Having a presence on social media is more and more important. Whether as an individual or with your own business, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and others are essential tools for standing out in the job market.
With that in mind, Marketing and Business IT professor at FAPUGA, Rogério Matofino, presented the topic “How to position yourself and produce content for social media” in one of his talks at the Management and Business Workshop.
Reflecting on a phrase by Don Schultz, “People want to hear stories, but brands no longer tell stories. They are too busy with gimmicks, gizmos, apps, celebrities, offers, prices and promotions,” Prof. Rogério begins his talk by discussing the importance of telling a good story.
“In general, we see a lot of concern about likes, apps, the product and the service, and what people want is not to hear about that, but rather stories. And telling a good story involves showing emotions and what is real. People need to follow you on social media and feel like your friend,” he explains.
Professor Rogério Matofino
Social media needs to be an extension of the real world, with the purpose of telling the context of your day-to-day and letting your customers get to know you better through their phone screens so that, when they meet you in person, they see that you are the same as what you post.
But to better understand how to position yourself and produce content for social media, you need to understand the transformation that this era of marketing has gone through.
Marketing Transformation: The New Format for Producing Content
Marketing began a long time ago to transform its format for promoting a product, a company, an idea or a business. And carrying out a transformation involves people, processes, strategies and decision-making.
In the first era of marketing, known as MKT 1.0, a company’s main goal was to sell its product. After that, the MKT 2.0 strategy revolved around the customer and a promotion strategy to satisfy the customer. In the MKT 3.0 phase, the concern was the value of an ideal, about how to make the world a better place. And in phase 4.0, where we are now, collaboration is prioritized, so that the customer is involved and takes part in decision-making.
“When you are on social media, you are not speaking to a volume of people, to a mass; it is a single relationship, one to one. For example, every time I visited Juliette’s profile [a former BBB contestant and major celebrity lately, with high engagement] to observe how she communicates and positions herself, she is always speaking ‘one to one,’ except when she says ‘my cacti,’ but at that moment she embraces her audience. But at every moment, she keeps her personality and humanization,” the professor exemplifies.
In addition, when we talk about value, you need to show functionality, empathy and collaboration in every post, so that your audience feels part of your business. And all of this happens through stories.
After understanding these phases of communication, you can better understand how to position yourself and produce content for social media.
How to Apply This Communication to Your Customers?
To involve and engage your customers, you need to meet the needs and expectations of your audience. “Putting content on a social network is providing a service, a form of support,” the professor points out.
That is why it is more than necessary to map out the patient or customer journey and offer content according to what your follower needs at that moment. Plan according to the context your persona is in.
Positioning: What Is the Best Channel for My Business?
Surely everyone has wondered what the best channel or tool is to have a presence on the internet and position themselves, right? And to clarify this as well as possible, Professor Rogério gave some common examples of the ideal channels for each service. See:
About careers: LinkedIn, more technical content and networking
About female entrepreneurship: Facebook, Instagram, where there are groups
About Education: YouTube, you as a source of research
About Laundromats: Google My Business, because of location
About beauty: Instagram, because of the visual appeal, for example showing a before and after
Speaking of products, the professor advises:
About Auto Parts: YouTube, a source of content and information
Laser (medical/dermatology): Instagram, in order to show results
And the professor stresses that “it is possible to generate content that reflects the real world within the digital one.” And this is essential for your success in the world of social media.
What Types of Content Should I Put on the Internet?
It is much more common than you might imagine for people to also have doubts about the format and type of content they will post. Dance videos? Images? What are the photos like? To find the answer, you need to analyze a few factors.
“Is your work more rational or emotional? Is it tied to recognition or to decision-making? You, as a professional who will show yourself on social media through content, do you want to educate, inspire, entertain or convince people? As a professor, I usually post content with an inspirational angle; for example, I have just given a class, or a workshop, or an event, and I post a photo of that moment,” the professor says.
Once you understand your purpose on social media and which channel is best for you to be present on, the professor explains a way to create content in an organized way and in advance.
- Date: it is important to define the dates of your posts
- Territory: that would be the topic of your post
- Journey: remember the journeys we mentioned above? You need to identify which phase of the audience your post will be aimed at
- Pillar: what category are you generating information in
- Persona: who is the ideal person who will receive your content? Patient, entrepreneur, coworker?
- Channel: where will it be published? Instagram, Facebook…
- Format: does the subject fit better in a text or in an explanatory video? Maybe an image carousel meets the need to convey the information I want? This is where you decide.
- Headline: the model of the content you will produce, for example, tips, informative, reflective. What is the editorial line of your content?
- Caption: the text that goes in your post.
“Know that you generate content all day long, whether answering an email, sending a message or answering someone’s question, so take ownership of this content you are generating, organize it in a spreadsheet and publish it on social media,” he teaches.
After you work on the content and publish it, you need to look at the results. After all, you need to know whether people are liking what you are producing and, if so, keep going down the same path. Or, if not, change your strategy.
For that, you need to pay attention to the interaction your content generated, through views, likes, comments and shares.
“What is success on social media? Likes, followers, sales, reputation? You will find out what success is in your case. For me, my greatest value and success on the internet are the conversations and the reputation that is built little by little,” he says.
Essential Tripod for Standing Firm on Digital Channels
In his talk, the professor stresses the importance of having a presence on social media, but more than that, he says it is important to start, whether you feel prepared or not.
And for you to succeed in your digital journey, Rogério closes by offering three pieces of advice, in short, for you to follow and do well on social media:
- Positioning
Choose the best format and channel, and what to put on each platform, strategically.
- Cadence/Frequency
Have a posting schedule, do not abandon social media, be consistent. Post at least three times a day, especially if you are in the health care field.
- Relationship
Establish a conversation through authentic, original, human, real content. People will respond and you will interact by producing the content they want to see and consume.
Want to see more details on this subject? Watch this talk, which was recorded and is available on your portal. 😉
