How to Give Your Content CPR

How to Give Your Content CPR written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing

Marketing Podcast with Laura Belgray

There are at least 2193 ways to make your content better and the best copywriters know them all.

However, there are just three things that every marketer must master to dramatically improve their copy.

Your web pages, brochures, and emails must have Clarity, Personality, and Resonance (CPR). Review every word you write for CPR and you are on the road to success.

My guest for this week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast is Laura Belgray, founder of Talking Shrimp and co-creator of The Copy Cure. Laura and I discuss content and what it takes to create copy that is fresh, vibrant and drives sales.

Having been a professional writer for nearly two decades and earning a number of honors and awards, Laura knows all about producing killer content. Laura has written for SPY Magazine and New York Magazine, as well as a variety of television stations including Bravo, NBC, HBO, Nickelodeon, VH1, the CW and USA – to name a few.

Questions I ask Laura Belgray:

• If you’re writing creative and exciting copy that is supposed to drive a decision but your client tells you that what they do is really boring, how do you make it spicy?
• What place does humor have when creating copy?
• When you sit down to write a sales letter, hoping to touch a range of emotions, is there a set of standards that you use to create the content?

What you’ll learn if you give a listen:

• Why creating conversational copy is more likely to convert
• What role the acronym CPR – Clarity, Personality and Resonance – plays in creating killer content
• How to find your voice and why it’s necessary in sales related content

Learn more about Laura Belgray and her company, Talking Shrimp here. Partnered with Maria Forleo, Laura is also co-creator of The Copy Cure, an all-in-one program to help you find your voice and sell your anything. To discover more about this amazingly informative 5-hour downloadable program, click here.

This week’s episode of the Duct Tape Marketing podcast is brought to you by magicJack for BUSINESS. If you own a small business, you know that the phone is your life line. magicJack for BUSINESS will give you phone reliability for a lot less money. Sign up at http://ift.tt/2dEnE42 and receive two months of free service and the first few to sign up will receive a free phone too!

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What Cross Channel Marketing and the Latest Hit Songs Have in Common (Playlist Included)

For those not indoctrinated into the ways and means of yours truly, I am a huge proponent of infusing pop culture every chance I get into our world of marketing. I do so because I think pop culture helps connect the two worlds by helping tell the given story. 

For example, way back in 2011 I penned Baby, We Were Born to Market: Springsteen on Social Media Marketing. The following year came What Billy Joel, C-Level Execs & Social Media Have In Common. And for the past few years my yearly end of the year prediction piece for Forbes had a very distinct pop culture theme to it. 

This go round it's all about six Billboard Top 40 songs: titles or lyrics or both and what they have in common with Cross Channel Marketing. You know the old saying "you learn something new every day?" Well, here you go. 

I even threw in a convenient Spotify playlist at the end - no charge. 

1. Don't Let Me Down by The Chainsmokers Featuring Daya

Lyric: "So don't let me, don't let me, don't let me down."

According to Understanding the Multi-Channel Shopper, Wharton, 2015, two-thirds of all shoppers regularly use more than one channel to make purchases. What this means of course is brands need to be there every step of the cross channel way for if you let them down on one channel it might as well be all of them.

2. One Dance by Drake Featuring WizKid & Kyla

Lyric: "I need a one dance."

Well just as Drake needs one dance, brands need one single customer identity that unites behaviors across all channels into one comprehensive profile. Once you have a single unique identifier, you can really know who your customers are across all channels, and do all sorts of cool things like personalize interactions based on channel preferences and behaviors.

3. Send My Love by Adele

Lyric: "We've gotta let go of all of our ghosts."

How many marketers are "very much set up to effectively orchestrate cross channel marketing activities?" Time's up. A mere five-percent are set up to do this as per EConsultancy's Cross Channel Marketing report. You know those old legacy systems AKA the ghosts you're still using? Yeah, you gotta let 'em go. Now. 

4. My Way by Calvin Harris

Lyric: "You were the one thing in my way."

