Give It Away and “They Will Come”; see you in a week at our Alumni Event! a guest blog by Simon Abbott

As Social Media Marketing Consultant Jim Lodico says in his blog, Social Media and the value of Free Information, ask yourself if you would rather work with a financial planner you have never met or with one who provides you with free, valuable, online information? If you are that financial planner, you are building valuable relationships as well as establishing yourself as an industry expert. Do it well and often and people will notice. This is self promotion.

In his ebook A Beginner’s Guide to Content Marketing, Blogger and small business marketing consultant Adarsh Thampy talks about how his content marketing strategy consists of communicating with customers and potential customers without selling. Using social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus, he advocates developing a competition analysis to determine what social network(s) your competition is using and what results they are getting. Then you should decide what network(s) would work best for you. Be careful not to spread yourself too thin by using too many. Focus on your audience. Nurture them. Giving away free quality content always keeps them coming back for more.

But this is something everyone does - how do you make yourself stand out?  Thampy suggests the following content marketing tools  along with social media to separate you from the pack:

• ·      Blogging
• ·      EBooks
• ·      Press Releases
• ·      Training (offering courses)
• ·      Audio and Video (Podcasts, Webinars, Videos on sites like Youtube)

Blogging – Easy to set up for little or no cost, blogs work well with readers who can leave comments and share their own content which is beneficial to you. Typically, blogging will require only a few hours a week of maintenance though that will depend on the number of posts you wish to make. Just remember: quality over quantity and make sure you respond to comments and questions – that’s how you create relationships.

Blogging tools: Blogger, Tumblr and Wordpress.com – all of which are free.

EBooks – These are usually shorter than regular books, twenty to thirty pages long. What you want to do is pack them with useful information and lots of links. Perhaps a good way to think of an eBook is as a collection of blogs you have already written – all on the same or a similar subject. It’s not quite as daunting that way. Your aim is for your audience to find value in the eBook – whether they buy your services or not. Again, this is how you create relationships.

EBook tools: MS Word (save as PDF format) or Adobe Acrobat for creating eBooks and Scribd for EBook hosting and distribution.

Press Releases – A press release can seem odd in the context of content marketing but a good press release can stand out for that reason. If you have a specific message, a press release can help spread the word. It should not exceed 300 – 400 words. If it contains valuable information that comes straight to the point, your readers will likely read it all.  Distribution services are free and paid but the free ones may have limited reach and you may not be able to use links within the release.

Press Release Websites: PRWeb (paid but effective), 24-7pressrelease (paid and free plans)

Offering Free Training/Mentoring Sessions – You may think you don’t have any special skills to offer, but if you have something that can solve another’s problems, then think again! Provide training sessions through webinars so that you can interact with the audience and build relationships. Your audience can enroll ahead of time and you can tape the session to sell later as a potential product. Just be sure that your webinar software/service is up to scratch. There is nothing worse for an audience than enrolling for something that they have difficulty connecting to. You want them to have a positive experience.

Webinar tools: Freebinar (up to 200 attendees free – ad supported), Yugma (works with Android – 20 attendees), Intercall (IPhone and Blackberry add-ons, unlimited webinars, monthly charge)

Videos and Audio – When people see your face and/or hear your voice, you become more real and a bond is quickly formed. Use services such as Vimeo or YouTube for distribution. Create tutorials or provide explanations on subjects your audience will value. Think about providing captions in different languages thus opening yourself up to foreign prospects. For audio formats as free content, consider podcasts using iTunes. Increase the value by providing a transcript for those who find it difficult to find the time to listen. Transcripts are also great for repurposing.

Video and Audio tools: Tube Mogul (Video syndication website)

Every time you use one of these content options, think in terms of combining and repurposing. Today’s webinar is tomorrow’s blog and tomorrow’s blog along with several other blogs becomes the basis of your latest EBook. By providing free and valuable information consistently to prospective customers, the customer will eventually come to you. It’s all about getting your name out there and gaining trust by using content within social media to self promote. What’s your strategy?