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How To Build, Engage & Monetize Your Social Media Following In 2022

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How To Build, Engage & Monetize Your Social Media Following In 2022

Social media marketing can be a massively useful tool for all businesses – big and small – to utilize for generating more income and growing their loyal fanbase of followers…

But if you want to really use social media marketing to your advantage, then it’s going to take a bit more strategizing than simply throwing up a few posts every now and then. 

In this article, I’m going to share my top tips & proven strategies for generating more likes, comments, leads, and sales from your social media content marketing. 

Now these tips will apply no matter what social media platform you prefer to use – and no, I’m not suggesting that you have to be active on them all. 

In fact, I’m suggesting the exact opposite! 

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Pick the platform(s) you genuinely enjoy using the most, and stick to those ones only. In my experience, that’s guaranteed to give you the best results simply because you aren’t “forcing” yourself to show up on a platform that you don’t enjoy. 

Which makes showing up consistently much, much, much easier!

So whether your platform of choice is LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or Tik Tok… utilizing the correct social media strategies in your business is a smart move to make. 

But not just because these platforms can build your brand awareness and grow your reach…

Also because, with literally billions of active daily users, social media is one of the best places to reach ALL of your business goals…

With social media you can:

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  • Generate new leads
  • Drive more traffic to your website
  • Raise brand awareness 
  • Cash in on conversions & have bigger launches 

Which all sounds pretty epic, right?…

But what does “social media marketing” actually entail?

Well the short answer is – anything that drives audience engagement! 

Because here’s the thing… 

While there is absolutely no doubt that social media is a great place to generate new leads, build brand awareness, and cash in on serious conversions…

It’s not just as simple as haphazardly throwing up a post every now and then, cramming your caption with hashtags, or asking people to sign up for your email list or buy your products & services… 

You have to remember that #1 purpose of social media has always been, and will always be, to build relationships. 

So your social media strategy needs to be focused on relationship building first and foremost. 

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That’s right – your primary focus should not be to make more sales… it should be to make more loyal fans. 

So to do that, you really want to be thinking of things like…

  • Engaging captions, images & videos
  • Reels
  • Tik-toks
  • Going LIVE with your audience
  • Posting polls & quizzes
  • Doing Q&As
  • And honestly the list goes on and on! 

And of course – paid advertising, promotional posts, sponsored content, and user generated content does play a big role in social media marketing… 

But those should all come into the picture after you’ve done the front work into building relationships and trust with your audience. 

So let’s break that all down a bit more… 

Engaging Content 

I know this might sound a bit obvious, but it’s a mistake that I see a lot of people making on social media. 

If every post you make is asking people to buy something from you or sign up for your email list, you’re definitely going to drive away A LOT of followers and massively hurt your engagement.

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Aside from the fact that people on social media like to stay on social media (and not click out to other sites or links).

Social media platforms really like their users to stay put. Which means the algorithm doesn’t favor posts that drive engagement away from the platform.

By constantly including a CTA in your posts to click a link or visit a website (which means less likes and comments on the post itself), you’re inadvertently hurting your reach because platforms like Instagram only continue to show your posts to followers if people are actively engaging with it.

Yikes—bummer right?

So a good rule of thumb is to give your followers what they came for—inspiration, education, or entertainment. 

I like to make sure my posts always follow what I call the “Four Pillars” of social media content: Promotional, educational, personal, and engagement/relatability. 

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Where…

  • Promotional Posts: You’re clearly promoting your product or service to your audience. This is what you might think of as more “traditional marketing”. 
  • Educational Posts: You’re delivering mad value in the form of free education or inspiration. 
  • Personal Posts: You’re building rapport with your audience. Letting them know more about you, your personal story, your quirks, likes, and all the things you might think are “irrelevant” to your business!
  • Engagement Posts: Your opportunity to engage with your audience, ask them questions, and uncover their needs, wants, & desires. 

I break down these four pillars in more detail—including examples AND swipe copy for you to use—in my free Cheatsheet for writing Click Worthy Captions & CTAs

Now a good rule of thumb is to keep these posts on a consistent cycle. So if you post 4 days/week, you would post a different pillar each day, rinse, and repeat!

This way, your audience won’t get tired of seeing the same promotional content over and over… and over again. 

And here’s another HOT TIP: Remember that you should be posting some of your most valuable content on social media—yes for free!

Especially if you’re in the beginning stages of building out your audience. 

You should be focused more on forming relationships, delivering value, building trust, and getting people really excited about following you!

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Now, once you’ve done this very important front end work, you can start thinking about the second phase of social media marketing…

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Paid Advertising & Promotional Posts

This is where your mad copywriter skills can really come in handy!

