Social Media and Content Marketing Growth Hacks
We all heard the term “CONTENT IS KING”. Well, in today’s blog I am going to be sharing with you my go-to social media platforms to utilize with my Content Marketing, and give you some super sexy growth hacks.
The statement, “Content is king” is ever more true with today’s world of social media.
The problem is that there are so many social media channels it can be overwhelming and confusing on what to choose, what to focus on, and how to actually grow any one of these channels.
Some examples are: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Linked-In, Facebook, Tumblr, Blogger, Medium, Pinterest, Reddit, Quora, and so many more…
Funny story: I even have a very good Chinese friend who wanted me to communicate with her and her friend on WeChat to consult them on their business, so I downloaded the App (literally 2 weeks ago) and found a whole new world of social media in the Chinese world! WeChat marketing is very much alive! OMG!
Read through the rest of the blog, I promise you you’ll get a super cool hacks. And even a little gift….
I wanted to share with you the ones I am personally focusing on and why, as well as give you a free training video on my step-by-step process of getting started with Content Marketing.
INSTAGRAM:
I started an Instagram account in the middle of 2017, and started seriously posted around October 2017. I have posted over 900 times. That is more than 1 post a day consistently.
I use Instagram to share my life with my followers. Just my day-to-day “hustle” and updates on my projects, my ideas, my observations, and it is a very personal communication channel that I use to simply be REAL to my audience.
I started by doing regular 1-minute “vlogs” and share entrepreneurial and business-related content – as well as tips for internet marketers, making money online, motivation, inspiration, and topics relating to success in life. I did over 200 of those.
By the end of 2018, I had around 1000 followers.
During Xmas 2018/2019, took a month off Instagram and have even left a message to my followers so they are not worried about me as they are used to seeing me on it daily!
One of the reasons I took the break is I felt like the purpose of putting out so many posts, videos, vlogs, pictures, etc was done more for me personally to be able to find my voice, and tone, and establish what I want my brand to look like. I feel that after 700 posts (at the time) I really achieved that goal.
It came to a point where now that I mastered quantity, I really needed to give hard look about my quality so that by the end of 2019 I can grow from 1000 to 10,000 followers (i.e. 10X my current growth).
Firstly, I downloaded 1 free eBook about Instagram Growth, and bought 2 eBooks about Instagram growth and read them cover to cover.
Secondly, I reviewed my Instagram account analytics and made notes of what posts and vlogs were engaging, what was not, and so on.
Thirdly, I picked a few million+ accounts and studied them, with my new founded knowledge from one & two above and looked for common threads and things I can integrate in my own marketing.
Fourthly, I consulted with a few people who had larger accounts than me to get some tips.
Here are some of my 4 key conclusions:
- Daily content creation is different from posting content daily. The big accounts who have high-quality posts have a team that helps them, and they curate old content that is created in one block, and post it later. They do NOT do content creation daily – but they post daily. So I sat down, wrote down 40+ topics I could talk about and educate in my vlogs, pulled out my iPhone and recorded 20+ in one go!
- Video quality: Subtitles and headers are vital for video content. I tend to watch videos without audio, and I know some followers do too. I had to figure out a system to create subtitles and headers efficiently. After doing some research I found a tool that enabled me to get that done. It was Video Wrappr. I purchased and put it into use immediately. (Note: The product has since become harder and harder to use and I have abandoned the software. I now use an App called Clipomatic).
- Infographics: My niche, business and entrepreneurship, has a lot of massive accounts with high-quality infographics. I didn’t want to do what everyone else does, so I began doing my own style of infographics based on lessons I learned from entrepreneurial and business books. Not only it gave me excellent engagement on my Instagram, later on, I re-used (or re-purposed) this content to update my website bookstore with quality information on each of my book recommendation: www.eranbucai.com
- Instagram stories: I have really neglected this and done VERY little. I have since updated my stories that appear on my profile to give a more attractive look to my profile. I endeavour to post on my stories daily. Below are some photos of what I did so far.
