In my last post I brought a point to light … It’s not the size of your friends list that counts but the reach or pull you have with your communities that is meaningful from a business perspective. Zara Lockwood had shared a glimpse of a very interesting perspective in a comment on my last post. I then asked her if she would be willing to expand on the idea.

This is all about content strategy (or lack of) and why it is important to determine your content strategy before you begin your social media initiative. A failure to plan your content strategy could be the single item that kills your return on influence (ROI).

From Zara:

What I am doing is probably much the same as any other person on-line - i.e customizing a system of marketing strategies and ideas that have been tried and tested over the years combined with understanding the current mood of the web, the technology that shapes the flow of communication, the people, like yourself which influence it..

*Knowing which way is North*

Like the optin list that leads a potential customer from being a stranger in the “virtual high street” to to a person that is regularly introduced to a range services and products that are of interest to them via e-mail, blog, website, social network or where ever they hang out.

People gather in lot of places and are interested in a lot of different things (this ‘bubble’ of interest expands and contracts with trends, finances, social awareness etc. and it occasionally pops to be replaced by a new bubble) - which is why I’ve tried to narrow down my options to 5 different areas of interest for me (personally) to sort people I meet into.

Each channel has one main niche, maybe two sub niches and main mailing list each - with Zookoda I can see the possibility of refining (or specializing) further into a niches using customized newsletter/blogs and parallel promotions, but I’m not at that stage yet.

The process I’m in at the moment maybe the one you are interested in.

*Signposts directing people, rather than getting them (or you) lost*

I’m using the basics of attraction marketing, which is a bit of a half way house (in my opinion) from the ‘old skool’ of IM that is hard sell, “me seller!, you customer!” linear thinking, where as now with social networking people want to choose and interact more with the buying process - to the point where customers are asking to see into the till, the business plan etc. without sticking to the customer side of the counter.

- Problem is - as you may have seen, if you let a potential customer decide/see everything ALL the time it pulls the focus away from the actual sale or direction the seller really needs to get that person to go in - and it gets messy - the cyber friend or lead question is a good example.

- Maybe I’m talking about direction and focus of the seller too to maintain control, as sense of direction (or lack of) is picked up on by the customer.

So the seller needs to focus on how they are going to guide a person from point A to point B rather than run about after the customer - just like in a bar you don’t get the bar person chasing you around all night trying to sell you drinks

- promotional materials/trends (hyperlinks and participation) do that and you go to the bar knowing roughly what want already - so that’s where personal or corporate branding and a link to your offer/optin comes in.

All I can really say is that I have had better results since I focused on building niche lists driven by participation in networks, groups and organizing regular content that people are looking for. Using keyword tracking has helped too.

I have to agree with Zara, she makes some good points in her post. I have always seen better success when I have planned my content strategy in advance so that people can follow specific sign posts based on their place in the buying cycle. It also eliminates confusion and gives both you and your followers a clear direction.

Are you taking the time to plan your content strategy or are you pushing content out just for the sake of putting out content?

What is your take?

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