1. Facebook:

In my opinion, Facebook out of all social media platforms has the highest traffic generation potential in the sense that facebook content/posts can reach more people through groups and all that but more than that quite a lot of this post views converts into people following the link and looking at the website. 

 

Within Facebook there a few things that one needs to keep in mind:

 

- Optimizing Facebook Profile and Description: this is very important as if you have some fields that have not been filled in than your business is not presented in a thorough light.

 

- Facebook Ads: So within Facebook there is an option for you to create your own facebook ads- which if you decide to run you will have to incur daily charges which will add up over time. Facebook Ad's is not really the way to go as the cost to set up such a custom ad does not really increase rate of return in the long run. In fact Digital Marketing Expert, "Neil Patel spent $400,000 trying to get likes for a Fan page”. However, the rate of return for these ad's was not as much as Facebook Messenger". According, to Neil Patel Facebook Messenger is the way you need to move forward with a Facebook Marketing Strategy. It makes sense why spend so much money trying to get likes for a page, when you can organically get traffic and engagement by shooting out messages to people who are interested in your product in Facebook itself. This way you will be able to make sure that everyone will see message and if they have any queries, comments you can discuss with them. 

 

• Posts: Facebook posts should follow Inbound Marketing Strategy of content that does not sell but is more about educating people on the product for example tips, other inspiration you find- thought leader in industry. Say for example, you have a Furniture Business.

1. Rather than boring people to death by posting about how people should buy your product. Instead you should provide them with tips about how they should clean furniture, how to select furniture, what to match different furniture with in terms of color, why others buy your products- become a face for your products.

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     2. Content: Content Ideas for both Facebook and Instagram Platforms are generic in nature in the sense that what is posted on Instagram can now also be synced to Facebook account. Content is one of the most important ways to increase not only awareness for brand but is the main avenue to gain more sales. 

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1) To start off with some possible content ideas 

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- If you are a social enterprise/non profit business and are donating profits to support a charity/cause you could create  giveaway for people who benefit from charities work, or employees to submit their own artwork and then choose few entries to incorporate into your own business. Main thing that comes out of this type of giveaway is that not only are you donating to support the charity/cause you are also indirectly supporting the people who are benefitting from the charities work and employees. 

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- Content has to be relevant to what business you are running if you are running a home decor business you should create content about how products can be used and what color combinations they work with, inspiration behind why themes were chosen, you should not post content about vegetables or something of that nature because that is not at all relevant to business and industry you are in. Content should also show your stance on say home decor trends and educate people: this could be done through collecting information on home decor from other sources and repurposing the content into your own infographic or video about behind the scenes of company packaging, events etc.

 

Content should also highlight your businesses unique selling point for example you are running a gym business that donates a percentage of profits to charities that support malnutrition, education, empowering people through motivation etc. You should try and create content that speaks to your work/contribution beyond gym and how many customers you have and more towards how your support is helping others, you could organize and set up some type of event for all people who benefit from charity to come and give an unscripted view on how your contribution has helped(shows transparency and more than that, that you care about charity and work they are doing, holds importance to you in some capacity). 

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Unique Selling Point: Is basically in regards to your businesses's competitive advantage, given that there are many businesses in the same industry what do you do in terms of offer, packaging, business model that is different from other companies in same space. So when you are creating a business you have to have USP in mind or you can also create along the way unique selling point. But if you are running a business without USP, then you may run into a bit of headache when customers are trying to see you if this is a company that they should support, what is so different about this company from others.

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Content for social media platforms should be framed using Inbound Methodology framework in the sense that you should not be actively forcing people to buy your products but you should help them reach conclusion that you know we should buy product. 

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Now before content aspect comes into play, it is important to create a road map of sorts to map you know what is typical buyer like helps you when you are targeting and creating social media posts.

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Generic Buyers Journey Template is as follows:

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Buyers Journey plays a major role in Content for Inbound Marketing, so take for example Bob owns a Gym Business a roadmap that he could create that applies inbound marketing framework is as follows:

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2. Instagram: 

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Before I delve into Instagram specifically it is important to discuss the importance of keeping in mind the way that the platforms are used. For example, Instagram is used mainly for showing some kind of lifestyle in picture form whereas Facebook is more for written posts, updates kind of. In addition, platforms audience is also important when framing content for both platforms it is important to keep in mind that Instagram works because it has leveraged the interest of a younger audience. Whereas Facebook for the most part has a much older audience, that is not to say that people younger don’t have accounts in Facebook but for the most part younger audience tends to use Instagram more often than Facebook.

 

• Instagram Post: 

 

So framing of Instagram posts works in the same way as Facebook in the sense that you can post videos, images, comment and react to things. But you can’t really join groups as such, as this functionality is not available in Instagram. So hence why you have to try and maximize your follower base, and also try and make content that people will intentionally try and share with others. 

