You may have heard the phrase social first content before and are wondering what it might mean for your own marketing endeavors.

Content that is designed to be socially focused in the biggest craze in marketing right now, and I’ll help you capitalize on it.

Next-Gen Social Media

These days, social media is where the action is. This differs from industry to industry and brand to brand but the general rule of thumb is, if it isn’t being talked about somewhere on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, or Reddit, it’s just not all that relevant.

There are exceptions to the rule of course, but just assume for a moment that there are no exceptions. It’s in your best interest to create content for your brand that is shareable, that is in a sense “made for social media.”

What does that mean exactly?

Social first content can best be described as useful content that gets people talking. It’s content that goes beyond mere advertising, into something much more organic and trustworthy.

The “next gen” social media platforms are all in on this kind of content. Everything is about maximum engagement now.

The days of just plopping a social media post onto Instagram or Facebook are behind us. If you aren’t engaging with your fans and if they aren’t engaging back, you may as well not be on social media at all.

Sounds like a lot of work, but the effort is worth it. Whenever you are creating content for your marketing channels, ask yourself, is it social-first?

Engagement is Everything

As mentioned above, it’s all about the engagement. This can’t be stressed enough – even your Google ads need to be crafted in such a way that they don’t just drive clicks, but actually provide meaningful value, otherwise your brand could suffer.

How?

Think about it this way: when you are Googling something, those ads that appear at the top of the SERPs can say a lot. The brands behind them are banking on the ad copy and structure to communicate trust and value. If those signals aren’t there, sure you will still get clicks but how many of these prospects will be long-lasting customers? How will bland copy affect your brand down the road?

What are you actively communicating to your customer base? These are crucial questions that need to be asked in our engagement-centric age, where brands may live or die by their online reputation. Even a few negative Facebook reviews can stymie otherwise solid marketing efforts.

This is not a position you want to be in. Brand reputation management is far more difficult than other kinds of marketing – you are playing from behind at this point.

So in a sense you don’t want to risk your brand by putting out content that is stale. This is a no-go.

Engagement is everything – you want to develop an approach to content creation that not only covers the key bases (SEO optimizations, clickthrough rate, etc) but also speaks to the value of your brand in a human way. Otherwise you could be sabotaging your own efforts.

Social First Content Strategy

An effective social first content approach means crafting content that does the following:

  • It answers questions directly. It’s not covered in layers of fluff.
  • It encourages a response. You aren’t talking to a wall or the great digital abyss. There are humans behind the screen and they want to interact with you.
  • It’s shareable. Would you share the content you create on your own social media channels? Would you show it to your friends? This is a big litmus test for what you put out in your marketing strategy. If it isn’t good enough for social media, it’s not good enough period.
  • It provides real value. Questions get answered, there are helpful links to pages that provide what users are looking for, there are unique tips or informative anecdotes. There is palpable value that the user will actually pay attention to.
  • It is human. Which brings me to the last point, social-first content is human. It sounds like it was written by a human, for a human. It’s not marketing drivel or in robot-speak. It’s not a clickbait ploy, and it’s not for Google bots to mull over. A social first content strategy hinges on your ability to create relatable, human content that reads like something an actual human will like and understand.

Make sense? It’s not exactly revolutionary information but it’s also not as easy to execute on as one might think. If it was, everyone would be doing it.

How to Start Making Content That is “Social First”

Stop right there! If you had the time and energy to make this kind of social first content, there’s a good chance you already would be doing it. If that’s not the case, then go right ahead and start crushing your marketing goals. However, if you need a little help, read on.

Here at Genius eCommerce, we know how important it is to create content that actually helps you connect with your customers. Content that is readable, usable, and human.

Whether it’s for eCommerce SEO, PPC, social media, or anything else, our expert team of seasoned content writers can deliver on what you need. If you are interested in a powerful social-first content strategy, just get in touch with us and we will help you out!