Hey there, Ninjas!
Welcome back to another “NinjaTactics” Blog article.
I’ve been consistently sharing content on all of my Social Media channels (Facebook, Instagram, IGTV, YouTube, LinkedIn, Podcast, Stories, etc.), and I create it with YOU, my audience, in mind. I create it just based on questions that I’ve received on social media, and I see a lot of people asking the same questions over and over. Questions like:
“How much content should I post on social media?” “ Should I do contests?” “How about creating content organically?” “Is content even relevant at this point?” “What should I do with my organic Facebook page?” “What should I do on my Instagram profile?”
So in this article, I am going to answer these questions and more, by explaining — from MY vantage point, what I’ve been observing and noticing going on. So first, I’m going to start at the beginning of it all, meaning the beginning of my adventure into this Social Media advertising and marketing world:
In 2014, when I began learning about the Facebook advertising platform, there were a lot of brands that had done some incredible things organically, and they actually went on to build some VERY powerful social media channels simply with their organic content alone. Back during that time, there were many pages that didn’t even need to invest money in advertising. That was actually doable back then. Then, at some point in the year 2014, the algorithm changed. Facebook needed and wanted to make money. After all, they are a publicly traded company and they DO have investors, right?
The point I’m making here that they (Facebook) are required to make money, otherwise their numbers would plummet and they’d stop growing. They are a business, after all. And if you are reading this article, that means you’re a part of my audience, and most likely, you are running a business as well, so you already understand and agree that as an entrepreneur, you need to make money. Without money flowing to and through the business, you really don’t HAVE a business, because you’d get shut down. No business can operate without income.
Much like oxygen, money is fuel for life. It is 100% necessary for the survival and sustenance of ANY business, and of any entity/person/family at all, PERIOD. There are no exceptions to this.
So by now I’m sure I’ve driven the point home that as a business, Facebook needed to make more money. Initially, what they had done was they invested heavily in positioning themselves to become Masters of capturing attention early on in the game, and this proved to be a wildly successful action. They attracted billions of people. Usually, when you hear a person use the word “billions”, you know that they are probably exaggerating. But in this case, it’s actually TRUE. They really DID get billions of people to become obsessed with using the platform actively for their own entertainment. Once they successfully established that, they then`offered the ability to reach these audiences to advertisers like us and brands like ours.
That’s essentially what I have been doing since 2014 – I’ve been paying money to Facebook on behalf of my own brands as well as the brands of my clients, so that Facebook can actually put my messages in front of the RIGHT people out of the BILLIONS OF people who are using their GIANT platform.
In 2014 was when THIS particular thing became mandatory: If you wanted to grow on social media, if you wanted to have a following and be able to create an impact in the current environment, you HAD to give Facebook some money. Many people began complaining, mainly because they didn’t see the VISION. Yet all the while, I was actually riding the wave, the advertising wave.
Having said that brings me to one of the things that I want to clarify with you all today — because there is a HUGE difference between being a “content creator” and being an “advertiser”.
Throughout the ages, it has become evident that “content creation” and actual “advertising” are two completely separate subjects. Although this may be contrary to popular belief, it is a reality. If you were to grab your phone (or your camera or whatever video recording device you use), and just decide to record content all day long, you could actually be recordinging content up to 16 hours a day, EVERY DAY. Speaking of this, I’ve often heard people saying things like “Just put out a lot of content. Do A LOT of content.” And I agree — Sure! It’s important. However, if you actually WERE to do content all day long, 16 hours daily for 2 years in a row, it’s highly likely that no one will EVER pay attention.
Yes, I said that. And I MEAN it. And I will say it again: If you actually WERE to do content all day long, 16 hours daily for 2 years in a row, it’s highly likely that no one will EVER pay attention.
And HERE is WHY:
If you are putting out THAT much content and NO ONE IS PAYING ATTENTION, even over a span of 2 years, it is because you have not yet figured out one of the most important elements to content creation – that particular, magical element is…
YES. The missing ingredient that I’m speaking of is the actual distribution of your content. Content CREATION and Content DISTRIBUTION…Those are two separate subjects, two separate arts. Not only do you need to know how to create content, how to talk to a camera, how to talk to a microphone, how to take pictures, how to write articles, etc. You ALSO need to learn how to DISTRIBUTE The content that you create, as well as know how to get your Messages in front of The right people, so that they can actually engage with your brand.