As a side note, I also wanted to do something unique with my “link in the bio”. Previously I had “link tree”, or a “bitly” or whatever. I had a software idea in the middle of 2018 and decided to take action. It is called “Chat in the bio”, or in a website URL terms = chatb.io (that’s a whole new topic to write about….)
Once I implemented all the above, I hit another point of “I’m not sure what to post anymore.”
I watched a keynote speech by Gary V (whom I’m not a big fan of generally), but he said if you’re not sure what to post, just pick questions from your audience and answer those.
This gave me the next wave of content. I started taking up my audience questions and answering them on YouTube (live stream), sharing that YouTube video to my Facebook, recording the YouTube live stream with my phone at the same time and using Anchor to post the audio as a Podcast. I then do a shorter 1-minute version using Clipomatic and upload it to Instagram and give a call to action to listen to the full answer on my Podcast. (more on Podcast later)
In summary:
I am still finding my feet on this platform. I try things all the time. And will continue to do so. It is a long term play.
That leads me to the next major social media platform I use, and that is YouTube.
YOUTUBE:
I actively post educational content and tutorials on my YouTube channel.
With creating a training course for my 1-on-1 coaching clients, this is becoming more and more prominent platform for me to share content on.
The video course is over 100 videos of content about online entrepreneurship, internet marketing, and online business.
One of the training videos is called “GETTING STARTED WITH CONTENT MARKETING”.
And so, instead of blabbing about my YouTube channel, here’s a taste of the course.
I still have a lot to learn about YouTube, but my main focus is creating good quality content first, and then I will figure out driving traffic to my videos through various means. (for example answering people’s questions as a YouTube video + Podcast).
LINKED-IN:
This is worth mentioning simply because I used Linked-In every single day when I was in my 9 to 5 job between June 2018 till February 2019. At the time, I made a conscious decision to put aside my entrepreneurial-related content marketing and use this channel purely for my 9 to 5 job while I had it.
By the way, if you’re curious, this is where I worked. (the only 9 to 5 job I ever had)
One thing I will share, is that if you are really really interested in Linked-in Marketing and are totally serious about it as a major focus for your marketing, drop a comment below and I will connect you up with a Linked-In Growth Marketing service (minimum $97/month) that will literally explode your audience on Linked-In, e.g. guaranteed 100 targetted connections added per day on auto-pilot, and much more).
Since I have replaced my 9 to 5 income and quit the job, I have not made use of Linked-In to really gain traction. In August 2019, I updated my Linked-In profile and optimized it for SEO and everything that I deliver for my Linked-In audience.
I have a lot of past content I used on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram which was never promoted on Linked-In, so that would be the next step – re-purposing!
QUORA:
This has been one of those dormant accounts of mine. While I took a break from my social media account to reflect on 2018, spend some time on personal development, and strategize 2019, I also did a course about Quora Marketing.
As part of the course, I started implementing what I learned. You’re welcome to follow me there.
I believe that if you are a newbie, Quora is definitely NOT the place for you to start.
But if you have an existing website, blog, and content created, Quora is a great place to drive traffic from.
TWITTER:
Twitter is not a platform that I am going to explore at this point with the exception of sharing content that I already create on other platforms, e.g. answering questions on Quora and sharing to Twitter, posting things on Instagram and sharing to Twitter, posting to Anchor and sharing to Twitter.
I think it is worth mentioning that this choice is not because “Twitter is worse” or anything like that. It is simply that I chosen to master YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Quora as a priority over Twitter.
Twitter might be a better choice for someone else though. Any platform works, it is a matter of the user’s expertise and consistency.
If you want free training on Twitter, here’s a suggestion for you to look at.
FACEBOOK & MESSENGER:
I have two pages on my Facebook. Personal page, and business page. Frankly, I use both for the same reasons. I am not even connected to any of my family on Facebook anyway so it is purely for business relationships.
I primarily use Facebook to engage with my connections and connect with like-minded people and join like-minded groups that I could benefit from, and that could benefit from my input and value.
