The C? Formula for Social Media Marketing Success

Wonder why you aren't getting much traction on social media? Well, the likelihood is that you're spending too much time on one thing and not enough on another.

Chances are that you're spending too much time trying to craft that perfect post. Or to take the selfie that will launch a thousand ships.

Well, guess what? Social media marketing isn't just about writing or producing a winning "viral" post. On the contrary, much of it has to do with being a regular part of your community rather than an extraordinary content genius.

Like living a healthy well-balanced lifestyle, social media marketing is all about doing the right combination of activities on a regular basis. Think of it as a habit or a ritual—one that you regularly and rigorously practice each and every day by allocating sufficient time and energy to the different tasks which social media marketing requires.

In thinking about what we should do to build our online influence, it is useful to consider the following five buckets of activities:

• Consume: The content that we absorb each day into our hearts and minds
• Communicate: Our interactions with those in our different social networks, groups and circles
• Care: The way we respond to those who have reached out to us, either directly on our posts through a comment or through a private message (PM)
• Circulate: To expand your reach, you can either work with influencers to spread your message, or invest in ads to increase your reach to new audiences
• Create: Yep, you'll need to create content to sustain your presence on social media

Let us examine each dimension of the C? Formula in more detail below.

Consume: 20% of Your Time

If you want to create quality content on social media, you need to read, listen to, and watch the right stuff.

You probably heard of the saying "Garbage In Garbage Out (GIGO)." Why not turn that into "Gems In Gems Out" instead?

A good habit here is to follow the influencers in your field. They could be bloggers, Instagrammers, YouTubers or LinkedIn influencers who are at the cutting edge of thought leadership.

Do also consider consuming content across a wide variety of content: books, podcasts, articles/blogs, YouTube videos, and yes, face-to-face meetings.

(And let's not forget enrolling in the right courses and workshops to keep you at the bleeding edge of your game.)

Communicate: 20% of Your Time

Merely reading and silently consuming content alone isn't enough. You'll have to spend time engaging and communicating with others on social media.

Here are some of the engagement tactics which you can try:

1. React to the posts of others whom you agree with, both on their posts as well as their stories
2. Comment thoughtfully; not just with short one or two word posts like "Great work!" but with longer and more meaningful comments
3. Share the posts of others whom you resonate strongly with, and add your own two-cents worth of comments when you share them
4. Provide helpful suggestions or connect people in your network to those who are able to help them

Care: 10% of Your Time

Sometimes, you will receive comments, reactions or shares when you post a status update, photo, link or video.

The right thing to do is to care for those who bothered to react by reciprocating with a like on those who commented, or to reply with a simple "Thank you!" or longer and more thought out comment.

If conversations turn acrimonious on your timeline, it is useful to play the role of a moderator and try to turn down the heat (rather than to fan the flames). This does not mean that you should dampen all discussions on your posts—rather, your goal is to make sure that debates stay civil and commenters do not resort to ad hominem attacks.

Circulate: 10% of Your Time

Managing a company page or account on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or Twitter?

You'll probably realise that the organic reach which you can muster on these platforms are limited to the amount of time which you have on your hands. While it'll be ideal for you to spend your entire day engaging with others on social media, the reality is that such a job probably doesn't exist.

Under such circumstances, it is useful to consider these strategies to expand your company's reach on social media:

• Work with influencers (paid or unpaid) to extend your campaign reach to new audiences
• Invest in advertising on social media—start with a small tentative amount (like $10 a day) before putting in more to target new audiences
• Amplify your campaign content using native advertising networks like Outbrain or Taboola

Create: 40% of Your Time

OK, this will probably take up the lion's share of your time online, since the crafting of quality text, image and video posts does require your heart and soul.

Or, to put it another way, content is both hard and heart work.

You can either DIY everything online, hire staff to help you out, or outsource your social media content efforts to an experienced, trusted, and reasonably priced agency (Ahem!).

In thinking about your social media content, here are a few tips to consider:

• Consider who your target audiences are, and craft content that meets their needs
• Keep to a consistent content production schedule—bookmark time on your calendar to do so each week (or even each day) and make it sacrosanct
• Incorporate strategies to make your content more shareable, such as the STEPPS framework here
• Mix and match between different content types—from text posts and status updates to photos, infographics, videos and links

Conclusion

Growing your online influence is getting harder and harder these days. Competitors are constantly encroaching on your space, and consumers are becoming increasingly wary of companies that market themselves on social media.

In such an environment, the C? Formula provides a holistic strategic framework for you to anchor your core social media marketing activities.

Walter is the founder and editor of Cooler Insights—a critically thinking content marketing, social media marketing and brand storytelling agency. Fuel your business with the latest insights in digital and content marketing, public relations and personal branding.