I did a guest blog post recently on SocialMediaToday.com. It has to do with the 3 C’s of Social Media Marketing. The image above represents these 3 C’s: Curator, Content and Calendar. Below is the full blog post or you can go directly to the post at SocialMediaToday.com.

Social media marketing has become a staple in online business. It is the internet equivalent of word-of-mouth advertising. It is not like traditional advertising where a business talks one way. It works as a 2-way conversation. As you publish posts, your readers will make comments about them and this is your chance to tell them about your business or simply to build your reputation.

Many people find it confusing and there are so many different platforms to use. In this article, I’m going to offer some advice and discuss the three C’s of social media marketing. These are curator, content and calendar.

#1 C – Curator

The first letter C stands for curator and this is your point person for social media marketing campaigns. Whether you do it yourself or pay somebody else, it is important to have a single person who is in charge of all social media campaigns to avoid confusion. There are so many different social media outlets these days that it is hard to keep up with all of them. Even if you’re only using Facebook and Twitter, it is easy to lose your direction and focus if you are not careful.

You also want to make sure that there is consistency in the posts that you publish. People will not come back to read your content if all your posts are about the same thing based around your industry. They need to be engaging and blended with images, videos and articles.

#2 C – Content

The second letter C stands for content. Content is king and this is what attracts your readers. As long as you have good, relevant content, people will come back to your site or social media page to read more.

Businesses need to remember that content is about building reputation and authority. That is why it is important to publish good content that is both original and educates your readers. Your posts should be at least 80% educational, and less than 20% promotional.

If you want loyal readers and clients, you must give them something of value.

For more details on types of content to post on your social media, you can download my free content guide: Ultimate Guide to Social Media Content Creation.

#3 C – Calendar

The third C stands for calendar. You need to plan your efforts ahead of time so that they will be organized and consistent. There is a lot of competition on the internet, and if you want to keep your readers you need to make sure that your content is not only of high quality, but is also released regularly.

When you are publishing posts it is crucial that you have a plan in place to keep it up. Your readers will expect it and it will help you stay organized and on-task. Once you have your content calendar in place, you can preschedule these posts through a platform like Hootsuite or even direct through Facebook with their new scheduler.

Keeping track of the times and dates you publish posts should be done for analyzing your efforts. You need to know which campaigns are working, and which ones you should discontinue; otherwise, you may be doing a lot of work for nothing.

Social media is a profitable tool for businesses when used correctly. It can seem overwhelming at times, but it does not have to be difficult. Managing social media marketing with the 3 C’s will help you get organized. Remember: put one person in charge (curator), create good content that is educational and offers value (content) and develop a routine (content calendar) that you can follow. Staying organized by following these three steps actually brings in a fourth ‘C’. The fourth ‘C’ is conversion of activity into sales.