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A Social Media Strategy Calls for Content Planning

We’ve all heard the adage, “you get what you pay for ” The more experience you have with life and business in general, the more influence this adage has on our personal and professional decisions This adage holds true in many situations whether it be the purchase of quality equipment over less expensive options, paying the higher cost for experienced employees, or investing in higher quality brand storytelling A content marketing strategy that arises from an agency brand exploration period will require ample time to develop the right content ideas and plan for the production and post-production of this content Companies routinely underestimate the lead-time needed to properly plan for brand stories, especially video stories

In many ways, our agency adage is more, “you get what you PLAN for ” Anything worth doing is worth taking the time to plan it right For example, let’s say an exploratory period results in producing what we like to call, “docu-style content,” short for documentary style The type of content that falls into this style of content could include product/service testimonials, consumer user-experience videos, instructional videos, behind-the-scenes of a brand, etc In essence, docu-style content is using real people sharing real stories and moments in their actual daily environments to help shape the story of a brand in an authentic way, regardless if the direction of their brand personality is hip & edgy or dramatically aspirational

A brand that focuses its social media strategy on producing docu-style content is L’Oréal USA They have several video story themes running concurrently but here is an example from their docu-style video series, The Founders This video features the story of Wende Zomnir, the founder of Urban Decay, who was inspired to create this brand to empower self-expression

Although requiring less planning time than scripted brand content, it could require a few months to line up the right participant stories and coordinate the shoot around any number of moving parts from varied participant schedules to needing to shoot content with participants and locations stretching across multiple cities, states or countries Sometimes docu-style content can be planned and coordinated quickly, sometimes it requires more time to line up It always depends on company dynamics, logistics, and a little serendipity

As eluded to earlier, scripted brand content will always require as much lead-time as possible When it comes to producing scripted content as part of a brand’s social media strategy, it’s not about producing a single narrative commercial Many brands, large and small, will enter social media with this mentality They soon figure out that they invested a high percentage of their marketing budget on producing this one commercial It might be an incredible piece of content for the brand It might be gold for them promoting this commercial on their social streams for a month However, there is this real thing called “ad fatigue “ A single piece of promoted content might experience a surge initially in social media engagement, social shares, and social conversion, but eventually these results will inevitably decline over time A company may spend serious coin on producing this one commercial for that initial month What about the remaining 11 months of the year on social media? A company jumping into business social media needs to understand that brand storytelling on social media is a continuous process or fresh, original content It doesn’t work the same way as producing a 30-sec spot to air continuously on the TV set Social media is a tool It’s a relationship conduit between your brand and its consumers Social media content will help keep your brand top-of-mind with your consumers if they feel respected by your efforts, not the traditional banging them over the head with an obvious commercial advertisement

Here at ImagiBrand, we produce our own scripted content to help educate companies about what we do in a more entertaining, satirical fashion Here is one these satires used to highlight the ignorance of some brands which neglect their brand story on social media

In order to produce enough scripted content to fill your social streams throughout the year, it might require an agency to be six months to a year ahead to develop, plan, and execute scripted content Why does scripted content require so much lead-time? For starters, let’s say a brand wants to release a monthly satirical brand video The process of developing the concepts, followed by the scripted and editing process for these projects to be ready for camera takes time It doesn’t happen overnight Scripted content requires casting actors, securing all the scripted locations, and finding all the wardrobe, props, and set decoration necessary to sell the concept of these stories

Looking to fill your social streams with brand storytelling?

A Social Media Strategy Needs Community-Building Time

When companies approach our social media agency at the eleventh hour, we absolutely must manage their expectations for immediate results Yes, you could throw serious social ad dollars towards broad consumer groups, but without established social media credibility that’s been built over time, converting enough consumers to make a difference will come at a significant cost The caveat in conducting blitz social campaigns is the fleeting nature of a company’s brand awareness

A more credible social media strategy would be to build up a brand’s social media community by establishing consumer trust and credibility over a period of years, sharing with consumers content which respects their intelligence, and provides value in the form of education and entertainment A brand story should never be an event Branding is not a campaign A brand story should be a continuous relationship that exists with your customers, whether they be business prospects or end-users of a product or service In other words, we strongly believe in the saying, “Anything worth doing is worth doing right ” The benefit of building your social media community the right way over time is that your brand will have that foundational support of brand advocates and evangelists They are so vital in launching a successful culture of the continuous sharing of your brand’s content by tagging their relevant family, friends and coworkers whom they feel would be interested This is when a brand feels the true magic of social media The key is producing authentic business storytelling However, a brand cannot expect to have a supportive social media community with first having a social media strategy

Your Brand Have Time to Execute a Social Media Strategy?

Hopefully your company has not waited until it reaches desperate times before reaching out to have social media save the company A sustainable social media strategy needs enough time to investigate past efforts, research the competitive landscape, and explore the possibilities moving forward for the brand on social Quality social media branding using video and other creative means requires having enough time to develop the content with the right messaging as well as the right amount of time to produce these brand stories for your social channels Lastly, authentic fans and followers never develop overnight Social media communities developed over time become revenue-generating communities If you build it right, THEY will come

We have a full collection of customizable social media solutions for established mid-market organizations and emerging brands wanting social streams full of rich media that enhances brand reputations and yields business results