How Content, Email, and Social Media Work Together

Welcome to Episode 470. I want to talk about how email and content and social all fit together today. Because frequently we have conversations with clients or I get questions from folks about are my content and my email essentially the same thing? Or I know what I’m going to write on my blog or I know what I’m going to say on the podcast, but I don’t know what to post on social.

What I want you to do as you move into 2020, as you move through Q1, is really testing how frequently you can use one to create the other. So, to do that, and to help you get there, I want to talk a little bit about the process we work through as we build out strategies and I want to look at what we do to create all of these things from one sort of production point where we’re only producing one piece of content original. And then we’re repurposing into all the other pieces, and really how these pieces fit together and why they support each other.

If you’ve ever been through Backstage Live with me or if I’ve ever built a strategy for you, you’re already familiar with the fact that we always start with the destination in mind. Meaning we’re starting with what we ultimately want them to do, which for most people listening to the show, and it might be true for you too, that’s to buy something or to book something. So we’re looking with the end in sight.

For our purposes today, let’s say the end goal for me is them purchasing a program. By the way, this is just my example. It is in no way a hidden promotion, we’re not selling a program right now, but that’s what we’re going to use as our example because it’s nice to have an example for the whole show. So let’s say in the end we’re going to sell them a program. It could be a course, it could be a coaching package, whatever. We’re going to sell them a program, an offer. This program is “X, Y, Z Content”.

For some of you it’ll be a coaching package where your coaching is business coaching or life coaching or relationship stuff or art coaching. Is anybody who listens to this an art coach? If you are an art coach, send me a DM because I want to hire you! Anyways, whatever the sort of the service is, or maybe it’s a done or a DIY program. We have in the past sold Facebook marketing trainings, or strategy trainings, or we have clients who sell goal setting programs or things like that.

Start with the end in mind.

So what would be the end result that we want to get them to buy? What problem does that solve and who do you sell it to? So we’re answering our questions here, right? What are we selling? Who are we selling it to? And where are we selling it? We’re selling a digital program to our ideal client. That answer should be more robust than ‘my ideal client’. Specifically today we’re talking about the digital side of it, so through our podcast, our social media channels and to our email list. So that would be the ‘where’ we’re selling it, right? So see how we answered those questions pretty quickly?

So we start with our destination in mind and then we reverse engineer it. We actually go through and say, “Okay, so if they’re going to buy this program, here is X problem that they are looking to solve.” Okay. From there, what are the questions they have right before they purchase? That’s what we’re going to focus to our email list. Then what questions do they have that we need to solve with email? What are the questions right before they opt in for whatever we’re going to have for our email? That’s our content. Then right before that, it would be, well, what questions do they have before they go read the blog post? That’s our social content.

So, we reverse engineered them through the path, or the funnel, if you want to talk about nerdy marketing terms, or whatever the roadway is, the journey as it were. They have no idea who we are till they bought the thing. That’s how it all fits together because we want to use our content in whatever iteration it is, social, blog, video, podcast, whatever, so content-content and email content to drive them through the decision making process, proving to them at each and every stop that they’re worth, that you are worth their continued attention, right? And helping them make the decision and helping them see the solution that the end product gives. That’s how these pieces work together.

No, they’re not all going to be straight duplicates.

We’re not going to just send a full text of our blog post to our email list and be like, “Cool, see you.” That’s not what we’re doing, but we do want a version of it. So oftentimes we’ll actually use bits of the content to format the email or we’ll pull what we call pull quotes. So pull quotes, that language is essentially if you think about reading a Cosmo Magazine or I’m trying to think of other magazines, In Style Magazine or Sports Illustrated. When you read a feature, or like the Washington Post does this, when you read a feature and there’s all little text and then there’s block text, that’s a pull quote. So that was something from inside the article that was like an attention grabber. It was extra cool text, right?

