Strategizing in Style: Insights from a Social Media and Content Manager - with Ashley DiFranza

Social media has become a key element of marketing strategies for businesses of all sizes.

However, having a presence on social media is not enough to be successful.?

To achieve your desired outcomes, it is essential to have a well-planned social media content strategy.

But with so many platforms and types of content available, it can be challenging to know where to start. That's where a solid content strategy comes in.?

To better understand what a good social media content strategy should look like, Ashley DiFranza, Social Media and Content Manager at Central Insurance provided a series of actionable insights in a recent episode of our podcast, The Life of a Social Media Manager.

Meet our guest

Meet Ashley, the creative social media and content manager who oversees Central Insurance's social media presence and manages their blog. She is also the founder of Riptide Marketing, an agency that specializes in everything content- from strategy to development and more.?

With almost a decade of experience in digital and content marketing, Ashley has had the opportunity to work with various B2B and B2C clients, showcasing her unique blend of strategic and creative skills.?

Her background in print journalism and theater allows her to approach every project with a fresh perspective, bringing a touch of theatricality to her work.?

When she's not busy managing Central's online presence, you can find her directing and performing in Boston's thriving theater scene.

Tune in if you want to:

• find out what it takes to create an effective social media content strategy, including understanding your goals, auditing your existing content and competitors, and aligning your brand voice with your social media presence

• learn how to measure success on social media, including key metrics like shares, engagement, and click-through rates

• see how social media managers can overcome challenges and learn from failures

What you can learn from this episode

• Insights into the life of a social media and content manager (02:20)

• Crafting a winning social media strategy (05:27)

• Metrics that matter: evaluating social media success (08:39)

• Understanding what motivates people to share online posts (11:33)

• The most difficult tasks for social media managers (12:21)

• Staying ahead of the game: latest trends and developments in social media (13:30)

• Learning from setbacks: real-world examples of social media manager's failures (14:41)

• Simplifying social media management: tools and techniques for efficiency (16:19)

• Ways to find creative inspiration for social media (18:28)

Key Takeaways

1. The Secret to an Effective Social Media Content Strategy: Balancing Creativity and Analysis

Managing content for a blog and social media channels involves a balance of creativity and analysis. Ashley spends a lot of time optimizing SEO content while ensuring it adds value for their audience.

From Ashley's experience, creating a social media content strategy requires a combination of creativity and analytical skills.?

The first step is to understand the client's goals for their social media presence, whether it's to grow their audience, increase engagement, or promote a specific product or service.

Next, a thorough audit of the client's existing social media accounts, their competitors, and their target audience is essential to developing a comprehensive strategy. This information can help identify gaps in content, engagement opportunities, and improvement areas.

Once the audit is complete, it's time to develop a content strategy for social media that aligns with the client's goals and resonates with their target audience. This may involve creating a content calendar that includes a mix of promotional content, educational or informative content, and engaging posts that encourage conversation and community building.

Another critical aspect of social media strategy is measuring and analyzing the success of the content that's posted. This involves tracking key metrics such as engagement rates, reach, and conversion rates to determine which posts resonate with the audience and which are falling flat.

Finally, it's essential to continuously evaluate and adapt the strategy based on the data and feedback received from the audience. Social media is constantly evolving, and staying on top of trends and changes in user behaviour is essential to maintaining a successful social media presence.

2. Measuring Success: The Importance of Metrics in a Social Media Content Strategy

In the world of social media, measuring success can be a daunting task. However, for the team at Central, it's all about the likes, shares, and engagement.?

They strive to create content that adds value and resonates with their audience. But how do they know if it's working?

They focus on metrics such as click-throughs, which show that people are captivated by the content and are interested in exploring what they're being pushed towards.?

Additionally, high-level engagement metrics like comments and reactions help keep the community engaged and provide valuable feedback.

Another way to determine whether your content resonates with the audience is by looking at metrics such as saves on Instagram or Facebook.?

If people are saving your content, it's a good indication that they will likely come back to it.?

Central strives to ensure that their visuals and copy go hand in hand when it comes to combining content with graphics. They make sure that the value-adding copy comes first, and then the designer turns it into something visually appealing.?

However, most of the time, it's a combination of the two that grabs people's attention and encourages them to engage with the content.

3. The Challenges and Rewards of Being a Social Media Manager

In today's digital age, social media has become essential to marketing and branding for businesses. However, keeping up with the fast-paced world of social media can be exhausting for social media managers.?

People's attention span is short, and social media has a short shelf life. As soon as one post goes live (or even before), it's time to work on the next.?

This cycle never stops, and it can be draining.

To counteract this, social media managers need to find ways to stay inspired and engaged with the content.?

It's important not to lose sight of the big picture while keeping an eye on individual posts' performance.

Ashley considers that operating in a silo, without communicating with different departments of the organization, would be a failure.

A social media manager is like a megaphone for all the campaigns and work that everybody at the company does.?

Therefore, being a voice for others and supporting everyone's high-level goals is crucial.

Ashley expressed that having a full social media team would make the job smoother and more impactful.?

While the designer and the creative director at Central Insurance are doing a great job, they have other priorities, and it would be wonderful to have more people on the team to jump on trends as they come.

Ultimately, the key takeaway is that a content strategy for social media is not just about posting pretty pictures or witty captions but rather about understanding your audience, setting clear goals, and using data to make informed decisions.?

With Ashley's insights, we can all take a step towards creating a winning social media content strategy that drives business success and creates meaningful connections with our audiences.?

So let's get creative, let's get strategic, and let's get social!