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I’m probably going to offend a lot of people, but here goes. If I read one more article about how to create a social media strategy, I’m going to scream. Why? Because social media isn’t worth anything without content – unless, of course, your goal is to chit chat.

I can’t tell you the number of businesses I’ve seen invest valuable resources trying to make social networking a strategic part of their corporate marketing. While social has been marched out as a cheap and easy way to influence and ‘engage’ the modern consumer, these efforts never achieve real success when managed in isolation. In my opinion, social media is one component of a content marketing strategy, not a stand-alone entity.

Boosting social networking with SEO doesn’t help – much
When social media strategies don’t offer immediate results, many businesses supplement it with SEO tactics for a short-term solution. Google Adwords and Facebook advertising are sure to drive traffic to your website or your social networking channels, but at what cost? And for how long? What you’re really doing with a combined social media/SEO approach is entering the land of SPAM. Paid advertisements might boost your traffic but as soon as you quit paying, you lose your audience. I’ve yet to meet a single person who is really impressed with a SPAM strategy.

What you need is a content marketing strategy
So what’s the answer? Forget about a social media strategy or investing in SEO. What you need is a content marketing strategy. Guess what? A good content marketing strategy relies on 3 essential components:

• Original content
• Social media
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

That’s right, social media is not a stand-alone strategy. SEO might have been a stand-alone strategy at one time but that ended with the introduction of Google Panda. Original content isn’t a stand-alone strategy either. In fact, creating a bunch of content is a waste of time if you don’t know how to distribute it and optimise it properly for the search engines. While content is a huge asset to your company, it’s not worth anything unless people can find it.

What does a content marketing strategy look like?
I’m so glad you asked. I’m going to cover that question, in depth, at the Content Marketing 101 Workshop that’s part of the Content Marketing World Sydney event. There’s still time to register – use the SYDSPEAK discount code for an additional $100 off your registration fee. If you can’t make it to my workshop, plan to come to the event anyway. I’ll be there and will be happy to discuss my opinion on a social media strategy then.

3 Essential components to a content marketing strategy
In the meantime, let me leave you with an infographic I created to illustrate the importance of having a comprehensive strategy involving content, social media and SEO. If you’ve never thought of it this way before, this infographic should lend insight to my way of thinking.

What’s your opinion on a social media strategy? I’d love to hear what you think.