We want the same thing. Those pull texts instead of necessarily highlighting them in the format of blog posts, although you could 100% do that too. What we would want is we would actually want to drive the social follower to the content. So we can do that with podcasts, videos, blog posts, whatever, but we’re using these pull quotes. So we’re actually just creating the core piece of content. For example, I’m creating this podcast right now, ready? See how it’s happening live in front of you. From there we’ll get a transcript through Rev. We’ll then take that transcript and put it on the website because some people prefer to read the show. I also like to make this accessible for people. Basically no matter what, you can consume this, right? From there we’ll actually pull out key takeaways or super snazzy sayings I say or random semi-interesting thoughts.

However low bar needs to be based on that episode and we’ll turn that into social messages sort of describing and also leaving a little mystery, a little enticement, to come listen or read the core piece of content. We’ll also pull out bigger sections of it and turn it into the email. Again, part shnazzy talk, part mystery and magic, all driving somebody back to the core piece of content. Then we can follow up with emails. If we’re in a real launch period, we would obviously surround that with stronger sales messaging. There will be a call to action in your actual piece of content and again in our social we’re surrounding it with other more sales-driven messages to sort of the next steps after you listen to the content. That’s how these pieces are really working together and that’s why we’re essentially talking about the same thing in all the places, but we’re not necessarily talking about it the exact same way. We are, however, using the exact same language in many cases over and over again because, guess what guys? That’s called brand consistency.

Here’s the thing you have to realize about this.

You will feel like you just say the same thing over and over again.

A voice in your head will tell you that you are being boring, that you’re being repetitive, that you are being annoying. None of these things are true. You are not boring. You are not annoying. You are not being repetitive. You are being consistent. You’re being clear and you’re being actionable. All of those three things are how you be of service to your community because that’s what gets people from A to B. Let’s look at some really great corporate bands. Let’s look at some really great corporate brands because guess what guys? They 100% are doing a version of this. First of all, look at any commercial on television. You see them all over and over and over and over again and never once does Tide think that it’s being repetitive.

They understand that multiple touch points are critical and they will just like full on indoctrinate you through sheer repetitiveness. So be a little more like Tide. In that one thing only because I don’t know anything else about time. Moving on, let’s look at the social followings of some other brands and I will link to these in the show notes, but I really recommend if you’re not driving, if you have the ability to, pull these up on Instagram and take a look. So I’m first going to look at Billboard Magazine. Billboard Magazine has a really great social presence. And what I like about Billboard Magazine is like you and many of the people who listen to this show, there’s a focus on driving people to content. So ultimately they’re selling a subscription to their magazine, right?

Ultimately they’re selling “Hey, consume this content and pay to consume this content.” So it’s really, really important that their social content drive you to their core content. So if you look at their social content you’ll frequently see these pull quotes. So sometimes they’re quotes from the person who they interviewed in the article, sometimes their stats or numbers about a feature. For example, they did a really great write-up on P!nk last year and I’ll link to the specific social post in here, but they did a great write-up on P!nk and some tour record numbers she hit and there was a larger article in the magazine, but they had a version of it on their website and they had some conversations about it on social where they were actually like showing some of the numbers and then they featured an image from inside the article. Obviously you go down the rabbit hole until you subscribe. So that’s essentially what we’re doing with our content, right? We’re driving people from social based on, “Hey, this interesting thing is over here!” Driving them to the content and saying, “Hey, if you want more like this, this is how you get it.” So that could be opting into your email list. That can be joining a membership. That can be joining a program. For Billboard obviously it’s subscribing, so either subscribing digitally, or subscribing to their print, and/or both. I think there do have a package where you get both, but that’s what it’s all about.

