Do you want to grow your customer base through social media?
And no, we’re not talking about paid ads to bring in traffic and engagement. Instead, you can leverage a clever marketing strategy where you offer free content to your audience in different ways.
Let’s start by taking a look at why creating free content is good for your business. And then some practical ways you can create and share social media posts, videos, and other material so that it creates long-term outcomes and boosts your business growth.
Build trust with free content
People who come across your business don’t know anything about you at first. And their fear of taking risks and losing money gets amplified especially when a business is new or small.
So, if you want to build trust and do it fast, the key is to give people something first – content. And to do this generously so that people get value from you by paying very little or nothing at all at first.
When you provide value at the outset, you don’t get just build trust, you also win goodwill and a positive reputation. Down the line, when you do want to promote something like a product launch, a new service, or something else, your audience will support you right away.
Creating great content that’s available for free like blog posts, online courses, videos, and more is also great for SEO. Search engines like Google prioritize high-quality and relevant content over everything else. So, making good content for free is a surefire way to see growth through different means.
Types of free content you should make
Need any ideas for the kind of content you should create? Here’s a quick list of ideas that you can add to your social media content calendar.
Create a giveaway content
Who doesn’t love free things? If there’s one way to capture people’s attention and skyrocket your presence online, it’s by giving away something awesome for free.
Using a giveaway plugin, you can build a contest where people enter it by following you on social media and liking and sharing your content.
Make sure that you give away an awesome prize that provides value. That’s when people will take notice of your marketing and actively engage with you.
How-to videos
Videos are the most prolifically consumed content on social media. Virtually every social network makes it easy to share pre-recorded and live videos.
You can stand out online by making how-to videos where you answer common questions in your field. Such videos are evergreen and can be shared over and over again. It’s also the type of content that people actively look for.
Highlight user-generated content
Have you ever considered that the content your audience creates is something you can leverage?
Using hashtags and keywords, take a look at what people are posting online around your brand, product, and industry. You’ll find interesting examples of your product in action, positive reviews, and more.
Try sharing your audience’s content on your own profile and credit them too. Your audience will find it interesting and informative when they see that you’re paying attention to what people are saying about your brand. And it’s also a way to build social proof since you’ll let your audience know that other people have bought from you or interacted with you.
Create social feeds
Your social media content doesn’t have to exist on just social media platforms. While platforms like Facebook and Twitter make it possible for you to reach millions of people, you’re also competing with other talented brands and influencers. It’s easy for your viewers to jump from your post to someone else’s easily.
A great way to leverage your social media content further is to create social feeds on your website. Using a social feed plugin, you can bring your social media content to any site page. The benefit is that you can automatically update your feed with your own content or by using hashtags. It’s an easy and efficient way to keeping people engaged with your social media posts and videos and not leave them for other content.
Free digital downloads
Human beings are hardwired to reciprocate favors or good deeds done to them. You can build an instant bond and a positive impression on your audience by giving away free digital content on social media.
And to leverage your social media even better – offer this content exclusively to people who follow you on specific social networks or engage with you by liking and sharing your content.
What can give your audience? Here are some ideas:
- Free ebooks
- Checklists
- Online video courses
- Marketing or event calendars
- Audio files
- Transcripts to podcasts
- Guides
- Whitepapers and reports
- Personalized results from a personality test or a quiz
When you share free content like this, your audience will be willing to submit their email to get access to it. You’ll grow your email list and continue to nurture your relationship with people by sending emails.
And with digital gifts like the results of a quiz, you’ll also get information that helps you segment your audience based on their interests and feedback. If you’d like to create your own calculator or quiz easily, you can use an advanced form building tool that does all the hard work for you.
By giving people things for free first, you build trust and the desire to return the favor in your audience. Further down the line, when you do promote a product or ask for engagement, you’ll find an audience willing to help you.
Take it from here
For a company to establish itself as reputable and trustworthy in a sea of unknown businesses, it’s important to grow by giving first.
You can use social media and win over more people by creating useful content and giving it away for free. While this may seem like an effort without rewards at first, you’ll see strong results further down the road.
As people consume your content and learn more about your brand, you’ll develop trust and build a solid relationship with people. And when it’s time to ask, you’ll find that your audience will respond enthusiastically.