While hosting a series of interactive sessions on social media, the #1 question I received was about content. (Most) attendees understood the value of social media to their businesses, how these platforms could increase their search engine optimization and really help them develop relationships with customers, prospects and partners. “But what do I say?” is always what we circled back to.
Recycled Content
The good news is that you don’t have to necessarily create all of the content you’ll use. There are a plethora of great information sources available, depending on the type of content your audience is interested in. Not sure? Following are some great places to start recycling content for your social media platforms.
- Your blog and/or website — fresh, interesting content ready made to push out to your networks!
- Industry organization trade journals, websites, blogs, etc. — the leaders in your industry are probably putting out some great content, so reuse it. You’ll have content to share to your followers and fans while helping these organizations gain greater reach as well. [Note: make sure anything that you share is appropriate for your customers.]
- Mashable — if your customers are on social media, chances are they are interested in it and technology in general. This is a leading site in these areas that generates interesting content daily.
- Share other social media users’ content – find companies or individuals that provide compelling content and follow or like them. You’ll be able to share or retweet their information from your timeline or Twitter stream so it goes out to your followers or fans as well. Sharing or retweeting content is a great way to establish connections or be noticed by others on social media. Remember to thank those who are gracious enough to share your information.
Do you have other favorite sources for recycled content? Please share! We’d love to hear from you in the comments section.
Coming on Thursday… Social Media: What Do I Say? (Part 2) focusing on original content creation.
clearly conveyed communications 