Remember those ghosts you need to let go of? Yeah well they're in your way, big time from reaching CCM nirvana. The right technology will provide you with the capability to personalize the full customer experience at a higher resolution across messaging, web, mobile, and applications. You need to be able to connect the digital dots and create holistic customer profiles: digital dots such as website behaviors, browsing data, physical location, and demographics. You then need to be able to combine those dots with cross channel unique IDs, customer preferences, behavioral data, and channel preferences. 

5. We Don't Talk Anymore by Charlie Puth Featuring Selena Gomez

Lyric: "We don't talk anymore."

I admit this could make for a great episode of Dr. Phil but the fact is marketers need to break down internal marketing silos that pass marketing inefficiencies onto the consumers Marketing teams need work together collaboratively and efficiently to orchestrate channel programs with that deliver consistent and personalized experiences for the customer

6. I Hate U I Love U by gnash Featuring Olivia O'Brien

Lyric: "I hate you I love you."

As simple as is gets, kids. Your customers may love you and your brand. But, as this is a big but, if you are consistent in your cross channel marketing endeavors they will, yes... hate you. I realize hate is a strong word but if the experience they receive is vastly different across channels then yes, they may end up hating you. That's precisely why marketers must move from Campaign Coordination to Campaign Orchestration to deliver the consistent brand experiences customers expect.

Here's the Cross Channel Marketing Hits in one handy Spotify playlist. 

Can You Sing the Praises of Cross Channel Marketing Vendors?

As the demand for multichannel campaign management grows, the number of vendors has grown, too. With so many options, how do you assess the capabilities of each one to make the best choice for your company?

I'll tell you how. 

You can read the Gartner Magic Quadrant For Multichannel Campaign Management. 

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5 Actionable Insights from the 2017 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends Report

If you’re a B2B content marketer, you likely remember where you were when the Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs released last year’s B2B Content Marketing report. The same way different generations will always remember hearing about Elvis, Kurt Cobain, or Prince, that dark day is seared into our industry’s memory. Last year’s report showed a decrease in documented content marketing strategy—even though a documented strategy was proven to be a vital part of success. It showed that fewer content marketers rated their efforts as effective than the previous year. At Content Marketing World, Joe Pulizzi somberly declared content marketing had reached the “trough of disillusionment,” out of which we would have to climb. Secluded in her tiny writing house, Ann Handley paused for a moment to wipe tears from her trademark glasses. It was no fun. Fortunately, this year’s report—The 2017 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends—shows that by and large, we’re moving onward and forward to content marketing success. Sixty-two percent of respondents report they are much more or somewhat more successful with their content marketing now than they were a year ago. It’s good to know that, as an industry, we’re not letting Joe and Ann down anymore. And, of course, good to know we are on the way to better results and more effective content that delights audiences. However, to me one of the most useful parts of this massive report is right up front. It’s a chart called This Year’s Top B2B Content Marketing Performers at a Glance. It collects the responses of just those marketers who rated their organization’s approach has extremely or very successful, and compares them with the rest: The rest of the report has valuable insight for everything from content creation to amplification channels. But this chart by itself is a blueprint to making your organization a content marketing champion. Let’s take a look at these characteristics of top performing B2B content marketers and the practical steps you can take to go forth and do likewise.

#1: Know What Success Looks Like

81% of top performers say their organization is clear on what an effective content marketing program looks like, compared to only 41% of all respondents, and 14% of the least successful. It makes sense that such clarity would lead to better performance. How can you pursue success if you don’t know what it looks like? Another important aspect of knowing what success looks like is having a realistic outlook on what is possible. 91% of top performers say they are realistic about what content marketing can achieve, compared to less than half of the least successful respondents. How to Do It: See what content marketing can do by exploring industry success stories. See how the top performers are achieving their goals. From there, you can see how to adapt what works to your specific industry and audience. Then channel that overall picture of success into a specific plan with reasonable goals and metrics to measure.

