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Health & Fitness

Social Media Marketing: Think Like an Editor-in-Chief

Does your company have an editor-in-chief? It doesn’t matter if you don’t work in the media industry—whether you’re running a home decorating store or a magazine, you need someone in your business to play that editor-in-chief role.

The reason I say this is because content has become the cornerstone of online marketing. Approximately 92% of marketers report that they now use content marketing, and at the end of 2013, 58% of B2B marketers and 60% of B2C marketers said they planned to increase their content marketing budget in the coming months.

What this means is that we’re going to be seeing more unique content online than ever before, and when developed correctly, it can help drive traffic to your website and convert those visitors into sales.

Qualities of an Editor-in-Chief

In the publishing industry, a large part of an editor-in-chief’s job is choosing the content that’s going to sell the most copies of magazines, books, or newspapers. They are marketers who sell to consumers by determining what stories will best connect with their readers.
In your case, you want content to connect with your customers’ needs. He or she should take into account your target demographic, popular search terms, your company’s unique selling propositions (USPs), and, above all, your business goals.

Your “editor-in-chief” should:

Be creative. This point should be obvious, but it’s worth emphasizing. You want someone who can learn about your industry, and then translate this into high quality, useful, and valuable content. They should have an eye for reusing content in order to achieve the highest ROI for your investment.

Promote a consistent brand story. If you were writing a novel in which the protagonist’s behavior is incredibly inconsistent, you’d most likely confuse your readers and cause many of them to put your book down. An inconsistent brand can provoke similar reactions: consumers want to know what to expect from companies, and if you keep changing your message, you’ll lose their trust. Your content editor needs to know how to create a storytelling arc through your marketing and maintain the specific tone of your brand.

Tie together social media channels. That consistent brand story applies to social media networks as well. Your content editor should be able to market your brand across social media channels and, in some cases, identify the niche social media sites that appeal to your target customers. Content marketing is about creating quality content, but it’s also about knowing where to share that material.

Identify storytellers within the organization. Everybody has a story to tell, and there are probably quite a few people within your company who could share fun behind-the-scenes anecdotes or inspirational tales about why they wanted to work for this organization. Your content editor should be able to find these people and ask the right questions to get the types of stories your audience wants to hear.

Get customers involved in marketing. Content marketing efforts don’t just have to come from within your company’s walls. A good editor can connect with loyal customers and solicit content from them, whether it’s in the form of a testimonial, a blog post, or even just a social media update. Your editor should be able to identify influencers who like your products and develop your following.

Communicate well with the content marketing team. As a small business, you may not have the budget for a full in-house marketing team. You may choose to work with freelancers, graphic designers, or marketing agencies to produce your content. You need an individual who can help keep everyone on the same page, working toward the same goals.

Shepard Morrow is the head of Location Traffic, an internet marketing and business consulting company in Pennington, New Jersey. He helps entrepreneurs and owner-operators to grow their businesses using inbound marketing campaigns. Learn more at LocationTraffic.com or call 609-737-8667.


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