I mean sure, social media is “technically” content sharing, which means there is A LOT of content writing involved… 

But when you’re utilizing your social media platform(s) to generate leads and gain more conversions — copywriting principles are essential!

This means: 

  • Write compelling hooks
  • Make sure your captions and ads have good flow & are easy to read
  • Pay attention to formatting
  • And never skip a call to action (CTA). 

Every caption or ad you post on social media should follow the ABCs of copywriting basics – and yes, I like to write ALL my ads just like I would write a promotional caption:

1. Attention

First, they need to get ATTENTION, with a great graphic and compelling hook or headline.

On social media, your hook is the very first sentence of your caption. If your first sentence isn’t captivating, then the reader won’t tap “More”… and your amazing caption or CTA doesn’t matter.

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2.  Big Promise

Second, they need to provide a BENEFIT or BIG PROMISE  in the form of education, entertainment or inspiration.

Once you have your readers’ attention, you need to keep it! This is done by implementing great storytelling, content or wisdom, and opening loops throughout your caption. 

Always make sure your caption delivers on the hook you opened with! Nobody got time for clickbait captions.

3. Close

And lastly, they need a strong CLOSE. 

They need to give people one clear and concise CALL-TO-ACTION.

Because – remember the #1 rule in copywriting (and all of marketing for that matter)…

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If you want your audience to take action, you need to tell them exactly what you want them to do!

Remember that every single CTA is an opportunity for lead generation or conversion.  

And no, that doesn’t mean that every CTA should be “buy from me” or “download this” or “sign up here.”

The fun thing about social media is that you get to be super creative with your CTAs to increase engagement and have conversations!

For example…

At the end of a post explaining how to write better headlines, my CTA at the bottom might say something like “Do YOU want to learn how to write better headlines? Comment YES or NO below!”

Then a really simple, and effective way I could gain new leads on this CTA would be by simply following up with every person that comments “YES”. 

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In this case, I have a free headline writing guide that I could send you. 

When the new lead downloads the guide, they’ll be added to my mailing list and just like that, I’ve got a new lead that may turn into a customer if they find value from my free content. 

Another way of utilizing this “back door” strategy for lead generation, is using the CTA to ask an engaging question.

For example…

In a post about starting your own copywriting business, my CTA might be “Tell me, what’s holding you back from STARTING?”

The comments here would likely have a big range of answers that you can directly reply to in the comments – or even better – if you have a free resource, video, or course that addresses their problem directly, this is a great opportunity to DM them the links directly.

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Which can result in lead generation or conversion! 

But remember, while your #1 goal for utilizing social media might be to grow your revenue…

When it comes to social media marketing, you have to prioritize the #1 purpose of social media…

Which is to build relationships. 

So no matter what you’re putting out there – images, videos, or ads – they should always be focused on helping first and foremost, NOT selling & pitching. 

Do this and you’ll naturally find that your reach is growing, your audience is active, and your launches are selling out. 

It truly is a win, win! 

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To see all these strategies in action, make sure to follow the Copy Posse on Instagram and YouTube (my social platforms of choice!) 

Thanks so much for reading. Until next time, I’m Alex – ciao for now!

1641436391 906 How To Build Engage Monetize Your Social Media Following

Alex Cattoni

Alex Cattoni is an industry-leading copywriter, marketing genius and founder of the Copy Posse. With over 10+ years of experience working with multi-million dollar brands, Alex is now sharing that knowledge with her students around the world. Since founding a boutique agency and online academy, she now has a global crew 100,000+ strong of authentic copywriters with the same passion for creating community, credibility, and conversions with nothing but powerful and precise wording.

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How To Combine PR and Content Marketing Superpowers To Achieve Business Goals

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A figure pulls open a dress shirt to reveal the term PR on a Superman-like costume, reflecting the superpower resulting from combining content and PR.

A transformative shift is happening, and it’s not AI.

The aisle between public relations and content marketing is rapidly narrowing. If you’re smart about the convergence, you can forever enhance your brand’s storytelling.

The goals and roles of content marketing and PR overlap more and more. The job descriptions look awfully similar. Shrinking budgets and a shrewd eye for efficiency mean you and your PR pals could face the chopping block if you don’t streamline operations and deliver on the company’s goals (because marketing communications is always first to be axed, right?).

Yikes. Let’s take a big, deep breath. This is not a threat. It’s an opportunity.

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Reach across the aisle to PR and streamline content creation, improve distribution strategies, and get back to the heart of what you both are meant to do: Build strong relationships and tell impactful stories.

