When brands find themselves becoming involved in social, they need to answer a simple question: why?

Why are people interested in what you have to say? Why will they bother clicking on your links, liking your pages or posts or sharing your content to broader networks? The answer to this question rests in the content strategy you have created for your brand, and there is no better way to find that answer than by leveraging your social insights.

Where can I find these insights?

Within several networks, there is a world of insights available about your audience. Find out what types of content your audience shares most by looking at the ‘Posts’ section of your Facebook insights. Learn about your audience’s interests in the ‘Followers’ section of your Twitter Analytics. But to really take advantage of social insights about not only your audience, but your industry’s audience, you’ll want to use a higher end social listening tool.

Data gathering tools like Radian6, Sysomos and Crimson Hexagon provide you with actionable reports with data pulled from hundreds of millions of sources across the web; essentially, if people are talking about your industry, you’ll know about it.

Look at where and when conversations take place, what topics people talk about most in your industry and the sentiment around those topics to know where to insert your brand in a positive way.

What do I do once I have collected the data?

Creating your content strategy is all about sharing content that is going to resonate with your audience. This data is going to be the starting point to helping you do that and enter your brand in the industry conversation.

Based on what you have collected, determine the tastes and preferences of your audience by what they are actively discussing.What matters most to them? More important, from a business standpoint, how are you going to position your brand in this conversation in order to appeal to this target demographic?

There is going to be some significant testing involved. You will want to try different types of content and approach the discussion from a number of different angles. Ultimately, your goal is to share content with which your audience can empathize. Then they partake in conversation, share your brand’s message and help expand your reach.

Can you give an example?

Let’s say, for example, you run an office products retailer and one of your key services is that you offer your clients a free return of used ink cartridges for proper recycling. You know that this is a noble cause and a valuable asset in terms of marketing to eco-friendly businesses. Your data collection is going to be all about where people are talking about the benefits of recycling and, perhaps, why businesses should have green initiatives.

From the data you collect, you will want to begin sharing content within these conversations that relates to what is being discussed as well as the service you offer. Once you have caught the attention of your audience, it is time to employ some marketing initiatives in order to boost sales as a result of your content strategy (i.e. content marketing).

It’s a time-consuming process, but it is certainly worth the effort. The value of a well-developed, data-oriented content strategy should never be underestimated.

How are you leveraging social data in order to develop a successful content strategy? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Also, have a happy Valentine’s Day!