Kevin Costner’s character built the field, and yes, the players came. Our dream at AZ Media Maven is to create content and the readers will come. (Photo Courtesy of Universal Pictures)
Yes, I am unabashedly lifting the title from Kevin Costner’s film Field of Dreams. What does this mean in the virtual world of social media? Just building a Web site doesn’t mean the customers will come, nor does having Twitter, Facebook, YouTube accounts and a blog. Ask the thousands of business owners who immediately created a business page on Facebook and then never nurtured the page nor its fans. No posts in days, months? Not likely to bring people back, no matter how well-designed the page is.
For success on any media platform (even the fading glory of print newspapers), the content has to be compelling. It seems such a simple concept, but it isn’t. Content must be appropriate to platform. Great Facebook content doesn’t translate necessarily into top-notch blogs, though good blogs certainly are excellent content to post on both Facebook and your Web site. Tailor your content to the platform of choice.
Here are five simple content rules for your Web site and social media:
Web site: Use current content with a longer shelf-life. For example, if you have a beauty salon, then slideshows of current seasonal styles will last several weeks and you can easily refresh with new photos as needed.
Facebook: Use posts to create up-to-the minute conversation. Take into account weekly and daily events that you can use to link content. If we continue with the hair salon example, the owner could have sales for back-to-school haircuts and still link to the Web site’s longer style article and slideshow about the season’s current styles.
Twitter: Think immediate gratification. An example could be Tweeting 2-3 times during the week with attached images for the day’s top haircut and a link to your Web page content.
Blog: Choose a specific topic relating to the current season’s styles, and write about the celebs who are wearing it. Add several photos. Writing too broadly makes your blog sound bland, but a specific style worn by three to five famous faces will attract attention to your content.
YouTube: Create videoes of clients getting the new styles using careful descriptions in the voice-over on how to re-create the style at home.
Different content appeals to different audiences, but quality content never ceases to appeal.
AZ Media Maven is based in Laveen, AZ, a suburban village in the greater Phoenix area. Owner Rose Tring has more than 30 years of journalism experience as an editor and writer, many of those years in business news. AZ Media Maven was created in 2012 to serve other business owners in learning how to best use social media and to provide affordable public relation services. Reach AZ Media Maven by emailing azmediamaven@azmediamaven.com, or calling (602) 373-8371.
Thanks for the new follows. I appreciate it.