Oh, the pressure of a blank status update staring you in the face. If you’re managing a community on social networks for your own business or a client’s, this can be a real challenge because you always want to be engaging, interesting and possibly edgy/cool — but the reality is that your company or client doesn’t always have something to say.
So what do you do when you feel this way? Well, here are five suggestions guaranteed to get you posting.
- Real-time research: All those comments and discussions on your page(s) are what the honchos call “real-time research/data,” and you can use those to spark new conversations because what do people want to talk about the most in the world — themselves. Believe it. Simply ask a question to one of your followers and allow them the opportunity they’ve been waiting for. As Picard would say, engage!
- Sawdust on the floor: Every company has interesting things happening every day, whether it makes the approved distribution list or not. BlendTec reinvented its entire company because an executive noticed sawdust on the floor — the employees were crunching up broom handles in the blenders. The rest is social media legend, but the big deal came from simple observation. See your company or client with new eyes. Where is your sawdust on the floor? What can you use to engage your audience today?
- Current events: Take a quick scan of CNN and/or USA Today, find yourself a current event and tie your company into it. But make sure you do this in a real way and a way that helps you communicate your messages.
- Get personal: Social networks are about people — real people doing real people things. Don’t be afraid to show some humanity in the quest to communicate your company/client message. This makes your feed more interesting, and that’s the currency you’re after in social networks. If you want people to know you, you have to let them in (I know, I sound like Dr. Phil), but try it after legal goes to bed. It’s fun!
- Use your media coverage: This is part of that whole integrated marketing thing. When PR generates a cool hit, you want to use your own social channels to share that with everyone who already semi-loves you. It sounds simple and obvious, but so does “rinse and repeat” and yet they print that on shampoo bottles. Don’t forget to use the bullets you have to load the gun. It amplifies the value of your media coverage, and you may get your followers talking about you and sharing your message that way.
See, it’s not as daunting as you thought. We’d love to hear about other interesting ways you keep the content fountain flowing for your company and/or clients. Until then, keep on posting!
Scott Robertson, president of Robertson Communications, has more than 20 years experience in public relations and marketing communications, including B2B and B2C. Robertson is an accredited, active member of the Public Relations Society of America and holds a master’s degree in corporate communications from Lindenwood University and a journalism degree from the University of Missouri.