This means posting regularly, engaging with people on messenger, responding to friend requests when appropriate and building a relationship 1 by 1.
I also have automation set up on my Facebook Messenger for my Business Page using a 1-time payment tool called Inboxr.
Most tools out there to automate Facebook Messenger Marketing (a.k.a. chatbots), are monthly subscriptions.
If you want to check out my automation and get an idea on what this looks like, go ahead and just message me on Facebook Messenger (Business page).
Messenger Bots are definitely the present and future of “building a list” so you might want to look into that opportunity.
I personally am using ChatBots that are not based on Facebook Messenger. As covered on this website: www.chatbotsites.com
BLOGGING:
I love writing blogs on my own website – it gives me a channel to communicate openly about myself and my brand.
I have gone through a couple of hosting providers and it is a headache each time. Presently, I have my web designer host my websites on his plan.
The company I recommend for you to build your website and blog on is SiteGround.
Blogging is a game for Search Engine Optimization. The best tutor to learn SEO is a YouTube channel by Brian Dean.
If there is one tip for me to give you on blogging. Spend 20% of your time writing, and 80% of your time PROMOTING your blog. It is simply not good enough to just blog – you must promote it to get any traction.
PODCAST:
The last social media I want to share with you is having a Podcast. I started mine in late August 2019. I am still finding my feet on it. I use an app called Anchor, which is super intuitive to use and publish a Podcast.
I simply take questions from my audience and answer those on a Podcast in detail.
To listen to my Podcast on Anchor: https://anchor.fm/eran-bucai
To listen to my Podcast on Spotify: http://bit.ly/Spotify_EranBucai_Podcast
IN SUMMARY:
I want to thank you so much for taking the time to read all the way through to the end. I am humbled by your willingness to take valuable time off your day to read through my blog.
I hope it has served you with some value, and actionable steps you can take TODAY to create content for your social media marketing.
Again, I would like to offer you a free eBook that I recently put together called “Getting Started With Content Marketing“.
Please take a moment to comment on my blog below, share what your biggest takeaway, and if you have any questions or requests!
Feel free to share with anyone you think might be interested.
Thanks again, and I’ll speak to you again soon!
Eran Bucai
PS – if you want to learn more about what my clients say about me, visit my testimonials page!
Thanks a lot for sharing such helpful article Eran. I found that Instagram is very popular today and more and more people start to use it but I am not interested in it. When it comes to Youtube, it is my favorite way of content marketing and it converts very well, I am willing to learn more about it.
Thanks for commenting Daniel, and yes pick one that resonates with you. YouTube is great. Please share your channel with me so I can subscribe – thanks!
I really like what you have said about taking the actual time to build a list of things that you know you want to share with your followers and build the quality, you don’t need to post for the sake of posting you want to post quality posts and things in your mind ready to post because they actually carry value.
How long have you been trying this new method for and have you seen your followers increase by utilizing this?
Hi Holly! Exactly, glad it resonated with you! I have been focusing on creating the content so I can launch it properly in the new year, in about 1 week. I expect it to be MUCH better. I will definitely be sharing results with my email list who get regular updates. Thanks for stopping by!
Social media is one area that I am not so good in. I fail to remember to place content regularly due to lack of ideas and the fact that I spend most of the little free time I have writing content for my blog. I do however share my content on social media but little else.
I love your idea of getting 40 odd posts ready a month before so that you have something to post every day. That is maybe something that I need to start implementing to get my new and lagging Instagram account off the ground.
Hi Michel, thanks for stopping by. Definitely focus on your blog – that is more important. I would not recommend Instagram to drive traffic to your blog. Go with Quora Marketing, or Facebook. If you want I can give you a recommendation for a $15 Digital Marketing Course that will outline all the options AND training for you (like literally 40 hours of high quality step-by-step content)
Eran, I feel very, very fortunate that I came across your blog this morning. You have educated me. You have inspired me. You have also given me some great tips that should prove helpful as I try to work on improving my social media strategy.