So, before you panic-post that open-to-work banner on LinkedIn, consider these tips from content marketing, PR, and journalism pros who’ve figured out how to thrive in an increasingly narrowing content ecosystem.

1. See journalists as your audience

Savvy pros know the ability to tell an impactful story — and support it with publish-ready collateral — grounds successful media relationships. And as a content marketer, your skills in storytelling and connecting with audiences, including journalists, naturally support your PR pals’ media outreach.

Strategic storytelling creates content focused on what the audience needs and wants. Sharing content on your blog or social media builds relationships with journalists who source those channels for story ideas, event updates, and subject matter experts.

“Embedding PR strategies in your content marketing pieces informs your audience and can easily be picked up by media,” says Alex Sanchez, chief experience officer at BeWell, New Mexico’s Health Insurance Marketplace. “We have seen reporters do this many times, pulling stories from our blogs and putting them in the nightly news — most of the time without even reaching out to us.”

Acacia James, weekend producer/morning associate producer at WTOP radio in Washington, D.C., says blogs and social media posts are helpful to her work. “If I see a story idea, and I see that they’re willing to share information, it’s easier to contact them — and we can also backlink their content. It’s huge for us to be able to use every avenue.” 

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Kirby Winn, manager of PR at ImpactLife, says reporters and assignment editors are key consumers of their content. “And I don’t mean a news release that just hit their inbox. They’re going to our blog and consuming our stories, just like any other audience member,” he says. “Our organization has put more focus into content marketing in the past few years — it supports a media pitch so well and highlights the stories we have to tell.”

Storytelling attracts earned media that might not pick up the generic news topic. “It’s one thing to pitch a general story about how we help consumers sign up for low-cost health insurance,” Alex says. “Now, imagine a single mom who just got a plan after years of thinking it was too expensive. She had a terrible car accident, and the $60,000 ER bill that would have ruined her financially was covered. Now that’s a story journalists will want to cover, and that will be relatable to their audience and ours.” 

2. Learn the media outlet’s audience

Seventy-three percent of reporters say one-fourth or less of the stories pitched are relevant to their audiences, according to Cision’s 2023 State of the Media Report (registration required).

PR pros are known for building relationships with journalists, while content marketers thrive in building communities around content. Merge these best practices to build desirable content that works for your target audience and the media’s audiences simultaneously.

WTOP’s Acacia James says sources who show they’re ready to share helpful, relevant content often win pitches for coverage. “In radio, we do a lot of research on who is listening to us, and we’re focused on a prototype called ‘Mike and Jen’ — normal, everyday people in Generation X … So when we get press releases and pitches, we ask, ‘How interested will Mike and Jen be in this story?’” 

3. Deliver the full content package (and make journalists’ jobs easier)

Cranking out content to their media outlet’s standards has never been tougher for journalists. Newsrooms are significantly understaffed, and anything you can do to make their lives easier will be appreciated and potentially rewarded with coverage. Content marketers are built to think about all the elements to tell the story through multiple mediums and channels.

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“Today’s content marketing pretty much provides a package to the media outlet,” says So Young Pak, director of media relations at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. “PR is doing a lot of storytelling work in advance of media publication. We (and content marketing) work together to provide the elements to go with each story — photos, subject matter experts, patients, videos, and data points, if needed.”   

At WTOP, the successful content package includes audio. “As a radio station, we are focused on high-quality sound,” Acacia James says. “Savvy sources know to record and send us voice memos, and then we pull cuts from the audio … You will naturally want to do someone a favor if they did you one — like providing helpful soundbites, audio, and newsworthy stories.”  

While production value matters to some media, you shouldn’t stress about it. “In the past decade, how we work with reporters has changed. Back in the day, if they couldn’t be there in person, they weren’t going to interview your expert,” says Jason Carlton, an accredited PR professional and manager of marketing and communications at Intermountain Health. “During COVID, we had to switch to virtual interviewing. Now, many journalists are OK with running a Teams or Zoom interview they’ve done with an expert on the news.”

BeWell’s Alex Sanchez agrees. “I’ve heard old school PR folks cringe at the idea of putting up a Zoom video instead of getting traditional video interviews. It doesn’t really matter to consumers. Focus on the story, on the timeliness, and the relevance. Consumers want authenticity, not super stylized, stiff content.”

4. Unite great minds to maximize efficiency

Everyone needs to set aside the debate about which team — PR or content marketing — gets credit for the resulting media coverage.

