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finding weird stuff to post about on social

If you missed my most recent article (but you didn’t, right? RIGHT?!?), then you know some amazing ways to leverage social media marketing to add value to your customers’ lives. Whether you’re a hair salon, a hardware store or an auto mechanic, you’re basically swimming in options for a value-forward strategy.

But there’s another ace I like to keep up my sleeve.

This trick allows me to keep my content varied, interesting and connected to my brand, but also not just about what I do. This is one of the ways that I am able to promote my brand, create value for potential customers and also not make it all about me. See, I’ve actually been told it’s not all about me several times, and although I’m not 100% convinced this is accurate, I’m at least willing to entertain the notion that it’s correct… 

So what is that sweet spot…

...of topics to post about  that tie the content back to your brand and business AND continuing to meet the needs and interests of your audience? It’s time to get VENN-y.

I don’t want to brag, but I took Algebra I four times before I a) finished the class b) finished the class AND passed it and c) finished the class, passed it, and understood what the heck I was doing. Bottom line, math is not my strong suit. That’s okay, because I’m very talented at the math I need to use for my life and the rest of math can fuck right off.  One of the tools I love to use is a good, old-fashioned Venn diagram. This is going to help you identify areas of interest that apply to you AND your target market so you have a wide variety of topics about which to post.

I feel like the best way to approach this project is to have you play along at home.

I’m going to use a local coffee shop as my example, because I don’t (currently) have a client that is a coffee shop, and it seems like a fun, easy project. This exercise is kind of creative, so get ready to shake those cobwebs loose and just let your right brain be in charge for a second (you left-brainers, don’t worry: I promise you can put your creative side right back in left-brain jail as soon as we’re done).

Step 1:

Write a list of all of the things you can think of that apply to your business, your staff, your location and your services. Try to think about your business as an outsider would see it with special consideration for the aspects that make you unique.

Local Coffee Shop:

Dog friendly patio

Local art display

Veteran-owned

Everyone hates mornings

Mondays are busiest days

Cupcake sales plummet Jan 1-Feb 14

 Specialty roasted coffees

Live music on weekends

Give discount for students/seniors/bring your own cups

Recycle/encourage reusable products

Drink that sells the most is brewed coffee

People change their drinks with the season like wardrobe

Coffee is the basis for social life; dates, meetings, meetups, friends, special events

Have a drawing for free travel gallon for businesses

Located near awesome businesses

Get really busy during local events

Next to farmer’s market

Require employees to go through training to understand origins of coffee and why different roasts/brews taste different

 

Step 2:

List what you know about your customers. Think about how they interact with your business and what you can extrapolate from this information.

Love the farmer’s market

Like the live music

Bring their dogs on warm evenings, really like to get the Pupachinos

Work hard, long hours and enjoy the brief break coffee gives them

Build relationships with the baristas

Ask for coffee grounds to put in their gardens as fertilizer

Bring their own cups 20% of the time

Bring their kids when they’re back from college

First dates come in and look cute

Love to stop and talk shop about coffee and beverages

Amble in while exploring the area

Just want to get in and get out on Monday

Enjoy looking at the paintings/art

Note: This will work super, especially well if you know your ideal customer.

 

Step 3:

Where is there overlap that isn’t specifically related to you?

Pet owners

People who like local events

Parents/families/couples

Art lovers

Romance

Local things to do

Like to cook—foodies

Intelligent, educated

Interested in protecting the environment

People who like to build relationships and know people we see every day

People who are a little bit older, more mature, have their lives basically figured out at this point

 

Step 4

This is the fun part. See all of that overlap? This is where we get ideas for content. This is where you get to do a super awesome brain dump and think about other types of content your customers might be interested in. Here are some ideas I’ve come up with based on our imaginary coffee shop:

Protecting the environment and environmental issues

How coffee builds relationships

Origin/history/harvest facts about coffee

Local things to do/events/shops to visit

Meet the baristas

Pet ownership, tips, info and stats

Food + wine + coffee pairings

Dating/relationship posts

Your frequent customers

Mondays are the worst

Weekend/entertainment info

 

 

See? Easy-peasy. There are many different ways you can translate good info about your customers into great social media content. The trick is to keep brainstorming and refining. Invest and then test. Umm… I’m out of cheesy clichés, but you get my drift.

This week’s assignment is to do this Venn diagram for yourself. Email me at hello@ek.marketing and let me know what you’ve come up with! Can’t wait to hear from you!

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