#2: Commit to Content Marketing

At Content Marketing World this year, Joe said it was time for organizations to go “all in” on content marketing. This stat supports his plea: 91% of the most successful are extremely or very committed, compared to 63% overall and only 35% of the least successful. The commitment aspect is important because content marketing works far better as a marathon, not a sprint. It’s an ongoing process that takes time to build a critical mass. If you shutter your content marketing initiative a few months in, you may be missing out on the chance for amazing success. Seventy-seven percent of top performers agree that leadership gives ample time to produce results, while only 26% of least successful performers agree. Those who are committed enough to take time and see it through are the ones reaping the benefits. Commitment also requires dedicating enough resources to content marketing. Top performers spend 10% more on content marketing than the general population, and nearly 20% more than the least effective. How to Do It: If you want to truly succeed with content marketing, make it the focus of all your efforts. Integrate SEO into content. Use your paid channels to promote your top performing content. Use content at every stage of the buyer’s journey. Commit to the budget you need to create and amplify content. And most importantly, commit to giving your efforts enough time to show results.

#3: Document the Strategy

This is one of the key elements of success, and the one that has the lowest level of adoption. Only 61% of top performers have it. Still, that’s nearly double the average of all responses. Most tellingly, 13% of the least successful have a documented strategy. Without a document to use as a guide, it’s nigh impossible to know what success looks like, make a commitment, and optimize over time. It’s like turning off your GPS while navigating in a strange city—you may eventually get to your destination, but not likely on purpose, and you may drive past it several times before you realize you’ve arrived. How to Do It: Get your team together and create a documented content marketing strategy. Spell out your goals and objectives. Identify your audience and brand voice. Plan your content types, topics, and channels of distribution. Build in measurement as well. You will likely change and optimize this plan over time—in fact, 87% of top performers say they can quickly adjust their strategy—but it’s crucial to have a documented starting point to unify and inform your efforts.

#4: Deliver Content Consistently

When we interviewed Joe Pulizzi about his book, Content Inc., he impressed on us the importance of consistent publishing. It’s one of the key features of the Content Inc. model, based on the success of the Content Marketing Institute itself. The survey found that 85% of top performers publish content consistently, while only 58% of all respondents and 32% of the least effective did so. How to Do It: Your audience must know they will get fresh content at set intervals—that’s what compels them to keep coming back. Keep fulfilling that promise to your audience, and you can turn viewers into subscribers into customers. Note that the frequency of publication can vary depending on the audience—it could be daily, weekly, even biweekly—as long as it’s a consistent schedule.

#5: Measure ROI

The final characteristic that sets top performers apart is the ability to quantify the success of their marketing in concrete terms. 88% of top performers can measure ROI, while only 56% of the least effective can. It’s easier to measure ROI in the upper funnel, where most marketers are more comfortable. The percentage of marketers who measure ROI in each stage is a funnel itself, big at the top and small at the bottom: Marketers must get better at proving ROI, in order to speak the language of the C-suite, justify budgets, and demonstrate our value is anything but ephemeral and unquantifiable. How to Do It: Proving ROI is easier when you have a documented strategy in place with goals and metrics built in. With a little research, you can start assigning dollar values to marketing’s role in conversions. For example, if your average lead reads 4 pieces of content before converting, and the average sale is X dollars, the value of each piece of content could be seen as a percentage of X, after accounting for sales’ efforts. With proper attribution and the ability to see things from a dollars-and-cents mindset, we can prove the effectiveness of marketing to drive business.

Take Your First Steps toward Content Marketing Greatness

If your organization’s content marketing habits are closer to the “least effective” category than the “top performers,” it’s time to step up your game. As Joe says, it’s time to go “all in.” Make a commitment, draft a strategy, deliver consistently and properly attribute your actions. If you can do all of these things, your organization could be the object of envy in next year’s report. Hungry for more marketing stats? Check out our recap of HubSpot’s State of Inbound 2016.

