Hand Over the Megaphone: Content Marketing is a Team Effort

Once you’ve found a core set of customers who really like what you’re doing, you can start to expect that they’ll talk about you to others. They’ll start spreading the word. They’ll advocate for you. They’ll be your best salespeople—better than anyone you can hire.

Your customers are a part of your content strategy—an important part. But you have to think of this like a strategy. Sure, word-of-mouth marketing can happen on its own, but are you really going to leave that to chance? In order for their advocacy to be effective, it has to be given willingly, without payment or incentives. The research on this is very clear.* But that doesn’t mean that you can’t have influence over the process.

• Craft your story. People love a good story. The statement about your business on your front page? A good start, but it’s not enough. It’s not a story. You need create a story that’s compelling. It can’t be done all at once; it needs time to develop. Stories can travel in a way that simple facts and figures cannot.
• Understand why they share your story. They share not because they want to help you—but because they want to help themselves. If your mission is big and bold and electric, then people are going to want to be associated with it. They share your story because it affords them some of your shine. This exchange doesn’t extract from you; it amplifies you.
• Know where your audience lives. Social media, when it’s at its best, is about relationships. It’s a bi-directional exchange, not a broadcast mechanism. So, are you a topic of conversation? And if so, where? Which platform? You don’t need to be involved in all places—you just need to be where your audience is. Sidle up to them, nurture the relationship, and make them feel like they are a part of what you do.
• Make it easy for them to share. Some of your customers are huge supporters—they love what you do and they want to talk about it with others. Make sure that when they do, it’s frictionless. Don’t make them craft their own content. Do the work for them. Give them short, sharable pieces of informational (and inspirational) content. Have it available for them whenever they need it. How? See my article about how to make your blog more than just an ephemeral stream.

Your content strategy is a team effort, and your customers perform an important role. They are the orchestra, and you are the conductor. They are playing the instruments that produce the music, and you are coordinating it. Sometimes you get to write the music, and sometimes someone else is the composer. But the song won’t sound as good if it comes from you alone. You need their help; you need their advocacy.

Sometimes it’s direct—in testimonials, social sharing, and likes. Sometimes it’s indirect—like data. But usage speaks. Velocity speaks too.

All of this is forming a picture of you, your mission, and your business. That picture will start to crystallize and will be hard to change once it does, which is why it’s so important to help guide it early on. You’re not ever going to have complete control over it, but the most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who can find the right balance. Everything you need is available to you; there’s no need to leave it to chance.

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*A good starting point is Brand Advocates: Turning Enthusiastic Customers into a Powerful Marketing Force by Rob Fuggetta, the Founder & CEO of Zuberance.

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This piece is a part of a 10-part series called Content Strategy for Entrepreneurs.
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Photo credit: “Official SJBP Megaphone” by Richard Masoner @ Cyclelicious is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Unchanged from original.