great to use lists on Facebook because you get access to all the news feeds from a particular page and it is great for sharing content across Facebook (preferably to your own business page).
Have a look at some wonderful public Facebook lists you can follow - http://www.postplanner.com/100-facebook-lists-to-follow-bypass-edgerank/


8) Set up an RSS Feed - This is a great alternative to subscribing to every single email; set up an RSS feed of websites, blogs or content you'd like to receive. This is a great way to find content and to receive daily information without having to get 100s of emails! I use Bloglovin but there are plenty of others to choose from. If you install the App - you can share content across your social media accounts.

9) Set up a read later account. If you find content on the Internet which you want to save, check, use, or share later - try http://getpocket.com/. You can download the App and link it to your Twitter account as well. I use Pocket to check content on a site; prior to sharing across profiles and I also use it to inspire my own content or to send things across to Pinterest. It comes in very handy!

10) Pinterest is rapidly becoming my go to tool to source content or inspiration for my own social media training. Pinterest is a visual tool full of infographics, images and colour with information about every industry you can think of. You can also download the App and share across social media profiles. (Just remember to find the original site, source and creator of the images prior to sharing - check the links because there is often a lot of spam or people just add pictures without finding the original source.)

Things which may help you even more:

Don't forget to search Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and even Instagram for valuable content or images which are relevant for your brand. (Check Instagram profiles and images carefully before sharing or affiliating images with your business/brand)

If you need to find a hashtag prior to creating your own have a look at Tagboard so you can check to see what conversation is happening and where.

If you cannot find the original image; try using Google's Inside Image Search or try using a Reverse Image Search - so you can credit the original creator (designer, photographer, artist, writer, etc.) prior to sharing any kind of image (or content).

I have set up a public Facebook list for social media content which I use on a regular basis - https://www.facebook.com/lists/10153036927300304

Here are 26 Marketing Tools which you can use for content - http://www.onlinemarketinginstitute.org/blog/2013/01/26-content-marketing-tools-to-use-in-2013/

If you are still struggling to find content and need to update your pages and accounts every day - please ask me. I have plenty of resources, tips and tools for you. Don't forget to check everything preferably on a laptop so you can view the entire site before sharing!

I'd also recommend setting up a social media editorial/content calendar so you can plan your content on a daily, weekly or monthly basis - http://jcsocialmarketing.com/2013/07/control-the-chaos-with-a-social-media-calendar-template/

source: http://alleecreative.com/blog/2013/07/09/how-to-manage-all-those-content-channels/