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Why Your Facebook Ads Don’t Perform Like AdWords (And Why They Never Will)

You are an AdWords savant.

Revenue’s through the roof.

Peeps search. Click. Browse. Buy. Repeat.

Like a literal printing press.

So you look around, searching for the next golden opportunity to deploy some of this capital that’s burning a hole in your pocket like a poor man’s Warren Buffett. (Which is to say, still pretty well off.)

You fire up some Facebook ad campaigns. Employ the same strategies that have already made you a small fortune.

And then… nothing.

No one’s clicking. Or browsing. Or buying. That small stack of chips just got smaller, and you’re starting to get antsy.

Here’s why this happens commonly, and how to avoid it in the future.

Why Your AdWords Tactics Suck on Facebook

Google (ABC, XYZ, or whatever they’re calling themselves these days) pulled in a $75 billion in revenue in 2015.

Not bad.

Unsurprisingly, the bulk of that revenue came directly from AdWords; as much as 68% of their revenue in 2014.

(What? You mean self-driving cars aren’t profitable yet?!)

That single business unit is largely responsible with funding all that other crazy stuff they’re up to. And with a virtual monopoly, it’s a giant moat around their business that’s the envy of every competitor.

For years, search (both organic and paid) has been listed as the best performing digital channel for new customer acquisition.

There’s a reason.

Intent. People type in the exact words they’re looking for. Many of which, tend to focus on evaluating their options or choosing the right solution. That means these visitors are commonly already in the ‘bottom of the funnel’, and have made up their mind to act soon (if not now).

In other words, people use search when they want to buy something.

Now contrast that with social. Where years ago, it drove less than one percent of sales in one study.

But if you look at how people use it, that’s also unsurprising.

People don’t go to Facebook to shop. They go there to get away. To browse, laugh, communicate, and most importantly of all – procrastinate.

(Why do you think this article took me twice as long as usual to write?)

People most certainly don’t go to Facebook because you’re running a one-day sale on power tools.

In other words, while search is based on intent, social is serendipitous. People find stuff almost by accident, because they weren’t necessarily planning on finding that stuff in the first place.

This becomes a problem, when you try to shove a round peg in a square hole. When you try to use the same direct-response, intent-based advertising that kills on AdWords on Facebook, you’re met with… crickets.

Here’s what you should have been doing instead.

How to Structure Facebook Advertising Campaigns Instead

If peeps are in the ‘bottom of the funnel’ when they’re searching for a specific term, you can go straight for the hard sale.

No funny business. No lead nurturing foreplay required.

BUT…

If they’re not looking for your widget in the first place, you’ve got some work to do. There’s no need awareness, so they have no idea who you are. Because of that, they probably don’t need your stupid thing.

And even if the timing was somehow, miraculously, fairy-book-style perfect and they did need your thing, they probably have no idea who you are. Which means they don’t trust you. Which means they ain’t giving you their credit card.

These peeps are gonna need some good old fashioned lead nurturing. You’re gonna need to wine-and-dine ‘em. Until they’re ready to… go.

That means your social (and especially, Facebook) campaigns need to align with these various critical steps, including:

• Awareness: Use content promotion to get on potential prospect’s radar and get an understanding for what they’re interested in.
• Lead Generation: Target this small, aware group of people with ready-made offers designed to get their permission to continually follow-up.
• Conversions: Now that you’ve already done the hard work of grabbing their attention, building interest, trust, (and hopefully, some urgency), a simple sales offer should get them to convert.

Here’s how this works in practice.

1. Content Promotion

Even the best executed inbound marketing starts with interruption.

It’s even right there in Permission Marketing – the OG that predated the HubSpot stuff by a decade.

The bad news is that on Facebook, you’re not just competing with your competitors. You’re competing for attention with people’s friends and family.

Good f-ing luck.

The best way (well, easiest anyway) to compete is through content.

You need something that pique’s their interests. Their hobbies. Or their fears and desires.

The New York Times does it with food that looks mouthwateringly delicious.

