Undoubtedly social media and creation go hand in hand. However it’s the “back-end” work that goes into this creation and the motive that drives it that are most important and valuable for businesses to understand.
- Here are three articles that simply explore how to create the perfect social media presence to gain attention: How To Build The Perfect Google Plus Profile (Infographic), Pinterest for Business: Build Your Brand with Pinterest, and 10 Questions to Ask When Creating Your Company’s YouTube Channel however having the most attractive, best profile page is not enough. Businesses must create content with their audience, intentions and limitations in mind. That is just a given.
Without consideration to their audience, intentions and limitations, businesses are not going to be able to create content that inspires their audience to react to it, feel compelled to share it, or continue to support the brand. The opinion regarding the quality of content created is what will ultimately influence a supporter of the brand, or even a complete stranger to stop and read/engage with the content, or to close it out and skip right on to the next thing they need to do. However, content creation is not the only thing that matters here.
- Social media has sparked a change in business operations and departments. No longer are businesses working in sillos where divisions do their separate work and manage it accordingly. Social media forces business employees to work together in the creation of content.
Public relation teams, marketing teams, social media teams, communication teams, are all now having to work together to brainstorm and collaborate regarding social media campaigns. Job responsibilities are now being shared and the greater the opinions, the greater the potential for ideas. With that said, on the broader scope of business operations, social media stakeholders within the company must be informed about everything that is taking place within the company that the public should be informed about. The sharing of information is how consumers build their trust within a company, and social media provides a great, wide, open forum to begin sharing current news, engaging in public discussion and learning more about what consumers expect from their businesses.
Emmis Communications, specifically B105.7 continued to come to mind as I was writing this particular blog post. Emmis Communications most certainly has a collaborative business operating structure, however B105.7 did an extraordinary job utilizing Pinterest in order to build the brand within their target audience. Check it out here: B105.7 Pinterest. B105.7 uses their page to “pin” items that are currently being publicized on air and on their website, thus occasionally driving traffic to each simultaneously. What I appreciate about this is that B105.7 spends a great deal of time discussing what will work best within their target audience, I know this because I work alongside some of the people who brainstorm the answers to these questions! But they also collaborate structurally within the organization in coming up with creative ideas. So some of the boards you will see on their page, B Well, B Red, B Savvy, B Green, will all be themes that you will see on their website, other social media channels and hear about on-air when you tune in!
The bottom line is that the creation of content for social media catalysts a great deal of changes within the business organizational structure as wel as the implications that the creation of content has on audience approval and the likelihood of exposure. The businesses that understand this and can implement it most effectively will be the businesses that win over their audiences and continue to grow their audiences over time. Also, these business will presumably be the businesses that have the best collaborative efforts structurally and are comfortable working together sharing a variety of ideas.
caseyncawthon 