Intentional Content

As promised in my Lens-Artist Challenge #154 – One Photo Two Ways post, (which is a fun quick post about photography and social media) today we begin to look at “Intentional Content”. This topic will have additional posts as we explore, today we are just going to have a bit of an introduction.

Now let’s examine “intent” really quickly, as you know if you follow my blog, I like to begin with Merriam-Webster Dictionary definitions, but today I am going to add some additional interpretations of “intent” as we begin to move into this topic.

Intent
in·​tent | \ in-ˈtent

1: directed with strained or eager attention : CONCENTRATED
2: having the mind, attention, or will concentrated on something or some end or purpose

Setting an Intention
Now let’s look at the practice of setting an intention for just a minute, as the definition of the word itself satisfies my analytical brain, and gives all sorts of good content creating guidelines all on its own, but this topic also engages the creative brain as well.

Setting an Intention occurs usually at the beginning of a yoga practice or other types of meditative exercises (energy work, etc). Before you begin a practice you decide what you are working towards, usually this goal is related to something within yourself and how you feel or what you want to put out into the universe.

Marketing Moment

Quickly before we move in to how we can apply this information to Social Media content, there is something that needs to be pointed out about marketing. Marketing in many ways, by nature, combines the analytical and the creative/emotional nature of humans. As someone marketing yourself, or looking to engage someone to help you with your marketing, understand that “what” you are selling is important (as it it what will make your business financially successful). BUT you must always consider this: The item you are are selling is more than likely not totally unique, there is competition in almost every market.

So how do I sell my product then?

Hope is not lost! What is unique is how your brand makes people feel about themselves when they support it. “What” you are really selling to people is how “your item” makes them feel. There are billions of t-shirts out there, why will they buy yours? It’s because of your brand and what your brand helps that person to see in themselves, or how it makes them feel about themselves.

Branding, and then the subsequent marketing that comes with it, is about fulfilling your customer’s vision of their being.

Intention and Social Media

So let’s combine these two view of “intent” into one mindset that combines the analytical and creative brain and leaves us with a recipe for success. How shall we do that? Let’s start with the analytical piece. Before posting to social media, think about what is the intended “analytical outcome” of my post?

Do I want:
– An Online Order to be placed?
– A Phone Number to be Called?
– A Visit to a Physical Location?
– Email about services?

Before you can market to someone using social media, you have to know what you want them to do.

Now to set the “creative intention” for your post from the more internal/creative perspective, you also have to decide how you present the information. How do you want your customer to “feel”? This creative intention comes from your brand and your vision of your customers. Ask yourself this:

How do I want my post to make people feel?
– Outdoorsy/Rugged
– Inspired
– Hungry
– Enlightened

Before Posting

Sometimes we get greedy with our Social Media Marketing and we want one post to gain likes, get orders, bring people into the store, visit our TikTok, follow us on Instagram, subscribe to our blog and on and on and on. (More on Greedy Media in a future post.)

For the very first exercise on the “intentional content” path, let’s make the goal simple:
To gain likes on social media, and develop brand awareness.

Set ONE “analytical outcome” intention per post.
1) I want people to like my page.

Now let’s set a “creative intention”.
2) I want people to feel empowered.

The Relationship

The creative intention is a feeling we want to evoke which will feed the analytical outcome. Here is a post from the Scissortail Social FaceBook page, the content contains key words, the language is friendly and encouraging, the imagery is our logo in all its glory.

This post was composed to 1) build brand awareness (big ‘ol logo) 2) Empower business to have a “marketing team” of their own, no matter how small their enterprise.

1. Analytical Outcome | Gain Likes
2. Creative Intention | Feel Empowered

Don’t like the “see more” on our FaceBook post? Visit our blog post “Let’s Talk About Text Baby!” to see why we would do such a thing!

Keep It Simple

Focus your social media content by setting an analytical outcome and creative intention before every post. Following this method will direct your content and help reign in the need to do everything at once.

I hope this finds you well & happy and leaves you inspired!