Quizony does it with a cheesy quiz, a BuzzFeed-esque question headline, an emoji, and… OK – an attractive female in cowboy hat.

Both examples use a carefully selected piece of content, textbook copywriting headlines, and evocative imagery that fits in exactly with what people’s friends and family are also sharing on Facebook (namely, people and food.)

So it does just enough to fit in, and yet just enough to stand out.

You’ll also notice that both of these are perfectly executed ‘wordless ad’ examples too. These ain’t no low-budget operations we’re talking about.

Targeting at this point is fairly broad, because you don’t have any specific information to latch on to yet (like you will in the next two examples). So you can test different audiences by interests, who’ve liked other related media publications; refining by demographics (like location, age range, or gender) as you go.

2. Lead Generation

Sending a lead gen ad to cold people doesn’t always work out well (for reasons discussed).

But sending them to people already primed increases your odds.

That means your next step is to target the people you’ve just interacted with (albeit, passively), retargeting your most recent website visits over the past X days (30-60 sounds like a good place to start).

By now you should know what they’re interested in. A topic, a pain point, a problem. And they should hopefully remember who you are.

Time for the lead magnet.

These can come in all different shapes and sizes. For many (especially B2B) this will still be a content-based offer. But escalating your offer to a free tool – like WordStream’s AdWords Grader – might be the best way to reach “unicorn status” with chart-topping 10%+ conversions.

Marketo splits the difference with a ‘free template’ that busy, stressed out social media coordinators can use for their Social Editorial Calendar.

Obviously they’ve done this a few times, with a concise headline and description, relevant hero image, and proper CTA-use.

Marketo also does a great job keeping their headline short and to-the-point. AdEspresso researched over 37,259 Facebook ads and found that the ideal length is only 5 words!

LinkedIn’s Facebook ad (aaaaaaaaannnddd the world just collapsed on itself) is a perfect example of using proprietary research and data to your advantage. The benefit is that other competitor’s can’t (usually) come out with this same offer, giving you something truly unique and interesting to attract new leads.

AdEspresso & HubSpot teamed up for a similar approach, literally creating a ‘Facebook ad formula’ offer that distills something difficult (like creating successful Facebook ads) down to a copy & paste-approach for overworked marketers.

In addition to the standard Facebook CTA option, they also include a second one in the image itself to grab attention (with the logos cleverly placed underneath to boost credibility of this claim).

Ad testing becomes critical at this stage. As does analytics, like keeping an eye on which variables move the Cost per Conversion needle. (Adjusting accordingly as you go.)

3. Lead Conversions

It all comes down to this.

You’ve gotten their attention. You’ve warmed them up, while receiving detailed information about what they’re interested in, dealing with, and trying to solve.

Now you just gotta close.

But not the used car salesman way. All the work you’ve done so far should make this step relatively straightforward, because you’re targeting people who’ve just signed up for your lead magnet in the last section.

Instead, it’s more like:

• Want this?
• Here’s what you’re gonna get.
• Here’s what it’s gonna cost.
• If interested, buy here.

Exhibit A: Pact Coffee

Want awesome coffee, conveniently? Looks delicious and fresh. Sign up here.

With some larger sales, converting directly from a Facebook ad is a tall order (no matter how many eBooks someone downloaded). A good technique to try is ‘product splintering’ (via Digital Marketer), where you create a simplified, low-touch version of whatever it is you’re trying to sell.

For example, HubSpot needs to put a little more oomph in their message because they’re trying to advertising moderately expensive Sales CRM software. But they still keep things simple, focusing the ad message on their primary value proposition and pushing people towards the free version offering initially.

Pro tip: Another advanced method you could use for eComm is Facebook’s Dynamic Product Ads, which will dynamically show visitors the product they just looked at on your website.

The Honest Company (which is somehow affiliated with Jessica Alba) used this method successfully to increase ad Click Through Rate 34% while also reducing Cost Per Purchase by 38% at the same time. So, that’s promising.

