Content Strategy for Social Media Marketing

Content Strategy Formulation v2.0

If you are hoping to embark on a social media strategy, content strategy formulation is important. There are altogether 10 steps to formulating the content strategy. For part 1, i will be addressing the first 5 points to the strategy.

1) Principles - First off set some principles, this allows for the brand to have a healthy and robust discussion around authenticity, transparency and humility as well as an opportunity to define the engagement policy.

2)Business Objective - 'Why are we doing this?' question, clarify your objectives, link them to appropriate metrics, if possible setting targets and define a budget.

3) Brand Purpose - What’s your Story?

•Identify your brand ideal(s).

• Dove believes the world would be a better place if women were allowed to feel good about themselves

•Fanta believes the world would be a better place if we grew up less and played more

•Scrabble believes the world would be a better place if we loved words more

•Coca Cola believes the world would be a better place if we saw the glass as half full - not half empty.

4) Content Value (Social Currency)

Entertainment value – Advertising campaigns typically deal in this type of currency. It's worth asking if the idea lends itself to being parodied like Cadburys Gorilla as this can be a potent conversation multiplier.

•Personal value - Fame delivers powerful personal value, the rise of Factor type shows and Reality TV shows over recent years indicate the value people place on this kind of content.

•Knowledge value – B2B thought leadership via whitepapers is a example of this type.

•Monetary value - Consumer PR typically deals in this type of currency with promotions and competitions, the Threshers 2006 40% off Voucher is a great example of this.

Utility value – a lot iPhone apps fall into this category like Sky+ app. Charmin installing 20

5) Sources

Who is going to be creating or producing all this great content for you?

Employees- Zappo the US online shoe retailer encourages all staff to use twitter and even has a leaderboard which introduces a competitive element into the mix.

Agencies

User generated content(UGC), crowd sourcing and co-creation can also be viable option for some brands.