Tag Archives: strategy

How to Create Social Media Content Easily

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We are told over and over again to have a social media content strategy but for most small businesses and solopreneurs posting fresh content every day is easier said than done. Sure you can respond to things other people have posted but finding and preparing fresh content for a long term sustained campaign can be a challenge.

The Formula

InfographicA simple daily social media formula is to of course respond to one or more items that others have posted. Then post at least one non-promotional piece of content of your own everyday and lastly post one promotional piece of content that says something specifically about one of your products or services. You should do that via a number of social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and probably Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, and Youtube, as well as any other favorite places you hangout every day. You can of course post the same content or a variation of it in each location. But it is still difficult to find and prepare new stuff. So here is one solution I have done that I would like to share with you.

What You Will Learn

What I am going to show you is how I took one piece of free content I had and re-purposed it into more than a week’s worth of social media content. Now look around on your computer because you probably have some material of your own that you can re-purpose, but if not there are royalty free things all over the Internet you can find. In this example I am going to show you how I re-purposed an infographic that I received as part of a bonus in a marketing package I purchased about a year ago.

What You Need to Know

To do what I did you will have to have a rudimentary knowledge of some graphics program such as Photoshop. In my case I use Corel PaintShopPro which I have been using for more than 15 years. They both work about the same. It is helpful if you have some video editing knowledge if you want to produce the video content as well. If not, just skip that part or find someone online or contact me and I’ll help you for a small fee, after all that’s my business.

How to Do It

Okay so this is what I did. If you look at the infographic you will see that it is essentially 5 ways to turn prospects into customers. The nice thing about most infographics is that they are usually made up of a number of sections. In this case with a bit of copying and pasting I was able to take each of the 5 sections and break it into 5 separate stand-alone graphics. Each graphic covers one of the five techniques plus one usable title graphic. Notice that I played with them a little so that each one includes the title header and I was sure to brand each one with my website address. Now I can roll out one graphic “tip” per day. Then the infographic itself in full and finally the video, giving me about 8 days of content from one infographic. Actually pretty easy and I did not have to search for a bunch of graphics, create content or do any real design work. A tip is to be sure that each of the new graphics has an aspect ratio of 16:9 then you can use them to create a HD video as part of your content strategy as well.

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What You Will Gain

So in a relatively short period of time depending on your graphic and video editing skill level I have showed you how to turn one infographic into more than a week’s worth of content. Also as a bonus I got a chance to write this blog article too which is also part of my social media strategy. In your case you might want to simply write a blog article about the infographic topic you choose. Be sure the infographic or other content source you use is copyright free.

How to Turn Prospects Into Customers – Content Marketing Distribution Plan

Day 1 – How to Turn Prospects Into Customers Overview Slide

Day 2 – Tip #1 Create  A Sense of Urgency

Day 3 – Tip #2 Offer Incentives

Day 4 – Tip #3 Collect Email Addresses

Day 5 – Tip #4 Ask Questions

Day 6 – Tip #5 Engage With Your Customers

Day 7 – Post the entire infographic

Day 8 – Post the Video on Youtube and on other social media

Day 9 – Write and post a link to your blog post that talks in depth about the topic shared in the infographic

Keep in mind that you can rerun this series of post several months down the road or next year or whatever. If the content is evergreen you can rerun several times.

This does not have to be just infographics. Maybe you have a brochure from your company or even an article that you might have written. In the case of the article find key phrases and turn them into simple thought provoking tips to share. Maybe you have an old PowerPoint presentation, each slide could probably be presented as a stand-alone tip. The thing is when it comes to content marketing via social media people tend to LIKE and SHARE graphics and bite sized pieces of information. Video is also very popular so fashioning your graphics or PowerPoint into a video presentation can also be very useful. This should help you find and create the content you need to begin a sustained content marketing campaign.

 

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Reno Lovison is Author of “Turn Your Business Card Into Business”, a Marketing Strategist, and Executive Web Video Producer at RenoWeb.net

How to Win the Game of Networking and Make Your Own Rules

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BCMMONEYThink of networking as process rather than an event and use business cards as a way to keep score. This entails setting a goal such as planning to meet three new people a day and giving them your business card. If you achieve this objective you will have met about 1,000 new people in a year. Do you think this would grow your business? At this point I am not even talking about improving the “quality” of your contacts but simply expanding your sphere of influence.

Back in 2008 after President Obama was elected I set a goal to meet 100 people in 100 days. The reason I set this goal was because after the election everyone was talking about the new President’s first 100 days. I thought wow look what everyone expects of him. Let’s see what I can accomplish in 100 days. Let me tell you this is not as aggressive as my first example but still quite challenging. But I am still reaping the fruits of that initiative.

To make this a game you need to quantify your goal. I made the rule that a new contact had to be someone I had not met or had a meaningful interaction with before. To score the encounter as a success I had to have a conversation to understand who they are and something about what they do or what their interests are; and they in return had to have learned something about me. The deal is sealed by giving a business card so that I know they have my contact information. Ideally I have gotten their name and contact information as well. You can set your own parameters for your “game”.

Everyone seems to have an opinion about business cards and how valuable they may or not be. Also when to give them and whether to give them at all. I say stop thinking so hard about it. A business card is a very inexpensive slip of paper with your name and contact information, and maybe some information about the kind of product or service you provide. That’s all. It has no magical powers except that it can help people to remember your name and know how to contact you. Giving someone your business card is simply a courtesy and an invitation to connect. Some people may keep them and some people may throw them away. The only business cards that are important are the ones that go out in the world bring back business. The more you distribute the better chance of getting a return on your networking investment and winning the game.

If you want to include online contacts I have broadened it to include a person-to-person phone conversation and some “proof” that they have visited my website. The point is to encourage meaningful personal interaction not simply emails or texts. Part of the reason is speed. Yes you can build valuable relationships in other ways but it takes much more time. Phone is best.
Phase two is follow-up and expand your relationship. Understand something about the needs, wants and interests of your new friends. Be a giver. Share an article or other resource on a topic they might find valuable, interesting, or amusing. There is no need to “hard sell.” Find ways to interject reminders about your product and service as it makes sense. Such as, “I just got back from Connecticut where I was videotaping a three day conference about construction safety. On the plane I read this article I thought you might find interesting.” Be sure to connect with your new contacts on LinkedIn and/or Facebook or other social media so that you can build your relationship through posts and casual comments over time.

Networking is not about attending networking events, though that can be helpful toward the goal of meeting more people in a shorter period of time. It is about a process of meeting and connecting with new people to build a mutually beneficial web of resources. There are opportunities all around you. Get in the game.
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Reno Lovison is a web video and book trailer producer based in Chicago and is the author of “Turn Your Business Card Into Business” The Fundamentals of Building Entrepreneurial Business Relationships.