(Also, including this last bit was a convenient excuse for me to Google: Jessica Alba. “Honey – it was research, I swear!”)

Conclusion

In 2010, GM made headlines by adopting the schoolchildren approach of ‘taking their ball and going home’, ceremoniously pulling their $10 million ad account off Facebook because it “didn’t work”.

… Only to slink back later in 2013.

Facebook advertising options continue to evolve rapidly, with new ad formats coming almost monthly and unprecedented demographic targeting that other networks simply can’t match.

It’ll never convert like AdWords.

But that’s ok. Because it can still work.

If you adjust and alter your approach to generate awareness, entice leads with interesting offers, and then focus on converting them to paid customers.

There’ll always be some kinks to work out, as it’s requires a completely different mindset.

But if you’re reading this, you’re smart. You’ll figure it out.

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What CMOs Really Think About Account-Based Marketing

Is account-based marketing (ABM) a short-term trend or a long-term strategy? Is it resource intensive or scalable? An optional component or core pillar? There’s no doubt that today’s B2B CMOs are taking a growing interest in account-based marketing. But what are modern CMOs considering as they attempt to implement effective ABM programs at scale?

Argyle Executive Forum, a leading peer-to-peer C-suite networking group, developed a survey in partnership with Oracle Marketing Cloud to gain insights into how CMOs and marketing executives are incorporating ABM into their overall marketing strategies. As part of that survey, the research sought to discover how essential ABM is to B2B marketing leaders and where they see ABM fitting into the marketing programs of tomorrow. A few noteworthy discoveries include:

1. For today’s B2B CMOs, ABM is not optional. Almost 60% of respondents currently use some form of ABM and an additional 28% are actively exploring its future use. Additionally, when asked how ABM fits into future marketing strategies, over 75% of marketing leaders see ABM as either a critical cornerstone or an important component of their success.
2. Personalization in ABM is a top challenge. Similar to the results found in a recent Argyle survey on data-driven marketing; maintaining consistent, personalized interactions with prospects was named by marketing leaders as the #1 account-based marketing challenge. The second to be named was the ever-elusive goal of driving sales and marketing alignment.
3. CMOs need the right tools and metrics to measure ROI. A shocking 54% of respondents indicated they were not yet able to measure ROI from their ABM efforts. The big takeaway: don’t become one of the 54%! Given today’s need for marketing teams to scale their ABM efforts while still proving ROI, success in ABM for Modern Marketers rests on using the right marketing technology to drive measurable results at scale.
4. Increased ABM sophistication is an opportunity. While over 40% of CMOs indicated they currently use account-based data and account-based profiling in their ABM strategies, the results suggested that account-based web, email personalization, as well as scoring and digital advertising at the account level were tomorrow’s areas for today’s CMOs to explore.

Interested in reading more? Find out what today’s CMOs are really thinking about ABM by downloading the Argyle survey: Account-Based Marketing: The New Star of B2B Marketing

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7 Helpful Hacks for More Successful Social Media Community Management

It’s no secret that social media plays an important role in our daily lives—and as a result—has become an important component of the marketing strategies for brands of all sizes and industries. In fact, 90% of marketers say that social media is important to their business, according to Social Media Examiner’s 2016 Industry Report.

But as social media and the digital world continues to evolve, brands and marketers need to go beyond social media marketing in the traditional sense. How? By intertwining social media marketing with social media community management.

Social media marketing is a tactic brands and marketers use to drive toward a specific set of goals—such as increasing brand awareness or engagement. But really, the ultimate goal is to use social media as a way to eventually inspire action from your audience. On the flip side, social media community management is all about nurturing your social audience to make it stronger, larger and more engaged. (Marketer Jayson DeMers has a great article on this topic in Forbes.) But when these two concepts work together in harmony–that’s where the magic can happen.

With this in mind, below are some helpful hacks featuring tools and ideas for better and more successful social media community management.

#1 – Utilize Canva to create compelling visual content.