Those of you who have been familiar with my content for a while know that I can be quoted for saying that “When it comes down to it, there are ONLY 2 ‘INGREDIENTS’ in the recipe for MASSIVE SUCCESS online!
And they are both EQUALLY IMPORTANT. They are:
CONTENT CREATION and CONTENT DISTRIBUTION. Neither of these are more important than the other…they are of EQUAL IMPORTANCE.”
It is absolutely vital to consistently create QUALITY, HIGH-VALUE content. And there are so many different ways that you can create content in multiple forms, that you can actually be creative and have fun with it… mix and match them, find out what you like best, find out what WORKS best, etc…I’ve spoken of those four forms of content very often throughout the past couple of years, and I trust that you know what they are, so I’ll just name them without elaborating on them: Written content, images/pictures, audio and video content.
Now, of course, simply writing and creating different forms of content just for the sake of creating it will not make much sense without actually DISTRIBUTING it. This is why distribution is equally as important as the actual creation of your content. And it is also important to be certain to distribute it in a manner that captures the attention of your ideal audience, and creates an impact.
The best way to build and optimize content distribution is to do so through various channels and platforms.
So, there you have my insights on this again. If you don’t pay attention to both of these areas, you’re going to fail.
So let’s say that you DO become really proficient as an advertiser, and you’ve mastered the Facebook advertising platform, and you’ve also become adept at knowing how to use the Facebook Business Manager, AND you know how to use Instagram, you know how to advertise like a maniac, and you’re so good at it…but then you have a lack of content. Well, that is STILL a recipe for failure, guys. That’s just the reality because content is going to be required for your ads to even be able to eventually give you a positive return on your investment. So, you’re going to need to be able to get really good in both of those things actively. And that’s what I talk about consistently. I want you guys to learn about content creation and I want you guys to learn the most effective and successful way to advertise that content as well, because that content needs to be seen by as many people out there as possible. Now remember, like I mentioned in the beginning of this article, back in 2014 many brands were forward-thinking and astute enough to use their content to capture massive attention and build huge audiences for their brands without even spending any money, meaning they grew their audiences organically. So it’s PROVEN to work; we know that.
But THEN the algorithm changed…
So…here we are now in the second half of 2019, and there are headlines out there in online publications saying that ORGANIC CONTENT IS DEAD. Well, that’s someone’s opinion, and they’re entitled to have that. But let’s go into this subject right now, and I’m going to share MY viewpoint based upon MY OWN experience.
First of all, before we move forward, let’s clearly define what ORGANIC CONTENT is, just in case someone reading this is relatively new to this Social Media marketing and advertising world…
Organic content in the advertising realm simply means that you are not investing dollars to get your message seen by people. It’s occurring in an organic fashion, meaning that you are not putting any financial investment into it. That, in a nutshell defines what organic content is. If I have a Facebook page for my business, and I pull up the app and open the “publishing” option, and I put something on there such as a picture or a video, or let’s say I read an article or a post that I liked, and I publish it by sharing it, then it is going to go onto my Facebook page organically.
Now, I really want you all to wrap your minds around this and really “get” it, because once you understand the value of this, then you will use it consistently because remember, this is STILL something that is relatively NEW.
Facebook is STILL FREE for us to use when it comes to sharing content and our messages. How cool is it that we still have media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, that we can actually still simply pull out our device(s) and publish a message for free? Are you aware that that’s actually NEW in this world? WELL..IT IS. It’s brand new.
We’ve never had the opportunity to grab a newspaper, or a radio, or a magazine, or a television and just put a message out there for free. So when you consider it in this way, This is a brand new phenomenon of this current world.
GRANTED, it’s NO SECRET that we no longer have the amount of organic reach that we did in 2014 or 2015. But, all things considered, WHY should be complaining?
Facebook and Instagram are STILL FREE publications. The fact that you have 2%, 8%, 10% in organic reach is STILL worthy of celebrating, because at least you have something that you can keep on doing and building with actively AND at no expense or cost, right?
The point is that organic content is still really, really valuable but you need to master the distribution of that content, as well as achieve a level of mastery when it also comes to the paid advertising of that content. You have to do it actively and efficiently. If you do this actively and efficiently, your business will eventually grow. That organic content gets better and better and better along the way and more people see it.
To Be Continued. See you in the next article. Remember your questions and feedback are highly valued and encouraged.
