Social Media, it’s about the content. 6 Steps to making original content a priority.

For real estate its location, location, location. For #SMM Social Media Marketing its content, content, content.

If you want to get the most out of your social media marketing efforts spend time deciding what social media outlets to broadcast from, but spend equal if not more time planning what you are going to say (share)  – develop your content.

Sharing other’s original content is a great way to start. It’s a natural part of the social media experience however creating your own content is a better option and takes some planning. Original content will go a long way in positioning and branding you or your product.

6 Steps to making original content a priority

1)      Decide on a list of content topics that will speak to your target audience(s)

2)      Layout a rough content plan a month in advance  

Decide how often you will be broadcasting new content. Will it be several times daily, weekly, monthly? Decide with topics from your list you will be addressing.

3)      Create new content one week in advance

Block a consistent block of time every day or week (depending on how much content you will be creating) to work on content creation.  Think outside the box, beyond the written word. Photos with captions, video, Power Points, charts, graphs, surveys, polls results you get the point.

4)      Decide where your content is going to live 

Upload content and get the link to where this content will live. (Your blog, your website, YouTube, Tweetpic, Box.net, Slide Share, etc,).

5)      Use link shorteners like bitly.com for your content within your post or tweet

They serve two purposes: shortening the link which gives you more space for your copy (with twitter that’s important) and for tracking how many people click to see your content.

6)      Pre-load your tweets & posts

Use a tool like Hoot Suite to pre-load your posts & tweets daily, weekly or monthly to leave you more time to create content.