Those who love to drink coffee often have favorite places to do so. They frequent a chosen venue because it’s a great place to hang out. Perhaps they know the owners or the other customers who, like them, regularly drop in to socialise. Without the rich aromas and great-tasting coffee, though, would they show up? Would they go there if there was nothing to drink?

For the most successful companies operating in the realms of social media, this is a governing consideration. They’ve got the fresh content and they’ve brought the crowd, so, as long as they keep serving up this gourmet content, they’ve got a winning virtual hangout.

More often than not, however, companies tend to focus on securing their presence in the race to catch up with competitors. They get the coffee shop, in the form of a presence on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, but forget what they’re serving. Perhaps they serve metaphorical Kool-Aid, which brings a few die-hard believers but leads those who want real flavor to stroll on by to their other haunts.

This is perhaps due to the strong media presence of players such as Facebook, Google+ or Linkedin, or to the vertiginous numbers with which they are typically associated. Nonetheless, the content is what makes the medium social, not the other way around. An empty coffee shop is no good strategy.

Social-media managers typically face two key questions when designing their content strategy.

WHAT KIND OF CONTENT?

Via BlairEvanBall