Business partners Phyllis Neill and David Sher got interested in digital marketing strategies a little more than two years ago and then in August of 2009 they hooked up to start what is now Buzz12 Content Marketing (formerly WeMentor Social Media).
Social media for business was so new there was no business model for us to follow. If someone tells you they have a ten year successful track record with social media, please hide your belongings.
So we played around with our business model until we hammered out something that really works.
When we first started, we thought our role was to develop a social media plan & then turn it over to the client to implement. This struck fear in the hearts of CEO’s who didn’t know how they would find the time, money, or resources to keep the plan going. It wasn’t good for us either because we could develop a powerful plan, but we lost control of the implementation.
It was clear the market was telling us we should develop the plan and then provide most of the content so that the expense & time commitment by our client would be minimal. And it is good for us too because we can ensure the proper implementation.
The benefits were clear. We do the research, determine the appropriate social media platforms, set the measures, and then develop meaningful and engaging content.
This is fast, efficient, and our client doesn’t have to worry about the detail. Then through constant monitoring & measuring, we tweak and adjust to stay on track.
Then we realized that social media was only a “publishing avenue” for really well-crafted content. It is in fact the content that matters most in today’s digital marketing program. That’s when we moved into content marketing as a primary business focus.
So what we’ve evolved into is really a “publisher” of content for our clients. Content that is relevant, compelling, and interesting to THEIR target market. Content that educates, is helpful, showcases expertise, and establishes trust. Today, the venue for publishing that content is on a blog, or on an e-newsletter, or on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, etc. Tomorrow – who knows what the venues will look like? But we’re convinced that the thing that won’t change is the fundamental shift away from “interruption” marketing over to “engagement” marketing.
So…in summary – we are a “publisher” of content for our clients using the “engagement” marketing model – we write, we design, we create, we strategize, we execute, we publish, we monitor, and we measure results. And then we do it all over again!