How to Keep Client Social Media Fresh in a Content Drought

When I first started my social media PR journey, I pictured myself jetting around to events or press conferences every other day, tweeting fresh, creative content akin to any social media influencer. My clients’ followers would be liking, retweeting and replying so often, I’d struggle to engage with everyone, because that’s showbiz baby. Boy, was I wrong.

Much like media pitching, social media PR is best when we have fresh, exciting content to share on a regular basis. Unfortunately, we rarely have a steady stream of fresh, exciting content content to share on a regular basis; which makes our job of maintaining an active and compelling social presence a challenge.

In media relations, we’ve learned to find the fresh take or angle on existing content for pitches, and it’s important that we use those same skills for social media management.

The reality is, most clients don’t have a new announcement or campaign to launch every other day. It’s up to us, as PR professionals, to create compelling, insightful social content from what we already have. And that is where the creativity comes in, and one of the things I love the most about working in PR – the challenge of working with what you have to create something new and exciting.

Over the past few years, I’ve compiled a list of tried and true best practices for keeping your client’s social media game 10/10, even when your content repository is more of a 5/10. Here are my top three:

1. Expand beyond client-focused content

Our clients’ news, events and content, in general, always come first. Whether it’s an event, recent announcement or article they’re featured in, I always prioritize these posts over everything else. In the event that there isn’t major news, I like to promote other outside content, such as: interesting articles from relevant reporters and publications, new reports or surveys I know will resonate with our audience, or posts from our follower base.

If you’re low on material, why not share the love and engage with the rest of the community? (Note: This should be a part of your social strategy anyways, but even more so in this situation!)

2. Research, revise and recycle old content

As PR pros, we know how important it is to not only stay up to date with our clients’ news, but the industry news as well. Whether it’s scanning the latest headlines or going through the newsletters you are (or should be) subscribed to – this is a great opportunity to make older content fresh again. Government issued a new cybersecurity mandate? Re-promote an old article your client wrote on the importance of more efficient cybersecurity! Obviously don’t go *too* far back in the archive (I usually stick to about a year), and be sure to re-write the post so it ties into the recent news, but this is a great way to stay relevant without having to pester your client for new material.

3. Lean on evergreen content (it’s your friend!)

When I’m low on material, I like to dig through the client’s website for timeless content. This could be anything from a white paper, blog post, or infographic – really anything that remains relevant and accurate despite its age.

For example, a few weeks ago, I was looking for fresh material on a client’s website and found a older (but still great) blog post from 2017 covering best practices for managing supply chains during hurricane season. It was mid-October (hurricane season) and I knew our follower base was interested and actively tweeting on the topic. With all this in mind, I re-promoted the post and people loved it! Followers didn’t care it was from 2017 because the best practices were applicable. For many, it was something they hadn’t seen from us before.

That being said – a word of caution: I generally steer clear of old surveys or reports – if you’re sharing data from early 2017 in late 2018, the data is usually stale and results are irrelevant.

So while I’m not live-tweeting at Apple-caliber keynotes all the time, I really do enjoy the challenge of working with what I have to create fresh, engaging posts. The key is expanding beyond a client focus, recycling content when possible and keeping an eye on evergreen material. Public relations is a fast-paced industry, but social media moves even faster – keeping these three practices in your back pocket will help ensure that you always have fresh, exciting content to share, even when you really don’t.