We live in a different world. The internet heralded a revolution and started a content economy – you needed to educate your clients through content in order to build visibility, credibility and trust. From here comes profitability.
Social networking platforms have further developed the idea of content marketing. Content is vital but more important in a social media world is communication and conversation. You need to build content that gets people talking and if they want to talk with you you need to respond (well not all the time but you know what I mean. When you are starting out with a social business answer every question. The bigger you get the harder this will be.)
You need the content first to create the conversation. One of my favourite Internet Entrepreneurs is Rich Schefren. Recently on Facebook he described ten different types of content that people can create for their clients and prospects. It was entitled in a post called “10 Types of Content You Can Create for Your Prospects.” The great part about each of these content types is that they can also be conversation starters.
The purpose of this post is to expand upon each content example and investigate how we can turn it into a conversation. Before we get to conversation, you first need to understand the importance of the content. Realistically, content needs to be epic. It needs to be memorable. Otherwise, people won’t want to participate in the conversation. Bad content is boring and people don’t want to talk about it.
Here are the ten content possibilities and how you can utilize them to create conversations.
- Case studies – Real world examples of how your product or service solves real problems are vitally important to getting new customers. An in depth case study is a great way to showcase your product or service and is a great conversation starter. Ideally, prospects will ask questions, and if you have provided the right level of service, the subject(s) of your case studies will answer for you. They will tell your prospects why your product or service is awesome and answer questions for you
- How-to’s – Every business website should have an FAQ page. There are always going to questions from clients about your products and services. Having answers to the common questions on your website is going to help with your customer service. Expanding on these FAQ questions and discussing them through your social media platforms is a great chance to create conversation and expand your network.
- Testimonials – There’s nothing better than having your current customers talk about how great you are. It can also start conversations if you get your best customers to run a live Q&A session on one of your social media platforms – whether on Facebook, using a Twitter #hashtag or a Google+ hangout. Your customers talking about how good you are is important.
- Quick Tips – Quick tips – what I like to call ‘quick quips’ – are important. These are your bread and butter Facebook posts. You could consider one of those Motivational Image type of posts or something along those lines. End your Facebook post with a question and encourage the conversation.
- Stories – Sometimes when you are starting out it’s hard to come by case studies. Stories can fix this. When you have come up with the idea for your product or service obviously you know who you are selling to. Tell a story. Don’t talk about the features of your product or service. Tell an in depth story about how your product or service work and the what the benefits are to your prospects.
- Opinion pieces – With the internet and social media it’s okay to have an opinion. It’s okay to be a person. Now, people expect you to be you. Don’t hide behind a corporate wall. Write and publish opinion pieces that connect and resonate with your audience. Opinion pieces are great. They better help you connect with your ideal target audience. If someone doesn’t like what you have to say, chances are you don’t want them as a client anyway.
- News items – You need, when you are running a business in the 21st Century, to be open and accountable. Publish news items for your clients and prospects to read – whether they are good or bad. News items are important in a social society. You can’t hide a crisis so you are better to promote any news items as soon as they happen. Let your clients and prospects comment on news items and make sure you answer any questions or comments.
- Lists – List articles are easy articles. For example, one of my businesses is a telecommunications business. We sell a lot of smart phones. A list article is a tangential article. We write a top 10 article about smart phone apps for example. One article might be Top 10 Organizational Apps. Another might be Top 10 Exercise Apps. We suggest our choices but then ask our audience if they agree. They are free to agree or disagree and we take the conversation from there
- Comparison pieces – Don’t be afraid to talk yourself up if you are better than your competitors. If your product or service is the best, compare what you are offering to your competitors. Cost is not important here. Value is. Do a comparison piece and encourage your prospects to ask questions or your your clients to emphasize the benefits of the comparison.
- Interviews – Interviews can be purely a value add and a great way of value adding to your network. Interview people who may be of interest to your target audience and share the interview. You might want to tell people you are interviewing a particular person in a particular industry and encourage questions before the fact. My personal favourite interviewees are those people targeting the same audience as you but not selling the same product.
Content and conversation need to go hand in hand in the new digital social economy. The right types of content help create conversations. Remarkable content is vital as it encourages the conversations that need to happen.