I have never used Instagram, so I found your examples and discussion of it useful. (I’ll be bookmarking this page of your website so I can refer back.)
The biggest take away for me that I need to implement immediately is “Daily content creation is different to posting content daily.” I did sign up for your free cheat sheet.
Oh….. your office for your regular job is AMAZING. Gorgeous. I am full of envy. I’ll be saving a link to that video also so that I can refer to it for design inspiration for my office. Thanks!
Sondra, I am so humbled by your comment…. And thank you for signing up for my free cheatsheet – if I can be of assistance in any way please letme know – email me your website and blog so I can learn more about you too! And yes my office is pretty cool haha… that’s an old video too, we have a 2nd office that is slightly better too… 🙂
This blog help me alot I have not done much regarding social media in marketing my self I really need to pull up my socks and work harder to get wat I want and it can only be done by me working harder and making sociel media to work for me .this is truly very informative blog and inspiring too
I am humbled to read your comment and glad it inspired you. Take action my friend! Go for it! Make 2019 great!
Thank you for sharing with us this great review social media and content marketing growth hack.Building an online business is not an easy work unless there are tips which can simplify the task.Using social media can be a source of traffic and that what we need as bloggers.
Content marketing seems to be good at training about online business and I think I am going to start with content marketing to find followers and that will be good to my website.
Really appreciate your content. Yes I definitely do not recommend people to take up all these platforms at once! As I said, I am a workaholic, legit. But not many people would want to do my crazy hours…. seriously. If you have a good website already created, good for you. Would love for you to share it here so I can check it out. 🙂
Hi! wau you’re amazing. I have never been till now informed how to do social media, you have really good approach to people. So your advice is to do as much social media as you can? beside content you have to create on your websites right? but isn’t this overwhelming? how much time do you spend doing all of that?
Cheers
Primoz
Hi! Thank you so much for your content…. I definitely do NOT recommend to do it all. It is way to much. I am a workaholic, and I put many hours. As I said I have a 9 to 5 job, and I work evenings and weekends on my internet business. I literally work at every waking hour, and sometimes I chew into my sleep time…. I recommend you pick one traffic source, one media, and focus on that only. Once you mastered and built that, you can build others in a symbiotic fashion. And further, learn about “content re-purposing”. Which I will blog about and share…. if you want to be notified about that blog, please subscribe to my blog/list: http://www.eranbucai.com/subscribe
Eran !
To say that I love your content is an understatement! This is educative and inspirational judging from the fact that you still hold your 9-5 job woah!
Your profile says you are an unrecoverable workaholic. Do you rest at all? I really envy your dedication to work and I love the fact that you are actually getting the results is so amazingly wonderful.
can someone in transcription job make use of rev?
What does it take to write great content that will make your audience come back to your blog or website , is it having a vast knowledge of your area of interest?
I am so humbled for your comment!
I rest just enough to keep going. This blog was written between midnight and 3:30am, with me getting up at 7am for work. Legit – I recorded the entire blog creation process and even showed the time! Check out the YouTube video here
Can someone in transciption job make use of rev.com, i.e. can you be a transcriptionist for rev.com and make money transcribing from home? If so, YES. In fact I recorded a whole video on that which I have yet to upload. If you can subscribe to my YouTube channel you’ll be notified when I upload it (I have about 30 videos I recorded and haven’t uploaded yet….) They have an amazing hiring process, you can check it here.
Writing great content in my opinion comes from writing from the heart and writing from expertise. There are lots of courses out there about copywriting, how to use emotions, and specific words, and all that type of stuff and frankly I don’t believe in these methods even if they appear to “convert better”. I’d rather just write from the heart and provide value straight as I see it. You can also download my free eBook that helps you with getting started with Content Creation. CLICK HERE TO GET EBOOK
Thank you for sharing this great article.
I been trying to grow my social media accounts especially my instagram and I been thinking to create a YouTube channel and with this information about instagram that you share with us, I get a better idea in what I need to be focus on.
Do you think is a better idea to focus on one media site at the time until is well working instead of trying to grow all at once.
