Why Are Social Media and Content Marketing a Match Made in Heaven?

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Social media are everywhere and have unarguably changed our everyday life, including the way we communicate with other people, how we acquire information, and even the way in which we are looking for a job. Whether we like it or not, social media are here to stay.

Just look at the statistics. It is estimated that there are around 3.5 billion social media users, which make up approximately 45% of the population of our planet. On average, people spend over 3 hours daily using social networks or messaging. Social media have become new entertainment, more popular than television or newspapers.

However, for many people social media are more than just a fun way of spending time – they are their source of income. Look at the influencers, who gain their money by collaborating with brands and companies and doing sponsored posts and giveaways. Even though you might think that it is a simple job, it actually takes a lot of thinking – you need to have good captions, bios, as well as hashtags so that more people can see your post.

Since the popularity of social media started going up, it was only a matter of time before marketers began to use them for their own benefit. It turns out that it was a jackpot for content marketing, as social media and content marketing can be considered as a match made in heaven. However – why is that? Why do they cooperate with each other so well?

If you want to find out the answer to that, all you have to do is keep reading. So without any further ado, let’s get right into it.

What are Social Media?

First thing first – before we start digging deeper into the topic, we need to establish one thing, and that is what exactly are social media. Many people seem to believe that the only existing social media are Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and now Tik Tok. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, social media can be defined as ‘forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos).’

The truth is that many countries have their social media, which are very popular – for example, Russia has Odnoklassniki and Vkontakte, while Latin American has Orkut (very popular in Brazil), Taringa! (started by people from Argentina), and Sonico (which is almost identical to Facebook).

What is the Relation Between Content Marketing and Social Media?

According to SEO marketing experts at thesearchinitiative.com, ‘content marketing is the process of planning, creating, distributing, sharing, and publishing content to reach your target audience. As a business, this tactic can help you improve brand awareness, boost sales, connect with your target audience members, and engage prospects and customers.’ In today’s world, where everything revolves around technology, the internet, and social media, businesses more than ever need to step up their social media game.

As Heidi Cohen, a content marketer, says, ‘Social media is where your content marketing connects with your audience, including prospects, customers, influencers, and others. Through these relationships, you as a marketer can acquire a deeper understanding of your target market and engage with them directly.’

Let us explain it by using an example. Imagine that you are a business owner. You have a lot of great content, but people don’t see, because it’s not on the first page of Google, which is filled with big brands and well-known names. In this case, it would be very difficult to surpass them and lend that position.

So what else is there to do? Create a social media account for your company and post your content there. This will allow you to reach a broader audience, as when someone likes one of your posts, their friends will see it in their feed, and might become interested as well. Also, it encourages people to follow your page for new posts, as when they sign up for a newsletter directly on the website, they need to either check their email every once in a while or the website on which the content they want will be published.

How to Create a Social Media Content Marketing Plan?

Now that you know how important social media are when it comes to content marketing, you’d probably want to know how to create a successful social media content marketing plan. To be honest, the process is not that complicated. The first and most important thing that you should do is ask yourself those questions:

• What do you want your followers to know about your brand/company?
• What do your followers want?
• What kind of content are your followers most likely reading online?
• Can you provide value to the service you want to sell your followers?
• What social media platforms do you want to use in your content marketing strategy? Will you find your target audience on them?
• What are your goals?
• What are your social media results? How would you mark progress?

Keep the answers to those questions in mind when creating the content plan. It’s important to post informative content related to what you do as a company or brand. However, it should be written in a way that will make your readers want more and make them come back. Always remember that.

The Bottom Line

Social media are the key to a successful content marketing strategy – in today’s world, it’s almost impossible to function without them, especially since many companies use their own internal applications that could also be considered social media.

By using Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter in your content marketing strategy, you are able to reach a broader audience and attract more people to your services or goods. You might be surprised at how many people turn to social media for help when they need to invest their money into something.