The other example I want to look at is Drunk Elephant. Drunk Elephant takes more of a hybrid approach between education and user-generated content. So what I love about what Drunk Elephant does is Drunk Elephant every week does a “Ask Our CEO” kind of post, meaning you as a person who follows Drunk Elephant can go onto that post and leave a question. Guess what? Their CEO actually answers the questions. For example, I have eyelash extensions. I love my eyelash extensions. They have a cleanser that I was like, “Is it going to destroy my eyelash extensions?” By the way, it doesn’t. They said it might though, but I’m just really cautious about how I use it. But that’s a whole other episode, not at all relevant here. Anyways. But what I loved about it though is I actually got an answer. It was, “Hey, yes, it includes such and such oils. I would always ask your aesthetician about the specifics of whether this would be good or bad.” So they pointed me to somebody who is going to be a little more of an expert based on what I have on my face, but also acknowledged my question and moved me in the right direction to get an answer even if she didn’t feel comfortable saying, “Oh yeah, it’ll be fine.”

So where can you be doing that kind of responsiveness, information? Where can you be moving people through that know, like, trust factor by just serving them? Guess what? These posts are surrounded by, “Here’s how you purchase our product.” Some of the answers are, “Oh yeah, we love such and such and such and such project. Try that for this.” So it’s generating sales because they’re pointing them to their next step, but they’re doing it in a way that’s really of service. That’s how they’re pulling together content and sales. I want you to look at where can you shift your mind from isolating these pieces of your marketing, your content, so your podcast, your blog post, whatever, your email, your funnels, your automated sequences, your regular emails, whether it’d be weekly, or biweekly, or monthly, or whatever, and your social media, whether that be stories, or grid posts on Instagram, or Facebook, or LinkedIn articles, or whatever the thing is? Pinterest pins!

Whatever the social content is, how can you start thinking about them in silos and start thinking of them as pieces that support each other as you move people through the journey of, “I don’t know who the heck you are,” to, “Oh my God, I only exclusively use X, Y, Z.” That’s where we start to get clarity around what needs to be repurposed, what needs to be duplicated, and what needs to go, what isn’t serving our ultimate goals. That’s what I want you to look at as you move through this quarter. Some of that’s going to be testing, some of it’s going to be what works, what doesn’t work, what hits, what doesn’t hit. I want to encourage you to move through more of your marketing with the playfulness of testing.

I asked in my Instagram stories about who had a strategy for 2020 and then I asked if it was super detailed or if it was sort of just general points. My favorite answer, and I got a ton of DM saying this, was both. It’s a little bit of both, and that’s ideal. That’s what it should be because you want to have enough structure that you’re feeling supported, that you know what’s happening, but you also want to give yourself permission to change the plan. I’ll be honest, I had a whole plan for 2020 and I burned down half of it on January 6th. Seriously, struck a match, burned it down. I’ll dig into that more at some future point. I’m still too in it to really share, but I was able to do that and move and have no real sort of backslide in my business because I had the structure already to burn down.

I can’t break rules that don’t exist, right?

So I have to make some rules, guidelines, so that I have some playground to play in. That is where we start looking at how these pieces build that playground. To build the playground, they have to work together. They have to be joined in some way. They cannot be silo’ed. So I want to take you back to the beginning of this episode where I talked about we start with where are we ultimately going and then we work backwards from there through email, through content and through social on how and what do they need. So how do we get them there? What do they need and to define that, how do we get them there? That’s what I want you to look at all, right?

If you want to go over this with someone, which can be hugely helpful, my calendar is open now for single spot, one-off, one-on-one calls, so no long-term commitment, no crazy like I’m going to build you a strategy, no group course. Just you and me on a call for an hour, one time. After the call I’ll send you a recording. I’ll send you some action items. In and out. It’s a great way to get some support in auditing or some feedback in your plan. You’d be amazed at what we can cover in an hour. It’s crazy. If you want to look at it in a larger way, we can look at our half day or our full day VIP options, also one-on-one. Let me know, but a great place to start is that one hour call. So head on over to the show notes for this episode. Go check it out. If you have questions, again, let me know and I will talk to you next week. Have a good one.