Mastering Web and Social Media with Content Strategy: A Timeless Handbook for Web Professionals

Emanuele M. Barboni Dalla Costa

Mastering Web and Social Media with Content Strategy

A timeless handbook for web professionals

Copyright © 2021 by Emanuele M. Barboni Dalla Costa

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

Emanuele M. Barboni Dalla Costa has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Websites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

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Contents

1. Mastering Web and Social Media with Content Strategy

The Author

Follower, Reach, Engagement

Conversations Matter - Stimulating Engagement

Brand Ambassadors, Trust and Word of Mouth

Objective #1: Increase brand awareness.

Not everyone sees your content!

Real Users Reached

Favouring Content Internal to the Platform

Follow the Netiquette

To write on social media, you need to know how to write

Listen, listen, listen

Not All Platforms Are the Same

Toughen up: Social networks should not be abandoned

Programming Posts

Timeless’ content (Evergreen)

Finding Your Winning Niche

The Avatar, or the Perfect Customer

Content curation

Inform, Educate, Entertain

Self-Referencing, Hot and Cold Content

Informing about your Core Activities

Rubrics and Side Content

Characteristics of Viral Content

Creating Recognisable Headings and Content

The Editorial Calendar

Creating and Managing Public Expectation

Exploiting (but not too much) Holidays and Instant Marketing

Encouraging Sharing

Publish less, publish better

Automated Programming of Posts and Articles

Visual aspects

Image (quality) is everything

The Simple, Immediate, Screaming Image

The birth of a new language

Graphics and Format with Canva

Character Readability and Graphic Alignments

Contrast and Harmonic Combinations

Varying the Proposal with Different Formats

Video and Real Time Streaming

Useful Resources for Content Creation

Copywriting

Telling yourself: Storytelling in Brief

How Long Should a Post Be?

Simple Verbs, Active Forms, String Text

Internet Users Go Crazy for Lists

Asking Engaging Questions

Reinforcing (and Tightening) Concepts with Emoticons

Avoiding Click Baiting

Using Teasers and Countdowns to Generate Suspense

Analysing the results

Rule 1: Be patient

Rule 2: Be consistent

Parameters of Web Format Success

The Metrics to Watch

Useful tips for your social image

If a Format Doesn’t Work

Big Likes, Ambassadors, Haters and Trolls

Video course

1

Mastering Web and Social Media with Content Strategy

From the bestselling course that has revolutionized the social media strategy of over 700 students comes the most transversal and comprehensive handbook on the subject: lightning tips, unusual techniques and burning advice to achieve online editorial success without makeup and without deception.

A timeless manual, functional for every project and platform, for those who want to make content creation a profession in all respects.

* * *

The Author

My name is Emanuele Barboni Dalla Costa (Milan, 1981) and I am a professional trainer.

Here I am in the classroom with my students

In my career, I’ve helped over 1,000 students in the classroom and over 5,000 online (through my video courses) to communicate better in business, relationships, and dialogue with the world.

I hope you enjoy your reading!

Emanuele

* * *

Follower, Reach, Engagement

Let’s start with these three terms that indicate those who follow you, the people you reach and how involved they are. I start with a quote from Anton Corbijn, a super famous photographer who also worked with U2, who said

If you do something with love and passion by telling a story, eventually the audience comes.

This is the number one concept on social media: tell stories, tell and engage by reaching a large number of people who will then become your followers.

* * *

Conversations Matter - Stimulating Engagement

What determines real success on social networks?

True success on social networks is determined by the involvement of the audience.

But how is the public involved, how can they show their reaction?

Through comments, which are incredibly valuable, through likes, or reactions, shares, mentions.

Let’s say I have imagined a pyramid of importance, in which we put in the lowest place, at the base, the likes. A like is a very simple thing to do, you just press a little button, so it’s not that it’s not important, but certainly a share has a much greater value.

Sharing, in fact, means showing a piece of content to all the friends who are present on the social network, so it has a very important value, but sharing is also a button.

In first place I always put comments, which are the sword of Damocles of social networks. Writing a comment on a news item, on a post, under a photo means commitment and requires commitment. Comments, in my opinion, are the most important parameter to stimulate and calculate engagement, the involvement of the public.

* * *

Brand Ambassadors, Trust and Word of Mouth

As people follow what you do on social networks, you have to aim to create brand ambassadors.

These are people who tell their friends about you for free, because you are a great band or because they have eaten at your restaurant and enjoyed it.

Remember that word of mouth is still the real breakthrough, it’s still the most important advertising formula.

We don’t trust TV, we don’t trust social