 

 

For example, creating content about how to use a certain aspect of your product speaks more volume than say oh look at this nice function- that does not really provide much value for followers. Just shows them that you know this exists but the value only comes into play when you add a bit of masala in the form of using the new function to educate others instead of just saying oh you know this exists.

 

Some content ideas for Instagram include:

• Educational Content about various different features/aspects of the product you are trying to sell. 

• Kind of a behind the scenes take of your business- say you are running an event planning business rather than say spending thousands of dollars on advertisements on the tv and newspaper you could instead spend a few minutes a day capturing the behind the scenes of the various events you have posted. This does two things helps your brand create a digital portfolio of all projects/events completed and more than that provides value to potential customers in the form of helps them put work of event planner etc into perspective. So some ways this can be done is through not only behind the scenes shots of the event, but also some testimonials from current customers.

• Growth Hacking techniques, for example, running giveaways using some old stock products or new products that you are going to launch is good, if firstly the product you are giving provides value to follower, and more than that before all this comes into play you need too have a solid follower base and engagement around product you are trying to giveaway. You should always be ready to change up the giveaway in terms of rules, formatting, products, color scheme etc. If you are giveaway does not work first time, there is no harm no foul you can still try and improve it maybe you could consider which areas you know are the weaknesses and try and fix them to the extent that you can.

• Instagram Story: So Instagram Story is a very easy way that you can build credibility, hype up products launch. Instagram story functions in the same way as a post in that you can do some write up, post a picture etc, however, the only catch is that Instagram story only lasts for 24 hours whereas Instagram Posts lasts up up till point when you physically remove it from your account.

 

Possible Ideas for Instagram Story

-Behind the scenes

-Quick product teaser

• links to website, new endeavors

• Reposting of other thought leaders in same industry

• Questions(feedback from customers)

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3.Quora

 

Overall, I think all social media platforms whether it be Instagram, Facebook, Quora or even Linkeldin take quite a bit of time to gain a good enough following that you can monetize. Quora as a whole is one of those platforms where you are limited to discussing and publishing educative content about certain topics, or you can pose your own question. But it would be a bit silly to answer your own question, rather than showing oh look at me I am so smart, I have come up with my own question. This is a deterimant to you as it does not really make you a thought leader in anything. You not only need to make content about topics, but you have to speak to a wide range of topics- in order to become a thought leader, or you can specialize in one area/industry only thing in that is that no human is knowing all material on one topics, there is still things that are not known. I think Quora is one of the more harder platforms to build a good following on, mainly due to the fact that you need to write a lot of helpful content on a consistent basis, you cant just write something go on vacation and not do anything further on content(engaging in comments). However, Quora’s main advantage is that it helps in creating content that has the ability to educate and then seeing on a wider audience the potential for the content. Depending on response, you can then change content to match and work well with your own follower base.

 

Content in Quora should be framed topic wise, if you have chosen to discuss about say hypothetically how bananas can be grown in a more efficient manner with negligible impact on the environment you can’t just start talking tangentially about say oh I am getting a new phone, it is going to be such an awesome phone etc. There is no relation between any of these topics. 

 

All content has to be presented in a logical, straightforward manner as this will help you get more of a following and sharing of for your content. Just for the sake of spewing some very mathematical formulas, or very abstract concepts you should instead focus on creating content that is simplified, straightforward and more importantly logical. 

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4. Twitter

 

Twitter can be leveraged as a a way to build connections and network, but more than that it can be used to promote your business and build a following.

 

5. Linkeldin

 

Linkeldin can also be used as a way to build connections and network, but it can also be used to cross promote your business website, youtube channel, articles. In Linkeldin you can join groups with people/businesses in the same business as you so that you can build your network further. Linkeldin can also be used to build a following for your business in the corporate world- for example you could add people who have bought products from your business, other businesses who have bought from you so that they can be kept in the loop about what is happening in your business, as well as share any articles, links you post on your Linkeldin page for your business with their followers. In that sense Linkeldin is kind of like the Facebook of the corporate world.

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In Social Medias the most important thing is to highlight your business's competitive advantage. For example, what is the thing that helps your business have a superior performance or difference over other businesses in the same space. This competitive advantage could be attributed to differences in cost leadership or differentiation. Within cost leadership the focus is more on how to lower costs through technology implementation, downsizing to boost profit margins, whereas in differentiation the focus is on spending on research to bolster results. For example, in cost leadership strategy emphasis is on maintaining low cost suppliers, leveraging technology to automate aspects of business- assembly etc. Whereas in differentiation it is more about research to outcompete the competition- implementing differences in products that lead to a superior performance- measured on the basis of results of your company in comparison to competitors. For example, competitive advantage could be created by identifying how specifically your company is in comparison to other companies in the same space. 

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