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Social Media Bootcamp Austin at Capital Factory [recap]

A few months ago, my team suggested we produced a workshop in my hometown, just to see how many people would be interested in learning about social media marketing.  I loved the idea and decided to reach out to some of my amazing friends who are in the marketing field and they were on board. Social Media Bootcamp was born!

Why a social media Bootcamp?

When you do an open call to entrepreneurs, small business owners who want to get visible, and marketing agencies, you need to consider that no content will be one-size-fits-all. We decided to call it a Bootcamp, because we were determined to teach as many lessons as possible in the 4 hours we had together. Since Capital Factory is the center of gravity for entrepreneurs in Texas, we decided to partner up to host this amazing event.

Social Media Marketing Strategies Covered During The Workshop

In preparation for the Bootcamp, I drafted a 5-step strategy (secrets to conversions from social media) that every business must have, as their fundamentals for their social media marketing.

1) Data and metrics.

2) How to build a brand by leveraging the power of culture.

3) Avatars and hooks grid to target 🎯 the audience.

4) Why your manifesto must be part of your content marketing.

5) How to influence people to buy from you.

Here is what I knew about the audience before even started the workshop:

  • Most business owners fail at seeing social media marketing as a tactical activity, instead of integrating social media marketing into their entire marketing system.
  • Social media is a communication channel, but most business owners only see it as a promotional channel.
  • Business owners are feeling overwhelmed with so many social media platforms and formats to share a message, especially Instagram and Instagram stories.
  • I knew I was gonna have a savvy, smart, curious, driven, and hungry individuals who were up to no joke and no fluff!

I didn’t have a Power Point or any slides deck. I wanted to give the audience what they wanted. So, we kicked off by allowing each participant to speak! I wanted to know them, one by one. What brought them there, what was their business, and what was the number one thing they wanted to get from the Bootcamp.

I felt an instant connection with the room. They had so many things in common, yet, so many different backgrounds and schools. After listening to what they wanted to learn, I was ready to put their business ideas into the test!

Social media has affected the way we make purchasing decisions. We have a new sales journey.

The Before

Before we had access to massive amounts of data on demand, brands treated digital marketing following a linear approach.  They were convinced that a series of repeated pieces of content would help consumers to “funnel” the information and would persuade them to make the decision to buy from them.

Social media changed the digital space. The opportunities to join conversations are endless; turning the funnel idea into obsolete.

Image result for lineal funnel vs non lineal

The After

Consumers are educated. They have access to data, on demand. If they want to purchase something, they get it. Typically, consumers are persuaded the most by their friends and connections and that persuasion doesn’t happen in a particular order.

Marketers have adopted a non-lineal funnel approach. Consumers turn into loyal clients or advocators triggered by loyalty, not following a particular “funnel”. This is called the loyalty loop.

Christine Young did an amazing job, sharing her cliff notes on Twitter. My team captured her tweets and turned them into a video for you!

As a brand, your goal is getting people to like you, trust you, and believe in you. Social media is a great communication avenue to achieve that goal! The key is to stop using it as a direct response marketing (the infomercial style) and create a content marketing strategy that turns your followers into loyal customers.

In other words, no more cats videos, memes, and irrelevant content!

The 5-Step Strategy To Succeed in Social Media Marketing

I asked them to draw a sandwich and it’s funny because, at some point, I called the sandwich a burger! But… the sandwich (not the burger) had a bottom and a top and 3 ingredients in the middle.

Having the opportunity to help entrepreneurs having a breakthrough is one of the most rewarding things that I’ve experienced in life. I crave for those moments! Obviously, I wasn’t just teaching and speaking. I called for volunteers who wanted to get feedback on their work!

Carla Birnberg from Your Box Box was one of the volunteers. As she read her company’s mission, we were able to identify a deeper way to communicate with their audience by designing a manifesto.

Messaging is key, especially for the crowded social media newsfeeds. We must communicate messages that allow us to create tight bonds with our audiences so that they feel connected with us because we get them. They feel like they are one of us. They belong. We should incorporate our manifesto into our branding and use social media to share it. See this example.

Image result for wholefoods manifesto

We scored great wins! Especially getting clarity about audience targeting using the Avatars and Hooks Grid

The audience had the chance to create a plan to switch from a transactional, promotional, and tactical social media marketing to a strategic, intentional, and profitable one. This process started with the first ingredient I covered,  Avatars and Hooks Grid.

