Social media content is an artful balance of business and culture. Jeremy Spiller interviews Christer Holloman about what to include in media content and how to create a more engaging profile
*This article is part of the [Content Distribution](/blog/the-best-content-distribution-strategies-plans-and-tactics-that-are-proven-to-work) series by [Upscope](https://upscope.com?ref=contdistarticle): “Click to see their browser, click to take control.” Finally, the [screen sharing that sales and support wished for\*](https://upscope.com?ref=contdistarticle).*
In terms of ‘content distribution’ this is an almost unusual addition but one worth reading because of it’s alternate angle. If you can try and make people like Foxtons, you can do anything ?
Transcript
Jeremy: As we know, one of the key elements of social media marketing is content, you need really good content.
Many companies that are quite far down the route, they’re doing okay, but a lot of companies and brands are starting out.
How do they approach this aspect of content? How can they create content that’s going to attract attention, that’s going to engage people?
What should they start doing?
Christer: Well, I think you need to give your customers something to talk about.
I mean what is valuable that you sit on?
What kind of assets in your business in terms of people that work for you, maybe, or the products that you provide or the services you provide? How can you conversionalise that — how can you turn that into a talking point?
Don’t ignore your angry customers — engage them
I was having a conversation with a friend about Foxton’s.
Foxton’s is a London-based estate agents and when I looked — this is, to be honest, a while ago, so this has probably changed, hopefully for their sake, I hope it’s changed.
They didn’t have a very structured approach to social media back in this time, I did a search on Facebook, and you saw more groups created by upset and disappointed customers and prospective tenants then you saw messages from the actual corporation itself.
So, I think it’s looking at that sideline actually, I mean if you’re afraid of engaging in social media because you think people will be back-stabbing you, or talking your products down, guess what?
It’s happening already.
You can choose to engage, or you can choose to ignore, but personally, it seems to make more sense to engage then just sort of let this upset mob of customers have free reign on social media.
So, I was talking to a friend about whether or not Foxton’s would be suitable for social media because, traditionally, estate agents have a very bad reputation.
They’re loud and noisy, and they talk very fast, and they run over you. You always get a bad deal, and I think in a survey they were voted the least appreciated trade in the UK or something. So they have a bad reputation to start with.
Making a good social media proposition
As we said, it might be difficult to create a kind of ‘coolness’ around being an estate agent as such, but what about the branded cars?
They have a fleet of Mini Coopers branded really funky, and I think every quarter/six months they seem to be changing their branding.
So, maybe you cant get away with creating a Facebook page about the brand itself, but you might be able to create a Facebook page for the Mini Coopers they brand.
Trying to think of a different angle to attack this particular topic might be a way to get around what kind of content you should be creating, what kind of content should be creating?
Don’t talk about Foxton’s itself — how many people you employ, your sales figures. Talk about the local areas, what’s happening in Clapham right now, what are the festivals, things affecting the property prices?
You’re trying to turn it into something that’s useful and beneficial for the customers — I think it’s the secret sauce.
End
Related: How to make your ideas spread | Seth Godin
And see: Storytelling for viral distribution | Buzzfeed’s Jonathan Perelman