Thanks so much for your comment and you ask a great question. Definitely focus on ONE. I am a bad example to follow because the hours I put in are crazy. I am legit a workaholic, and not many people want to do my hours. That’s how I fit in so much. Just pick one and focus. Instagram is GREAT. Here is a little bonus video to my blog that I think you will enjoy! CLICK HERE
There is so much great information here! I never would have thought to used linked-in for growing my business. I do use Facebook and twitter but have had a difficult time determining how I could take advantage of instagram with my investing website. Making mini-vlogs does seem like it might work. I’ll take some action with what I learned here.
Which of these methods do you feel drives the most traffic if you want to direct readers to your website or blog?
Hi Eric, Firstly, thanks for taking the time to read my blog I appreciate it very much!
Secondly, you ask a great question. In terms of what tool you should focus on to drive traffic, I think it really depends on what your blog is about. Would you mind emailing me your website/blog so I can review it and give you proper answer? contact@eranbucai.com
Thirdly, lets talk conversions of existing visitors. Using Inboxr you can integrate a Facebook Messenger Widget on your website so your face pops up and just like intercom asks “Can I help you?” I think no matter what blog you have, that is the one tool that would be invaluable in increasing conversions with existing visitors.
Hope this helps – again, email me your website: contact@eranbucai.com
You blog made me realise just how much I need to learn. I am still new at affiliate marketing so I need all the knowledge that I can get my hands on. Thank you for revealing information about social media. I have never heard of Rev and inboxr. I would like to know more about Rev.
Thank you so much for your comment and I am happy to hear your feedback! Email me contact@eranbucai.com to discuss rev.com and Inboxr if you have any questions. Feel free to email me with any questions you have in general, happy to help!
I never heard of WeChat before reading your article! It’s amazing how the online verse connects us with people around the globe. I know that may sound redundant but, it still amazes me how social media alone connects us with people we may have never met by our own devices.
Social Media has always been a thorn in my side. I decided it was time to stop fearing it and work with it fully. The funny part about fearing it is that I have a great skill at engaging people. My fear was just the ‘overwhelming feeling’ factor.
Thank you for a look into how you use it and some strategies you’ll be using as we slide full-force into this new year!
Great you enjoyed the article! I would definitely suggest just pick ONE and focus and master it to start with, than you can diversify and expand. Good luck! Feel free to reach out anytime if I can be of assistance, contact@eranbucai.com
Great post, Eran! Actually, it comes handy since I just 2 months into a campaign to get traffic for my site and I’m trying new avenues. From your post, I will follow your suggestion for Twitter. At this moment my biggest source of traffic is Pinterest, and I am kind of surprised that you don’t mention Pinterest in your list. Any thoughts on Pinterest? I also have a suggestion for you to check these 2 free apps to share content: Viral Content Bee and Tailwind Tribes. You’ll be surprised how good they are. Very similar to Medium.
Hi Javier, thank you so much for your comment and input!
I have made a note of these two apps you mentioned to check it out, I appreciate that!
I am glad you brought up Pinterest! I actually should have added a section about that too, but since I don’t actively use it it might be better to leave it as it is.
I do in fact have a Pinterest account, and have “dabbled” with Pinterest marketing. I made an informed decision to not focus on Pinterest because of the demographics.
I think it is the place to go for women in particular, and so if I was doing say eCommerce of women type products that is absolutely where I would focus.
But considering I focus on internet marketing, I prefered to focus on the other more prominent platforms.
Eran
Checked out you blog while letting paint dry. Very good useful content. I hope people appreciate your efforts.
Hi Eran,
You have written an amazing blog post and it really helped me a lot.
Keep up the good work and I hope you will publish these type of articles frequently.
Thanks.
You are very welcome! My pleasure!
Hi there are using WordPress for your blog platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and create my own. Do you require any coding knowledge to make your own blog? Any help would be greatly appreciated!|
No coding required. But I would use Systeme.io for my blog in the future, even though this blog is on WordPress. You can check out systeme here: eranbucai.com/sio