Content creation is one the biggest challenges for brands. Many of the folks I work with have a hard time trying to find the right thing to say to their listeners. There are two approaches I like to guide brands to take: (1) If you ran into one of your users at a cocktail party, what happenin’ thing would you talk about? (2) If you ran into one of your users at a cocktail party, what story would they talk about that you would want to retell? We’re going to look at the latter, specifically at variables you should consider and look for in the most basic post and engagement.

Here’s a post from a non-profit I volunteer with that we’ll dissect into 7 pieces.

1. By re-sharing something as your brand, but via a fan or friend, that fan or friend receives a bit of recognition for sharing something with their network. In turn, your brand shows off someone who may be influential or relevant to your brand. (In this case, it’s a YPIN Board member we’re showcasing, but this can be any affiliate, brand ambassador or general user you may be connected to.)
2. Tagging other brands is important as it lets your followers navigate around to news and information resources. In this example, NPR’s page is tagged – tagging is simple but sometimes clunky. If you’re posting as your brand – and using YPIN as an example – you have to first be sure that YPIN (as a brand) has navigated to NPR’s page and ‘liked’ them. Then, once on YPIN’s page again, simply type @NPR and Facebook will prompt with suggested results, click/select the NPR option and then their brand will be tagged in your content. Most of the time this will work for people as well, but there’s some sketchiness around tagging people while posting as a brand versus posting as yourself. If you can forgo tagging individuals (which may rise privacy concerns anyway), this should be pretty easy to manage. 
3. There is a delicate balance between content and engagement. I don’t have a ratio or good model to follow (apart from this one), but in the case of YPIN, we want to remain informative yet unbaised, objective and nonpartisan. It’s best to have a one sentence summary of the article or content shared, written as objectively as possible, followed by…
4. A pointed question. Granted there are a number of people serving as admins for this particular Facebook page, it’s best to use the first-person tone when addressing fans. In their newsfeeds, it will appear as if your brand is asking them individually and they will be more inclined to respond. When asking questions, directly ask as if you were talking to a fan face-to-face. Blanket questions like “what other types of D have people seen in B” or “who has done x, y and z” are too impersonal and usually ignored. In this example we ask directly “what do you think about [what the article is about]” and within a few hours we get responses and likes.
5. Title and description of content shared: not all websites have appropriate titles and descriptions. These can be edited before you share a link. Just hover your mouse over the title or description before you post the link, it will gain a yellow background, then click it, you’ll be able to adjust what title and description show up. This especially helps when the content we’re sharing has long titles, truncated descriptions or other nonsense that doesn’t make sense for our audience. Some of the posts YPIN made for a recent boating event that have custom titles and descriptions. A lot of content shared directly from other brands’ or parent-brands’ sites (even if through shortened urls) can have ridiculous titles and often the descriptions end in ellipses or cut off right at the good parts of a sentence.
6. Thanking participation with likes and follow-up comments (see part 7, as well). If someone responds to a post or content you provided, go back in as your brand and like their action. Even if you personally don’t agree with what they’re saying, you can always followup your ‘like’ of their comment by adding a comment (as the brand) thanking them for their feedback or asking a followup question. If you want to engage the opinion presented, be sure to engage the users as yourself since your brand is needs to remain unbiased. Liking your own content isn’t nearly as important as liking user-submitted content/comments/engagement.
7. Continue to engage. If a conversation is going, a debate is being had, or if someone asks questions like then feel free to clarify with a followup comment or link. Link content in comments now shows a preview (so sharing a link brings up an image, title and description – which you can’t edit, but it is useful for users) so there’s a bit of transparency when you’re engaging with folks.

Despite their immediate monetary value to consumers, social coupon sites are destroying the VIP experience. I remember when it was essential to build a relationship with the doorman, the bar manager and the bartender working for tips-only in order to get any discounted or special treatment. Now I simply log-on to Groupon, Living Social, Tippr or any of the 80-something social coupon sites to get the “VIP experience” for $20 when “regular price is $40!” If it was about the pure liquid cost of feeling special maybe I could better understand the motivation behind most social coupon purchases. A crucial element of the unique (VIP) experience was building a relationship with a brand and building a relationship with the people behind the brand.