Lori Stinson volunteered for our Avatars and Hooks exercise. We were able to craft her future buyer persona and created different hooks.

Targeting your audience is the key to a successful social media marketing strategy. Having a clear idea of who do you want to attract and all the details about them makes your life as a marketer really easy. Where to start?

Start with your favorite client

  • How long have they been in business?
  • Size of the company.
  • What made them buy from you?
  • What do they treasure the most about your relationship?
  • Why do they stay with you and don’t go to your competitor?
  • Do they have a particular culture?
  • Do you know their set of values?

For the Hooks, map your future buyer’s journey

Once you know your Avatar, the next step is creating a “hook”. This is where your content marketing comes handy. What information would add value to them? How would they prefer to consume that information? Would they appreciate a video rather than a 5,000 long blog post? Would they appreciate a tutorial?

Keep in mind, hooks are not the typical freebies that lead people to a transaction. We want to switch from a transactional, promotional, and tactical social media marketing to a strategic, intentional, and profitable one. This requires that you give more value.  How much is more value?

Follow the 3×1 rule

Share 3 valuable pieces of content with your future buyers and then make the 4th your pitch.  This can be a sequence, but not necessarily.  Your future buyers are smart. If you prepare high-valuable content, for example, blog posts, they will read them. If they feel that your content adds value, they will get your offer. Your job is to earn their trust.

The audience helped Lori with content ideas based on what they would love to see from her company. It was a lot of fun!

Julia McCoy from Express Writers Lead The Afternoon Session

The Bootcamp gave the audience a real plan to switch from a transactional, promotional, and tactical social media marketing to a strategic, intentional, and profitable one. Without a doubt, content marketing strategy is the key to approach social media marketing from this new perspective. And who else can lead this content marketing session better than the content hacker?

Seriously, Google her name and you will see. Best-selling author, awarded as top 25 marketing influencers by LinkedIn, published in multiple magazines, CEO of a successful content marketing agency in charge of ghostwriting for prestigious organizations around the world. She’s so successful, and yet, so humble.

Trustworthy content surpasses ads (by far)

Julia opened her session with some shocking stats about marketing tactics that are not bringing ROI (but they are still very popular). Somebody isn’t listening to the audience and that’s the reason why we felt the urge to host this Bootcamp.

People are not responding to advertising.

From 2016 to 2018, the return on ad spend, the conversion rate on a traditional cold ad funnel, went from 11.8x to .6x ROA.

The general rule: it’s not about what can I get from my audience, it’s about how much more I can give them.

I was seated in the public, watching Julia giving her presentation. Everyone was literally shocked and almost mad that they had put so much energy and effort into tactics that are no longer effective.

Julia’s presentation was outstanding. She covered 5 types of content you should be publishing to grow your brand.

  1. Blog
  2. Site content (web pages)
  3. Emails
  4. Social media
  5. List-Builders (Downloadables: Lead Magnets, Free Ebooks)

She gave clear examples of how to’s, which made it very easy to follow. You can find her recap here.

Marketing Panel

After Julia’s presentation, Kim Barnes, communications expert, and video marketing consultant, joined us to lead the marketing panel. We gave the audience the chance to ask us anything and they took advantage!

What are some of the guerilla marketing strategies you recommend, that are free?

Kim Barnes, an expert in communications gave us advice on how to leverage Facebook Live. She discussed some of the major mistakes to avoid, to build a brand, for free.

How do we manage to produce content for different channels, especially what to share in our business pages versus our personal pages?

I loved that each of us shared a piece of wisdom about this topic. As a content marketing expert, Julia shared the importance of having time just to create ideas, separated from content production, to avoid fatigue. 

My 2 cents on this topic was to treat every channel individually and establish a voice that met the audience’s expectations. For Instagram, for example, you must meet the visual requirements. Amazing pictures, creative content, and out-of-the-box stories. 

Can you explain everything about hashtags?

Hashtags were the most wanted item! I’m glad I had the chance to explain the concept using baby steps! A hashtag is a code and is used to create boards. Boards are “parked” on Instagram and users love searching for boards. For example, if I’m visiting San Antonio, I will search #sanantonio and explore what users are sharing. It’s almost like reading reviews, but 10x better. The key is to put yourself in the shoes of those who are searching. Where do you want to get visibility? That’s the most important question and that’s how you design the hashtags you will use on each post.

How many hashtags?

