Social media marketing is, thankfully, coming out of its trendy phase and moving into its business phase.
For those of us who have been online for a while, the trendiness of social media has been somewhat irritating. The web was social before the web even existed. In other words, the Internet was social before the first web browsers appeared. Back then we connected with one another through Listservs and the like. It was 100% social.
Services like MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook didn’t invent social media. They simply made it more popular and improved its functionality.
One of the outcomes of the trendy phase of social media is that well over 90% of North American companies now have a presence on sites like Twitter and Facebook. Those companies jumped in because they felt pressured to be on those sites. If that’s where their customers and prospect were spending their time, they needed to be there too.
But most of them jumped in without any kind of strategy. And they didn’t bother integrating social media with their other online marketing activities.
Hence the next step forward, which is to integrate social media with a company’s online marketing activities.
There is a huge opportunity here for online writers and copywriters.
The geeks have taken care of the technology side of social media. The gurus have done the big sales job and moved companies into social media. And now it’s down to savvy online writers and copywriters to integrate social media.
Here’s what I mean by integration…
Most companies have online marketing calendars. They have a schedule and know on which dates they are going to be promoting their various products and services. Smart companies have an integrated content calendar that tells them which kinds of content they are going to be publishing in support of their marketing campaigns.
But very few companies have taken the next step…which is to integrate a social media calendar, in support of both their content and their marketing campaigns.
There is a big gap here.
And every gap represents an opportunity.
Here are 3 examples of ways in which online writers and copywriters can profit from the coming integration of social media.
1. If you are an online copywriter, working on some sales pages, you can expand the scope of your work simply by asking, “Shouldn’t we be planning some activity on social media to drive traffic to these new pages?” The answer is yes, you should. And this gives you the opportunity to not only write the sales pages, but also all the social media entries that can be used to support them.
2. If you are an online content writer, creating new site pages, blog posts, product reviews etc, simply ask, “Would you like me to optimize this content for social media? And would you like me to write some social media entries to support this new content?”
3. Or, if you want to help more broadly with your clients’ social media marketing, you can ask, “Would you like some help in integrating your social media with your content and marketing calendars?”
This is an easy opportunity. Most companies already have their social media pages up there. What they are missing is someone who can help them work up a social media calendar that is integrated with their content calendar and marketing calendar.
And the people best positioned to help them do this are the online writers and copywriters who are already writing their content and sales pages.
I smell opportunity here, and hope you do too.
NOTE: I have created a social media training program specifically for freelance writers and copywriters. It is published by AWAI, and you can find their information and sales page on the program here…
About the author: Nick Usborne is an online writer, copywriter, author and coach. Read more…
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If my recent experience is anything to go by, you’ve hit the nail on the head. In the past year, my clients have been asking me to do more than just write and have been compensating me accordingly. Most recently, I was asked to schedule my posts on buffer after saving them as drafts on WP. I have a Friday deadline and my posts are published on Monday. I schedule them for posting to Twitter on Tuesday twice to get the best times on the east and west coasts. Works like a charm and everybody’s happy.
I am converted! I am not a computer whiz. In fact I am having problems getting a website set up. For years, I considered social media a complete waste of time. Yes, there are still a lot of wasted words and inconsequential chatter. However, I am currently studying your social media course and it has changed my outlook.
My only challenge now, is knowing the “how to.” I struggle hard with technology, but I am learning, even if only a small bit each day.
Thank you