The last two weeks have been filled with articles revolving around what to post to increase organic reach on posts from Facebook business pages. Apart from all the ‘tricks’ and ‘experiments’ that have been carried out to improve the number of followers that see or engage with your posts on this platform, many analysts are encouraging diversification of your strategy across different platforms and finding that unique voice that represents who you truly are.
Our own Collective member Anton Rius, in his article Is There a Secret Sauce for Social Media Success?, says:
“…not all businesses should use social media the same way. As much as we want there to be a shortcut to success, a specific blueprint for everyone’s own unique business goals simply does not exist.”
In my previous post I pointed out that you should remain true to who you are because you are ‘exotic’ to someone else no matter how ‘standard’ you think you are. Today I’d like to expand a bit on this and look at it from the opposite direction. Bring the exotic into your own ‘sauce’ and offer your local followers a taste of what your international connections – who work in the same line of business – are doing abroad. You can enrich your content marketing strategy by sharing with an international touch. For example, a real estate agent can learn from what other agents are are doing abroad. Fresh ideas can help you stand out, no matter your industry.
‘Pay to play’ exposure is clearly in place and it seems there’s no turning back. I’m already seeing one post per day from a big name brand that I never engage with but that I had liked a long time ago on Facebook. Not that it bothers me, but it is a sign of our new reality. And it will eventually be the norm on all platforms.
What are small businesses to do? How can they compete with the big brands who have inflated marketing budgets?
One way is to use your Social Media channels to find and engage with these ‘exotic’ connections that will add to your unique content blend:
- Use Twitter search options with keywords and hashtags to connect with similar businesses and include them in a list. Use a social listening tool like HootSuite to monitor their content so that you can share with your followers when appropriate. Laurie Thompson has shared many tips about how to use this awesome tool and one of my favorites is to set up streams for Twitter lists. It makes it so easy to monitor what’s being published in a specific category.
- The Pinterest search bar is very powerful, too. More and more bloggers from all over the world are pinning images they create or select for their articles on specific boards with keywords that make it easy for anyone to find. The information that I come across using this feature is different from a simple Google search. Read Dorien’s articles on Pinterest for more on the potential use for this platform.
- Instagram seems to be at the top of social media marketers lists as THE new platform to explore. For the latest on this platform check out Megan Corwin’s articles.
- Google+ allows you to easily incorporate the ‘foreign’ into your other social media channels, as the crowd there is very international and industry focused. Men currently dominate this platform, as opposed to Pinterest which is currently dominated by women. Sara Nickleberry’s articles are a great resource.
There you go. What do you think of these ideas to incorporate a bit of international spice into your content marketing strategy? Remember to use what resonates with you to stay in line with your own style.