It depends! If you are building your brand and want to use some guerrilla marketing, go for 30. There’s nothing wrong. But once you have an audience, limit to 15. If you’re using 30 and some of them are very popular, be careful, since those can be banned occasionally, causing your posts to suffer from the famous “shadowban”.

Did you like this recap? Watch the video and check the amazing testimonials! Don’t miss another event! I host bi-weekly online workshops for our Entrepreneurs Inner Circle and live events Check our calendar here. 

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The No-Brainer Content Planning Guide for Social Media: 5 Tips to Help You Execute

Time is essential and valuable.

Once it’s spent, it can’t ever be recovered.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners need to be efficient with time.

That’s me!

With four kids and plenty of hats to wear, I better be efficient.

When it comes to marketing, generating ideas usually isn’t the problem. The problem is in the execution – creating a plan and following through with it. According to Content Marketing Institute’s 2019 B2C report, commitment to their marketing plan is one of the most important success indicators for businesses.

Unfortunately, when you’re on the other side and find it hard to commit and execute, you might struggle with:

  • Consistency
  • Constantly feeling like something is missing
  • Long days that are unproductive
  • Multiple projects pending
  • Frustration

You know that you need to build your social media following and engage with them.  You know that you need to come up with content or else your audience won’t find any value from you, but who has time for all of that?

So, what are some solutions? How can you make content planning and execution easier?

I found my sweet spot on social media! That’s, essentially, a point where you connect with a real audience and communicate with them in such an authentic way that they want to work with you.  Let’s talk about ways to find your social media sweet spot!

Pinky promisse: you will fall in love with social media again.

5 Solutions for When You’re Struggling with Content Planning

To execute a content plan, you need some basic techniques:

1. Block Time to Generate Content Ideas

It’s easier to generate content ideas if you regularly schedule brainstorming sessions (for example, once every two weeks, once a month, or once per quarter). That way, you’ll never run out.

How many ideas do you need? It depends on the stage of your business. It can be as little as 10 ideas. You just need enough to keep producing content consistently.

2. Identify Sources to Curate Content

Find go-to sources for content curation so you don’t start from zero. Write them down and refer to them when you need them.

3. Lead Your Content with Value

As the expert, your job is to educate your audience. With that in mind, sometimes the best content is just Q&A. Ask your audience what questions they have. Create a master list with those items, and use them to create content.

I’m sure you want to use your content to generate users, leads, and unique sales opportunities. Design your content marketing using The Ice Cream Cone Method.

4. Make Sure You Create Consumable Content

Don’t just create content – create consumable content. This means:

  • It should be specific to the social media platform where it will be posted. Instagram, for example, is all visual.
  • Use video to get better engagement.
  • Create campaigns so you can program your content and be consistent. Some campaigns can be created from one simple idea:

5. Follow a Blueprint

Follow a simple blueprint while you build endurance and become consistent with your content and posting schedule. You will notice how you get better and better – it’s like going to the gym.

Here are some examples of social media blueprints to follow. A basic plan usually means committing to 10 updates a month:

Need more?

Follow the framework and do as many rounds of this plan as possible.

Your Content Planning is in Place… Now What?

Now that you have this simple blueprint, the next step is understanding what content will you share for your audience. If you don’t have an audience yet, we need a plan that helps you attract real followers so you can create content for them. That’s the only way that content marketing will turn into real followers, leads, and profits.

I would like to give you a complimentary forensic marketing session where we can discuss your plan together.

Get your free forensic marketing session today and get clear on your next best moves for amazing marketing!

 

 

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A Social Media Content Plan Example

Having a social media account without content is like having a microphone without power. Your social media channels are amplifiers of your message and your content is your message.

Content marketing can be confusing, especially when you consider the dynamics that take place when you combine your social media marketing, your new followers, engagement, video… It’s a lot!

If you have been looking for a formula to generate content for your social media accounts that brings in revenue, keep reading!

What is Content Marketing?

Content Marketing is a marketing type, which entails the creation and distribution of online items to a clearly defined audience. Content marketers do this to arouse interest in various services or products. 

The online material (mentioned above) includes material such as e-books, educational articles, entertainment, webinars (these answer specific queries individuals have about the marketed products/services), and videos. By creating and sharing this content, you can turn the product that you are selling into something unique that is not available elsewhere. 

You should bear in mind though that Content Marketing is not a strategy that you employ once, and it is completed. On the contrary, content marketing is a process that requires a series of steps, which you have to repeat to achieve results over the passage of time.