Up-hill-in-the-snow-both-ways-rants come to mind.

What’s the real drive behind purchasing (social) coupons: is it an impulsive purchase or is it a calculated decision? Leah Ingram recently speculated that social coupon sites are driving impulsive purchasing decisions. The article cites PICPA’s comments about the impulsive purchasing satisfies ‘wants’ more than ‘needs.’ A cornerstone of some marketing models for social coupon sites is post-purchase share the purchase event with your network(s).

Personally, I often buy daily-deals is when they promote a brand I already support. I would gladly spend (all my) money at FBC’s Urban Beer Garden, but when an offer ran through Tippr in February I immediately purchased two deals. Already being a customer willing to spend money with this brand, I figured it couldn’t hurt to save a little extra money for my next visit. I treat supporting a favorite brand through social coupons as an investment.

When you purchase a daily-deal what’s the driving force behind your decision? Is it to save money, try something new, try something familiar, as a gift or some other reason?

Social coupon fad confronts the traditional “paying dues” – both money and time – method of attaining additional value from a brand. Regardless of a customer’s purchasing decision there will be (or already is) a disconnect in the relationships between customer and brand.

The big question on everyone’s mind is really how to promote their business through social media channels.

About two years ago everyone was desperate to have some SEO value so they’d show up in search results. While still important, the focus has been shifted to generating excitement about your brand through a social network. ClickZ posted an article a few days back stating that ads on Facebook that contain social context are 68% more likely to be remembered by users. That is, when Heineken posts an ad on Facebook that links to one of their videos, when I ‘like’ or share the video, my network is 68% more likely to remember the Heineken brand (within the context of the video). Since word of mouth referrals generally hold more weight than search results or email campaigns, a social network would be the best place to cleverly advertise so your fans/users/potential customers will ‘like’ or share your content.

In theory, it may be more cost effective and powerful to focus all of your online marketing efforts on a social media campaign. Having a website is – or was – a standard or rite of passage, much like having a business card. Buy a domain name and have it redirect over to your Facebook page. You’ve undoubtedly seen brands that are using social media platforms for customer service, sales and other communication like all-important Rugby World Cup news.

If the value of a well executed social media strategy is higher than that of the website, why not just ditch the website?

Take a moment and evaluate why you have a website: for customer contacts, to showcase products and services, to provide a resource for customers to get assistance from your brand and what else? Facebook’s platform has a core purpose of allowing users to share information with their network. Is there a difference between what Facebook facilitates and what your website facilitates? For small or local businesses, trying to complete in search results is a painful and sometimes expensive ordeal – competing against companies and campaigns with a broader reach than your small town cause increases in the price for Pay-Per-Click advertising. Larger companies and campaigns also have multiple people guiding and monitoring the interactions and often small businesses cannot dedicate a staff member the same way. On social networking platforms you can even target ads at specific regions and demographics (based on social data stored on the platform). A fine-tuned Social Media presence could very well be the replacement of the website.

On the other hand, having a website for a small business is still a rite of passage. I have yet to find a client or business who has a social media presence and does not have a website. The baseline for establishing a brand online is still a unique URL for your products, services etc. That said, the challenge is now about keeping your website content as fresh and updated as your social media presence. Search engines are constantly crawling your website for new content, users want new content – so why keep it all to the social networks?

Facebook has a series of social plug-ins for your website. Plug and play code you can drop anywhere on your site and it will pull the latest from your Facebook page. Twitter also has a large number of third party plug-ins that allow you to post your latest tweets or even query their search API for trending topics.

I would recommend for small businesses to get their website to a self-sustaining point through social media. The website will have the baseline product and service descriptions, pricing etc – that’s great – but then add social plug-ins for the networks where you’re actively engaged with customers and fans. Keep your fans happy through the social networks – and at the same time your website will be updating with relevant content as your brand’s on the social network will be syndicated through your plugins to your website.