Creating Goal Oriented Content that Drives Results

Written by: Marissa Bruette

A guide on how to create content for social media that drives engagement written by a social media content creator.

At Slice, we focus on the 5 types of attention model designed to turn an unaware audience into your advocates. The model focuses on how to take your audience through each attention stage but there would be no way to move them through without the bridges of content. To move your audience through the attention journey, you must create a content strategy that is relevant, insightful, actionable, and inspiring.

The first step in creating an inspiring content marketing strategy is to identify what your goal is! Are you focused on creating general awareness? Do your customers know you, but you want to expand that connection? Are you looking for webinar sign-ups? The options are endless but no matter the goal, there is an attention type to be focused on. Not sure which type of attention you need? Take our attention quiz to find out!

Take Attention Quiz

Attention and Relevant Content

During this stage, the intended attention type is awareness. To make your audience aware you exist, you need content that is relevant to them. Diversify your content in this stage to find out what is really resonating with your audience.

Content Tips:

Share all of your website resources- link to blogs, case studies, “meet the team” page, services pages, resources, and more.
Utilize carousel posts to explain your “why” to customers.
Highlight company culture through Behind-The-Scenes profiles with your staff.
Get creative! The awareness stage is the broadest category so feel free to use this stage to test which types of content your audience responds well to before entering the next phase.

Connection and Insightful Content

In this stage of attention, it’s all about making connections! After all, isn’t that what social media is for? During this stage, your content should be insightful. Now that you’ve got your audience’s attention, how will you keep it and add value for them?

Content Tips:

Drive users back to your site to connect for longer by posting listicles or blogs! Entice your readers to want to click to learn more about the “5 Types of (fill in your blank).” Here’s an example from Slice: 5 Tips To Get PR Visibility For Your Business.
Take audiences behind-the-scenes of an upcoming event- prompt them to save the post and turn on notifications so they are alerted when the event is live.
Create connections by sharing your own story! Tell your audience about your journey to building your brand.
Share your knowledge and host a Q&A session with your audience. This is also a great way to “read the room” and identify which types of content they want to see from you in the future.
Try giveaways or partner sweepstakes with the call to action to follow the page for entry.

Engaged and Actionable Content

Once you have a solid following and build a relationship with your audiences, you can focus on engaging with them! Don’t let them go without hearing from you or worse- thinking you don’t want to hear from them! Increase engagement on Instagram and other social media platforms with these tips.

Content Tips:

Video Content is a great driver for engagements. Test out these results-driving social media video ideas; How To, Explainer Videos, Meet the Team, Showcase the Office, Tips from an Expert Series.
Increase engagement through carousel posts, polls, Instagram stories, and infographics!
Promote company awards and accolades and tag all relevant parties! Did an employee win? Tag them! Does the award have a branded hashtag? Use it!
Showcase thought leadership with press releases when thought leaders are featured
Create conversational content and engage with your audience in a new way! Test out fill-in-the-blank graphics, “caption this” contests, Polls, and “Ask a Question” features on Instagram stories.

Converted and Relevant, Insightful & Actionable!

We can’t tell you how many times a client has expected a conversion after only communicating with their audience for a month. There’s a reason that marketers spend billions of dollars on conversion ads- they are the toughest to get, but they are easier with the right strategy. So, how do you generate leads from social media? By creating content that is all the above- relevant, insightful, and actionable. If you’re going to be asking your audience to do something- it better be worth their while.

Content Tips:

Promote job openings and applications on social media. Platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook will even let you apply on the platform themselves which can help with conversions as it takes another step out of the journey.
Turn your site content into downloadable content! Creating a one-pager is a great way to convert an audience. You can even repurpose an old blog into a checklist and gate it on your site!
Promote event sign-ups.
Use lead generation forms on platforms like LinkedIn to promote Ebook downloads or newsletter signups.
Gamify promotions and discounts with a “spin the wheel” feature that prompts audiences to enter their email first to win.
Create a post prompting audiences to leave a review.

Advocate and Inspiring Content

This type of attention lets your followers do the talking for you! Think of it as a digital “word-of-mouth”. Your advocates don’t always have to be customers; keep in mind some of the best brand champions are the ones working for the brand!

Content Tips:

Post reviews or testimonials from platforms like Glassdoor or Facebook. To diversify the content, ask for video testimonials or turn a testimonial into an audiogram.
As I mentioned before, sometimes your brand champions already work for you! Ask employees to share their testimonials.
Generate advocate content by highlighting team members or showcasing clients.
User-Generated Content is the best form of advocate content! This is when your audience becomes your brand champion and posts about your company on their own. To increase your UGC, consider running a campaign like a “share to your story” giveaway or create a branded hashtag so it’s easier to find the content you want.