Why do People Favor Content Marketing for Their Business?

Content marketing is a preferred tool for several businesses worldwide. Some of the many prime benefits of content marketing include:

Cost-Effective Means of Bringing in Fresh Leads

There is no denying that content marketing aids your business in gathering fresh leads. Small businesses that depend on constant traffic to boost their sales rely heavily on lead generation. Content marketing is not only an ideal solution for lead generation, but it is a very economical marketing strategy as well. 

Content marketing generates around 2.5 times more leads than conventional marketing strategies and costs about 60 percent less as well.  Content marketing’s ‘easy to afford’ factor makes it a useful tactic for small organizations that wish to maximize their revenue on a limited budget.  

Enables you to Highlight your Expertise in your Field

All your followers want to know that they are interacting with experts who know sound knowledge of their industry. With the help of content marketing, you can demonstrate your know-how in your subject matter and facilitate your readers/followers to make an informed buying decision.

Let’s assume that either the consumer has the option to buy a product/service from a business that frequently publishes quality informative content or from one that does not provide any content. In this scenario, the customer is likely to buy from the company that has showcased their knowledge via their content. In this manner, the consumer can rest assured knowing that he/she is well taken care of by industry professionals who will competently answer any future questions he/she about the purchased product.  

Why do Social Media and Content Marketing Complement Each Other?

Think about social media as the all-important automobile that takes your content to the ideal destination.

There are a plethora of platforms that you may use on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and many more. What this means is that you do not have to confine your content marketing motor vehicle to a single street! With the help of social media, you can connect with your targeted clientele and reach out to a diverse customer base when building your brand awareness.

Many entrepreneurs and marketers make the mistake of pursuing tactics on social media, such as how to get more likes, how to get more followers for free, how to write captions that get more likes. While those tactics are important, it’s important to have a big-picture strategy first. The last thing you want is to chase vanity metrics. You can’t deposit likes or followers in your banking account.

To ensure that your content marketing strategies are an unmitigated success, you must align these with social media. This alignment requires planning.

However, before we dive into the strategies to align content marketing for social media, it is important to know the chief components of a content marketing strategy: 

  • -Business objectives: Your goals for content marketing and the Key Performance Indicators you will assess to measure the level of success.
  • -Mission Statement: What will you accomplish via your content?
  • -Distribution Strategies: What social media channels will you make use to distribute your content to your audience?
  • -Target clientele: Who do you plan to reach out to distribute your content?
  • -Measurement: Which metrics will you use to measure your success in social media content marketing?

These content marketing components will also serve as the crux of your social media plan. Here are some useful tips to assist you in aligning content marketing with social media.

What Should a Great Social Media Content Plan Have?

When you look for an efficient content marketing and social media plan, you should ask yourself some important questions:

  • -What do your social media followers require? Keep in mind that each platform will connect you with different followers. Treat each platform independently. For example, I won’t share on LinkedIn the same posts that I share on my Instagram. My content for Instagram is more personal than my content for LinkedIn.
  • -What do your social media followers need to know regarding your brand? Branded content is a must, if you want to use your social media channels to attract qualified leads.

Make sure your content includes the following:

  1. What makes you unique?
  2. What’s your story?
  3. Who do you help?
  4. What do your clients say about you?
  • –What online content/material piques your followers’ interest? Facebook Audience Insights is a great tool to find inspiration for your content.  You will be able to find similar pages your audience have an idea of the content that drives their attention.
  • -Which social media platform you ought to leverage? Less is more. If you won’t be actively engaging in a platform, it’s better just to have a minimal presence. Review your leads and clients and see if you can track how did they find you. You should be able to find a pattern and see which social media platform is generating the best ROI.
  • –What are your objectives for social media? Set up the right expectations from your social media channels. While there are industries that have burst their sales using just social media, for the most part, especially for B2B businesses, social media serves as a place to raise awareness and build authority. However, they won’t expect to close deals from social media. 
  • How many updates will you be sharing per week? Brands need to find the balance between staying in touch versus staying on your face. A general rule: if you don’t have great content to share, then don’t share. Your audience will appreciate you for respecting their time. Make it easy for them to follow you!
  • –How would you go about measuring your results on social media to know your progress? As a forensic marketer, this is my favorite part! Most marketers and entrepreneurs miss to track their content, especially content they share via social media. Don’t make the same mistake. Build your UTM codes so you can track your content using Google Analytics. 

