Relevant content is crucial in social media marketing. However, don’t think that social media marketing and community marketing is only about distributing your own content.
On the contrary: although well written, informative, useful, entertaining, funny, etc. content is important, it is by no means the end.
You should look at content as a story and as just one of the many elements of creating a community. Content should be produced in function of your community.
Furthermore, communities consist of people that also create their own content. In the form of tips, suggestions, comments, contributions, posts, tweets, whatever.
Give the content that your community creates a central place in what you do as a business. And I don’t mean only ‘listening’ or ‘talking back’.
I literally mean including user-generated content, retweet it, etc. This will put the members of your community in the spotlight. It’s also a great way of collaborating and co-creating something by inviting and motivating your community. Focus on your community and then think content.
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I agree on all levels, its all about engaging and collaboration.
Ask not what your community can do for you, but what you can do for your community.
They make great content, and comes up with great ideas.
In the end of 2009, Greepeace showed how to do this, they wanted a name for their campaign to save humpback whales, letting people contribute with suggestions, letting them decide – that´s co-creation. If you have any interest in more information, I wrote a blog post about it a while back http://www.mindjumpers.com/blog/2009/12/best_practise_greenpeace/