We’re at it again: Checking our inbox, dipping into the mailbag, and scouring our Facebook comments for inquiries submitted by you, our readers, colleagues, clients, and fans. Our aim here is the same as last time: To provide some answers to questions we commonly receive. With no further preamble, then…
Dear Grammar Chic: We use our company Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts to post regular updates—just like you always tell us to!—and to share interesting articles and how-tos that pertain to our industry. In addition to our educational/informative content, though, we also like to post behind-the-scenes photos of company parties and events, as well as snapshots of our daily office happenings. Is this a good idea—or should we tone it down some?
We’re asked this a lot, and the answer requires some balance. On the one hand, there is nothing wrong with posting some behind-the-scenes photos or videos, taken at company parties or simply in your front office or employee break room. It humanizes your business, and helps it come across as less faceless and corporate. In other words, it helps your customers relate to you better.
As with most anything else, though, there is such a thing as too much. While your customers may like to see these behind-the-scenes snapshots every now and then, they likely don’t care nearly enough to see them every single day. What’s more, eventually, it starts to give the impression that you don’t actually do any work—that you’re always just partying and then posting party pictures to Facebook! Moderation is key.
Hello, Grammar Chic team. I’m on the fence about this whole “ content marketing” thing. It makes sense in theory, but how do I know it will provide me with a good ROI?
The question of ROI is one of the oldest and most common objections to content marketing. Candidly, the only way to prove ROI is just to do it, to start your content marketing strategy and measure the results. If you’ve never done any content marketing before then you have no baseline to reference; what you need to do is set goals—say, increased website traffic—and then launch your content marketing efforts, keeping tabs on your analytics as you go. You’ll likely see some forward momentum toward reaching your goals—but remember, you won’t see results over night. This isn’t necessarily the answer you want, but it does take time and commitment to see the content marketing ROI you need.
I’d like to hire Grammar Chic, Inc. to handle my content marketing—but I’m a little concerned it will take up a lot of my time. Is that true?
Not really, no. We will need some time to speak with you at the beginning of the process, to get a feel for what your content marketing goals are. There is definitely some client involvement, especially in the early days, but once the campaign is underway, we can make things are hands-off as you’d like it to be. We can work fairly autonomously, if you’d like us to, or we can keep you in the loop at every phase. It’s totally up to you.
If you have any further questions, not answered here, we invite you to share them with us in the comments section; or, simply call us directly at 803-831-7444. You can also find us on the Web at http://www.grammarchic.net.
The Red Ink 