Importance of Understanding your Clientele

It is of paramount importance to know clearly who your targeted audience is and how these individuals make use of various social media platforms to look for information. You need to create and tailor your content in a way that your social media followers like it. By utilizing this approach, you will be the first choice for your audience when they look up for information online. 

Make sure that you create the perfect blend of image and content. To that end, you need to keep your followers’ needs and interests in mind at all times. Put yourself in their shoes!

Stay Abreast of Trending Subjects

Staying abreast of trending topics is a great way to flourish when it comes to integrating content marketing with social media for your line of business. This enables you to become an important part of the conversations that interest your followers. 

Just make sure you post your content at the correct time to maximize reader engagement as much as possible. 

Hook Your Reader Base

When it comes to content marketing for social media, effectively engaging your readers is very important.  You have to make sure that you connect with all your readers with the right content at the correct time. This will keep them hooked, and they will look you up frequently to check for new content. This also why it is necessary to post content frequently on social media. 

However, posting too regularly in a single day might backfire as well. If you have quality content for your audience, limit yourself to post a couple of times per day. In this manner, you do not overload your readers with information and keep your followers engaged by providing them with useful content from time to time. 

By using social media analytics, check out which type of content gives you the best reader engagement. Get a better understanding by studying the likes, shares, and comments received on the content. A thorough analysis of this kind will go a long way to help you to learn what best strikes your readers’ fancy. You will be able to efficiently boost reader engagement once you find out what your readers and followers like.  

Ask the Audience

If you have no clue as to how, to begin with the marketing and require a sense of direction, you should take advantage of social media to find out the content type your followers/readers are actually looking for. 

When it comes to content material, your targeted clientele will provide you valuable insights and point you in the right direction. Conducting a poll is the best way to get these insights. In this way, you will get assistance from your social media followers to promote and market your particular product/brand. 

What Do You Use For Social Media Planning?

As a social media marketing with senior-level experience, I get to plan social media marketing calendars in no time. But it’s because at this point we use a strategy to design marketing campaigns.

If you’re starting, come up with a list of possible topics to post. Try to keep that list handy, so that can be your bank of ideas.

The infographic below outlines the social media content ideas that can be included in your content calendar.

  1. Inspirational Quote
  2. Feature a partner (or a vendor)
  3. Share A Tip Or Trick
  4. Share an article from your blog (showcase your expertise)
  5. Share A Free Resource
  6. Invite them to an event (or webinar)
  7. Share an Interesting Story (be vulnerable)
  8. Free trial
  9. Highlight testimonial
  10. Create a Poll
  11. Highlight a cause
  12. Show your audience behind the scenes
  13. Infographic
  14. Quick Video Training
  15. Promo / Coupon
  16. Ask me anything post!

Tips:

  1. Perform an audit of your existing content
  2. Make an overview of the major events that garner the interest of your audience
  3. Think of the interests of your audience
  4. Conduct research on the best content to post and share nothing but the best!
  5. Plan and schedule ahead
  6. Adopt a culture of quality over quantity
  7. Be consistent

My Visibility Planner is a great tool to turn your content pains into victories! Click here to learn more about it.

What Should Be Your Social Media Strategy?

 What did you plan to achieve by incorporating content marketing with your social media strategy? Are you using social media as your main channel to get discoverable? Do you have a website with existing traffic? Do you have an email list?

Knowing your starting point is crucial in order to set up your social media strategy.

Social media marketing can get you leads and sales, especially if you are incorporating content marketing into your social media marketing.

Your content marketing should help you communicate with your audience, in particular, with those who need your product or services TODAY. That will be key in order to see conversions from your social media marketing.

Mix Awareness, Consideration, and Promotions

A great way to simplify what to say in social media is by creating weekly campaigns, for example:

  1. Motivational Mondays
  2. Testimonial Tuesdays
  3. Winning in Life Wednesday
  4. Tips Thursdays
  5. Fun Fridays

These are campaigns can help you craft a very simple content calendar.

Every brand is different and that’s why I don’t believe in the one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to creating a content marketing strategy for your social media.

Bottom Line

Needless to say, content marketing tactics should be a critical element of every social media strategy. In this way, you can expand your clientele reach, boost your brand awareness, and generate revenue, and leads by influencing potential customers at all phases of the sales funnel. 

Similar to most things in life, a successful content marketing social media strategy takes time to perfect. To that end, be sure to experiment with new tactics and amend your strategy accordingly frequently.