Here’s yet another story of how Facebook and social media have helped a local business connect with customers. The Springfield Foodie has details on how a Qdoba burrito franchise in Springfield, Missouri, grew from 200 to 4,000+ Facebook fans in just a few months. (Hint: They didn’t just create a Facebook page. They’ve been creative and consistent about generating content for it.)
How Facebook Can Help Your Local Business
You Need a Content Checklist
Every organization produces content, even if it’s just a newsletter. But to get the most out of the content you’re producing, you should be asking yourself a few questions. The Marketing Genius Blog has a list of 10 questions you should ask about social media and content.
My favorite:
Who have we assigned to govern our content on an ongoing basis?
Producing content on a regular basis makes it extremely important to assign someone in your organization to maintain and govern it. Ideally this is a content strategist.
For those of us without the luxury of the ideal, be sure to select someone with high attention to detail and a knack for organization.
I’d add one other option (partly because I’ve seen this work with a lot of my own clients). Bring in a trusted partner to serve as a freelance content creator. Let that person work closely with you to generate ideas, and then turn them loose to write articles, make podcasts, create videos, and make engaging content for the people you want to reach.
However you do it, not assigning a point person to the content-creation role is the most common mistake I see organizations make when they try to participate online.
Government & Social Media Discussion: Podcast #1
My colleague Steve Mays and I have begun a new podcast focused on the use of social media by government agencies. This is a companion to our short weekly news headlines on the same topic, which I’ll be recording. On this version, we’ll go into more depth about issues faced by government agencies.
On this episode, we just lay the groundwork for what we’ll be covering. If you have 10 minutes to listen,
[podcast]http://journamarketing.com/Multimedia/Podcast_Episode1.mp3[/podcast]
Social Media and Government, Weekly Headlines
I do a lot of work with small government agencies, helping them understand and use social media. So I’m going to spend some time each week putting together a short podcast with headlines from around the country on that topic. I hope to make it a good resource for government workers who are looking to use social media to communicate better with the public.
[podcast]http://www.journamarketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/SMGov_headlines1.mp3[/podcast]
