5 Reasons Why You Should Add Content Writing to Your Social Media Product Line
As social media marketing has taken off, many
agencies have made a substantial living from specializing in social media
management, monitoring, and social advertising. These agencies could scale
their operations and expand their profitability even further if they add on
content writing services to the packages they offer.
Why? Because putting content marketing and
social media services together makes perfect sense. They’re both an incredibly
important component to the digital face of a brand. They both have a goal of
building audiences, shaping perception, and generating awareness. They both
intuitively lead towards key stages of a brand’s marketing funnel.
And, perhaps most importantly, they both take
a ton of time and effort to handle! The most tempting add-on services for
marketing clients are things that they simply don’t have the bandwidth to take
on themselves, after all.
If you don’t have the bandwidth, either, then
don’t fret! There are plenty of options for outsourcing content production that
can make your packages more well-rounded and your company more profitable.
These are just a taste of the biggest reasons
why adding content services onto your social marketing packages makes a ton of
sense. Learn more about how content writing benefits you and your clients in
profound ways by considering the top five reasons below.
Content Services Can Encompass a Wide Range of Offerings, Rounding Out Your Company’s Value Proposition
Firstly, let’s cover all that content services
can encompass:
●Blog writing
●Web page creation
●Landing page creation
●Email marketing content creation
●Writing product descriptions
●Developing premium assets, like
white papers and ebooks
Outside of the content writing itself, your
agency can also offer search engine optimization (SEO), analytics
monitoring/reporting, conversion rate optimization, and content promotion.
Or, you could just narrow everything down to
one service, like contributing to someone’s blog. The versatility and broad
focus of content writing — coupled with its need for talent and attention to
detail — make it an incredibly expansive service to add to your existing client
packages.
Content Packages Refer to Specific Services and Have Easy-to-Measure Milestones
Social media management can be difficult to
price for some clients because each situation has different demands. Some
clients just want a content queue lined up, for instance, while others want
full interaction, monitoring, and engagement-driving tasks performed in order
to keep their social presence appealing. Often, there’s no telling how many
hours to charge for or what a fair set fee might be.
With content, the services are much simpler to
quantify by comparison. Each client gets to order a set number of articles per
month, or they can order a package of a bunch of articles at once up-front. You
can add on discrete amounts for things like uploading content, including
photos, tweaking SEO, and generating performance reports.
Compared to social media, these services and
the expected results can be easily understood between agency and client. This
makes them a much smaller “ask” and a highly appealing value-add service.
Put together: your clients know exactly what
they’re getting, and you know exactly what to charge them. This arrangement is
highly convenient and facilitates stronger — and more profitable — business
relationships.
Content Marketing and Social Media Marketing Reinforce Each Other in Intuitive Ways
If you’re posting content on social media for
your clients, where does that content come from?
Without a regular company blog, for instance,
the brand’s social channels are stuck sharing article content from outside
sources or posting only bite-sized content, like photos. These forms of social
content are both effective, but they can leave a feeling of something missing
if left by themselves. There’s a noticeable absence of the brand having
something to say.
Creating content, however, provides deeper
value than what most bite-sized social content can offer. Your content can
answer questions your audience has or provide information to help them make
important decisions. “By communicating thought leadership you become part of
the conversation, early in the consumer journey. You allow your audience to get
to know you,” observes Michael Brenner
of Marketing Insider
Group.
Put simply: blog content makes your client’s
social media channels more interesting and more valuable to their audiences.
Content can also serve as the next step for
audiences that engage on social. For instance, someone clicking on a cool image
teasing a great infographic can be lead to a landing page containing not just
the infographic but also a really strong call to action.
On the flip side, social media services are
the perfect way to promote branded content.
Like a great movie and delicious, salty
popcorn, each one reinforces the other and creates a positive feedback loop
bigger than the sum of its parts.
Content Marketing Helps Your Clients Achieve Their Conversion Goals Late in the Customer Journey
Social media marketing is absolutely stellar
at two things:
1. Generating
brand awareness
2. Nurturing
deeper relationships among audiences, including both new leads and loyal
customers
However, social media arguably lacks the tools
needed to convert someone to the later steps of a customer journey. “Shoppers
aren’t flocking to social platforms to buy,” explains eMarketer, “but social media plays an
important role in the early phases along the path to purchase, as a research
tool and general influence.”
The bottom line is that social media has
trouble getting people to take action outside the platform. As mentioned above,
great content can bridge that gap for your clients. This strategy creates a
gentler customer journey, with less friction between steps and the promise of
value during each phase.
Let’s consider the example of someone clicking
on an infographic preview and arriving on a landing page again. What if the
landing page promised a free white paper on the subject that’s available if the
visitor signs up to receive it via email?
Now, that visitor is officially on the
client’s marketing list, and they can receive emails nurturing them further
along their path to purchase. Basically, you’re lubricating the sides of their
marketing funnel.
Content Marketing Can Be Outsourced, Allowing Your Operations to Scale Without Adding Burdensome Complexity
Hiring a full-time content writer for your
agency can be a great option for establishing a consistent quality for your
content, but it’s expensive! If you hope to add content services for several
clients at once, you either have to hire several full-time writers — or hope
the one you have has _really_
fast
typing skills.
The alternative is outsourcing your content
writing tasks to freelancers or another agency. With the latter, you get
accountability and access to scale without the hassles of having to constantly
vet individual writers. For example, you can say “yes” to a package of 100
extra blogs for a month using your existing resources when you outsource to an
agency.
You get to charge a set fee for your content
writing services and turn a profit. Your clients receive a better-rounded
marketing package that serves a broader range of their goals. They feel
happier, you profit more, and you expand the types of contracts and clients you
have access to.
If that sounds like an all-around win to you,
then take a look at the content writing services we offer today!