At MedStar Washington Hospital Center, So Young and colleagues adopt a collaborative mindset on multichannel stories. “We can get the interview and gather information for all the different pieces — blog, audio, video, press release, internal newsletter, or magazine. That way, we’re not trying to figure things out individually, and the subject matter experts only have to have that conversation once,” she says.

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Regular, cross-team meetings are essential to understand the best channels for reaching key audiences, including the media. A story that began life as a press release might reap SEO and earned media gold if it’s strategized as a blog, video, and media pitch.

“At Intermountain Health, we have individual teams for media relations, marketing, social media, and hospital communications. That setup works well because it allows us to bring in the people who are the given experts in those areas,” says Intermountain’s Jason Carlton. “Together, we decide if a story is best for the blog, a media pitch, or a mix of channels — that way, we avoid duplicating work and the risk of diluting the story’s impact.”

5. Measure what matters

Cutting through the noise to earn media mentions requires keen attention to metrics. Since content marketing and PR metrics overlap, synthesizing the data in your team meetings can save time while streamlining your storytelling efforts.

“For content marketers, using analytical tools such as GA4 can help measure the effectiveness of their content campaigns and landing pages to determine meaningful KPIs such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, lead generation, and conversion rates,” says John Martino, director of digital marketing for Visiting Angels. “PR teams can use media coverage and social interactions to assess user engagement and brand awareness. A unified and omnichannel approach can help both teams demonstrate their value in enhancing brand visibility, engagement, and overall business success.”

To track your shared goals, launch a shared dashboard that helps tell the combined “story of your stories” to internal and executive teams. Among the metrics to monitor:

  • Page views: Obviously, this queen of metrics continues to be important across PR and content marketing. Take your analysis to the next level by evaluating which niche audiences are contributing to these views to further hone your storytelling targets, including media outlets.
  • Earned media mentions: Through a media tracker service or good old Google Alerts, you can tally the echo of your content marketing and PR. Look at your site’s referral traffic report to identify media outlets that send traffic to your blog or other web pages.
  • Organic search queries: Dive into your analytics platform to surface organic search queries that lead to visitors. Build from those questions to develop stories that further resonate with your audience and your targeted media.
  • On-page actions: When visitors show up on your content, what are they doing? What do they click? Where do they go next? Building next-step pathways is your bread and butter in content marketing — and PR can use them as a natural pipeline for media to pick up more stories, angles, and quotes.

But perhaps the biggest metric to track is team satisfaction. Who on the collaborative team had the most fun writing blogs, producing videos, or calling the news stations? Lean into the natural skills and passions of your team members to distribute work properly, maximize the team output, and improve relationships with the media, your audience, and internal teams.

“It’s really trying to understand the problem to solve — the needle to move — and determining a plan that will help them achieve their goal,” Jason says. “If you don’t have those measurable objectives, you’re not going to know whether you made a difference.”

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Don’t fear the merger

Whether you deliberately work together or not, content marketing and public relations are tied together. ImpactLife’s Kirby Winn explains, “As soon as we begin to talk about (ourselves) to a reporter who doesn’t know us, they are certainly going to check out our stories.”

But consciously uniting PR and content marketing will ease the challenges you both face. Working together allows you to save time, eliminate duplicate work, and gain free time to tell more stories and drive them into impactful media placements.

Register to attend Content Marketing World in San Diego. Use the code BLOG100 to save $100. Can’t attend in person this year? Check out the Digital Pass for access to on-demand session recordings from the live event through the end of the year.

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

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Trends in Content Localization – Moz

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Trends in Content Localization - Moz

Multinational fast food chains are one of the best-known examples of recognizing that product menus may sometimes have to change significantly to serve distinct audiences. The above video is just a short run-through of the same business selling smokehouse burgers, kofta, paneer, and rice bowls in an effort to appeal to people in a variety of places. I can’t personally judge the validity of these representations, but what I can see is that, in such cases, you don’t merely localize your content but the products on which your content is founded.

Sometimes, even the branding of businesses is different around the world; what we call Burger King in America is Hungry Jack’s in Australia, Lays potato chips here are Sabritas in Mexico, and DiGiorno frozen pizza is familiar in the US, but Canada knows it as Delissio.

Tales of product tailoring failures often become famous, likely because some of them may seem humorous from a distance, but cultural sensitivity should always be taken seriously. If a brand you are marketing is on its way to becoming a large global seller, the best insurance against reputation damage and revenue loss as a result of cultural insensitivity is to employ regional and cultural experts whose first-hand and lived experiences can steward the organization in acting with awareness and respect.

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

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How AI Is Redefining Startup GTM Strategy

AI and startups? It just makes sense.

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