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We’ve all seen a project that ends up losing its way because six different parties want it to do six different things, and often the problem lies with not having a clear brief. A good brief is like a trip itinerary – not only does it tell you where you’re going (and why) but, crucially, how you’re going to get there.

So we’ve come up with some tips to keep your writers on track and your content looking more like a champion thoroughbred.

1.       Put your brief down on paper

Sounds simple, but you’d be amazed how many people don’t do it. If the brief is on paper, you can use it to get buy-in from all your stakeholders and refer back to it regularly to ensure you stay on course. Don’t be afraid to reject suggestions or changes that move away from the brief – no matter how tempting they are. Those ideas can always be used to inspire a new piece instead.

2.       Get your audience and message straight

Aim for one primary audience and takeaway message for your content. Remember: every secondary audience dilutes the impact of your original message.

3.       Don’t be afraid to create more than one asset

If multiple parties are all trying to use one asset to achieve different objectives, then consider creating dedicated variants tailored to each of their needs. It may cost you a little more (though it’s often not as expensive to create variants of a piece of content as it is to create new content from scratch), but it will ensure that your messages aren’t diluted.

What are your winning ways to keep your content from becoming a camel? Do share your stories — the good, the bad and the downright hilarious — through the comments box below, LinkedIn or Twitter.

The post Camels, horses and the secrets of creating impactful content appeared first on HN Marketing.

Answer: Almost anyone in your organisation.

Whether a part of your marketing, sales, customer support or even financial teams, your organisation is full of people with ideas – and many of them will already be avid social media users. By sharing your social media strategy you can get ideas out of their heads and supercharge your social media strategy.

How?
You need to create a space where people can share information and ideas in a collaborative fashion. If you’re using a system such as Lync, Yammer, or any tool that can host a chat room or forum, that’s the place to start. Invite the people you want to get ideas from, share your strategy with them, and see how they react. If your organisation doesn’t use these tools, then you could hold a face-to-face meeting to brainstorm ideas and responses to your strategy. You can use email as a last resort, but it’s much harder to be collaborative via email – not to mention heavy on the inbox!

Why?
There are more than a few benefits to getting social media enthusiasts within your organisation to comment on your plans, but these are HN’s top three:

1: Spot hidden pitfalls
Other people in your organisation who know how social media works may see hazards that you or your team have missed: openings for people to hijack your campaign (like the ill-fated #waitrosereasons campaign from a few years ago, for example), or important calendar events that aren’t in your schedule, but really should be. Not an opportunity to be missed!

2: New angles = new opportunities
The fresh perspective that people from other parts of your organisation bring to your strategy isn’t just good for spotting problems. Someone in sales might know about some content that would be perfect to build into your campaign; someone who uses Pinterest regularly might show you a feature you hadn’t known about before, but would be perfect for your strategy. A few little tips like these can make a big difference to the success of your strategy.

3: Harness the power of your people
Getting internal teams to support campaigns, or even the day-to-day activity on a feed, is one of the trickiest things we see organisations attempt with their social media. By sharing your strategy with social media enthusiasts within your organisation, you show them exactly what’s coming, when it’s coming, and how they can support it. Make them feel a part of the plan, and they’ll be much more likely to engage with it – and to encourage others to get involved, too.

Do you have any stories about using your in-house talent for social media? Let us know how it went in the comments section, or on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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Or are they?

It’s fair to say that activities such as these are regarded as risk-taking behaviour when it comes to B2B social media, and so are avoided for fear of landing your organisation in hot water. But, by avoiding some of the potential pitfalls of social media, many businesses are failing to realise the benefits of this enormously powerful tool — opportunities to engage, impress and make the most of your social media following. Of course it’s never a good idea to invade threads and conversations on social media to try and sell your products, but here at HN we’ve chosen the top three risks you should take on social media — and how to take them as safely as possible.

Get your audience’s attention — don’t talk about yourself

“That content isn’t about us, so why are we posting it? We want our audience to hear about us, not about trivia and current events!”

A common complaint, but think — would you normally talk only about yourself in conversation? Social media isn’t like advertising, or an email, where the focus is all on you — it’s a tool to have conversations with your audience, so you have to talk about stuff that interests them. Of course, you want your organisation to be of interest to your audience, but realistically you won’t be the only thing that lights a fire in your audience’s belly. In fact, some of our clients devote as much as 80% of their social media time to talking about relevant events and topics that will interest their audience. It helps them become established as a good place to go for information, which at the same time increases the visibility of the content they do put out about themselves.

How to stay safe:

• Scan content before posting to make sure it isn’t from a competitor’s website, or badly written (otherwise people may associate the bad writing with you).

• Always try to mention your sources – it can widen your audience, and makes it clear you are not trying to pass off someone else’s content as your own.

Win them over with your sense of humour

“We can’t post that, even though it’s funny — what if someone finds it offensive?”

There’s no escaping it — injecting humour into your social media can backfire (does anyone remember this example from KLM?) Get it right, though, and your audience will respect you for it, and you can sometimes get a big spike in your engagement. If someone tries to engage with your brand in an amusing way, then by ignoring them you could come off as stuffy or lacking a sense of humour, which could be more damaging than having said something.

How to stay safe:

• Understand your audience’s sense of humour — if they don’t get the joke, then there’s no point!

• Test any potential humour you intend to post with people both inside and outside your organisation, to get an objective view on whether it could be misinterpreted or just isn’t funny.

• Avoid controversial jokes — there’s just too much potential for someone to get upset. If your mother wouldn’t approve, it’s probably safest not to hit ‘send’.

Put your audience to work — interact with your followers

“Best not to talk to our audience — I don’t want to see our company maligned all over social media!”

Your followers are the lifeblood of your social communities, so if you don’t engage with them you’ll never be able to properly leverage the power they have to offer your organisation as a source of insight, feedback and brand-building opportunities. It can be a scary thought that people can say what they like about your brand, but giving them that freedom — and responding appropriately if they choose to say something negative — will win you the approval of your followers.

How to stay safe:

• Monitor your channels so that you can respond to engagement in a timely fashion — nobody likes to be left hanging.

• Word any questions you plan on asking your followers carefully, to minimise the opportunity for negative comments (test your posts with the same group you tested your jokes with if you’re unsure).

• If you do come in for some criticism, handle it honestly, proactively and without delay. Your followers will notice and respect you for it.

• Avoid getting embroiled in online slanging matches though — if someone won’t respond to reason, you can always report them to an administrator.

Warning

It would be wrong to say that, just by following these tips, you’ll automatically be safe from any negative experiences on social media. It takes practice and experience to get a feel for what risks you can take and which ones to avoid for your organisation. If your social media channels already have a well-established voice, then you may also want to think carefully about how you take these risks — especially with humour, if your brand isn’t normally one to crack a joke. But, by following these tips, you can reduce the chances of a social media disaster while getting the most out of your social media presence.

Have you taken risks on your social media? How did it go? Let us know in the comments section, or on our Twitter feed @hnmarketing – it would be great to hear from you!

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