Humans are visual creatures by nature. In fact, research shows that 90% of the information that comes to our brains is visual. So it’s no surprise that images and videos get more engagement on social channels.

If you’re a social media community manager, Canva can be your best friend for creating professional and compelling images that will provide the eye candy and value your audience is looking for. Whether you have design chops or not, Canva is a quick, user-friendly way to create great images.

Below are a couple of examples from my own archive.

#2 – Get the conversation going with polls or by asking interesting questions.

One of the best ways to engage your audience, is to simply ask them to do so by posing thought provoking, interesting or creative questions. Catch their eyes by using a video or image with your question, or consider adding a poll.

While you could center a discussion around one your specific products or services, feel free to experiment with other topics related to your industry or audience that have no marketing agenda. For example, if your company sells CRM software, you could ask your audience to share their first impressions of the newest product you’ve launched, or you could ask them to share one feature they wish their current CRM offered.

#3 – Create a targeted list of people you want to engage with and bring into your community.

A fantastic way to grow your social media following and the engagement that happens on those channels is to build relationships with people or influencers who are relevant to your audience and active on their own social channels.

Do some research and create a list of 10-20 people to start with. Connect with them on all of their social channels and subscribe to their blog feeds. From there, spend a few minutes each day interacting with them through sharing your own thoughts on their posts or sharing their posts with your audience. The caveat here is to make sure your interaction makes sense. Don’t force it. Look for an opportunity to add some value.

The rapport you build will not only encourage more engagement with these people, but your mutual followings will see the interaction happening and be more likely to join in, too.

If you’re wondering how to manage your list, Google Drive is a fantastic and easy tool. Here’s an example of how you could track and manage your contacts.

#4 – Go native.

Quality content is at the center of any social media marketing and community management effort. But rather than sharing a link that requires an additional action on the part of your followers, eliminate the barrier by posting content natively.

Native content—especially native video content—allows your audience to interact with your content in the moment and can definitely boost engagement.

#5 – Bring your audiences together.

Most brands and marketers utilize several social media platforms to engage with their audience. And most often those audiences and the content you share with them are unique.

A great way to build a stronger and more engaged audience is to leverage the unique conversations and engagements happening across your pages. As an example, use the information you extracted from a Twitter poll as fodder for a Facebook or Instagram post. This not only gives you the opportunity for additional discussion and engagement, but also reminds your audience that they can follow and engage with you on multiple platforms.

What better way to build a stronger social media community than to have an engaged following on multiple platforms?

#6 – Embed social content into blog content.

A fantastic way to grow and nurture your following is to embed some of your social posts into your on-site blog content. Not only do you give your blog readers a glimpse at what’s happening on your social channels, but in most cases an embed makes it easy for them to interact with that content.

#7 – Utilize social media management tools.

Social media management and engagement tools can be easily integrated into your community management routine. They typically give you a place to schedule your posts and also help you keep up on social activity, so you can respond quickly and keep conversations going.

There are a number of tools—both free and for a fee—out there. For me, as I mentioned last week, my tool of choice is Hootsuite.

Some of others include: Tweetdeck, Sprinklr, Spredfast and Buffer. Choose the one that best matches with your budget, goals and the networks you’re using.

Bonus Hacks

To leave your with a little more food for thought, here are a few more hacks and ideas:

• Listen to podcasts. There are a number of social media and marketing related podcasts that can help you learn new things and inspire your efforts. Hootsuite has a solid list of six podcasts to check out.
• Use image search results for inspiration. Looking for content ideas to spark interest and conversation with your audience, Google some relevant keyword terms and check out the image results. As mentioned above, we’re all visual creatures. This could help you think more creatively about how to connect with your audience.
• Surf LinkedIn anonymously. If part of your community management research is taking place on LinkedIn, you may want your initial perusings to be secret until the time is right. If this is the case, you can change your Privacy Settings to anonymous.

What social media community management hack is part of your arsenal? Share it with us in the comments section below.

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