In the series ‘Social media for x’ started only a few short months ago I have looked at social media content for several industries including entertainment, building and recruitment. The main focus has been on the content that companies can generate themselves.
I hope the ideas I have provided so far are useful but I realise that most businesses are naturally focused on their primary activities of providing a service or making a product. So how, when a new Facebook entry is required every 3 days, 1 blog post every week and perhaps 2 tweets a day, can you keep up a steady stream of content to engage and build an online audience?
The answer is to become the curator of content created by others
- Instead of writing a full length blog post why not write a short one summarising the content of an external blog post to which you include a link?
- Instead of writing a tweet about your blog post retweet a tweet you like
- Instead of writing an entry in Facebook simply ‘like’ an entry written by someone else
But what content would I become curator for? My competitors?!
NO. Externally sourced, linked to or referenced social media content should be about services or products or news associated with, but not synonymous with your services, product or news *. For example, Coca Cola isn’t going to link to a Facebook entry of Pepsi no matter how interesting it might be on the subject of sugared water. What Coca Cola might link to is content relating to the industries, activities and social events around which it already advertises e.g. travel, sport, festivals
For more information on how to become a curator of social media content I would recommend you look at these two excellent articles by Stephanie Schwab* on curating Twitter content and more generally curating content for your brand which includes great advice on sourcing content quick and easy through RSS and the like.
Oooh! See what I’m doing? I’m curating. Blog post done and dusted in 20 minutes! Off to play golf.
*Working in the UK I’m happy to post links to the excellent articles of a ‘competitor’ working a distinct and distant geographical territory (US)
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