Why Social Media is a Key Factor When Content Marketing by Brian Newmark

Social Media is the future of all online promotions. Organic search has already started to bend towards the brands and PPC will soon be a tool for the deep pocketed business men. Internet business is slowly becoming a platform for the people with means.

In a condition like this, social media is the only option left. Content marketing is a process where high quality content is promoted on its merit. If it is good – it will spread. Social media works best when you try to promote content which is already worth spreading.

Here are 6 top reasons why Social Media is a Key factor in Content Marketing

1) Nothing spreads better than Social – Social media is the best way to spread your message.

Some of the other ways to spread a message online is via emails, blogs, press release etc. If you compare any of these methods to social media – you will realize that it is the social that spreads the best. Even with press release getting catched on major news outlets or getting featured on Google news etc. it is the social media that ultimately spread the press release and gives the most mileage.

2) The Ultimate decider of merit – Social media decides if your content is really any good. Social media is a human thing. Humans decide if the content is worthy or not, it is something that bots can’t. If your content is worthy then naturally social media will like it and spread it – if not, it will fall flat.

3) It is free – ROI matters.

Content marketing has its costs and if there is a medium available that works best at the lowest cost – it is surely a positive to look at. It does costs to do the initial push on the social media – but from there, it starts to snowball. If your content is good it will spread to the deepest corners of the internet and bring home some amazing traffic and engagement.

4) Reaches the Main Stream Media – Hitting the main stream media can make you big instantly. It is what changes businesses into brands.

Anything that trends on the social media has a great chance of hitting mainstream media. One day you could be trending on facebook or twitter, then next thing you know – you get featured on some of the popular mainstream news sites or magazines. Popular celebrities and other influential people use Twitter, Instagram and other social sites. If your content is interesting and is targeted towards the right audience – it can get retweeted by some one popular. Once that happens the press will pick it up quickly. They will even start to follow you and there is a good chance that what you tweet next will get featured as well.

5) Quickest way – Social media is the quickest way to get your content promoted. There is no other channel of promotion which is that quick. Even press release takes time to get featured or emails take time to get opened and read. Social Media is like wild fire – it spreads at a very quick rate.

6) Trustworthy – Social media is the most trustworthy form of promotion. On social media – you don’t promote it; your followers themselves promote it to their contacts. When you find something that says – “12 of your friends use this product” or “This friend of yours recommended this … ” it builds an instant connection. It is the people who promote your stuff to their friends on the social media. It is almost like a personal recommendation.

While social media is surely a Key to content marketing, it is equally important to put the key in the correct lock. Social media refers to a collection of social sites and hence it is important that we choose the correct platform for the specific content.

Here’s a small guide on what type of content works best on which social platform.

Reddit and Fark – They specialize primarily in funny and humour related content. Reddit has lately grown out of any specific niche and is a huge social platform now.

Newsvine – This is best for general news that covers pretty much anything.

Twitter, facebook, G+ – Use the big social networks to push just about anything.

Stumbleupon – Requires really good images, preferably travel pictures. Stumbleupon is known to have the highest bounce rates –but with image heavy content, the bounce rates go down and engagement starts to happen.

Pinterest – Women centric mostly. Home decoration, cute pictures of cats or just about any animal will do. Shopping related content is the best to push via Pinterest.

Linkedin – It is a professional network targeting primarily jobs and career.

Ycombinator – Mostly Internet related news.

Most social networks have a niche of their own. For example, you can promote just about anything on Linkedin, but the best results will come from career related content. Content marketing works best with social media, but if used wisely with a proper targeting then it will bring the most ROI.

“Image courtesy of [cooldesign] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net“