Content has always been the driving force in business. It is the one thing that carries the marketing message from one platform to another whether online or offline. It comes in different forms (as opposed to some assuming that it merely pertains to text) such as text, video, audio and some forms added along the way like infographic, video infographic etc. Unfortunately, most businesses do content marketing the wrong way. They don’t undergo the creative brief that is required in making a web copy or a blog post. They simply throw in a 500-word post or more and spread the URL link of the post all around social media, expecting people to do what they want. This article will help you understand the true essence of social media marketing and how it should be done.

2. Content has always been the driving force in business. It is the one thing that carries the
marketing message from one platform to another whether online or offline. It comes in
different forms (as opposed to some assuming that it merely pertains to text) such as text,
video, audio and some forms added along the way like infographic, video infographic etc.
Unfortunately, most businesses do content marketing the wrong way. They don’t undergo
the creative brief that is required in making a web copy or a blog post. They simply throw in
a 500-word post or more and spread the URL link of the post all around social media,
expecting people to do what they want.
This article will help you understand the true essence of social media marketing and how it
should be done.

3. SMART is a famous marketing abbreviation
for Specific, Measurable, Achievable,
Relevant and Time-bounded.
Setting goals is one of the most important
tasks to do before setting anything else in
motion. A Goal is broken down into sets of
objectives that support it to keep it in line to
achieving.
Specific – determine the focus of your problem and single that
out to solve. Goal should then be specific and not all over the
place.
Measurable – set goals that can be measured by numbers (e.g.
percentage of number of new sign ups, sales etc.) so it is easy
to adjust cutbacks on budget, time or points to burn on tasks).
Achievable – they say aim for the moon so when you fail you
still have the stars. But if you want your team to be motivated
don’t set out for a goal that even you know is not possible in
the given timeframe or budget.
Relevant – set goals based on realistic processes and outcomes
that proved successful before and is priority to the business at
hand.
Time-bounded – it is setting a specific time-frame to a goal or
sets of objectives that compose it.
Step 1
BESMARTENOUGHTODOSMART

4. Admit it; your business is not fit for everyone. In that case, your content should not attempt to cater to
everyone either. Being an effective business, it is important that you know your target market – the people
who most likely need your products or services.
Sign up to get the free eBook on How to Create Your Buyer Persona.
Here are the most common questions to ask when coming up with a persona:
1. Who are you talking to?
2.What are their pain points?
3.What are their areas of interest?
4.What do they want?
5.How do they consume it?
Step 2
CREATEYOURTARGETPERSONA

5. It is important to zoom in on your value propositions. Know
what they mean to your target market and whether they lead
right to your goal.
You have your goals and your target market
but how will you ever bridge the two so they
create an explosive marketing strategy? You
need to create and decide on a content
roadmap.
Watch this Google video on creating a
marketing plan.
Step 3
DECIDEONAROADMAP

6. Review your existing content and pick out those you can use that still fulfill your buyers’
needs. Try repurposing content in a way that makes it more understandable. What is
repurposing? It simply means delivering the same content using a different package.
You can take out a written tutorial and convert it into a video demonstration to make it
more engaging and easier to understand.
REPURPOSEEXISTINGCONTENT
Step 4

7. Review existing content to learn of gaps. You
might have written more of something compared
to others that are equally important.
Creating an editorial calendar will help you clearly
see where your content is leading and what more
needs to be written to achieve the goal. An
editorial calendar also helps you maintain areas
of focus and guides you on what to write without
cramming for topics.
Here is a Google Spreadsheet containing Editorial
Calendar Templates that you can use free.
CREATEANEDITORIALCALENDAR
Step 5

8. Content creators do not necessarily have to
know everything to create the content that
buyers would need. In fact, there is only one
possible way to write topics you do not know
anything about – internal communication.
Communicating with the different
department of the company and asking them
about the product and services on their point
of view will help you create another angle for
your content, which your buyers are looking
for that you might have missed out.
LEVERAGEINTERNALINFORMATION
Step 6

9. The most difficult part in content marketing is
producing an engaging content. When writing or
creating the content, it is important to think of
these three aspects: attractive, attention
grabbing introduction, information-packed
middle, and compelling and enticing call to
action at the end/conclusion. Once you keep in
mind all these, it becomes easy to write content
that engages buyers.
PRODUCEENGAGINGCONTENT
Step 7

10. What comes after the content creation?
Content sharing on Facebook, Twitter and
other social media platforms is the immediate
action of most content creators. But before
you even try to share the content, it is a must
that you have built a strategically effective
way of sharing it.
Posting a headline and the link to the post is
not enough to entice followers and fans to
click and visit the post. Headlines are good
and inviting but it would be twice better to
inject personality. Thus, it is important to
spend a little more time in actually sharing
the content or you might lose the opportunity
to gather clicks.
SHARECONTENTONSOCIALMEDIA
Step 8

11. You have set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bounded goal, now is
the time to determine whether results from the actions implemented coincide with the
set goals.
Measure results based on key propositions, channels utilized and specific buying
pathway of clients.
MEASURERESULTSTOBASELINEINFORMATION/DATA
Step 9

12. Observing past marketing activities and results enhances
the chance for improving process not only on content
creation but also on marketing as a whole. Taking all the
points that were effective and not effective helps in
understand the target audience more, which in turn
provide guidance on how to do better next time and
reach the goal whether it’s brand awareness or sales.
As was said, content marketing is not a run-off-the-mill
kind of thing that you do in an hour or less. It requires
insight and regard to target audience’s wants and needs.
It must answer specific questions and problems. It also
has to be packaged in a way that is very attractive so it
has the potential to be opened and discovered.
You will know you are doing well in content marketing
when results are aligned with business/marketing goal.
LEARNANDIMPROVEFORBETTERRESULTS
Step10

13. SpringRank is the fastest growing company
specialized in Web 2.0 Business Applications and
the No. 1 Supplier of Social Media Services
including Twitter, YouTube, SoundCloud,
Pinterest and Vimeo. The company’s proven
technology, comprehensive services and expert
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gain traction online.
ABOUTSPRINGRANK
Tel: 1-800-590-0425 |+44 20 3289 0222
Email: hello@springrank.com
www.springrank.com
www.blog.springrank.com
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