I had the pleasure of going on “The Horse’s Mouth” yesterday hosted by Tom McManus. Go Jags…!

It was a really fun and interesting conversation. We had both Marketers and Business Leaders from around town and we got into a lot of topics. We talked about social media, content creation, credibility, reviews, right fit strategies. There was a lot covered in my time there. So, I’m excited for that to air.

One of the guests was named Lonnie and he’s a young gentleman who is actually the son of former Jaguar Lonnie Mart’s – who was also on the show with us. Lonnie (the younger one) is a content creating machine. He has over 700k followers on TikTok. So it was fun hearing his perspective on content and what his generation is looking for from businesses and content creators. I’m not going to give away the entire meat of the show, but I did want to touch on something that we hit on a little bit more off camera than on camera, and that’s the idea of authenticity.

Lonnie, Tom, and I were talking and Tom asked me “do you put your clients on TikTok?” And again, I’m not going to give away the whole show but there are things that we talked about and I wanted to hit on today.

What to consider when creating content for social media

So four things when considering where to go on social media,

Focused

The first one is being focused. There is a lot of desire out there for content creators, whether that’s personally or a business, to be on everything. To be on TikTok, to be on Instagram, to be on Facebook, to be on LinkedIn, to be EVERYWHERE. And, if you’re going to invest any time or resource into a social media platform, you really understand what the demographic is and who your ideal client is.

Make sure, wherever you’re trying to go, wherever you’re trying to focus your strategy this year, that it’s focused on your decision-makers in the ideal clients that you want, and make sure that they’re out there consuming content on those platforms.

The Actual Content

The second is the content itself, and understanding the nuances between the different platforms.

So, instead of trying to be everywhere and just putting the same picture on every single platform and putting 30 hashtags out there and being done with it. You have to really understand the different nuances of the platform and understand what the content should be.

Don’t just go out there and do the same thing across the board – really understand what people are looking for on the different platforms.

Authenticity

The third is being authentic. We talked a lot about the right way to create content.

Lonnie (and specifically his generation) when he was talking about TikTok,  said that his generation can sniff out insincere content – people that are just out there trying to sell. People who hit record and dance a little bit and hope that their brand is out there.

Entertainment AND Value

Finally, is finding that balance between being entertaining and providing value.

Really understand what it means to be authentic and be yourself out there. Do it in a way that’s appropriate for the platform. Be interesting and entertaining but also try to provide value.

Everyone is getting bombarded with messages on every platform they are on, every second of the day. So, it is obviously important to differente yourself. But, going through the points, it’s about knowing where you should spend your time. It’s about knowing what the platform is and demands of you when you’re creating content on it. It’s about being authentic. It’s about creating entertaining and valuable content.

In order to win out there, understand that platform and create that valuable content.