A social media profile is a direct extension of your business, and potentially the first point of contact for a large percentage of your audience. Does your social media account look more like a ghost town than a business profile?

If you’re getting lonely on social media, it’s likely that you’re isolating your social media marketing efforts. Believe it or not, your social media campaign needs to be able to communicate who your brand is concisely and accurately.

Values are an extremely important aspect of a successful brand, and social media only emphasizes the necessity for strong values. Through cause-related marketing, it’s possible to build loyal and meaningful relationships with your target audience through social media.

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Judging by her resume, content marketing extraordinaire Zontee Hou may be the busiest human ever. She works at Convince & Convert, runs her own consulting firm called Media Volery and teaches at the City College of New York.

Somehow, though, she found the time to speak to AAF Buffalo on Oct. 12 over at Big Ditch on the “Alchemy of Content Marketing.” If you missed it, shame on you, but here are my five favorite takeaways.

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We build brands and brands have a lot of components. Some are tangible and obvious: the logo, the website, the brochure. Some, though, are a little harder to grasp, and almost none are as difficult as the mission statement.

Mission statements are what I would call a “soft” deliverable. They’re internally focused, meaning they won’t be directly used to court and convert customers. They’re abstract, usually centered around values and aspirations than any concrete efforts. They’re not something you can use; they’re something you live.

So I’m not surprised when people hold up their hands when we’re discussing their mission statement and say “This is all well and good, but where do we actually use this?”

It’s a fair question, but it can be difficult to answer. Mission statements are malleable little pieces of text – you can use them almost any way you choose. There are four basic uses of a mission statement that usually come to mind, however.

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When it comes to digital marketing, I’ve found that many people want to do one of two things: try to do every digital marketing strategy at once or exist in a state of analysis paralysis. Guess what? Both of these methods result in poor results. There’s an overwhelming amount of possibilities for your brand when it comes to digital marketing and it can be tempting to throw yourself in quickly, but it’s so crucial to craft an intentioned strategy before doing anything at all.

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Being a brand is hard, being a person is hard, in 2016 it seems like we’re all balancing on a tightrope with only our big toe. Make a mistake, and you bet someone will be there to point it out. You’re being watched and criticized more than ever before. You know, Benjamin Franklin said “by failing to prepare, you’re preparing to fail”, but I like to think of it as “anticipating crisis”. This might make you feel like a debbie-downer (or me sound like a pessimist), but it’s crucial to think about the potential opportunities for failure so that you can swiftly avoid them and be successful.

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Good advertising cuts through the noise and makes a point. 99% of the time, bad advertising does that better. If the goal of advertising is to get people to remember your message, then it often seems like the best course of action is to either for your advertisement to be staggeringly great or absurdly terrible. The latter is much easier to pull off.

Think of all the terrible local commercials you’ve seen in your life. They’re usually for a car dealership or a lawyer. They pop up between glossy national commercials, immediately noticeable for their grainy images, bad acting and endless repetition of poorly sung jingles.

Chances are you remember at least a handful of these commercials. Past that, you’ve probably discussed them with friends, family and new acquaintances as a way to break the ice. These “bad” advertisements often become a part of our cultural fabric, remembered and referenced fondly and often, if only in mockery.

There’s something to be said for the staying power of these cultural artifacts. I asked the LUMINUS team to name some of their (least) favorites.

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From the time I was a little girl and throughout my undergraduate studies, I dreamt of being a professional creative writer. In grade school, I would read every book I could get my hands on. In high school, I scribbled through journals with short stories. In college, I fell in love with poetry. So, how did I end up writing ads, websites and blogs for businesses? No regrets here, I love what I do. Writing web content has helped me become more organized, more efficient and more creative. You may be struggling to maintain your creative energy as a content writer, I’m here to help you create better work.

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Nameberry.com is a website totally devoted to the art of naming babies. There’s an entire active forum where parents who can’t decide on a name can interact with “Nameberries” who will help you brainstorm potential names for your newborn.

The Nameberries are awesome and seem to be very helpful. The names they pitch are sometimes a bit too unique for the people who are asking (Atlas, Story and Anthem are all great names but can seem a little mythic for a newborn), but they’re almost always interesting and help folks to narrow down what they really like and what they really want.

The whole process reminds me of naming a product. Babies are much more important than products, of course, but you’re still confronted with similar dilemmas.

• You want a name that you love.
• You want a name that’s unique.
• You want a name that truly fits what you’re naming.

The problem with all of these problems is that they’re impossible to solve, at least right away.

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I ask new clients one simple question when I’m trying to figure out how to help them.

“Why do you deserve this?”

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Scenario: You walk into a cafe with a friend. The cafe is new, very trendy (we’re talking $5 lattes). You ask your friend how they heard about the cafe and they respond, “oh, I saw their barista on Instagram write Beyonce lyrics with the foam in the lattes!”

I know that the magical Beyonce cafe is too good to be true, but the scenario isn’t. How many times have you gone to a specific hair salon because you’ve seen the Instagram of one of their stylists? People are finding businesses online and, more than ever, they want to know about the products they are purchasing, down to the nitty-gritty details.

They want to know that their dollars are supporting businesses that align with their lifestyle. Even deeper than the history and breakdown of the product, they want to know about you and your team. Your employees are no longer just employees, they are an integral part of your brand and the professional development of your employees should be a huge focus of your business.

If you’re thinking “this doesn’t apply to my industry”, you’re probably wrong. From restaurants to boutiques to tattoo shops, customers are interested in the staff that makes your business successful.

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