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Yesterday, I was involved with some discussions about marketing, social media and the overlying theme was, “How can I have a strong voice online?” I sensed a bit of frustration in achieving a strong voice. Generally, people want to invest their time and money in areas that will return results.
I really believe it comes down to thinking differently. We need to use social media tools to help support our business decisions and think smarter about the way we use social media.
As you know from this blog site, I am not a big fan of Facebook for business. However, as one of my colleagues pointed out, it can be a great platform for listening to others, especially certain groups or companies that use Faecbook specifically for communicating content about their companies.
I know some people feel Twitter is a huge waste of time. However, when you take your id and you use a tool like Tweetdeck, you can really focus on the particular clients and information you want to follow and connect with.
Now as far as having a strong voice, you need to make sure you are connecting with people at a higher level. Google’s last change, Hummingbird is emphasizing this fact. Google wants (AUTHORITATIVE INFORMATION from a SPECIFIC WRITER).
As marketers, we should embrace this same philosophy and connect with quality people and not just the masses. It is the quality connections that are going to carry our companies through this current economy.
The only way we can achieve this task is by making sure our voice is being communicated more and stronger!
Working with social media, it is easy to make small talk by adding a comment here or there or retweeting some good information. This helps us connect a little bit and certain people recognize that and thank us personally. However, it can be a trap and huge waste of time if this is all we are doing. As marketers, we need to dig in and represent our companies and clients by creating experiences that people can relate to.
Content marketing cannot be looked at as another way to reach people through SEO, like key words. Content that stands out needs to be something that produces results and is written with a future growth goal in mind.
Change is occurring faster than ever, and all of us need to look at “writing conversational content” that resonates and can be backed up. Are you ready to start writing with a purpose and meaning? Or, are you still stuck in writing for key word phrases and information that is old and repeatable.
Some things I am working on with respect to a strong voice on social media!
Constantly trying new approaches to get noticed online by changing the way I approach content on websites. I need to write more from a knowledge perspective, providing specific examples that back up my thoughts. (Working with a sense of urgency) (I need to results today!!!)
Linkedin looks like the place to be in 2014. The right people, (business people). Linkedin is also making some big changes. (New – November 19, 2013 – Showcase Pages)
Looking at getting a group together to discuss topics in more detail.
Identify and bringing attention to some of the best resources online (Google Hummingbird Post and Video – Square2Marketing)
Time to stake a stand and stand for something exciting, and forget about all of the copycat materials.
Image courtesy of stock images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
