In the new world - no, not the one Christopher Columbus found - the one called social media land, there is one common denominator for absolutely everyone, and that is content. Without it there would be nothing to read, share, like and pass comment on - in fact without it you could argue that social media would come to a standstill!

The question I get asked EVERY single time I am working with clients is, 'where do I get all the content from for our social media sites - we haven't got time to produce THAT much content'. 
Well, there are so many great sources of content to use ranging from all the brilliant sources you have at your disposal - your employees - through to the millions of great blogs out there on the web. Think RSS and Google Reader. But that is for another day.

Just having content though is not enough. You have to have content that your audience - your fans, followers, readers, subscribers etc actually want to read and watch. It needs to have some resonance to what you are trying to achieve on that particular platform. It absolutely needs to be in context for your audience AND the platform. For example, posting details of your company's benefits package etc on your career site is correct, but posting the same content on your Facebook Page or LinkedIn Group would be wrong in the context of what people on those platforms expect to see. 
(H/T to Steve Ehrlich for that example)

Here is a superb video shared by Adam Templeman at the Social Media In Recruitment conference yesterday, that is a brilliant example of context. Make sure you watch the whole video to see why it is so apt.

So just think a little BEFORE YOU POST your next article, blog or video.

Some simple questions for you:

• Do you even know what your audience likes watching or reading on your social platforms?
• When was the last time you checked your social media sites - Twitter, Facebook, your blog, LinkedIn, Google +, YouTube - to see what has been the most popular posts, videos etc? 
• Have you even bothered to find out?
• Do you even care? [If you even think the answer 'no', pack up now and take up gardening!]

You will be surprised (or maybe you won't) that many companies just post content 'because they think they have to', without any real thought of what their audience is, and what they would want to read/watch. A Twitter phrase sums them up nicely…….. #FAIL !

Take the time to understand your audience, try different content, on different social platforms and make sure you understand the context of what you are trying to achieve with each platform.

You can always ask your audience what they would like to see more of - it is social media after all!

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